COLD HANDS• VOLTURI KINGS

CHAPTER 1

Rain hugs the small town of Forks, making the whole atmosphere of it feel cramped, or maybe to some, cosy.

To Oliver Swan, Forks feels too small, like an aeroplane seat without any leg room. He stares at the same rows of sad little shops in disdain and sighs woefully whenever the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Oliver longed for sun, ached to feel it upon his cheeks, kissing him all over and allowing him to bask in its benevolent rays.

Instead, he sits silently on his bed, his blue eyes searching his muted TV screen blankly. His bedroom blanketed in a sad stillness. He could hear commotion downstairs, the distinct voice of Jacob black echoing angrily throughout the hollow House.

'At least Bella's having some human interaction'. he thinks glumly. He'd gotten used to the sight of her eyebrows creased in worry and her eyes swollen with a pitiful hopelessness.

Like most nights after the Cullen's departure from their lives, the Swan siblings did not speak much. And when they did, it was usually formal, as if they were merely colleagues or acquaintances. So he was thankful for the friendship between her and Jacob, even if he came off a little aggressive sometimes.

But then Bella's yelling about something, a rare occurrence nowadays, and Oliver sighs deeply and ruffles a hand through his dark hair before begrudgingly getting up from the comfort of his bed and making his way down the narrow stairs.

There's another voice, a voice with a familiar silkiness and easiness. It's Alice. Oliver's heart warms. He's very fond of Alice and all of her never-ending joy.

He reaches the living room and finds a bizarre, almost comical scene. Alice, Bella, and Jacob all in a heated and worried debate. 'Now there's an unlikely trio,'  Oliver thinks blandly.

Oliver clears his throat and three pairs of eyes fix on him, Bella looks like she's been caught doing something bad, Jacob looks just plain annoyed, and Alice looks glad to see him.

Ignoring the tension in the room, he springs towards Alice and wraps his arms around her cool body. She squeezes back tightly. "I've missed you, ollie, so much," She exclaims into his hair. Oliver smiles. It almost hurts since his face hasn't moved to form one in a while.

"Me too, it's so good to see you." he's pleased at how his voice sounds, lively and excited, human. Breaking apart, Alice keeps her arms looped around his as she turns to the silent pair.

"Oliver, hi, Alice is visiting. I mean, obviously you knew that but, um" the awkwardness is thick as Bella speaks, her dark eyes scan her brother wearily as if he had figured out what they were arguing about, figured out why Alice and Jacob act so coldly to one another.

Bella pauses, then shifts nervously. "I'm going- I mean- I have to leave for a while. Is that okay with you?" What she says is so odd and random that Oliver almost steps back in complete shock. "Leave? What do you mean?" He asks softly, bewilderedly, clinging tighter to Alice's arm. "Well, I'm going to Italy to clear my head. Alice is taking me, I think it'll help"

For a second, he's at a loss for words. Opening and closing his mouth like a fish. "Oh, uh, that's great." Again a blunt reply, not brotherly at all. Something like remorse flickers across his sister's face, and before she can think twice, she's already spoken. "You can come, too, of course Oliver." her words leave her mouth quickly, like she's betraying her actual judgement.

Oliver pauses again and weighs his options. If he goes, his father would be crushed, and he'd feel terrible. But if he stayed, what would he do with himself? Wallow in an ocean of sadness until it drowns him and causes him to do something drastic?

"Okay, yeah," is all he says, but ' this is so extremely weird but I guess I'll go' is a more appropriate response.

Jacob grunts, "another human soul victim to you dirty bloodsucking monsters" he mutters it under his breath, and Oliver can barely make it out, but the word bloodsucking burnt against his ears, he didn't think he'd ever be able to forget it.

Alice turns stiff in his grasp, her amber eyes fill with a mournful look, as if Oliver had died in front of her. He decides that he never wants anyone to look at him like that again. It fills him with an ugly protruding feeling, guilt.

"Grab a jacket and wait in my car" She whispers softly to him, nudging him towards the door. The door leading towards the powerful chill of the night. His eyebrows furrowed, "now? We're leaving now" he asks, gripping confusedly at the blue raincoat Alice forces into his hands. She nods, sadness returning to her face as she nudges him again. "I just need to talk to your sister in private, and then we'll go"

Confusion laces his brain, ridding it of anything useful to say. Was he dreaming? But soon, as he pulls on the jacket and steps outside, rain clinging hopefully to him, soaking his shoes and nipping at his face, all thoughts of him dreaming vanished. This was real. This was happening.

Opening the car door, his sodden silhouette slumps into the backseat, and he leans his forehead against the cool glass. But then he feels warm, a sparkler lit within him and fizzled up his veins. He was going, at least for a short while. He would escape the miserable rainy town of Forks and experience the beautiful scenery of Italy. He was going on an adventure!

Why Italy? Oliver didn't know. Perhaps Bella loves Italy and has been wanting to go and visit for a while. He was just glad to be leaving.

But there was still the matter of his father, his cell-phone was in his pocket, and he could text him once they'd arrived. Guilt hung heavy within his stomach, but they would only be gone for a little while. It's not like he was moving there.

Alice and Bella entered the car, both soaking wet and almost frantic. Alice hands him a small pink woollen bag. "There's your passport and some essentials," she says kindly, an almost motherly tone. Oliver nods gratefully. In his surprise, he'd completely forgotten you needed documentation to cross the country's borders.

But then Jacob springs from the house and presses against Bella's window harshly, "Bella, please stay, for me." He's breathing heavily, "for Charlie, hell, even for your brother, he doesn't deserve this, " he's begging now, voice broken and crumpled like a discarded soda can.

Bella huffs, confused, flustered, and, most of all, sad. "Goodbye, Jacob." Is all she says, thousands of thoughts condemned to one short sentence. The car races off. Jacob is left alone at the darkening Swan House, bullied and broken, collapsed tiredly on the muddy ground.

Alice drives with frightening accuracy, speeding past the grey streets of Forks like she'd been driving her whole life. The sodden cement did not worry her at all. Oliver wished he could drive with such confidence. The first time he sat behind a wheel, he'd crashed into a neighbouring tree. That was also the last time.

Wind whipped at his hair through the gap in the window, as if Forks was kissing him goodbye. 'Good riddance', he thought callously, the only good thing about Forks now was that his father lived there. The father who would be absolutely devastated by the departure of his two children. Guilt bubbles within him once more.

'I have to go to make sure Bella is okay, he tells himself, repeating it like a mantra. 'But also, for me,'  he adds silently.

His eyes soak up his last view of the quaint little town, briefly thinking of Angela doing their biology presentation alone on Monday, and Jessica playing dodgeball without the joy of seeing Oliver getting hit in the head numerous times. But most of all, the thought of Theo sitting by himself at lunch struck a chord within him. It almost made him yell to Alice to turn around and drop him off. 'It's fine', he thinks, ' I'll text them and explain.'

Those words sound him, lull him into false comfort, as the 'WELCOME TO FORKS' sign gets smaller and smaller, until it's just a smudge of his past in the distance, irreverent and unimportant. 

hey! this is a short chapter since it's just setting everything up. Hope you enjoyed it!!