Prologue

EPOV

I knew I loved her more than she loved me. She had always tried to convince me otherwise. Maybe at one point she actually believed she loved me as much as I loved her. Maybe at one point she actually believed she was in love with a monster. That she could look past it and love me anyways. Maybe, at one point.

But then there was her birthday. Seeing that side of Jasper, seeing the hunger in my family's eyes; I think she suddenly realized that she had been lying to herself all along. How could she love us? Love me? We were nothing but monsters constantly putting her in danger. She had finally seen that.

I had to let her go.

BPOV

I'll never forget his face. The face he wore when he attacked Jasper to save me. The deep anguished face he wore home afterwards. The blank stare he wore on the ride home. Tortured. He was tortured. Not just him, his family. Esme, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and even Carlisle. I was torturing them every moment I was around. If my blood wasn't torture to them, what I was doing to their family definitely was. I know Jasper had to have felt awful after what had happened. And I knew how the others worried about him, about Edward…about me. I had never seen it before then. I had never seen how much my presence affected them. Affected Edward.

I loved Edward. I love Edward. I will always love Edward.

After my birthday I knew what I had to do. I couldn't put them through it anymore. Especially Edward. He never stopped worrying about me. And he never stopped being tortured by me. My blood and the constant threat I was to his family was too much for him to handle. He would never say that to me, but I knew.

I knew what I had needed to do. Even though I knew then that I would never be able to get over it.

* * *

Edward, I can't do this anymore. I'm moving back to Phoenix. I can't be here anymore…with you. It's too dangerous.

"Ladies and Gentleman we will be landing in ten minutes time…" Thank God. I thought this flight would never end. Hopefully Renee had gotten the message I left her before the plane took off, other wise I'd need to call a taxi.

Bella.

No Edward. Please don't speak, just let it be…please. You said yourself we shouldn't be friends. Why did we ever think this could work out? It can't. We…can't.

I quickly shut my eyes to keep the tears from flowing…I hadn't cried yet and I was planning on putting it off as long as possible.

Other than a quick hello to Renee, I was silent the entire ride home, just looking aimlessly out the window.

Bella, I thought…

Edward…please…please just let me leave.

It was too easy. The entire time I had inwardly begged him to stop me. To tell me I was wrong. That I was being stupid. At the very least, he should have forced me to better explain myself.

But he didn't. He just let me go.

Just like I had asked him too.

Goodbye Bella.

Finally alone in my room I collapsed on the ground and let my emotions take over.