Warning: Strong language and some violence in this chapter.


The World Unseen

~Chapter One~

You're born, you live, and you die. Or in Mufasa's words "When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the big circle of life."

That is what The Lion King taught me. That's just how everything works.

Like all children, I didn't care what that meant exactly. I just remembered the sadness I felt at Mufasa's death. The thought of having your father taken away like that feared horrors of losing mine, but like all Disney movies, eventually the catchy songs and colorful characters leads to good conquering over evil. The endings are always a happily ever after.

But life isn't a fantasy or a dream; it's a godforsaken bitch in the face reality.

And the reality is that The Lion King is nothing more than a G-rated kid version of Hamlet. And no catchy songs will magically turn on to help with the loss of your parents.

The reality, my reality has become a wasted, deserted, vain, morbid life. I've quit water polo, stopped hanging out with friends and barely managed to graduate from high school. My life hasn't turned out exactly how my parents had planned for it to be. My father always wanted me to go to a good college and mother was looking forward to my senior year more than I was. But life is such a bitch sometimes, that it's hard to cooperate with it.

It's been a year already since my parent's death and somehow I manage to get up and out of bed every day.

In the past few months, though, I have been able to free myself from my torment in movies and books. I've begun imagining my life switched with the protagonist to escape my reality. It became my favorite thing to do. But I soon realized that being locked in every day and night was driving me a bit mad.

I would suddenly catch myself talking out loud as I opened the fridge or showered. I would remember a memory and laugh while narrating it third perspective. Then, before I knew it everything I said was in the third person like:

"Bella is hungry." Or "Bella needs to order more food now." My life wasn't looking so lovely as the year progressed.

I remember one day, standing in front of the bathroom mirror after showering and not recognizing the figure standing before me. In her eyes, the spirit that had once shined has become hazed and trapped. I was witnessing a gradual and nerving murder of a once sane person and unseeingly being replaced by a shadow that haunts the pieces left behind.

Her appearance was unrecognizable.

On top of that, I've got to be the palest person in San Diego, no trace of a tan on me anymore. After all, I can have everything delivered, no need to ever go out.

Upon that day, I decided, I needed some changes. I started to exercise by going to the gym at night. Like around midnight and on the weekends, when no one was around. I was even considering going on hikes.

Life seemed to be moving forward a bit.

However, that was yesterday morning. Now, I was battling feelings of guilt and grief. And right now my guilt has been winning the battle, eating me like the evil entity it is. Sleep, which has once been my refugee, comes no more.

My aunt.

The only living relative I had left, gone just as fast as my parents had.

The first and final time I had ever directly spoken with her were at my parent's funeral. She had come that day and left that very night. Before then, I remember seeing her very few times in passing. She never directly talked to me or even bothered greeting me. My mother said she was a woman of very little words, but I got the distinct feeling that the woman didn't like us. So naturally when she asked me if I wanted to stay with her after my parents funeral, my answer was no.

A fast, natural, no.

She didn't ask again, just nodded, padded the top of my head, and left. I didn't explain a reason for declining her offer. So many answers I could have told her like my life belonging here or not wanting to leave my friends behind. No, all of those would have been lies. The truth is that even though the woman was my blood, I was scared of her.

The first reason why I was fearful was her obsession with sunglasses. It didn't matter whether it was day or night, she always had them on. Once, though, as a child I had had the misfortune of witnessing her without them. There, hiding behind the lens held the most beautiful bright violet eye while the other was nothing more than an empty socket. Her eye was so striking that it terrified me more than the missing one. It felt like that eye saw what one could not. It was a weeping, fearless gaze that grabs hold of your soul and sinks you into Hades. I didn't like it. Not one bit.

Second reason was her aura. My father told me she was frigid and not pleasant to be around. It was easy for me to believe. The very few times I was in a room with her, I was searching for an exit. It was like she sucked all the joy from the room and left you feeling vulnerable.

She was my mother's sister but was nothing like her. She was the darkness to my mother's light.

I sigh and look out the window. I didn't want to think about my mother right now.

The rain has begun to lighten up, and the road has become a narrow dirt path claimed by nature.

How far away am I from town?

After a few more miles the driver makes a turn onto another narrow path with giant, black iron gates opening the entrance. He continues to drive for a few more minutes until distinguish peaks of a roof start to appear on the horizon.

How ironic to finally arrive at the Swan Residence after graduating, only to appear at her funeral. In all my eighteen year life, I've never stepped foot in it. I've seen pictures, but none of them would have prepared me for the Victorian mansion standing before me.

