Alice stood up from her desk, envelope in hand. She walked over to the bureau and placed the envelope on its oak top, where Jasper would be sure to see it.
Carlisle and Esme knew already that Alice was departing the house, at least for a small time, but they knew not the reason. The family would understand her decision soon enough. Alice knew the truth would come out eventually, but it was neither her desire nor her place to rush its arrival. It was not in Alice's nature to cause trouble, nor had it ever been. If ever she found herself in a situation in which her decision had the power to either bring about trouble or entirely circumvent it, Alice always chose the option that led to the latter. This time was hardly different, in that aspect at least. She would leave quietly, and sort things out on her own, without dragging her family down. It wasn't as if they did not notice that something was amiss with Alice, and if any one member of the coven pressured Alice enough, she would reveal secrets that were not hers to reveal. That chance was not one that Alice was prepared to take, and though Forks was her home, she would do whatever it took to protect her family and keep them together.
Alice walked silently away from the bureau and gathered her bags from where they sat on the floor. She gave her bedroom a final once-over, and strode lithely to the door. Alice took a steadying breath and made her exit, glad for once to be alone in the house as she said her silent goodbyes to the only real home she'd ever known.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The first vision came to Alice as she watered Esme's backyard flower garden. The images Alice saw were brief, flashing before her eyes one after the other, forever seared into her brain. At first, Alice could not fathom what she was seeing: Edward and Jasper, making love in Edward's bedroom. It made no sense; neither Edward nor Jasper had ever before betrayed her. She trusted each of them with her safety and her happiness. Surely this was some sort of trick her mind was playing on her. Lately, she had been working overtime with her visions. Maybe something inside her brain had fried in the process, and now random images were being thrown around….
No. Alice had never been wrong before. False visions just didn't come to her. Everything was absolutely going to happen as she saw it, unless someone involved changed his or her mind. Visions may have been fuzzy in the details in the past, but it wouldn't be with a vision involving a member of the Cullen family. Alice could come up with thousands of times that visions had been minutely wrong, but nothing could explain what she'd just seen. Except: Edward and Jasper were having an affair. It was a truth that Alice found hard to swallow, but a truth nonetheless. And one she could do nothing about, at that.
Would Alice even want to change it? She knew that she couldn't, but that was another matter entirely. What gave Alice the right to tell Jasper, or Edward, for that matter, whom he could love? Nothing did. What choice had she but to leave this place and therefore leave Jasper's happiness intact?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alice placed her bags in the backseat of the Aston Martin that sat in the garage. It wasn't technically her car; the Vanquish belonged to Edward. However, considering that Edward had Alice's husband, the trade seemed more than fair, and the few qualms that Alice had against grand theft auto, particularly when the victim was her own brother, were squashed by the hurt she felt inside. Certainly, it was petty, but mostly, Alice was beyond caring.
The engine started with one swift turn of the key in the ignition. There was a quietly powerful noise as Alice pushed experimentally on the accelerator before putting the car into reverse and backing out of the garage. Alice paused at the mouth of the driveway and rolled down the driver's-side window to throw something onto the ground below. As Alice drove down the driveway, the rearview mirror lay tattered in the gravel where she threw it, reflecting nothing but the trees and sky above.