Okay, so I was looking at some new Eclipse promotional photos. There's one with Dakota Fanning (Jane) and she looks like a paedophile, no offence. Just the smile... Really. Oh, and I'm considering getting a beta. Opinions?
Cherry
Aylin knocked on the door and I flew down the steps to the front door. Jasper and Sunny were sitting in the living room, composing themselves. They were all really sad, and Jasper still looked really bad. He had bruises covering his face and cuts on his shins. I made him wear jeans so he didn't scare away Aylin. I didn't need to go and find another psychiatrist. Sunny had contributed 5 dollars to some random costume shop to buy herself a wig with some wig glue. It looked weird on her because I was either used to her being bald or having her long black hair that Alice now wore. Her wig was blonde and short. I swung open the door.
"Hi Cherry." Aylin said, waving and smiling, her melodic voice ringing in my ears.
"Hi there, Aylin." I said. I waved my hand, inviting her in. She stepped in and looked down at my feet. I was in my socks out of habit. We had carpets and my mother had always told us to take off our shoes. I realized then that since our parents were probably never coming back, Jasper would be man of the house until he went off to college. I didn't know what would happen to me. I'm sure that I wasn't old enough to live alone. Maybe Sunny would stick around. She didn't seem to be the college type.
"Do I need to take my shoes off?" Aylin asked.
"Er – whatever." I replied, and ran upstairs. Aylin pulled off her awesome knee-high boots and ran upstairs after me.
"Hello!" Sunny and Jasper both said. Creepy...
"Oh, uh – hi." Aylin said back, taking in the way Sunny and Jasper looked. Jasper looked beat up and fake, and Sunny looked beat up emotionally and fake. Worse than me, even. But really, my real feelings showed at night, which is why Aylin asked to spend the night. She wanted to observe me, and have a girls night in. Sunny was staying with me to. Jasper was... well, it's kinda obvious.
"So, your Aylin?" Jasper asked. Aylin nodded.
"Mhm." She said.
"Oh. So you've been, helping my sister?" Jasper asked. Aylin was more cautious now. She was a trained professional, and knew that picking a fight with a recently 'hurt' person was a bad idea, but she was also aware that being openly cautious and careful would only irritate the person more.
"Yeah, she's been pretty open lately. Right, Cherry?" Aylin said to me, and she glanced over at me, winking.
"Yeah, and Aylin is really nice and good at her job. I wish that we could still be friends later on." I said.
"We can, trust me Cherry." Aylin promised.
"Oh. So your being her friend instead of her psychiatrist?" Sunny asked.
"Yeah, I apologize if that's a problem, but it certainly helps Cherry, and I think my intentions are to help her." Aylin said, her voice hardening a bit. She had told me that threatening them would make it seem as if they weren't as helpless and useless as they seemed to be.
"No. It's not a problem if it helps Cherry." Jasper said, glancing at Sunny.
"Yes... if it helps Cherry..." She said. Her face showed that she was confused. "Something... is burning." She concluded.
"Oh!" I called out. "I was making something for dinner, I've never been a great cook!" I shouted, and I ran into the kitchen to fix whatever I was burning. I heard absolute silence in the other room. I sighed. Everything is so tense. Alice is getting out of surgery tonight, and it's been really hard on everyone. She might come home or she might stay at the hospital for a bit longer. Another thing we're all worrying about is if the cancer will really be gone or not. I yanked open the stove door and coughed as I was suddenly surrounded in smoke.
"Ugh. I will never cook again." I promised myself.
"What were you cooking?" Aylin's voice came from behind me.
"I forgot, and I don't think I'll be able to tell now." I said, turning to her and then back to fan away the smoke. She laughed a little and helped me fan away the smoke.
"They are really messed up." Aylin commented in a hushed whisper this time.
"Yeah... It's cause with all the crap going on with Alice and stuff, you know?"
"I do. My cousin had leukaemia once."
"Once."
"Yeah... she didn't get it again because she didn't make it the first time." Aylin stared off a bit, remembering.
"Sorry." I said.
"You shouldn't be sorry. In the most technical sense, we both have leukaemia through a family member or through someone you love, you know?" Aylin told me.
"Yeah..." I shut the stove and sighed.
"Sorry, we'll just have to order pizza or something."
"That would be great, except I'm lactose intolerant." Aylin informed me.
"Ah. Chinese, then?"
"Sounds great." She smiled.
