In Dire Need of Cessation

Twenty-Six

Bella was mostly stationary, with only the twitch of her closed eyes displaying her consciousness; however, despite knowing she was awake (ghosts didn't sleep, therefore, of course, she was awake!), it didn't prevent me from thinking she looked akin to a human having a nightmare, the sort of terrors that surfaced whist the human was in the REM period with a first-person view of the psychopath murdering them with a butcher's knife.

Like a husband watching their wife in labor and not knowing quite what to say nor do, I spared a rapid glance at my siblings, begging them silently to supply some advice and guidance. I should have been aware of what to do, I should have taken control, I should have been the pilot on this plane to destruction. But here I was, not having the slightest incline of what I should proceed to do. I could be one-hundred and fifteen, obtaining the ability to converse in most languages and possessed the skills of most hobbies, but truly, in a new situation and of this magnitude of significance, I couldn't help but feel like that seventeen-year-old boy I was frozen to be.

It's happening, isn't it? Emmett began, his sober eyes firstly landing on Bella then on me. The murderer finishes his victim! How dare he?! Why did the jackass have to return, out of all these years?! I actually like Bella, my new sister. She makes Ed happy, I've never seen him so jubilant before. Why is it always Ed to suffer the melancholy of solitude?!

A sheet of sickly gray trickled over Bella's skin, while her dark eyes continued to stay hidden from me. Laurent, utterly confused and startled, placed a foot behind him, believing Bella could be a temporary distraction for him to run to his freedom.

Needless to have said, I didn't see this with my own eyes- I physically couldn't lift them away from my Bella again- instead, it was four different views from my siblings. Eight eyes were glaring at him, four minds were preparing their attack, and four siblings were being loyal to their sister. Bella was family.

"Here's some friendly advice pal, you shouldn't have returned," Emmett growled, eyes black with rage.

"Nor allowed your friends to leave," Alice added, crouching lower into a predatory stance. I was quite sure that there was not enough surface area of Laurent for the four of them to all go for the kill.

"You know what they say," Rosalie sang, twirling a blond lock of hair around her finger, being tactical and thinking on the same lines as me. This was not a fight for Rose to be physically involved in, but nonetheless, she wanted to contribute. "What comes around, goes around."

His red eyes grew wide, his dark lips popped open, and that last step backward faltered. "Look, I don't know-" Laurent started, raising his hand, palm forward, in a charade of being innocent and confused.

"Bella," I whispered, not needing to see what was about to occur with Laurent. The fragile soul flinched, her eyes opened to my familiar voice, allowing me to see the dark tunnels of agonizing...pain. I dropped my head to her level, inches from her face, trying desperately to not uselessly extend my hand and touch her cheek.

"Why don't we head into the house, okay? You'll be more comfortable," I murmured, not saying my full reasoning; why would I want her to see the tragic end of Laurent? It would only add more wood to the searing fire of tension that devoured all her strength, and wouldn't begin to smolder until she had entered into the afterlife. And just like the useless ash that would be the only survivor, the damage would be done and there would be nothing to reverse it.

Bella numbly nodded, turning around as the sound of Alice's wrath exploded. As if someone had opened the soda bottle of rage that Alice had attempted to keep closed with a tight grip, my sister unleashed her lethal hand, screeching at Laurent. "Your presence here has only caused pain! How dare you murder someone so kind?! You have no excuse!"