Chapter summary: Mission accomplished. How do you feel, vampire, now that she hates you? Feels pretty good, crushing a sweet, innocent girl's soul like that? She'll probably lead the mob to burn you at the stake, torch in hand. I hope she does. I deserve it!

I awoke.

I was rather annoyed by this fact. Why did it have to be that every time I woke up now, it was a miracle? Back home, I just rolled out of bed, made breakfast for me and Pa, and we rode off to the courthouse. I never gave one thought before about waking up, except for the usual, "ugh!" of another morning.

But now?

Now I woke up slicked in sweat. I had her sweater clasped tightly in my arms to my breast, another sweater wrapped my head, my lips were soft, soft, and tasted of olive oil, my cheeks didn't have the tightness of after a cry that the saltiness of tears caused, in fact it felt and smelt washed with soap and water, and the fire in the stove was burning away brightly and cheerfully ... that meant only one thing.

How dare she come back after leaving me forever like that!

I turned to glare at the vampire that was going to get a real talking to, but when I looked I was confused. We must have changed locations, because this cabin was much bigger than the one we were in before, and it had an odd, angled shape and there was another front door, and ...

I realized what was different. We were in the same cabin. What was different was I was looking into the mirrors, seeing the oddly angled reflections.

The mirrors.

I turned away, facing the wall again and shut my eyes tightly, concentrating on breathing evenly for a moment, trying to collect myself.

That didn't work all that well, so I turned back, being very careful to look toward the stove, toward the sink and toward that end of the table and not toward it.

My eyes looked for her, and they found her, alright.

Rosalie was back. Not my Rose, but Rosalie. She was sitting at the table regarding me with those cold, heartless, beautiful eyes and not one trace of ... well, she was sitting there with that really mean look to her erect posture. That's how she was sitting.

Oh, God, I hhhhhhhaaa....

Say it, I gasped. It was the voice! ... and she'll know.

Even think it, that voice said warningly, and she'll read your mind, and she'll leave you, but this time, she won't come back.

I swallowed convulsively, as I saw Rosalie's cruel eyes narrow at me, her posture leaning ever so slightly toward the door.

This was the third time I had heard this voice speaking to me. It was my voice, but it wasn't. It wasn't me, because I had heard it talking to me, and it was saying things that I didn't think on my own and that I didn't know.

The first time it had said, 'Shut the Hell up, Bella!' when we were coming back from the outhouse, and I was talking about Pride and Prejudice. Well, I was really talking about her, but I didn't even know it, but the voice did, and it told me to shut the Hell up, but did I? Oh, no! And what did Rosalie do? She sucked out my soul.

The second time it told me I had to tell her I loved her. Because I did. Because she wouldn't come back after I said those other words, those hateful words ... those hurtful words. Those wrong words. But instead of listening and doing what it said, I argued and argued and worried, and I took forever to say it. And so Rosalie didn't come back that whole night.

Now it was telling me something very important. If I said those bad words again, even in my mind, Rosalie would know. And the voice told me what she would do. And it had not been wrong before.

So I believed it this time, and I changed course very, very quickly.

I, um, hhhhhaaaa, um, I hawt. Um, yeah. I so hawt. I very, very, um, hot. That's it: I hot. I really hot.

I said I changed course quickly. I didn't say anything about elegantly. But I was hot. Really. And the sudden knifing fear of my almost fatal blunder had sweat trickling out of my armpits and me blushing redder than a fire engine. Rosalie's narrowed eyes saw everything, coldly assessing me, the bug, and then looked away.

But she didn't leave.

God, that was too close!

My eyes rested on her not leaving, but they also took in the two cups in front of her, and that's when I realized something else: not only was I hot — I so hawt! I repeated, just to make sure she got the message that was all I was thinking and nothing else — but I was really thirsty as well. I shook off the ridiculous sweater wrapping my head, uncovered myself, and got out of bed, being very, very careful the whole time not to look toward it.

I went toward the table, not straight at it, that is, not right past the mir- ... not right past it, mind you, because, well, because I had to check the front door, ... carefully. And I had to check the far wall for cracks. And I had to ...

WHACK!

I don't know what happened, but I felt this stinging on the side of my face, and I couldn't move. I felt as if I were paralyzed.

Then Rosalie must have picked me up from the floor.

Oh. I tripped and fell down. That's what happened.

Nice.

Rosalie sat me on the bed, looking at me, and removed her sweater from my arms, laying it beside me.

