Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the collective works of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga
Nothing Good Ever Happens in a Closet
Louisa hadn't told anyone that she was going on a date with Jasper Hale, so naturally, by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, everyone in Forks knew that Jasper and Louisa were kind-of-sort-of a thing. In the days following the date, so many things changed, though only in ways that were important in high school. The most significant, however, was that Jasper Hale of the elusive and mysterious Cullen Clan had started eating lunch with Louisa.
Well, originally, was supposed to be the two of them, but Rosalie accused Jasper of trying to steal Louisa from her and invited herself to their table, and where Rosalie was, Emmett was. Then Alice had complained about being excluded. Edward didn't seem to care one way or another if he sat with the juniors but after all of his siblings had abandoned him at the Cullen's usual table, he had learned the hard way that handsome boys sitting by themselves were the perfect conversation starter to some of his braver admirers.
So really, Louisa had somehow managed to breach the invisible boundary between the Cullens and the population of Forks High School (Home of the Spartans!), which many took as her being some sort of mythical creature. Her peer's reaction to her had noticeably changed, with some angry that the new girl had captured the Cullen's attention in a few months when they had not been able to do so in the entire year before, while others found Louisa as unapproachable as the Cullens seemed to be. Louisa took this in stride, not particularly concerned about anyone's opinion on the matter, save Dottie, who though confused about why Louisa would want to associate herself with the intimidating siblings, trusted her older sister wholeheartedly.
Whilst sitting with the Cullens didn't have the same mythic qualities as her peers thought, it was definitely entertaining. Each of the siblings had their own quirks and idiosyncrasies that were fascinating to watch in action. Emmett, for instance, apparently lacked the ability to stay still and on more than one occasion had nearly upended the table on account of his bouncing leg. Alice, on the other hand, had no concept of personal space, and Louisa found herself nudging Alice out of her lap at least once a day.
There was the odd fact that none of them seemed to eat, however. Sure, they bought lunches, but she had never seen any of them actually put food in their mouths. Jasper didn't even try to hide the fact that he wasn't eating, unlike his siblings, who at least pushed the food around their trays. She would be lying to say that their behaviour didn't make her self-conscious of her own eating habits, and had taken to bring food that could be eaten quickly as she walked to lunch. She didn't want to ask them why they didn't eat, though. It wasn't her business, and she was sure Dr Cullen would have intervened if he was concerned about his children's aversion to food.
"Is that all you're planning on eating?"
Louisa had become so accustomed to Jasper appearing next to her that she didn't jump when she heard him speak as she was pulling out a bag of trail mix from her locker. She turned to face him, "You're one to talk."
Jasper at least had the decency to look embarrassed at this. "I had a big breakfast."
"Was it a bear, by any chance?" Louisa laughed.
"Mountain lion, actually. Emmett had the bear."
"I can see why you're not hungry then."
"You're avoiding my question," Jasper pointed out while she closed her locker. He took her hand and began to lead her towards the cafeteria.
"It's weird that I'm the only one who eats, Jasper," Louisa said with a sigh. She stopped and tugged on his hand, forcing him to turn and face her. His head tilted as he looked at her, brow furrowed. "What?" she asked when he didn't say anything.
"I forget how observant you are," he said finally. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "If you wish, we can hide from my siblings."
"I'd like to see you try," Alice said, bouncing up out of nowhere, an eyebrow raised in annoyance. "Louisa, now that we're friends, I can add you on Snapchat, right?"
Louisa shot Jasper a confused look, only to see that his face was set in an expression that could only be described as resignation. "Uh, sure."
Alice gave her a brilliant smile. She reached forward and grabbed Louisa's hand, giving it a surprisingly strong tug for someone so small, and half dragged the older girl towards the cafeteria. Louisa heard Jasper let out an annoyed sigh, but when she turned her head back to him, she saw that he was following along behind them. He placed his hand briefly on the small of her back before moving ahead to open the door for them. Louisa listened to Alice's rambling with half an ear and allowed herself to be led to where the rest of the Cullen siblings were sitting.
