Chapter Seven - Dead
*Genevieve*
A little over four months had passed since we had left the rest of the Cullens in Ithica and Theo and I had slowly gotten used to the thousands of miles that separated us from the rest of our little family. Spending our time living out our best, Bella-free life, in our safe little bubble, heading out into the woods to hunt every few days, and going into town at night to sightsee.
I let out a groan as I rolled over on the couch and grabbed my phone, which had been going off for the past five minutes. My hope for whoever was calling to give up had been lost after about three minutes of listening to the phone continuously ring.
Theo quickly walked into another room and began to pack a bag for our next late-night outing.
"Tanya?" I say, picking up the phone, my brown furrowing in confusion. "What's up? Is everything okay?"
"Genevieve!" Tanya exclaimed, her voice flooding with relief at the sound of my voice on the other side of the phone. "Please, please, please tell me that you didn't know anything about Laurent dying."
"Laurent?" I ask, my eyes meeting Theo's, the confusion clear in both of our eyes. "No, Theo and I have been in France for months now. We haven't heard anything about Laurent. Why? What happened?"
"He's dead. Irina's absolutely furious- wants to get revenge." Tanya explained, her voice laced with worry and fear at what Irina may do in anger of her mate dying.
"We'll come and stay with you guys for a while," I said, sharing a glance with Theo, who nodded his head and quickly sped off for the room, packing our bags while I continued to talk to Tanya.
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Running up to the snowy house not even a day later, I quickly dropped my things and tackled Tanya into a hug, both of us falling into the snow.
"Tanya!"
"Genevieve!" she laughed, wrapping her arms around me. Both of us stood up, looping our arms together as we looked around. Theo happily talking to Kate and Eleazer, Carmen, and a depressed-looking Irina made their way over to me. Carmen pulled me into a motherly hug and checked me over just like Esme would do.
"How are you, Genevieve? I heard you were with Theo in Paris?" She inquired, her eyes glinting with mischief.
"Carmen!" I scold, playfully hitting her arm. "It's good to see you. You as well Irina. I'm sorry to hear about Laurent, he seemed like a nice man."
She nodded and sent me a small thankful smile, her blond hair shining in the Alaskan sun. Her face was pale- more so than usual- and it seemed sunken in. The pain of losing Laurent was apparent in her appearance too, the clothes she wore were shabbier. A pair of looser grey sweatpants and an old t-shirt, which was covered up with a fashionable fur-lined jacket that someone must've forced her into.
"Alice is going to freak out when she finds out that she missed welcoming you back. She thought you would take longer to get here," Tanya explained, quickly leading me into the house. It still looked the same as the last time I had visited, only a few of the paintings switched out.
"Alice is here?" I say, turning my head towards her in surprise. "She never told me."
"She got here a few weeks ago, she and Jasper wanted to be able to go out freely. Without the fear of people seeing them glitter in the day," Tanya continued. I nodded my head in understanding as we made our way into the living room, quickly sitting down on the couch and continuing to talk.
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"Genevieve!" Alice yelled, racing into the room. "Why didn't you tell me you were planning on coming here? I thought you were coming tomorrow! You could've warned me!"
I chuckled as I stood up, swiftly pulling her into a hug. Pulling away and scanning her face. "How are you, Alice?"
"I'm good, Jazz and I got in here a few days ago."
"I heard," I said, chuckling at her, "you didn't tell me you split up from Carlisle and the rest of them. Are they still in Ithaca?"
"Yeah, they're pretty happy there... I mean not as happy as they were in Forks, but... anyway, we didn't want to bother you and Theo," Alice said, shrugging it off. I scoffed as I rolled my eyes at her.
"It's never a bother to hear from you guys," I say, smiling at her. Looking past her and quickly noting Jasper, who was leaning against the doorframe, engrossed in a conversation with Theo. The two boys used their hands to motion and emphasize whatever it was that they were talking about.
"Come on," Alice said, taking my hand in hers and pulling me away from the living room. I stumbled a bit but quickly got my footing and followed her up the stairs, eventually finding myself in Jasper and her room. Alice perched herself next to me and immediately started to ramble on about Paris, pressing me for all the details- mainly wanting to hear all about the clothes that she expected me to buy her.
"Please! You have to have hit that new store... or what was it called again? Bella." Alice whispered, her mind zoning off from the conversation.
"I don't think that it was called Bella," I chuckle, the smile quickly being wiped off my face as I see her eyes whiz back and forth in horror.
"She- she jumped off a cliff! Oh my god! She jumped off a cliff!" She screeched, her hands immediately grabbing her hair in disbelief as she shot up from her spot on the bed. "I never thought that she would kill herself! I mean, I knew that she was depressed that we had left- not so much that you and Theo were gone... sorry-"
"Trust me, we don't mind," I assure, offering her a snarky smile as I cross my arms.
"Edward never wanted us to engage with her... I knew that she was having... trouble, but I never thought that she would kill herself! Oh god! What's Edward gonna do when he finds out? This isn't good!" Alice rambles.
"Maybe she's just having her midlife crisis... you know, some people cut off all their hair, others buy a car. I knew a guy who got a tattoo, started going to the gym, and learned how to skateboard when he had his 'midlife crisis'... or maybe he was just going through an 'emo' phase... I'm still not really sure about him."
"Are you talking about Mr. Luke? Like the old physics teacher from years ago?" Alice asks, abruptly turning towards me with a raised eyebrow. "He was definitely going through a mid-life crisis. I mean, his wife left him to marry Hector Mallory- and she popped out Lauren a few months later, so..."
"True... I would get a tattoo, go to the gym, and learn to skateboard if that happened to me too," I say, "poor guy."
"Yeah... I heard that he moved though- wait! We were talking about Bella!" Alice quickly throws her hands up in the air and rushes off into her and Jasper's closet, throwing a few more clothes into a small suitcase before reappearing with a wild look. "We need to go to Forks."
"Ha! Funny. Good joke, Alice," I say, completely unimpressed with her idea. "There's no way in hell that I'm going back to Forks."
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"I cannot believe that you dragged me into driving back to Forks," I mutter, watching as she pulls out her phone and explains the situation to Jasper and Theo, then again to Rose a few minutes later. "I hate Forks."
"What do you mean 'Bella's dead'?" I ask, turning in my seat as Alice continues to drive- well speed down the highway back toward Forks.
"She- I just- I saw her jump off a cliff," Alice explained, not quite confident of what she was saying. "I didn't see anything after that... we just- we have to go and see..."
I sigh as I sit back in my seat, watching as the trees pass by in a blur, the clouds growing greyer as we continue to drive. The sound of complete and utter silence quickly filled the car, the soft hum of the car quickly taking its place, along with Alice's incessant tapping of her fingers along the wheel.
I quickly reach over and grab her hand, pulling it away from the wheel and dropping it onto her lap, giving her a sarcastic grin. "Thanks."
She let out a little 'humph' as she placed her hand back onto the wheel, gripping the wheel with an iron grip. The sound of her fingers tapping quickly filled the car once again a few minutes later. I groaned as I slid down in my seat, squeezing my eyes shut as I quietly muttered to myself.
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-T