On the Verge ~ (Seth Clearwater Imprinting Story)

Chapter 9: (Violet's POV)

I froze. I felt my heart stop and my lungs halt. “Violet?” Alice asked, looking at me anxiously.

Her voice sounded far, and before I knew it I was hyperventilating.

“Oh god, we don’t have time for this!” Alice said, “Violet, you need to calm down, your father is about to jump off a cliff!” she shouted.

I heaved in another breath as my lungs closed up.

“Oh god, where’s Jasper? Jasper?!” she shouted, her voice shrill.

A breeze blew as Jasper appeared at her side at lightening speed. “Calm her please” Alice pleaded.

Jasper took one look at me, and I suddenly felt my whole body ease. My lungs expanded as I took in a deep breath of air, and my heart beat normally.

“I need you to come too Jasper, I don’t want her hyperventilating again” Alice said as she pushed Jasper into the car. “Just like Bella” she muttered under her breath.

She jumped into the drivers’ seat, and sped down the road. I didn’t even have my seat belt on, though that didn’t bother me at all.

The thought of Max on the edge of a cliff just made me feel…I felt Jasper forcing emotion into me, to calm me. I resisted against it, but couldn’t shield myself against his powers.

How could I feel calm at a time like this?

“Alice, fill me in” I said desperate for information.

“Your father is about to jump off a cliff, how much more do you want?” she said as the car accelerated forward.

We finally skidded out on the edge of the cliff, the ocean just a few metres down. The beach stretched down, far below.

I looked forward, my eyes searching, and they finally rested on a figure standing on the edge of the cliff.

I jumped out of the car, before Alice skidded to a stop and ran towards Max. The wind was strong on the cliff top. It forced my hair back and made my dress dance wildly. He stood with his back to me, his head looking up towards the sky.

“Dad!” I shouted over the wind.

He turned to look at me. “Oh, Violet” he said in a surprised tone.

“Dad, what are you doing? Come away from the edge” I said huffing from my run.

“I can’t do that” he replied. That was the second time I had heard that today. Both times I heard it, I knew that the truth behind the words were true.

“Dad, what are you doing?” I gasped in disbelief.

“I don’t want to be like this anymore” he replied sadly, “I don’t want to hurt you anymore, I don’t want to get drunk anymore. I don’t want to live life anymore.”

I didn’t know what to say.

He continued. “I’m not drunk, I’m sober now. What you said to me before made me realise that I can’t lean on you anymore; that you need to have room to live your own life. I can’t screw your life up anymore.”

“There’s a better way. Dad, you can’t do this” I pleaded.

“What can I do? I don’t know what to do” he said as he turned his back on me. “You remind me of her you know, a lot. You are every bit of your mother…” he trailed off. “My Rose…” he said after a while. “I know you hate it when I call you that” he said. “I know that I can’t replace your mother, though that’s why I get drunk all the time, because I feel angry at myself for letting her die.”