It's been ten years since I've seen him. Ten years since I have seen those golden eyes, that shiny, bronze hair in the windswept area of my rainy hometown, forks. He is my most painful emotional memory, yet my most treasured one. I say emotional, because nine years ago, I had my most painful memory.
It was a year after he had left, and I was still trying to close the gaping hole he had left in my heart. I had recently been hiking with my then-best-friend Jacob Black. We were trying to find our meadow, and, seeing as Charlie was out, I had decided to eliminate some lines from our grid.
Flashback:
I walked into the meadow, disappointment thrashing me straight in the face. I'd hoped to hear his voice in this place, but I had obviously been wrong. It was still a pretty clearing, I'd never seen anything so symmetrical in all my life, I realised, with its jade-green grass and the beautiful surrounding trees. It was the wrong time for wildflowers, yet it was still a lovely place. Nonetheless, without the sparkle of his skin that had lit my first memory, it was more like déjà vu than a memory. Then, suddenly, Laurent walked out from the trees.
It really astonished me how well I remembered him. The red glint in his eyes, the way he held his body, like a hunter. But I was not afraid, even though it made more sense to be. I was kind of… euphoric that there was living proof; after all, I could have imagined that he existed. There was no way I was good enough for him.
We greeted each other, and Laurent gradually walked closer and closer to me.
"I thought it looked like the Cullen's had moved on! When I stopped at their house, it was empty." I gulped at the name Cullen, but forced myself to keep a straight face.
" They did." I managed to say.
"Hmm, why didn't they take you with them? I thought you were a kind of pet of theirs?"
As he spoke, I noticed that he was edging closer and closer to me. He was less than a foot away now, and I really was starting to get scared, as the red glint in his eye was getting more and more prominent, and he had started to pull his lips back over his teeth.
" They were, um, vegetarians, weren't they? I don't understand how they could do that, after all, they seemed to like you so much and you do smell…absolutely mouth-watering."
Before I knew it, he had lunged at me. I fell flat on my back, and Laurent jumped on top of me. I knew what was going to happen next, but I must admit, I wasn't entirely prepared for it. His razor-sharp teeth sliced into the skin of my neck, and within seconds of it, I felt the most excruciatingly painful feeling spreading slowly all the way down my body. I was kind of aware of a russet brown shape soar over me, and the metallic shriek of someone in pain, but then, I passed out.
I woke up two days later, in my bedroom. Jake was sitting on the end of my bed, pinching his nose. I couldn't work out what it was, but my room really stunk of something foul. It took me a couple of minutes for my last memories to catch up with me, and, once they did, I talked with Jake. He told me all the things I needed to know about the treaty, that he could never see me again because of what I had become, and Charlie. He told me all about Charlie.
Just after pinning Laurent and just about to kill him, Laurent had said to Jacob
"It's amazing, she tastes better than her father." Laurent had killed my father, before coming after me. I could not comprehend it at first, but then I realised that the smell was Jake, and I had to get rid of him. I then had to run around the house with the air freshener to get rid of the smell, but it did not really work. I went to my room to read Wuthering Heights, when it said something about blood. At that moment, it hit me. I was not thirsty. I was a newborn vampire, and I was not thirsty. I was astounded, but it did not bother me in the slightest. After all, now I was not bothered by blood, life would be a lot easier, wouldn't it?
End flashback.
So, I have been a vampire for nine years now, and blood does not bother me in the slightest. I guess that makes me kind of lucky, but the best part of being a vampire, is my power. My power is to…share powers with anyone I have ever met as a vampire. If I met Alice again, I would always be able to use her power.
The next day.
Oh dear. Severe boredom waits. High school. This will be the second time I have been to school, and the second time I have been to Forks high. Originally, I thought that it was a bit soon to go back to school, so I legally changed my name to Bella Hale. The name often made me laugh when I saw it. What Rosalie would say if she saw I had stolen her name! After that, I was worried that the teachers would maybe recognise me, after all, it had only been 10 years. Although, all of the teachers were quite old, so they would probably have retired, and, because I am a vampire, I would look severely beautiful compared to the human me, so I would probably fit in ok-ish.
I slipped on one of my many t-shirts, and a pair of jeans, and walked at human pace down to my car. Human pace irritates me. Although I need it to try and fit in, it is altogether too slow and boring for me; I prefer to go fast.
My feet carried me to my car. It was a Volkswagen. I won't pretend I speak car and driver, I just know the type. When I pulled up in Forks high car park, I quickly pulled up as close to the school as possible, so that I could jump into my car and drive away if things went badly here.
I got out of my car, and locked it. I jumped at the sight of a silver Volvo, but I quickly brushed it aside as a coincidence. They wouldn't come here! They would go somewhere that they'd never been before, to see the world. That is what I would do if I were brave enough.
The first half of the day went terribly slow, though I was glad it was nearly over. As I walked to my car, I saw a small woman, with short, spiky black hair walking down the corridor. This pulled me up short. It looked just like Alice, and that scared me. First the silver Volvo, now a hallucinatory Alice!
Instead of going to my car, I went to the school secretary, as it was getting sunny outside. The secretary had obviously changed since I was last here, but it felt the same.
I leaned over the counter, as I smiled the smile I know most of the human males love.
"Excuse me sir," I said, " but I've just received a call from my sister. She's just gone into labour, and for some reason she wants me to be there. I have Mr Williams, he wont mind. May I be permitted to leave?"
The receptionist's face was blank, a mask of nothingness with his eyes looking directly at me. He shook his head to regain focus, and agreed.
When I got home, I decided to test one of my newest powers: the power to sleep whenever I wanted. I don't sleep every night like a human, just when I call upon that power when I have nothing else to do.
The next few weeks passed without anything unusual happening. It had been constantly raining, so I hadn't been able to bunk off. I'd had to make up a story about 'my sisters baby', but I think that the receptionist had wanted to see me rather than hear about my niece.
As I left the school one Thursday, I saw something that would have made me pass out, if I was able to. A tall muscular person, a tall, thin, person with blonde hair waving to her waist, a small girl with spiky black hair and……. Him. I must be going crazy. It was him. I sat and stared, but there was no way he had noticed me. My hallucinations had not done him justice. He looked like a Greek god, and it made me want to cry, so I looked away. I could still hear the car, however, and when it stalled, I looked around to check that they were ok. His eyes met mine, and his face whitened. His mouth formed the word Bella. My name. He said my name. Before I had a chance to do anything, he sped away.