― All it takes is the warm caress of serenity for an irreparable hate to tear and break. His tragedy was set in play. Her soul threatened to burn.
❛❛ NEW MOON ― BREAKING DAWN ❞
note: long chapters, some canon divergence, aged-up characters! (not slo...
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The sight of my empty house had hit me more than I thought it would.
It had been weeks since I left and nothing changed as I hoped and dread it would. The small, weather-worn house stood exactly as I remembered it—comforting, yet strangely distant. The porch still creaked as I stepped onto it, and the front door, as I turned the knob, gave the same soft groan it always had. Inside, everything was just as I left it.
Dust lingered in the air, catching in the dull light filtering through the window. My shoes were still by the door, my jacket slung over the back of the kitchen chair, the clothes I hadn't had time to sort before I left still sitting on the couch. I took a shaky breath, trying to ground myself in the present. The house smelled like home, but there was an emptiness to it that I couldn't shake. I walked through my room slowly, my fingers trailing over my dresser.
Jackson stayed at the door, his arms crossed as he watched me. I glanced at him briefly, but he didn't say anything. His face was unreadable, though the tension in his jaw told me he was still holding onto something. "Ready?" he asked finally with an edge of impatience.
I nodded, swallowing hard as I forced myself to leave my house once again. I was intently stalling. I had to face my family, and I knew that confrontation was inevitable. They wouldn't make this easy for me. Why would they? I'd left them, left Harry, without a word. I abandoned a family that wasn't even my own but had taken me in like one of theirs. And now I had to face the consequences of that.
Jackson led the way to the Clearwater house, his stride purposeful. The short walk from my house felt like miles, my heart pounding with every step. The closer we got, the more my anxiety built.
Taking a deep breath, I reached up, my hand still trembling as it hovered over the door. Before I could even knock, it swung open. It was—Sue, standing in the doorway, her face a mix of shock and something deeper, gentler than I deserved. I opened my mouth to speak, to say the first words I had rehearsed over and over during the agonizing walk here, but before I could utter sound, Sue pulled me into her arms, enveloping me in an embrace that took all the air from my lungs.
"I'm sorry." I whispered into her shoulder, my voice barely a breath, my arms wrapping around her tightly. Tears sprang to my eyes, and for a moment, I couldn't hold back the wave of emotion that washed over me. I had expected anger—deserved it—but here she was, holding me like a mother would hold a child who had wandered too far, for too long.
Sue's hand moved gently up and down my back, her touch soothing, even as my heart hammered against my ribcage. I pulled back slightly, wiping at my eyes with the back of my hand, and finally managed to find my voice. "Sue, I—"
