The Immortal Children

A Single Flame

Seth and I sat in silence for several minutes, neither one of us knowing how to break the tension in the air. I knew that I was overreacting, but my father was a really sore subject for me. After mom finally worked up the courage to leave dad, she had never spoke of him, making it a taboo subject in our house, his name only being whispered between my sister and I in the night's protection. I had thought of him very little in the last few years, and even less since I was changed. But, of course, Seth just had to bring it up again.

"I'm sorry." Seth finally said. "I just thought that talking about it might help you move on." I glared up at him. "I have moved on." I stared in the Seth's eyes, willing him to believe me. I wouldn't go through this again. I wouldn't be forced to talk about this, I wouldn't let him force the memories back. I remembered all of those months that mom had insisted I go to a therapist, all of those months of being asked how I felt about everything. I was done with being analyzed. "And even if I hadn't moved on, I don't need your help."

I stood up and took off into the forest again, leaving the waterfall and Seth behind. I remembered Ash and reached out for her mind link which she had promised to leave open for me. I connected and just as I thought, 'I'm on my way back', my head began to pound. I screamed and fell to the ground. 'Where have you been?!' My sister thought to me. The pain wasn't really that bad but I was no longer use to any form of pain. I was more shocked at the feeling than the slight throbbing in my head. Jumping to my feet I pushed my legs as fast as they would go, spraying dirt behind me. I had to get back to the house. Something was very wrong. 'What's going on?' I demanded.

'It's Chris.' No. No, no, no, no, no. 'What did they do to him?!' I knew that my sister I could feel my panic through the mind link but I couldn't bring myself to care. I knew it. I knew we shouldn't have trusted Cullens. I knew we should have left, I knew we should have... 'Edward said something to him. I don't know what because his mind is... Doing something. That pain you feel? It's coming straight from our brothers mind.' My confusion mixed with my sisters, the alarm growing in both of us.

'Open my window.' I leapt towards the window, not caring if I had to break through it. Luckily, my sister's face appeared through the glass and the millisecond before impact she yanked it open, allowing me to get through without damaging anything. I turned to Ash and without needing me to voice the question she answered, "my room. I was trying to calm him down but -" I didn't let her finish, already pounding up the stairs. I winced at the assault of pink when I entered my sisters room, but quickly forgot about it when I saw Chris curled on the bed with his head on Esme's lap and Carlisle's hand on his shoulder as he dry sobbed. I rushed over to him, roughly pushing Carlisle out of the way in the process.

"Chris, what happened?" My brother's head popped up and his eyes met mine. Seeing me seemed to bring on a new wave of sadness because he gasped and reached out to me as his shoulders began to shake more. I immediately lifted him into my arms and he locked his legs around my waist, as he clung to my neck like a lifeline. He buried his face into my chest and sobbed harder. I glared at Carlisle, needing to place the blame on someone for my brother's to stress. "What did you do to him?" I was furious. Beyond furious. I couldn't leave for 20 minutes without coming back to my brother being traumatized? This is exactly why I didn't want to trust the Cullens. Just like all of the other covens, they would only end up hurting us.

When the only answer I got to my question was my brother burying his face deeper into my chest I glared at Carlisle. "what happened?" I repeated. Carlisle looked concerned, but was doing a decent job of staying calm. His voice held not even a drop of anxiety. "Jasper and Edward were simply holding a conversation when Edward said something that upset Chris." The mind reader. I should have known. I waited for Carlisle to continue, but after a solid minute it became clear that he wasn't going to. Growing more frustrated by the minute, I growled out, "what did he say to him?"