𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 / 𝐈𝐕.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐈

in bloom

THE clearing is withered, dead. A smeared painting of dull browns, oranges, and red. There's no indication that anything ever bloomed to life here, that anything thrived. It's Monet's Water Lilies – Japanese Bridge, not the colorful image I was used to. The sight makes my body tremble before shuddering into quaking. Bile works up my throat, I pry my jaw apart, splitting my lips open to scream but there's only retching. Gagging, hacking out scarlet vomit. Iron taste tainting my mouth as a scream curdling out of my lungs, as jagged teeth clash like a wild animal's.

I startle awake, the moonless night a pitch color. Around me, Edward's arm tightens its protective hold. Cool flesh, venom-filled veins pressed against my cheek as I stir. "It's still early, go back to sleep." His voice lulls me, my lashes fluttering trying to give way back to sleep. But my mind fights my body.

There were many hours before the sun would pierce through the sky, before my mother would return to the house with her new husband. For now, we were tucked into our place in my room, safe from the unknown that hangs over us like a knife waiting to pierce. I writhe, stuck between horrid dreams and reality.

"Another nightmare?" Edward asks softly, brushing tangles of hair out of my face.

I nod to let him know, forcing myself to sit up in the bed. Amongst the pile of sheets, blankets, and pillows I look down at my boyfriend with tired eyes. "Third this week."

You're uneasy about Alaska. It's understandable but we'll get through it together." His hand falls onto my thigh, cold, calloused fingers pressing into my soft flesh. My body itches for him to come closer, close enough for our flesh to melt together until we're one. To move past all the uncertainty and fears. How much of a scared girl I've become in the past months amazes me, but I have to wonder if I was ever brave in the first place, or rather blissfully unaware of what really hid in the shadows of my bedroom corners.

"Don't leave," I beg him, thinning my lips into a line.

"Never."

"Don't say that." I respond, "You can't promise me that."

I'd seen that film before, a promise of forever. The ending was never one I liked. Even if we always found our way back, I didn't want to jinx it.

"So superstitious." His thumb rubs circles over my wide thigh, drawing out the unease from my bones until I become goo in his hands. Putty for him to toy with, a mess for him to make.

"I can't help it."

"Don't think about that, that's our past, Heather. Just as there's a new moon tonight, we'll have a new day, a new future."

Sighing, I lie down against his chest, feeling his soft, wool sweater balled up in my hands. When did he become the optimistic one? "New problems, new fears, new dangers."

There's a playful roll of his eye, a hand sneaking up under my camisole and leaving my skin with goosebumps. "Well, I'm just going to have to make you forget about that, aren't I?"

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There's a loud commotion on the beach, the black sand bleak against the gray sky as Leah and I hurry out of my car. The boys in the pack keep us from seeing what they're standing around, but it's serious enough to have brought Billy out of his house.

"What's going on?" I ask as we get closer, but Paul is quick to stop me from getting any closer as Sam mutters something about not letting me see it. Not that that stops Leah, she marches up past Paul, shuddering to a stop as I try to look over his broad shoulders.

"It's for the best if you don't look, Heather. Please." He says softly, and I stop trying to fight my way around him. Reluctantly dropping my gaze down to the sand where my sandals are sinking down into the cold.

"Quil and I found her while we were diving," Embry tells Leah, who nods and looks grieved by the sight. "We tried to find--"

"Enough. Heather, call the good doctor. The treaty lines are void for tonight." Sam speaks up, cutting the boy off from finishing his sentence.

Nodding, I fumble with my hands trying to find my phone in my shorts pockets. But as I search, the sun glints off of something, catching my eye as what Paul was supposed to keep hidden from my view. A pale, slender wrist, the skin shimmers in the pale sunlight. There's no movement from the host, no sign of the unliving. And when Carlisle answers the phone, I scream like I've been shot.

Paul, I assume, yanks me up into his arms and throws me over his shoulders. My phone is snatched away as I'm carried from the beach. There's a missing head, limbs strewn out like a doll discarded. Where there should be a perfect, porcelain face, there is none.

I cannot find the light, my senses register that I am back in my car on one of my worn-down leather seats. But there's no line of reality, just a viciously vivid nightmare. He'll pull me out of it soon, I'll wake up in the comfort of my bed in the safety of his arms. But when a cold grasp cups my cheek, a voice coaxing me into awareness, I know this is not a dream.

"Baby, baby. I'm right here, I'm right here." Edward's brushing tears off my cheeks, but they're already stained from how long I've been crying. He's surprisingly calm considering the situation, pulling me against his chest and rocking me back and forth. The attempt to comfort me is far-fetched, I only seem to cry harder now that Edward is here.

Who is it? I force through my mind, knowing my words would fail me. A friend? An ally? I didn't want to know or look any further. Victoria hadn't scared me, I had wanted to watch her fall. But this is unknown, uncontrolled. "Edward?"

His silence speaks louder than any words could, his answer I do not want to know. My ignorance, Edward's foolish illusion of safety would've never conjured this up. The night has let a terrifying future bloom, a thrill I do not wish to know.  

Sana's Note:
Let's just kick everything off with a boom why don't we? Who do you think it is that they found? And what happened to them is the real question.