𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 ✧ 𝐬𝐚𝐦 𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐲

25

Somehow though, they had gotten onto the topic of their past lives. They were all sharing it with Ivy. Ivy wasn't participating in the games, she had curled up her small body, book in hand, sitting in an armchair that overlooked the coffee table which had plastic cubes of letters sprawled all over by Emmett. From the view up there, it seemed like Jasper was winning. Ivy could tell from the smug smile plastered all over his face.

She wasn't really reading, she was thinking about Atlanta and the short trip she made there after visiting Egypt. She didn't tell anyone, not even Jasper, whom she considered a brother at this point. Ivy felt that she didn't belong in Forks. What use was she here? Why did they want to keep her locked in here, in this hauntingly beautiful house? Why does she get to stay locked in like an animal when the real animal that killed her gets to frolic around in the woods like it was nothing?

"What does that say?" Alice pointed to a messily arranged set of letters on the board. "It's upside down for me."

Emmett squinted his eyes.

"Lupus."

The room fell silent. Emmett had realized his mistake. "T-that's a word, isn't it? It's uh — it's latin. It's a latin word right?" He bumbled nervously in hopes that his words would fill the dark silence that occupied the room.

Ivy didn't look up from her book but she could practically feel the eyes on her as each of her siblings attempted to steal glances at her expression, hoping for something. Anything.

Edward had taking care of a heavily pregnant Bella as well. "Edward, do you think maybe you could grab me a cup of...blood...again? It's really helping actually..." She asked him. Before he could answer Ivy already had one foot out the living room and into the kitchen.

"Don't worry, I got it." She mumbled halfheartedly. She grabbed a clean glass from the cupboard and started to fill it up with the blood they had saved in the fridge.

The thoughts of what the rest of the family might have had about her flooded Ivy's mind. Mainly she wanted to know if they felt bad for her. An aspiring writer, apprentice to her famous writer grandfather, future looking bright, college scholarships practically filling her mailbox to the brim. All of that taken away in a second.

Who could Ivy have even blamed in all of this but herself? She knew what Sam was, how angry he got. Sometimes, he'd even hit things when he got too upset. He never, ever hit her. Never. But sometimes when he did get angry, he'd break things. There was this one time he got jealous over Jasper and punched a hole in his bedroom wall. Ivy bought him a Bon Iver posted to cover it up. She knew he was like this, he was like this even when she was a human and with every that had happened it almost seemed like a century ago.

Nostrils flared, she tried to focus on pouring the animal blood out of the plastic packet Carlisle had stolen from the hospital.

Yet, she had to anger him with her unnecessary words. She just wanted someone to blame other than herself. The truth was that nobody was to blame. Not even her. Not Edward. Not Sam. Not Ivy. It's a hard truth, carrying within it a sense of lightness and darkness at the same time. Nobody to blame, nobody to get angry at. So where was all of this anger supposed to go?

It seemed as though nobody in the real world cared that she had died. Not her friends from school, not her friends back in Atlanta. Nobody.

She didn't even notice that she had broken the glass until everyone had rushed in to check up on her. The blood pouring into the sink, creating hazy lines that fell into the drain when mixed with the leftover water drops in the basin.

"Sorry. Accident."

-

They left her alone until the next day. All of them afraid she'd snap. Nobody wanted to admit they were just really afraid of her. Ivy jogged down the stairs, getting ready for another hunt. She'd never admit it but she was getting sick of animal blood. Once you taste human blood, you don't ever really forget it.

Edward appeared before her before she had even left the house.

"Oh, Edward. Good evening." She said, unsmiling. Edward nodded.

"Good evening, Ivy. If you're looking to feed, I already went out and got some deer blood for you in the kitchen. It's on the top shelf of the fridge."

Ivy was taken aback. It was really nice of him but how did he know? She was actually just about to offer him to join her.

"O-oh? Thanks, Edward. That's really nice of you, she patted him on the shoulder and headed for the kitchen. Leaving Edward as stiff as a statue. His body tensed at her touch, it almost felt like he couldn't help himself. It didn't mean anything. She touched him like a sister would touch a brother after he had done something nice for her. She patted him on the shoulder. Still, he tried to look for any hidden meanings, any secret messages because wanted it to be more.

There was a kind of aggression taking over him. Just her presence gagged him, rendering him mute. He couldn't move. She was going to ruin him one day.

The thing that bothered him the most was mostly guilt. This wasn't like him at all. He wasn't unfaithful. He had a wife with a baby on the way. No, he loved Bella. He loved Bella. But in his mind it seemed like he was trying to convince himself than he was stating it as a fact.

Edward had never even thought of Ivy this way until recently. He suddenly started to notice the beauty in everything she did, in everything she was. He began to notice her canines, how they seemed sharper than the rest of theirs. He noticed her dark, fawn colored hair which look like spruce wood when she sat in the sunlight.

Ivy downed the deer blood in seconds, it was fresher than the ones she hunted down. "Wow. This is really good. Did you just go get it? Like — right now? Recently?"

Edward nodded. "Yeah."

Ivy shrugged, "Wow, I'm getting lucky today." She quipped absentmindedly and strode back to her room, drink in hand.

She had also been thinking a lot about Edward and how strange he had been acting. Even though he'd been the one that turned her, they were never really close as Edward was always too busy with Bella. Now, he was extra invested in her. Sometimes, he'd just knock on her door to check in on Ivy. He wouldn't really say much, just ask what she's doing and leave without another word.

Ivy felt he was trying to be closer to her, since they were family now and all. They didn't know much about each other except for their shared love of literature. He'd leave books on her desk that she'd finish in a day or two. One time, when she came back from Egypt, Edward had left a stack of books. On the top of the stack was a sticky note. "I figured you'd like these. I remember you talked about Kafka." Edward's caring nature reminded her of what she once thought of Sam.