Jasper
We ate some Chinese dinner with Aylin and Cherry. They were talking while Sunny and I ate in silence. They were talking loud enough for us to hear in the beginning, offering for us to join in any time. Later on, as they noticed we were to silent to even bother to listen, their voices got softer and softer until we couldn't hear them at all anymore. Cherry burped just then. I was always careful to remind her about things like that.
"Cher..." I said.
" S'cuse me." She said. Aylin laughed a bit and so did Cherry. I sighed. The phone rang and Cherry jumped up to answer it.
"Hello? Yes... She is? Great. Okay.... He does... She does too... They are.... Not long... Nope... I do.... Like a sister, yeah. Okay... Thanks! Yes!" She hung up the phone. "Alice is out, she's not awake yet, but they said we can go over!" She cheered. Aylin suddenly looked stiff, as if she were having a bad flashback.
"Well, what are we waiting for, come on!" Sunny shouted, and she danced up and grabbed mine and Cherry's hands, and off we went.
Alice
I was drifting in and out, and the dreams during the out sessions were... strange. My brain tried to shut down again, so I got ready for the next strange dream...
I was sitting alone on a very, very tall hill. There were clouds that were moving abnormally fast and they were all different colours.
"Hello?" Someone familiar called. I closed my eyes and lied down.
"Hello?" The same voice called. I growled. Er – weird much?
"Hello? Anyone ho-me?" Another, different, higher voice called. They were singing.
"No-o-o no one's home, I suppose." Another girl sang.
"Someone's home, I say." The first person said.
"How do you know, Jasp-ar?" The first girl sang. Jasper? Did she mean Jasper?
"Can you not hear her breathing? She must be sick!" Jasper said.
"Sunny, why not check?" The second girl said. So the first girl was Sunny and the boy was Jasper. So the last girl must be Cherry? Maybe.
"A-ha! Look at the hair over the hill!" Sunny called.
"Ah, it's long, blonde. Not who we are looking for." Jasper said. Who were they looking for. Wait a second, this is my dream, I can do anything.
"Who are you looking for?" I asked. My voice was soft and nearly silent, and I realized I must not have been in my own body.
"Ah, kind woman, we are looking for a little girl with the shortest hair you have seen! She has left us alone here and now we can't find her! She once had a poor disease but alas, she was saved, but she hasn't been the same since! She never listens or has fun, so you see. And so now we are on a mission to find the little girl inside her that has disappeared. Say... her name is Alice. Have you yet to see her?" The one who I could tell was Cherry now told me.
"What do you mean? What does this mean?" I said.
"Pardon?" Jasper asked.
"No, no, no. When I was little, I had an imaginary friend Cherie. She had long blonde hair and, and she looked like I do. I'm Cherie! What the hell? Hey, come back! Come back!" They were walking away. "Jasper! Cherry! Sunny! Don't you recognize me at all?!" Someone sat on the ground next to me and shifted downwards, much like a bed did when someone sat next to you on it. The black, dark clouds hovered over me and thunder crashed over and lightning struck right next to me. I screamed and thrashed. Something was holding me down! "Help! Help!" I screamed and screamed...
"Alice! Alice!" Someone was calling my name. I opened my eyes, gasping for air.
"She's up now? Good, Jesus, I thought she was having a heart attack! Can I trust you with her alone?" That was a nurse, I could tell.
"Yes..." Jasper said. His voice still had a hint of worry in it.
"Okay, but don't pull anything, boy." She warned. She winked at me before she left, but I was to shocked to notice. Jasper was holding me in his arms carefully. He looked down at me.
"Alice?" He asked me softly.
"G' Morning." I replied. He laughed softly.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I feel wonderful, thanks." I said.
"Really?" He sounded surprised, so I suppose he was serious.
"I'm alright, at least, for a girl who just came out of surgery... How long was I in there for?" I asked.
"Three days." Jasper replied.
"Three days! Holy crap, something must've been seriously wrong with me." I said. I hated how I sounded so fake. He was still holding me. It wasn't really awkward, but at the same time it was because I really just wanted to get up and jump up and down. Be spontaneous. Do something. I made a face.
"What?" Jasper asked.
"Um, I don't know." I said. I rolled out of his arms despite his attempts to catch me as I rolled away.
"Hey! Come back here you little... ugh." He grunted and crawled onto the bed after me. Moving and shifting to get away from him was awkward because I had one of those monitor things attached to my wrist as well as a needle...
"I have a fucking needle in my god damn arm!!" I screamed, looking down at my arm. Jasper doubled over laughing. "S'not funny!" I yelled. "Get. It. Out!" I screamed, and the nurse from before ran in.