I step out of the cab with my backpack. The mansion looks like it won't survive the next storm with dead black trees surrounding the grounds around it. Some windows have a few hanging grey panels and I'm having a hard time deciding what color the walls used to be with the mixture of brown and grey spots covering the whole mansion. It reminds me very much of all the homes you see on paranormal shows, the ones where you need to get a priest to come and bless before moving in. It's daunting, eerie, but enchanting in its own beauty pulling you in.

The cabbie opens the trunk and puts my duffel bag on the ground. I hand the man the money without looking at him, too amaze staring at the mansion. I hear the car drive away, so I take my bag and begin to walk up the steps to the front door. I take the key out that the lawyer had given me and open the door.

What lays inside the Victorian home surprises me. I would have never it imagined it to be so clean and polish, a complete contrast to what it's outside appearance leads you to believe.

My eyes immediately catch the grand staircase descending on the middle of the room with a beautiful stained glass window behind it portraying the image of an angel falling into a garden of roses. There is no sun out today, but I could only imagine how it would look with light shining through it. The walls are a beautiful dark green with gold trim panels and portraits of people I didn't know hanging on them. Below the portraits stand empty cracked vintage looking flower vases.

How odd.

I ventured into what I assume is the parlor. A massive fireplace made of marble stands as the main décor with some couches and chairs displayed about evenly around the room. A black grand piano sits on a platform by the large windows overlooking the woods in the back. The décor reminds a lot of the Gatsby mansion in the Great Gatsby, a movie I recently watched.

I sigh and decide just to hang here for a bit.

The guilt has begun to rise again.

I had made it just in time for her funeral. Not many people were present, just the neighbors, the lawyer and a few others who didn't bother making an introduction. It was quiet and uneventful.

Mostly boring.

The neighbors asked me questions I had no answers to but weren't as intrusive as I expected small town people to be.

Maybe because they didn't even know she had a family?

The only one that did talk to me was the lawyer. Ms…something that starts with a W. Webb? Wiever? No. hmmm….

She handed me the keys to the house and asked if it was okay for her to come today to read me my aunt's Will. I agreed easily. The faster to get done with the paperwork the faster I can leave this place.

I take out my earphones and listen to music to pass the time, too tired to explore around.

I don't know how long I slept till I heard the doorbell. It felt like hours but know it couldn't have been. I hurry and open the door to greet her.

"I am truly sorry about this, but I will be gone all next week, and I know this isn't" I cut her off "It is ok. The less time I spend here, the better, it is for me." I let her in.

"Hmm yes…I order to put food in the fridge so you at least can eat something." She said stepping inside.

"I haven't seen any maids." I addressed. The place is huge. I imagine it needs around the clock attention.

"Your aunt didn't have any. I asked the person who took charge of your aunt's funeral if she minded stocking the fridge. She was the only one that was personally acquainted with her on a regular basis."

"Was she her friend?" I asked remembering the lady who greeted me first. She was a lot older than my aunt. I would say in her late fifty's. She didn't talk to me and seemed very reserved, so I didn't bother finding out anything about her.

"I don't think your aunt had any friends." She expressed.

The lawyer walks up to one of the flower vases and touches it. Almost like checking for dust.

"Honestly, I don't know how she kept this place looking so beautiful." She said in wonderment.

Sounds cheap to me.

"Should we get started then" I implied.

"Well let's go to the library then." She forces a smile and begins to lead the way. She is an unusual woman. A little too pretentious but I guess she can't help it in her profession.

She leads me down the south hall and opens the doors to the library.

The room is enormous with walls reaching three stories high, all lined up with shelves of books. A giant chandelier hangs from the middle and a small fountain with seats trimmed around lay below it. Giant, beautiful, marble arches center around the fountain. Behind the fountain are two stairs descending to the left and right of the room. The railings are an imitation of branches with green vines falling below them. I couldn't help but feel like being inside a fairy tale.

I walk in and head to the nearest bookshelves to me. I open a book and notice it is the first edition. I grab another one and just the same.

"Most are first edition. Some exceptions like the Bible can't be helped, but every book here is worth more than a new car nowadays. Your aunt had an immense interest in literature and used no exception to get the best." The lawyer informed stepping into the library.

"I didn't know," I revealed feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I know how you must be feeling. The first time in here took me a couple of minutes to compose myself. It's like stepping into a new world." She sighs and brings her briefcase up to her chest.

