|: Cigarettes and Candy :| Carlisle... - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Declan's POV.
I spent the rest of the night and the early morning thinking that I was harsh on Bella. I know that I should've talked to her, but I didn't have to be so mean. Bella's never been one to benefit from tough love.
Or so I thought.
After I woke up and I could smell food, I quickly rushed downstairs to make sure that Charlie wasn't trying to cook. When I got there however, I paused in the doorway at the sight of Bella at the stove.
She hasn't cooked anything since they left, she hasn't done anything. She didn't look happier or better but she was doing something more than sitting around and being sad.
I just quietly sat down at the table and hoped that when Charlie woke up he'd do the same. I know that if we start asking her questions and acting odd towards her it won't help. We all just need to act like this is normal, even though all I wanna do is jump and and hug her.
Charlie's shocked expression when he entered the kitchen was amusing, and thankfully he didn't cause a scene.
We all just sat and ate breakfast quietly, like we used to. It was, for a brief moment, like things never changed. I can't decide if that's better.
Is is better if things go back to how they were before we met the Cullens? I think for now it is. Eventually maybe things will be different in the good way. Bella and I can someday acknowledge how we've grown and changed after this.
After that, things did get somewhat better.
Bella was still noticeably depressed, but she was functioning. She cooked more often and ate at the table with Charlie and I. At one point she went out with her friend Jessica, and after that she started talking to Jacob Black more.
She literally started going to his house everyday after school. I have no idea what they do when they're together but it's also not my business. If Bella wanted me involved she would invite me.
I went back to school, which sucked of course. In general I got used to not having to sit in classrooms all day, but some of the students are what made it really bad.
Like I thought, a few rude people insisted on asking me where I was. Someone started a rumor that I got the surgery. As in they think I have a dick, which means that everyone is looking at me like I'm some sort of freak. As if they didn't feel that way before.
I mostly sat by myself in classes and at lunch. Angela and Bella sometimes ask me to sit with their group, so then I'll join them and sit quietly at their table. It's just easier to sit alone, I can do my homework and work on sketches. Rather than sit with people who might ask me questions I don't want to answer.
It's not that having questions is bad, it's just that there's a proper way to ask them. There's also just some things that you have to accept that they aren't your business. I find that people have a hard time with that concept sometimes.
I'm mostly okay with answering questions that my friends or family have. However when this random ass kid I never talk to wants to know how big my new dick is, I have to try and control my anger. I think if I bared my fangs and hissed at some kid it would be hard to come back from.
A couple weeks went by, each day the same. I decided that I needed to make it interesting myself since I had no one to do it for me.
So I flew to Port Angeles, not really sure why I thought it be more fun there but it beats sitting in the house all night.
It was past midnight and there wasn't very many people out and hardly any cars. I flew from rooftop to rooftop just watching the world and the few people still being apart of it.
It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that I realized I was being watched. I'm being followed.
I tried to act like I didn't notice but my mind started racing. A hopeful part of me thought for a second that it was a Cullen. Maybe Jasper wanted to see me, or Esme missed me. Maybe Alice has seen my future and sees me dying so she came to investigate. Who the hell knows, I just want it to be a Cullen.
However, as the presence started to grow closer I started to remove faster. I don't know who's following me and I can be as optimistic as I want but they might not be good.
I leap off the roof of one building and turned quickly in the sky to start heading towards a larger building. More room for a fight if needed. I flew as fast as I could, faster than I've ever flown before.
Faster than the person following me because as I soared I heard a man say, "wait!"
My heart sped up at the voice, the fact that I'm not crazy and there's actually someone behind me is scary as hell. He doesn't sound angry or threatening but I'm not taking any chances.
I refused to look behind me as I landed on the rooftop, I ran across the top of the building. I heard the man land on the roof behind me and shout for me to wait again. When I reached the other end of the building, I stopped.
With more courage then I have, I turned and let out a snarl so loud that the world seemed to shake. I bared my teeth and spat trying to seem as threatening as possible.
"Woah, kid!" The man called, putting his hands up to show he had no weapons.
