FALLEN [P. LAHOTE]

[05]

The house seemed to be frozen - in ways such as temperature and activity. It seemed as if the vampires hadn't moved an inch in the past couple of hours. Instead, they were all rigid in posture. Some seemed to be watching football on the TV. Others stood and stared out the window, at the wolves. 

Thinking of the wolves made Skylar's heart literally ache. Even when she had fought with Paul previously, they had never spent more than a day without contact. Much less a week. 

Forcing herself not to look out the window where she was sure he was stationed, Skylar sighed and turned towards her sister. Bella was getting worse and worse everyday. Her face seemed to sink in more and more while her stomach became more swollen. She couldn't keep any thing down, whether that be solid or liquid. She didn't even have the energy to stay awake longer than a few hours at a time without taking frequent naps in between. 

Unable to take the tension hanging in the air any longer, Skylar stood up and headed towards the room she called hers, all while ignoring the stares the Cullens were surely shooting her way. 

She quietly clicked the door shut behind her and locked it, not wanting to be disturbed by anyone. However, it wasn't thirty seconds later that someone knocked on her door. 

Glaring at the door, as if the person standing behind could see her, she rolled her eyes but opened the door regardless. Honestly, she was more shocked than less to see Jacob standing with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Skylar lightly shook her head. "Uh, no. Come on in."

Walking in, he awkwardly looked around the room as if he didn't know what to do with himself. He looked like he didn't know what to do with himself until Skylar pointed towards the balcony attached to her room. "We can sit out there if you want."

It turns out that sitting outside in the cold wasn't any better than sitting in silence in her own room. Finally, Skylar decided to break it. "Not that I mind you're here, but what did you want?"

"I don't know," Jacob admitted. "I just wanted to talk to. I can't talk to any of the Cullens, and every time I talk to Bella she just looks at me as if I'm her favorite person in the world. It's a little unnerving."

"I wouldn't know. She hasn't looked at me the same since she met Edward," Skylar said, chuckling ruefully and glancing down. "I get it now. When you meet someone, your whole world just kinda turns upside down."

"I wouldn't know," Jacob softly repeated. "Skylar... What if I never imprint on somebody? What if I just spend my whole life pining over someone I know I'll never have?"

She sighed, biting her lip lightly before releasing it. "I can't say you will, Jake; I'm no Alice. But I hope you do. God, Jacob, I hope you do. I wish that you can finally meet someone that makes you just as happy as you make them. I hope you can get a happily ever after Jake."

He stayed silent for a good five minutes. "How are you doing? I mean, I know you can't be doing too well, you know, without him. The bags under your eyes are kinda evidence of that."

"Way to make a girl feel good," she smirked at him, her face soon falling. "I don't know. I try not to think about it, or about him. It's just so damn hard when I know he's patrolling the perimeter of their house."

He nodded at her before gently taking his hand in hers. "I know where not as close as we used to be, Sky, but I wish that you get a happy ending too."

"I don't know..." She choked out. "I don't know if I can look past this. I mean, he was willing to kill my sister without giving it a second thought. How can I look past that?"