Chapter 2

Absence

I am quick to realize that sitting and feeling sorry for myself isn't going to do anything. Mostly I am thinking about Carlisle and Esme…how will they react to this? I mean it's not like this was the first time Edward has done this.

I trudge slowly into the house. My siblings are back now and they know since they heard the whole exchange and Alice had a vision.

All I can do is look down. I don't want them seeing my face, my face that is probably showing the anger, hurt, and sadness I am feeling right now. Alice opens her arms out to me and I gladly go to her. I choke tearless cries as my thoughts are just unable to be spoken.

I want him to know that he has hurt not only me but the rest of our family.

I look at my other siblings who are obviously torn as well by Edward's departure. As I thought more the angrier I became.

What gave that Bella girl the right to just waltz right in and tear my family apart? What gave her the right to completely turn our school upside down? And more importantly what gave her the right to be so appealing and so good smelling.

I knew it wasn't really her fault that this was all going on. But she kind of inadvertently was the cause of it.

I run to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. I pinch myself and shut my eyes before opening them…maybe I'm dreaming? Though I knew it was impossible since I was a vampire and vampires don't sleep.

I went into my room and lay on the couch that was in there for decorative purposes (Alice). I heard a knock at the door but just grumbled "Go away"

"You know I'm not going to" Alice said.

I just sat there pouting and Alice just walks into the room anyway.

"Hazel" she said in a firm tone.

"What!" I yelled "he's gone…gone…not coming back."

"He's going to be back…I saw it" Alice said.

"Still that stupid girl she just thinks that…" but Alice cut me off.

"It's not really her fault."

"No shit Sherlock" I said. I didn't like the way I was talking to my sister so I sighed and said "I'm sorry…I'm just really mad right now."

"You don't think I feel the same way?" Alice asked.

"True dat" I said.

"We were going to the clubhouse; you want to come with us?" She asked.

I sighed and said "Sure…why not."

Alice laughed and pulled me off of the couch before dragging me down the stairs where we met Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie…there was still a feeling hanging over the air like someone was missing.

We all knew that, that someone was Edward.

When we ran to the clubhouse we stopped and entered the code, went inside and stared at the gloomy interior of the clubhouse which we carved out of the base of a tree and partially underground.

"What exactly happened?" Emmett asked sounding slightly confused.

"Well it seemed like he was bothered by the new girl at lunch." Rosalie said.

"Yeah but why?" Emmett asked.

My siblings all looked at me since Edward usually told me everything and Alice knew that he had told me what was bothering him about this Bella Swan girl.

"Well…remember how when we were in Delaware and how Emmett found his…singer, the one where her blood sang to him" I said trying to get them thinking.

"That didn't go over too well." Rosalie said.

"Well today during biology Edward told me that Bella was his singer…he said he almost attacked her. He didn't want to have to deal with her so he…left." I said.

My siblings stared at me in unison and I hung my head.

"He's going to come back" Alice said in a firm voice that almost made us have to believe her.

"But what if he doesn't Alice? He's left before." I said.

My siblings stared at me again and I sighed for a second remembering that that was before any of them had joined our coven and we didn't really talk about it.

"In 1928…Edward left. He wanted to try the other lifestyle that we were missing out on. He was gone for four years." I said and just looked at them.

They all were looking at the ground trying to think of something to say. I felt a wave of calmness go over me and looked at Jasper who smirked the slightest bit.

I could only just sit there like a mope and glare at the ground…hitting it and pretending that it was going to bring my brother back.

I tracked him…he was in Alaska with Tanya's family…the Denali Coven who we considered our first cousins.

That night was tough…I felt betrayed…angry and hurt although it wasn't really Edward's fault…or Bella's for that matter.

Day 2

My siblings and I drove to school in Rosalie's convertible I don't think I've looked up ever since I came to school…only when I had to solve a math problem in Mr. Johnson's class but that's it.

That day was torture in the cafeteria. Bella Swan kept staring over at our table…it looked like she was looking for Edward and that annoyed me even more. I almost wanted to shout "He left because of you!" But it would be mean to do that.

I studied her and tried to forget about the way her veins showed slightly through her skin and her amazingly good scent.

Jasper kicked me under the table and I scowled. It was about 5 times harder for him and he could feel what I was feeling and that was…well you get the point.

"How many days is this shit going to go on?" I asked Alice.

"A week at the most" Alice assured me.

I scowled again "this is going to suck ass."

"Hazel watch your language please! And Emmett you are so dead from showing her that stupid show Sport Prank or whatever the hell it's called!" Rosalie said in an angry tone.

"It's called South Park." Emmett and I said at the same time.

"Whatever" Rosalie muttered.