"We'll have to have a sleepover soon," Alice said. She paused then, feet from the lunch table, her eyes going glassy and unfocused. Jasper strolled passed his sister, unfazed by the behaviour, and pulled out a seat to offer Louisa. "Rosalie, you, and me. We'll want to have it at Louisa's house," Alice continued. "Her father will be upset when she tells him she'd be staying in the same house as Jasper."
Louisa was about to ask her how she could know how her father reacted but was cut off by Emmett's booming laugh. He didn't seem to notice that several nearby kids jumped at the sound. "Yeah, that should be fun. Say hi to Anna for me, Rosie."
Rosalie sent her husband a scathing look, but Louisa cut in before she could respond. "Anna?"
"Yeah, didn't you know? Your house is haunted." Emmett replied, evidently confused.
Louisa shook her head. "You said Anna," Louisa said.
Emmett sat back in his chair and watched her with a curious expression. "Has nobody told you that your house is haunted?"
"Yes, my sister, but she's biased," Louisa said. "Tell me what you know."
It was Edward who answered. "Every town has its haunted house or some sort of legend. Your house happens to be the haunted house of Forks. It has a reputation, you see."
"I know a woman was murdered there about ten years ago."
"Not really sure if you could call her that," Alice interjected thoughtfully. "I heard that she was only eighteen when she died. She was really young. Still in high school."
"Esme had a lot of trouble keeping the local kids out when she was renovating it. They kept breaking in and try to camp out for the night. Even stole our equipment on a few occasions," Emmett explained. "We caught a few of them, and they all said that they wanted to see the ghost."
"But her name was Anna, you said?"
"Why are you so curious, Louisa?" Edward asked, watching her closely.
Louisa hesitated, remembering her dream with the strange man who strangled her. She could hardly explain what she had seen without sounding like a lunatic. Her dream would be chalked up to just that: a dream. It had no basis in reality, offered no quantifiable evidence. Perhaps she had read the name when she was doing research on the house, and forgot about it? "I didn't know her name," Louisa replied.
"That doesn't surprise me," Rosalie said. "From what I heard, they kept her name out of the papers. They wanted to respect the family and give them privacy after their kid was murdered. Not like it was really a big secret. Everyone knew. Forks is a small town and people talk."
Well, there went that theory. She must have overheard the name at some point. Edward was still looking at her oddly, so she smiled and changed the subject on something besides the potential ghost living in her house. "What happened to the family?"
"They moved away, I imagine," Emmett replied. "I haven't heard of any other Sweets in Forks."
Anna Sweet. That was her name then? Louisa briefly wondered if Anna Sweet was the girl from her dream. Alice said that she was a student when she died, maybe she could find an old yearbook and look her up.
But what was the point? Even if she did, what could the information possibly provide her? A face to the name? She hadn't seen the face of the Dream Anna, so there was nothing to even say that it was the same person. It was probably just a coincidence that she had had a dream of an Anna being murdered in the same house a real Anna had been. Louisa had probably just heard a student talking about Ghost Anna at one point and her tired brain had provided Dream Anna and filled in the gaps with what she knew about the house.
But then why had her bedroom looked different in her dream? Shouldn't they have looked the same? Louisa had to admit that her knowledge of dream interpretation, or even how dreams worked, was severely lacking. She made a mental note to make a trip to the library after school and find a book on the subject. And while she was there, it wouldn't hurt to brush up on the history of her house, could it?
Louisa's attention focused on the cafeteria around her, and her eyes landed on Dottie, who was sitting with Spencer Gardner and a few friends. Dottie. She had promised Dottie that she was done with mysteries. As if she sensed her eyes, Dottie looked up and their gazes locked. Her little sister gave her a smile and a wave before turning back to her friends.
No, she couldn't go back on her promise to her sister.
She pushed the thought of haunted houses and murder mysteries out of her mind, locked the information in a vault in her mental library and handed her mother the key. Louisa forced a smile onto her face and focused on the conversation that had sprung up around her, nodding in sympathy with Emmett when his siblings teased him about the fact that their mother always beat him in Mario Kart.
