Speak || A Twilight Fanfic

Chapter 16

When Bella instructed Gabi to get changed, all the younger girl could do was laugh for a moment. Everything her sister had revealed felt truly fantastical. A land where werewolves and vampires existed? It was as though one of her fiction books had come to life, and she was in the center of it all. Sure, she'd had dreams where she was the main character in many of her fantasies, but it didn't mean she hoped they would become her reality.

Bella had spewed words at her that she couldn't digest. Much less that, if they were true, that Paul had kept her in the dark for so long. He'd promised to always be truthful with her, and that would have been a gigantic secret he did not feel the need to share with her. That's the part she found the hardest to believe. The fact that the one person she had trusted over her sister, over her boyfriend, over all the whispers of the town, and he had chosen to lie to her.

But she couldn't think that way. No. Clearly, Bella was going through a delusion state in her breakup process, grasping at straws to justify her distance. Yet, it was a big enough straw that it made sense. Unless her sister had been taking a creative writing class, the story seemed just plausible enough to be the truth. Why would she lie about that?

"Look, I know you might not believe me," Bella called her attention as they sped down the too-familiar road. "I didn't believe it either at first, but I am telling you the truth, Gabs. About Edward and Jacob."

"Bella, you seriously want me to believe that your ex has a diet of O-positive blood and that Jacob and everyone in Sam's group turns into wolves when the moon is full?" she chuckled. "Likely story. It's easier to think that Jake made up another story to stay as far away from me as possible."

"First of all, he doesn't feed on human blood. And secondly, Gabs, I really thought you had been the one to break things up," Bella said apologetically. "He seemed sad, and you seemed okay... I guess I wanted to believe that's the way things were, so I didn't feel guilty about spending time with him."

"You know, he once said that maybe Charlie and I didn't know you well enough to help you," Gabi admitted. "Sometimes I wonder if he was right. Nothing dad and I did was good enough to get you out of the funk you were in, but somehow Jacob did."

"He didn't make a difference in how I've felt... well, not entirely," Bella shrugged. "Sure, he helped a little, but I just got to a point where acting how I was wasn't doing anything to make things better. And Charlie was about to send me away if things didn't change."

"Ah, so the threat of being sent home to mom is what sparked a fire under your ass," she chuckled softly. "But there's still truth to Jake's words. We don't know you anymore. At least, not this version of you."

"I haven't really made it easy for you guys, haven't I?" Bella chuckled awkwardly. "But it was hard to be completely honest when I was keeping such a big thing from you. Now that you know, honestly, it feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders. There hasn't been anyone I've been able to speak to about this openly. Mostly because we're not meant to know these things."

"Who's we, Bella?"

"Humans," she responded. "Humans aren't supposed to know about the supernatural. It puts their entire existence in jeopardy."

"Then why do you know? And why have you told me about it?"

"I figured it out by myself. It was hard not to put two and two together when everything pointed toward it. Especially when they all hinted at it," she explained. "And I told you because you deserve to know the truth, Gabi. At the very least, this is one truth I could give you."

The sisters remained quiet the rest of the way, their eyes set on the road ahead. Trees blurred as they drove past them, the scenery becoming a mush or green and blue and grey. Gabi could feel something changing in the air. The cold of February seeped through her bones. Even as everything around her thawed, she felt frigid. It was the first time she anticipated her life would change forever. As Bella parked the truck by the red house, she could feel that nothing would ever be the same.