"Well," I said after thinking about the orphanage and reliving past, personal hells for a moment. "We barely got fed. They gave us our daily—sometimes weekly, if we misbehaved—bowl of soup. It wasn't even good soup! More like water with rancid rice and chicken." A slow shiver ripped down my spine.
"Ew," Seth commented. He shivered too.
"I know," I agreed. "Very ew-worthy. Too bad it's all we lived off."
"I'm surprised you're not thinner than a stick," Seth said. "With only that to eat, I should say I'm surprised you're still alive!"
"Me too," I agreed. "Some girls did get worse, though. I was lucky; I was allowed to go into the streets much more than most. The first thing I found edible would go into my mouth. I ended up eating a lot of things that weren't exactly good for you, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"Where did all of you sleep?" Seth asked me. "I wouldn't be surprised—I'd be disgusted but not exactly surprised—if they made you sleep on the floor!"
I chocked a laugh. "No, no, no. We had beds. If you could call them that. They were more like giant pillow cases stuffed with moth balls.
"We barely slept, though, so I'm not sure why we had 'mattresses' anyway. We were up half the night doing the cleaning that the mistresses were to lazy to do."
"That's…terrible… You should sue," Seth told me.
"I bet I could," I said. "I doubt I could get into court, though."
Seth smiled. "Never underestimate the power of the Cullens. They have ways, Jasmine, they have ways." He chuckled. I found myself laughing with him. The laughter cut off abruptly when he noticed something flying out of my pocket.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked gesturing toward the piece of tattered paper that the wind was blowing away from me.
"No," I grumbled. I stood and raced after the photograph.
The race took me deep into the forest. Must the wind have been so strong today? The flying picture went out of my line of sight eventually. I couldn't believe it. The only picture I had of my parents was gone. I didn't want to cry here, but I couldn't help it. A few tears escaped my eyes before someone held the same picture I was chasing after in front of my eyes.
"This what you were looking for?" Seth asked.
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Thanks, Seth!" I took the picture out of his hands and looked down at it. The smallest thought of my parents usually put me into hysterics and this time, it didn't fail to do so. I started crying again.
"Hey, hey, hey," Seth said putting his hand on my back. My face was in my hands and, by this time, I was sobbing. "What's wrong, what's wrong?"
"N—nothing," I said. "I'm s—s—sorry."
Seth looked at the picture in my hands. He obviously saw the resemblance between me and my mother and guessed. "Your parents?" he asked me.
I nodded. "That was my mother," I said pointing to her. "I know nothing about her for sure, but I can just tell she was kind."
"She's your mother," Seth told me. "She has to be kind."
"Her name was Lidia Brandon," I told him. "She and my father died in a fire the day they brought me home from the hospital. I was lucky to make it out alive."
"And your father?" he asked.
"I knew he loved my mother, that's for sure." As I said this, I traced the outlines of my parents in front of my old house. They were hugging and my dad was kissing the top of my mother's head. They had to have loved each other a lot.
"Sure looks like it," he said.
A single tear drop fell onto the picture. It landed in the middle of both my parents. My silent tears became full sobs.
"What about your parents?" I managed to choke out.
Seth sighed. "My mom doesn't exactly approve of my friendship with vampires, she thinks it's dangerous. It's almost like she disowned me and kept Leah."
"And your father?"
It took Seth a long time to formulate his answer. "My dad," he began. I could see the pain it was causing him to talk about him. "He died of a heart attack when Leah and I phased. We turned into werewolves so young and it was too much for his frail heart to handle."
"You must really miss him," I said.
"I do," he replied. "It has to be worse for you, though."
"It might be," I said, "in some ways. But if I'd known my parents and grown to love them more than I do, it would've been harder for me to let go."
There was silence as we both thought.
It was almost as if I had Jasper's power at this moment. I could feel Seth's sadness. I could feel his frustration and guilt. I knew he thought it was his fault that his father was dead.
"You're wrong you know," I said quoting Jasper. "It's not your fault your father died. You couldn't help what you were meant to be, Seth. It's not your fault, don't blame yourself."
He sighed. "It's so hard not to blame myself when the accusation makes so much sense. Leah and I were the cause of my father's death. Leah always says I should get over it and move on, but it's difficult. It just seems like it wouldn't have been any different if I'd pulled the trigger myself. Gosh I miss him."
I wasn't sure what to say—I wasn't in Seth's place. I knew what it was like to lose a father, but I didn't know what it was like to lose a father I'd come to know well and love. Neither of us seemed to know what to say, we both weren't in the others exact place. We'd lost parental figures, but it was so different how they'd come to be lost. I sighed. This was making my head hurt.
"I think we should be getting back now," Seth said after a long silence.
"Yeah, it's getting dark," I agreed.
"Be right back, then," he said.
After another minute, Seth came back in his wolf form. I sat on his back without complaining this time and we raced through the forest. I barely cared that I was riding on a werewolf at hundreds of miles an hour through a forest. It was stupid, but I only really cared about the fact that I was with Seth. I felt comfortable around him, around this person I'd just met. I honestly felt like I could trust him with anything. I tightened my arms around his neck a bit as a hug. He barked another laugh.
When we got to the house, I jumped off of his back and went into the house as Seth went in the other direction, back to the forest. I didn't ask why.
"Hey, you," Alice said as she saw me come through the back door. "How was the ride?"
"It was amazing, Alice!" I said. "I wish you could feel the adrenaline! It was so fast and—"
"Trust me," Alice said. "I know how it feels."
I smiled and hugged her. Alice's neck strained away from me.
"What?" I complained.
"Well…um…you smell like werewolf," she giggled. "But it's okay, nothing that bad." She hugged me back.
I wondered if I should tell Alice what I was thinking. Edward might've already told her but I didn't care. I knew it was stupid to think so much of Seth already—I mean, I'd just met the guy! But I knew I felt something obviously. I was going to tell Alice. I'd made up my mind.
As soon as my mind had been made up, Alice seemed lost. Her face went blank and she was still as stone. A few seconds later, she snapped back to reality. I knew she'd had a vision. She probably already knew what I was going to say. In fact, I knew she already knew.
"Jasmine," she said. "Can you come upstairs with me for a second?"
"Of course, Alice," I said sarcastically.
She led me up the stairs and into my room. She sat on the bed and motioned for me to sit next to her. I did.
"Jasmine," she said. "Jasmine, you like Seth, don't you?"
I sighed. "More than I should, Alice, more than I should…"