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When we finally got back to our neighborhood, I let Bella know I was going to run by my house across the street to grab a few necessities I felt I needed for the night. My toothbrush, phone charger, a pair of pajamas, clean clothes to change into the following day, and anything else I thought I needed so I wouldn't have to go back over to my place until the next day.
My mother was still up surprisingly, and we talked briefly before I left to go to Bella's. Naturally, she was ecstatic about Bella and I's sleepover, namely because she wanted nothing more than for us to be friends since the day Bella returned to her dad's home from Phoenix.
I figured it was likely because of how much my mother fancied Bella's chief of police father who was also our neighbor, though that odd detail did not matter much to me at that point — I felt that my mother was genuinely thankful overall that I found a friend in Bella, and I felt grateful as well for the friendship we had; no matter the strange events that have happened to us ever since we both moved here.
After telling my mom goodnight, I walked back across the empty street to Bella's, holding a mini duffel bag of my things over my shoulder.
Once I went up to the porch, I gently knocked on the door — I feared me just freely walking in without a warning would be impolite.
Not even a minute went by when Bella opened the front door, and told me to come in, saying I didn't need to knock next time. She then led me upstairs to where her room was located so I could sit my bag down and get situated.
Her bedroom faced out towards the front yard, similar to how mine was, except her room was painted a vibrant bluish-green shade, old drawings, art crafts, and photographs were plastered on a few corners of the walls, and she even had a small wooden computer desk in the corner of her room with an old laptop placed on it.
After Bella showed me where to sit my bag in her room, I took out my cotton pajamas and went to her bathroom to change. Once I did that, I quickly brushed my teeth, washed my face, and put my hair up in a ponytail before going back to Bella's room.
When I walked back in, Bella had changed into a long sleeve sleep shirt and comfy sweatpants. She was also scrolling through her laptop on her bed, and looking through what looked to be the same book she purchased at that bookstore in Port Angeles.
"Hey, you never told me what book you bought earlier," I commented, shutting her door behind me.
"Oh, um," Bella paused, clearing her throat. "It's just a book about different kinds of legends." She seemed to try and be dismissive about it, leaving me confused.
"What type of legends?" I asked, feeling intrigued.
"Just... legends about the Quileutes." She added hesitantly.
"Quileutes?" I repeated. "You mean the same tribe that Jacob and Skylar are a part of?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "I was just curious to see if there were any more stories and legends about their tribe."
Interesting, I thought.
"Could this have something to do with that tale Jacob told us at La Push about the Cullens?" I questioned, knowing that the answer was likely yes.
"Well, no, not exactly." She replied, I was unconvinced.
"Come on, Bella," I said. "Why else would you be interested in a book like that? If that story had nothing to do with Edward, or the Cullens for that matter, you likely wouldn't have even shown interest from the get-go."
Bella didn't respond at first. She sadly knew that my statement was true, no matter how harsh that may or may not sound.
"Is it because you possibly believe that legend to be true about them?" I asked. "Was this what you wanted to talk to me about?"
Stillness filled the room once more, and I took the silence from Bella not replying, and her sudden flustered expression as the answer.
"Oh my god, you actually do?" I muttered in disbelief.
"Look..." She nearly interrupted. "What I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy, and you're most likely not going to believe me, and I'll understand if you don't — I just need you to listen to me and hear me out with everything I'm fixing to tell you."
"Bella, you're scaring me." My eyes widened lightly. "Just tell me what it is you need to tell me."
Bella looked at me in silence for a moment, before defeatedly sighing and grabbing the book from her side — turning to one of the first few pages in it.
"I started searching through this book," She said, angling the book to where I could see it while still standing. "And on one of the pages, there's a legend called 'The Cold One.'"
"The cold one? What is that?" I narrowed my eyes with confusion.
"Well, I read through the page, and researched the name online." She continued. "And I found this link that took me to this webpage."