I clenched my fists and stood tall as I looked him over. It's odd, I've never seen someone like me before.
He has wings, they're a different color and shape, but they're wings! They're light sandy brown with darker feathers around the edges. His seem to be around the same size as mine, but his seem to lack the curve mine have.
He doesn't seem too tall or muscular, which makes him less threatening. His darker blonde hair is slicked back and neat despite that fact that we've been flying. He has a short beard and hair on his chest, I tried not to let my vision focus too long on the symbol burned into his collarbone.
"Listen, kid." He started "No ones going to get hurt."
"Not me!" I snarled as he took a small step closer.
"I just wanted to introduce myself," He ignored my threat. "And I wanted to make sure you're okay."
I made no attempt to hide my confusion, what is he talking about?
He gestured to me with one hand, "you've got some gnarly looking scars."
I suddenly felt self conscious. The scars on my back and arms are all raised white skin, but obviously the scars on my chest and still pretty red and irritated. I'm not even supposed to have my post op binder off yet. I forget that other people aren't used to seeing scarred people feeling confident in their bodies.
"It's nothing!" I snapped, "it has nothing to do with you."
He looked me over again, there seemed to be pity in his eyes. I don't like that look, I especially don't like it on strangers.
I hissed again, "leave me alone!"
"Im sorry, I'm sorry," he put his hands up again, wings twitching upwards as I yelled. "This started out differently than I had planned."
I narrowed my eyes, why won't he leave?
"My name is Simon." He started. "I live in this area. I've seen you flying around here before. Is this where you feed?"
I quietly nodded, I don't like acknowledging the things I have to do to survive.
"Are you with a group?" He questioned.
I furrowed my eyebrows to show my confusion. What is he talking about?
Simon wrung his hands together. "You know, a group? A coven? A gang maybe?"
My mind briefly wandered to the Cullens. Was I part of their coven? Well, if I was there's no way I am anymore. They made that clear when they left me behind.
"No." I accidentally sounded sadder than I intended.
His wings sank as it was his turn to be confused, he brought a hand up to rub at his facial hair. "Oh."
I relaxed my stance finally, not feeling like I needed to be in defense mode. "Why do you ask?"
"I just- I- um." He stuttered, trying to find the right words. "I saw your scars and wondered if you are with a group that's treating you badly."
Abuse. He thinks I'm being abused. I'm so glad he didn't actually say the word.
"It's just- I've seen it happen before. So many times actually." He explained. "I don't know how young you are or what you know, but there's a lot of bad shit going on in our world."
I crossed my arms over my chest and bit at my lip. I need to know more.
"You're the first vampire I've met." I told him.
It's a subtle lie, but the Cullens don't count right now. They aren't the same kind and they hardly count as being vampires. I mean, Carlisle is doing the worst job at being a vampire.
He blinked a few times, "how old are you?"
I debated in my head wether or not it's a good idea to tell this man anything about me. What's the harm in a man knowing my age though.
"Seventeen." I answered.
He nodded silently before looking at his watch.
My wings twitched as I resisted the urge to ask questions. I have so many. I've never gotten the chance to talk to someone like me. All the stuff I know I learned from old letters and journals.
"Are you hungry?" Simon asked.
I shrugged.
He gestured to his left. "There's a diner near by, we can talk there. If you'd like."
That seems like the best option, considering we can only stay on this randoms buildings roof for so long. Plus there's no way I'm following him home.
"You buying?" I asked as I hopped off the roofs edge and stepped closer.
He laughed softly, "I guess that's fair."
"You're the one who invited me," I reminded.
I concentrated on relaxing and pulling my wings back in, and I heard the familiar sound coming from Simon's direction as well. When I looked back at him he was pulling on a T-shirt.
I turned away and untied my flannel shirt from around my waist, I also pulled my post op binder out of my pocket. I tried to act casual as I struggled to hook it back up around my body. The whole time I was hoping Simon wouldn't ask any questions.
I quickly buttoned up my flannel shirt to cover myself before turning back to Simon.
"Lead the way", I said.
The walk to the diner was brief, mostly because Simon is a fast walker. I had to struggle to keep up with him.
