Sorry I took so long to update, been busy busy. Hope you enjoy the chapter, reviews more than welcome – I love to know what you all think :) Next one might be up quite soon, depends if I get too tired!
I looked around me. I really was in the middle of the woods. No one would hear me scream, no one could help me. As scared as I wanted to be calm coursed through me. I looked back at Jasper. He was staring intently at me, not breaking contact. His stare was so powerful I had to look away.
I looked down when Toby started barking again. I tried to call him to me but he went running off through the woods, no longer finding Jasper interesting. I should follow him otherwise I would never find him again, but my feet still refused to move. I looked at Jasper again.
It was the first time I had properly taken in his appearance apart from the obvious. He had blonde wavy hair that framed his snow-white face. His eyes, like his familie's, were golden, staring into mine. He was tall, a lot taller than me, probably a foot and a half taller than me. His muscles were defined, but not as large as Emmett's. He wore a plain white t-shirt that perfectly showed all of his muscles. I couldn't help but appreciate it.
'I should go.' I said, forcing my feet to move even though they seemed determined to stay. I didn't know why I was telling him this; it wasn't like we were having a conversation. Toby had run behind Jasper, so I realised I would also have to walk right by him unless I took a long route round. This unusual confidence in me guided me forward.
My feet went one after the other slowly towards Jasper as I passed him on my left. He was looking straight forwards with a strained look on his face. I didn't want to know what he was straining not to do.
I hadn't realised how close I had walked by him until I was right by his side. My hand brushed his, sending a shiver up my arm. I froze as his head snapped to look at me. Our eyes locked, neither of us speaking or moving. We stayed like that for a minute until he suddenly jolted away from me, sending surprise through me.
My mind came back to me as I remembered I was following my dog. I peeled my eyes away from him and quickly walked further into the forest, searching for any sign of the lunatic dog.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I arrived at the Cullen house Edward was acting strangely. He stared at me for the first twenty minutes I was there, before turning to Bella and whispering in her hear. She turned to stare too. After another ten minutes I couldn't take it.
'What?' I snapped at the two of them, causing them to look away. I continued staring at them, wanting to know why I suddenly seemed so fascinating.
'Why didn't you tell us you saw Jasper?' Edward asked me. All other heads in their living room turned to look at me, shocked looks covering their faces.
'How...?' I had forgotten Edward's ability, but it came back to me. I sighed. I knew they would worry, so I hadn't told them of my encounter in the woods. Then again, how much could you hide from vampires?
'Not much.' Edward replied to my thoughts, a smug smiled on his face. I glared back at him.
'Does someone want to explain for all those who can't read minds?' Ruby cut in, looking frustrated.
'Beth saw Jasper in the woods.' Edward said, not breaking contact with me.
'I figured that much!' Ruby still sounded annoyed. They all seemed so shocked, yet hardly anything had happened. We had barely spoken two words before I left.
'That's not the point. None of us have seen him in days. If he didn't want to be seen by you he wouldn't have been. Plus you could have been hurt.' Edward barged through my thoughts again. This was annoying.
'Get used to it.' He said. Again! I shouted in my head. Just butt out! He chuckled to himself while I glared at him further.
'I can't bear you sifting through my thoughts!' I said, turning to leave their house.
'Oh c'mon Beth, it's not like it's really his choice, it's like you're talking to him, he just replies.' Bella said coming towards me.
'You wouldn't know how it feels!' I said back to her, threatening to shout. I was so tense but I wasn't sure why. I was getting so worked up about something that was barely important. I sighed.
'I'm sorry; it's just so damn irritating.' I said turning back to them.
'I know Beth, I'm sorry too. I'll let you say something out loud before I comment next time.' I thanked him in my head and he nodded.
'Okay, we're all friends, great, now will you tell me what happened?' Ruby said, looking at me angrily.
'I t really was nothing.' I assured the staring eyes. 'I was walking Toby, and we sort of just bumped into each other, said hi, blah blah blah...' I said. There really was nothing to get excited over. It wasn't even like anything interesting was said. Ruby was still glaring at me suspiciously.
'Seriously Rubes, nothing worth saying out loud.' Edward said looking bored. She narrowed her eyes once more at me, before dropping it.
