All an Illusion

Jade took in a slow long deep breath, taking in the heavy dampness that came with it and the wet earthy smell that filled her nostrils. It was the last breath that she would be taking for a while. This thought made her uneasy, as if yet again she had to be reminded of the beastly thing she had become.

After playing Miss innocent for the evening and trying to do everything she could to occupy her mind with everything but the new knowledge of her power, Bella and Edward had finally left with Renesmee to visit Charlie, Bella’s father. Almost immediately Jade had left, wearing casual black jeans and a simple black t-shirt all burrowed from Alice, except for her own converse shoes. In her pocket was her usual grainy picture of her mother, her house keys and her short but sharp hunting knife that Jade always had with her.

She crept silently away from the house, undected even by the wild deer that hazed peacefully only half a mile from the house. She sped up, as she passed them, praying her thirst wouldn’t get the better of her. And it almost did, filling her nostrils with such an intoxicating, delicious aroma that it killed her to not turn around, but her mind was also full of other thoughts; images of her mother, lying helplessly in bed at home, in the dark, all alone. It was these thoughts that kept Jade going, only her sheer determination and her concern for her mother. She wished she could use her hew founded power on herself, but she barely knew how to control it herself, and at the moment she would only be able to rely on her own senses.

Within an hour she was back, on the outskirts of Forks, just outside her apartment. She had run with such speed and ferocity, that she had miraculously made it, despite all the distractions of every passing whiff of people sleeping at home in their beds. Her mother must have been sleeping to, Jade eagerly thought as she rushed inside into the apartment after a quick climb up the tree that rose beside and over their apartment.

Silent as a mouse she crept into Melinda’s bedroom, a fake painful, ready smile plastered on her face. She pushed open the door and gazed at the horrifying sight she saw on the bed. Melinda was laying peacefully, tucked comfortably under the duvet, her eyes closed as if in sleep. Only she wasn’t asleep, Melinda was dead.

Jade’s smile instantly vanished her eyes widening as at first confusion, then sorrow and finally anger swept across her face. She was confused because the Cullens had reassured her they had checked on Melinda, to make sure she was alright, and somebody had definitely been in the house. An inconsolable mountain of loss and sadness was slowly building inside of her as the realization and gravity of what she saw, sunk in. Her mother was dead, gone from her life, without even a simple goodbye. It incensed Jade to know that while she was on her knees sobbing, part of her was torn to drinking her mother’s blood that lay still and stale inside her.

She was saved by the sound of the buzzer ringing. Someone was about to visit her mother, but who? And in the middle of the night, when they never had visitors. Thankful for another small distraction, Jade tore herself away from her mother’s bedside to let the person in. Swallowing back her tears she went to stand in front of the door, her eyes a pool of darkness. Silently she waited as she counted the light footsteps of the woman who was quickly making her way up the stairs to their door. She waited as she briskly knocked twice, and only then did she let her in, a small smile relighting her lips. At last, she could drink and be fully satisfied.