CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"You all good, Ellie?" Allison Hadley asked her daughter, noticing the way that she slumped against the tree for a second. 

"Yep, all good. Just give a second, I don't know if it's going to be an episode or not." 

Eleanora Hadley had found herself back in the forest after months of distancing herself from it. The forest still held a bittersweet taste in it and Ellie knew that if she had entered alone, her thoughts would only run wild and would distract her from nature's true beauty, which had drawn her in long before she had met Jasper or the rest of the Cullen's.

Allison had agreed to join her daughter, a greater understanding between the mother and daughter since their Christmas trip. Allison know understood her daughter's boundaries and thoughts much better, how crushed Ellie had been after the Cullen's disappearance the perfect final ingredient to her switch from not only caring about her work and occasionally her daughter. But to keeping Ellie in her mind more often and looking out for her but not in that overbearing was she had been. 

Although she was cutting it a little fine with work, Allison was happy to just have this moment with her daughter, in the woods and just appreciating nature for what it was. 

Ellie leaned against a tree noticing her mother's concerned look. "You sure, El?"

"Yeah, this just happens from time to time, especially when I hiking like this. You know how it gets." Ellie returned, before glancing at her watch. "Oh, shit Mum. Shouldn't you be going?" 

Allison gave her daughter a look at her use of the swear word, before glancing to her own watch. "I should be but I'm not going to leave you here about to go into an episode." 

"I'll be fine, Mum. As much as I would love for you to stay, work is more important right now. Besides I'll be fine, this isn't my first rodeo after all."

"What do you mean?" Allison asked concerned. 

"I mean that it isn't the first episode I've had in the forest, besides it'll be ten minutes and I'll be back. I know the way back to the car and you can come to pick me up after work. Or in the worst case, I'll get a ride from someone, okay?"

Allison hesitated, staring her daughter down and noticing the way that Ellie's eyes had started to close against her will. "I'm going to trust you this once, okay Ellie?" Allison started, regretting every word but knowing that she had to agree to it. "Keep your phone powered on and on you at all times, and don't hesitate to call me the second you feel unsafe."

"Don't get murdered, got it." Ellie returned sarcastically despite her closing eyelids. 

"Eleanora! Now I'm questioning whether or not to leave you." 

"Mum! I'm joking okay?" Ellie retorted. "I thought we reached an understanding that humour and sarcasm is one of my coping techniques."

"Yes," Allison eventually agreed. "I'll see you in a few hours, El." 

"See you, Mum." Ellie farewelled before succumbing to the episode entirely. 

Allison lingered by her sleeping daughter hesitantly before finally turning around and following the path back to the car. "Some parent I am." She muttered to herself, even though she knew that this was potentially what the mother and daughter duo needed. 

When Ellie woke up a short ten minutes later she looked around, disorientated and forgetting her location for a moment before it reached her once more. She stood up following the trees to the ever-moving sight she spotted between them, nothing like the sea to calm her before starting back to the car or where it would be once her Mum got back. 

"You wanted me to be human. Watch me." A voice called through the trees as Ellie nearly jumped out of her skin, recognising the voice and the potential context immediately, Bella.

She darted forward, pushing past the branches more frantically now, eager to stop Bella Swan from whatever stupid, life-threatening decision she would make next. 

"You won't stay with me any other way," Bella said again, as Ellie reached the clearing watching in shock as Bella lifted one foot, dangling it precariously over the edge. 

"Bella!" Ellie shouted, startling her friend. "What do you think you are doing?" 

Ellie's sudden shout had startled Bella, her body too far in the motion of jumping off the cliff to stop. Ellie watched with her mouth open and Bella jumped off the cliff and plummeted to the sea below. She raced to the edge, searching for any movement as Bella's head finally appeared between the waves. 

"Oh, thank goodness," Ellie breathed before Bella disappeared once more. "Oh shit, shit, shit, shit."

Ellie looked over the edge once more, weighing up her choices. She could either jump in after Bella, putting both of them in a more precarious situation or she could scream for help in the middle of the woods with no one around, she knew it was stupid but in her mind, it was the logical conclusion. 

The first strangled cry for help had just left her throat when Jacob Black came screaming through the trees. 

"Oh Jake, thank goodness." Ellie breathed, feeling quite helpless, completely unable to help her best friend. "Bella's down there, she jumped and I think she's drowning." 

Jacob didn't wait anytime, jumping down after the Swan, before bringing her back up the surface swimming with her. Ellie followed them from overhead, skidding across slippery rocks, running with all her might before she finally reached where Jacob and Bella were laid across the pebbly beach. 

"What the fuck, Bella!" Ellie shouted, slipping slightly on the pebbles before reaching where Jacob was performing CPR on Bella's soaked body, sand sticking to every crevice. 

"Breathe! Breathe!" Jacob demanded, ignoring Ellie as she sat down next to him. "Come on, Bella."

Bella suddenly sat up, the ocean water expelling from her lungs as she aggressively coughed, wiping her hand across her mouth. Ellie quickly curled her body around Bella's, both her and Jacob helping her to sit up. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ellie shouted, beyond pissed off at her friend's stupidity. "You could have been killed, Bella! You could have died and it would have been my fault!"

"It wasn't your fault, El." Bella stammered, breathing heavily. 

"Maybe give her a few moments, Ellie," Jacob warned but Ellie ignored him. 

"You're such a freaking idiot, Bella! First motorcycles and now this? If you really wanted to have fun and try new things you go travelling and try new foods and cultures! Not jumping off cliffs by yourself because you just feel like it!"

"I just wanted to see something," Bella mumbled, avoiding both Jacob and Ellie's gaze. 

"Oh, not that bullshit again." Ellie complained, knowing exactly what Bella had wanted to go 'see'. If she ever ended up seeing Edward Cullen again which was as always immensely unlikely, she was seriously going to give him hell.

"Get them home!" Sam shouted as Ellie whipped her head around to face him. "I'm going to go help out over at Harry's place."

"What happened at Harry's?" Bella asked. 

"Harry Clearwater had a heart attack. Charlie and my Dad are over at his place with his family."

"Is he okay?" Bella asked as Ellie winced almost knowing the words before they left Jacob's mouth.

"He's gone," Jacob muttered solemnly before picking Bella up and carrying her over to where her car stood. 

"We need to get her in some dry clothes," Ellie added, supporting Bella as well and pushing back a piece of wet hair off her head. "And then you and I are continuing this conversation about your recent decisions based off stupidity and angst.