Chapter 1- Beauty
I'd never seemed so happy in my life, yet it was so wrong.
The cool, water splashed in a torrent over my feet, flowing downhill towards the one place I wanted to be right now, Kendleton Cove. The clear deep pools and wonderful scenery always relaxed me. It soothed me from the inside right to my clear porcelain skin.
I could walk into that cove ready to rip the world apart and tear everything that ever mattered to me to shreds. To destroy every happy face and caring person that tried to soothe me, yet walk out with a spring in my step, ready to face life and laugh right back.
To let the world know nothing it ever did could hurt me, no matter how much pain it threw at me I would never break. I would be ready to fight the world.
That was not how I felt now.
Right now I simply wanted to curl into a ball and let the world win. To let its assault overpower me, dragging me into a dark, endless abyss.
It's surprising really, how you can be so happy on the outside, and be so crippled by pain and sadness on the inside.
My long Brown hair, flecked with the occasional flash of red, fell about me like a blanket. I was always poured with compliments for my hair, and whilst I didn't like to blow my own trumpet, I knew just how beautiful it could look styled into curls trickling down my back.
My eyes, the deepest violet shade imaginable, scanned the horizon noticing, at last, the fast fading light. Flickers and flashes of purple and red lit up the sky, in front of a back drop of crimson intermingled with yellow. The dirt track was illuminated by the fading sun like a ribbon winding its way into the sunset.
The scene was so beautiful it took my breath away and started to take the edge off the fiery inferno burning inside me. But the angry flames shooting from my chest still struggled for control.
Taking a deep breath I stood up from my perch on the bank, and waded, fully clothed into the river. The water seemed to reach for me tugging and swirling all the way up to my thighs. It was smarting and stinging in a relaxing way and my muscles began to unclench and loosen up.
The rainbow fish sliding past distracted my mind from the torturous turmoil. I looked up at the mountain in front of me, with the trees littered around like freckles on a small child's face, and sighed, letting the tension flow out of me.
I wished with all my heart I could go to Kendleton cove tonight and just lie on my rock looking up at the stars that now glinted in the velvet sky. Just lie there, not thinking, listening to the world around me. Just lie there in the cool night and be.
Silently I climbed out the water throwing my rucksack over my back and hobbling barefoot up the slope towards the track. The slippery rocks slowed down my progress but I didn't mind. The cool slippery touch of them on my sensitive bare feet soothed me further.
All too soon I reached the top of the cliff and started down the dirt track towards Forks, my wet jeans weighing me down a little. This track was now as familiar to me as the river and Kendleton cove itself. I loved the way it dipped up and down, winding through the stunning scenery, low hanging trees and entwining here and there with the river itself.
It was pitch black when I reached the edge of the forest and started out onto the path, heading across the meadow and back home. The sky stretched out like dark satin, studded with little dots of light, glinting and shining away.
I love the stars. I love the way you can lie out and just watch them. They don't change, but they always fascinate me, shimmering away every night, through good and bad. I had spent many a night lying on my rock in the cove, staring at the sky.
As I reached the edge of the meadow the moonlight cast an eerie glow across our house. The three-storey farmhouse was only twenty minutes away from Forks and always looks haphazard to me.
The outside was clad in red wood and the smoke always came spiralling from the chimney. Someone was sat in the old rocking chair out on the terrace and leapt up when they saw me. I smiled as they ran across the lawn to meet me. I couldn't see who it was yet, but they were already making me feel guilty for staying away, sitting out in the forest for hours.
My Dad often asked me where I went, but I was unwilling to give away my secret, so always answered that I hung about at the local youth centre in Forks.
As the person running towards me got closer I suddenly realised it wasn't a look of joy on their face...it was anger.
I recognised in an instant that it was him. I wanted to run, to scream for help, but I couldn't. It would be futile to run anyway. I knew as soon as I saw him I was in for it.