"Huwhy did ju do that?" She regarded me with open curiosity.

I lashed out. "Not everyone can be as graceful ..." My eyes couldn't help but glance over toward the large planes in the middle of the cabin as my thoughts added: ... or as beautiful ... or as cruel ... "... as you!"

Her eyes flicked over toward the mirrors and then flicked back to me, narrowed.

Her look told me everything. She was wondering why she came back ... and I wasn't helping her answer that question.

I looked down at my lap, but her movement caught my lowered eyes. She rose fluidly from her crouched position in front of me and returned to the table, glancing at her reflection as she passed the mirrors as easy as you please, touching her perfectly flowing hair, and sat at the table, regarding me coolly.

Sure, she could look at herself like that. If I looked like that, I'd stare at myself all day long! In fact, I'd have difficultly tearing myself away from the mirror with those kind of looks.

But I wasn't answering her question. I just had to stop being angry, or she would leave anyway, no matter that I didn't think those thoughts that made her leave before.

Maybe a new topic would help. I cleared my throat. "Um, I have some good news ...?" I looked at her expectantly, and she looked back, cautiously.

I smiled. "I'm done with my period. You can talk with me again."

She rose from the chair, regarding me with a look I didn't understand. It looked scared.

Her right hand pointed to me, two fingers extended, then reversed and pointed to her eyes.

"Don-t look away frum me!" She spoke each word slowly, weighing each one with an importance that she wanted me to understand.

"Okay ..." I stood up, but she shook her head in a no vigorously, inverting her hand and making pushing down motions, so I sat back on the bed.

She straightened in her posture, crossing her arms, and looked at me for a second. She then sucked in a breath of air.

Her eyes went pure black, and she gasped out a quiet: "Oh, God!"

She stood so rigidly; it looked like she was in agony.

"Rosalie, are you okay? What's wrong?" But I thought she would be okay now. I wasn't bleeding any more.

"NO!" she screeched, "you need to bathe right now!"

Well, no kidding! It wasn't as if I hadn't told her that already. I was about to bite off an angry retort when I saw her bump against the table. She was moving ... funny. She was looking toward the door, not at it. She sidestepped a little bit and then promptly bumped into the table again.

"God damn it!" she whispered to herself.

She couldn't see at all. She was blind! I stood up and started toward her. "Rosalie, let me help you," I offered, and my heart, finally, went out to her. She looked so lost.

Lost, ... and furious. "You stay right there!" she shouted, her head whipping around to face me, staring right into my eyes.

That is, if my eyes were on my right shoulder.

"What are you going to do, mortal, to help me, a vampire?" She spat out the last word angrily. "The only way you can help me right now," she continued just as forcefully, "is if you stay on that bed and don't move from it. Do you understand me?"

I sat back down on the bed. "Yes," I whispered quietly, looking at her looking so lost and angry.

She was muttering to herself. "I can find my way perfectly fine, thank you!" Sarcasm dripped from her voice. "As if I needed a little miss ..." but then she suddenly changed the direction of her tirade: "I'm a Hale, I don't need anybody or anything!" She sounded like she was really trying very hard to convince herself of something.

"I'm a nomadic vampire. I'm all alone. I don't need anybody to help me! I don't need anybody." She whispered fervently.

She was breathing now. She was talking now. But this was not the happy release from the silence I was looking for. It didn't look like she was all that happy, either.

"I don't need anybody to ..." she broke off quickly. I heard a click coming from her partially opened mouth. She stood straight up, walked around the table with confidence, her black blind eyes looking straight ahead at nothing. She went to the door and put her hand on the latch.

Well, she put her hand on the latch if it were two inches higher than it was.

She uttered an oath that I winced to hear, never thinking she would say something like that, having only thought that word once in my life, and never having said it out loud. She moved her hand along the lining of the door until she found the latch and opened it, stepping out.

She turned back and looked at me with black, black eyes.

"Don't move an inch from that spot. Do you understand me?"

I nodded my head in a yes, helplessly.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" she screamed at me.

"Yes!" I shouted back, shocked ... she still couldn't see me. She still couldn't see anything. "I understand, okay? I won't move; I promise."

"Don't promise me anything, L-..." she swallowed, breaking off again, but then continued, unabated, but correcting herself quickly, "... girl, just don't move!"

Without another word she closed the door firmly. She was gone.

Yeah. Her musical voice screaming at me. That's exactly what I had wanted, wasn't it? Boy, did I ever get it.