Redamancy | Jasper Hale x Reader

Chapter Sixteen

• Late September, 2005 • Forks HS •

Reader

Getting involved romantically with a vampire - what's there to lose?

Everything, apparently.

To include my sanity, my piece and fucking quiet too.

"Did you finally scare him off? Or did he realize he could do better and run for the hills?" Lauren Mallory sneers, Forks High School's resident bitch.

Her manicured hand slowly slides up my locker door and snaps it shut, I manage to snatch my hand back in time to avoid the thin metal before it could do any damage.

Rolling my eyes, I turn and head towards my next class silently, not in the mood to engage for fear of tossing fuel onto her fire. I can hear her cackle as I walk away, thankfully she doesn't follow or I would've truly lost it.

Rounding the corner and finally out of her line of sight, I beeline for the nearest bathroom. Stumbling in, I push open the closest unoccupied stall and sit on the toilet, bag in my lap.

Eyes closed, deep breaths, it's fine. Everything is fine. Her words mean nothing and they're empty, she's an opportunistic cunt and doesn't know the situation. Her words mean nothing, Y/n.

Except they plant a seed of doubt anyways.

He did run for the hills, they all did. I told him I loved him and nothing. Gone, erased from my life, ripped off like a stuck band aid that leaves behind a red welt and a slight sting.

Except there's nothing slight about the sting in my chest. Breathe Y/n, or you'll lose the fucking plot and freak. With shaking hands, I pull out a pack of gum and unwrap a stick - something minty to focus on.

Two quick knocks on the stall door break me from my thoughts, "Occupied!" I manage to choke out.

"It's me, you alright?" Angela Weber's quiet voice rings out in the otherwise empty bathroom.

"Oh um, yeah. I-I'm okay." The tremble in my voice is obvious, but thankfully she affords me the nicety of not commenting on it.

"Okay, well I just wanted to check on you." A pause, "I saw what happened in the hallway, she's wrong you know." My breath hitches and I know she hears it. "Everyone saw the way he looked at you... Just know, she's wrong."

I watch under my stall door as her white tennis shoes disappear and the main bathroom door swings shut, quickly swallowing a sob trying to worm it's way up my throat.

Some days he feels like a figment of my imagination, a dream I dreamt and can't discern from reality. And some days I'm reminded that he was real, that he made me feel things I can't get rid of.

Things I really wished I could get rid of.

•••

One of the worst side effects of them being gone is how lonely I didn't realize I'd be without them. I mean, from my first day here Jasper captivated me.

Now... Now everything seems dull and draining. A different kind of quiet that leaves me empty, a complete opposite to his comfortable silence. No one to talk to, no one to look forward to seeing, no one that understands.

Well, one person understands.

But she's not exactly here enough to carry a conversation. Not that I can blame her, I've been avoiding people in my own way. They either ask about them and why they're gone or they look at me with pity, both of which I don't care to experience.

The days begin blurring together, the rain that's always pouring over the Olympic Peninsula drowns everything constantly - almost as if the sky is sad in solidarity with me. Music seems too itchy and loud, books are too hard to focus on to just read what's on the page, and just about anything else I could think of to get him off my mind is too... Complex. Stressful. Monumentous. Impossible.

Three familiar rapid, but soft knocks at my door snap me from the reverie of my silent room.

"Dinner is ready, sweetheart." I think the crease between my mother's brow is a permanent fixture nowadays, one that's entirely my fault.

"I'm not really hungry." Watching her face fall immediately has me scrambling for a cover, "But I'm sure I'll be hungry later if you save some in the fridge." The smile I give her isn't fooling anyone, but at least I'm trying.

I have to try.

"Okay baby girl, you say the word and I'll heat it up for you." She lingers a few beats longer, her grip on the doorframe looks like it's the only thing keeping her upright before she retreats downstairs.

My mom isn't the most involved in my life and I prefer it that way, but Jasper being gone... The way it's affected me is also taking its toll on her and it's obvious. Guilt begins worming it's way into my chest and prickles at the corners of my eyes, fuck.

I have to try.

•••

• Late October, 2005 • Ithaca, New York •

Jasper

Life has been... extremely off-kilter since that night.

My hunger comes with a vengeance I've never experienced and my moods? They rival Rosalie's and I'm supposed to be able to control them.

I've tried going longer between feedings to try and beat this crisis into submission, but it feels as though I'm fighting an uphill battle and I can't see the crest of the mountain. I'm drowning and these feelings are dragging me further from the surface, the light is getting harder to see and my lungs are screaming.

Emmett hasn't spoken to me this entire time out of frustration and I get it. The rest of my family is on pins and needles, the silence at home stretching open with every passing moment. Esme has been nothing but a pile of worry since Edward decided to become nomadic for a while. A temptation I myself feel, but can't act on - not while my hunger is this volatile. Carlisle is working the night shift at a nearby hospital, our new location not as overcast as our previous one. Alice... Alice is angry. I catch her staring off into space more often than not and I know, the temptation to ask is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't bring myself to. Rose is strangely quiet, content to take care of small things around the house Esme would normally busy herself with and trying to cheer her mate up to no avail.

It all feels too much and not enough.

I know that if I could sleep, I would dream of her. I would try to at least. Try to remember her scent, the softness of her sweaters, the curve of her hip, the way she sinks into me when I hold her... White-hot flames lick me from the inside out and I close my eyes against the inferno, her smile a torturous image behind my eyelids. Get a grip - for fuck's sake, you chose this to keep her safe.

I chose this to keep her safe.

I will keep her safe. Even if that means staying away from her, even if that means removing her, my heart, from my chest.

"I love you."

Her confession rips through me even now, three of the most perfect combinations of words to grace those beautiful lips and I... Left her. Like a coward.

I left behind my heart on the driveway of a now cold and empty house. Alone. Unanswered.

But she's safe. Safe from the monster crawling around under the surface of my skin, begging and pleading to be set free.

Safe from me.