Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

27 - ʙᴇʟʟᴀ

TWO WEEKS had passed in a blur of complicated emotions that she had not felt since, well since she could remember. Someone she had depended on, more than any best friend she had ever made over the years, had left at her own request. She had had the power to change that choice but decided not to, for his own benefit. She wanted him to keep the bond that he had with his family and she did not want to come in the way of that, no matter how much it broke her to admit that.

Sometime in the middle of those two weeks, Athena had made an unpreventable trip to the now barren Cullen household. She spent the better half of an hour just walking around, remembering all that happened there and reminiscing. From the day she had officially met Jasper to the meeting with Laurant in Carlisle's office. The last place she visited was his bedroom, now void of anything do to with him but one thing. On the back of the door, a hook that had not been there before held this cowboy hat. She smiled softly as she took the hat off the hook, filling her lungs with the familiar but dulled smell of him. She took it with her, trying to convince herself that she only did so so no one else stole it. The convincing was pointless, she knew why she had taken it and left it in plain sight. The one thing she didn't know however was whether he left it on purpose. Perhaps he had left it for her, perhaps it had been an accident. She hoped he hadn't left it on accident. God, she hoped that it was on purpose.

After coming back from an exhausting school day filled with a plastered on smile, she curled up on her sofa with an abundance of blankets and pulled her computer onto her lap. It had been enough time that any sign of their presence could be found online - the background of a picture perhaps or the registration of a new home underneath one of their names. So she deeply delved into google, searching every possible combination of things that could bring a sighting of any Cullen at all.

As another lead dried up, a soft knocking came at her door. Her head snapped up in surprise as she had been far too distracted to even notice the approaching vehicle or the footsteps up the entrance to her house. Once the heartbeat and scent wafted through her entire home, Athena gently closed her laptop and quickly placed it on her coffee table before she sprang to the door, swinging it open a little too hard out of concern and bewilderment. "Bella?" she asked, looking at the distracted mortal on her doorstep with such confusion that she could sense the shift in Bella's emotions as their eyes met. "How did you find out where I live?"

"Edward told me, in case something happened with Victoria since you're the closest to me," she explained and Athena learned to dislike Edward a little more. He just gave her address out without thinking apparently. Though his regards for her safely did lessen the dislike a little, not that he cared for her safety right now. Given the fact that he had literally left her in the forest. It didn't take a few minutes to run her back to civilization, instead of causing a Fork's wide manhunt that she had to go and help with. "Can I talk to you?" she asked, eyes pouring with such a grief-filled emotion that she felt she had no choice but to say yes. After all, Athena was the only person who understood what she was going through right now. Well, understood it to a certain extent.

"Of course," she smiled reassuringly and stepped out of the doorway, letting Bella walk inside. She had not prepared for a human arrival so her house was cold and very untidy. Athena vampire speed cleaned as Bella sat on the sofa. She quickly lit the fireplace and shut all the open windows that had previously flooded forest sounds into her ears. After she had gotten Bella a glass of water from the kitchen, she knew she needed it, Athena sat back down in her cocoon of blankets. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Edward," she replied softly, just saying the name glassed over her eyes. Athena felt sudden jealousy for the mortal. She could cry the grief away. "But first of all, how are you? I know you and Jasper were really close," she continued with a smile.