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SKIN & BONES
ii. THE WIND'S WHISPERS

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WITH THE WIND'S WHISPERS, Jasper Hale had vanished.

It'd been three days since Bella's birthday. Since Lorelai had her hand broken by a bloodthirsty vampire, who also happened to be her best friend. It was a clean break. No one died. Time kept moving forward. But Lorelai couldn't stop thinking about that day.

It'd also been three days since either of the Swan sisters last saw the Cullens. It was the strangest phenomenon. No one really noticed when the Cullens disappeared, the family being too reserved for real friendships. But now they had Bella and Lorelai, and Bella and Lorelai felt their absence most heavily.

Lorelai hadn't heard from Jasper or any of them. Not even an email from Alice or a call from Esme. Nothing. She had half the mind to drive over to the hospital just to see if Carlisle was at work, but she chose against it. It must've been a sensitive time for them all, nearly attacking humans like that.

It was strange how easily the Cullens slipped out of their lives. Was this how it always went for them—whenever they decided to take their leave of absence? How did Lorelai never think twice about it until now?

All that was left was to keep living. That was what Lorelai kept telling herself as she sat on the couch at home, her eyes glued to the brochures colleges had been sending her sister. She hadn't thought much about college before. Honestly, every day she spent trying to get better, a little voice in her head was amazed. She never thought she would live this long. She never thought she would want to.

She had bad days. God, she had plenty of bad days. Days where she didn't want to get out of bed, drink water, wash her hair, eat more than a crumb. Days where she skipped meals, stood in the pantry to look at snacks before walking away empty-handed, lied about eating earlier while everyone was out of the house. Days where she thought about blowing up her mother's phone with angry texts, demanding how she could abandon her skin and bones so fucking easily.

But Lorelai had good days, too. Days where she saw her baby sister actually smile, and days where she and her dad fell asleep on the couch together. Days where she saw the Cullens. Days spent with Jasper.

So, yeah. Lorelai had bad days. But the good days mattered, too. And yeah, maybe she wasn't completely okay, but she knew she had to keep moving forward. Maybe college was one of those things that she could look forward to. She never thought she'd live long enough to even go to college, but now that Bella had been receiving all this mail from different universities, it didn't sound like such a bad idea.

The TV was quiet in the background as Lorelai skimmed the brochures, glancing up at the screen every now and then. She drummed her fingers along her cast, tracing the signatures from Bella and Charlie.

"Oh, honey," mumbled Lorelai to herself, an old episode of America's Next Top Model playing on the screen. "Tyra wouldn't approve of those faces. Seriously, it looks like something crawled up your ass and died... twice."

"A little harsh, don't you think?"

Gasping in surprise, Lorelai nearly fell off of the couch at the voice. Her father was at work and Bella was at school, so naturally, Lorelai was frightened out of her mind when she heard an unexpected voice. Her head snapped to the left, where she was greeted by Jasper Hale.

"What the fuck, Jazz!?" shouted Lorelai. She placed a hand over her heart as it raced. As she did so, she noticed Jasper tense considerably. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I need to talk to you, Lorelai."

"Unless you answer my question, I'm gonna need you to row, row, row your boat gently the fuck away from me," she snapped, shaking her head. "Seriously, Jasper. You can't just go break your best friend's hand, then go MIA, and then break into said best friend's house! It's quite rude, if you asked me."

Again, he said, "I need to talk to you."

Waves of tranquility reached for Lorelai. For a moment, she calmed down. But her irritation spiked back up only a second later.

"Stop trying to change my emotions," Lorelai demanded. "Okay, talk to me." She noticed how Jasper continued to stare at the girl's cast. "Hello? My eyes are up here."

A muscle in Jasper's jaw feathered. He didn't seem like himself. He was always a little tense, a little uncomfortable around humans. But Lorelai wasn't just any human. Well, she wasn't supposed to be. Not to him.

"I'm sorry," Jasper muttered. "I want to talk somewhere private."

"We're the only ones home," Lorelai argued. "What's this about?"

"Please?" he requested, unable to look the girl in the eye. "Walk with me?"

Lorelai faltered, staring at the boy as concern fell over her pallid features. She didn't really have any other option. If she wanted answers, she'd have to comply. Rising to her feet was enough for Jasper to understand. He sped up the rickety stairs to fetch Lorelai her favorite hoodie and house keys. With that, they exited the house.

"Something tells me this isn't gonna be good," mumbled Lorelai, mostly to herself, as she followed Jasper deeper and deeper into the forest. She had been speaking to herself out of pure worry, as well as the fact that Jasper had been refusing to utter a single word to her. "We're in the forest, so clearly he wants me to be calm... I mean, I don't think he'll murder me, but still..." She sighed, playing with the sleeves of her hoodie. "On the bright side, at least I'm not addicted to cocaine."

Lorelai glanced at the ends of her cast that poked out from her sleeves. She couldn't help but think about what happened the last time she was with Jasper. He wouldn't purposefully hurt her, would he?

What happened on Bella's birthday was different. The blood triggered him, his family. It was an accident.

How do you know it won't happen again? First, it's a paper-cut. Next, it's a scraped knee or a hand sliced open while cooking. He already hurt you once. What's stopping him from doing it again?

Jasper was leading her down a faded dirt path. They'd walked down it so many times, it was almost like nothing was wrong. Just two friends going for their usual stroll. Every so often, a shard of sunlight would peek through the clouds and graze his skin, revealing the diamonds he seemed to be made of. The skin of a killer, in all his glory.

Lorelai had been startled by Jasper before, but she was never really scared of him. She could sense a certain sadness in him that she recognized in herself. She knew he didn't want to hurt anyone. It wasn't in his nature. It never was. But after Bella's birthday, she felt more hesitant than before. He had broken her goddamn hand for fuck's sake. And it was the worst pain she'd ever known.

