metanoia《twilight oc》

aftermath

The night passed quickly following the accident. Edward drove Bella home and returned to the house more distraught than I had ever seen him. It was even worse than during the James incident. We spent the time following the accident cleaning up the shattered glass from the floor and consoling Jasper who was wracked with guilt.

Edward was silent for the first few hours, refusing to talk to anybody, that was until he finally broke his silence. The words that escaped his mouth were not what I was expecting at all. I think that can be said for most of us, excluding Alice of course. She had probably seen this the moment he made his decision: the Cullen Clan would be leaving Forks behind. Edward was running his hands through his hair, rambling about how he couldn't keep putting Bella's life in danger and how we needed to leave to keep her safe. You would expect me to be jumping with joy at the news of Edward's plans to leave Bella, but I was anything but. My heart broke a little for him. He truly was, is, in love with her and if that made him happy then I would be happy for him as well. That wasn't all, though. I genuinely liked Bella and saw her as a friend.

What would I do? Surely I would be staying in Seattle, there's no way I could explain to my parents why I had suddenly dropped out of college. Unless the Cullens were going to stay so close to Forks, which I highly doubted, I would be all alone.

"Arden can I talk to you?" Alice called.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by her voice, and I stared at her for a couple seconds before nodding and following her out of the house and into the surrounding forest.

"You don't have to worry," Alice stated once we were out of range of the others' vampire hearing.

"Huh, what do you mean? Worry about what?"

"About us leaving, we won't be gone too long and we can come visit you in Seattle."

"So where will you all go?"

"I'm not too sure yet, they haven't made up their minds. Edward is considering Brazil, Carlisle bought Esme an island there, but he wants to be alone. That's the one thing he's sure of."

"How long until I see y'all again?"

Alice's face softened at mt question, "I can't be certain, there are too many factors. At most until after you graduate I would say."

I nodded, "that's so long," I mumbled.

Alice smiled brightly in attempt to cheer me up, "don't worry, Arden, it'll be here before you even know it."

"Yeah, I know. I'll just miss you all."

"We'll talk often, 'kay?"

"Okay," I smiled softly.

"Also, Arden?"

I hummed in response.

"I think you should talk to Edward. Believe it or not, but you two have a connection. He'll listen to you."

"What-"

"No more questions, let's go back!" She chirped, cutting me off before I could get out more than a single word.

I shook my head in amusement and followed after her.

When we got back to the house everyone was packing with solemn looks across their faces. It felt inappropriate to speak aloud so I called for Edward in my head, asking for him to talk.

My call was answered by him walking outside and I trailed behind him silently. When we were far enough from the house like what just happened with Alice, Edward stopped walking and turned to face me, still silent.

"Eddy, I'm not going to ask if you're okay, but I am gonna ask how you're doing," I said softly.

His face remained empty of any emotion, besides a small softening of his eyes.

"I hate that I have to hurt her," he mumbled, looking down.

"You don't have to y'know. I know she's fine, but you have to realize it was an accident and accidents happen."

"I don't want this life for her. She's too...human. She could die at any moment because of what we are and I sure as hell am not going to jeopardize her life because I'm being selfish and loving a human."

"You deserve to be happy and I understand your reasoning, but I wanna make sure you've thought this through."

"Trust me, Denny. I have. As much as it hurts right now, I know that giving her a human life is what's right. I have forever to move on."

I smiled in sympathy before pulling him into a small hug. "Okay," I murmured into his chest as he returned the hug with a soft squeeze.

As we pulled apart I spoke again, "I'll miss you y'know. Who else am I supposed to annoy?" I smirked.

He shook his head in amusement, "that just solidified my leaving," he shot back teasingly.

I clutched my chest and gasped, "I'm offended, Eddy."

He smiled before getting serious again. "You don't have to worry, we'll see you soon. I'm sure the others will visit and once my head is clear so will I. You only have 3 years left anyway, you'll see. The time will fly by," he reassured.

I nodded, "I hope so."

We walked back to the Cullen house in the comfortable silence, knowing that by tomorrow everything would be different and that these may be our last moments together for a while.