The people at the lunch table were real, tangible. Not supernatural in the slightest. Normal. These were the things she needed to focus on.
After she made that decision, it seemed as if the rest of lunch flew by, and before she was really certain of what was happening, Louisa was being led to Spanish class by Rosalie and Jasper. Louisa had retrieved her books from her locker and was heading towards class when she heard laughter. It was light, airy, happy. Feminine. This wasn't so odd, seeing she was in a hallway that was by no means empty, but for some reason, it gave Louisa pause.
Someone else chuckled in response. This one was deeper, huskier. Masculine.
Goosebumps covered her skin in an instant, the little hairs on her arms standing on end. It wasn't the chuckle that disturbed her. No, it was the scent that accompanied it. It was musky and heavy, and Louisa was positive that she has smelled it before, though she couldn't pinpoint when or where.
The bell rang, signalling the beginning of class. Louisa shook her head and hurried towards her Spanish class, mentally preparing an excuse for Mrs Goff. The hallway was almost completely empty, giving Louisa the opportunity to jog towards class, unimpeded by the usual swarm of students.
The woman giggled again, her voice sounding father away. Louisa halted in her tracks, straining her ears for the sound. She heard a door open, somewhere close, and without making the conscious decision to, Louisa changed course and took off after the laughter. She made a sharp turn around a corner and found herself in another empty hallway. Louisa scanned the doors, looking for the source of the sound, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.
And yet, why did she want to walk towards the janitor's closet?
"Louisa?"
She jumped and spun around, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
It was just Mr Hewitt. He was standing in the doorway of the teacher's lounge, a plastic fork in his hand. He must have seen her sprint past. "Are you alright?" He asked, taking a step forward. "Your nose is bleeding."
Louisa lifted a hand to her face and her fingers came back bloody. "I was looking for a bathroom," she replied hastily.
Mr Hewitt gave her a concerned look. "Maybe you should go to the nurse. You look awfully pale."
Louisa shook her head. "No, it happens all of the time." At least they seemed to happen a lot recently. Maybe she was allergic to something? "I'm late for Spanish."
Mr Hewitt's brow was still furrowed in concern. "I'll write you a pass."
Louisa had no choice but to trudge to Spanish after that. Rosalie gave her a confused look the moment she walked in, but it was Jasper's expression that gave her pause. He was sitting up in his chair for once, leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowed as he watched her. She couldn't decipher his expression other than he was concerned about her late entrance. Louisa tried to subtly look down at her blouse to see if she had gotten blood on it, only to find it clean. She made eye contact with him again and tried to give him a reassuring smile, though it had little effect.
The moment Mrs Goff finished her lecture and told them to work in pairs, Jasper pulled Louisa over to his and Rosalie's table.
"Are you alright?" Jasper asked, reaching forward to press the back of his hand to her forehead. She didn't feel like she had a fever, but Jasper hadn't had all that many interactions with humans outside of eating them, so he could be too sure.
Louisa smiled and gently pushed his hand away. "I'm fine," she assured. "It was just a nosebleed."
"You've been having a lot of those lately," Jasper stated. Should he be concerned? He would have to ask Carlisle about it as soon as possible.
Louisa shrugged. "Cold weather, I suppose," she replied before changing the subject to Spanish. The Hale twins both looked annoyed at this but didn't push it further. Still, they kept a watchful eye on her for the rest of period, Jasper even going so far as to walk her to her next class.
She appreciated the gesture, of course, but it was hardly necessary. Dr Cullen hadn't found a cause for her headaches and the nosebleeds didn't seem to be linked, so there really wasn't anything to worry about. Probably. Even so, she would never turn down a chance to see the Babe, and willing let him escort her to his heart's content.
Headaches and bloody noses aside, the rest of the day passed without incident and Louisa was standing at her locker, filing up her backpack with her homework for the day. Dottie had made a brief appearance and informed her that she was going over to Spencer's house. Louisa tried to get in some good-natured teasing but her sister knew her too well and waved goodbye before she could start. Smiling, Louisa closed up her locker and began the trek towards the car park. She nodded to a few people she had worked with on the planning committee, stopping to talk to a few now that she was no longer in a hurry to make it to her car.
