Fresh Start (a Twilight fan-fiction)

CHAPTER 14:

I hum a tuneless song as I jog down the stairs. Hearing Jasper's careful, quiet voice as I reach the bottom. I smirk to myself and quietly creep up to the library where I can hear his voice coming from, intent on scaring him back from Seattle. As I reach the doorway, I start to peek in, but the mention of my name makes me freeze, and shrink back.
"Maybe it's not just me anymore, it's this Jacob boy." Jasper suggests and I hear Carlisle sigh.
"I sure hope so," his soft, light voice says. "If it weren't for you constantly controlling her emotions, I'm sure she'd be a lot less carefree and happy now. But maybe you're right, Jacob does indeed seem to be having a change on her. Maybe you should try using less force and see what happens. I've witnessed patients losing family members quite suddenly, it's not something I would like to see happen to her." I feel realization hit me, and my nails dig into the wooden doorway as I step into view, fuming at the two of them. They look shocked, Carlisle immediately looking guilty, but Jasper watching me carefully. I glare at them before talking.
"Bullshit." I curse, glaring daggers at Carlisle, who looks quite taken aback. But I continue before he can try one of his calming doctor methods on me. "You said everything was going to be okay. You lied to me, you were worried it wasn't so you get him to alter my moods?!" I turn my glare on Jasper, and as I look at his concentrated expression, I feel a sudden, almost forced calm start to settle on me. "Don't!" I spit out harshly, stumbling backwards to avoid his powers, and feeling my anger come back full swing instantly. "I knew you had this gift, but I didn't know you would use it on me." Jasper looks at me calmly.
"That was the point, so it would work and you wouldn't know a thing. But what I was about to tell Carlisle is that I haven't even attempted to make you happy since Jacob imprinted on you. He's been doing that naturally, all by himself. So stop being a brat and just thank me already." His matter of fact voice and fiery eyes make my heart beat frantically with a mix of anger, fear, and revolt.
"Go to hell." I say, not nearly as angry as I had expected. Instead it came out as a shaky mumble. I glare at them both before grabbing my messenger bag off of the kitchen counter and walking out the door, neither of them attempting to come after me or at least stop me. Which, for whatever reason, gives me a light feeling of disappointment.