I had a few intrusive thoughts.
What if he's leading me into a trap?
What if he is in one of those abusive covens?
How will I get out of this if a fight starts?
I've never really fought before. I mean, I had a small thing with Victoria a while ago but that hardly counts. It was over before it really started.
I choose to be trusting and maybe a bit naive and followed Simon to a typical looking diner. I can't just assume that everyone wants to harm me because then I will never find friends. He's been kind so far, the whole reason he is talking to me is because he wanted to make sure I wasn't being abused.
So, I think he is a nice person. I hope nice people still exist.
As Simon walked through the door of the diner, a woman called his name happily. The only person I saw was an older woman behind the counter. I guess that this 24 hour diner doesn't get much business in the middle of the night.
Simon and the woman had a brief conversation as I went to sit down in a near by booth. When Simon started towards me, the woman walked out from behind the counter to follow.
"So, are you going to introduce me to your young friend?" She asked as Simon sat down.
The sudden panic on his face was amusing, he must've realized that he never asked for my name.
"I'm Declan." I offered.
She placed a menu in front of me with a smile, "Bonnie."
I offered a small smile back and started to quickly read over the menu.
"I'm surprised to see Simon here with a friend, he always comes alone." She stated. "Anyway, you want your usual, Simon?"
"Yes ma'am." Simon answered.
I choose the first small meal my eyes landed on and handed the menu back to Bonnie. With that she walked away and left Simon and I to talk.
"So, you don't make a habit out of inviting random vampires to the local diner?" I asked in reference to Bonnie's comment.
He smiled, "not really. My friends, well I think they're my friends, they don't want to go anywhere with me. David prefers to lurk in alleys instead of being civilized."
They don't want to go anywhere with me.
"Should I take that as a warning?" I questioned.
Simon shrugged, "mostly they hate how much I talk, especially to strangers."
That pushed a laugh out of me. I covered it with my hand and shifted to look out the large window.
Simon places his hands on the table, "What?"
"Nothing, it's just," I began but stopped to let out another laugh. "You talk to strangers so much that you followed me for who knows how long. Then you invited to a diner before even asking my name."
He purses his lips, "at least I asked you how old you are."
"Yeah," I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back at him. "Why do you care about how old I am?"
It's kinda a creepy question now that I'm thinking about it. I mean, Simon is clearly older than me. He actually looks older than Adam. Especially now under the lights in the diner, I can see a mix or grey hairs on his head and in his beard.
"You look very young, younger than I've seen I mean." He explained. "I mean, seventeen really isn't too young but, I feel like you've been like this for a little while. The way you were flying, how you turned around and hissed, you are more experienced than I thought. I thought you were new."
"I kinda figured that, I don't know much but I know it happened really soon for me." I hesitated on telling him more, "it started when I was fifteen."
He raised his eyebrows at that, "wow, yep, that's young."
I played with my fingers nervously, cracking my knuckles and fidgeting with my rings. I only stopped the knuckle popping when Simons face cringed in disgust at the sound. I forget that some people are greatly bothered by the sound.
"How old are you, how old were you when- yaknow." My voice sounded small as I worried that he wouldn't want so share some of his story.
"Physically, I'm fairly sure that I'm thirty eight. I think things started changing when I was, uh, thirty two maybe." I rubbed his beard as he thought, "oh! And I was born in the sixties."
I blinked as my stomach turned. It's almost like I forgot about the immortal thing, without the Cullens around I could so easily convince myself that I'm mostly human. I'm not though, not human at all. Was I ever really human.
Bonnie returned then and placed two plates of food on the table and I tried to smile and thank her but my voice refused to cooperate. She must've sensed the tension in the air because she didn't stick around to chat.
Lucky for me, Simon was distracted by the food so I was giving a quiet minute to try not to spiral downward.
What am I going to do? Before I had a plan, I had others who I was going to be with forever. They're gone, but I'm still going to be here for a while. Alone I guess.
I mean, Simon had been around since the sixties and he said his friends don't like going places with him. Is he alone all the time? Does he have better friends? Does he have a family or a coven?