Bella pulled it up on her laptop as she scooted over to the side of her bed to make more room for me to sit beside her. After sitting down, I leaned closer to look at the small text on the webpage that read "The Cold One: Apotamkin."
The page had a long description on the side of it, with links at the bottom that listed names of different countries such as Egypt, Japan, India, and more. When you click on any of them, it shows different Apotamkin legends based on the region.
The main legend amongst all of them stated that the cold ones were immortal creatures that feasted upon humans and animals — specifically, for their blood. It mentioned that this legend was exclusive to Native Americans and that this creature, the cold one, was believed to truly exist amongst the human race.
Admittedly, reading through most of the page sent chills down my spine, mainly due to the way the cold ones were described, the ominous art that depicted them, and the details of all that they were believed to do to anyone outside of their kind.
Regardless, this legend seemed quite too fictitious to be even remotely real. I assumed this had to be some scary, made-up tale that was used to frighten others in the past, and nothing more.
"So, what does this have to do with Jacob's story?" I asked, still feeling clueless. "Are you insisting that the cold ones are the Cullens?"
She exhaled. "I know that sounds crazy."
"Yes, it does," I said, matter-of-factly. "Why would you even believe something like that?"
"Listen, remember when I told you how I thought I saw Edward standing all the way across the lot right before Tyler's van nearly crashed into me that day." I nodded, prompting her to continue. "Well, one ability that is mentioned with the cold ones is rapid speed. That could explain how Edward could've possibly gotten all the way over to me in time to stop the van without being seen by others."
"Seriously Bella," I muttered. "Edward was likely either walking over to come to see you before Tyler's van appeared — which would allow him to be close enough to you to run there in time — or he was already somewhere near you, and you just didn't notice."
"I know what I saw, Raven." She defended, her tone more serious than ever. "Even Tyler told me later that he didn't see Edward anywhere near me either."
"I'm trying to hear you out, Bella. I really am." I replied, trying to sound genuine. "But one small detail of a myth doesn't make Edward a... cold one."
"Well, there is another ability listed within this legend — strength." She then stated. "The cold ones were known to have inhuman strength, and that could line up with how Edward was able to stop the van and push it away with only one hand — no regular human could do that, and you know it."
"Even if that fact is true, this speculation is still very far-fetched," I uttered, still skeptical from all that was being told to me. "There has to be some other explanation for that. I mean, there is no way that Edward, and the entire Cullen family, are some kind of mythical, supernatural creature that only exists in fairytales and folklore; that just doesn't exist in the real world."
"Raven, I know this sounds absurd, but all this information is too coincidental to not be real." She kept on, trying her best to appear believable. "Even the detail about why they are called the cold ones accompanies this theory — they are cold-skinned. Earlier tonight, when Edward was driving me back to Forks, our hands accidentally touched when we both went to turn up the heater in his car at the same time, and his fingers were freezing cold. So cold that it felt like it stung right through me."
Bella's description of the frigid temperature of Edward's skin sounded nearly identical to how Alice's skin felt to me when our hands accidentally touched that first day in floriculture.
It felt like it had stung me like an electric current — as if her hand had gotten caught in a severe blizzard right then and there.
That began to make me question the likeliness behind this hypothesis for the first time, seeing how I have never seen any drastic demonstration of Alice's strength or running speed before.
Regardless, I told my inner self to stop questioning it — I was not planning on believing this imaginary folk-tale even for a second about the Cullens — especially about Alice.
"Are you sure that's not just an overstatement?" I asked.
"Raven, I'm serious when I say that. I have never felt human skin that ice-cold before." She argued. "And all the rest of the information listed here about the cold ones lines up with them. Pale white skin, not going out in the sunlight, not eating any food, shifting eye colors—"
"How would those factors be relevant to the Cullens?" I interrupted, baffled beyond words.
"I never see any of the Cullens eat or drink anything during lunch. They don't come to school when it's nice out. They all have this identical chalky pale skin tone, and I've noticed Edward's eyes are almost the color black one moment, and dark yellow the next." She detailed, making me pause in my thinking.
