What is a heart if it's just left all alone?

Leave it long enough and watch it turn to stone

Why must we always be untrue?

Questions by Jack Johnson

Perhaps, in another time or place, in a world without mythological creatures or this damning immortality, there would be a possibility. But he has his arm wrapped around her, as if he could shield her from every outside force, and I stand in the background as usual.

I have always felt a pull to her; her emotions are inherently good (they leak out of her, all the selflessness and humility, as if she were just an incubator with the plug pulled). However, in this damnation that refuses me much, Edward's gaze reminds me of my lack of control and of my backseat role in this romance. I, Jasper, former warrior and soldier, relegated to almost a puppet. Read their emotions and then become one with the wallpaper, knowing my place.

Maybe, in another time and place... Maybe, if I had met her first... Maybe if the ring around my finger didn't feel like an electric collar around my neck... Maybe if she didn't allow him to possess her as though she were a porcelain doll on a rickety shelf... Maybe if I hadn't allowed myself to be pushed further and further back, to a place where only vampire eyes could tell that I was not a part of the wall...

I know he hears the musings in my mind, and without turning his head to meet my gaze, I see his eyebrows going upward to express his confusion at my thoughts. His dead heart is probably wondering, 'Why now? Why voice such discontent now?' I see his happiness floating in the air, lingeringly—he finds such simple joy in being able to wrap an arm around her fragile body.

Maybe, in another time or place, my hand could find an easy home at the small of her back... Maybe (if these teeth were not so sharp, if this throat did not constantly burn), those warm lips would await my approach... Maybe there would be a pursuit of something more...