Chapter 16. Unexpected

"… Yes. I love you too, Mom. Bye!'

My right ear was burning. I haven't spoken with Renee for almost a week. It was a long conversation. Mom asked dozens of various questions. It wasn't easy for me to respond to them. My thoughts were mixed up in my head, and every word was heavy, difficult to find.

She worried, of course, so I needed to be patient. And I was. Renee and I have been talking for almost an hour. I had to tell her everything I could remember. What I was doing. How my rehabilitation was going on. What exercises I needed to do. What Carlisle said about my leg...

I threw the phone on the blanket.

"I'm tired," I said.

Alice went bonkers. Forty minutes passed, but she has already cleaned the whole house, learned to cook pasta for Charlie and reorganized my bookshelf. Time was running really slow for her. The morning wasn't over yet, but Alice was already bored.

Now she froze in front of an open wardrobe, examining my clothes. It was half empty. A few lonely clothes hangers looked pitiful inside of it. To be frank, I couldn't remember the last time when I had bought anything new.

I couldn't see her face, but I knew how Alice looked like. She was unhappy. Clothes meant everything to Alice, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Are you sure that's all you have?" she asked, without hiding her shock. Her voice sounded high, too abnormal for my ears.

"Yes," I answered. "It's enough. Actually, normal people don't like clothes like you."

"I've never heard about that," Alice looked at me. Her face turned into a beautiful but weird mask. She was a sad porcelain doll. "Don't you want to refresh your style a bit?" she suggested. "Just a little? There is so much empty space in your wardrobe! It would be great to fill it with beautiful skirts, and dresses, and shirts..."

I shook my head.

"No. Don't even dare."

Alice froze, watching the future and trying to find a loophole that could let her play her own game. But I wasn't going to give up so easily.

Alice sighed, noticing my confidence. It ruined all her plans.

"You're losing so much, Bella," she said, closing the wardrobe's doors. "Any girl would sacrifice everything trying to be special."

I looked up, amazed. What was that? A part of a new plan I haven't guessed yet?

"I never wanted to be special. Or popular. You're exaggerating, Alice."

I thought she was still standing in front of my wardrobe, but Alice has already moved to another place. I found her sitting in the rocking chair, her pose relaxed and calm, as if she had spent hours there.

"You shouldn't speak of that in Rosalie's presence," she said quietly. "It's killing her."

Alice was talking in riddles again. I frowned. Still lost after an exhausting conversation with Mom, I couldn't understand what she was talking about. Edward and Alice's sister, Rose, was the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Everybody wished they could be her.

Alice noticed my surprise.

"She's jealous of popularity, Bella," she explained impatiently. "Instagram. Twitter. You can become popular in a day. Rose wished she could have that chance too. But she can't. Carlisle forbids us to have any accounts on the Internet. We shouldn't come to attention. This is the main rule of our kind. Rose knows it, but she constantly irritates Edward by thinking about all of that."

I recalled Edward's stories about Carlisle's past and his life in Italy with an ancient coven, powerful, strict and very traditional. The Volturi. An old oil painting flashed before my eyes. Aro, Caius, Marcus. They were some kind of royalty in a vampire world. Tradition meant everything to them. And the law. Nobody was allowed to break the laws…

But I had some difficulties with imagining those ancient, frozen statues living in a modern world.

"I don't think that Aro has an account on Instagram," I confessed.

"Aro doesn't control social media, not personally, at least," Alice answered. A smile appeared on her pale face. "But sometimes we are having fun trying to imagine that."*

We both laughed.

The morning was cloudy and grey, but a few hours later the weather began to change. I looked out the window and noticed a piece of blue clear sky. Its color was beautiful, almost perfect.

"Do you want me to open it?" Alice guessed. She turned to the window's side too. I nodded. A fresh air entered to the room, filling it with the smell of wet leaves and warmth. I breathed in, smiling.

"The weather is promised to be good today," Alice added after a short pause. She seemed to check the nearer future. "We could go for a walk, if you want."

