Chapter Sixteen
She knew she had to go back. She couldn't just abandon Renesmee as the school.
But, it was harder than she thought, turning away from the forest surrounding her and heading back to the high school. She knew she had fucked up. But, if she were to have stayed in that room she knew there was a high possibility she would slip up. If the boy had spoken and even somewhat sounded like her brother, she would have probably have a breakdown right there and then. She'd have to find a way to switch out of that class and steer clear of him.
So, she went back to the school, making sure to be fast enough that no one would see her, and slipped into the little Volvo, putting the key in the ignition, but leaving it off and waiting for the final bell to ring.
Renesmee was there within a minute of the last class ending and she seemed to know immediately that something was off.
"What happened?" She asked, eyes wide in worry.
Zondrea just shook her head, "I can't talk about it right now." She replied tightly, hurrying to start the car and pull quickly out of the busying lot.
"Your eyes." Renesmee commented as soon as they left the grounds.
"Don't worry, no one saw." Zondrea hurriedly reassured her, taking quick left to get off the highway and pull into the Cullen's long drive.
Renesmee stayed silent the rest of the way, seeming to respect that Zondrea needed to not be questioned right in that moment.
And, as soon as they pulled up to the garage, Zondrea was out of the vehicle. "I'm going for a run." She informed Renesmee, almost smirking at how human that sounded, but then quickly remembering why she wanted to be alone in the first place.
The younger girl easily nodded and didn't question anything and Zondrea couldn't help, but feel gratitude at that.
Without anymore hesitation, Zondrea took off like a bullet, exiting the garage and heading towards the waterfall she had seen on her first day here. The place had a sense of such calmness and beauty, that it was the first place she had thought to go.
The fresh air and running helped, she felt free of her earlier worries, but his face still fogged her mind with unnecessary memories of her past.
She reached the waterfall within minutes and she stopped there, taking a moment to enjoy the noises surrounding her. It was honestly beautiful.
The waterfall came off of a cliff-face and lazily dumped water into a small pond-like structure next to her. Woodland animals were all around and their noises meshed well with the sound of running water.
Zondrea made a split second decision and, before even fully thinking it through, dived into the water.
Despite the weather not being fully warm yet, the water still felt of a higher temperature than her skin. She didn't close her eyes, but instead swam deeper and deeper, about twenty feet, till she reached the bottom where she let herself stay like a stone.
She let herself take a moment before screaming, letting out all the air that she had saved in her lungs and let it flow out, muffled by the water and coming out in raging bubbles. She was hoping that all her frustrations would disappear with the scream, but they stayed, sinking deeper into her mind and crawling under her stone hard, cold skin.
She still stayed down there, head in her hands and knees curled up to her chest, trying so hard to shut off her thoughts, at least for the time being.
But, a muffled deep voice broke her out of her misery and she listened more carefully and, sure enough, a few seconds late she could hear her name being called through the vibrations of the water. She easily recognized the voice and started to swim upwards.
If it had been anyone besides Emmett, she probably wouldn't have bothered breaking through the surface, more likely than not, she would have stayed at the bottom until someone had to physically drag her from her spot.
She reached the surface quickly and spotted Emmett right away. He was crouched on a rock near the pond and had clearly been peering in to see her in the water.
"A bit cold for swimming, isn't it?" He attempted at a joke, but she didn't even bother with faking a smile. It was too much effort to even do that.
Instead, she just quietly pulled herself out of the pond and sat on the ground beneath the boulder that Emmett was on. She worked on wringing out her hair, moving humanly slow just because she didn't have the urge to move any faster.
"Renesmee said you ran off." He commented, edging down off the rock and sitting beside her with his knees up, elbows resting on his thighs.
"Did she now?" Zondrea stalled, not wanting to get to the point, but she knew it was going to happen soon anyways.
"What happened?" He simply asked, never looking directly at her, but straight ahead, occasionally picking up a stone and throwing it far off into the distance, sometimes hitting a tree and leaving an obvious dent.
Zondrea sighed, letting her hand drop into her lap. "I was heading to my last class and saw a boy." She started and now Emmett turned to her like he was ready to tease, but she didn't fail to see a different emotion in his eyes, but both those emotions vanished as soon as he saw her face. "You should have seen him, Emmett, just looking at him you would have realized why I ran. He looks like me and exactly like my brother...or what my brother did look like." She corrected herself, putting him in past tense.
"I mean, I know that can be painful, but why would you leave? It doesn't make sense." He finally spoke after a moment, again staring straight ahead, eyebrows knit in confusion.
Zondrea turned her head and then reached for his hand, gripping it tightly. "Emmett, I'm going to tell you a story and I don't want this repeated absolutely anyone. I know, you can't help with Edward, but even try not think about it around him, okay?" She asked, catching his gaze and seeing it flicker slightly down to their joined hands.
"Yea, okay, I promise." He said quietly and Zondrea contently sighed, releasing him and sitting back against the rock.
