It had to be really late by now. Probably two or three o'clock in the morning. I hadn't been able to sleep. Emily had long since gone to bed, choosing to sleep in her room tonight. Kim had left hours ago, which left me by myself, curled up on the loveseat with a thin blanket draped haphazardly across me.

It was pretty dark. The trees outside blocked most of the moonlight that might have shined through the windows on literally any other night. Not to mention the cloud cover was as thick as ever. I sat up and squinted through the darkness, trying to make out shapes. Emily's house was always neat and wasn't cluttered with things everywhere. If I didn't bump into furniture, I could probably make it to the front door unharmed. Though being able to make it anywhere unharmed was a toss-up. I swear gravity had a personal vendetta against me, not to mention my ankle was still mostly useless. Generally, I couldn't go anywhere without getting a new bruise or scrape—or, worst case scenario, a broken limb—if I didn't have Edward beside me. It made me reluctant to go places by myself.

Slowly I made my way toward the front door, keeping my hands stretched out in front of me. Eventually I made it, though not before making way too much noise and stubbing my toe on something hard and very painful. Or maybe it just felt like I was being too loud. Edward and his family didn't make any noise. They were incapable of it. It came with the territory of being predators.

I grabbed my shoes and opened the door, closing it softly behind me. I took a deep breath, the smell of rain still lingering in the air. I pulled on my shoes before stepping off the porch, then made my way towards First Beach. It just so happened to be the only place in La Push I knew how to get to without directions, besides Jake's house of course.

As I made my way towards the beach, my mind wandered. And by wandered, I meant it immediately boarded the Edward train of thought. Mostly I thought about how angry and worried he must be by now, knowing I hadn't come home yet. Knowing him, he was probably nearby, but never crossing over the border into La Push. He'd never done it. I didn't know why it was forbidden, but none of the Cullens' were allowed on the reservation. It was odd to me that there was a specific ban against them, but I'd never really gotten a full story out of either Edward or Jake. The skinny of it was because they were vampires.

But how did the people here know that?

I assumed I was probably the only one to know their secret, but now I'm thinking that was probably really naïve of me to think. They've all been around much longer than I have, so maybe somewhere along the line something happened and someone on the reservation discovered them and banned them. But how were humans supposed to enforce something like that? The Cullens' were vampires. I wasn't sure there was a better way to stress that. They were immortal predators with supernatural strength and speed. They needed blood to survive. If there was a human alive who could oppose that kind of strength, I wanted to know who they were, if only for the novelty of seeing a vampire's strength tested by someone with a heartbeat.

As I approached the water, I eased off my shoes, took off my brace, and waded in ankle deep, burying my toes in the wet sand. It was freezing, but I could stand the chill for a few minutes. I enjoyed the feeling of the waves lapping at my ankles. It was relaxing.

Standing there, my mind drifted to my afternoon with Jacob. We'd sat in his garage all day, laughing and joking with each other. Sometimes I would hand him some tool or another. Other times I would stand and lean over his car so I could watch what he was doing—not that I knew much of anything about cars. Which was why I was very glad to have such a good mechanic at my fingertips who charged me no more than a few hours out of my day to spend with him. It was a win-win situation, in my opinion. But my mind kept wandering backwards, thinking about our brief conversation about Paul.

Jacob hadn't given me much to work with—apparently he knew very little himself, seeing as how he was the newest to the group besides Quil, and even Quil wasn't even a part of the group just yet. He mostly stuck around because he didn't want to feel left out. Jake and Embry were his best friends. Anyway, I'd learned of several fights he'd gotten into, a little of half of them landing him in jail for a few nights. In those fights, he'd been the aggressor, being described as terrifyingly violent. He'd nearly killed on the people he'd fought with, putting him in the hospital for months. Paul disappeared for a little while after that, and it seemed like only Sam knew where and why.

When Paul came back, he was quieter. Just as foul-tempered as before, but he didn't lash out quite as much as he used to. Most people still kept a wide berth around him, but they didn't look outright fearful anymore, according to Jake. The guys are the only ones stupid enough to test his temper. He told me he didn't understand why they would do something like that, saying that he himself only pushes the boundaries until Paul stops snapping back. When he's quiet after being provoked, it's best to shut up and walk away—quickly. That's what Jacob told me.

I sighed and took a few steps back out of the water, stumbling and falling on my butt in the wet sand. I grumbled irritably but stayed where I was. I was wet now… no sense in jumping up. I'd probably only fall right back down.

"You really are a klutz."

"Paul!" I spin around in the sand and look up. Paul was standing over me, with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, a displeased and angry expression on his face. I turned away, facing the ocean again. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He snapped. "And you're alone."

"I couldn't sleep." I said quietly, wringing my hands. I felt shocked. I'd wanted to snap back at him with an it's none of your business and why don't you go bother someone else, I'm not in the mood. "I just needed some time to myself."

There was a long stretch of silence where I thought maybe he'd left. A part of me didn't want him to leave. It was an irrational part of me that I totally didn't understand, and I wasn't entirely sure I liked it. I had Edward. I loved him. He was mine and I was his, so there should be no reason I wanted this angry stranger to stay beside me and talk to me. I was being ridiculous.

"Why?"

So he hadn't left. I assumed he might have. He'd been so quiet coming in, I figured he'd be just as quiet leaving. "I don't know. A lot of things. Mostly stuff I'd never questioned before. And I don't know how to feel about any of it." I paused, looking up at the cloudy sky, willing the clouds to part and show some of the sky. I wanted to see the moon and the stars tonight. Maybe having a clear sky would help me clear my mind. "I have to leave tomorrow."

Another unnervingly long silence. When I finally turned around, I half expected him to be standing there, trying to come up with an answer to my out-of-the-blue statement. But when I turned around, he was gone.

AN: last revision! im glad it was pointed out to me that bella would have still been injured at this point in the timeline. because honestly, her injury could really make this good for me. i mean, maybe not for paul or anyone else, but... you know. evil, conniving author. ahhaha.