Alice's eye color went between those two shades as well — gold and black. Anytime I noticed it was different, I excused it as nothing — figuring it was just different colored contacts that she liked to switch out for looks — as weird as that may possibly sound — and that she was too embarrassed to admit that; that's what I always assumed.
Alongside that, I remembered noticing a few times before in the cafeteria how Alice would throw away all the uneaten food and unopened soda into the garbage bin that was on her lunch tray. It was not something I paid much attention to every day, though anytime I did see her take her tray up, it was always her dumping out untouched food and not scraps.
Looking back to earlier that night, when Alice wouldn't eat anything for dinner at the diner, or even take one sip of water from her glass made me start to think a little further into what Bella was saying.
On top of that, now knowing that Bella noticed the same exact things about Edward too... this couldn't be true, I tried reminding myself once more.
"So what are you saying, Bella?" I questioned further. "That the Cullens are... vampires?"
I couldn't even believe I was saying that word out loud in this context.
"I don't want to admit that's what I believe them to be." She muttered warily. "It's ridiculous. I know it is. But all these specific details about the cold ones sound drastically familiar to everything I've noticed about the Cullens — every single one."
"Even if they were vampires — which they aren't — why do you even care so much to suspect that they are?" I inquired, wondering overall why this was such a big deal to her.
"I... well," She paused, gulping nervously. "I'm just curious. That's all that it is."
"You said the same thing when I asked why you bought that book about Quileute legends. That you were just 'curious.'" I pointed out. "And look where that conversation went."
Bella didn't say a word, and seemed flooded with pure embarrassment, realizing my point was right, and that she cared for a different reason — something deeper.
"Could it possibly have something to do with that beau of yours?" I raised one eyebrow, now lightly smirking.
"Edward's not my boyfriend." She denied as she scowled at me.
"No need to get defensive." I grinned as Bella playfully rolled her eyes. "If it's because you like Edward, then I won't—"
"I don't!" She declined abruptly, confirming my suspicion about them even more.
"Then tell me right now why you care about the possibility of him and his family being something such as vampires if you don't like him?" I demanded. "And don't say that it's because you're curious, because I know it's more than that."
Bella went silent yet again, not knowing the words to answer my question. Instead, her eyes looked down towards her lap, no longer looking at me.
"Bella, look at me," I instructed her, influencing her to look up, shamefaced. "It's okay that you like him. I wouldn't say anything if you did, and I understand if that story Jacob told us is bothering you a bit because of the fact that you like Edward. But... as Jacob said from the beginning and at the end, it's just a story. Urban legends and myths like that aren't meant to be taken literally, and I don't want all that Jacob said to trouble you so deeply — so much so that it'll affect the relationship you and Edward already have negatively."
Bella remained quiet before speaking again. "You now probably think I'm a freak to believe a story like that, right?"
"No, of course not." I tried to be as supportive as I could through my disbelief. "Although I don't personally see that to be true about them, I would never view you as a freak."
Bella lightly smiled before looking down again. I placed my hand over her back and lightly rubbed it to try and comfort her through all this. I'll admit, all that she had bestowed upon me throughout this whole night about this old legend is outrageous beyond anything I have ever been told by anyone in all my seventeen years of living.
Regardless, she likely felt like she couldn't talk about these thoughts to anyone else but me, and I didn't want her to feel afraid about telling me anything that she needed to get off her chest — even if it was that she felt embarrassed about suspecting that the boy she was infatuated with was a blood-drinking vampire.
I was still her friend, and I wanted her to feel validated no matter what I believed.
"It's getting late," I commented, checking the clock to see that it was almost past midnight. "I think it's best we get some rest for school tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're right." Bella agreed, half-smiling.
I offered to sleep on the floor with a blanket and pillow, though Bella said it was okay if I slept in her bed beside her, not wanting me to sleep on the cold wooden floor all night.
