Hope - Jasper Hale

Hope - Chapter 5

-5-

I was up next morning, it was a peaceful night of sleep, maybe it will do me some good. I wish I could attribute all the weird events of yesterday to my lack of sleep, but I knew better - it was too weird to be something I that could subconsciously create. 

I go downstairs to get some breakfast, Bella isn’t awake, and I don’t bother getting dressed. There is a knock on the door and I leave untouched my bowl of cereal on the table and go to answer it. To my surprise, Alice stands on the porch. 

“Alice, what are you doing here?” 

“Can I come in?” She asks. 

I nod, and step aside, “How did you get here?” 

“I had Emmett drop me off. Edward getting ready for school. Since Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper graduated, they have been waiting for us to graduate so we can go to college together, and they basically have all the free time in the world.”

I nod and go to take a bite of cereal. I run to the sink and immediately cough it up, “Ugh!” 

“Are you sick?” I hear her soprano voice sound through the running water. 

“No,” I grunt. “I think the cereal is bad or the milk...” I check the expiration dates of both, but nothing seems to be wrong with them, “That is odd.”

“What?”

“It literally tasted like dirt,” I frown. “Figures it is the one time I actually try to eat breakfast!” 

“Do you want to know where I went yesterday?” Alice asks me. 

“I guess so,” I return to the kitchen table now that the taste of dirt is out of my mouth. 

“I was at the airport. Bella and Edward are going to visit Renee soon, and since she is in some way related to you I thought you could visit her. It might help bring back some memories,” She suggests and hands me a ticket. 

“That is really kind of you,” I give her a hug accepting the ticket. “What if Renee doesn’t-”

“She does, I called her as well. She is eager to see you and Bella and I guess Edward too.”

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The plane ride wasn’t that long. Bella feel asleep on Edward’s shoulder - the poor boy was sandwiched in between both of us. I give him a look.

“You should try sleeping,” He suggests. 

“Do I look tired to you?” I ask. 

“Not exactly, but if Bella is sleeping maybe-”

“Maybe you should sleep,” I suggest.

He chuckles, “But who will wake Bella up when we land?” 

After much arguing, the flight lands and I was surprised that we didn’t wake Bella up. Edward wakes her up by kissing her, it is cute, but I feel like a third wheel at the same time. 

Renee and Phil are waiting for us, but I barely recognize their faces. They don’t say much, Renee introduces herself to Edward and then we drive to their house. It isn’t until we step inside that Renee looks at me, “How are you?” 

I shrug, “I’m fine. How about you and Phil?” 

“We’ve been okay. You really worried us.”

I look away. Half ashamed I don’t remember and half angry at the mentioning of it. Why can’t I remember? What is wrong with me? 

“Let’s get down the the beach,” Phil suggests. “Edward will you be joining us.”

“I’m sorry, I have a paper due, but I’ll try to finish early to join you guys,” He says. 

“Let’s go, girls,” Renee says looking at Bella and I. “I’ve been looking forward to this.” 

At the beach, Bella and Renee are standing in front of the ocean letting the waves crash at their feet talking. Watching them, I catch something shimmer like a diamond out of the corner of my eye, looking down my eyes widen. 

It is my wrist, it is like a diamond. Rainbow is being reflected from it onto other parts of my skin. I notice another thing. Did I get paler? In a panic I yell, “I’m not feeling well at the moment, I’ll be inside.” 

Upon going inside, I nearly have a mental break down when I heard Edward’s steady voice, “Are you alright?” 

I look at him with puppy dog eyes, they are sad and tear filled. I am about to burst so I answer truthfully, “No.” I am surprised when he embraces me and I don’t experience anything weird like the last time. He lets me sob and vent, but my vent is mostly gibberish that barely forms a coherent sentence. “I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“There are things happening to me... not normal things. I think I am going insane.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I haven’t been able to eat... I force myself to, but when I try I am sick. I feel like I don’t get tired anymore, it’s getting bad. I’m scared, I don’t know what to do,” I admit. 

“Why haven’t you said anything? You know Carlisle can-” 

“Because I can’t burden him. He is only human, I don’t want to make him work more than he has to.”

Edward argues, “He loves his job, he loves to help people no matter what. I know that you are included.”

“I just think there is something unexplainably wrong with me.” 

“What?”

“I think I’m finally dying,” I whisper.

“Die? You are only 18!” 

“Look, I think that it is going to happen. I don’t mind. When it does happen, take good care of Bella, I will haunt you if you don’t. And watch out for Alice, I worry about her. I don’t really know that much about the others, but I care for them still.” 

“You aren’t dying, Violet.” 

“You can’t be sure of that. I can’t be sure of that. If it happens, then it happens. We have to believe it is a possibility to accept it,” I defend. 

“Do you want to die?” 

I don’t get to answer. The door opens and Bella and Renee come in. Edward shifts over on the couch so it appears that we were just watching television together. 

“How are you feeling?” Renee asks. 

“A little better,” I shrug. “Edward offered to watch television with me, but I think he just wanted to get out of doing his paper.” 

Bella chuckles, “If you keep doing that you will never finish!” 

Edward smiles at her and stands up, “Which is why... my break is over and I will return to the wonders of college essays.” 

“Do you want to come back out, Violet?” Renee asks. 

I shake my head, “You guys have fun.” Once they leave I look at Edward who is concentrating on writing, “Thanks for listening.”