I could tell that Edward's absence wasn't really hitting everyone else as hard as it seemed to be hitting me. However, Bella Swan seemed to be looking at our table every few seconds and when she saw his empty chair over and over again she looked at the ground with a guilty expression on her face.

The rest of the day sucked as well, Jenna Bright wrote a poem in English about dwarfs and how they ruin the atmosphere for everyone, that they sulk and annoy everyone with their presence.

Then Jeremy Nickel told her she was quote being an 'ignorant bitch' to which Jenna responded with that she was 'popular' and 'everyone loved her' then Mrs. Barnes had to calm the whole class down.

Overall it wasn't as bad as I perceived it to be however the only bad thing really was that Edward wasn't there.

Day 3

I felt as if I was fighting myself and the world. I tried thinking of things that would make Edward want to come back.

I knew it wasn't really the right thing to do but I needed him to see what he was doing to all of us. If he needed support for this whole Bella thing why couldn't he just come to us?

Today I overheard Jessica Stanley trash talking about us to Bella during lunch today.

"Oh my gosh did you know that apparently Edward left because he doesn't like having sit next to the window in Trig…I heard from Lisa Wilder that he's somewhere is China or whatever. That stupid asshole I bet that he would rather do that than sit around with his boring siblings all day. I mean they don't even do anything all they do is sit there and look like they want to take a punch at someone…" yeah a punch at her!

Emmett's teeth were bared since we all heard the shit this bitch was saying. Let's just say it was fucking insane.

Who did she think she was? The one thing I was actually amused by was that Bella Swan said "No it's because he doesn't like me."

"What the fuck are you talking about he is always staring at you." Jessica said.

"It was one day!" Bella argued.

"So! He never pays a tiniest bit of attention to any girl in this school except his sisters." Jessica said.

"Yeah he was so repulsed by my presence that he had to…I mean you know how sometimes you don't like something but you look at it anyway!" Bella merely shouted.

"Still, but anyways who cares what he thinks. He's a weirdo anyway." Jessica said turning to look at Mike.

"Gosh why is everyone so mean about the Cullens?" Bella asked Angela Weber.

Angela shrugged "People are just judgmental and don't know how to appreciate the differences in others."

Bella nodded seemingly to agree.

I turned back to my siblings "well Bella seems to think that she's at fault for Edward's disappearance" I said making quote signals around the last word.

"Do you think he may have given himself away?" Jasper asked in a voice too low for humans to hear.

"Probably" Rosalie scowled.

"Even if maybe she'll think that something else bothered him or maybe when he comes back he'll straighten out." Emmett said.

"Met…I don't think she's that stupid. She even asked Angela 'Why is everyone so mean about the Cullens?' Angela responded with an actually logical answer that people were too judgmental and Bella seemingly agreed" I said.

"So Bella doesn't seem to be taking after Jessica's strange tales about us?" Alice asked.

"Not that I see." I said.

"Well that's good but I mean who knows if this Bella girl really does think that I mean maybe she's just trying to seem all caring." Rosalie said and we all stared at her. "What?" She asked.

"Come on Rose you don't seriously think that do you?" Emmett asked.

"Well not really but we need to be cautioned here because now that Edward's gone we don't have someone to know whether or not someone is suspicious of us."

"Well she wasn't lying." I said.

Rosalie just responded by raising her eyebrows at me.

Day 4

Today was the first day that the reality of my situation began to sink in. I finally saw how this was affecting the other members of my family.

Late at night when I was in my room reading I overheard Esme and Carlisle talking.

"Oh where do you think Edward is right now?" Esme said.

"I don't know but he's probably doing the right thing." Carlisle said.

"I guess but what exactly went wrong?" Esme asked.

"I'm not exactly sure." Carlisle said.

"I just hope he's not gone for four years like how he was in 1928." Esme said sounding like she was about to cry if she could.

I walked down the hall and looked through Edward's bedroom trying to find something that I could catch his scent to make it like he was there.

I know I shouldn't have been this paranoid about him not coming but from the past experiences I was a bit nervous he wouldn't come back.

At least he was sticking to the vegetarian lifestyle because if he didn't then it would be a whole lot worse.

Day 5

Sunday… on Tuesday it's going to be one week Edward's been gone. I walked into my room at approximately 2pm.

"Hey Hayz" I heard a voice saying. I looked up from the floor and saw him sitting on the couch in my room.

"EDWARD!" I shouted and tackled him. He stroked my hair and I looked him in the eyes "Do not ever leave again do you understand!" I shouted at him.

"Yes I understand." Edward said.

"What made you decide to come back?" I asked.

"Tanya convinced me." Edward shrugged but at that moment I didn't care about anything else. The only thing I cared about was that I had my brother back.

"Come on let's go tell the others you're back" I said and he laughed before following me out the door to my room.