THREE; OBLIVION
Months went by and neither of the Swan twins did much socializing, for different reasons. Bella was depressed because the Cullen's, more specifically Edward, left and had yet to come back. Cassadee stayed away from people as much as possible, afraid that she would suck them dry with her thirst. Although for some reason she was never as thirty when she was around her loved ones, she liked to think it was the fact that she would never imagine hurting any of them but she doubted it.
The oldest twin had the bigger problem but still seemed to socialize more. She went to La Push to hang out with Jacob to get her mind off of things, the first time didn't go over so well for Jacob when he saw her new appearance. He had seen her when she first returned home but either didn't notice or just didn't react. The teenage boy never came outright and said it but Cassadee knew that he knew she was a vampire. He was the only best friend she had left; the others left and trying to make conversation with Bella was like talking to a tree stump. Cassadee wasn't much for conversations these days but it would be nice to know that she was being heard. To have one of the people she trusted most to attempt to comfort her. But it was no use, she was stuck with her thoughts by herself.
"Cassie, what a surprise to see you." Billy said once he opened the door, the same uneasy look on his face as the night Cassadee returned home.
Cassadee ignored the look and gave the older man a smile, "Yeah, I thought it was time to get out of the house, thought I would hang out with Jacob."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Billy asked, making sure to block her way into the house with his wheelchair. "You don't seem well."
"I'm completely fine, Billy."
"Your pale skin and red eyes seem to say otherwise."
"Okay," Cassadee huffed, for some reason she wasn't completely surprised that Billy knew about vampires, especially after the story Jacob told her at La Push beach. "I haven't killed anyone yet, despite the fact that I have wanted to many times, so you don't have to worry about me around Jake."
"You could easily lose control." Billy pointed out. "Your kind is not even allowed on here."
"Can I please just talk to him?" Cassadee pleaded, "I need some amount of normalcy in my life and he's really the only one that gives me that at this point. If I hurt him you can kill me yourself."
Billy watched the eldest Swan daughter for a moment, making sure that she was truly being sincere. "You might want to get contacts." He moved his wheelchair out of the way just enough to let Cassadee in. She thanked him before going to Jacob's small room.
"Hey, stranger." Jacob smiled, it dropping as soon as he looked at her. "You're not Cassie."
"Of course I'm Cassie." She replied, but she wasn't being completely honest. She was Cassadee, just an alternate version. An immortal version that couldn't cry or sleep no matter how much she wanted to.
"No," Jacob shook his head. "You're not. You're about ten times paler than you used to be and your eyes are bright red, not brown."
"Well, ten times paler might be a bit of an exaggeration." Cassadee pointed out, trying to avoid the heartbreaking feeling coming over her. "Please don't push me away, Jacob."
"You're not my best friend."
"Yeah, your best friend is dead inside." Cassadee wanted to cry but of course she couldn't, no matter how much tears would well up in her eyes. "But I'm working on it. You just have to help me. You're my best friend. You and my dad are the only two that make me any amount of happy these days."
"You'll be the same as before?"
"Maybe slightly different." Cassadee shrugged, "I wanna be Sassy Cassie again. I'm starting to become Boring Bella." If Cassadee were in a better mood, she would've laughed at the old nickname that she gave her twin, but she wasn't much for laughing these days.
Jacob snorted. "I don't think you ever lost Sassy Cassie."
The newborn also had a few run-ins with Sam, the first one was quite shocking to the female since he was in wolf form and she had seen him transform back into his human form, seeing much more of him than she had ever wanted. The werewolf made it abundantly clear that the only reason she was allowed on the Rez without him killing her was because she was Charlie's daughter. To which she replied with that she wished he would kill her, then she wouldn't have to live with the constant fear of killing someone. Cassadee felt comfortable around Sam, she could talk to him and know that he was actually listening because he would respond, maybe not with something she wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing. He knew that she was struggling with her new life and he knew what it was like to go through that. After many unintentional meetings in the woods, the two almost considered each other friends.
Another thing that had changed was the fact that Charlie almost became overbearing to Cassadee. She loved her father and she knew that his heart was in the right place but he always wanted to know where she was going. Ever since she got back from missing for three days he thought that her life was in severe danger whenever she would leave. He was concerned, which was understandable considering the fact that she never ate and she was always ice cold whenever he touched her. It took forever to convince her father that she was fine once she got home, physically at least, and she didn't have to go to the hospital.
"I'm sure she'll be home soon, Dad." Bella assured, Cassadee being able to hear her twins voice from a mile away when she was concentrating.
"Do you think she went with them?" Charlie asked, the desperation in his voice made guilt run through Cassadee. She didn't have a choice in the matter, but she would've told her family that she was fine if she could've.
"She would never leave you guys." Jacob stated quickly, "I know that for a fact."
"We'll find her soon, Charlie." Billy assured, "This town is only so big."
"Then why haven't I found my daughter yet?!" Charlie shouted, the frustration taking over. "I'm sorry," he apologized to his best friend. "I just don't know what I would do if something happened to her."
"She's fine," Bella said, "If there's one thing Cass can do it is survive."
Cassadee walked out of the woods then, covered in mud and twigs in her hair. She could smell and hear all the blood pumping through the group's veins, especially the other police that were in the yard. Bella was the first to see her twin, not saying anything before running over to her and hugging her. The newborn wanted to hug her sister but was afraid that she would snap her like a twig in a second. Her blood didn't bother her as much as she thought it would, even if it did she could never imagine drinking her blood, or Charlie's, or Jacob's, or Billy's.
