Already Gone | Twilight Saga: Jasper Hale Love Story

Prologue

Life, some would say, was unfair and cruel. It was out to get you and only you, that's why all things terrible only seemed to happen to you. But, perhaps that was only because that's how you saw it. Things like bullying, abuse, and negligence happened to millions each and every day but only you can decide how it is going to affect you. You can either become the victim that feels alone and like the world wants you dead, all depressed and self-absorbed in your own pair that you don't notice all the others suffering the same fate, or, you can rise up and have that pain make you stronger, use it as a life lesson that not all things are fair but you can survive it and be normal.

And that is exactly what fifteen-year-old Evalyn Dove had done.

She learned at a young age that life wasn't fair, but she didn't let it way her down like an anchor on a ship. She used the pain she endured to make herself stronger and not a charity case. She still had her few friends and older brother, that's all she needed. But there were still days that she would reflect on her past and wonder how things would have turned out were her parents not self-centered, controlling arseholes that actually gave a damn about their children. Would she and her brother still be living with them? or near them? Would they have another sibling? All different questions swam around her mind like a hurricane before the teen quickly shut them down.

In the famous words of Aslan, 'What's done is done' there was nothing more she could about it.

But she could still remember those days where she would hide away in her room to avoid her parents when they were home. They were never physically abusive, more mental than anything. Always yelling at her for not getting good grades or showing any interest in the career path they had set for her. But she supposed that it was only a matter of time before those cruel words turned more physical.

It had started with her father's company hitting a major roadblock that led to some investigations of illegal play behind the scenes as well as marital issues with her mother. And like most people going through that, they always turn to the alcohol at some point to momentarily relieve the stress and worry and one thing led to another, him returning home drunker than a drugged up cat and Evalyn soon found herself on the receiving side of flying fists and drunken yelling. She would forever be grateful to her mother who had returned home and nearly exploded at the sight of her husband beating up their daughter - sure, she had slapped the girl once for mouthing back to her, but she had regretted it in the end (though she still yelled and belittled) - and immediately dragged the man off where a fight began between the two.

Evalyn, not wanting to endure more of that in the future, decided that enough was enough and packed all her valuable belongings and snuck out her bedroom window where she than ran like the wind; hopping on a bus to the airport where she then hopped onto a flight out to New York. The perks of being rich, she supposed, was being able to afford an instant getaway like she had and still have money left over.

She had only one person in mind that would be willing to take care of her, and that was her older brother Jonathan Dove.

Jonathan had flown the coop years ago after having graduated high school at the age of thirteen; he was quite a genius even if he acted rather stupid and childish at times. Their parents wanted him to take after their father and get into the businessman career so he might take over the family company one day, but Johnny wanted nothing to do with the company and instead wanted to become a doctor as he liked the idea of being able to help people, but their parents disagreed and were constantly at war with him to the point he just up and left the minute he graduated, leaving behind the promise to come and retrieve his sister once he had a stable income and home to live in. Looks like plans had to be changed.

She remembered everything clearly.

By the time she arrived in New York it was already late in the afternoon and then after a rather long cab ride and down pouring storm, her twelve-year-old self had arrived at his doorstep drenched and shaking from the cold with a bruised cheek from where her father had gotten a lucky hit, the makeup having been washed away from the rain. She could remember the look on Johnny's face as his girlfriend at the time ushered her and tried to get comfortable while he questioned her as to why she was there, nearly breaking his cup upon discovering what happened.