"You're not eating." Simons voice startled me out of my thoughts.
I shook my head and picked up my fork, "sorry. Lost in thought."
I went to look up at him with a reassuring smile, but another laugh was forced out of me when I looked at what he was eating.
In front of him sat a stack of funfetti pancakes that are covered in lots of syrup.
I covered my face as I giggled and I felt his eyes on me.
"What?" He said around a mouthful of food.
"Nothing!" I laughed. "I just wasn't expecting you to be eating rainbow gay pride pancakes."
I moved my hands and looked back at him and I felt a genuine smile on my face. He looked from me and then back to his food a few times.
He shrugged, "gay rights."
Our conversation during our meal remained causal, no vampire talk or immortal talk. He told me that he's lived in Washington most of his life, I told him I grew up in New York.
One thing I liked is, he never pushed for more information. He allowed my to mostly control the conversation and what I shared with him. I was worried he would ask things about my family or parents but he didn't.
It was really easy to talk to Simon, and it was so refreshing to talk to someone causally. Adam and I talk everyday but it's always on the phone. It's very nice to be able to sit across from someone and just talk.
Since things have been tense in the swan house, there hasn't been much conversation. Bella is getting better but she's still very depressed, the main difference is now she's always with Jacob. I don't mind of course, anything to make her happier.
Simon did pay the bill, I did offer some cash that I have in my wallet but he refused. He wouldn't even let me leave the tip for Bonnie. The two of them talked for a few minutes before we left, mostly Simon repeatedly mentioned that he'd come back soon.
I had one question I wanted to ask before we went our separate ways. I was just waiting for the right time to ask.
When Simon stopped walking at the corner of the street and checked the time on his watch, I figured that we were about to each head home.
"Why do you think I," I struggled to find the right word, "changed so young?"
He looked at me while crossing his arms over his chest. "From what I know, it's usually trauma. Physical trauma specifically. So if you were in a accident or were injured well enough, that could've been it. Does that sound like what could've happened?"
I couldn't look at him when I said, "we're not there yet. We can talk about trauma later."
"I understand," he replied.
"Before you go," I started, "I need to know one more thing."
He nodded, "whatever you need."
I started playing with my fingers again but I resisted the urge to annoyingly crack my knuckles. "When do you like, stop aging and how do you know?"
I looked at him as he shrugged one shoulder, "it's probably not a helpful answer but it's different for everyone. For me it took about five or six years, but I've met men and woman who only had about a year before they stopped changing."
Yeah, that answer didn't settle my nerves.
"As for as how you know, it's easiest to tell by how your body heals. In the beginning, cuts and burns healed at the same pace as a humans body would. Now, I heal within a day. I still bleed and hurt but the skin will scar over not even twelve hours later." He explained.
I nodded at the flood of information.
"Thanks." I said, "yaknow for talking with me. And answering my questions."
"No problem, kid." He smiled. "You should get home, wherever that is."
I nodded again, "it was nice meeting you."
I turned to walk away only to be stopped by Simons voice.
"Aren't you going to give me a phone number or some way to contact you?" He said.
It wasn't a demanding tone, he sounded more polite and maybe sad as well. If his tone was any different, that sentence would've made me nervous.
So we exchanged phone numbers, he made fun of my older phone. He found it very amusing that his phone was more high tech than mine despite his age.
Then he and I both turned and walked away in the opposite directions without saying any sort of goodbye. I felt good as I walked down the sidewalk by myself, like I accomplished something. I guess I did.
I've been wanting to meet people like me, I want friends I can relate to. I felt like family with the Cullens but there was always those moments where I felt sad that I could never be like them. I never would've been a golden eyed 'perfect' vampire. I will always be a winged and scarred genetic vampire.
I won't let myself get to hopeful but I need to meet more people in my world, the people that I could be with for longer than I'll get to be with the humans in my life.
As much as it hurts that I won't ever get to be a Cullen, I will happily remain a Derrick and make my own family of vampires. It's not like Carlisle is the only one who can make a family.
I'll make my own family of crackheads, I don't need to join someone else's.