"Oh my God." Bella said when she pulled away from her sister, looking at her.
"I know." Cassadee said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it." She said as Charlie ran over to his daughters.
"Oh, thank God." Charlie said when he reached Cassadee, wrapping her in his arms. She looked over her father's shoulder and looking at Jacob and Billy. Jacob looked relieved while Billy gave her an uneasy look. "Jesus Christ, Cassie, you're literally ice cold. Let's get you to the hospital."
"No," Cassadee said quickly, "I'm fine. I just want to go to bed."
"You need to get checked out, Cassadee. You were missing for three days."
"I know, but I swear I'm fine." Cassadee pulled away from Charlie and looked up at him pleadingly, "Please, just let me go to bed."
Most of the time Bella seemed worse than her sister, she was practically a zombie. The only time she would make a sound was when she was screaming from her nightmares, Cassadee would probably be doing the same if she could actually sleep. Cassadee had grown used to the screams, not like they were disturbing her. Most of the time she would be reading a book or watching television, something to kill the time if she wasn't out looking for something to eat. Most of the time she wouldn't say anything, she would just go to Bella's room and lay in bed with her, something they both found comforting ever since the Cullen's left.
Cassadee almost jumped when she heard the bloodcurdling scream coming from across the hall. She got off her bed and sped into her sister's room, not thinking that Charlie could possibly see something. The brunette relaxed when she saw that Bella was just having a nightmare rather than getting murdered. Cassadee sat on the bed and shook her sister to wake her up, Charlie coming in right after.
"Sorry," Bella said when she realized that it was just a dream. "I'm fine, you can go back to bed."
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked, "That seemed like quite a nightmare."
"I'm fine." Bella assured her father, "Sorry for waking you up."
Charlie looked at Cassadee for reassurance, knowing she was the better off of the two. When she gave him a nod he went back to his room. Cassadee gave her twin a soft smile before getting off the bed and heading back to her room.
"Cass?" Bella asked, waiting for Cassadee to turn around and look at her. "Can you stay with me, please?"
Cassadee didn't say a word as she got into her sisters bed, getting under the covers even though she didn't need to. She did it because in a way it still made part of her feel human.
"Please don't leave me like the others."
"You couldn't get rid of me even if you tried."
At some point Charlie had threatened to send the girls to Florida to live with their mother. Even though the twins wanted to stay for different reasons; Bella because she had her friends and the hope that the Cullen's would one day return, and Cassadee couldn't go to the sunny state because she was cursed with sparkling like diamonds in direct sunlight. She also had a few people she would miss, but Jacob was at the top of the list after Charlie.
Bella said that they were going shopping with Jessica, much to Cassadee's dismay. She liked shopping but didn't care for Jessica. Cassadee and her had an on and off friendship, sometimes they liked each other, most of the time Cassadee only tolerated her because she was in the same group as the few people she actually did like, Angela and Eric. Mike wasn't bad but he seemed to be trying harder and harder to get Cassadee to like him, which only made her like him slightly less. During times when he wouldn't constantly try to woo her, she actually liked him.
Cassadee agreed to go shopping with Jessica only because they seemed to be the only way to get Charlie to let her stay. Although the three brunette's didn't go shopping, they just went to the movies thanks to Bella.
"I don't know why you want to sit through all those zombies eating people and no hot guys kissing anybody." Jessica said after the three came out of the theater from seeing The Dead Come back. It wasn't Cassadee's first choice, but she went with whatever her sister wanted. "I don't get why there are so many zombie movies. It's like a metaphor for consumerism or something?"
Cassadee gave Jessica a side glance as she kept talking about stuff she didn't care about, like how Mike broke up with her and thought it had something to do with Cassadee. "Jessica," Cassadee cut off the girls rant. "The world doesn't revolve around you in case you didn't know. We all have our own problems to deal with."
"I'm just saying that it would be nice if my friends were there for me."
Cassadee scoffed, "You have other friends, Jessica. Go talk about yourself with one of them."
Down the hill, four guys called out to the girls asking if they wanted a ride on their motorcycles. Bella took a few steps closer, trying to see them while Cassadee watched her sister. "I think I know them."
"They seem great." Jessica said sarcastically, looking at the group. "Can we go?"
"Well, I don't." Cassadee said, "And I know everyone you know."
Bella ignored her sister and went halfway down the hill, stopping for a few seconds and turning around before continuing down the hill.
"Your sister is crazy." Jessica said as Bella got on the back of a man's motorcycle and disappeared around the corner a few seconds later.
"She'll be fine."
"How do you know that? Why aren't you freaking out right now?"
"I just know."
It didn't take long for Bella to return, as soon as she came into view from down the hill Jessica started speaking. "Hey, what the hell is wrong with you? Just curious."
"I thought I saw something."
"You are insane, actually. Or suicidal."
"God, that was such a rush."
"Oh, so you're an adrenaline junky now? Go bungie-jumping. Don't get on the back of some loser's motorcycle." Jessica stormed off, leaving the Swan twins alone.
"Sometimes I want to eat her just so she'll shut up."
*****
not edited
i know there isn't much of it in here, but i love jacob and cass's relationship. and her and sam, which you'll probably see more of in a few chapters or so