"I thought you said I could trust you with her! What did you do?" She asked him.
"Nothing! She just has a fear of needles, that's it." Jasper said.
"Honey, are you afraid of needles?" The nurse asked me.
"Yes! I hate them, get it out of my arm!"
"Honey – I don't think-"
"GET IT OUT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"Alright, alright hold on!" The nurse shouted. She ran over to me and un-fastened a bunch of little things and slowly pulled the needle out of my arm.
"Seeing that your healthy enough to yell and scream I suppose it was alright takin' that out of you. I think, that you should go home after the doctor sees you. I'll tell him your ready."
"You do that." I rolled my eyes.
"Respect your elders."
"Respect your youngsters, I'm your future." I said. The nurse gave a little hmph and left. "Ha ha." I whispered to myself, sitting up and playing with my nail. Suddenly, Jasper swung his arm around me and tipped my head up to look in my eyes. I let my mouth drop into a perfect O, then I closed and cocked an eyebrow. I could almost read his thoughts...
Jasper
Sexy. Even in a hospital gown she looked sexy as hell. I was holding her chin while she cocked and eyebrow at me. She seemed perfectly healthy, as if she hadn't just gone through a three day surgery. I just wanted to... No. She wouldn't want me to do that, not here, not now, maybe not ever. Speaking of, were we like... an item now? Together? Boyfriend and girlfriend? These questions ran through my mind as Alice continued staring at me questioningly. The door to her room opened and we both jumped. My hand jerked up and hit her nose.
"Ow..." She muttered, rubbing her nose.
"Sorry." I muttered back. She narrowed her eyes and I felt like two teenagers who had just been caught by the girl's parents while they sat on the couch doing things the girl had promised would never happen. I chuckled a bit at myself. I was being such a pervert. I frowned and thought while Alice and the doctor talked.
"Yeah, great..." Alice said, continuing the conversation I had missed.
"That's good, do you think you'll be able to go home?"
"Yeah." Alice replied, nodding.
"Okay, but I'll have to give you some medication in case you feel any pains in your abdomen..." The doctor said, fiddling in his pocket. He finally pulled out a bottle of pills and tossed it to Alice. He caught it in the air and handed it to me, instructing me to put it in my pocket. I obeyed and shoved the little bottle of pills into my pocket. Alice smiled.
"He's my pet." She said, patting my head. "Carries everything, comes in handy when I've forgotten my purse." She smiled.
"Aha, I think my wife has one of those too." The doctor said with a smile. Alice hopped up off the end of the bed and stumbled. I caught her and put my arm around her waist. She put her arm around my waist as well. Sunny and Cherry were outside waiting. They were not allowed in the room and they disliked the waiting room because it smelled like blood and drugs. Sunny hated the blood scent and Cherry hated the drug smell. I think it was because when she was younger she ran out in front of a car and I narrowly grabbed her out of the way, but then I got hit by the car. I had to go to the hospital and Cherry was really, really upset. She was only five and I was ten. She was allowed in the room, but it smelled strongly of drugs and it's affected her ever since. Alice and I walked out of the building after Alice had retrieved some real clothes.
"Alice!" Sunny screamed. Cherry stopped pacing and turned. They both ran at Alice and jumped up and hugged her. I moved my arm away from her but she kept hers around me, so I stood there awkwardly while she used her free arm to hug Sunny and Cherry.
"They let you out! Finally. Wait till we get home, and you can meet Aylin..." Cherry started.
"Who's Aylin?" Alice asked tilting her head to the side. I replaced my arm now that Sunny and Cherry had let go.
"Oh! I forgot you didn't know. Aylin is my psychiatrist!" Alice made a face and squeezed my side. I pulled her closer to me without realizing what I was doing.
"Cherry..." Sunny warned her quietly.
"Ah – um, Sorry." Cherry apologized.
"No, it's okay, let's go home so I can go and meet.... your psychiatrist..." Alice's voice seemed to be strained. I sighed. I would have to wait about another four hours until I could actually be alone with Alice.
When we got home, Aylin was still sitting right where we had left her. I wonder if it was a good idea to leave her here alone. I mean, I was sure she wouldn't steal anything, but still. Alice was still stuck to me like glue. She released me to go and sit on the couch. Sunny sat down next to her and Cherry sat in the chair. I sat next to Alice and she shifted slightly so she was closer to me.
"Sorry about that..." Cherry said.
"That's fine." Aylin coughed. She had obviously been sitting here in silence.
"This," Sunny gestured to Alice, "is Alice."
