It’s too late to run, everyone heard you. Come inside, please.

“Alice,” I whispered through clenched teeth.

I marched towards the house, hearing the many thoughts emitting from the large building.

When is he going to get over this annoying obsession of his? For goodness sake, can’t we just…move on? Rosalie thought bitterly.

Good, he’s finally home. Esme’s thoughts were drenched in relief.

You can do this, you can handle this, Jasper was trying to convince himself that he could survive being in my presence, since it is now accompanied by the sorrow, grief and sadness I was being tormented with.

I opened the backdoor and stepped through the house. My family deserved a decent goodbye. They should understand that I won’t be coming back. When I exit this house, I would drive away and never look back.

I don’t like that plan. Alice came around the corner to greet me.

“It has to be this way. I’m sorry.”

At my words and my determination, Alice’s face was suddenly screwed up in pain – like she ate something extremely sour.

“Everyone’s waiting,” she whispered in an expressionless voice, trying to hide her pain.

I followed her down a small hallway which ended in a large room. The walls were a light yellow color with white bordering and the windows were seven feet tall, sending the moonlight reflecting off the wooden floors and glass tables. Sitting around the largest of the tables was my family absent of Tanya and her sisters. I looked around at each of them. Emmett had a grin on his face, Rosalie was busy looking at her reflection in the glass while Esme and Carlisle continued to give me tentative looks. The one person in the room who seemed to be struggling the most, though, was Jasper. As soon as I entered the room he immediately felt the dread. The pain. The sickness I felt in my stomach. His brows creased and he grabbed at his heart like it was about to explode.

“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I whispered.

“I’ve never felt such pain before,” his voice was strained. The agony…I feel like I’m being ripped in two, like my insides are being scraped out with a shovel. Jaspers thoughts continued as he mirrored my grief.

I turned to Carlisle and Esme, their faces still soaked in concern and worry. “I ran into Laurent,” I began by taking in a generous amount of air. It burned my lungs because it was still completely absent of Bella. “He was meeting with Victoria.”