Authors Note:
I am so glad people still love and read this story! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews. Also, thank you to those people have added my story to their list of story alerts, favorite stories, and story follows. I really really really appreciate it :) Thank you all for the support!
Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all the characters from the book.
I apologize in advance for any mistakes and/or errors.
Reviews, criticism and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)
*All thoughts are in Italics
Rosalie's POV
Alice sat on the couch in silence, shaking and sobbing, her tear never stopping. I, on the other hand, couldn't stay still and I was pacing back and forth in the living room in a vain attempt to decrease my anger. But I couldn't. I was fucking livid.
I can't believe Alice, of all fucking people, would do this to me. My own sister! Now I knew she was sneaky and underhanded, but I never expected a blow like this from her. It is taking everything in me not to strangle her.
I come to halt and clench my fists that rest next to my hip. My nostrils flare. My anger is not subsiding.
Calm the fuck down. She is still your little sister. You can't hurt her, even if you wanted to. You still have some humanity left in you. Figure out why she did it. You won't be at peace until you do that.
I take a few deep breaths to try to calm myself down again.
"Why Alice?" I ask her. She doesn't answer me. I sigh and stand in the spot that I am in for a couple of moments. Then I walk over to the couch slowly and place myself next to her. I turn to her, but she doesn't face me. Her head is down and I see another tear drop from her eye to her lap.
I have to admit, I hate seeing her torn up like this.
I place my hand on her thigh. That causes her to raise her head and stare at me.
"Listen, I'm not as mad as you think. And I'm not gonna yell and scream and throw a fucking tantrum because I know that is not going to get us anywhere. I just need to know why. Why Alice? Why did you do it?" I said to her calmly.
"I wanted to help!" she sobs out. "I wanted to fix things. I wanted to fix your marriage and Bella's marriage. I just wanted you to stay with your husbands. I didn't want to see my family ripped apart! Not again, not again, not again!"
She starts to rock back and forth a little and hugs her waist tightly. I look at her confused.
"Not again? Alice, what do you mean?" I ask her. She isn't looking at me again. She has her gaze set on the wooden floor.
I have never seen Alice so frantic and distraught like this. She is always so put together. Always so cheery and positive.
I start to fill with worry.
"Alice," I call her. She doesn't react to me. I scoot closer to her and wrap one of my arms around her.
No matter what is going on right now, I need to get to the bottom of this. Someone fucked with my baby sister, and I am going to find out who.
"Ally, please talk to me." I haven't called her that in years. That seems to break her down and she starts to sob again. She holds on to me and cries into my neck. I just hold her and rub her back until she stops crying.
"He always told me it was my fault" she begins. "He always said it was my fault she had left us. He said before I was born, they were a happy couple. They would go out all the time. They had friends. They had a life. But after I was born it turned their relationship to shit. He told me that I drove her away. He always said she left because of me. Because I was too much of a burden. And he said that she really had wanted a boy if they were ever going to have a baby. She left when I was six months old. Mostly through my infant and toddler years, my grandmother, his mother, raised me. But when I was 5, my grandmother passed away" she paused and took a deep breath, seeming to hold back more tears that were threatening to fall. I had never heard much about Alice's real parents and family. Mom and dad never told us much about it. And I don't like what I am hearing.
"When my grandmother died, things changed. No one but my father was there to watch me and take care of me now. This is when I started to remember his words. But they weren't just words, they were also-" she stops again. She takes another shaky breath. I hold her tighter and rub her back as a way to encourage her to keep going.
"They were hits. He hit me. He hit me a lot" she finally gets out. My eyes fill with tears as I start to process what she just said. I almost never cry, but this was too heartbreaking for me.
"He would drink a lot. I guess you can say he was an alcoholic" she continued. "He always got so scary when he was drinking. That's when he would hit me the most. When he hit me he would tell me that I'm worthless and his life is shit because of me. He would say I take up all his money and chase all the women away from him. He would say I ruined the only good thing he had in his life, which was his marriage. He blamed me for everything. And I believed it, because I didn't know what else to believe. I was told this all the time, how could I not believe it?" tears were falling steadily now as she was talking. I could tell she was reliving every horrible moment of this in her head. I knew what that was like. And it's an absolutely terrible feeling.
"I tried my best to hide the bruises when I went to school" she went on. "I didn't want him to get in trouble. He was still my dad. He was all I had. But one day, when I was about 9, my teacher had noticed. My teacher, her name was , she noticed. She was a very kind lady. She had said my behavior at school sometimes had given her a hint that something was wrong at home. She wouldn't let me go home that day. She asked me what was going on, and I really wanted to talk to someone about it, so I told her everything. She called child protective services and they took me away from him. I was happy to escape all the hitting. But I was also sad, because I had no one now. But a couple of months after, Mom and dad adopted me. And I was so happy. And I saw how amazing their marriage was, as opposed to my real parent's marriage. And I just thought that they were so happy and their family was so happy because their marriage was good. I just thought marriage was the key to happiness and familial bliss" she whispers the last part as if she is talking more to herself than to me. I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding in.
"I just didn't want to see my family fall apart again. I knew what the problem was, and I wanted to fix it somehow. I know probably what I did wasn't right, but I was desperate. And I started to get really involved. I started smoking marijuana. It just felt so good Rose! It helped me escape all the stress. And I started spending time with Leah. And things just started to get out of hand. I just didn't want our family to fall apart Rose!" Alice sobs out to me. I quickly gather her into my arms and hug her tightly. As I replay all of the stuff she told me in my head, I start to sob along her. All that she went through at such a young age. All she wanted was a family that was whole.
My god. It all makes sense now. Poor Alice. This world is so fucked up.