"Hi." Aylin said. Alice waved at her, but said nothing.
"Have we had dinner yet?" Cherry asked.
"No, you burnt it, remember?" Sunny reminded her.
"Oh yeah. Well, I'm hungry. Jasper, go make food." Cherry told me. I got up and walked to the kitchen.
"I know something I think you'll love!" Alice said to Cherry.
"What?" Cherry asked.
"It's like a dessert with mousse and everything and you know. It takes a bit to make so I should start now if you want me to make it for you..."
"Yeah, please!" Cherry shouted. She always acted so young whenever someone she could've lost comes back. Alice followed me the rest of the way into the kitchen.
"What's the dessert your talking about?" I asked her.
"I don't know." Alice replied.
"I thought you said..."
"You need to learn a lot more about me, Jasper." Her voice was still strained and angry.
"Apparently." I rolled my eyes.
"Yes. You'd figure by now, you would have taken some time to actually get to know me." She retorted. I had always heard that fights that couples had were over stupid things, and that you should just leave it alone and just try and calm down, but I couldn't help but bite back.
"Well maybe I was to busy trying to take care of my little sister." I spat.
"So you hire a psychiatrist? I'm sure everything's fine and dandy now, I mean, everything was just like crap when I was here. Then, I take leave and everyone gets better and everything's just perfect. Then I come back and oh shit, the disaster makes a reappearance." She said. She was facing the cupboards, clutching the counter. She was hiding her face from me.
"Maybe you are the disaster!" I yelled. She was silent. I just stood there, fuming. I could hear Sunny say something in the other room.
"Go outside please." She told Aylin and Cherry.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Fine then." The back door opened and three pairs of shoes stepped outside and the door slammed hard. A warning. We were silent for a few minutes more, although it seemed as if the few minutes were a few million years. I stared at her, watching her hands clench and unclench on the edge of the kitchen counter.
"When is your birthday?" She asked me.
"Why?" I asked her back. It didn't really matter.
"When is it?" She asked.
"It's June 24th, why?" She didn't answer. "Alice? Alice, what's wrong?"
"Me!" She shouted. She still had her face turned away from me. I moved and started to go over to her. She put up her hand as if to stop me and she took a step forward.
"Alice..."
"No. Don't tell me all the shit all the other guys piled up for me to try and make me stay." She said. Her voice was hard. I caught up with her and grabbed onto her. "Hey!" She exclaimed in surprise.
"And exactly how many 'guys' have you had?" I asked her.
"Tons." She replied, bragging. "And how many girls have you had?" She asked.
"One. You included."
"Seriously?"
"Very seriously." She opened her mouth to speak, and then ducked out of my arms. "Alice!" I was having trouble figuring out whether or not she was kidding.
"Stay away from me!" She yelled.
"Alice!" I complained. She ran upstairs and I followed her. She ran into my room and slammed the door. I heard the lock click. "Alice!" I banged on the door.
"Go bang someone else!" She yelled. "I mean something!" She corrected herself.
"I have a key!"
"No you don't, I stole it!" She yelled. I looked down at the key holder that was by the steps. Perfect, I thought. The key to my room is gone. Luckily, I knew an old trick to opening up the door. I stuck my longest nail in the keyhole and turned. The door creaked open.
"Alice?" I called. No one was in the room. It was eerily quiet. A chill went up my spine.
"Boo!" Alice yelled from behind me. She jumped up and landed on me, causing me to topple to the ground. She was on top of me. She scrambled to get up but I grabbed her. "NO! LET ME GO!" She screamed.
"Never!" I yelled back.
"Let me go or.... or I'll bite you!" She threatened.
"You wouldn't." I said. She bit my neck. "Ow!" I exclaimed, releasing her automatically. "What was that?"
"You feeling that?" She asked, and ran out.
"Oh, I'm feeling it alright." I muttered. Suddenly, there was a loud crash and Alice let out a short scream, echoed by a thud.
"Alice!" I yelled. I ran out of my room to see Alice at the bottom of the steps, lying face down. "Alice, Alice are you alright?" I asked her after I ran down the stairs. I flipped her over and stroked her cheek softly.
"I thought you hated me." She said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it feels like you do and it hurts. Worse than falling down the stairs."
"I didn't realize." I said, no sarcasm included.
"You never realize anything, like I would bet you don't even know what I'm thinking about right now."
"I'm not a mind reader, Alice. Sorry." I said.
"Be serious." She requested.
"I am being serious! I can't read your mind, so you'll just have to tell me what your thinking if you want me to know so bad!"
