Chapter 4

I have decided to ditch Bella for now, until later and just continue with Celia and Emmett.

I opened my eyes the next morning – it wasn't the light that had woken me up. It was Celia. In my arms. I remembered what I had done the night before and groaned.

'Celia, why are you making me do all these crazy things?' I cried hoarsely.

She looked at me, frowning a cute little frown. I knew the answer as soon I had laid eyes on her for more than eight seconds.

'Oh God…' I groaned lightly, caressing her hair. My existence had become a complete contradiction. I tried to summon up Rosalie's face from my memory, but I couldn't. I couldn't remember anything; just the face in front of me.

The face buried itself in my shoulder and moaned.

'Oh Emmett. You know we both need each other! This has gone too far to prevent. Come with me to Argentina. If we run, we can be in the Cape by night fall. We can stay there until we know what to do.' She lifted her face from my shoulder and kissed me lightly on the lips.

I unwillingly pulled away.

'Why do you want me to do this? I…' I realized that I hadn't told her about Rosalie. 'I have… someone. Back home. Waiting…'

She looked up at me thoughtfully. I needed her to respond; to say yes or no, to let me know if that was it.

'I think I might have already known that. I don't care; you have two now, and I think you have already made your choice.'

What is wrong with me? I thought.

'Yes. But I need to do something. I have to do what I think is right… we need to go back to France,' I volunteered unwillingly as ever.

She winced, as gracefully as one can wince.

'OK… I understand. The backpackers are gone – they left this morning, early,' she replied, sounding resolute.

I lifted her up slowly and placed her on her two feet. For a moment, she looked so delicate and fragile, I thought I could break her by letting her get up on her own. She laughed as I handled her with care; a carefree laugh. I envied her ease.

She grabbed my hand and wrapped it with her cool fingers. She tugged me down the tree, and when we reached the bottom of the trunk I held onto her hand when she attempted to release it. I spun her back into me; she entwined herself in my body. Her nose nearly touched mine and we stayed like that, just staring at each other thoughtfully.

She reached up and kissed me softly, and I returned feverishly. I kissed her madly, like I was possessed or we had only so much time left… she broke away suddenly and disentangled herself carefully, until she had her hand once again wrapped around mine. We headed back towards the river.

'Why the river?' I asked, my eyes wandering her face, attempting to breathe in her scent.

'It will be faster if we swim,' she replied, knowledgeable as ever.

With that last thought, she began to climb up some nearby boulders until she was about twenty meters above the water. I followed, in a daze. I managed to look up in the nick of time to see her perch on the top of the tallest boulder and glance down, still carefree, to the freezing water below. With that she flew herself down in a perfect dive. Her grace dazzled me; the water barely moved when she sliced it. I then motioned to follow as quickly as possible.

With one last look at Brazil, I threw myself into the murky depths below.

She arose from the water, dripping wet, clothes clinging tightly to her muscled skin. She looked like she had been carved from some marble; I noticed that she never appeared to get dirty, whereas my jeans had wet sand and dirt all over them and my chest was scratched and dusted with dirt.

She looked back, waiting for me to walk slowly towards her. Without even thinking about it anymore, I grabbed her freezing body and pulled it roughly against mine, and wrapped my arms around her.

'Why can't I leave you?' I asked, knowing the answer.

She whispered quietly in my ear, 'Because you have ripped out part of yourself and placed it with me. Without me next to you, you'll never be whole again.'

I was stunned at her frank and truthful reply. Why did she always have to be right? Contradicting myself again, I only pulled her tighter.

We were on the west coast of France, 5 miles from Carlisle's villa. I pulled away from her, placing my hand on the small of her back and ushering her forward in the right direction. We would have to wait until night so we could run; luckily it was overcast and there was a cave on this beach that would be perfect for shelter.

She dashed (there was no one on the beach) into the cave before I had even realized she was running. Damn she was fast; I would have to work hard to keep up tonight. I was incredibly nervous and apprehensive about taking her to my family. They would be disapproving, but understanding. Especially Edward. I wondered what he would think – would he hate me for disregarding Rosalie? Oh God, Rosalie. She would never be able to accept this. Maybe her idea was better, maybe running to the Cape would have been the best option. Staring at the cold sand, I just wished that it all wasn't so complicated. I owed everything to Rosalie! How could I betray her by doing this?

I looked up. I was in the cave, it was dark and dank. But I could make out Celia's figure and forgot immediately about Rosalie. This problem had no solution, but when I was with Celia there was no problem. Her emerald eyes sparkled more than before, it seemed, in the dark, and I fell down on the sandy floor and laid down, closing my eyes. When I opened them again, she was next to me, her head resting against my shoulder. We stayed like that until light began to filter through the rocks at the entrance – it was time to keep going. But I had to clean up first.

I lifted her gently off my shoulder.

I went down to the shore again and dived in. I avoided the sand and mud and washed it off me, and addressed the cuts on my back and chest. I went to a store and bought a shirt and some new pants; they were rather shocked to see me. Speaking fluent French helped the situation – I had been camping and some little boys had stolen my shirts, I told them.

When I went back to the cave, Celia was gone.

But I knew where she was.

And it was time to follow.