She had a feeling that night still lingered in his mind.

Lorelai kicked the small rocks in front of her, chewing on the insides of her cheek. Her shoes were caked with new patches of dirt. A circle of trees enclosed the vampire and the human. There was nothing to distract them but each other, yet neither one spoke.

She took a deep breath. "So, are you gonna say it, or—?"

"My family and I are leaving Forks."

Another great sea of silence soaked the two. Lorelai stared at Jasper's back, for it seemed that he couldn't quite properly look at her. "Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw," she muttered before raising her voice to a normal speaking level. "Why? When? Is this because of what happened that night?"

Jasper turned his back on her. "Carlisle is supposed to be ten years older than he looks. People are starting to notice."

"Just blame it on dodgy plastic surgery!" exclaimed Lorelai, tears rapidly collecting in her large, brown eyes. "Are... Are you sure that's the real reason?"

Jasper turned half-heartedly, his gaze low. It was then when Lorelai realized he couldn't look away from her cast. "This?" she asked, holding up her broken hand. "I'm fine. It's temporary. I'll heal. This was an accident. Accidents happen. We're only human—"

"I'm not human, Lorelai," sharply cut Jasper. "I'm dangerous. I'm a danger to you. What makes you think I won't hurt you again? Or worse?"

"If I knew I wouldn't break my other hand doing it, I'd punch you so hard," mumbled Lorelai, shaking her head. She could feel her hands begin to shake vigorously. "You can't just... leave, Jasper. You're my best friend. You're my support system, and I'm yours. I... I don't know if I can do this... recover without you."

Jasper's golden eyes met her tear-filled ones. 'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry,' she continued to tell herself. 'You're not a pussy. You're strong. You can cry later.'

"Yes, you can," he insisted. "You don't need me. You need to move on. You need to forget about me and my family."

Lorelai continued to shake her head. "I can't do that, Jasper. I can't stop thinking about you as it is!" exclaimed Lorelai, entirely vulnerable at this point. "I don't know why you... think this is the best way to go about it, but... I think I know what you're doing. You're trying to make me hate you, aren't you?" She sighed. "Jasper, I'm not my sister. I can see past what's in front of me. Don't think for a second that I don't believe you care about me." She pressed her lips into a line. "Just know... when you come crawling back—because I know you will at some point—just know that I'm going to beat your ass. Okay?"

"That's just it, Lorelai. I'm not coming back."

But Lorelai refused to believe it. "This can't be the first time you've had an accident—"

"You are not an accident," Jasper snapped. He stopped, shut his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're not an accident. You're not another accident. You're... You're Lorelai. I hurt you. I will spend the rest of my immortality grieving my actions."

"But I'm not angry with you. I'm not scared of you—"

"But you were in pain," Jasper interrupted. There he went again, staring at her cast. "I felt everything you felt in that moment. The pain, the shock. You're never scared, but you were startled. I let you come close enough to feel safe, and I hurt you."

The air was cold, freezing her throat. He was right. They both knew it.

"So, what, you're going to leave?" Lorelai scoffed. "You're a hypocrite, Jasper. You spent all those days with me, trying to make sure I believed that one bad day doesn't contradict all of the good days I've had. You have one bad day, and now you want to run away? What the fuck kind of logic is that?"

"My bad days could kill you, Lorelai—"

"My bad days could kill me, too!" she exclaimed. "I was half-dead when you met me. I am not scared of dying. I am scared of being left behind."

He shook his head. "This isn't the same as what your mother did to you."

"Leaving isn't the same as leaving? Huh, that's funny, it kinda sounds like it—"

"This isn't a game," Jasper finally said, firm and unmoving. He came closer to her, tawny eyes impossible to read. Between them, only her frail breaths could be heard. "There is no winner. There is no loser. This is reality, Lorelai. I will not be responsible for killing the one person who deserves to live more than any other human I've met. I want you to have the best chances, and if that means I have to leave you, then so be it. I have to go my own way, and so do you. It's for the better."

Regardless of what she had just said, Lorelai was now crying. Warm tears slid down her colorless cheeks. "Don't you dare pull a High School Musical 2 on me, you asshole," she snapped, attempting to make light of the situation.

"I'm sorry, Lorelai," he said once again. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll be happier this way."

Her hands wouldn't stop shaking. "But you're not bad. You're not evil. You've made mistakes. That doesn't mean—"

Jasper took her hands in his freezing ones. "You can't convince me to stay," he said gently. "You can't convince me you hate me. I feel everything you feel. I always have. I feel your forgiveness, your anger, your worry. I know I can't convince you to hate me, even when you have every reason to. I know you, Lorelai. You befriend monsters on a whim and mock all of the dangers that come with it. You're kind, and you're forgiving, and you're understanding."

"Then, stay, Jasper. Stay, and let me keep understanding you."

"You're going to have a beautiful future," Jasper went on. "Alice has seen it in all shapes and colors. You're going to be happy. She swears it. But you need to do that without us."

"I'm happier when I'm with you," she mumbled, her voice cracking ever-so slightly.

"Goodbye, Rory."

One moment, Jasper Hale had been standing directly before her. The next, he had vanished. The second he was gone, it seemed to have hit Lorelai immediately. She was frozen, unable to process what had just happened.

Jasper was gone, and so was Alice, and Rosalie, and Emmett, and Carlisle, and Esme, and Edward. Just like that... they were all gone, like they never existed.

Everyone was gone.

Rory was alone.

Again.

Revised: January 6th, 2020
Revised: October 31st, 2024