JASPER

A week later, I was sitting in the tree outside of Bella's house staring into the window at her empty room. I was still totally clueless on what to say or do to help her. She needed someone, that was obvious, but she didn't want any of the family, so how could I possibly help her?

Charlie had gone on a weekend long fishing trip with the mutt's father, leaving Bella home alone. Which was the worst idea possible. I knew that Charlie didn't think Bella's depression was that bad. She had become a good actress in the time she spent with the family. Had he known what she was doing to herself, he would've been glued to her side and not have even gone to work unless she had a babysitter. But, alas, he had no idea that she was cutting and thought it was safe to leave her alone for two days. Thankfully, Carlisle was still having us keep an eye on her.

I had been on duty all day. The others had offered to take over at certain points during the day, but I declined because I was trying to work up the courage to go talk to her. I watched as she cleaned the house. And I'm not talking a quick pick up. I mean she dusted, and scrubbed everything. She did at least six loads of laundry. She swept and mopped all the floors, scrubbed the bathroom, and cleaned her room.

The whole day, I could feel the anguish and pain radiating off of her. One didn't need to be an empath to see the pain in her eyes. I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to break down and sob her heart out. However, she kept it all inside and concentrated on getting the house cleaned for Charlie.

I noticed that she had made herself anything to eat all day. She nibbled at a few crackers and drank some water but that was the extent of her nutrients for the day. I was still in shock that she was doing this to herself. If she wasn't careful, she would die of malnutrition. I didn't want to see that happened.

It wasn't until close to eight o'clock that she finally broke. Only, she didn't cry or scream or anything, she simply went to her room, grabbed her shower stuff and the first aid kit from her sock drawer and went into the bathroom.

It broke my heart to know what she was going to do. Why couldn't I do something to stop her from hurting herself like this?

Even from outside, I could smell the freshly spilled blood with every cut she made. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks every time. Only, it wasn't with a desire to eat her, it broke my heart to know that she was spilling her own blood over something that wasn't even her fault.

I don't know when, but somewhere along the way, I started thinking about Edward. I realized with every cut Bella made, I was letting him down. He left her in our hands to keep her safe, happy, and whole. We hadn't been very successful in doing that. We were letting her slowly destroy herself because she had wanted her space.

It was then that I realized, it didn't matter what I said, just as long as I said something. I had to try to stop her from hurting herself, whether she wanted me to or not. I had to do it for Edward. For Alice. For me, even. Mostly though, I had to do it for her. I owed her at least that much after what happened on her eighteenth birthday.

With those thoughts still swimming in my head, I leapt from the tree and through the open window of her room. I still had no idea what I was going to say but I wasn't going to stand by and let this happen anymore.

Her scent hit me harder when I actually entered the house. It burned through my nose and down the back of my throat. I ignored it by reminding myself that I was hear to stop Bella from hurting and or killing herself, not help her in the process.

I slid myself into the rocking chair in the corner of her room to wait for her to finish what would hopefully be her last bout of self mutilation.

BELLA

I stood in the shower, once again, watching the red rivers of blood flow off of my arm and mix with the water. I was lost in the wonderful numb feeling that doing this brought me. It had been a long day, being home alone with no one to distract me. I tried to clean everything, but it didn't help much.

Watching myself bleed seemed to be the only distraction good enough at the moment. I stood there for a few minutes just staring at my arm in morbid fascination, until, like always, thoughts of Renee and Charlie pulled me out of it.

Once that happened, I rinsed my arm off and got out of the shower. I put some neosporne on the short, still bleeding gashes and wrapped bandages and gauze around my arm. I dressed and brushed my hair before heading to my room, not completely prepared for what I was about to find.

I, immediately, realized that there was a pale man sitting in my rocking chair. My first thought was that I was finally going crazy, because there was no way that Edward Cullen could be sitting in my rocking chair, waiting for me to finish my "human minute". Then I did a double take. The man sitting in the chair had blonde hair not bronze and the face was shaped way differently. I blinked a couple times before it finally clicked that it was Jasper sitting there. It had been such a long time since I had seen him, I wasn't sure if it was him at first.

Once it clicked, I panicked and shoved my bandage hand behind my back. I knew it was pointless because he could probably smell the blood that was still trickling out. Still, I was embarrassed about what I had been doing.

"It's okay." Jasper whispered as I hung my head. "I know."

A/N: So sorry this one is so short. I just needed a small intro to the next chapter. Plus, I didn't get off of work until ten and I have to be there at seven tomorrow morning so I had to cut it short. Also, the next chappie would've been draggy with this part. But don't worry, I'm skipping White Horse tomorrow because of the way schedule worked out so you'll be updated tomorrow. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chappie. Finally, for anyone interested, watch the MTV Movie Awards at 9:00 on Sunday night. The first New Moon Teaser is going to premiere on it. I can't wait. I'm so excited. Anyway, gotta get to bed. You don't have to review this chapter if you don't feel like it. So long as you review the next one.