I didn't stay for a lot longer; I was hungry and hated being the only one eating. Ruby would sit and watch me, clearly jealous of one of the many things she could no longer do. I did feel sorry for her; she always watched me doing 'humanly things' as Emmett put it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
School continued over the next week and my rib was almost completely healed. I had to sit out of sport though for another month. It was irritating, seeing as I was in most of the sport teams.
No one in the Cullen had seen Jasper, which made me wonder why he had decided to show himself to me. Edward had pointed out that if he didn't want to be seen he would have stayed away, but I did see him. I also couldn't figure out why he hadn't returned home at all.
A week since I had seen Jasper, mum asked me to walk Toby. I started the walk with no particular intentions, but before I had thought about it, I was at the edge of the forest. I decided to continue; it was an innocent walk with my dog. Ruby hadn't told me to steer clear of the woods since, so I wasn't.
My feet walked while I let my mind rest. I ended up close to the place I had seen Jasper last time, and I decided to sit. There was a small stump in a clearing, so I sat down to rest my feet.
I didn't really know what I was doing; I wasn't waiting for him, but I also wasn't doing anything else. For some reason I felt some sort of pull to the woods, to where I had seen him. I felt a pull towards the one who tried to drink my blood. The thought made me chuckle to myself.
I lifted my head up to the sky. There was dappled sunlight coming through the trees, barely any sun hitting leafy floor. I shut my eyes enjoying the little heat on my face. Toby sat beside me, unusually as he would normally be off, looking for something to eat. I heard him beside me suddenly get up.
I snapped my eyes open. Jasper was sitting on another tree stump across the clearing. Our eyes locked and I smiled at him, not breaking the silence. No emotion crossed his face; he just stared back at me. I felt strangely comfortable in his presence, so I leant my head back again and closed my eyes.
I don't know how long we sat, unmoving in comfortable silence, but he eventually broke it.
'How is Esme?' He asked me. I brought my head back down, opening my eyes to look at him. I could hear in his voice, the love and care for his adoptive mother. I smiled.
'She's happy,' I replied, 'or as happy as she can be without you. She misses you, you know?' My voice was soft. It was really a silent plead for him to go home. I didn't know Jasper, but I knew his family loved him and he was tearing them apart by being so close, yet so far.
He didn't say anything, just gazed at me, tilting his head slightly. We sat in silence for a few more moments when Jasper spoke again. This time his voice was barely a whisper.
'I can't. I can't do it. They remind me of her. Esme's sad smiles, sentences left unfinished, Edward's guilt. It's hurts to remember.' I could see the pain in his eyes now. It was torturing him to stay away from his family, but I could see it would be torture to return.
'Maybe that's how it can get better.' I started, lightening the tone in my voice. 'Remember her. Rejoice in her life. Remember the good things, how she made you happy. When you think about her, they should be happy thoughts, not sad ones.' He was staring at me intently, as if expecting me to say more, so I continued.
'You know, when my dad died, I shut myself off from everyone. My brother always reminded me of my dad, they looked the same.' Jasper was still silent. 'I didn't talk to my brother for almost a year. It destroyed my mum, but I didn't care. I just pretended it hadn't happened.
One day I came home from school and I saw my mum in crying in the kitchen. I was breaking her heart and it pulled me out of it. I was making it even harder for her; it was more like she lost me and my dad.
Now we talk about my dad. It doesn't bring pain, just happy memories from when he was alive.' I said, still watching Jasper. Now he was staring at Toby as he sniffed around the clearing.
'She was a shopaholic. Absolutely obsessed. She could shop for days on end if the stores were to stay open. It used to drive Bella insane, but Rose always loved a good shopping session with Alice.' There was a gleam to his eyes as he said her name. He was staring at nothing, a tiny smile forming on his face. 'I used to tell her she should go to one of those shopaholic anonymous meetings.' He chuckled as he remembered moments of their time together.
He was healing. Sure, it was a long and slow process, but it was happening.
I sat while Jasper talked. He told me their stories, their laughs, spoke about Alice for the first time in almost fifty years. He eventually grew quiet.
'You should go. We've been here almost three hours. I wouldn't want people to worry about you getting lost in the woods.' He smiled. I got up to leave and he stood too.
'Thank you Beth.'