The girl with the snake skin

23. Gone

I feel myself being lightly tapped, I open my eyes to a little girl and I just stare at her confused. Soon enough of us just staring at each other she gets swooped up by Jared who sets her on his shoulders where she automatically grabs onto his hair with a big smile on her face causing him to wince making me smile. "Aww who's this cutie?" I say sitting up. "Rosie this is Claire my niece" Emily says reaching for Claire. "Rosie like flower." Claire says getting excited. "Yup like the flower claire-bear." Jared says as he sits with her on the floor as Emily gives her bananas. "I've honestly never seen Jared get excited for any babies except claire." Paul says sitting next to me throwing his arm around me to pull me in as he kisses my forehead, handing me a bowl of fruit. I slowly eat the fruit picking out the cantaloupe and feeding it to Paul. Paul Jared and I sit watching Claire, playing with her. It was actually quite amusing to see a little girl take control of two giant boys who turn into wolves.

I hang around Emily's with the boys and Claire until we hear a loud howl. The two boys stand up really fast. Jared hands me Claire as Paul tells me if I hear a noise get out as fast as I can. They run out of the house as fast as they can leaving me alone with Claire. Right now I wish Emily wasn't at the Clearwater's. Claire clings to me scared because of how the boys reacted. And I hold her as close to me as she could get.

The only way I could calm myself down is to calm Claire down. So I start singing the first child friendly song that pops into my head.

Claire starts to sing along. Eventually she's calm enough for me to put her down. She grabs my hands making me dance with her as I continue to sing with her. When we finish singing she looks up at me. "Do you like that movie too?" She asks me. I think about it. I've never really had a favorite but the look in her eyes make me say, "Yeah, you know what? How about tomorrow if you're still here I'll bring it and we can watch it with all the girls." Her eyes go big with excitement. Before she nods her head while jumping up and down hugging my legs. She looks up to me before saying, "you're my new best friend flower."

We both sit and watch the tv. Soon enough we hear more howls. And I try my hardest not to worry about what's going on with the guys. Eventually Claire starts to get hungry and I see that it's about dinner time. She follows me into the kitchen and I set her on the counter her promising to be careful and I start making dinner for everyone. I quickly make some shrimp alfredo and let Claire help me make a ceasar salad. I quickly put a small bowl of the Alfredo in the fridge to help it quickly cool off for Claire as I pick her up to put her in the booster seat at the table. I grab one of the kid cups on the counter and fill it with fruit punch as I grab her bowl making sure it's warm but not hot and a small plate of the salad. I let her be a big kids as she says and feed herself. And I sit next to her and we both eat up. For a kid she surprisingly eats all her salad and pasta. I quickly wash our dishes and grab Claire seeing she's starting to fall asleep. I head to the guest room guessing that's where her stuff is and finding out I am right. I grab a pair of her pajamas and head to the bathroom. I help her brush her teeth and braid her hair. She changes and I take her back to the room setting her on the bed. She climbs under the covers as I check to make sure the window is locked. She asks me to turn on her night light, and I sit with her as she falls asleep mumbling nonsense. Soon enough I hear feet downstairs before a worried "BABE?" I quickly head downstairs where I'm pulled into a hug by a shaking Paul. "What happened with you guys?" I say. Then I notice that Seth and Leah are here too. Confused I look at everyone before asking again. "What happened?" Emily speaks up not giving me the answer I want. "Where's Claire?" She says slightly worried. "She's upstairs asleep. She ate dinner and washed up already." She nods touching my shoulder as she heads to check on Claire. Sam finally speaks up as Emily leaves the room. "We lost the red head at the cliffs. There was a hunting party led by your dad and Harry Clearwater, your dad is fine but Harry had a heart attack. He didn't make it. In turns Seth and Leah phased." I look at Leah and Seth. "Your sister was at the cliffs too. Jake pulled her out of the water. Shes awake. Jake's taking her home to warm up." I nod taking a moment to think. I start to head for the front door grabbing Seth and Leah hands and pulling them on to the porch with me.

First I pull Leah into a hug where she finally breaks down crying. I hold her until she finally calms down enough to push me away. Then I pull Seth into a hug. I run my hand through his hair as I can feel his silent tears start to soak my shirt. "It's okay guys, I won't let you suffer with the guys on your own. You guys can get through this okay." Leah nods at me as Seth starts to gain composure. He then looks at me "Do you turn into a wolf too?" Shaking my head I say "No, I only know about you guys because Paul imprinted on me." Leah sits down before saying, "So all the stories are true?" "I can't say anything I've never fully heard the stories but I'm guessing yes." We both sit on the porch in silence as they take it what's happening. I sit there thinking about how Harry's really gone. Then it hits me that Sam said Jake pulled Bella out of the water at the cliffs. I shoot up running inside. "WAIT WHAT HAPPENED WITH BELLA?" Sam throws his keys at Paul and we run outside jumping into the truck and heading to my house. Paul going slightly over the speed limit, we make it to my house in 10 minutes, I hop out before he can even stop the car. I run towards Jake who's trying to stop Bella from climbing into a familiar car. "What is going on?" I say slightly out of breath. Jake's face goes hard. "She wants to go save that bloodsucker. He thinks she tried to kill herself and now he wants to die." "Why would he think that?" Then I see Alice. "Oh... I'm guessing you saw something." I turn to Bella. "You can't just leave Bella, you honestly can't just go to a guy who basically left you for dead. Do you not remember what you went through or do I have to remind you?" Alice tries to butt in. "Hey you don't have to talk to her-" "No you dont get a say in anything that's happening right now, Edward can die for all I care, because of him you and your family left her depressed. From what I believe not even 30 minutes ago she basically tried to commit suicide. She wouldn't eat, she was barely sleeping, she wouldn't talk to anyone, she sat in a chair all day. If it wasn't for me she wouldn't of even showered. So no I'm not looking for an opinion from someone who only added onto the problem." Finally Bella speaks up. "I'm going either way I'm 18 there's nothing anyone can do to stop me." "You know what Bella fine. Go. But know this I never once asked for a thank you from you for all I did when Edward left. Think of how hurt dad's going to be when he finds out your gone. Think of how much you're hurting Jacob by playing with his feelings like this. And think of how much you're pissing me off right now. Not only did I stay up to soothe you with your nightmares I was your backbone since they left and your just going to accept them back into your life with the snap of a finger. I hope you live with what your feeling for the rest of your life. Just know that if you go I'll never forgive you." I don't even look at her face as I turn around and head inside. I can hear Paul following me as I head towards my room. I start digging through my drawers until Paul pulls me towards him giving me a hug. Taking a deep breath I pull away and continue searching my drawers. "What are you looking for?" Paul asks. Once I find it, I pull out a small baggy showing it to him. "You said you wanted to see me smoke right?" "Babe I don't think now's a good time." "I'm fine Paul. I need this." I walk out of my room through the side door. I get far enough from the house before I pull out the joint quickly lighting it and taking a couple hits before extinguishing it and putting it back in the baggy. I stick it back into my drawer and lay on my bed. Paul decides to leave me alone saying he's going to take Sam's truck back and get my stuff from his house and that he'll be back soon. Shortly after Paul leaves my dad gets home from work. I head to the living room to tell him Bella left. When I get out he's holding a note. "Rose where did Bella go?" He asks with anger in his voice. "She's gone. She went to go get Edward back."