I do not own any characters in the following story except for: Diane, Adelane Bonfiglio, David Bonfiglio, Megan & Alex Germano, and the curious man with the long black hair. All other characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. This story is told in a timeline after Eclipse. Megan and Alex Germano are loosely based on people I know in real life. :)

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Diane's POV

A ludicrous echo of bells chimed. I opened my eyes to a scene of the almost-perfected life; it was the night my sister was to be wed. Upon this night she would no longer be Ms. Adelane Bonfiglio, but a charming Mrs. Adelane Germano. It was as if she had left us forever.

"Alexander! I'm so happy to finally be wed! I longed for the day I could be as happy as you and your wife," Adelane shrieked excitedly as the ceremony finished. She threw her arms around Alexander with bright eyes and rosy cheeks. I shivered; but not at the gesture—the world seemed colder each day.

"I'm so happy for you," Megan said, greeting Adelane with a kiss on the cheek. Adelane returned the gesture with a smile that spread across her face.

"Oh yes dear! I can only hope my marriage is as successful as yours with Alexander," she explained.

I smirked half-heartedly. Such lies did she speak of. I knew plenty of her plans to leave David, her slightly-dearly-beloved, soon as she had her fill of his wealth and much more. I didn't know whether I should be grateful to have such a monstrously swift sister, or grateful that she hadn't killed me while she knew.

It's safer this way, Diane. She could've hurt you.

The redundant consolations of my father did not fulfill its purpose. I knew one day she would realize she was blood-related to someone other than whatever was left of her previous-being.

"Well I do love my Alex. I just wish he'd buy himself a buckle for his trousers one of these days! They always seem to find a way to loosen them--and I don't mean it in the way you're thinking," Megan laughed agreeing.

I scribbled messily into my journal about the day's events. My head throbbed. It wouldn't be much longer--I could sense it. Her thirsting grew stronger.

"Excuse me miss," I whirled my head around. A young, handsome man smiled at me with a mop and bucket. I shrugged aside to let him pass--and as he did, I could not feel the sense of the warmth of his body. As he brushed past me, barely making contact with my shoulder as crowded as it was, I knew he was one of them.

I held my breath to stop myself from collapsing with human emotions. Despite that I knew his origins, he was still handsome enough to leave me in awe. The perfect flaws in his stature were too much for me to handle. I walked lazily over to the door and out into the foyer.

The crowds of people were unbelievable. I imagined that David's wedding would be quite a gathering, but this was not what I had expected. The walls were lined with a cascade of people and heavy chatter. I made my way through, containing myself within my thoughts, so as not to reveal anything in my emotions.

When the night sky finally encased me I felt the liberty of existence. I took in a breath of air and recollected myself from the encounter. I would not usually be so swayed by one of her kind, but he was one of an especially charming figure. I steadied myself and sat down at an old bench outside the building. It was weathered and dull, but it served far more comfort to me than a decorated, white, bench like the ones inside.

I gazed up at the sky. I wished I could be up there; hanging from the threads of moonlight. The only thing I would need to worry about was the open space around me. I exhaled, watching my breath dance in the cold air.

I could still hear the chatter from outside, how they laughed endlessly at seemingly nothing…

"Run!" I heard someone scream. My head unwillingly whisked itself around to see crowds pouring out of the building by the dozens, and even some crashing through windows. I bolted up out of reflex, though I didn't know what I would do after.

Cars were rumbling as people made it into the vehicles. Everyone was screaming or running away, though I bet some didn't even know what they were running from. Out if instinct, I looked down at my hands. My journal was missing.

My eyes grew wide—I could feel myself becoming paler than I already was. Everything I'd ever known or thought about since I was ten was scribbled or pasted into that leather-bound book. I rummaged through the pockets in my jacket to no avail.

I retraced my steps in the back of my mind. Had I even carried my journal as I walked outside? I couldn't recall… perhaps I had dropped it whilst swimming through the crowd within the foyer.

