The Adopted Cullen

Chapter 39

"Grace! Grace, get up!"

I groan and lift myself off the couch, my family minus Dad surrounding me. When I wake up my brain starts to work again. Seth got hit. Because of me.

I start to tear up and I say hoarsely, "Is he ok?" My mom comes to my side and gently wipes away my tears. "He's fine, baby girl. He ran out in the road while in wolf form and a car hit him. He's just got a few scrapes and a broken leg, but they will heal within a day."

I nod and hug my knees to my chest again. This is all my fault. Everything I do hurts someone I love. I am such an awful person. He could have died and the last thing I said to him was words of hate.

"Darlin', I think you need to rest some more. You need to take care of yourself, especially now that you are diagnosed. You can't have any panic attacks, alright?"

I glare at Jasper, "I'm fine. Stop acting like I'm not. Carlisle got something wrong. I'm not diagnosed with anxiety. I am just having a hard time right now. I'm fine. Just leave me alone, ok?"

"Grace, Jasper was just trying to help. Don't push us out when we just want to help you."

"Stop telling me everything I already know! Yes, I know I'm pushing you guys out, but I don't need you to fight my every battle! I can do stuff on my own and earn my keep around here!"

I start breathing heavily and tears slip down the sides of my eyes. "Ok, sweet pea. Calm down a bit. How about we go see Carlisle and Seth? They're waiting on us since I said we'd come see them."

I shake my head, "No. I don't want to see him." I don't want to see him when I'm the one who put him in the hospital. I am the one who keeps on hurting him over and over again. I have to find a way to go somewhere where no one can find me. If I leave, no one will get hurt any more.

"Grace..." My mother starts to say, but we're interrupted by a loud gasp and Alice looking at me with tear filled- or would that be venom filled- eyes.

She runs to me and hugs me tightly. "Don't you dare Gracelyn Lee Cullen!" Alice's high-pitched voice basically yells in my ear.

"I..but...um.."

"No! I'll chain you to a chair and lock you in a cellar until you forget your own name. Do you hear me?"

I block my thoughts and nod while everyone besides Edward and Alice are all looking at us curiously. "Come on, we're going to go for a walk, ok?" I nod and walk with Edward outside.

As we walk through the woods I start to fidget at the silence that stretches between us. "You know, we would hunt you down." I glance over at him as he continues.

"There is no where in this world that you could hide that we will not find you. We would search every part of the planet to find you and we would not stop until we had you back in our arms."

I look down as we continue to walk. Suddenly, he latches his arm around my bicep and turns me around to face him. "Think of how this would ruin our family, Grace. We need you in our lives. Not only would we be destroyed, but also the pack. They love you deeply. You don't know how many times that phone has rang within the past two weeks from the wolves calling to see if you're going to come down and see them."

I guilty look down, but as soon as I do, he tilts my head back up to look at him. "You have no idea," he says with a strangled voice, "what that would do to me." His voice cracks on the last word and he pulls me into his arms and hugs me tight.

"You are having a very rough time, I know. But never, ever, think that we don't love you and we don't need you. If I ever hear another word or thought about you leaving me, leaving us, I will do as Alice suggested and tie you up so you can't go anywhere. And for good measures I will also guard the door. You are the most important person in our lives and we can not bear to spend a day without you."