Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

26 - ɢᴏɴᴇ

ATHENA LET herself stew in front of the television for most of the night, eventually choosing to go for a walk in the very early hours of the morning. She pulled on a discrete and lightweight coat with a hood - so she could hide away from any early rising mortals - and put her headphones near full volume, leaving just a little bit of awareness in case of attackers. Early morning walks had always had a soft spot in her heart. She loved seeing all the sleeping animals coming out from their habitats and all the nocturnal creatures returning to theirs for a day-long slumber. She loved the gentle mist that always covered forks in the mornings and she especially loved the crispness of the earthy air that only increased the deeper into the woods that she got.

She walked for hours, letting her mind become still before she eventually returned to her house with an unburdened mind and the motivation to make the trip to see a sickened Billy that always had an effect on her emotions. She walked down the stairs, having just changed for the day and noticed the misplacement of a book that she had put way in the wrong place - see, Jasper was just that much of a distraction. She sighed then went to fix it, stopping when a familiar and comforting scent reached her nose. She smiled and opened the door slightly, ready for when he got to the door. She walked across her living room and felt a breeze waft through her hair. She turned as she took the book from the shelf and felt her light and breezy emotions fall at the frown pressed onto his lips. "Why do you look like that? Did Emmett kill a wolf this time?" she chuckled, attempting to keep it light to distract herself from the tightening in her stomach that always came with a bad feeling.

He cleared his tightening throat and refused to meet her gaze. "We have to leave," he spoke with a bite of emotion in his voice.

Her shoulders dropped down and the book fell from her clutches, clashing onto the rug beneath her shoes. She couldn't care about the books at that moment, which was said something given her overprotectiveness of the. "Oh," she blurted, unable to think of anything else as sadness swept over her entire being - rooting itself deep into her mind.

"Carlilse's starting to get noticed," he explained, clearing his throat once more. "So we're going to New York."

"I understand," she smiled softly, faking an emotion that she did not feel. That emotion was far gone and only got further out of reach the more she looked at him and thought about all that she would miss about him and the others. Everything, she would miss everything. The small curve of his lips when he was fighting a smile made the top ten list, sitting extremely close to the first point that would forever sit there. Having a vampire family for once in her life. "Well uh.. I've never been very good at good-"

He walked further into the room, face becoming cast with a soft glow that bore through her living room window. "Come with us," he whispered softly. Her eyes widened as a feeling that she immediately blocked him from being able to sense flooded through her veins. Her legs almost felt uneasy to stand on and she found herself softly leaning against her bookshelf, just staring at him in bewilderment as she processed the offer.

She shook her head, causing the hope that he still held to shatter into small pieces. She sighed, "I can't. I've been there too recently."

"Then we can go somewhere else, just you and me," he responded, quickly finding a solution to the problem. If that one did not work then he would find another, there was no way that he would leave something he had pinned over for this long so soon. Unless she outright said no of course.

"Jazz.." she whispered, heart overwhelmed with the many emotions that flooded through her body - all with matching pros and cons that mixed with her previously calm mind. She wanted that, more than he would ever know. "You have no idea how much I want that," she replied softly, absentmindedly moving closest towards him.