mute ( twilight saga )

eleven

For Elizabeth, their was never a place where she was truly far away enough from her feelings. She could never truly outrun them, though if she did, she would be living in a permanent solitude. Elizabeth didn't know if she wanted that either.

It was one of the main reason why, when she caught Alistair's scent, she didn't flee the area like she had done hours before. Instead she simply closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep while she relaxed her tensed limbs, allowing them to hang nonchalantly from the tree branch she had situated herself in.

In a matter of seconds he was there, she knew it. She could feel his presence a mere few feet away. The smell of pine and burning wood curling around her, comforting her in a way Elizabeth didn't understand.

They sat in silence for awhile, Elizabeth refusing to open her eyes and face the curious look in his eyes. His eyes were always curious. Though when he looked at her, it was somehow different to the way her family did. They looked at her out of concern, the confusion of why their perfectly healthy daughter wasn't perfect.

When Alistair looked at her the curiosity was pure and comforting. He was willing to listen to what she had to say, and was also willing to sit when she couldn't say anything at all.

On instinct Elizabeth reached out and touched his forearm, a habit the pair had both learned to crave. The physical contact neither would admit they so desired, but they did. Neither knew what to think of it.

"Do you want to talk about what happened today?" His question was truly a request, and Elizabeth knew that if she did t feel up to speaking, all she had to do was shake her head and he wouldn't push the subject. But, she did want to talk about. She wanted to tell him about it. "I told you I see bad things when people touch me, I don't like it when they touch me."

Alistair considered her sentiment for a while and Elizabeth was content to just sit, eyes still closed, dainty fingers running along his forearm.

It was Elizabeth who spoke next, the words falling out of her mouth before she truly realized she was speaking aloud rather then in her head, as so many of her thoughts were.

"I wish I could just leave. Leave and never come back, never have to feel these things that I do. I wish I didn't have to care about anyone and anything." That truth hung in the air for several moment and, after she didn't get an immediate response, Elizabeth opened her eyes to see him looking at her, truly looking at her. It made the half immortal shiver with something that might be delight and might be terror, for when he looked at her, it was as though he was looking straight into her soul and making a home for himself there.

"Perhaps that is one of the downsides of caring, it makes you want to never leave, and yet the desire to flee forever will never perish either. It's in your blood, as it is in mine." It was Elizabeth turn to ponder over the words he had spoken, taking them in and molding them into several different forms to try and find the true meaning behind them.

"And what do you care about?" Elizabeth asked then, asking the question that seemed so personal once it left her moth that she almost wished she could reel the words back in and take it back. But she didn't, no curiosity wouldn't allow her to.

Alistair looked at her with a look of slight astonishment at the question, as though, in all his years he had never been asked that before. It was probably why, a second later, he simply shrugged his leather clad shoulders in a way of indifference.

That annoyed Elizabeth more than it should have. Her lips turned down slightly and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, eyes meeting his ruby ones as her annoyance flared. She wanted him to care, she wanted him to care about her.

It was selfish probably, and quite unrealistic. Yet Elizabeth knew he did, she could feel it in her gut and wanted to know that, while she knew without a shadow of a down that he cared for her, that theory was fact.

Which is why Elizabeth did something stupid. Very, very stupid.

She turned then, and her eyes never left his as her back, which now was exposed to the air and no longer resting on the tree trunk. They were high up, the pair of them. Elizabeth had chosen a high tree when she was seeking her solitude so they were very high up.

The look she sent Alistair was nearly challenging as she then, without warning, let go. Her body flying though the air, and she knew that if she wanted to all she'd was to turn her body though the air and she'd land on all fours, but she didn't want that. No, she wanted him to catch her. To prove that he cares.

And so he did. Right before her body was about to hit the forest floor arms came and wrapped around her, pulling her into his chest. Elizabeth smiled as his scent engulfed her completely.

"Don't do that again." His voice was a growl, but it didn't scare Elizabeth.

"I was testing a theory." The girl stated, making no move to leave his arms, just as he made no move to let her go.

"And what would that be?" His voice was rough, and just a whisper in her ear. Elizabeth forced herself not to shiver.

"You care about me." The response was quite, the words slightly shocking both of them as they left her lips. Neither one spoke, nor moved for a moment, simply basking in the truth that was no in front of them.

"Yes well I might not always be able to catch you." The words made her heart leap with feelings she wasn't able to figure out yet, maybe it was sadness, maybe it was more. Elizabeth didn't want to think about it, so instead she tuned herself into the feeling of their skin touching and the contentment that surrounded her, trying to forget all thoughts of him not being there anymore.

AUTHORS NOTE

hey guys I'm sorry for being MIA recently, I've just been feeling really down and my depression has been creeping up on me with the start of school and everything. I'm not sure how often I'll be writing with the workload I'm taking on with school and everything but I promise I'll try and write as often as I can and as I'm inspired to.