Esme
I was pacing in our bedroom in front of Carlisle.
"I don't understand why that was so bad." He said.
"Because Carlisle, you tried threatening her with things that will only drag her deeper down."
"Wouldn't ever punishment drag her down?"
"Some are worse than others. School, where she had an anxiety attack in front of us as soon as you asked the first time. Do you remember that? Your daughter, who refuses to let us see her as anything but strong, had an anxiety attack in front of the whole family. And Mason, her only source of happiness? Are you really thinking of keeping her away from him? What if that were us?"
"You heard Mason; he said he will leave, even if it's just to scare her. He knows she needs help."
"Carlisle, just talk to her about it. In the morning, be yourself. Your normal, kind, always-finding-the-right-solution self. She won't talk to anyone, even if she sits with Jasper, she won't speak if she is being forced to. Let her decide when to answer questions."
"She won't ever decide to!"
"Maybe she isn't ready to Carlisle!" I raised my voice slightly. "Why can you not understand that that girl is being torn to shreds just because she thinks she's a burden, and therefore doesn't want to speak? Maybe if you talked to her calmly and privately about why you want her to and how she could benefit from it, she might say yes. Maybe, if you took into consideration of what she was feeling, she wouldn't be crying her room, contemplating whether to up and leave, or pick up that razor, and maybe we wouldn't be having this argument."
"She won't choose to talk, Esme."
"Because you're giving her no choice!" I yelled. He stared at me for a second before I walked out of our room and down the staircase.
"Esme, stop." He followed me.
I walked to the front door and grabbed my keys on my way out.
"Esme—"
"I'll come back when you decide to treat your daughter like she has a decision in her life. Let her call me when that time comes." I said as I walked out.
"Esme!" He yelled.
I kept walking, unchanged by his hurt tone, or his volume.
I got in my car and drove away without looking at him again. My magnificent red Ferrari glided down the driveway. I was still in love with it.
My phone vibrated and I checked who it was. It was Violetta, so I opened it.
"Please don't leave. I can't handle this being my fault too."
I stopped the car and turned back to the house. I flashed inside and up to Violetta's room. Carlisle was right behind me.
"Come on."
She stared at me, her cheeks and eye red from crying. She stood up and followed me down the staircase. "Where are we going?"
"Away." I replied.
"Esme, you can't—"
"I just did." I said to him, repeating what he had said to Violetta earlier.
"Esme, stop." Edward said. "You're making a scene here."
"Well damn. I'm sorry that I like people to be treated fairly, and not like they're slaves. I think she's had enough of that in her life, don't you?" I asked Edward, glaring at him.
Everyone was silent and staring from the living room.
I looked between Edward and Carlisle into the living room. "Mason, would you like to come with us?"
He hesitated before standing and walking out the front door to where Violetta had gone.
"Grow up." I said to Carlisle before I followed Mason out and closed the front door.
I drove down the driveway and turned left.
"Where are we going to go?" Violetta asked quietly.
"I have no idea." I admitted.
"Are we just road tripping?" Mason asked.
"I guess so. I don't know how far we'll get before I give in."
Silence filled the car.
"Thank you." Violetta said.
"For what?"
"For standing up for me like that. I know it mustn't have been easy for you."
"You have no idea. I haven't spoken to Carlisle like that since, well the other day when he was thinking about turning your life support off when you asked, but other than that, it's been decades."
My phone rang but I declined Carlisle's call. He called Violetta next. "Decline it."
"I can't…" She said guiltily.
"You can." I said.
"I already answered…what dad?"
"Put me on speaker please."
"He wants to be on speaker." She said to me. I shook my head.
"Hang up, Vi."
"Esme said no."
"Violetta, please." He begged her.
She sniffed and bit her lip as a tear rolled down her cheek, "I got to go."
"Letty, no. Please, sweetheart."
She closed her eyes like it physically pained her to do it. "I'm so sorry, dad. I love you."
"Violetta—" She hung the phone up and wiped her tear.
Mason looked helpless as he watched the tears slide down her face before she quickly wiped them away.
Carmen rang me then. I hooked it up to the cars' Bluetooth. "Hey Carmen."
"Oh sweetie, where are you?" She asked, relieved that I answered.
"We're on the highway."
"Where are you going?"
"Um…we don't really know."
"We're road tripping!" Mason said excitedly. Violetta laughed through a few tears and smiled at him.
"Apparently Mason really likes road trips." She said.
"So, we've got a little problem." Carmen said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Carlisle, Jasper and Edward are in a screaming match with Rosalie, Bella and Tanya."
"At least it's even numbers…" I said.
"That's not helpful Esme! I don't think I've ever had this many people to calm down and in don't know what to do."
"Just, let them fight it out." I said, speeding up a little as we got further and further from civilisation.
"Esme, does that- shit."
"What?" I asked.
"Um, Rosalie is accusing them of tearing the family apart and Alice just walked out. Eleazar is following her. This is chaos; you are literally what keeps this family tame."
"No, they just tend to get a bit lost when I'm not around. Just, put Rosalie on the phone please?"
"Okay." There was a moment of talking before Rosalie's voice came over.
"Esme?"
"Hey sweetheart. You need to calm down, okay? Just pretend I'm going to Seattle."
