Chapter 2

The rainbows on the floor

I dreamt that someone was walking towards me in the meadow. I knew that I knew this person but I couldn't quite figure out who it was. He was very familiar to me. I dreamt that he came over to me and whispered something into my ear, though I could not understand what he was saying because my body was convulsing from the cold and I was sobbing uncontrollably. Then, nothing. Everything was black; I heard no noises and saw nothing but blackness.

***

When I woke up I realized that I was in a somewhat familiar place the sun was raising a little and I could just barely make out the shapes of things around me. Behind the Cullen's house there was a cottage, this place was run down and had none of the necessities that a mere human needed, like heat, electricity, or running water. Edward had brought me here a couple of times before he left so we could be alone… Edward… How it pained me to even think of his name. Just thinking of it that once really did me in. Struggling to stay conscious after thinking his name, I realized that I was lying on some sort of a cot I had many blankets wrapped around me and I was in dry clothes. I laid under the blankets wrapping my arms around my torso trying so desperately to keep myself in one piece; I sobbed uncontrollably into the pillow my head was laying on.

Next thing I knew it was sunny and bright outside. I thought to myself that I must not be in Forks anymore and that I probably wasn't in that little cottage behind the house, because it's very rare for it to be sunny like this. I could feel the heat radiating in through the window. In the corner something moved, it was very quick but I definitely saw something move through the light that was streaked across the floor. I saw rainbows dancing across the floor. I immediately thought I knew who it was. It was HIM; HE had come back to me. I suddenly felt better than I had been feeling for the past couple of months. I could tell that my voice would be hoarse because my throat was so dry. I mustered up the courage to speak aloud what I had been hoping in my head. "Hello? Is someone else there? Edward," I choked out his name. "Is that you?" I could hear someone breathing across the room from me now. It was a soft and painful sound. I had heard that sound before, when Edward and I first met, after learning what he really was, I realized that his breathing, for lack of a better word, was so weird sounding because it was all he could do to keep from killing me. Every breath he took burned his throat, he tried to hold his breath but the need for my blood kept growing stronger and stronger.

A few minutes later the thing in the corner started to move. I was suddenly very frightened, what if it was Victoria? Surely Edward would have said something to me by now; maybe he was waiting to see my reaction, to see if I was going to be angry or if I was going to welcome him back into my life. Wait a second; I paused in my thinking, why should I welcome him back? He's the one that left me in the first place. As much as I loved him I just couldn't believe that he'd ever come back to me. He had told me that he didn't love me any more.

I looked in the direction of the movement, straining my eyes, and realized immediately who it was; I took a breath of relief once I noticed that it was Jasper and not Victoria, although it was not who I was desperately hoping it would be. As I took a deep breath I took in that sweet smell I had once loved so much, the smell of a vampire, a good vampire, like Alice had smelled, and Edward. Oh how I missed this smell. I could tell the difference between a good vampire and a bad vampire, when I had my "accident" with James last year he smelled so different, Edward had once explained to me that the different vampire diets caused a different smell. Vampires who drank the blood of animals had a sweet smell whereas vampires who drank human blood had a more musky smell. This was definitely a sweet smell.

Though the events of my birthday party flashed through my mind- a small paper cut leading to Jasper attacking and trying to kill me, Edward throwing me across the room to save me from Jasper, making me land on the table with my cake, slicing my arm open on broken crystal plates, and then ultimately Edward leaving me- I was happy to see Jasper. I had never gotten the chance to tell him that it was okay what had happened. He was still new to being a vegetarian and I honestly couldn't blame him for attacking me the way he did. He was innocent but Edward just didn't see it that way.

"Hello Bella." He said, smiling at me in the way that only a Cullen could his white teeth reflecting what little light shone into the corner where he was sitting.

"Oh, Jasper, You have no idea how thankful I am that it's you…" I paused, "I thought you were Victoria." I shuddered thinking back to my run in with Laurent and then back the year before to my attack from James.

"I'm sorry if I scared you…" He looked genuinely worried. He moved towards me, hesitating slightly.

"It's okay," I struggled to sit up but realized that I was wrapped very tightly in the blankets and there fore could not move. As soon as Jasper realized what I was trying to do he ran over to me in a blur, loosened the blankets from underneath me and helped me to sit up. Sitting up too quickly everything became blurry and my head started feeling extremely light, Jasper, who was still standing next to me swooped down and gently placed one hand behind my head and the other around my waist as if to give me a hug. The smell that radiated off from him made me feel better. He held me upright for a few seconds until I regained my composure. "What are you doing here?" I asked him once I had the ability to speak. He let me go and stood up walking across the room back to his corner, saying nothing. "Jasper?" I asked suddenly getting extremely worried.