✓ | 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍, j. hale [1]

VIII. Revelations

Evelyn felt crazy for even thinking such a thing, but the more she considered it, the more she thought about Bella's story, the more it seemed to make sense. Their inhuman strength and speed, their appearance, the temperature of his skin, the photograph of Edward that lay innocently in her open palm. It was impossible; clear-headed, logical Evelyn couldn't even fathom the possibility that such creatures could exist. They were myths, stories made up to scare children about the things that go bump in the night.

But then she remembered the second part of what Bella had told her. She had said that the Quileute tribe believed that the Cullens living in Forks today were the same ones from the original legend, making them immortal.

Every rational bone in her body screamed that she was wrong; vampires and werewolves couldn't possibly be living in this tiny town, of all places. But as she considered the evidence, both physical and what she had seen with her own eyes, suddenly the idea didn't seem so far-fetched.

The memory of her first encounter with Jasper Hale entered her mind. She remembered his stone-cold stiffness and attitude. She remembered the way his muscles had strained as he sat perfectly still and the way he seemed to stop breathing. But most of all, she recalled the deathly glare he had given her, along with the murderous fury she had felt emanating off of him in waves. She remembered feeling like he was a predator, and she was his prey; a helpless doe staring straight into the eyes of her hunter.

Vampire. Monster.

Evelyn felt the hot tears come before she realized that she was crying. For the first time since the death of her parents, she was truly afraid.

***

School the next three days was agony. She didn't dare tell Bella about the revelation she had had over the weekend, so she was left to stew over this new information in silence. It was all consuming; she couldn't get it out of her head. Not to say that she hadn't tried. She turned to drawing to try and take her mind off of things, but recently all she could find herself sketching was the same pair of bloodthirsty eyes that now haunted her dreams every night. There was dozens of crumpled up sketchbook pages on the floor of her bedroom as evidence.

It didn't help that the Cullens were conveniently missing from school. The weather had turned pleasant for once in contrast to Evelyn's dark mood, the sun shining bright in a cloudless sky. Their absence only made her anxiety grow, making her unable to fully enjoy the nice weather. She remembered Bella asking why on the first day that the family had mysteriously disappeared.

"Whenever the weather's nice the Cullens disappear. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen yank them out for hiking and camping and stuff. Tried that out on my parents, not even close."

Of course they do, Evelyn thought weakly, adding yet another piece of information to the pile of evidence in her head. Jessica's complaints seemed trivial compared to the emotional hurricane raging inside Evelyn's mind, but she did her best to seem uninterested.

That was the day that Angela had finally asked Eric to prom, and Evelyn couldn't help but feel proud of her demure friend despite her constant fear. Bella was insistent that she wasn't going; as for Evelyn, she hadn't decided yet. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Jessica and Angela convinced both Bella and Evelyn to accompany them to go dress shopping in Port Angeles that weekend. She was grateful for the distraction, hoping that something so mundane as prom dress shopping would chase the fear from her chest, if only for a little while.

Thursday finally arrived, bringing with it the now familiar blanket of clouds and constant drizzle of rain. She knew that she would have to see them today; there was no sun to protect her any longer. She was anxious the whole morning, shuffling through her first two classes in a fog. No teacher dared call on her, no student dared to speak to her. Bella had voiced her concern in the car that morning, but Evelyn had reassured her that she was simply missing her parents. That wasn't entirely a lie, but it was enough to ease her friend's suspicions and to get her to leave her in peace.