She sits down on a large mahogany desk and indicates I sit on the other side.

"All right let's begin." She takes out a sheet of paper from a yellow envelope.

"Your aunt was very…direct with everything. Her Will is just a few sentences." She clears her throat before starting.

"In my demised I will leave everything to my niece Isabella Marie Ulliel Swan. She will inherit all of my fortunes with one condition. That she will live here till she has grown children of her own." The lawyer, whom I didn't bother learning her name, looks at me, and I stare in disbelief.

It's too late to ask for her name without sounding like a total ass.

I wish I knew her name, though. That way I can accurately say a curse at the end of it.

Is this the reason why she wanted me to come earlier this month? Would it have made a difference if I did? My guilt seems to have quickly vanished. I wasn't angry either, rather more shocked.

I let a small chuckle escape my lips, and she looks at me uneasily.

"Are you all right?" She asked uncertainly.

"I'm fine. It's… just that I… I can't comply with this condition. I have no desire to stay here." I professed.

"But if you don't, you don't get your inheritance." She waved her arms around her, indicating the room.

"That is fine with me. She was a complete stranger and staying here is out of the question." I stand up and begin heading towards the door.

"Please wait! There is something else she wanted you to have." I turn around to see her pull out a black leather book with a lock in the middle of it.

"Above all she wanted you to desperately have this. She said that you must guard it with your life." I take the book from her hands. "Where is the key?" I ask as I look up at her.

She shook her head no. "She didn't give it to me. I don't know where it is. She died before she can tell me."

"What is it?" A diary maybe?

"I don't know. She never said."

Great, what am I suppose to do with this now?

"Ms. Ulliel I hope you reconsider. Please do. It is a vast wealth you will be inheriting, and the condition is not a bad one at all. This town is really beautiful, and this home is amazing, everything is an original piece. Please. Just stay a week and think everything over."

I stare at the book. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I graduated High School but didn't apply to any colleges. I lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego after my parents died. I had enough money from them to last me a couple of years if I spent wisely. But with my aunts' inheritance not only was I set for life, but my grandchildren's children's as well.

I sigh.

What am I doing with my life?

Everything seems so futile now.

What could I possibly do in San Diego and not here?

I was just planning on doing nothing for the summer then travel the world afterward. With my inheritance, I could go everywhere and not worry about getting abducted from a hostel and die horribly at the hands of a bored, irrational, psychotic, rich, person.

…No one has to know that I won't be here for most of the time.

I sigh.

I have to look into my life this week.

"I will stay here the week, but I do not promise you anything ok." She smiles and gathers her things.

"I'll see you next Tuesday." I escorted her to the door and said our goodbyes.

I look at the book.

How do I get this open?

I search for wire cutters, or scissors all over this place but find nothing. I go inside a bathroom to wash my hands after getting some dirt on them. I open a cupboard in search of soap when instead I find a hammer sitting perfectly down.

My hands reach for the hammer.

"This will work." Odd place to put a hammer, though.

I put the book down on the floor with the lock facing me.

Here it goes.

I bring the hammer up before letting it fall at full force down straight at the lock.

Nothing

Not a scratch.

What the fuck?

I do it again.

10 minutes later.

I breathe slowly from exhaustion and drop the hammer.

I stare at the book

What kind of material is it? It's so strong.

I pick it up and look at the floor.

Wish I could say the same for the tile.

A tile has broken in, and a small hole resides where the book used to be. I move the rug and put it on top of the hole. I turn off the light and head back to the parlor.

I put the book down on one of the end tables.

It has been a long day for me. I take my duffle bag and head upstairs. I turn on all the hallway lights. I blame the many horror movies I've watched. If I stay here, I would need to hire some help and maybe adopt a few dogs to keep me company.

Ugh no. What am I thinking? I won't stay here.

I drop the bag down in the first room with a bed I see. I decided to explore the mansion tomorrow but for now a bath and then sleep were calling my name.

I found a bathroom with a nice tub. I filled it up with hot water and turned on my playlist from my phone. I got undressed and just plopped myself in there. The hot water soothed my tense muscles and helped to relax me.

Of course, I can't control my thoughts, so they immediately begin to spring up the unpleasant news of today.

All the guilt I had felt evaporated after hearing the unfair condition. I have felt bad since I heard of her death yesterday because, for the past two weeks, she had been urging me to come. I would receive the same email from her every other day, and I would always decline or promised to go after this month. Now it was too late.

