I apologize for putting up chapter 2 first. When I get chapter one transferred from my phone, I will put it up.
Chapter 2. The Picnic in the Woods
I opened my eyes. Sunlight was beaming through the tree branches, beating down on my face. The warmth felt good. I sniffed the air, inhaling the scent of the forest. It was a sweet smell.
The sounds of animals were all around me. I knew I should be scared. Or something.
But all I felt was calm.
Pushing myself up, I looked around. Trees and shrubs surrounded me on all sides. The world seemed too crisp. Like I was watching an extremely high definition tv. I imagined I could see the dust particles in the air. And... could I actually be seeing the grass grow?
"Norman." A musical voice said, snapping me out of my trance. The voice sounded familiar.
"What the... who said that?" I said to myself.
"Over here." It said again, somewhere ahead of me. A path opened up, as if beckoning me to go forward.
"Oh what the hell? Why not?" I strode forward, half convinced I was already dead. So why worry?
I walked. And walked. For hours it seemed. The voice guided the way.
Once, a trio of birds had flown with me for a while. Twirling around my head singing. It was like something out of a storybook. I smiled and reached out to touch one. It had flipped over, just outside of my reach.
That had been what seemed like an hour ago. I hadn't had to stop once. I wasn't tired. I just kept going and going. Like a human energizer bunny.
Above me, a twig snapped, causing me to look up.
Sitting in the tree above me, with her distinctive pixie haircut was Alice Cullen.
She seemed to be sparkling in the sunlight. Like a many faceted diamond. She smiled, showing off those perfectly white teeth all of the Cullens had.
Her skin under the light, was pale as ever. She was hanging upside down. Her legs hooked around a treebranch. She waved before flipping gracefully upwards so she was sitting straight up.
"Hey!" She called, waving happily.
I realized where I had heard the voice before.
"Alice!" I said happily, noticing my own voice for the first time. It was too smooth and clear.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Nope. Not answering questions right now. Come up here. And then... well we'll see," she said.
I looked at the tree. The branches didn't start until twenty feet up the trunk.
"Um... how exactly?" I asked.
"Just do it." She said cryptically.
I sighed.
"Fuck it." I muttered. I sprinted forward, and the world seemed to slow. The falling leaves seemed to come to a standstill. The ants on the ground froze.
I leaped and ran up the tree trunk with ease. I grabbed the first tree limb and flung myself higher. Yelling in delight, I came to rest on the branch beside Alice. She giggled quietly.
I looked at her, an uncontrollable smile on my face.
"This is great." I said.
In response, she flipped backwards off the tree branch, and landed lightly on her feet. A small puff of dust flew in the air. Once again, way too slowly.
I could see each an every pebble as it rained back down.
Alice smiled. Without warning, she turned and sped off into the forrest. I grinned. Understanding the challenge. I lept forward and hit the ground running. Trees blurred past, as I ran Alice down.
She bounced back and forth between trees above me, laughing the whole way. I jumped up to meet her in the air and missed her by inches.
"Close!" She yelled.
She switched directions suddenly and sped left. I turned on the spot, spewing up dust to continue the chase.
We burst out of the treeline a minute later, and entered a clearing. An enormous wooden table sat in the middle of the field. Already occupied.
The doctor Carlisle Cullen sat at the head of the table. A cup of wine in his hand. He smiled and waved me over.
To his right, sat Esme, his wife. She smiled a brilliant smile and motioned to the empty seat at the end. Emmett was beside her, sipping out of a glass. Rosalie had her hand on his. She nodded tersely. Jasper Hale, sitting across from tham, raised his glass and laughed at something Emmett said.
Alice joined him. He encircled her in his arms.
Edward and Bella Swann sat beside them, hand in hand. She waved. Standing on top of the table was a girl i'd never seen before. She wasn't as old as the Cullen children.
But they all shimmered in the sunlight.
I walked to the end of the table and sat down.
"Hey." I managed.
"Hello Norman." Carlisle said, sitting his cup down.
"Hey." They each said in turn. Even the little girl.
I stared at her for a second, before continuing.
"What... what is going on? Last thing I know... Celeste? Is she alright?" I asked.
"She's fine." Carlisle said.
"She's sitting in her house right now." Esme said.
"Can I see her?"
The group glanced at each other.
"No." Carlisle finally said.
A strange feeling of calm settled over me. I wanted to be upset, but I couldn't.
"It's not exactly... the best idea that that happens yet." Edward said.
"Ah hell, he can handle it. Lil sis here did. Can't be too hard." Emmett said. Alice and Edward laughed. Bella frowned.
"That was different. You know that." Roalie said, glancing at Bella and the girl on the table who was now drawing on the table a perfect replication of the scene in front of me.
Holy shit. I thought to myself. She can't be older than twelve.
"I just think we should give him a chance. Anything happens, we can bring him down together." Emmett looked at me with a smirk on his face.
"What the hell are we talking about?" I asked, ignoring the rest of them and staring at Carlisle.
We sat in silence for a moment.
In a flash, a new girl was sitting in front of me. She was a little mousy girl. She had long red hair. I could hear her heartbeat. Then the smell hit me.
It was intoxicating. It was better than anything I had ever smelled. My mouth watered, and my throat burned. I pushed her down on the table and opened my mouth. Spittle dropped on her skin.
I was on her within a second. My mouth clamped down on her throat. Hot, sticky, delicious, red blood splattered on my face. She never made a sound. I drained her of blood in seconds.
Leaning back in my chair I let loose a gutteral yell. A pack of birds flew up in the distance. A wolf returned my yell.
"See." Jasper said.
I looked down and the girl, and blood was gone. The burning in my throat was back.
"We never would have been able to stop that."
Bella looked down at the table.
I was in shock.
"What the..."
Carlisle nodded knowingly, dropping his gaze as well.
"The car wreck was pretty bad. All the bones on the right side of your body were pulverized. The glass from the window you hit just missed your aorta.
It was no small wonder you survived long enough for us to get there."
Silence settled over the table again. This time noticeably heavy. I broke the silence.
"So... how, how am I sitting here?" I asked.
"Strictly speaking, you're not. You're in a coma." Carlisle replied.
"So this is a dream? None of this is happening?"
The group cast a glance at the girl in the middle of the table.
"Well, no. It is happening. It's just... going to be hard to swallow."
"But believe us, we're all going to be here for you." Esme said, finishing Carlisle's sentence.
"Well, considering I got hit by a car a couple of hours ago, and now I'm sitting here with a bunch of people who, including myself, are sparkling in the sunlight, I think I can deal with whatever you have to say."
Jasper tensed visibly. And I felt myself get even calmer.
"We, now you, are..." Edward began before trailing off.
"Vampires." The girl said. Not looking up from her drawing.
"... Bullshit." I said.