"My cast is off, but I can't start running," I said. I kept breathing deeply, trying to catch as much freshness as I could.

Alice smiled.

"I can take you. We could go into the woods. Listen to the sounds of the forest. It's gonna be nice."

My imagination began to work in full. I closed my eyes, watching the forest inside of my mind. High, endless tops of the trees. The leaves rustling under my feet. Birds' whispering. The wind's quiet songs…

"So, what do you think?" asked Alice again.

I shrugged. The images inside of my head were good and colorful. The idea sounded nice but I couldn't admit that.

A melodic laugh filled the room.

"I know you'll say 'yes'".

Everything was ready in less than ten minutes. Alice turned into a little tornado which suddenly appeared in Charlie's house. I couldn't understand what she was doing, I only tried to guess. She found an old blanket and took some food in case if I got hungry later before writing a note to Charlie. He promised to return home earlier today.

My clothes and old favourite sneakers lay on my bed.

"Here," she said.

The change in our schedule made Alice feel better. I felt a sudden eagerness too. It would be great to go outside after staying inside of the house for so long. It would be great to stop being a patient and a prisoner at the same time.

Alice helped me dress and go downstairs. We had to take her shiny and accurate car; my truck was smashed in the accident. I had already forgotten about that. I examined Alice's car briefly and had to accept that I had no idea what it model was. I'd never been a fan of cars.

Our road was short. The car was really fast. We drove until the pavement ended and then continued our way by foot. I saw an endless green wall in front of me. As was predicted, I couldn't make a step without Alice, so she had to carry me.

"Do you promise not to hurry?" I asked nervously. The smell of the forest was deep; it would be difficult to breath here.

"Let's see," she answered, wearing the bag over her shoulder and helping me to climb on her back. "I'm not very confident about how you'll react on this. The problem is inside of your head, Bella. Just try to think in a positive way!"

I didn't believe her. Alice just wanted to run faster, that's all; human speed was too slow for her. I had to obey, promising myself that everything would be all right. At least, I needed to try.

Nothing worked. Alice's speed was abnormal. The view of the forest turned into abstract scenery, like paintings made by eccentric modern artists. The forest divided into strange little parts. A green puzzle. My heart began pounding again. I felt bitterness inside of my mouth.

Alice stopped. Our road wasn't as long as she hoped.

"You're so fragile, Bella," she said. "It must be so awful – to be human."

"Thank you."

We had to finish our way on foot. I was leaning on Alice's arm. It was cold and extremely solid, just like a mountain rock. At first Alice's steps were small and accurate. Then she began to speed up, still holding my hand. Fortunately, Alice's speed wasn't so fast now, and it was good. We began to move faster, but the bitterness had vanished.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking round. Deep green turned into bright shade. I could already feel the warmth.

Alice was watching the forest too. I felt jealous of her perfect vision. Her scenery surely was much better than mine. Probably, she was right. It was so awful – to be human.

"Well, I thought of the place you'd like to see," she said evasively.

And then I remembered. I should have predicted where we were going. I've already been here, although I've tried to avoid the place. We were close to the meadow, my meadow with Edward. My heart betrayed me again. I felt awkward and miserable at the same time. That place was forbidden for visitors. The meadow was a part of the memories I planned to forget…

I kept thinking about my walk with Edward when Alice stopped moving. That stopping was unexpected; I stumbled and almost touched the ground, and only Alice's arm saved my body from falling. I looked at her, surprised.

Alice wasn't breathing. Her body was a marble statue. Alice's eyes were frozen, watching something I couldn't see. Her ears were listening to something I couldn't hear. I really was miserable. I was blind and deaf.

Just a tiny little human.

"What happened?" I whispered. I hadn't noticed till now that I was whispering. My heart was beating too loudly, making me feel more uncomfortable. It made me anxious, but I managed to ask:

"What do you see?"

She didn't say a word.

