Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

I. Speed Limits

Perhaps, it's time to introduce myself. For those who care, my name is Gwyneth Callaghan, I am eighteen years old and I'm passing to the senior year of high school. Currently, I'm living in general happiness of my having only ten more months to graduation. Then, I will get away from the damned education system and finally start to study things I'm interested in.
My aunt, Hayden O'Leary, decided to move us from Dublin to Forks only a few months ago. Until last night, I thought it was for that she was offered a better salary and working conditions in the USA, than in Ireland. Although I have to admit that the money theory had a few illogical aspects in it; for example, Hayden was a plastic surgeon. She had her own, private clinic back in Dublin, the patients of which paid her more than she would ever be given by a State hospital somewhere in the USA. And trust me when I say she had never been out of money.

That was, after all, why she didn't hesitate to adopt me, after my parents... well, went missing. I was ten when they went for Christmas holidays to the Dolomite mountains, in order to celebrate their eleventh wedding anniversary. Therefore, father bought seven-days-long stay in a luxurious hotel in Italy. Nothing could have gone wrong, right? Well, it apparently could.
I had never understood what exactly happened the day Hayden told me the two of them went missing. The police said they had gone out of the downhill course, when an avalanche swept them away. I hadn't believed it, because my parents weren't reckless adventurers, while I thought they would never take such a risk. Obviously, I had been mistaken.

Despite this sad coincidence, I'd never complain about my life. The past eight years, Hayden did her best to take care of me. Even though I was an ass to her, always determined to argue about stupidities, I knew she was working hard to support me in everything I did. And that was something I would never be able to pay her back for.

Nevertheless, back to the story I wanted to tell you.

In the morning after the strange confession, I wanted to confront my aunt about what she had told me, yet, the fate didn't agree with my plans. I got no chance to do so, because every time I wanted to ask her, something (or someone) interrupted me. At first, it was my aunt herself, making me decide which dress suited her best for the first day in her new job. At breakfast, it was Emily who asked us if we wanted scrambled eggs with bacon, or scrambled eggs without it. When I wanted to express my thoughts for the third time, a strange, shirtless guy came into the dining room, hugged Emily and kissed her on the cheek. Ems (as I decided to start calling her) blushed widely the moment he touched her, pulling away from him, motioning towards us.

"Oh. You haven't told me we had guests." The man's sentence turned out to be very unfriendly, when he noticed us. He stiffed, shooting us a careful glance. I wasn't sure what it was about him that made goosebumps appear on my skin – considering that he seemed to be just another grumpy Indian guy, whose family was abandoned from Forks into the La Push by Abe Lincoln (or someone like that). Naturally, he wasn't the nicest person alive, having to spend his entire life in a forest.

To answer your unspoken question, yes, I had whole ten hours of flight to study a few facts about the place we were moving into, and yes, I spent them studying.

"Sam, please..." Emily sighed over his behaviour, pushing her way around him, towards us. "This is Doctor Hayden O'Leary, new support to the Forks hospital. And this is Hayden's niece, Gwyneth. They moved in yesterday, from Dublin. Doctor O'Leary, Gwyneth, this is-"

"Samuel Uley, owner of this place," said the man coolly. Wondering what his problem was, me and my aunt exchanged looks. Hayden then cleared her throat, putting down her fork and standing up slowly.

"Umm... it is very nice to meet you, Mr. Uley. I'd like to thank you for letting us stay in your lovely house. Thank you too, Emily, for everything." She said, with a small smile on her face, kicking me under the table. "We have to go now, unfortunately. Patients won't wait, I'm afraid."