The American Nightmare

Chapter 7: True Love...?

Alice pretends to shiver as the cold wind blows against her, and she dramatically wraps a shawl around her shoulders. Outside the courtroom, a drizzle of rain falls across the landscape.

"Are you cold, my dear?" Hale says, brushing shoulders with her.

"Yes, dear, I'll be alright," She says, smiling at the ground softly. They turn to face footsteps which stride over to them.

"Alice! I need to speak to you." Carlisle barks. She frowns sadly with a sad frown and turns away from Hale, walking over to the side of the church. Carlisle begins to speak as Alice turns to the ground sadly.

"How long are you going to fake being in love with Hale? Aren't you leading him on? When you inevitably leave him, he has the power to convict us. It's dangerous."

"Dad...I think..."

"What? Spit it out."

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

"When are you going to leave him? How long can you keep it up?"

"I'm not sure... I.... I need to go." She runs dramatically away, towards the cliffs by the sea. Her feet step gracefully over the rocks and grass that cover the hill the church sits on. The wind furiously sweeps her hair from left to right, and she tightens her shawl around her shoulders as she stares out at the waves crashing against each other. From behind her, careful footsteps approach. She turns around to face them. Torrents of rain rush down onto her face.

"John? Is that you?" She asks the hooded figure. He pulls his hood off of his head, the raindrops dripping down his gorgeously chiseled face and dampening his long locks of smooth hair.

"Alice... What did your father say to you?"

"I...."

"What did he say, Alice?" He pleads, a tinge of despair growing in his rough voice.

"He said... he said that we could never work, my love. He doesn't approve; he thinks you're dangerous for me and my family."

"Alice... What did you answer?"

The rain pours swiftly in a never ending flood, isolating the two in their own sadness.

She hesitates. "I can't... it's not what you think. I'm not what you think."

"How could that change my love, my sweet, sweet flower. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet."

"You.. you've read Shakespeare?" Alice implores.

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love." He shouts above the quickening rain.

"I love Shakespeare." She whispers as she runs to his arms. He smiles in surprise, reassurance flooding over him like rain.

"I can't hear you over the rain, dear."

She laughs and leans into his ear.

"I love you." Alice states in astonishment and cups his face to her own. Their lips meet and they are swept up in the moment.

Moments later, the clouds begin to retreat, the rain trickling to a stop as rays of sunshine peek through the sky. A beam of light illuminates Alice's skin in a glimmering burst (Like a disco ball).

"Alice, your skin. It's... beautiful."

She gasps dramatically, raising her hands to see the glistening light sparkling on her skin, then turns to the cliff behind her.

"No, Alice!" Hale shouts as she nears the edge of the seaside cliff. "Alice, please, entrust me with this. Please."

Her head turns gently towards him, her foot still tentatively on the edge of the cliff.

"Do you truly love me, John?" She asks softly.

"More than anything." he replies, a crack in his rough voice. He walks carefully towards her as her foot retreats from the edge. A gush of seabound wind rushes into her, as her heel pushes into the crumbling ground and tips her backward.

"John!" she shrieks, the air behind her providing no resistance to her falling body.

She falls, the waves ominously crashing on jagged rocks below. But wait... a chiseled hand grasps her wrist, straining against the pull of gravity.

In the distance, the crowd of people gasp, watching Alice's body disappear over the edge from afar, as Hale appears to sink to the ground. From within the church, protected from the incriminating sunlight, the Cullens watch in horror.

"Hale pushed her. I'm sure of it." Carlisle says, his deep voice filled with fury, "She did what I warned her about. She broke it off at the worst moment."

"Clouds of despair cannot continue to shelter the light of truth," Edwards says ominously, his eyes a window to his hatred-filled soul, "Trees of time may grow, and sands of agony may cross the earth, but in the end, the cliffs of love are a double edged sword, easy to fall in either direction, but equally to the same death."

The gleam of sun on the window fades as the cloud cover returns with a drizzle. Far away, the view of Hale is obscured in torrents of rain.

Hidden from the view of the horrified court goers, Hale pulls hopelessly, trying to save Alice.

"Please, John, use those chiseled arms of yours! Save me!" she cries.

"I'm trying my love," he says with a grunt. Their hands dampen with the pouring rain, her icy fingers slipping out of his. Her eyes fill with desperation. He cries in misery, struggling to hold on.

"Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come." She whispers with a sad smile, knowing a dead woman must never return home.

"No!" He lets out a guttural scream and grabs her wrist with one hand, pulling with every last ounce of strength. His biceps flex as her other hand reaches up and desperately grasps the edge of the cliff. With another tug, her knee catches on the edge, and she rolls over onto the safety of the cliff in a quiet triomphe. Hale collapses by her side, exhausted from the awful task of lifting like 120 pounds.

The cold wind burns in their throats as the rain rips across their skin, lying in the mud and closing their eyes. After a moment of heavy breathing, they turn to each other.

"John... you did it. You saved me..." Alice says in wonder.

"What can I say, lol." He stands up slowly, offering his hand to Alice, who he pulls up off the ground. As they stumble back to the church from the cliff like soldiers from war, Alice holds his arm, knowing that his chiseled muscles had not only saved her from having to leave Roxbury... but also having to leave the man she loved.

After a couple hundred feet, a crowd running up the hill becomes unobscured. As they limp down the hill, the crowd meets them, led by Carlisle and the rest of the Cullens. Relief floods over them as they see Alice walking beside Hale.

"What happened?" Carlisle barks, striding up to Alice and Hale. He stares angrily for a moment before noticing Alice's arm wrapped around his.

"Alice... I..." He stammers.

"It's ok, father." Alice says with a smile, "He saved me."

Carlisle raises an eyebrow, but there is a strange glimmer in Alice's eyes. Something had changed.