"But you always take with you to Seattle." She sounded like a young child, and sounded like she could cry real tears. "And Alice. I don't even know where Alice went."
"She went outside with Eleazar honey. Rose, I need you to listen to me okay?"
"Yeah…"
"The family isn't being torn apart, okay? We're going to come back eventually."
"You said you would only be a week when you found Violetta, and you were gone for 3 months. I don't know what to do when you're not here. Carlisle used to keep it calm when you were gone, now he started it all."
"He's just upset, okay? Tell him that Esme said to go to his study and cool off."
"Carlisle. Carlisle! Esme said to tell you to go to your study and cool off."
"Esme doesn't even know what's happening!"
"Please stop yelling at me." She said in a sad tone.
"Rose? Give the phone to Carlisle."
"Okay. I love you Esme, and Vi and Mas." She said before there was the crackling sound of her giving the phone to Carlisle.
"Carlisle?"
"Yes my dear?" He asked, sounding completely fine.
"Give the phone to Carmen, go upstairs, and calm down. You know Rosalie and Alice don't react well when you yell."
"Rosalie and Alice can—"
"Don't Carlisle. Just, go upstairs, please?"
"Come home."
"Carlisle give the phone back to Carmen and go upstairs." I repeated.
"Isabella!" I heard him scold.
"Do not call me that!" She yelled back at him.
"What happened?"
"You need a new vase."
"Who'd she throw it at?" I asked as I leant my elbow on the door and my head in my hand.
"Edward. Please come back and stop this."
"Carlisle, you started it. Go upstairs, calm yourself down, then go back downstairs and calm everyone else down."
"Carlisle can't do anything right, is that it?" I heard Jasper ask harshly in the background. "He has done everything for us Bella!"
"So has Esme!" She yelled back at him.
"Esme, I don't know how to fix this."
"I told you, calm yourself—"
"No, not that. This. You and I and Violetta."
"Don't say anything you don't want her to hear, you're on speaker." I stopped him before he continued.
"Take me off speaker."
"I can't, I'm driving."
"Esme, please just come home? I think it's pretty clear that we all need you."
"You went 3 months without me. They need you to calm them down. Now go and do that."
"Alice! Alice don't!" I heard him call before something else smashed.
"ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO UP TO YOUR ROOMS!" I heard Alice scream at them.
"Alice, that was Esme's favourite vase…" Jasper said.
"What!?" I stressed, "She didn't, that was one of a kind."
"She did…" Carlisle said quietly.
"Holy shit I am so sorry Esme." I heard Alice's voice in the background.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, a habit I had picked up from my husband. "It's fine." I said. He repeated it to her.
"Stop Edward!" I heard Bella yell. They started arguing again, and Jasper yelled at Rosalie and it all turned to madness all over again.
"This is so terrible…" Violetta whispered.
"Oh no, Emmett's drinking now." Carlisle said.
"Take the alcohol off him; we all know what happens when he drinks during arguments." I said.
Crackling again and Carmen was back on the phone, "This is terrifying. Garrett and Kate are getting involved now."
"How?" I asked.
"Kate stood up for Tanya against Edward, and Garrett stood up for Kate, now it's literally all of them except for Eleazar, Emmett and I. Renesmee and the wolves are staying very quiet, too.
"Are Alice and Rosalie still yelling?" I couldn't tell their voices apart anymore, there was so much going on.
"Yes. They both like they could cry at any moment though."
"That's because Carlisle is out of control too. He normally keeps them calm."
"What do I do?"
"I would suggest getting Eleazar and Emmett and walking out. Go hunt or something. Trust me, when it gets to this extent there is nothing to do except wait it out. I normally go for a hunt and watch the water in the river for a while."
"Yeah, okay. Thanks Esme."
"Thanks for calling Carmen." She hung up.
"We have to go back." Violetta said.
"No we don't. They are far beyond reason right now anyway."
"Esme? I want to go to school." Violetta said. Mason stared at her in confusion.
"No, sweetheart, don't let Carlisle do that to you. We know you can't handle school, and it's fine. You don't have to go."
"I want to." She said.
"You were telling me yesterday that you didn't want to when I asked you…" Mason said.
"I lied."
"You only want to go because Carlisle threatened you with it." He said. "You want to prove him wrong."
"No, I just want to prove to him that I can do it, not prove him wrong."
"You don't need to prove anything." I shook my head.
Silence again.
"What happens when Emmett drinks during arguments?" Mason asked, his curiosity overcoming him.
"He has too much, and it gets 100 times worse. He is easily the loudest, and he doesn't stop once he starts."
"And what about Rosalie and Alice?" Violetta asked.
"They…well they just never react well when Carlisle is upset. They try their hardest to keep him happy, he has given them everything, but when he is upset they get scared of the outcome."
"Why?" She asked suspiciously.
"Last time anything big like this happened, it was over Carlisle and I, and we split up for a while. Worst few months of my life."
"Really?"
"Well no…but some of the worst. It's right up there with the time before everyone joined our family and Edward left Carlisle and I, rebelled against us. And my human life."
Violetta nodded in understanding.
I drive for a while longer before I realised that they both need sleep. I pulled into the next motel I saw and sat down and thought about everything for hours as they slept.