Margaret Allie Brandon (Jasper's Mate Story)

Chapter 6

(September 19th)
Jasper's POV:

Today was the day that the rest of the family would be meeting Margaret. I had slowly been getting her to open up bit by bit with each passing day, though I was jealous of Alice and her seemingly easier progress. I had never been happier to have a reason to talk to a human as I was with her and the Presentation for class that we had to do. I had offered to go to her place rather than mine, because I didn't want to scare her with all the people in our house, but she had said no to that faster than I thought she could.

It had left me wondering what her foster parents were like if she didn't want me to know anything about them that badly. I told her I would drive us there after school, as I had driven my own corvette to school. I was already waiting by the passenger door as students came walking out. I spotted her in a moment and waved to her as she looked at me with the same determined look on her face before walking over.

I felt myself force a snarl down as a few of the other humans walked by her snickering names at her, but my smile became real after I saw her eyes never waver from my own. She was standing in front of me and even offered a smile of her own for a moment before her face became blank again. 

"Ready to go?" (Jas)

"Only if you are?" (Mag)

"Course. Let's go then shall we." (Jas)

I opened the door for her my own smile growing as she nodded in thanks at me. I gently shut it behind her and got in the driver's side before pulling out of the parking lot. I saw her twisting her hands in her lap as I drove and I felt how panicky and scared she was right now. I tried to send her a wave of calm like I had always tried to do but it seemed to do little to help her.

"Are you alright Margaret? You seem a bit tense." (Jas)

"I.......I don't like cars." (Mag)

"Really? Why?" (Jas)

I hadn't been paying attention to how fast I was going as I driving us towards our house that was out in the woods. Everyone in my family was used to driving fast, extremely fast compared to the average driver. I was already going well over 100, when I heard her breathing start to increase. I look over at her to see her staring at the speedometer with wide eyes.

"Margaret?" (Jas)

"Sl-slow down......pl-please.....now!" (Mag)

I immediately slowed down as I watched her have a panic attack in the front seat, and I realized that I was already pulling into the driveway. I parked the car right by the porch before I turned to see her shaking like a leaf. I reached out to take her hand into mine but froze when she flinched away from me and raised her hands as if bracing for a hit. I knew what that meant and I debated calling for Carlisle before she started to take deep breaths in and out.

Her breathing and heartrate seemed to steady themselves a bit before she looked up at me with a look of regret and pain in her eyes. I felt the pain and shame come off her in waves as I tried to combat it with waves of calm but I had no way of knowing if it was actually helping her as much pain as she had coming off her, and for the first time in over a hundred years I felt true fear in what I should do.


Margaret's POV:

I had watched him drive for a moment feeling calm until I saw the speed on the speedometer. He was doing more than 100 now and I felt my mind start to fall back into the flashback of that car crash. The scars on my face and the rest of my body seemed to sting as I remembered it and I felt my breathing increase as I started to shake.

I heard him say my name and I don't know if he said anything after that, but I also didn't care what else he said as my eyes were stuck on the speedometer. I heard myself tell him to slow down or perhaps I asked him to, I honestly wasn't sure of the words coming out of my mouth as my vision grew fuzzy and my breathing struggled to continue.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I heard the screeching of tires, the crunching of metal and breaking of glass as my breathing kept coming in harsh gasps. I could almost feel the way the car felt when it spun out of control and started to flip. I forced myself to remember where I was as I wasn't in the car crash that stole my mom, I was with Jasper.

I saw a hand coming towards me and I braced for Randy's hit before I forced myself to again remember where I was. I was with the boy with the beautiful emotion filled eyes that was impossible to capture onto paper in their entirety. I wasn't in the car with my mom that fateful day, that day was long past and she was in a better place with my grandmother. I wasn't with Randy facing a beating for whatever I had done wrong, for now I was safe. I started to take deep breaths as I counted to ten and then back down from ten.

A few moments later and I could feel myself calming down a bit before I opened my eyes to see that we've stopped moving altogether. I look up and meet Jasper's eyes and this time I can see the worry that he's holding in them as he looks at me. I know that I owe him some type of explanation for my sheer panic, and for the first time in forever I decide to tell someone about what happened the day I lost my mom. The day my entire world shattered.