She had just bid farewell to Katie Hyde, promising her to think about helping plan the winter dance, when she heard it again: the same feminine giggle. Louisa turned her head towards the sound, only to see her by the hallway from earlier. She looked around to make sure that nobody was watching her before she slowly began to make her way towards the janitor's closet.
The sound was growing louder, someone was clearly inside. Two someones, in fact. The male's laugh joined the female's. Louisa was in front of the closet door, her hand outstretched when she paused. Even if they were the same students from earlier, it would be rude to interrupt them. There were only so many things two people could possibly do in a closet, very few of them something she wanted to interrupt.
"Looking for something?"
Louisa jumped at the sound of Jasper's voice, her heart practically leaping into her throat. She lightly slapped his arm when he began laughing at her reaction. "Don't do that."
He gave her a serious nod though he was unable to hide the mirth in his eyes. "What sort of mischief are we getting ourselves into?"
Louisa was unable to stay upset with him when his golden eyes looked like that. "Are you including yourself in that question?"
"Naturally."
What the hell, she thought, reaching forward and turning the doorknob. She yanked open the door to the janitor's closet, expecting to find two very annoyed lovebirds inside. Only it was empty. Confusion coursed through her. Hadn't she just heard two people laughing inside? They had been loud enough to hear halfway down the hall, as well. There wasn't another way out of the closet, either, unless she counted the small air vent near the ceiling.
Despite this, Louisa stepped inside anyway. She could hear Jasper's light steps as he followed. She fumbled around for a moment, trying to find the light switch on the wall, but when she flicked it, the lightbulb didn't turn on. Undeterred, Louisa pulled out her phone and turned on its light, shining the beam around the small space.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Jasper asked, reaching up to give the lightbulb a tap.
That was a very good question. She wasn't sure how to explain the laughter she had heard, or even if she should. Not only did she think she sounded crazy, but she didn't want to sound crazy in front of the Babe. They had only started kind-of-sort-of dating a week ago, after all. "A place to hide."
Jasper looked down at her to give her a smirk. "And what are we hiding from, exactly."
"Your siblings, my siblings, the rest of the school, take your pick."
"What would we need hide from the general public?"
"I'm sure I could think of something–" Louisa didn't get the chance to finish her flirty comment, however, because her foot snagged on a mop. She flailed for a moment, trying to regain her balance, but it was no use, the ground was rapidly coming towards her face, and she was pretty sure she was going to hit her head on a bottle of floor cleaner. But just before her nose connected with the bottle, a solid arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her upright.
Then Louisa was running, which didn't make any sense because she knew that was standing still. She also knew that she wasn't in a dingy alley, full of garbage cans and empty cardboard boxes. She looked around, taking in the graffiti on the brick wall, the rusty fire escapes. It wasn't her usual way home, but it was faster: her mama was sick and needed the medicine she had gone out to get. It wasn't even that late out, the sun had only set a few minutes ago, and she had passed quite a few people on her way. The air was humid and her dress was sticking to her skin.
She dodged around an alley cat, mumbling an apology to it when it hissed at her. When she looked back up, she was surprised to see a man standing at the end of the alley. She halted and surveyed the stranger for the briefest of moments. He was tall, taller than her cousin Sammy, and he was probably the tallest man she had ever met. He had wavy blond hair, and though it looked like it was in dire need of a combing, the stranger oddly made it work. He was beautiful too, not in a movie star sort of way, but in a rugged hero sort of way, the kind of handsome that knew the value of a long day's hard work, yet had no problems saving a damsel in distress in his spare time. But it was his eyes that gave her pause: they were blood red and belonged to a man who hadn't eaten in a very long time and she was the solution.
She took a step backwards, and then another. When the stranger didn't make any advances towards her, she turned and took off at a run. The alley cat yowled when she stepped on it, but she didn't bother to apologise this time. She was perhaps twenty yards from the opposite end of the alley and she could see pedestrians out for an evening stroll. She had been far enough away from the stranger, that she could make it, hadn't she?