"Alice?" I demanded again. "What's going on?"

A new idea came to my mind.

"Is… Is there anybody else here?" I guessed. "Alice? Alice?"


Staying alone in the house, I enjoyed the silence, so light and pure. I always liked the moments like that. The others' voices left my head for a while, and I could be myself again, living my own emotions and feelings. The morning was cold, but the weather was changing; nature was preparing itself for long-awaited warmth. Possibly, humans couldn't see that, but I could. Flowers were turning to their sides, searching for heat. Birds began singing louder. The earth and the sky changed colors, looking brighter than usual.

My parents went hunting. Carlisle looked so awful that the hospital staff began to ask about his condition. He couldn't delay the hunt any longer. Emmet and Rosalie joined Carlisle and Esme. I welcomed their decision to leave. Their constant advice was driving me crazy.

I was going to visit Bella and talk to her, but my siblings did everything to prevent that. When my family realized that I was ready to change, their care became too obstructive. It was a burden, heavy and impossible to take off.

"You need to wait," Alice was confident. She didn't bother herself with explanations.

"For what? I've lost seven years already," I reminded her.

My irritating little sister sighed.

"Don't you see? You need to become a mystery for her again! Bella fell in love with you because you were so unusual!"

"I'm a monster," I had no desire to discuss anything with the whole family. I felt uncomfortable. "I still have no idea why she had chosen me."

"Alice is right, Edward," Rose supported Alice's side. "It will be better if Bella starts missing you. You shouldn't repeat her husband's mistake. Be patient."

Emmet enjoyed our conversations. He really did.

"Women," he said aloud, noticing my tortured face. "They're true mysteries, huh? You can never know what they're thinking about."

He laughed. Jasper grinned, although he was sitting downstairs, far away from us. I rolled my eyes. When had my life turned into their constant joke?

I was so glad that they all had left.

Thankfully no one had anything against of our return to Forks. Humans accepted us without any question. We've never imagined that it would be so easy. There were some complications, of course, and I had been listening to citizens' thoughts, focusing on their feelings. I saw slight shock and confusion inside of their minds. Everyone noticed how young we looked. But, in contrast to us, the world was changing. It was getting hard to surprise anybody. In the end humans found their own explanations to what they had noticed. They were ready to believe in anything – medical achievements, genetics, plastic surgery – anything that could make the reality possible. The biggest part of humans kept being clean and naïve; they persuaded themselves that seven years wasn't too long, and we looked fine, just like it should be.

Perhaps, Forks missed changes.

What's going on?

The silence broke into different sharp pieces. I opened my eyes and turned my head. A mental voice awakened me, and I froze, catching thoughts like a radio wave.

'Why can't I stop worrying? I'm not supposed to feel anything!" someone thought angrily.

That mental voice was familiar to me. I've heard it a thousand of times, aloud and inside of my head. It was the voice of my relative and the voice of my close friend. It belonged to a woman, and I haven't seen her for a very long time. Then I heard the sound of an approaching car. The car wasn't new, but the motor's roar sounded beautiful. Its mistress truly loved it, like it was a beloved pet.

Two minutes and seven seconds later, the car stopped in front of the house. Still confused, I crossed the room and ran downstairs. My speed was impressive. I opened the front door before she knocked. An unexpected guest was staring at me. Her golden eyes were bright, deep and cold.

"Tanya?" I was so stunned that forgot to say hello. "What happened?"

She was breathing heavily, trying to calm down. Tanya looked me in the eyes, searching for something inside of them. Her head was full of questions, her eyes reflected panic.

"Actually, I thought you would explain that to me," she confessed.


*The idea of showing Aro when he's checking his account on Instagram seems to be quite funny to me. Perhaps, I'll write a little story about that one day.


Author's Note. Dear readers! Sorry for delaying in publishing this chapter. But I've good news - I've finally found a beta reader! So I'd like to introduce a wonderful beta, blood. stained. lies , who helps me with improving chapters!