Alive | Jasper Hale | Book 1

2. Meeting Grace

                                               2. Meeting Grace

After spending a couple hours in the hospital, there were things I realized. My name, at the top of the list. I was named Hollie Evangeline Mckay and I was seventeen years old when I first went missing—completely off the grid. For six and a half months, I was nowhere to be seen. There was no sign of me. People thought I died. But then, there was a sighting of me in Kansas and again in Idaho a week later. There wasn’t another sign of me, not for another week. Someone spotted me in Forks, looking quite upset, and reported me. From there, the next location I was found in was the coffin.

That was the past seven months in a nutshell. I wondered why I went off the grid. Had someone kidnapped me or was I running away? Questions filled my mind and I wondered even more about my past and who I was.

Was I a troubled teenager that loved to rebel and be the delinquent kid every mother and elderly person looked down on? Or was I that small-town girl everyone liked that just happened to be kidnapped? Could it be that I was somewhere in the middle of those two options? I wasn’t sure of anything. Still, I didn’t know who I was, even if I knew the basic facts about myself.

My name. Hollie Evangeline Mckay.

My age. Seventeen years old.

My birthday. February 14th.

My appearance. Chest-length, raven black hair. Fair skin. Sky-blue eyes. A thin, slender body. Healthy.

Even after knowing all that, one would think I would know enough about myself, but I still didn’t know. Did I prefer a certain band over others? What music did I like? Did I even like music in the first place? What about television—what TV shows did I like? Did I like TV shows or movies? The list could have went on and on. I didn’t know anything about myself and that frustrated me.

A voice made me lift my head off the wall, glancing warily at whoever spoke.

My eyes fell on a young, blond doctor. He was pale, almost tired-looking, too. Circles were under his eyes like Jasper’s. They matched Jasper’s darkened amber eyes. This doctor resembled a younger brother of Zeus. A god—if that could be an accurate description of someone.

For doctors in a small town like Forks, I didn’t expect much other than women and men in their late forties. For a single moment, I couldn’t fathom how someone as young as he was a successful doctor. Surely he had to be older.

Then, my brain registered his mouth was moving.

“I...Sorry, what was that?” my cheeks turned a slight shade of red in embarrassment.

“I’m Doctor Cullen. I know you’ve already been assessed, but I’ve personally requested to ask you a few questions myself. I’m quite interested,” the corners of his lips turned upward, a half-smile forming.

My breath caught in my throat and for a moment, I stopped breathing.

With a half-smile like that, I bet he can simply kill with a grin, I thought.

Instead, I sat straight and squared my shoulders while replying, “Sure, go ahead,” politely. There was no way I was going to say what I wanted to. Saying, “Yeah, of course. I mean, everyone else wants to know how I almost died,” seemed quite rude for me to say. Even to a doctor.

Doctor Cullen grabbed a small stool from a nearby computer desk, spinning it as he pushed it in front of me. Casually, he sat down. He leaned a little forward as he glanced down at the papers in his hand.