Luckily the bed was big enough to fit us both, and I laid on one side that faced the bedroom door, and Bella was on the other — we were both faced away from each other.
I answered a few texts I had from my friend Paige back in Fresno before plugging up my flip phone on the charger and wrapping myself up in the purple floral comforter covering Bella's bed.
"Well, I hope you sleep well," Bella muttered, likely out of politeness.
"Yeah, you too," I replied. "And please try not to think about that vampire story anymore tonight — just sleep it off."
"Okay," she responded after a few seconds. "Thanks for making me feel better about it."
"Yeah, no problem," I responded.
We both said goodnight before finally drifting off to sleep after the long day we both had.
Little did I know, that the dreams I would have that same night would consist of darkness, uncertainty, and a familiar pixielike vampire named Alice Cullen.
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I still felt exhausted when I awoke in the morning, almost as if I barely got any sleep at all.
I blamed Bella and I, going to bed later than expected from talking endlessly about that Quileute legend, and the continuous dreams I had all night that contained red eyes, blood-stained fangs, and feeling as if my neck was bleeding out as Alice stood above me with red liquid dripping from her mouth.
I tried to shake my thoughts off and got up out of bed to get ready for school. Bella was already awake, sitting in her kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. She offered me breakfast too, though my appetite was low for once, and I ended up settling on a small granola bar instead.
After brushing out my hair — which was thankfully still straight from using my flat iron the day before — I changed into a long sleeve, black and grey striped v-neck, along with some jeans, and slid on my favorite black Converse before applying a little makeup that I brought with me in my bag.
Once I was ready, I grabbed my school bag I remembered to bring and went back downstairs. After a few minutes of waiting at the kitchen table, Bella appeared from upstairs, now dressed out of her pajamas in new clothes with her backpack over one shoulder.
We quickly told Charlie goodbye before he drove off in his patrol car and got into Bella's truck to drive to school. We mostly drove in silence, as to be expected, and eventually made it to the school.
As soon as we both got out and began walking towards the school, Bella paused her movement as she looked ahead at something.
I shouldn't have been surprised that it was Edward she was looking at — the potential vampire in her mind.
Edward was staring intensely at her as well, as he stood further away from her across the lot — his features were unreadable.
"Bella, are you okay?" I asked, snapping her out of her daze.
"Um, yeah," she nodded hastily. "I'll, um... see you later."
Before I could say anything in response, Bella started walking away from me, towards the direction of where Edward was still standing and glaring at her.
I squinted my eyes in confusion as I observed her look straight at him as she walked past him. Edward turned his head to look back at her and began to follow carefully behind her.
That's when I realized Bella was no longer walking toward the school anymore, she was now walking in the direction of a large forest that bordered the school, and Edward was still willingly following her. Not even in a concerned way, in a calm, collected way.
I now felt worried about where they were going, and why they were both leaving school together, without even saying a single word to each other.
That was beyond strange.
Was she planning to confront him about the mind-blowing assumptions she had of him? I prayed to God not — she would make a total fool of herself by doing that.
"Raven!" A familiar, angelic voice called out.
I turned around — finally unlocking my gaze off of those two the minute they disappeared into the forest — and saw none other than Alice, smiling as she began skipping over to me happily.
"Oh, hey, Alice." I greeted back, trying to keep my cool after what I witnessed.
That's when I decided to examine her eyes again, which appeared darker than they looked the night before. They were no longer as golden as I remembered them. They were now darker than butterscotch.
I reminded myself once more it was just a myth.
It's just a myth, Raven.
"Are you feeling alright?" Her eyes narrowed with concern as she kept her gaze on me, sensing my hesitance.
"Yeah, um," I paused, nodding. "I just saw your brother and my friend Bella walk that way into the woods."
"You did?" She questioned, furrowing her eyebrows. "That's odd. I wonder why."
