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CHAPTER FIVE ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ᴅᴏᴏʀ
Hopes that the Cullens would return quickly vanished after the first month. For that entire time, I'd tried to stay positive, all the while as Bella skipped days of school, choosing to do the work under the comforts of her own roof. On days she did turn up, she skipped lunch, floating around the school like a ghost, or like she was stuck between states of being, not quite dead but not quite alive either. While I was stuck entertaining Jess and the rest in her absence, I couldn't help but feel put off by her reaction. I'd lost them too.
But I didn't have room to feel as depressed as Bella did about the Cullen's departure. Alice's twinkling laugh and dazed eyes, along with the smiles I received whenever I was in their company still played in my mind. And though I missed her- other things had taken hold of my worry quite quickly.
It was always Biology lessons that I would notice the most in. Something black and slick gleamed on Erik's hands, so harsh even against the tan of his skin. Black ink seeped into the smooth lines of his palms, dripping from the tips and pointing like the sharp talons of a bird until they dropped, a puddle on the floor. It reminded me so much of William- the stained hands of an artist, but Erik was certainly no painter nor expert in the field of artistic images. And William's medium was never the flawless line of ink. He worked in the dark spilling of blood, painting with his sharp mouth, his canvas clear, human skin, and his impeccable hands coated in layers of the thick, tainted substance.
Everything reminded me of William lately.
He was in everything that I looked at, whether it was a glance or my usual, watchful stare. He was in the cooling, October air, rushing along with the wintery bursts that had begun to take the day in its grasp. He was in the faces of students I passed in the hall, who still somehow managed to find intrigue within my unnatural face. He was even in the icy glare of the sun behind the clouds, glass-like skin seeming to shatter into diamonds of light in the corner of my vision.
Besides a ghost from my past turning up to haunt me, another monster occupied my efforts. There were wolves in Forks, the supernatural kind that would have me by the neck, could they get their dagger-like teeth at me. There were wolves in Forks and I didn't have a clue about what that would mean for me.
It took a few minutes for Charlie to open the door, and when he did, he was rubbing his eyes red, blinking harshly in an attempt to wake himself up. He'd paled significantly since I'd last visited, his skin sheening with a sleepy sweat, the hint of a dangerous purple beneath his eyes and next to his nose. But as always, Charlie pulled a grin onto his face, nodding a greeting as he opened the door wider.
"How is she?"
Charlie couldn't hold back the sigh. "The same as always. She doesn't seem to be getting any better," he said, lips thinning into a line. He glanced up momentarily, eyes narrowing in thought as if he was figuring out whether to say it or not. "Look, I was thinking about sending her to stay with her mother. Just until she cheers up a bit."
