COLLIDE 🌑 jasper hale x oc

eleven. PINKY SWEAR

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must've been something you said

Teardrops of rain fell from the weeping storm, quenching the thirst of the soil below. The pelting rain skidded across the window with hundreds of tiny knocks, as though heaven itself knocked against the clear panes to lull Carmen from her slumber. Yet she was sheltered from the corruption of those that resided above by the sweet serenity solitude provided.

Late into the morning, the girl begrudgingly left her comforter's warm embrace. Carmen tugged her fluffy sock-clad feet to the ground, cringing when her toe stubbed the hard planks. She slid across the hardwood floors, ignoring the protesting creeks as she journeyed to the room beside her own.

Bella's doe eyes lingered on the corner where the walls met, confusion twirling their way through the brown pools. Yet she met Carmen's eyes, blinking away the emotion to answer her sister's unasked question.

"Charlie called school to let us skip, thought we needed a day off."

"Legend," Carmen replied as she lay among the purple comforter beside her sister, resting her head on Bella's shoulder.

Bella released a small chuckle, running a hand through her dark brown locks as she reached for the silver laptop upon her desk. Wordlessly, they played an episode of Friends, clapping in sync to the theme song. The twins spent the morning into the early afternoon like that, enveloped in each other's warmth.

🌑

The sun danced across the sky into the afternoon. The twins departed from their leisure for a bite to eat before Bella returned to her bedroom to start on some homework. Meanwhile, Carmen procrastinated, flicking through the pages of scribbled notes regarding the curiosities of the Cullens. The bizarreness of the mystery stacked up, looming over her, almost teasing Carmen with the answers dangling just out of reach.

A joyful three-knock beat echoed from the front door of the Swan residence, dragging Carmen from her thoughts. She had hastily made her way downstairs after she put the journal away, knowing only one girl who could make knocking a joyful action. The door creaked, swinging open to reveal Alice Cullen who immediately embraced her new friend.

"Hi, Caz! How are you feeling?" Alice asked, sympathy blending its way through the cheery tone.

"Fabulous as always," Carmen flicked her brown locks over her shoulder in her best Sharpay impersonation from High School Musical, earning a giggle from the pixie-like girl.

"How was school?"

"Positively dull, I can't believe you left me all alone!" Alice replied as she followed Carmen through the door.

"Al, we've only had like...four classes together so far, how can you miss me already?" Carmen laughed.

"What can I say, you've had an impact on us," she smiled.

"Us?" Carmen raised a perfect eyebrow as she tucked her legs underneath herself she sat on the old couch.

"All of us of course! Well some more than others," Alice mumbled the last part with a small smirk as Carmen raised a perfect eyebrow in question.

"Oh, that reminds me, here," Alice diverted the conversation as she gave Carmen a small stack of paper from her designer, yellow bag.

The taller brunette groaned upon realising that it was all the school work that she'd missed. "Thanks, Al, but ew," she replied as Alice passed her the stack. Carmen flicked through the papers, chuckling at the running commentary written in what she recognised as Jasper's handwriting, asking how she was and mentioning how boring the class was.

Consequently, Alice pulled a box of chocolates from a bag, laughing as she handed them to the awestruck teen. "Rosie got these for you, she thought you'd want some procrastination from homework."

"I freaking love you guys."

🌑

The two girls spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, Bella occasionally coming down to join them and laughing at Alice's newfound adoration for 'Just Dance'.

"Al... I know that you know what really happened yesterday." Carmen confided to her best friend, seated beside her on Carmen's bed.

"Caz-" Alice pleaded,

"Please Alice, I-I don't think Bella or I would have survived if it weren't for Jasper and Edward-I don't even understand how we survived!"

"Caz, I want to tell you. Trust me, I really do but it isn't my place. But know that you have most of the clues, whether you've realised it or not...you just have to finish piecing the pieces together." She spoke in cryptic terms as though she alluded to the world's greatest secret, almost confusing the teen further.

Alice glanced at her watch, "I better get going."

She pecked the lost-looking girl's cheek and Carmen wrapped her arms around the pixie girl as Alice did the same.

Confusing Carmen further, Alice reached to the shelf above Carmen's bed and wrapped her dainty fingers around the spine of Carmen's black journal. With a wink, she placed the journal in her friend's lap, laughing at the girl's perplexed expression.

"You got this," Alice grinned.

"How did you-" Carmen asked but was cut off as Alice pretended to zip her lips shut. "The others would have my head if they knew what I told you, so please don't snitch!" still grinning, Alice pleaded as the two walked down the stairs. "Pinky swear," Carmen laughed in response, masking her underlying confusion.

"See you tomorrow, Caz!" Alice cheered as she almost skipped through the rain to her father's sleek black BMW. Carmen waved with a laugh before closing the door and returning to the house's warmth.

🌑

Carmen Swan had a knack for detail. The keen blue fires in her eyes captured everything, desperate to uncover the truth. But inevitably, she would become enveloped in the thrill of the journey toward the answers. Charlie would claim that she learnt from the best, but even he didn't have a mind like hers. Perhaps it was due to Carmen being a mystery herself, maybe that could have explained how a riddle could entice and swallow her whole. Perhaps that's what enticed her to the enigma of the Cullens.

Ignoring the howling winds outside, Carmen followed her best friend's advice. She relived every memory she had of the Cullens, dissecting the scattered clues they'd left like breadcrumbs and scribbling them into the journal. Thousands of possibilities sped through her mind, but Alice had confirmed the question pounding against the back of Carmen's mind, whatever had occurred wasn't natural.

Meaning that Jasper Hale was unnatural.

The changing eye colours, the undeniable speed, the impossible rescue endeavour.

And yet Jasper wasn't the only unnatural one. The uncanny similarities the family share, the unnatural beauty, never eating, the secluded solitude, the mannerisms that reflected a whole different time. The wealth Carlisle and Esme had accumulated in such a short amount of time, even after supporting five children. The pale and ice-cold touch and unnatural strength. The list began to overflow the scribbled pages.

Carmen glanced hopelessly to the illuminated moon but her fiery blue orbs widened as the answer clicked.

The Cullen family were more than unnatural...

Carmen gripped onto the single word that shocked every fibre of her being, the conclusion she had never predicted that she would arrive to.

Vampire.

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dun dun daaaa