"The feeling is definitely mutual." I chuckled lightly, prompting Alice to do the same. "I wish I didn't have to attend school like they apparently aren't." I joked.
"Well, if you'd like, we could go drive somewhere for the day." She offered with a grin.
I was instantly taken aback by her offer.
"Oh, I was just joking." I clarified.
"No, really," she insisted. "Since those two lovebirds are easily ditching school to spend time together, why don't we do the same?"
"Won't we get into trouble doing that?" I asked.
"I could have my father write up an excuse for us," She then offered, making sure no one heard her nearby. "That way, the teachers won't list us as absent. And so you won't get into any trouble with your mother either."
I now felt more tempted. "Well, I suppose taking one day off from school won't hurt."
"It won't if you're with me." Alice playfully winked, making me chuckle.
"Well, where should we go, my bad influence?" I smirked, prompting her to laugh at the nickname I gave her.
"I already know the perfect place we could go." She assured confidently. "Let's go before anyone notices."
Swiftly, she turned to go toward where her siblings' cars were parked, and I followed quickly behind her. We ended up in her sister, Rosalie's, ruby red Convertible. The top was up that day, seeing as it was supposed to rain at some point — though not any time soon.
Alice quickly started the car before pulling out of the parking space — luckily the lot was practically empty by this point — and smoothly drove out of the lot.
As she was driving, she showed me where the CD case was in the glove compartment and told me to choose any CD I wanted to listen to. I ended up choosing a Coldplay disc and sliding it into the stereo to play.
Alice and I once again sang along to some of the songs both of us knew — I would occasionally pause my own singing just to hear her melodic, soprano voice I was highly jealous that I wasn't lucky enough to be born with.
We stopped singing after a while and chose to listen to the rest of the songs in silence as Alice drove speedily down an empty road surrounded by pine trees on both sides. That's when I grew curious again as to where she was taking us.
"Are you seriously not going to tell me where we're going?" I questioned impatiently.
"Nope, it's a surprise." She replied, glancing to my side while smiling at me with amusement in her eyes.
I groaned jokingly in response as we continued on our drive to wherever our destination was.
After ten more minutes went by, we were no longer driving on a deserted road between trees and were finally somewhere with more people and stores around, though not by much — it is Forks after all.
"It's coming up!" Alice exclaimed eagerly. "Close your eyes."
"Really, Alice?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I mean it." She insisted, briefly glancing back over at me. "Close your eyes so you don't spoil the surprise!"
Feeling defeated, I sighed before finally shutting my eyes as Alice continued driving.
"This is silly," I commented.
"No peeking." She ordered in a teasing tone. "We're about to pull in."
After feeling the car turn in another direction — keeping my eyes closed — I felt the car finally come to a stop.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now." She excitedly said.
Without hesitation, I peered my eyes open without waiting. My eyes widened at the sight — it was a huge, beautiful botanical garden.
It had a large, grass lawn in front of the tall building lined with flowers, along with two towering shrubs on both sides that accentuated the entrance, and a big outdoor water fountain in the center of it. The building was almost seethrough, due to the large, open windows it had, and you could nearly see all the lovely plants and flowers from outside; despite it being an indoor establishment.
I had been to a few smaller botanical gardens before back in my hometown, but nothing quite like this.
Alice knew me so well.
"This is beautiful," I uttered in awe, still gazing at the place from afar.
"I knew you'd love it." Alice grinned proudly while unbuckling her seatbelt.
I did the same before we both got out of the Convertible. We walked side by side up the short staircase that led to the entrance, and both stopped to admire all that they had outside.
"This is amazing," I proclaimed, brightly smiling ear to ear. "I've never seen a garden this breathtaking before."
"Never?" Alice asked as we both gazed at the water fountain.
"No, not like this," I answered, shaking my head.
"Well then, I can guarantee you're in for a real treat." She beamed, before avidly grabbing my arm to go inside.
