More Than My Own Life (Twilight Fanfiction)

A Horrible Cycle

We didn't make it to dawn. Claire and I fell asleep somewhere between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning, sprawled across the bed and surrounded by candy wrappers. That was how Edward found us, when he came to see why we hadn't come downstairs for breakfast. The sound of Edward coming up the stairs didn't wake us up. Neither did him knocking, or opening the door. We were awoken by Quil's booming voice. 

"Claire!" Both of us sat up quickly, disorientated by the sudden noise. My heart raced as I remembered all of the times I had been violently yanked out of bed at the orphanage by Miss Michelle. It wasn't her, though.

 Quil was stalking into the room from behind Edward. Edward just looked amused as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. Quil, however, was not amused. 

"I told you to go to bed last night. I even came in to check on you. You acted like you were sleeping! What the hell were you thinking?" Claire, despite her drowsiness, got out of bed, stalking over to meet Quil head on. Upon seeing that Claire was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and underwear, Edward quickly turned and left the room. For as much as I disliked Edward, at least he had some decency.

I sat back against the headboard, clutching the blankets to my chest. This was the first time that I had seen any real anger in this house. I contemplated dashing out the door, but didn't want to leave Claire alone with Quil. At least if he hurt her I could run for help.

Quil didn't touch her, though. He just gazed down on her, looking like a parent who was disappointed in their child's decision. Claire's cheeks turned a little bit pink as she began arguing with Quil. "What do you mean 'what the hell was I thinking?' It's not like we did anything dangerous. We had a sleepover and stayed up late watching movies. Like normal teenage girls do, Quil!" Quil's hands were shaking slightly, but he shut his eyes and clenched his fists. He didn't begin speaking again until the shaking had disappeared completely. He sounded far calmer. "Except you aren't a normal girl, Claire. You're my imprint. It's my job to take care of you. You didn't get 10 hours of sleep, you ate way too much candy, and were you even wearing your glasses when you watched all those movies? You know that you get headaches when-"

Claire, however, was not calming down. At all.  Her voice rose several octaves as she screeched "shut up, Quil! You're not my dad and I'm not a baby anymore! You're supposed to be what I need you to be. Can't you see that I don't need a babysitter anymore? I hate it! I hate the way you treat me!'

Claire's voice cracked and tears began to stream down her cheeks. I wondered what I was supposed to do. Go to her? Hug her? Say something? I stayed where I was, still huddled on the bed.

All of the fight left Quil when he saw Claire's tears. He looked horrified, and took a step towards her, reaching out in an attempt to wipe away the tears. "Claire-bear-". She smacked his hand away, stepping back as she angrily wiped away her own tears. Quil's hand dropped as he stared helplessly at her.

"Don't call me Claire-bear! Don't tell me when to go to bed! Don't ask me if I need a nap! And if you're going to hold my hand, do it because you love me, not because you think I'm too dumb to cross a damn street by myself! Everybody else treats me like a baby because they see you doing it and think it's okay. But its not okay. I'm allowed to watch scary movies. I'm allowed to read romance novels. I'm allowed to stay up late and eat candy with my friends. Those are things that I love, things that are a part of me. I'm allowed to grow up, Quil. Why can't you like me how I am? Why can't you to love 15 year old me as much as you loved 2 year old me?"

Bursting into tears, Claire ran out of the room. "Claire!" Quill looked close to tears himself as he desperately followed after her. I couldn't help but feel guilty. Maybe this was my fault. I shouldn't have agreed to stay up late with Claire. I knew that Quill wanted us to go to bed. But as I remembered how upset Claire had been last night when Quill ordered us into bed, I realized that maybe those were things that she had needed to say. I knew that Claire didn't see Quill as her older brother. She was in love with him. But maybe Quill didn't know that.