Alice
Carlisle's insane move has reduced us all to a nocturnal existence.
Kansas.
America's Heartland
No trees, no hills, no forest – we have to run all the way into Missouri to hunt. It's just ridiculous.
It was a snap decision, I couldn't anticipate and form a good argument against it.
Carlisle thought it was a good move for all of us to get Edward away from country that would remind him of Bella and his mistake.
So now Carlisle's working nights in a hospital on an Indian reservation.
Esme is restoring another gigantic ranch house.
Emmett wants to play football for the local high school, but we can all see how bad an idea that would be.
Rosalie is pissed because this confinement reminds her of what she is. She hates staying indoors during the day.
Jasper is uneasy because of the similarities between here and his old home in the south.
Edward sits at home a lot. He can't compose. He says his muse is gone. He has no desire to do anything. He says it is the right thing, to let her heal without him re-entering her life. He knows she left Forks, but he asked me not to look at her future. Give her the privacy she deserves, he said.
He writes to her. At least one letter a day, sometimes more. He never posts them, keeping them in a wooden box locked in his desk drawer. They are great, long letters with page after page covered in his distinctive calligraphic script, script that is shaky because as he writes his body shakes with the dry sobs of the undead. I cannot even look my favorite brother in the eye anymore. There is no light in his eyes; they are just empty black holes devouring the landscape searching for her.
I do not know what those letters say. I am afraid to read them, afraid to know just how deep his pain is. I can't imagine walking away from Jasper as Edward did from Bella.
Edward's pain is affecting the whole family. No one laughs anymore, for fear of offending him. We hardly converse, because we might inadvertently reference something that would remind him of her. The family drifts around the house like sad specters, pale and quiet. This separation has reduced our once nearly normal family to something much closer to what we really are, for the first time since being a part of the Cullens, I feel like a vampire.
Edward may have to told me to give her privacy, but still, I know.
I know she nearly died in a tornado a few months back. If I had seen her dying, I would have warned her. The tornado sideswiped her apartment complex, leaving her unit and a few others relatively unharmed. It was so hard for me to let that happen to her. I had considered visiting her. I knew she was unhappy. She was alone. She was throwing herself into her schoolwork so she would not have to think about Edward. It was beginning to get better, she was crying less and smiling a little more often, but she was still a pale shadow of my ex-best friend.
She is changing. My vision does not let me see her motivation, just her actions. I do not know why she isn't sleeping, or why she drinks so often alone in her apartment. I never see her with friends, always alone. In one of my visions, she threw a book across the room, screaming and crying. This has to be about Edward. She isn't functioning well without him either.
This new Bella is different. She is trying to change herself away from Edward's Bella, my Bella. She dresses differently, speaks differently, when she even speaks at all.
Bella has left Arkansas for the summer. She joined an internship in Oklahoma, at the university, ironically hunting and filming the very thing that nearly killed her - tornados. I think she might be slightly suicidal, or maybe just trying to get Edward's attention. Either way, both her and Edward are not functional apart from each other. I can see that this separation will not last, but I can't see the reason they rejoin or the consequences.
I just wish my family was ….
We have had Demetri trailing her for three weeks and he has not turned up. Are you sure she is the one he cannot stay away from?
Yes, most gracious Aro, that human is who he killed my James to protect. The whole family mobilized around her to keep her safe. He loves her as I loved James. She knows about us, Aro. She knows what we are. You must consider the law.
I created the law, I can consider it however I want. And I want him.
Surely, you must be aware, my dear Victoria, that Edward Cullen can hear the thoughts of those around him? He is an asset of the greatest value. I will convince him to join me, one way or another.
She is the key?
Yes, this Bella is the key to Edward's compliance.
You know the law, Aro! The human female must perish, or become immortal herself! If we do not uphold the law, then why am I, Caius, even here for?
To help our quest, Caius. I never entertain for a moment the thought that you are here to uphold law, but to increase your own power.
I will have Demetri watch her for a few more days, then, if our dear Edward does not show up, we will apprehend her and bring her here, letting Carlisle know where she is. If that does not bring the Cullens to our doorstep, then you can decide, Caius, between death and vampirism for our Bella.
Felix, show Victoria the length of our hospitality.
With pleasure, Master.
The excruciating sound of tearing metal jolts Alice back to consciousness.
Oh my God, Bella!
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