AN:
Hello everyone, so this is my first Twilight story. Right off the bat, this chapter won't really have the Cullens or the Quillette wolves. However, this will introduce the main character, an OC I am developing. I don't know if there will be any romance, this might just end up being a family fic. I think ya'll will like the idea I have. I haven't seen it done yet. I will try to keep the characters in character as I see them in the book. I hate it myself when cannon characters are a little to out of character, so I'll do my best.
The time line for this is a little bit after New Moon. Maybe like a month or so since the Cullens return. :)
Let me know what you think, your honest opinions and what you'd like to see.
It was the year of thousand and five and twentieth day in the month of September. It had been exactly five months ago that I had turned twenty one, as my birth date was April thirtieth. No big deal really, I didn't celebrate or buy any shots like most of my friends had. For you see...lately my life has been getting more and more like some fantastical horror film.
It started on the first of May. My best friend at the time, Madeline, had passed away. She had died...it was a tragedy they said. A terrible terrible thing to befall someone so young, someone who beheld so much potential. If it hadn't of been for my fear, then she would still be here. You see...I was afraid of the water, Madeline had always been the athletic one of us. She was captain of the swim team.
Me? I was captain of the bleachers and book club. That's right, little old me was the chubby friend who couldn't stand strait let alone hope to do any sport without causing some sort of injury to myself or someone else. Instead I devoted my time to literature and studies. We couldn't have been more polar opposites...and yet we clicked in all of the best ways possible.
She had been beautiful, tall with an hourglass figure. She had long ebony hair that fell in lush waves to her ribs. Her eyes were the color of a sparkling spring, brilliant and blue. She was graceful and brave, she was strong, she was...everything I wanted to be. Her funeral had been short, a casket of white marble lowered into the ground. The scent of loamy earth and red roses filled the air filling me with nausea as I watched friends and family bid their farewells.
My dark gray blue eyes, stormy as Madeline always describe them, narrowed as I tried to keep the tears at bay. I had done enough crying..and yet my impossibly red rimmed eyes still filled with tears that should have run dry by now. A choked sob escaped my hoarse throat, the sea water that I had unintentionally swallowed from the surf still making my throat raw and voice husky.
I had not slept since the incident, which had been a grand total of forty eight hours ago. Two days..and it had been a long long two days. Everyone said they didn't blame me, however, I blamed myself. Sucking in a shaky breath and offering one last pained look back at my friend, I turned and trudged away. No one would have noticed and if they did, they wouldn't have cared. As far as anyone was concerned, or maybe it was just me, I had all but killed her.
Something had drug her under, I'm still not sure what..it couldn't have been a rip current for God's sake! Madeline was the captain of the swim team! A shark maybe? No bite marks though. A frown pulled at my pale pink rose bud shaped lips. I walked in silence away from everything in a sort of numb haze as I contemplated what could have done this.
Shaking my head sharply to ride myself of the thoughts caused straw like mousy hair with tints of penny copper red and gold topaz flopped about me. My hair at one time might have been considered pretty, but it was cut short now in a slanted bob that was spiky in the back and longer in the back. A slight frizz from the usual Florida humidity making it less manageable than usual.
Walking over to my old green beast of a vehicle, it was a mountaineer, worn down with chipped pine green paint. It leaned slightly from where I think a front axle might have been damaged, but I was no mechanic so I couldn't be sure. After climbing in and starting the engine, I grabbed the gear stick that came out of the right side of the wheel and moved it into drive.
Tonight was it, tonight I would be leaving the small town that I called home. Well it wasn't really a town as more like a small city. Tonight I would be traveling out to the west coast for a change of pace. I had heard that I might have family out that way, I had been contacted by someone in a town smaller than mine, which was a surprise by the way. To both the population and possible family.
You see..I had been raised in foster care and when I was old enough to leave at the tender age of eighteen I packed my bags and left as fast as I could. I had a small amount of money saved back from where I had gotten a job as a part time waitress when I was sixteen...I had been at the same job through high school and graduation until now.
I decided I would leave, tonight. I just had to pack up my meager belongings from where I had been staying with Madeline's family and then I could drop by the old diner and let my boss, Mrs. Matthews, know I was leaving.
Nodding in determination, I allowed my decrepit vehicle move forward with a strained growl of the engine. Maybe I could get a job where I was going and get something better. I couldn't be sure. I would have to see how things worked out and see if I even got along with my apparent cousin. What was her name again?
Abigail? Angel? Agatha? Angela! That was it, Angela Weber. From what I understand Angela was still in high school and was a few years younger than myself. She is a Junior I think, so that would put her at what sixteen? Seventeen? I shrugged and decided that I would find out when I got to Washington.
** x ** x ** x **
Surprisingly, or maybe no so surprisingly, it had only taken me an hour to push all of my clothes into a small suitcase and tell my boss I was leaving. Most of the clothes were old articles of clothing that I had simply stitched back together and no matter how threadbare they got I kept them simply for the sake of not having to waist money on mundane things. Madeline had...she had always gotten onto me and had tried to buy things.
