RED MIDNIGHT • Twilight •

2 ≻ Shared Feeling

Shared Feeling

Four days.

Four endless days had gone when I decided it was enough.

I had agreed on giving Edward some time to think about us, about our future. Whether our relationship continue or not was entirely in his hands because, as he had clearly shown me before, he could simply disappear, leaving me without any chance to fight for him.

These last days I had struggled quite a lot. I had considered talking to Alice to check how Edward was doing, or just to ask her if she had had any vision about my future. However, I had decided not to do so as he could so easily read his sister's thoughts and feel I was putting pressure on him.

So that is why I had spent the last four days inside my house, dealing with Charlie's questions about my sudden and strange decision of not taking a step outside, except for school, of course. On Friday, after a long day at school, I climbed on my truck and got mentally prepared to face my fate. I drove through the woods to the Cullen's house really slowly, partly because of my truck and partly because the closer I got to the house, the more scared and anxious I got.

When I got to the house the sun had already set and only one dim light was on inside the house. The image reminded me of the recent past where nobody had lived there for months. I shivered. Nervous, I walked to the door but before I could knock, someone opened it for me.

"Bella," Alice greeted me.

"Hi," I said forcing a smile to pretend I was not nervous at all.

Alice stood there for a moment without moving an inch. Her face was full of doubts and I could tell she was confused about me being there.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was coming, but I couldn't wait any longer. I need to see Edward," I told her taking a step to get inside the house.

But Alice raised her arm and put her hand on the door frame, not letting me go in. I looked at her, confused as well, and waited for her to move. She did not do so.

"Alice, please. I have to talk to him," I begged her, getting impatient.

"Bella?" Another familiar voice called me from inside.

Now Carlisle was there too, standing behind Alice. And to my surprise, he also froze as soon as he saw me there. But what shocked me the most was not his stiffness but the look on his face. His eyes seemed to be empty, as if there was something missing, and there were dark lines around his eyes.

"Carlisle, hi," another fake smile. He did not smile me back.

Alice and Carlisle looked at each other and then at me, though none of them asked me to go in. If I had felt nervous before, now I was feeling ten times worse. I took a step back, already regretting my decision of getting there, and asked them again for Edward.

Alice bitted her lips and let her arm down, giving up. She avoided my gaze and denied with her head as she muttered something too low for me to hear. I got then she was talking to Carlisle. He nodded once. Alice raised her head and looked me in the eyes, trembling.