I curse as I realize my phone still hasn't showed up since the accident, and I can't text or call Jacob to pick me up. Sighing, I walk in the direction of town on the edge of the highway, green forest on both sides of me. My anger fuels me to walk forward, despite the questioning darkness the surrounding trees hold. I glance up once and see a streak of what looked like bright red hair, but it disappears instantly and I reason that it was probably the now setting sun getting in my eyes. I mutter angrily, pissed that I missed the new lacrosse team's first game, due to my damaged ribs, pissed that Carlisle has been telling Jasper to control my emotions, and most of all pissed that no one drives by to give me a ride to town. As that last thought flees my mind, I hear the rumble of an engine approaching. Feeling my neck hairs prickle at the coincidence, I keep walking briskly, no longer wishing for a ride. As the dark car slows besides me and the passenger window slides down, I sneak a glance in. A quite attractive guy smiles at me, not looking much older than eighteen. Dark hair, strong face, and dark clothing, a large contrast to his beautifully flawless fair skin. Wearing sunglasses that hide half his face; this gives me a bad feeling but I smile back shyly, continuing to walk as his car dawdles lazily beside me.
"Need a ride?" His light voice asks, and I look straight ahead.
"No thanks, I prefer walking." I say bluntly and the guy glances at the empty road in front of us before looking back at me.
"In jeans?" He smirks and I give him a look before speeding up my pace ever so slightly. He sighs in a mockingly tired manner and allows his car to travel a bit faster to keep up. "And may I ask why?" He questions.
"Better for the environment." I grit my teeth at my idiotic reply and his chuckle that follows gives me the worst shivers, and not in a good way.
"At least tell me where you're going, Eve." He says and smiles in a now sly way. I slow my pace in surprise, and sneak another look at him. His sunglasses hiding his eyes emphasized the lower part of his face. Strong jaw. A familiarly smooth face. I feel dread and fear hit me harder than a freight train going full speed. I swallow and terrified tears prick at my eyes but I keep walking steadily, noticing the town of Forks off in the distance. Too far to run. He chuckles. "You have your options Eve, get in the car with me obediently, or try and escape, but that only makes the game more fun. You should choose the second option, us newborns like our hunting games. Oh, and my name is Riley by the way." I shake my head at his soft, carelessly rambling words and keep walking, not speeding up any, careful to not provoke him and trigger his bloodthirsty side. He smirks before releasing his next words out of his lips, making my whole body turn to ice as soon as my brain processes them.
"I'm sure your parents weren't as fun to kill as you'll be." I stop dead in my tracks and his car slows to a halt. All I hear is the running engine and my heart beating like a drum. Thump. Thump. Thump. My brain conjures up the memory of me sitting on the floor by my moms hospital room, not much longer than three months ago. My heart had beat much slower and now, it was beating double time. I slowly turn to him.
"What?" I choke out in a croaky voice and his satisfied smile doesn't even faze me, I'm too shocked.
"Oh Victoria found out about your human parents being aware of our kind. And she thought it was only best to inform the Voltori of this tragedy. They decided to rid of your parents, making it look like a car accident. Under influence wasn't it supposedly called?" I can't breathe, I can't move. His words hold me glued to the spot. The newborn looks at me in ridicule surprise. "Didn't Carlisle tell you? He knew what happened and was furious with the Voltori, but they thought it was for the best. No humans are supposed to know about us. It's too dangerous." He smiles, showing straight white teeth. His words echo through my head as I feel all my tears leak out of my eyes, so many feelings hitting me one after the other. For once, I almost wished Jasper was here to make the pain go away. But he wasn't. And the pain didn't leave. I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean, wave after wave rolling over my head as I drown, only noticing the agony of drowning, and nothing else around me. I didn't even notice that Riley had parked his car and gotten out, until he was standing in front of me. I look up at him, my tears leaving my eyes as they finally stop, due to my sudden spike of fear. He smirks and takes the extra step to close the distant between us. As he traces the scar on the side of my face with one finger, leaving chills behind, I start to tremble uncontrollably. He chuckles, listening to my frantic heartbeat that even I can hear. I suddenly feel despair hit me, and I look over his right shoulder, wishing for someone, anyone, to come into sight. Even Carlisle, who I can't help but have the strongest hate feeling for. As he leans close, closing his eyes and deeply breathing in my scent, I realize that it won't end quickly. He has all the time in the world, we're mostly blocked by his car and almost no one will drive by at this time. I feel one more salty tear leave my eye, and one of his slender fingers wipes it away delicately before it can even reach the bottom of my cheek. I swallow, my heart not slowing one bit, and choke out four words I never thought I'd say in my life.
"Please just kill me." I close my eyes so I can't see his devilishly handsome face and cruel features any longer, and allow my body to go numb with sadness and fear. I'll see you soon, mom and dad. I think as I feel him lightly pull my hair away from the left side of my neck. As I sense him lower his head, his soft breath on the exposed skin of my neck making me want to flee for my life, I open my eyes, and let them look up at the now almost darkened sky. I want to see the stars before this ends I think weakly as his left arm circles around my waist, securing me against him so tightly I want to recoil in revolt. But I don't react, just allow my mind to wander as he moves his right arm around the backs of my shoulder blades. I feel his ice cold lips on my neck and desperately hold myself back from cringing. I feel them remain on my neck for a few lingering moments before I also feel a sharp nip on the skin. I let out a gasp of fear and he chuckles before moving his lips to up near my ear.
"Tell your little Cullen clan I say hi. I'll be seeing you soon, Eve." He says in a husky voice, making me shiver as his lips brush ever so lightly against my earlobe once before he moves back altogether. I hear him walk to his car and shift it into drive, before steering it away, back towards where it had come from, leaving me drenched in late evening approaching darkness. I don't move one inch until I see the tail lights disappear. Only then do I collapse to my knees, raising one shaky, sweaty hand to touch where his teeth had grazed my skin. I feel a mark, but not quite breaking the skin enough to allow venom into my system. I sigh in relief and despair all at once, before shakily standing up, and walking towards town weakly, hoping Bella is home so I can spend the night with her. I can't even think about the Cullens right now, let alone sleep in the same house as them.

Once I reach Bella's house I knock lightly on the door. As she opens it a minute later, already in her pyjamas, I weakly look at her, feeling blank minded.
"Can I please spend the night?" She glances at me hesitantly, watching my actions carefully. Edward must've told her everything about what happened with me. And about my leaving the house today.
"What's wrong?" she inquires and I take a breath before letting the story escape my lips, and only letting one tear escape my eyes. Bella, being herself, immediately panics and calls most likely the Cullens but I just collapse on the old couch in her living room, allowing my eyes to close, and falling asleep to her scared stuttering into the phone. A couple minutes later, I feel a rather heavy blanket being pulled onto me, waking me up, but I merely pull it tighter around me and don't open my eyes, feeling my breathing slow once again and my mind drift to memories of less troubled days.