She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was still standing at the mouth of the alley. He was, the street lamp making his blond hair look as if had a halo. She knew, almost instinctively, that the stranger was the very opposite of an angel.
She tripped then, her foot caught on an old milk crate, and she went sprawling. Just before her face made contact with the pavement, however, a hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her upright. A cold, corpse-like hand. She wrenched herself free, spinning around, only to find herself face to face with the stranger. He was even more beautiful up close. His hair fell in golden waves to his collar, and his bone structure more perfect than a Renaissance marble statue. The only thing that marred his beauty was his blood red eyes. The eyes of a demon.
"I do apologise, ma'am," the demon said, his silky voice sending shivers down her spine. But not in a good way. It was instinctual in a very bad way, like an agitated dog before an earthquake. He reached out and took her in his arms once more and then he was bending down as if he might kiss her. She tried to jerk herself away again, but the demon wasn't as relenting this time. His cold arms were cold and locked like steel beams around her.
She felt a sharp, shooting pain in her neck. She tried to scream, to push him away, but he was too strong and she was growing weak. The pain in her neck was burning, throbbing. She scratched at the demon's back, but he didn't seem to notice. Her legs were giving out, her thoughts growing muddy. The alley was darkening, or maybe she was losing consciousness. She was floating, up, up, up, fading away.
She slammed back into her body. No, not her body. A different body. And she was somewhere else, somewhere dark and smelled like floor cleaner. She could feel a hand wrapped around her waist and her eyes followed it, up to its owner. It was the same stranger from the alley. The demon.
She jumped, pulled herself free, and backed away. The demon let her go.
"Louisa?" He asked, his honeyed voice sending more shivers down her spine. "What is it?"
Why did he call her Louisa?
The answer came to her almost instantly. Her name was Louisa. Louisa Collins and she was in Forks, Washington. She was not in an alley with a demon. She was in a closet with a demon.
With Jasper. Jasper the Babe. Jasper, her kind-of-sort-of boyfriend.
Her kind-of-sort-of boyfriend who actually might be kind-of-sort-of a demon who kind-of-sort-of drinks people's blood.
She stumbled back towards the door, not taking her eyes off him. He had his hands out, still extended from where he had caught her, and his expression was confused. "I have to go," she managed to stutter. She continued to back away out into the hallway until she ran into the opposite wall. No, not a wall, a person. Louisa broke her eye contact with Jasper and looked up at the person she had backed into.
It was Edward Cullen. Jasper's brother.
"Are you well, Louisa?" Edward asked, staring at her, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Did he know what Jasper was? Most likely. It was probably hard to hide the fact you were a blood-sucking demon from your family. Louisa's eyes darted back towards Jasper, who had exited the closet and was slowly approaching her. His head was tilted, his eyes narrowed.
Unless, Louisa realised in horror, Jasper's family were blood-sucking demons too.
And Louisa was stuck in between two of them. She remembered how the girl had tried to run, and Jasper had still caught her. So demons were fast. There was no hope in out running either of the brothers. But she had to try.
"I have to go," Louisa repeated, dodging away from the brothers and slowly backing up the hall. She reached the next hallway and took off at a sprint.
Jasper watched Louisa go. "What was she thinking?" He asked. Her emotions had been fine, happy, flirty even, right up until she tripped. He had caught her of course, but she had frozen in his arms, staring at something he could not see with unfocused eyes. Her emotions had slowly morphed into confusion, then horror.
"She knows that we aren't human," Edward replied. "It was like she was having a vision of some sort. She saw you killing a woman in an alley and your eyes were red. She keeps referring to us as demons."
Well shit. This was not how Jasper imagined this conversation would happen. He instructed Edward to tell the family what was going on while he himself started off after his… well, whatever the hell Louisa was.
"Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead." –Benjamin Franklin.
(A/N: I have been waiting for so long to write this chapter, and I really like how it turned out. What did you think? -CheckAlexa)
