Yes, Heaven Forbid I Not Be Protected

Making Decisions Was The Painful Part For Me, The Part I Agonized Over. But Once The Decision Was Made, I Simply Followed Through—usually With Relief That The Choice Was Made. Sometimes The Relief Was Tainted By Despair, Like My Decision To Come To Forks. But It Was Still Better Than Wrestling With The Alternatives.

Though There Was No Sound, There Was A Change. The Atmosphere, Which Had Gone Tense At My Accusation, Relaxed. I Wondered How I Knew This. I Had A Strange Sensation That I Was Somehow Receiving More Than My Five Senses Were Giving Me - Almost A Feeling That There Was Another Sense, On The Fringes, Not Quite Harnessed. Intuition? That Was Almost The Right Word. As If Any Creature Needed More Than Five Senses.

I'd Forgotten How Exuberant You Are

If You Throw A Frog In A Pot Of Boiling Water, It Will Hop Right Out. But If You Put That Frog In A Pot Of Tepid Water And Slowly Warm It, The Frog Doesn't Figure Out What Going On Until It's Too Late. Boiled Frog. It's Just A Metter Of Working By Slow Degrees.

I Tensed, Waiting For The Fury - Both His And Mine - But It Was Only Quiet And Calm In The Darkness Of His Room. I Could Almost Taste The Sweetness Of Reunion In The Air, A Separate Fragrance From The Perfume Of His Breath; The Emptiness When We Were Apart Left Its Own Bitter Aftertaste, Something I Didn't Consciously Notice Until It Was Removed. There Was No Friction In The Space Between Us. The Stillness Was Peaceful - Not Like The Calm Before The Tempest, But Like A Clear Night Untouched By Even The Dream Of A Storm.