Ice Veins; Ice Heart

frost thy heart

too late to apologize
it's too late

Knock-Knock

No response.

Knock-Knock

No response.

"Noelle?" Charlie peeked his head inside his daughter's rooms. The room looked a mess. There were clothes thrown everywhere, and the window was ajar, letting in the cool breeze of Forks. Noelle was wrapped in her blanket with her tear-stained cheek on her pillow.

"Noelle, honey?" Charlie asked worriedly.

He walked to his daughter and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Jesus, Noelle, you are cold as hell. Why is the damn window open then!" Charlie hurriedly closed the window and went back to his daughter. He knelt by the side of Noelle's bed.

"Dad?" Noelle asked in a groggy voice.

"Hey, kiddo, you okay?"

"Yeah...can I stay home today? I don't really feel it today."

"Yeah..of course, you can, honey. I am worried though, Noelle. Do you want me to take you to Dr.Cullen?"

Dr. Cullen, Cullen, Jasper, heartbreak, and pain were the words that rang through Noelle's mind. All she could associate with that name was pain and lies. Deceitful and mistrusting vampires! she thought to herself.

"No."

"You sure, honey?"

"I do not want to see the fucking doctor."

"Noelle!"

"Sorry."

"You can stay home, but we are talking about this sudden outburst later on."

"Thanks, dad. Sorry." Noelle replied meekly.

"I am going to wake up Bella...I will pick up some soup on the way from work."

Charlie placed a small kiss on his daughter's forehead and left her room.

Noelle did not particularly like her sister, but she knew what was in store for Isabella today. Edward was going to break her heart and leave. She knew it all too well. Some part of her wanted to warn Bella about the impending catastrophe, but her body was numb. Noelle could not must the will to move five feet away from her bedroom; there was no way she had the energy to warn Bella about the tragic news.

So, Noelle let the events run their course. Noelle would build Bella a snowman or something to help her get over the pasty-looking, rabbit-killing broccoli.

Noelle closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. She wished to zone out of her current reality and wake up to another point in her life where everything was not such a huge mess. Maybe if she woke up, she wouldn't feel so hopeless and defeated in the face of adversity.

Maybe that is what Noelle did. She needed to close her eyes. Everything will be fine once she woke up.

Noelle kept repeating her little mantra to lull herself to sleep. She saw a dark world. Everything was black and quiet. But something was starting to annoy her in this little space. There was a flashing light that kept peaking its head through her dark word along with some chatter.

Bella, Missing, Finding, Worry, Bella, Misisng Finding, Worry...

Suddenly, Noelle heard the words more coherently.

"Bella is missing, we will find her, Charlie, don't  worry."

Noelle opened her eyes.

It was dark, really dark. Noelle had zoned out for the entire day.  It was not time for school anymore; it was time for supper. The cruiser's cherry lights were shining through her window.

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

Noelle threw her blanket off her body and rushed downstairs, thinking about the worst of the scenario that was unfolding before her. She hurriedly went down the stairs and out the door. Everyone was huddled around Charlie's cruiser. Billy, Jacob, Harry Clearwater, and a few officers from the office.

Everyone was there.

"Dad!"

Charlie looked up to see his oldest daughter running barefoot toward him.

"Oh, Noelle!"

Charlie hugged Noelle and looked at her. She was wearing a simple top with shorts. It was evident that she had literally just left her bed and ran outside. Charlie took off his jacket and wrapped it around his daughter.

"What is going on?"

"Bella never made it to school, she isn't answering the phone, and neither are the Cullens."

"No one knows where she is, Noelle." Billy chimed.

"But we will find her. Do not worry, Noelle. We will find your sister." Harry reassured the family.

"Charlie, look!" Jacob yelled, pointing at an unconscious Bella in Sam Uley's arms.

"Bella!" Charlie ran towards her, leaving Noelle with Billy.

"They are gone?." Noelle whispered to Billy. She kept her gaze fixed on Charlie and Bella.

"Left this evening. The wolves were tracking them."

"Good riddance," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Good fucking riddance indeed, Harry," Noelle said and walked towards Charlie. She opened the door to help Charlie carry Bella inside. She accompanied him as they walked up to Bella's room and softly placed her on the bed.

"Charlie, go. I'll stay with her," Noelle said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go. The guys probably wanna talk to you."

Charlie left his daughters and went to catch up with Sam about the whole situation that had unfolded.

Noelle knelt beside Bella, pulling her covers over her shivering body. As she was about to take a seat on Bella's rocking chair to keep an eye on her, she felt a cold hand wrap around her wrist.

"Elly?"

"Bells."

"They left." Bella's soft voice quivered.

"I know."

"He left me." She reiterated again.

"I know."

"Stay with me. Please." Bella pleaded. She sounded insecure and in pain. She needed Noelle. They had to put their difference aside and help each other tonight. Both were in pain from the same cause; the Cullen brothers.

Noelle slowly got underneath Bella's covers. Bella took the opportunity to wrap around Noelle. Her tears started to fall slowly. Her sniffles accompanied her pain. Noelle wrapped her arms around Bella, pulling her close.

"It will be okay, Bells. It will be okay." She tried to reassure her heartbroken sister.

In all her attempts to reassure Bella that everything was going to be okay and that she would get through this, Noelle also tried to accept those words herself. But how could she?

Noelle felt betrayed by Jasper. She had opened up to him, she had trusted him, and she had allowed her vulnerable side to show how did he repay her? By over fixating on her imminent mortality and concocting elaborate schemes to fulfil his selfish desire to turn her into a blood-sucking monster.

Noelle, at that moment in time, holding her crying sister in her arms, wished that the Cullens had never appeared in their life. She wished that vampire kind was never introduced to either of them.

Noelle promised that if any other creature of the night appeared in the their life, they would rue the day they were ever created.

Noelle looked down at Bella, who had cried herself to sleep and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead while whispering, "I promise, Bells, no one will hurt us again. No one and no thing."

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Love you all.
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