Surprise crossed her face at my words. “Alice isn’t coming back,” she mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water.

I shook my head slowly while watching her face. “No. They’re all gone. I stayed behind to tell you goodbye.”

“Alice is gone?” she asked in disbelief.

“She wanted to say goodbye, but I convinced her that a clean break would be better for you.”

I understood her silence as she continued to gape at me. The tears wouldn’t come though I begged them too. How could she believe anything I was saying to her in this moment? Didn’t she understand that she was my world and I was nothing…absolutely nothing without her?

“Goodbye, Bella,” I said in the softest voice I could muster.

“Wait!” she choked out.

Her arms came out to clutch me to her. The motion of her arms made her fragrance soar through the air. The heartache I was feeling reached such a pitch I thought I was going to break down and pull her into my arms. I wanted too. I wanted to embrace her back and comfort her and beg for forgiveness. Instead I grabbed her wrists and brought them to her sides quickly. I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead very lightly. I took in my last breath of her luscious aroma.

“Take care of yourself,” I breathed.

The grief was beyond tears. When I pulled away her eyes were closed but snapped open and looked wildly around as I sprinted through the forest faster than I had ever ran before. I felt my heart being ripped from my body as a dark shadow filled the hollow place. In that moment I wanted it to end – I wanted to die. But I knew I couldn’t move on into whatever next life could possibly exist for my kind without her.

I reached my car and drove as fast as it would go. When I finally reached a point where I couldn’t drive anymore I staggered out of my car and departed at high speeds. As I was flying through the forest I knew I wouldn’t stop while my heart was begging me to return. If I were to stop now I would go back to her. I didn’t know where I was when I reached water’s edge. I looked out at the water wondering how I had gotten to this point. I felt like the pain was slowly burning me.

I sank down on my knees and quivered in misery as each moment of what I had just done whipped at me, leaving lacerations. I let the despair swallow me whole…I let it take me under. I screamed in anger so loud that the water vibrated. I fell over becoming still and unoccupied as I brought my hand to my chest, not to hold back the beast, but to try and fill the hollow area that seemed to consume me. Silence pressed upon my ears as I slid away into the blackness of my mind.