"Our story begins in a very small town, at the time, called Brighten. It's on the coast of England and the year is 1784, on a cold night a baby girl is born to two very wealthy parents who immediately give the child to their house-keeper to take care of while the baby's father attends to business and the mother is off hosting parties and keep up with her social life."
"Now, the young girl grows into a very lonely childhood. She had her nanny and house workers, but no real parents. They were always too busy to put with any of her child's play. But, when the girl turned eight, her mother had a second child and the two children were almost identical in looks, if they had been the same age, you could hardly think of them as anything, but twins.
So, now the young girl had a baby brother to protect and had been assuming that the boy was to be treated like she had been, to be raised by the nanny. But, she assumed very wrong and stupidly so. The boy was treated like a gift and prince by her parents, they cherished him and loved him more than the little girl had ever felt."
Zondrea paused, taking a deep unnecessary breath.
"So, the girl grew into a teenager and did so very bitterly. She grew to absolutely hate her parents and loathe them for how they treated her. Everytime they'd try to form an arranged marriage, the girl would always scheme a plan to make it so the to-be-groom's family would never want her for a daughter-in-law.
One night, when the girl had snuck out like she often did, usually as just another rebel against her parents, she came across a stranger in a dark alley. And, back in this time period, it wasn't scary, nor cliche and the girl found herself speaking with the stranger, enchanted by the mans eyes which were a dark, ruby red color. The man spoke of all these possibilities, such as amazing strength, becoming immortal, and endless options.
The dumb, young girl fell for it. She thought this man had come to save her from her life, which was an earthly hell to her. The girl was even stupid enough to believe she fell in love with this man after the first few words escaped his mouth." Zondrea scoffed at the story.
"And, in that dark little alley, the man fulfilled his promises he made to the girl and he bit her. The girl went through a great amount of pain for days, but it seemed like years to her. She woke up in a unknown house where the man was standing before her, holding a human woman by her neck and he asked 'do you want a taste?'. It was the start to a huge massacre phase in the girls life. She felt powerful and unstoppable and didn't regret leaving her worthless, human family behind.
Within ten years, though, she grew tired of the man's demands. She wanted to go see her family, to show them how great and powerful she had become, that she wasn't just some loser that had died in the gutter after a drug overdose, which was the story they had provided for everyone. So, she left the man, telling him if it was meant to be, they'd cross paths again."
Zondrea was now slowing down, knowing she was reaching the climax in her story.
"The girl went home, but didn't approach anyone till nightfall. Only when it was completely dark out did she go to her old home, knowing her family would still be living there. She knocked on the door, and waited.
It was her mother who answered and gasped as soon as she looked her daughter in the eyes. Then the screaming started and the girls mother ran straight back into the house, trying to shut the door behind her, but the daughter caught it and barged in, furious now.
Her father was the next one to show up, looking somewhat annoyed and worried. But, when he saw his daughter he too started to yell, yanking a cross from the wall and tossing it at the girl. He even grabbed for holy water, trying to splash it upon his daughter and, as he did so, he kept yelling about demons and praying to god.
Lastly...was the girls brother, who had come barging down the stairs. That was when the girl froze. Her brother was her age now, well the age she had gotten turned at. They looked exactly the same, except for opposite genders. And all he could fucking do-" Zondrea was digging her hands into the rocky water bed now, crushing them with her hands. "was fucking stand there with his mouth hanging open in shock. There was no warm greeting for the girl, only the hate she had grown up with. So, she did was she saw best then.
She murdered them all."
Zondrea couldn't continue the story, although there really wasn't much else to say. She had murdered her own family out of hate and a grudge she had held over them.
"Well, this girl should have known by now to not blame herself for that sort of thing." Emmett very quietly said, edging his hand over to Zondrea's and brushing his fingers along the back of it in hesitation, before wrapping it in his own, deciding that that was okay.
"Well, that girl was a fool and so naive." She responded, letting her head fall back against the rock.
Without warning, Emmett was standing up, pulling her with. "What are you-" But, she didn't have a chance to say anything before she was being pulled into the pond, Emmett's arm wrapped around her, so she couldn't refuse to go in.
Though, she did escape from his grasp once under the water and she quickly resurfaced, Emmett doing the same. She turned to his, taking a moment to glance at him, noticing the way his curly hair was flopping onto his forehead and was absolutely dripping.
"What was that about?" She accused, but couldn't help, but smile.
"To lighten to the mood." He suggested, smirking before sending splashing her.
She laughed now, "I hate you," She joked, and returned the wave of water.
"Just let it go, Z, it's gonna be alright. You have us now." He reminded her on a more serious note.
She nodded at this, considering that this was true. "You know, you really shouldn't have pulled me in here." She playfully spoke and got a confused grin in response.
"Why?" He asked and she looked up.
"Because, I don't play fair." And then she was dunking him underneath the water, laughing all the while and letting him resurface and he did so, shaking his wet hair towards her.
And while the two acted like children, she decided to take his advice and just let it go.
(A/N : Well, there it is. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was taking care of a sick dog and spent most the night on hold with US Cellular. Anyways, new chapter tomorrow and please review!)