I'd never given much thought to how I would die.
A rather morose part of me realized how easily I could have died in the last few months, how simple it would have been for any one of them to snuff out my life, wring it out of my throat like merely dousing a candlewick in the darkness.
It was strange, really.
I had never been one to pine for the cherished ending everyone wants to their life, of the adoring husband and hordes of screaming children. I had never once wished to grow old with someone else—although I realized now that perhaps that was because the one I would have wanted to age and die with could do neither.
Grimly, I realized that now I never could have any of that, even if I had longed for it.
Though I knew the choice I'd made had been mine to make, that I could have chosen the option that obviously would have allowed me to return home to either Charlie or Renee, back to a life of pandering, insignificant dots floating around me in blissful ignorance.
But who could return to a normal human life, especially after all of this?
Who could return to simply existing?
I watched James sitting across from me in the darkness, fingering the tip of the knife, eyes half-lidded as he took in my nervous form.
Certainly, I had never expected my life to end like this.
James' lips split into a horrific, garish cavern, all flickering tongue and jagged teeth.
"You ready for this, doll-face?" he asked, almost casually, friendly.
Like he wasn't just about to rip my throat out with his very hands.
I closed my eyes, and in the darkness enveloping my mind, I saw the haunting gaze of those topaz eyes that had been plaguing me since my very first step into Forks, blazing into my senses like the most intrusive conflagration.
Opening my eyes, I straightened my back, staring defiantly across at the lithe hunter, with his body tensed, the fire raging in his chest yearning for the blood running hot inside my veins.
"Yes."
His grin widened, the light hanging overhead catching the slightest glimpse of a feral glimmer in his dark eyes, and then he moved forward, a devastating grace behind his feline gait.
I closed my eyes once more, praying that it would be quick.
Today was the day I was going to die.
Today was the day I forfeited my life for Edward Cullen.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So I suppose an explanation is needed?
I hate Twilight. A lot.
However-
I've been dared into a rewrite by a fellow writer friend, and I figured why not?
The rules are simple:
1. Emphasize Bella's selfish nature
2. Make the vampires more vampiric
3. Open with the original opening and ending lines of Twilight
4. It must be from Bella's POV only
5. Adapt my writing style to Meyer's writing style as well as I can (Which means purple prose abounds!)
6. The point of a rewrite is to add something new; it must be Twilight at its core, though with a twist or significant difference (This is the rule I'm definitely...bending, for the most part. Because Bella is still going to be Bella, or at least the way I perceived her while originally reading Twilight years ago, though the thing Twilight is most known for is definitely going to be changed. But breaking the rules is fun, so we'll see)
And even though I really dislike Twilight, strangely I enjoy reading fanfiction for it, especially ones that do different things with the source material (Or are just well written). Seriously, there are some freakishly talented individuals in this fandom.
As for this prologue, I wish I could explain why it's in a rewrite of Twilight, but it'll be made clear once we get to that part in the story.
Basically, this rewrite aims to point out just how unhealthy Bella's mentality and her obsession with Edward is.
As you can see, this rewrite is most likely not for die-hard fans of the books, though I promise, I'm going to try and refrain from the Twilight bashing and just try and write an interesting take on this story.
However, it is very much an experiment in characterization and style for me, so it's really not to be taken seriously.
This will be updated as I see fit (My original novel/my larger Mortal Instruments fic take precedence over this).
Critique is more than welcome, though again, this really is purely experimental.