Realizing that I was no longer going to relax in the tub, I grab a towel and head towards the bedroom.

I put on a white tank top and black yoga pants before turning off all the lights. I snuggle into bed and fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.


"shh….idiot… there…"

Who's there?

I heavily opened my eyelids. I look around the room and see nothing but darkness.

Voices? Was I dreaming?

I close my eyes and listen to any noise.

Creek.

I hear the noise the wood makes when you step on it coming from the stairs. I sit up and look at the nightstand where my phone was supposed to be.

Shit

I left it in the bathroom across the hall.

I slowly get up and off the bed and walk towards the door. I gently open the door hoping that it doesn't crack.

I step out into the hallway and realize how stupid it is. I am defenseless with no weapon. What if they have a gun?

Well, then I'm screwed, cuz you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

I tip toe across and into the bathroom.

Yes.

I quickly grab my phone still on the counter.

No. Damn it!

Dead. Bella, you really shouldn't have so many apps running.

Ok. Bella don't panic. Maybe they left already.

Creek. I hear the same noise from before, only closer.

Fuck. I'm so dead. I am fuckin dead.

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. What do I do?

I quietly sneak a look out to see anything but stop when I hear them. I slide behind the door with my dead phone in hand.

"Can't we stay here for a while? It's been eighteen years since a gate has opened" A male voice whispers with an unusual accent that I have never heard.

"NO! We just get what we came here for. Now go down the west hall and I'll take down this one. Don't wake her. If you do, you have to silence her." One of the thieves sneered.

"Alright. Alright."

"Just go, moron." I bring my hand up to cover my mouth from letting a shriek escape my lips.

What do I do? If they find me, I'm dead.

Come on Bella, think.

I hold my breath again as I hear him go into the room next door.

Now's my chance.

I quickly step out and walk as fast as I can without making a sound to the stairs. I place my body on the edge of the stairs and quickly hurry down. I go into the parlor room and look for my backpack. Instead, I find a phone at the end table by the sofa.

Thank God.

I pick up the phone but hear no dial tone.

Shit. The storm must have cut off the power lines.

"Well, that made it easy for me." A deadly shrill runs up my spine as I hear the voice coming from behind me.

"Now come here." I felt the heat from his body coming down to grab me, so I quickly grab the phone and smash it across his face.

"Agh, you crazy bitch!" He yells.

I run out the room towards the back door when I smash into the other mans torso and hear something drop to the floor. He grabs my shoulders roughly.

"Tell me where the key is!" He demands. I look down to see my aunt's book on the floor.

I struggle to get his hands off me without much success, so I kick him hard where I know it hurts all men.

He lets go of me and drops to the floor.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you. Come here." He seethes in pain, holding his crotch.

I run out the back door and into the rain. I fled without my shoes, making it hard running through the muddy lawn. I'm heading straight towards the woods when I see another figure standing there. I stop and hesitate my next course of action. I look back to see the two thieves running after me.

Shit they are everywhere!

I quickly turn to my left, hoping to run in a semi-circle towards the other side.

Instead, I hit a rock, and I fall.

The pain is worst than stepping on a Lego barefoot.

With my body covered in mud, I start to look frantically for some rock, stick, anything to help me. I look up and see the man in the woods walking towards me. My heart starts to beat fast once I noticed what he has in his right hand. A sword.

A fucking sword Bella.

I close my eyes and feel my resignation.

I will die tonight. There is nothing I can do to change that. I begin to remember the deaths of my parents. In all my grief I never considered that maybe I should die too and join them. I always thought I was a horrible daughter for wanting to live instead. Did that mean I didn't love them? Was I that selfish? I never had anyone to tell these concerns too, but eventually, I can't remember when, I found my answer.

We all love in our own ways.

Every single one of us.

How we display them doesn't necessary mean that is how much we care.

No.

It just means how much one is contented showing affection.

I loved my parent's. How could I not? They were everything to me, and losing them affected me significantly. At that time, I decided that when my time came, I would accept it. If I die, I die. I survived my first stage, birth. I lived eighteen years. I lived the best I could. And now here tonight, I will die. My mind has resigned, it has accepted my death.

So why is my body still fighting?


Thank you for reading. Hopefully I will post the second chapter soon. It will probably be after this weekend since Star Wars comes out. Can't Wait! Also I don't have a Beta so if I missed something please let me know. I am still hoping to find a Beta.