"Well I've never been much of an explainer – if that's even a word. I'm a little more of a show – er, you know?" She said. I was still kneeling next to her on the floor while she lied there, in the middle of my house.
"I suppose I understand..." I said, nodding. "Like a show person. You show instead of tell."
"Yeah. Showing is my forte." She stated.
"Well why don't you show me, then." I encouraged her.
"Well, I really don't know." She said, blushing a bit. What could be so bad?
"What?" I nearly begged. She laughed. No, she giggled. She kept on giggling, rolling around and generally acting as if she was only five years old. She slapped her knee several times. "Knee-slapper on that one..." I muttered, and she just kept on giggling. "Alice! What is it?" I asked her, trying to knock her out of her giggle-fit.
"I – I really," she giggled more, "I really like you." She went into full out laugh mode. I grabbed onto her so she was straddling my lap while I leaned against the stairs. She stopped laughing and stared at my face then looked up then back down. She stared into my eyes and just sat there. Waiting. For something.
"Alice...?" I said.
"Yes?" Her voice was soft and luscious now.
"Can I kiss you?" I asked her randomly.
"Only if you promise to kiss me like this..." She crushed her face to mine and my hands instantly went up to her back, holding her closer to me...
Alice
He had his hands on my back, squishing me closer to him. He moved his lips to my neck for a short second, giving me a chance to breath.
"Jasper..." I whispered. He didn't answer, just moved his lips back to mine. My hands unlocked from around his neck and stroked his chest. He shivered under my touch, and clenched his hands on my back. I caught his bottom lip in my teeth, and a strange noise erupted from his chest. Suddenly, the back door clicked open. I jumped up off of Jasper and sat down with my legs crossed, playing with my fingers. I had practised the get-into-position-in-case-someone-walks-in-on-you for when I watched videos on my iPod nano at midnight when I wasn't supposed to. Jasper, not so much. He was still lying against the stairs, gasping for air and licking his lips. I giggled at the last part. Sunny led Aylin and Cherry in and they all sat at the kitchen table.
"I ordered -" She stopped when she saw Jasper, then she glanced at me. "Dinner." She finished. She smiled at me.
"Yes.. That was probably a good idea." Jasper's voice was husky and thick. He glanced at me and quickly looked away. Nervous about sex? How adorable is that? I smiled and picked myself up off the floor. I dashed into the kitchen and sat in between two empty seats. There was a knock at the front door, and I figured that must be the guy with out food. Sunny went to get it and the scent of Chinese food wafted up from the foyer.
Later, after dinner everyone flocked to the living room. Aylin was spending the night to 'observe' Cherry. My only thought on that one was stalker, much? But it was probably my fault that Cherry was having nightmares and such. Like, what the fuck? Having a random guy (who just so happened to be Sunny's ex) come and stab you might be a bit frightening to, but if I had just grabbed him or something he wouldn't have been able to do that to her at all! I could've grabbed him before he got up, but all I could do was scream my pretty little head off! What is wrong with me? Really, do I want everyone to die or something? Sheesh. I looked over at Sunny. She was staring mindlessly at the TV while playing video games against Aylin and Cherry. Jasper was yelling random instructions at all three of them. I sat watching them, fighting with myself in my head. I wasn't really paying particular attention to what game they were playing, and I was getting really bored. I must've sighed louder than I had intended, because Jasper stopped yelling instructions at the girls to stop and look at me. He asked me qeustions with his eyes. I just shrugged. I didn't exactly feel like watching them play games on the TV.
"Do you want to play?" Jasper asked.
"Not really, thanks." I replied. He looked at the TV then back at me, and he got up from his seat on the arm rest of the couch and sat on the arm rest of my chair.
"What do you want to do then?" He asked. I shrugged.
"I dunno...." I said, looking up at the ceiling and pursing my lips.
"We could go outside or something." He suggested.
"What time is it?"
"I don't know, does it matter?"
"The later it is, the colder it is."
"Not necessarily."
"But still."
"Fine, if you refuse to go outside and get fresh air, we can just sit in here and watch them play video games." He told me.
"What button! What button!" Sunny screamed all of a sudden. Cherry was beating her while Aylin was trying to grab at the popcorn that was sitting next to her while she steered.
"Fine then, let's go outside." I rolled my eyes, and silently slipped out with Jasper into the fresh, dark air...
You can hit me now. I know, I know, it took foreverrr to get this up, but HEY it's up now, huh? Yeah. Review. Please. I'm begging you!