More screams followed. And then… My heart was heavy with realization.

I shrugged aside to let him pass--and as he did, I could not feel the sense of the warmth of his body. As he brushed past me, barely making contact with my shoulder as crowded as it was, I knew he was one of them.

He took it. I carried my feet into the foyer, running into people who were running the other way. I tripped a few times, receiving a few bruises on my knees as I reached the floor. Hopelessly, I weaseled my way through what seemed to be an endless pool of individuals.

"Megan!" I heard Alex call from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see him searching for his wife in the crowd. I couldn't let his worry get to me. Already was I at a disadvantage—all the people running around me smelled of warm blood. I couldn't distinguish who was what.

At the cause of a shriek, I looked ahead of me to catch a glimpse of someone who disappeared a fraction of a second later. Adelane had begun. But why was she being so sloppy with her feedings? She had put up such a façade—that to ruin it like this…

"Megan!"

He called again. I almost felt sorrow for him; his love for Megan seemed so genuine. It was no use in calling out to her, though. I knew that he had lost her without even knowing it the moment I saw Adelane's smile. Megan's blood smelled of nothing but sweetness to Adelane, I knew.

"Alex, we have to get out of here!" Someone yelled out.

"No! Not without Megan," Alex refused.

It's too late now, can't you see? I thought to myself. Of course, I couldn't tell him even if I wanted to. I was bound by a promise to myself never to speak about my life. I couldn't break a promise to myself, and the fact that I hadn't been able to talk since I was a child might've helped this promise.

The doctors call it a side affect of witnessing a traumatic event. I think they just didn't know what else to say.

"Alex!" It was Megan's voice. I peered behind my shoulder to see that she was being slowly dragged away by an older man around his twenties with long black hair. I couldn't tell if he was one of them from my distance, and I didn't know if Adelane invited some of her "friends" along for the party.

Alex had already begun to run after her as I tripped once more, colliding into a wall. I gaped at the floor, holding my head in my hand. It would be of no use to try and prevent the pain, so I continued through the door that lead back to the church.

I could see why all the people had run as quickly as I stepped inside. I covered my nose from the stench of fresh blood. There wasn't much, but just knowing that there had been a few spills told me that Adelane or whoever else it could be would not be polite with their feedings.

A single droplet of blood fell onto my face. I slowly tilted my head up towards the ceiling, in no rush to see the source. As I looked up, I saw pages gliding down the air and onto the floor beneath me. Catching a glimpse of what was on the paper, I realized they had been from my journal. More specifically, they were pages about Adelane—and even more specifically, how I intended to kill her.

But I never got a chance to get that far in my plan. Step one was too get the hell out of there. Step two was to make it out alive. I never anticipated I'd make it further than Step three, until I realized I was already at step four: my struggle for humanity.

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Outside of the church a plan was unfolding. When Alex finally made it outside, he found Megan lying on the ground seething in pain. He held her in his arms and locked his eyes on her crestfallen face. She opened her mouth to speak, but Alex didn't know if he wanted to hear what she had to say; if she spoke, they might've been her dying words.

"A-Alex," she muttered. He could feel his eyes swelling. "Alex… I want you to know that I love you. I will always love you."

"I know," he said, suppressing his tears as if to be a man.

"Let me hear one thing from you," she whispered, her body growing paler. Her arm twitched in pain, and she screamed.

"Anything—what is it you want me to say?"

"Tell me… that you love me."

Alex squeezed her close to his chest. "I love you Megan. I have and will always love you. I shall never want anything but your happiness, even if you choose to forget me."

If Megan were in the right position, she would laugh hysterically at his bluntly spoken confession. Though Megan could only smile at the time, he knew that her heart would grow warm as he said the words.

"One more thing, Alex," Megan managed to muster. "Pull up your pants."

And with that, her life withered away.

There was silence.

