All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer.
CHAPTER THREE (APOV)
--THREE YEARS AGO--
As was the case most days, the silence in the Cullen household was overwhelming. I sat in the kitchen, trying to occupy myself with a painting of the Alaskan mountaintops that rose majestically just beyond our home in Anchorage. Jasper was out hunting, doing what he called "conditioning exercises." He took the events of Bella's 18th birthday almost as hard as Edward did, or appeared to, and has since been on a personal quest to gain control over his bloodlust, once and for all. Truth be told, I didn't mind his absence. We had been growing apart for the last twenty years, and although the reason still remained elusive to me, I knew that Jasper and I would be parting ways soon, both physically and emotionally. I had known that he was destined for another, but stupidly ignored this knowledge that day in the diner. I drank in as much of Jasper as I could, waiting for the day when the pieces would fall into place and I could help him find his mate, as I had known I was meant to do. Shaking my head slightly, I listened for the other members of my meager family.
I could hear Carlisle turning the pages of his latest read up in his study, Esme was drawing in hers. She was tunelessly humming, something that I knew distracted her from the fact that her family had been torn apart. Emmet and Rosalie had decided to move to Europe instead of coming with us to Alaska when we left Forks. They check in from time to time and from what I can tell, Emmett is having a more difficult time of it than Rosalie, but that was to be expected given her jealousy towards our little human. And as for Edward…Well, we have no idea where he is. No one has been able to contact him at all since he abruptly informed us that we would be leaving Forks. I haven't bothered looking for him in my visions. As far as I'm concerned, he is no longer our concern. He made his bed and now he had to lay in it.
As I stared out into the white expanse, I could feel the familiar tinge of a vision. Sighing, I gave into it and was immediately shocked by what I saw:
Bella. But not our Bella. This Bella had skin to rival the Volturi's, paper-thin and pale as the snow. Her beautiful brown hair had been reduced to a few wispy strands and she was lying alone in a hospital bed while machines whirred and beeped around her. I recognized the hospital as the one that Carlisle had worked at when we lived in Forks. Almost immediately after that vision ended, I received another one, this one of an unfamiliar place but with an all-too-familiar person lying dead on the floor. Charlie. Dead. As this vision melted, yet another one took it's place. This vision was of the hospital that Carlisle worked at currently. This had the same Bella from the first vision, but if it was possible, she looked even more sick and even more frail. Esme and I were sitting in her room, smiling broadly, while Jasper stood next to her bed, anxiously looking down at her tear-filled eyes.
Gasping for air that I no longer needed, I realized what these visions meant and what had to be done. I flew up the stairs into Carlisle's office, securing the door behind me.
"Carlisle! I need to talk to you."
"Absolutely, Alice. What's on your mind?" he answered, putting his book down gently.
"It's Bella--" I started. Carlisle interrupted me, raising one hand.
"Alice. I miss her. We all do. But we made a promise to Ed---"
"Screw him!" I took a shaky breath, "Bella needs me. Needs US now. I have to leave, to take care of her. When I learn more, I'll let you know. I'll call you when I get to Forks."
His eyes calm and understanding like they always are Carlisle nodded, "Alright. I trust you Alice."
"You'll explain to Esme for me?" After Carlisle assured me he would, I tore off down the hall to Jasper and I's room, penning him a quick note explaining everything I had just said to Carlisle.
By nightfall, I was in Forks. My first stop was to Bella's house, just to see if I could get any sort of read on why she would be in the hospital. The moment I stepped into the house, though, I was blown away.
It looked like no one had lived there for about six months. Bella's scent was almost completely gone from every corner of the house, including her room. Going back downstairs, I saw papers scattered across the dining room table. Picking the first one up and reading it, I saw that it was a bill from Forks Hospital for chemotherapy treatment. After a little more rifling, I had learned that Bella had been diagnosed with what seemed to be an aggressive form of bone cancer. Feeling the weakest I'd felt since becoming a vampire, I lowered myself into the chair. It looked like Bella had been diagnosed about six months after we had left.
Knowing now why I had seen the things I saw, I squared my shoulders and went straight to the hospital. I got into the Oncology ward easily enough, as I was still recognized as Dr. Cullen's daughter. As small of a town as Forks was, many of the doctors and nurses who worked there knew that the Cullens had had some special relationship with Bella Swan and didn't give me any problems.
I slipped quietly into Bella's room and gasped at what I saw. She looked exactly as she did in my vision, which was to be expected. But to see it in real life…Well, that was heartbreaking. I slowly moved to the foot of her bed and carefully hopped on the bed, crossing my legs beneath me. After about three hours, Bella woke up and saw me. Saying nothing, she started to cry. I reached out with my cold hand, trying not to look shocked as I felt her cold, papery skin. I watched over her as she drifted back to sleep, waiting for her to wake up so we could start our new lives.