We cried in each other arms for a while. When we finally calmed down, we didn't leave each other's embrace. She placed her head on my shoulder and held unto my middle. And I had one arm wrapped around her back, and m other arms held on to hers that were around my waist.
"But why did you do what you did Rose? Why did you start taking drugs?" she asked me in a whisper. I sigh heavily. My first instinct was to keep this from her like I had for so long. But she told me her horrible truth. Now it's time for me to tell her mine.
"It started when I was a freshman in college. My friends were more on the nerdy side. They would stay in many nights and didn't go to many parties. By the middle of freshman year, I was tired of it. I came to college to get my degree, but I also came to party, get wasted, and fuck hot guys" I let out a bitter chuckle.
"And of course, I managed to find a way to get what I wanted" I continued. "I just started going to clubs by myself. It was dangerous, but I didn't care. I was having fun. One night, I met AJ. And we became friends, really good friends. I started to hang and party with his group of friends. That's how I got introduced to drugs, through them. AJ just became a dealer at that time, so he had it all around him. He said he didn't want me to get involved in that part of his life. He said I had a whole future ahead of me, and I was in college and I shouldn't fuck that up. But of course, I didn't listen. I told him that I was an adult now and could handle it. So, I began using. It was gradual; I started with the light stuff, and the not so heavy stuff. But by a year later, I was using some of the heavier stuff, and I used quite often. Also by this time, I was in a relationship with AJ's brother, Royce. AJ and Royce didn't get along that well, but they tolerated each other because they knew how to make money together. I managed to keep the peace between them. I also managed to keep up with school work, but my grades weren't as good as they were before. In fact at this point, they were slipping fast" I stay to her. Alice is looking straight at me, but I am not looking at her. My face is pointed straight ahead, my vision is clouded as all of the memories replay through my mind.
"One evening, I was at the apartment that Royce and AJ shared. I was just watching T.V., waiting for Royce to come back so we could spend some time together. That night, I was clean. I layed off on using for about a week because midterms had just finished that day, and I wanted to do as well as I could on them. Royce came in and so did a few other guys. Some of them I recognized, some of them I didn't. All of them looked pretty strung out. They werent making coherent sentences, and they were all over the place. Royce moved to kiss me and of course I kissed him back. But he was so ruff with his kisses. And he started to handle me rough. He started pulling off my clothes. I told him to stop but he wouldn't listen. He stripped me naked and started to defile me in front of those other guys. I tried to fight him off. I screamed, I hollered, but not one of them would help. They watched with hungry eyes. Then some of them took their turn with me. They were so ruff, that I was losing consciousness. After what seemed like an eternity, AJ busted into the room and saw what they were doing. He became so enraged that he started shooting bullets. They managed to run out of the apartment and doge the bullets. All but one. Royce. He didn't make it. He was shot dead by his own brother" I say, almost robotically. Numbness takes over me and I keep staring straight. I hear Alice gasp and grasp my middle tighter in shock.
"AJ fled the scene and took me to the hospital. They had messed me up so bad. I was bleeding, had broken bones, and left infertile. AJ stayed with me the whole night. He was my voice that night. He told the doctors and mom and dad over the phone that night what had happened to me. He was my savior. Once I was conscious enough to understand him, AJ told me that he was leaving the state. He didn't want to get locked up for murder and felt he needed to lay low for a while. He said that he felt like this was all his fault, and felt like he should be in my life anymore. I told him that he saved me, and he shouldn't blame himself. He said that he still wants to stay away, but he will always be here whenever I need him for anything" Alice moved to wipe the tears from my face. This caused me to look at her and I saw the pain and sympathy in her eyes. I sniffled and held onto her hand for a brief moment. Then I went on.
"After I recovered and left the hospital, mom and dad sent me to rehab for about a year. I know they told you I went to study abroad, but I was really in rehab. That's why it seemed to have taken me 5 years to finish college instead of 4. They didn't want to tell you Alice. And I begged them not too. You were only fourteen at the time. And this was so much, I didn't want you to worry or be fucked up over this. You were just starting high school. I wanted to tell you when you were older. When I was ready. I just never had the balls to do it. Until now. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before. But you deserve to know the truth." I said to her, almost pleadingly.
"I forgive you Rose" she said immediately. I stare at her wide eyed.
I didn't think she would say that so quickly.
"I kept secrets from you too, so they couldn't hurt you. But it seems that keeping secrets is hurting us more. We used to be so close Rose. I don't want us to lose our bond again. No more secrets Rose. No more lies" she says looking me straight in the eye.
"No more secrets, no more lies" I recite back to her, sealing our pact. I stare at her for a couple of seconds, then my face breaks out into a small smile.
"I love you ally cat." I say to her.
"And I love you too rosy poo" she says using my child hood nickname. I laugh and so does she. We hug tightly and wipe each other's tears.
"Now that we are going to have no more secrets between, I have something else to tell you. It has to do with Jasper" she tells me.
"Can it wait five more minutes? I really have to piss" I say crossing my legs for emphasis. She lets out a cute bell laugh and nods smiling. I smile back at her and get up quickly to use the nearest bathroom. After I finish washing my hands, I pause for a second. My mind runs on my husband.
No more secrets, no more lies.
I take out my phone and text him an "I love you Em". I wanted him to know that, because it is the truth.
I can't keep lying to him.
A piercing shriek jolts me out of my thoughts. I stuff my phone I my pocket and quickly run out of the bathroom to the living room. The scene before me infuriates me to my very core. I see Jasper has arrived home. But his hand is raised at Alice, and she is cowering away in fear.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" I scream out. My whole body shakes with anger my eyes fierce with rage. Alice looks over to me wide eyed. And Jasper looks over to me in shock.