Aspen Swan was an anomaly. The daughter of the Spring Goddess who had an affinity to get herself into dangerous situations. To be fair, the Battle of Manhattan wasn't something she wanted to do. She stood by her family's side, helping fight Kronos'...
The next morning, Seth and Leah didn't want to go anywhere, which I understood, but I had to go home. "Do you have to?" Leah asked softly, shifting from foot to foot in front of her door.
"Yeah." I replied with a sigh. "I want to help you, I really do, but...our dads were best friends, I think he needs me too. I'll call you, yeah?"
"Uh, sure do you...do you need my number?"
"Oh, yes, yes I do." I said, almost slapping myself in stupidity. I offered Leah my phone, and she entered her number. "I'll talk to you later." I turned around and hurried down the steps.
"Yeah..." Leah trailed off. "Bye..." I trekked through the forest and through La Plush back to my house. I could see Bella's truck in the driveway, but there were no lights on in the house. I jogged up the stairs and opened the door.
"Dad?" I called. "Bella?" Walking through the house, I noticed a piece of paper sitting on the table next to the house phone. It was in Bella's messy handwriting.
Dad, Aspen, I'm with Alice, Edward's in trouble, you can ground me when I get back, I know it's a bad time, so sorry, love you both so much, bye
My hand shook as I read the paper, my fingers crinkling the note softly. She just...left...Bella just left. I put the paper down softly and then turned to the dining room table, forming my left hand into a fist and punching it in half, letting out an angry scream. I could feel that my hand was broken, and I couldn't open it from the fist. I sunk to my knees, crying. I don't know how long I was sitting there, but I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Dad. "Aspen?" He asked softly. "What happened?"
"Bella." I breathed. "She...she left."
"What?" I pointed to the phone table, and Dad read the note. Dad huffed angrily. "Come on, Aspen, let's get you some ambrosia."
"I don't know how long I've been here." I muttered softly.
"Alright, hospital then...and then we can get a new table, come on." Dad helped me stand and herded me into the cruiser, and he took me to the hospital to get my hand fixed.
"How's Sue?" I asked softly.
"She's distraught." Dad admitted to me. "I mean, the kids shafted right in front of 'em."
"Well, they're ok." I looked away from the nurse wrapping my hand in plaster. "As ok as they can be after...everything." Dad nodded slowly.
"Well, thanks for that Aspen." Dad lent forward and kissed my head, prompting me to smile.
"Alright, all done." The nurse said to me.
"Thank you." I said to him. He smiled and walked away.
"Let's get you home." Dad prompted, guiding me out of the hospital. I inspected my slung hand with a small frown. "What, don't like the colour?"
"It's white." I sighed. "I can...jazz it up. When is...uh...when's the funeral?"
"Next week." Dad told me. "I'm uh...going to be hanging out with the Clearwaters for a while."
"Can I join you?" I found myself asking. "For support, for you and Sue, Seth and Leah." I don't know where the words came from but...they came naturally and I didn't feel the need to retract them.
"Of course." Dad said. "I think they'd like that." I gave Dad a small smile as we got in the cruiser and headed back home.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
