Humanity - Edward Cullen

Eight

Maria and Bella are not speaking to each other. Maria cannot take her sister's suggestion that the Cullen family are Vampires seriously, and Bella is dissatisfied with her sister's refusal to take heed of her warnings. So, when they do speak, it usually ends up with arguing where Maria accuses Bella of being crazy and tells her she will tell their father about her insane assumptions about the Cullen family and Bella calls Maria stupid if she is unable to see through the appeal of their vampiric powers to which Maria laughs and stops responding to her sister. Charlie seems to have noticed that something is going on between the two of them, but he doesn't press them for answers when they refuse to tell him what is wrong because Bella is embarrassed, and Maria knows Charlie would take Bella's criticisms of the Cullens to heart. Maria is angry at Bella for her outlandish accusations but not angry enough to drive a wedge between her and their father because that would be unnecessarily cruel. The rest of the weekend is unbearably long for the twins, who cannot bear to be in the same room as each other for more than half an hour. The only time they spend together is when they eat dinner with their dad and when they go to sleep as they are still sharing a room.

Truthfully, Maria does miss speaking to her sister, but she cannot fathom the sense behind her words. How could such a smart girl instantly assume that a seemingly innocent family are vampires? The only evidence Maria has witnessed that could possibly contribute to them being vampires is Edwards's icy touch, but that doesn't mean anything to Maria. Some people just feel colder than others. Bella and her father are always much colder than Maria, so the same could be true for Edward. Maria just cannot bring herself to believe what Bella is telling her and comes to the only logical conclusion she can come to; Bella hit her head a little harder than she let on.

Bella is upstairs working on a paper for Macbeth, which Maria has no intention of completing until the night before it's due. While she knows it's best to be organised when it comes to school work, she finds Macbeth painfully boring - Lady Macbeth is the only interesting character, and Maria doesn't relate to her much at all. Maria stays downstairs with her dad, watching a rerun of a show she has no interest in that Charlie has put on.

She doesn't make a move to go up to bed until late that night when Charlie claps his hands together and announces that it is late and they should go to sleep through a yawn. She reluctantly makes her way upstairs and creeps into her and Bella's room to grab a pair of pyjamas. She changes in the bathroom and decides to do a very long, drawn-out skin routine before she faces Bella and tries to talk some more sense into her. She isn't interested in arguing with her twin anymore; she would like to understand Bella's thought process and try to rationalise what she thinks.

Bella is reading when Maria renters their room and she doesn't look up from her book. Maria sighs, picks up a blanket to cover her legs to protect them from the cold as she is still adamant about wearing pyjama shorts and sits at the end of Bella's bed.

"Where did you go today?" Maria asks lightly as Bella had been out for most of the morning, and her clothes were soaked through with rain when she returned at noon. Bella looks up, her eyebrows raised in surprise at Maria's kind tone and puts her book down.

"I went on a walk," Bella answers shortly, still clearly upset about their disagreements. "I was clearing my head."

"That's nice," Maria says and sighs because they both fall silent and, with the tension between them, it's very awkward. "I... I want to apologise."

"What?" Bella blurts out, shocked, and Maria shrugs her shoulders.

"I shouldn't have laughed at you or made fun of you about the Cullen thing..." Maria says sincerely. "I know you've just been confused after your accident. Maybe you have brain fog or something from hitting your head. I know what it's like to deal with the confusion of a concussion. I should've been more understanding, and I'm sorry."