Lifelines - Jasper Hale

Four - June 1952

The family had not changed much in the three years since Emmett had come to join them. They had not moved house and had not had any more additions. The family of six were comfortable. They had adapted into a routine of their own. It was also the time of which they were starting to consider trying to blend in with the society they were surrounded by. This meant that they had to do the normal human things which related to their physical ages. Therefore, for the children of the family, this meant that all four would have to start attending school. 

But Joan had never been to an American school which encourage children to attend for longer than they had to back where she was originally from. She only had the education level of someone who was fourteen and therefore was terrified. She had skills of which she could use yet knew nothing of the country's history or anything about the country itself. So she had to start learning instead of enjoying her time like the others would be doing. 

The only benefit Joan had with fitting in with the rest of the locals around them was her ability. Purely by accident, they had discovered like Edward she too had some sort of supernatural ability gifted to her upon her death. She had been sat next to Rosalie one night as the two talked about appearances. All she had done was think what it would be like to have darker hair. Then by some magical force, she had suddenly got the darker hair she was talking about. They had started with small things before they realised she could change everything about her appearance including both her voice and for some strange reason her scent. She could make herself smell like someone else as long as she remained concentrated. It was a state of metamorphosis.

So she sat in her bedroom, which was styled like many other teenagers of the fifties. A real bed laid in the centre of the room as she enjoyed laying on it and relaxing despite not having any sleep requirements. The walls were aligned with posters, some of films and musicians, other posters were of the planes that she loved. A record player sat on a bookshelf with the records laid neatly underneath it. The familiar dance music of the war played loudly from the record player as she sat at her desk reading a book on the discovery of America. 

Knocks sounded from the front door of the house, yet Joan made no effort to move towards it. She was fully aware that someone else would be able to answer the door instead and saw no situation where it would involve her moving. For once again, if she were to answer the door she would probably be thought of trying to get out of studying. Which would also be true. Therefore, she remained assuming she would be called for if she was needed. 

Though her concentration was lost as a scent overwhelmed her senses. It was strong and smelt exactly like gunpowder, mud and metal. Joan had to stop what she was doing for she no longer held any interest at all in the history of... well whatever she was reading. Now her attention was purely on who had entered the house which had quite possibly the best smell ever. That was until she realised how freaky that sounded. Because approaching a stranger with the opening line 'Wow you smell so good' would probably lead her to being locked away and branded insane for the rest of her life. She would also not make a good first impression on the person. 

So she listened in on the conversation going on downstairs. She was not sure whether or not she could go downstairs. She was unable to fully control herself around humans and did not want to risk it if they were. 

"My name is Alice and this is Jasper and I know we're going to get along just fine" Came the chirpy voice of one of the two people who had knocked on the door. Joan could tell this was not the person with the scent she felt attracted to but was more worried about how she appeared to know about them. The girl spoke in confidence about each person in the house and of other things that no one should have known. Yet Joan could not understand how everyone downstairs seemed to be going along with it.

"My name is Carlisle, this is my wife Esme and our children; Edward, Rosalie, Emmett and we have another child Joan who is somewhere around the house." Carlisle had introduced. He seemed so carefree and happy to go along with the situation. Though she could not understand exactly why but he had always seemed to be the more accepting one, the one more open to change. Which of course was not the thing she excelled with. She took a little more time to get used to new situations which this appeared to be. 

But she thought if the rest of her family were attempting to understand the new situation, then she should make an appearance and attempt to do the same. So she tried to go down the stairs quietly as to not draw attention to herself. She focused her eyes on the stairs rather than looking forward, as to avoid the possibility of making eye contact with another person. She thought that there was no chance that the others had noticed her presence as they were talking to one another still. Yet this seemed to not be the case. For they had too spotted the final member of the Cullen coven to come down the stairs. The one who was dressed in a pair of overalls littered with grease stains. The girls who hair was pulled back in the same style as it was during the war. 

When she noticed their glances.Joan reacted like every other normal person ever would. She carried on walking straight to them. No that was not her reaction. She instead let out a squeal and hid behind the other blonde in her family. She clutched onto the back of Rosalie's arm not wanting to properly glance towards the two new people. 

Alice was not going to let that happen though as she moved towards the younger blonde. She moved to bring Joan into a hug yet it spooked the young blonde who soon dissapeared from the house.