This is the new revised version of Chapter One (the first half of the original Chapter One anyway). I will get rid of the first three original chapters sooner or later, as soon as I have rewritten them.
Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to Twilight in any way, shape or form.

The sky seemed darker than usual on that winter evening, and even the blazing fire brought no warmth to our little family of four.
It was my (well, mine and Jane's) twelfth birthday, an important day in the life of any Anglo-Saxon, ourselves included.
Mother simply sat hunched over in her chair, as close to the fire as possible, the same position she has been in for the almost three months since our father died.

She was giving up.

Father had been her life, but the Sickness had taken him, just as it had taken so many others - three of our brothers and sisters included.

We lay on the bed of straw, myself on the left hand side, furthest from the fire; Jane closest to the fire; and little Isobel between us.
Almost exactly a year younger than we were, she was one of the few that had caught the Sickness and not died.

It was a blessing and a curse.
I would never wish death upon my baby sister, but her surviving did nothing but cement the rumours of witchcraft surrounding our family, rumours that had existed since our birth - the only twins born in close to twenty five years.
We always knew what the other was thinking, and we always knew where the other was.
We just called it 'twinstinct' - we just looked out for each other.
They called it 'witchcraft' - and they punished us for it any way they could, they ignored us when Father and the other children were dying, and they shunned us when they were dead.

I fell asleep watching my sisters.
It did not matter that Jane was older than me (even by only a few moments) I was the man of the house, I had to look after them.

I awoke the next morning to the smell of burning, but the fire had long since gone out, and it was light outside - there was no need for a fire.
Unless...
No.
NO!

I started to shake Jane awake as she woke up anyway, her blue-grey eyes reflecting my fear - she knew as well as I did what was coming.
Bundling our food quickly into our few blankets, Jane woke little Bella up silently, we worked in perfectly harmony as Bella watched out of the window as the burning torches came ever closer.

We spared a single glance at our motionless Mother, the villagers had no grief with her, they would leave her alone - it was us they wanted.
Climbing out of the window, we ran for the nearby forest - we knew the forest like the back of our hand - we could lose them there.
I held the food as Jane never loosened her grip on Bella's hand.

Ten metres.
Five metres.
Two metres.
Bella and Jane were in the bushes of the forest, they were safe now.

A hand brushed against my back and I pushed faster.
Willing myself to safety.
Willing myself to my sisters.
They grabbed me.

A just-turned twelve year old little boy against the farm workers, the grown men who toil manually everyday.
I wasn't going to escape.
Mimicking Mother's actions, I went limp in my captors arms, my only thought was for the safety of my sisters.

They were in the forest.
They were safe.
"ALEC!" a voice I knew all too well screamed, Jane. She must have just seen me, just realised the fate I had been handed.
But they knew where she was now, even if they couldn't see her, they could hear her.

And then there was a flash of blonde, she was running again, this time without Bella - obviously hidden well in the undergrowth - they weren't looking for her, and if Bella didn't want to be found, no one would find her - she was special like that.

Each second that passed seemed to last a lifetime, a lifetime of praying for my sister - for her to run, hide, it didn't matter, for her just to live.
But they caught her, they always would have done, it doesn't matter how fast or how far you run.
If you're declared a witch, they will find you.

I held her tightly and whispered in her ear as she cried, my big sister, we were to die - the single room we were trapped in only temporary storage until they gather enough fire wood to burn us properly, a hard task especially in mid-winter.
Our thoughts were focused on our sister, we knew she would not last long alone, without provisions and without protections, she would be lucky to make it longer than we did.

It was three hours later they were ready for us, and despite our earlier breakdown, we wouldn't let them see us cry, even as the women jeered at our faces, and children threw stones at our feet.

Tied to the centre pole side by side, I clasped my big sister's hand as they set the lower branches alight.
The fire leapt quickly up, until it was licking our ankles, our legs.
That's when the tears began to fall, and our terrified screams began renew.
"Alec!" she screamed, over and over again, begging me to do something, anything, to save us from this terrible fate.
Our clothes caught fire then, and I could no longer feel my feet, though the fires now tickled my hands, as if they were nothing more than a playful animal.

I knew Jane was wishing the most terrible pain on whoever decided this fate for us, the way she always did, I on the other hand, I was the protector, or supposedly anyway - I wished for the pain to end, if we were to pass on to the next life, at least let it be without suffering.

Then there was no more fire, and the screams of my sister were replaced with the screams of all those who watched, all those who tormented us relentlessly.

However it was too late, we were ready to pass on, and I held tighter to Jane's hand, not wanting to ever lose her.
But the fire came back, all too soon, this time inside our body, and I was screaming again.
Screaming for Jane, for Isobel, for Father, for Mother, for our brothers and sisters.
Screaming for the pain to end.

Less than a hundred metres away, on the edge of snow covered forest, hidden by the evergreen trees, a ten year old little brunette girl turned her red rimmed eyes away from the burning to see a man with crimson irises staring intently at her
It all happened so fast.
He was there, and then he was gone.
And then she was burning with her siblings.

Thank you for reading, please review,
Mia