Sighing quietly, I started my engine once more and looked back in the rear mirror tiredly. It would be the last time I looked upon my home town. I couldn't come back I decided, too many memories that had turned bitter and sour like a rotting fruit. One lone tear fell from my left eye, trailing down my cheek as it dripped from the soft fringe of dark lashes and across my ivory cheeks.
Gunning the engine I pulled from the empty drive, Madeline's parents still out at the funeral. I had left a simple note, an apology and thank you, and with that I left from their lives. Just like Madeline, here one day and gone the next.
** x ** x ** x **
It had taken my days, hours, excruciating minutes and seconds before I finally arrived at the small town of Forks, Washington. Population of four thousand. Where everyone knew everyone and probably went to kindergarten together. I had to wonder what Angela's family had told anyone, if they even had, about me coming. Was I the distant relative? Friend of the family? Or would it simply be a surprise?
Honestly I was surprised my car had even made it this far. Looking around the small town I slowly moved through until I got to the main redlight. picking up my cellphone, I dialed Angela's number and mumbled to myself softly into the receiver as I waited for her to pick up. On the fourth ring there was an answer.
"Hello?" Came a soft and shy voice. The sound of someone who had a gentle soul, the very tone of which made my heart physically ache and the deep abyss of pain from my loss of Madeline felt realer than ever. For the fiftieth time I had to remind myself firmer that this wasn't a dream. This is my reality now.
"Angela," I breathed softly, "It's me, Audrey."
"Audrey! It's great to hear from you..mom said you'd be coming. Where are you?" Her voice still soft and gentle suddenly seemed softer and soothing. I willed myself to not cry as I let my head fall back against the head rest, windows down as I sucked in the cool damp air.
"At the stop light." I whispered in a husky soft voice.
"Alright, make a right and follow the road down, we'll be the last house on the left. You can't miss it, it's yellow. I'll wait outside for you." She responded soothingly.
"Thanks Angie. See you soon..." I whispered softly, swallowing as I disconnected and followed her directions. Unknowingly, a pair of golden eyes from the local gas station followed the new green truck curiously.
When the light turned green, the old truck lurched forward and sped off after making the initial right. The dense trees around me turning into a blur as I drove and drove until I finally turned into Angela's drive way. Smiling tiredly I looked at my...cousin...and my new home.
I had a lot to learn about Angela and her family sure, but they were kind enough to reach out to me and find me. Even if it was a few years late. I would take what I could get. Rolling up the windows and cutting the engine, I jumped down and felt my legs give way as exhaustion hit me. Wobbling tiredly I collapsed and barely even remotely remained upright.
Suddenly, the gentle girl wasn't the only one out here. Her parents were there, her father helping me up in concern as they assisted in getting me inside. It had been an exhausting week with little to no sleep. Had it already been six days since the funeral? Time flies when you become numb to the world I suppose. Everything becoming a blur as I fell asleep before even hitting a bed.
** x ** x ** x **
I had slept like the dead for approximately thirteen hours. My relatives were apparently contemplating taking me to the doctors, as I had found out upon waking and hearing them conversing just outside of a door. Groaning, I sat up and found the door opening upon the little noise I made.
"You're awake!" Angela's mom, Mary, stated. She was a plump woman with curves and a kind face. Her husband, Henry, who worked on the police force in the small town offered me a soft smile as well.
"How do you feel?"
"I'm fine." I chirped softly, my automatic response to anyone who asked how I was. Henry and Mary glanced at each other before smiling at me.
"How about some food?" The question was answered by the rumble of my stomach.
"I...I could eat." I mumbled, gaining laughs.
"I bet, go get cleaned up and we can go out for some real food. My treat." Henry stated, only making me more self conscious to the fact that I probably looked like The Grudge had slept with a zombie and made me. Grimacing I nodded and headed off to a shower.
Only time would tell how this would go. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, my first priority was getting a job. Second would be getting my own place, they were kind enough to give me safe harboring for now. However, I couldn't stay here for long. They had their own teenage daughter to care for.
After a quick shower and some food at a small restaurant, that had surprisingly good veggie burgers, I found myself sitting outside that night flicking through a newspaper from Forks that I had pilfered off of Henry. Looking through it I bit my bottom lip and gnawed on it as I looked for any jobs. With a rid pen I circled a few, one standing out to me instantly. A receptionist was needed at the Hospital. No experience required, they were willing to train whoever came. It was part time by the looks of it and decent pay.
Nodding to myself I decided I would go in tomorrow morning and see if they would take me. Smiling slightly, I stood and went to go inside when the brush near the front door rustled. Jumping, I froze and stared at the dense trees and foliage in the darkness. Backing up I reached behind myself and felt for the doorknob. Grabbing it I turned the knob and slipped backwards into the house. You're not in the Florida suburbs anymore Audrey. There is bound to be wild animals. I thought with a scowl to myself, shaking my head I made my way upstairs and to bed. Curling up into a ball, arms wrapped around myself as if to hold my aching chest cavity together.
Sobbing softly I fell to sleep with tears on my face and an aching empty black hole eating away at the raw frayed edges of my heart.