I felt a frigid sensation go through my arm the moment our skin touched again, making Alice turn back around to face me and see why I wasn't moving with her.
"I'm sorry," she apologized worriedly. "Did I grab your arm too hard?"
I cleared my mind again — of the cold-skinned detail from the myth — and tried my best to appear normal.
"No, no, you didn't hurt me," I promised. "Let's go in."
I smiled again before grabbing her arm — this time ignoring the frigidness — and walking forward with her as we went through the entrance.
The inside was even more gorgeous than the outside — and that was saying something genuinely. The inside space was enormous — I couldn't even imagine how tall the ceiling reached — and it was filled to the brim with towering plants, palm trees, exotic flowers, and more than my eyes could focus on one minute at a time.
After paying for our entry, we began walking through the inside portion of the garden, which was lined with curved stone walkways to stroll through as you look. It was luckily not that busy, considering it was not a weekend, and it wasn't incredibly warm or sunny either — making this experience less overstimulating for me.
"I must say, Alice," I started as I kept my gaze on one of the few statues they had inside. "You definitely chose the right place for us to skip school for."
"I know." She simpered with pride, as we both laughed. "Just wait till we go outside to the back."
"I'm not sure if I can handle any more of your surprises," I joked. "I'm already in complete wonderment over all that I've seen so far."
"Of course you can handle more," She assured gleefully. "Follow me."
With that, Alice took my arm as she led me to the large glass door that led to the outdoor area of the garden. Much to my expectations, it was extravagant beyond what I pictured it to be, almost like a garden you'd see in a fairytale book.
Metal statues of angels were placed in the center of the floral attractions, a large lake was in the center with several fish swimming in it, and there was so much to look at in the garden, I wasn't even sure what to look at first or even say.
"You're finally speechless," Alice commented, smirking.
I simply glared at her before lightly snickering at her statement, as it was true.
I decided to let Alice lead the rest of the tour of the garden, as I was nowhere certain of where to go. We both admired all the tall floral trees, wildflowers, and perfectly shaped shrubs the place had to display.
As we went through the outside garden, I then noticed ahead of us a long, flower-lined arbor that looked absolutely stunning. It led to another small fountain at the end that was surrounded by bushes.
"Look, Alice." I pointed to the arbor. "Isn't that so pretty?"
"It is indeed," She agreed blissfully. "Would you like to walk down it?"
"Would I?" I narrowed my eyes, giving the obvious impression that I did.
Eagerly, we both walked through the arbor towards where the fountain was, as my eyes surveyed the several green vines with pink and purple flowers that spiraled up the white poles that held up the arbor.
Once we made it to the end, we both stood in stillness as the sound of running water filled our eardrums as we both looked at the layered water fountain.
"Thank you so much for taking me here, Alice," I said, breaking the quietness between us.
"Of course, Raven," Alice chirped, smiling radiantly. "I'm so happy to see that you love it as much as I do."
"I do, much more than you think," I replied honestly.
My heart shrunk thinking back to my dad, knowing how much he would've loved to visit a garden as beautiful as this.
"My dad would've loved to see this," I muttered under my breath, sadly.
"What did you say, Raven?" Alice asked, now looking over at me again.
"Oh, nothing," I shook my head, before looking up to the sky. "Hey, do you think it's going to rain soon?" I tried stalling.
"No, I don't think it's going to rain for a while." She answered, also looking up with me.
The clouds looked darker than what I saw before and appeared as if it was going to rain anytime now. Why did she think that?
"Are you sure?" I questioned. "The sky looks awfully dark for it to not rain."
"Trust me. It shouldn't rain for a little while longer." She assured again. "Don't worry."
I nodded before it went silent again, deciding to believe her — seeing as she knew Forks much more than I did. My mind then went back to Bella and Edward.
I completely forgot about earlier with them and where I saw them go. I hoped Bella was okay. I started to wonder if she had perhaps texted me anything, or even tried to call me.
