Creation & Destruction [3] | Jasper Hale

-05-

  All three of them piled into Alice's new orange, wrangler jeep. Joanna sat in the passenger seat while Alice took the driver's, leaving Jasper in the back. Some old, cheesy rock song from the seventies was playing on the radio, striking Joanna with annoyance like an unexpected lightning bolt.

A cold-hearted glare was set on the radio, and when Jasper felt her emotions, he reached forward and turned off the radio. The silence was more annoying than the music. Perhaps it was the pregnancy that was twisting and pinching her nerves, but currently, she wanted to bite off someone's head.

  Why couldn't her mother be in the car? Why couldn't she be in the back seat, rambling on about some couple she saw at work that made her so irritated? 

  But when Joanna glanced in the back seat, all she was Jasper and a grey circle. The sight made her narrow her eyes and when she did, she regretted it all. Brick Hodgson stared back at his daughter, a small smile coating his lips as he saw his daughter once again. This time, she was baring a child and his smile blossomed into something that warmed her soul entirely. He looked...proud...proud of his daughter. 

  No words flooded out of his mouth. His eyes didn't flutter shut to only reopen to show his old, dark eyes that witnessed a car going over seventy miles per hour. No, he just looked the same before he was smacked with the vehicle all those years ago. His left hand was crushed with bones peeking out from every corner - that's what she heard her little sister saying - his hand was the same. Clustered with old scars from his woodwork and calluses. 

   His head didn't have a large chunk missing. As usual, it was smooth, bald, and shined like a million diamonds.

  This was her daddy. This was him and she was seeing him for the second time again. Feeling alarmed, she looked away. What she saw was bizarre. He was dead, deader than anything. 

  But why, out of everyone, is she seeing him?

  "Are you alright?" Jasper asked from the back seat, peeking his head out so he could stare at his mate. His amber eyes burned her skin, making her clench her eyes clothes and shift away from him. 

  She cleared her throat. "Peachy." 

  In the driver's side, Alice sped up and Joanna's stomach did all sorts of flips. And without her control, the child decided to stomp all over her bladder. "Damnit!" Joanna cursed, cheeks lighting up like the stars painted over a night's sky. Hands gripping her sweater, she looked out the window. 

  "Joanna, it's a completely normal thing during pregnancy," Alice informed her after they parked in front of their home. It was the same as usual. Colored in rustic colors, glass and metal visible around every sharp corner the house took, and beautiful greenery surrounding the building. This was her old home. 

  In response to Alice's words, she could only nod. Embarrassment still lingered within her. Luckily enough, there's was no spot in her seat, but her pants held a wet spot. "I have pants for you, Jo," she whispered to her, guiding her inside where Carlisle had the door held open for them. 

  Bella was the first to reach her. Her frail arms wrapped around Joanna's thin frame, though her belly separated them by many inches. Bella's scent - a mix between lillies and coconut - made her feel at home. She was one part of her home,

  "Wow. I can see my nephew is growing nicely."

  "Your nephew or niece made me pee my pants," Joanna hissed, gesturing to her stomach. In response, the baby kicked against her bladder again. Perfect timing, huh? Her cheeks were splashed with a deep red color before Esme and Alice escorted her away.

  Upstairs, Joanna was swifted away into Alice's bedroom and surprisingly, Joanna hadn't enetered the bedroom. Yet, the place resembled her thoughts of what Alice's personal space would look like. A lush, blush-pink rug covered the span of her room. White shelved filled with sculptures and books line the walls. A black, leather couch stood in the middle of the room, a record player stood next to the piece of furniture. Old blues played from the machine, along with the blurred noises of the television playing.