Word Count = 1500

"Can't Run from Fate"

By

Robin Beck

Bella POV

It was a nice and sunny day in New Orleans, so I decided to sit out by the pool at the "Have-A-Nap" Motel where I am staying, and decided to listen to my favourite songs on my iPod. I began thinking of how great it is to be on vacation during March Break, and I especially like that my best friend Alice Cullen could come with me. The bad thing about going on vacation when you are 17 is that you need to be chaperoned. So, that is why our mothers Renee Swan and Esme Cullen had to came to New Orleans with us. I decided not to let that bother me, after all I was on vacation with my best friend. So I continued listening to my music.

Later that day Renee and Esme allowed us to go shopping for jewellery on our own. We all know how much Alice love to shop! While they go to the food market to buy dinner. Alice and I walk past a few shops without going in. But, once we come to the end of the street, we saw a sign in a shop window that said "Psychic Readings only $5.00".

"Hey! Wouldn't it be cool to have our fortunes read?" Alice said excitedly to I.

"I don't know if it is such a good idea", I said worriedly. I've heard about people getting really weird fortunes and I don't really think I am ready for that.

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a chicken! It will be fun", Alice said as she pulls me by the arm into the Psychic's shop. "Seeing a psychic is something you have to do while you are in New Orleans! Everybody knows that." Alice informs me, like I was dumb or something. While we look around the sop, a woman dressed like a gypsy comes out from the back room. She must be the psychic, I thought worriedly, although Alice looked like she was about to explode from excitement upon seeing the woman. I am getting a weird vibe form the oddly dressed woman.

"Hello. I am Madame Serafina. Can I help you girls with something?", the gypsy woman says to them.

"We saw the sign for Psychic Readings in the window and thought we would give it a try. Are you the psychic?", Alice asked hopefully. While I quietly assessing Madame Serafina.

"Yes – I am the psychic. If you girls will follow me into the back room I will tell you your fortunes. For $5.00 of course". Serafina laughs as she leads the us into her parlour.

The parlour is small and decorated in weird, bright colours. She tells us to sit on these really cool chairs that are in the shape of an animal paw. The chairs are black leather, so it they resemble a panther's paw. They are located in front of the small antique coffee table, while she sits across from them.

"Who would like to go first?" Serafina asks them.

"I do!" Alice says. Serafina takes her hand, and closes her own eyes. The longer Madame Serafina holds Alice's hand, the more I start to worry. I wonder angrily what is taking so long.

"I see that you will die in a very bad car crash!" Serafina finally tells Alice. Now, both of us are definitely freaked out. I then give my hand to Serafina, and watch as she closes her eyes. I am afraid of what Serafina will say.

"I see that you'll be in the hospital soon", Serafina finally says quietly. I can feel my face turn ghostly pale.

Over the next few days Alice and me insist that we don't need to rent a car, and that there are a lot of places to go that are within walking distance from their motel.

"I wonder what has gotten into our girls?" I heard Esme asks my mom when we stop for coffee at a little cafe one afternoon. Alice and I went to get the drinks and our mothers were sitting at a table.

"I don't know. They have been acting strangely ever since they got back from shopping three days ago", I faintly heard my mother's reply are we were standing in line for the coffee and as I turned around to look at her I saw her shaking her head.

"I am sure it's nothing important" Esme said, as we returned to the table with the drinks.

Later that day our mothers decided to go into an antique store, but me and Alice were not interested. So we decided to walk around by ourselves. Then something strange happened. When we were walking across the street at a crosswalk, a red Jeep speeds through the red light and almost hits us. Alice and I were able to jump out of the way, and hugged each other desperately as we watched the Jeep speeding away down the street.

"Are you okay Bella?" Alice asked, concern and shock laced in her voice.

"Yeah, I am fine" I said breathlessly. As I looked down the street to where the red jeep disappeared, I turned to Alice and ask her "Do you think that us almost getting hit is what the psychic meant, but somehow we avoided the really bad parts?"

"Yeah. Maybe we did just dodge fate", Alice said a bit hopefully.

The next day we asked our mothers to let us rent a car to go to a fancy restaurant called La Grenouille, which was a few miles out of town. Our mothers allow us to go alone, but ask that we do not stay out too late. As we got into the rental car and started driving towards the restaurant, I was thinking about how we manages to escape the fortune. Now that we are past that, we can live without fear.

Alice POV

After a quiet drive in the car, we finally let loose and turned on the radio. After listening to it a bit, a good song comes on and Bella and I started to sing along. I am driving and not paying attention to the road and neither is Bella, in the passenger seat. So, when we were driving through an intersection, we both do not notice the red Jeep that was speeding through the red light and was heading straight for us.

Bella turn to look at me when she sees something that makes her eyes bug out of her head, "Alice! Look out!" She yell, all freaked out.

I turn to look out my side window just as the Jeep hits the side of their rental car. The car starts turning in circles. I start screaming and that sets Bella off screaming too. My side really hurts, everywhere hurts. I am so tired, so I close my eyes and listens to the sound of Bella calling her name.

Bella POV

I wake up in a hospital bed wondering how I got there. Then I see my mom asleep by my hospital bed and Alice's mom sleeping in a chair across the room. Now I remember how I was screaming for Alice to wake up. I remember police sirens and the paramedics taking me out of the car and putting me on a stretcher and wheeling me into the ambulance. I remember screaming at them to tell me what happened to Alice. The memory that will haunt me forever is of a paramedic telling me that Alice didn't make it through the crash. I start to cry all over again. My crying woke up my mother and Alice's mother. They both crowd around my bed.

"Don't worry honey. You are fine and safe in the hospital", says my mother with relief in her voice. My mother was hugging me while Alice's mother stood off to the side quietly looking on, looking like she wished that Alice was still there.

I know that I have to tell them about the predictions, but all I can get out is "The psychic production came true", my voice quivered. I drift off for a moment, then add "We thought we had managed to avoid it, but it is true that you cannot run from fate!" Then I fell back to sleep, because my body needed rest to heal.

I could feel my mother and Alice's mother looking at me, probably with confused and worried faces. I felt my mother shake me on the arm, asking "Honey – what did you mean by the predictions?" I continued to sleep soundly, not having enough strength to answer her. As if from a distance I heard my mother say, "We have already lost Alice, Esme. It would be a shame if we lost Bella too".

I was about to drift to sleep but then I heard Esme's reply, "I am sure she will be fine in a few days. Just give it time".

Just then I heard the door open and someone walkes in and I assume it was the doctor. "Your daughter has a visitor. Her name is Serafina. Should I ask her to come in?" The docter said the mine and Alice's mothers.

They seem hesitant at first, but after some thought they decide one visitor wouldn't hurt. They tell the doctor that it is okay. I heard the doctor's footsteps leave.

A few minutes later, in walks a new set of footsteps and I hear a voice that I never wanted to here again.

"I hope that your daughter is alright Ms. Swan" My heart stopped. It was Madame Serafina! Sounding like the evil which that she was. What does she want? I thought I had escaped her for good.