"I wonder if your brother and Bella are still together right now — possibly still in the woods or elsewhere," I mentioned, chuckling afterward.
"Most likely," Alice responded, shrugging. "But I'm sure they're fine."
"I hope so," I muttered, mildly unconvinced.
"Are you worried they're not?" She asked, examining the confused expression I had — wondering if I should even mention anything about Bella and I's debate from last night.
"Not necessarily," I shook my head. "I just... I think Bella went with him to talk about something she brought up to me recently."
"Really?" She raised one of her brows. "Did you want to talk about it?"
My eyes anxiously darted to the ground. "I'm not sure if I should. It's honestly ridiculous."
"You don't have to talk about it if you're not comfortable," she mentioned, making me feel more comfortable. "But if you'd like to tell me about it, you can. I promise I won't mention anything to my brother or anyone else if you do."
Although my palms began to feel clammy, and my heart started rushing faster — fearing that what I was going to tell Alice was going to sound so appalling to her, to where she would see me, and Bella more than anything, as complete nut-jobs — despite me not believing it myself.
Regardless, I felt safe enough to disclose it to Alice, and I believed when she promised she wouldn't say anything about it to anyone.
"Well," I paused to gulp. "One of Bella's friends who lives out in La Push told us about this story that derives from their tribe, and Bella wanted to look more into it." Alice nodded attentively, gesturing me to continue.
"So she went and got this book that has all sorts of legends mentioned in it — specifically legends based around the Quileute tribe — and she came across this one myth... called the cold ones."
Without warning, Alice's eyes widened with panic as her mouth fell open slightly from gasping quietly.
It lightly startled me, as I wondered if I had said too much at that point.
"What is it?" I asked, noticing the terror on her face.
"I..." Alice breathed. "It's nothing."
"Are you sure?" I furrowed my brows worriedly.
"Yes." She uttered, gulping apprehensively. "I'm so sorry— I need a minute."
With that, Alice swiftly turned away from me and started speed-walking back down the arbor.
What have I done? I felt so stupid for mentioning this.
Has she or her family been told about that legend before in an offensive way? Have other kids accused them before of something having to do with that myth?
"Alice!" I called out. "Wait, please!"
I began to run after her, but she still remained far ahead of me. She then turned and ran between a few of the shrubs that enclosed the area, which leads you away from the botanical garden and outside the premises.
"Alice!" I shouted again while passing through the spiky green shrubs.
I then saw that she was heading into a nearby forest that was close to the botanical garden that was not blocked off for visitors. I sighed, attempting to catch my breath as I ran faster after her.
After running through the grassy field that was between the garden and the forest, I finally caught up to her as she began to slow down. She was now standing beside one of the many trees located inside the woods.
"Alice, what's wrong?" I cried out. "Please talk to me."
I went to grab her hand while she was still facing away from me before she quickly pulled it away from my grasp.
When our hands touched once more, I felt that same ice-cold temperature — the coldness I felt earlier that day, and every single time our skin accidentally touched before that.
"Alice," I repeated more sternly. "You need to tell me why you ran away from me just now."
She didn't speak a word. Instead, she kept her gaze on the colorless, leaf-covered ground with both her hands by her side in fists.
"Do you know something about that legend? About the cold ones?" I probed.
Alice tilted her head back up away from the ground and was now looking straight — still away from me. Slowly, she turned her head slightly to the side without moving her body — her dark golden eyes now met mine.
"Are you... one of them?" I uttered as my vocals shivered.
Her eerie silence, her terrified expression, everything in that moment said it all.
"Please don't be afraid."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ♡: *.☽ .* :♡ ˚｡･ ───
A/N:
We've officially reached this part of the story everyone has been waiting for! I was so happy to finally write it, and I really hope you all liked it as much as I do!
Please make sure to vote if you did, and please comment your thoughts about it if you'd like! I'd really love to hear from you guys about it!
As always, I will see you all in the next, suspenseful chapter! ;)
~ K ♡