Chapter One- Gone

I sat in the front seat of one of the nicest cars I had ever been in, but at that moment I would have rather been anywhere else. The rain hammered down against the car, each individual drop getting lost in the din of the others. I couldn't bring myself to face him. I was looking everywhere else; the rain, my hands. I knew that I had to face him at some point. But I couldn't bring myself to do it now.

"Bella…" he started, trailing off when he realized that I was the one who had to do the talking. He had nothing left to say. I looked out the window at the rain again and wished for a second that I was out there in the elements, instead of safe and warm in this car next to the person that I loved more than anyone else in the world.

But I couldn't say that to him. Not after everything that had happened. I was afraid to love him, afraid that I would lose him if I said the words. But I knew, as the next two words came out of my mouth, that I had already lost him.

"I'm leaving."

5 MONTHS EARLIER

BELLA P.O.V.

I sat in the wannabe lobby of the orphanage with my older brother Emmett, watching as people came and went. I couldn't believe that people actually came here of their own free will. It was bleak and depressing, and it smelled awful. Like sadness. I remembered the day I got here and cringed at the memory of why I had to come here in the first place.

The fire;

There is smoke everywhere, what do I do? I have to find Alice and Emmett and mom and dad. I crawl through the smoke that seems like it is swallowing me. Somewhere, I hear screaming; my mom. I follow it frantically before someone scoops me up. Then we're running, through the smoke and fire. They put me down next to someone. Alice.

The hospital;

I can't breathe. Someone is talking to me but I can't focus. The burning in my lungs is too much. Someone tells the voice to leave. Thank you. I feel the painful prick in my arm that would usually be associated with something important, something I don't like, but I can't make the connection. The blackness swallows me, taking me back to relive the whole thing over and over again until I wake up.

The conversation that changed everything;

"Bella, Emmett, Alice, there is something I need to tell you," says the Doctor. I know that look on his face. It is the look that you get when you say someone died. I can't believe it. I want to run, to escape the harsh truth that I am about to face. But I am frozen, paralyzed in space until I hear the fateful words that changed everything.

"Your parents are dead." There is more, he is talking about cause of death, but I can't hear him over my heart, or the voices swimming around in my head. Emmett is wrapping his arms around me, but it doesn't register in my brain. All I can hear are the words. 'Your parents are dead.'

There are things in life that I just have to live with, and the fire is one of them. I blinked back tears and remembered where I was. It was time to meet the new family. Alice didn't come. She told me that she couldn't face anymore let downs. I didn't blame her. Six families had shown interest in us; six families that Alice had started to love and six families that had broken her heart. That's why Emmett and I were going today; we didn't love so easily. Not after everything that had happened to us.

"Isabella and Emmett Swan?" asked the receptionist, as if I hadn't been here for a month and she didn't actually know that I went by Bella. I rolled my eyes but nodded and she gestured for us to walk through the door into the meeting room.

The meeting room is the best part of the orphanage- literally. They didn't want people to know how awful it was in that place, so they made the only part that outsiders could see beautiful. It was modern, but not harsh and uninviting. It was perfect. The colors and the shapes-

"Isabella Swan? Emmett Swan?" called the interview conductor, pulling me out of my reverie. She led us into one of the three interview rooms and sat me down in the most comfortable chair. Then we waited in silence. Well, Emmett and I waited in silence; she prattled on about anything and everything driving me crazy. Finally the door swung open and two of the most beautiful people I had ever seen walked through the door.

"Hello, you must be Bella and Emmett," said the man warmly. I was shocked that he knew my nickname but I let it go, wondering how two people that were ready to be parents were so pretty. I didn't want to talk, to bare my soul for these strangers enough that they would like me. But then I remembered the broken look on Alice's face when she told me she couldn't come, that she couldn't do it anymore. So I let them in, but just for her.

"Yes, my sister Alice couldn't make it today. She is… sick," I said, my voice cracking a little bit on the last word. I had always been a terrible liar but they didn't seem to notice. The just slid into the other two chairs and introduced themselves as Carlisle and Esme Cullen. They were nice people, nicer than I expected them to be, but I couldn't tell how they felt about us.

"Bella and Emmett?" asked Carlisle when the interview conductor left to let us talk alone. I looked up into his amber colored eyes and nodded, not trusting my voice. I knew that this was the time when he would say that he just didn't feel like he could handle two teenage girls but that I seemed nice enough, or that he was just too busy at work, or-

"How would you feel about me and Esme adopting you and your sister?" Well, that was a new one.

"I- really?" I asked, unsure if somehow I had managed to sleep in and dream the whole thing. That would explain how gorgeous they were. He nodded and smiled at me and then stopped, making my heart drop.

"Just one thing," he said. I waited- I would have sold my soul at this point if it meant making Alice happy, "I want to meet your sister." That was all? I nodded again and ran to get her. Then I ran into her. It seems like she had been waiting at the stairs, because she had this feeling that I was going to need her. I didn't question it, I knew Alice well enough by now to know to just roll with it.

"I'm Alice and I can't tell you how much this means to me and my siblings," said Alice, hugging each of them with tears in her eyes. I nodded along and tried to look grateful, which I was, but I wasn't quite as… vibrant as Alice. But I hugged them too and smiled as they walked into the adoption office. Emmett was beaming and Alice was jumping up and down. I just stood there but they knew I was happy.

Once they were out of earshot, Alice turned to me and said, "Everything is going to get better now. I promise." The times like these were when I was glad that I refused to bet against Alice.

Please review! Do you want Bella to end up with Edward or Jasper?