Or however much silence you could find beneath the fire alarms and screams. Alex kneeled in front of the doors, embracing his loved one in his arms as she grew colder and colder.

"What is there left in a man who has lost all that he has lived for?" He said to himself, crying from the very bottom of his heart. He cared no more to act like a man, for he had no one to be a man for.

He laid Megan's body down onto the asphalt and walked over to the front of a bench with broken shards of glass scattered around it. Bending down, he picked a shard up and ripped open his shirt. Alex held up the broken shard to his heart and slowly pierced his skin, writhing in pain as he did so.

He threw his head back and screamed, marking an X over his heart.

Though he knew that screaming would not ease the pain, he screamed and yelled and bashed about in a drunken manner. But the only thing he was drinking was his pride.

Alex stood over Megan's body, bawling his eyes out for the pain that he suffered both physically and emotionally.

"Here," he sobbed, pointing to his bleeding chest. "This is where my heart should belong. But I'm afraid you were my only heart, my love. The only place you belonged was close to me, part of me. Without you, I have nothing to live for."

Alex knelt for the last time, stabbing himself with the broken glass—choosing never to live with his loss. The paramedics quickly carried up his body into the ambulance and those of the people who had fallen during the rush out the door.

But they had not seen Megan's body—for she had never left the building.

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Chapter 2 (Small section from chapter 2)

Bella carried down boxes of clutter from the attic down to her room. She coughed at all the dust wisping around her like tattered ribbon, and felt her eyes burning hot with allergies. Edward was already on his way to help her with her chores, even though she didn't ask him to. To recall, Bella's conversation with Edward consisted of a greeting, an explanation of why Bella could not go shopping with Alice, and a brief conclusion that Edward would come over and help her.

"Bella?" Charlie called from downstairs. She got distracted by his beckoning and lost balance, collapsing onto the wooden floor and dropping the box she had been holding.

She sighed. "Yes dad?"

"I'm going out for a bit. I need to buy groceries for dinner. I'm hoping that we can sit down and have a nice, big dinner tonight," he explained nervously. She knew that he was probably anxious to see whether or not she was going out with Edward, or being a teenager and deciding she didn't want to have dinner at all.

"Yeah, okay," Bella agreed. She sneezed, whacking the dust particles away from her.

"You okay up there Bells?" He asked, though obviously his mind had wandered already.

"Yeah, I'm fine. See you later dad," she assured him. Just go already, before Edward gets here.

Bella listened for the shutting of the door, and when she finally decided that he was well on his way to the store, she picked up where she left off. She gathered herself and shoved the junk that fell out of the box back inside. She didn't even know why she decided to do chores instead of shopping--no normal person would. The boxes upstairs were just yearning to be cleaned or thrown away, though, which was Bella's temporary excuse. She stopped rustling loose papers and pencils when she came across a leather-bound journal.

It was definitely old, which was to be expected considering how long it was since the last time the attic had been cleaned. The journal must've immigrated from her mother's attic to Charlie's when they got married. The book was smeared with ink and wrinkles, but it seemed to be in pretty good shape. There was a single band of brown leather tied around it to keep the pages inside, and looking at it now, Bella decided that if she opened it all of the pages would either crumble away or fall out and then crumble away.

She decided to open it anyways. Curiousity was always such a curious thing. Untying the ribbon of leather, Bella cautiously opened the journal, half-expecting a giant spider to burst out of it. To her slight disappointment, the pages did not have any sort of spider living dormant within, nor did it crumble away or fall out. Despite the fact they were curiously in such a clutter, they stayed put. The wording was hardly legible, but Bella could make out some words and sentences because the writing was curiously similar to her mother's.

"Maybe it's your mother's?" Edward asked curiously. Bella shivered.

"How curious."

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Yes, I did mean to use curious that many times. :) Reviews would be nicely appreciated, as I'm new and I'd very much like some CC ! Please no flaming or anything like that ;