Close to Nothing

I struggled against the arms that were trying to drag me backward. I didn’t care who was restraining me, all I was aware of was the deer that was now almost a mile away. I scratched at the arms and attempted to free myself. I was seeing red and I only caught small phrases from my binder such as ’You can’t go there’ and ’You’ll break the treaty’. Only when the person said ’Eleanora’ did I stop struggling and my attacker took that moment to hurl me against the nearest tree.

I groaned as my back hit the tree. But it took me mere seconds to regain myself. I growled and was about to lunge at the man who hurt me. My thirst was growing. The man pushed me against the tree with his hands and held me back as I tried to rip his throat open.
“Eleanora, stop it,” he said roughly and the moon momentarily showed his face. I gaped at the guy standing in front of me. It was Jasper, the kid from my physics class.
“You!” I gasped out. He nodded.
“You can’t go onto that land, you need to feed here,” he said calmly and let me go when he was sure I wouldn’t fight. I gaped at him but the thirst was stronger than my amazement. I saw movement to my right: it was a small rabbit. I lunged at it and drank thirstily, not caring if Jasper saw me. When I was done, I got up and looked at him.
“So you’re one also?” I asked, feeling a little uncomfortable by this strange encounter. He nodded.
“You mentioned some treaty?” I said to him.
“Come with me, my family will explain everything to you,” he said quietly. I was a bit reluctant. I didn’t really want to meet his whole family and listen to some strange story they made up but I agreed nevertheless.

Within minutes we arrived at the Cullen household. The house was ancient in a good way. Some strange calmness stood over it. Jasper opened the front door and let me in. I walked into a brightly lit room where two faces stared at me curiously. I felt uncomfortable.
“Hi,” I said weakly.
“Carlisle! Jasper brought a friend along,” the girl who I remembered to be called Alice yelled in a sweet voice. Immediately a man in his early thirties appeared in front of me, followed by a woman of the same age. The man greeted me with a smile and a firm handshake.
“You must be Eleanora,” he said lightly, “I’m Carlisle and this is my wife, Esme.”
“We’ve heard a lot about you,” she said with a smile. My uneasiness doubled. They talk about me?
“You…talk about me?” I repeated my thoughts hesitantly. At that moment, Emmett showed up next to his parents. He leaned against the doorway and nodded.
“We want to help you,” Carlisle said. I frowned. How did they know of my hunt?
“We know you have a problem but we’ll help you deal with it,” Alice said cautiously. She looked a little worried as though I would suddenly blow up.
“It’s wrong of you to do it,” Jasper said.
“But what did I do? I’m only trying to find him for what he did,” I said and this time the Cullens frowned.
“What are you talking about?” Emmett asked.
“What’re you talking about?” I asked back, feeling bewildered.
“The killings, the people disappearing,” Rosalie said as she walked over to Emmett. I shook my head.
“You think I’ve been killing those people? I didn’t, I don’t kill humans!” I said outraged. The whole family looked at Emmett all of a sudden.
“Emmett, you said that-” Alice started but Emmett cut her off.
“I know what I said,” he grumbled, not looking anyone in the eyes. I looked at the whole lot of them, feeling confused.
“I’m so sorry, there must’ve been a misunderstanding, you see Emmett thought-” Carlisle started and Emmett cut him off. It must be a habit.
“You looked like you were going to kill Kevin Keeling in bio today, I seriously thought you’d do it,” he exclaimed.
“So you thought that it’d be good to assume I was the one behind these murders?” I demanded. He shrugged, looking sorry. I shook my head and decided to drop the subject. I turned to Jasper instead.
“You said something about a treaty?” I said and he nodded.</p>

Carlisle explained to me about a treaty that they made with the werewolves in this area. I looked a little shocked at the fact that wolves existed. Emmett laughed at my amazement and I glared at him which immediately shut him up.
“You almost went onto their lands that’s why I stopped you,” Jasper explained and I nodded.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” I apologized and Esme smiled.
“It’s alright.”
“What brought you here, to boring old Forks?” Carlisle asked, leaning against the doorway casually.
“I’ve got some things to take care of,” I mumbled, not looking anyone in the eyes.
“She wants to kill the vampire that changed her,” Rosalie said smugly. I gaped at her. She shrugged lightly as if it didn’t really matter much.
“Our son, Edward, he can read people’s thoughts,” Esme explained before I could ask.
“We found out the day Kevin called you..” Jasper hesitated, glancing at me quickly.
“Ella,” Alice finished for him. I expected to be mad at them for using the name but coming out of Alice’s mouth, it sounded harmless.
“Oh,” I muttered lamely. I only noticed now that Edward was missing. My shoulders sagged a little, this was too much information to comprehend in one day. Carlisle noticed.
“Emmett, why don’t you take Eleanora home?” he said and Emmett nodded but I shook my head.
“I’ll get back through the forest,” I argued but Emmett waved my protests away. Feeling defeat, I bid everyone good bye and followed Emmett out the front door.

Three things happened at once: the wind blew so hard it almost knocked me over, I heard Rosalie say, “God Edward, you smell just like her.” and I felt his scent, the scent of the vampire who changed me. It was faint but it was definitely there. I froze. Could he possibly be here at this very moment? Emmett didn’t notice anything.
“Edward’s home, Rosalie will keep getting to him,” he murmured to himself. I opened my mouth to say something but no sound came out. Emmett turned around.
“Hey, are you alright?” he asked me. I tried to say something again and then I felt myself sway. Emmett was at my side in a flash. He took my arm gently and guided me to the car. I sat down in the car and the scent disappeared. I let out a long breath and calmed myself. Emmett got in and revved the engine and off we went.

We drove silently for a while. I told myself that I imagined the scent and that no one immortal was here besides the Cullens and I. All of a sudden, Emmett spoke up.
“I’m really sorry Eleanora, I really didn’t mean to accuse you of anything,” he said. I smiled at him.
“It’s alright, I understand,” I said and he gave me a lazy grin. I remembered something all of a sudden.
“Hey, were you watching me in the forest a couple of days ago?” I asked. He shrugged his shoulders guiltily.
“How’d you figure out it was me?”
“You just gave me the same smile that you had in the forest that night,” I pointed out and he laughed. He had a loud, booming laugh that oddly calmed me. Within minutes, we were at my house.
“Thanks for driving me,” I said as I got out of the car. I slammed the door shut and Emmett rolled down the window.
“See you tomorrow,” he said and drove off.