As Bella lay dying, her mother wept at her bedside. She had never wanted a child. She never wanted the responsibility. All she wanted was to have fun and fulfil her dreams of independence.
Her parents didn't understand. They wanted her to finish school and move home to settle into a life of humdrum boredom.
But Renee had dreams. She would finish College, get a high-paid job with lots of travel opportunities and enjoy a fantastic lifestyle.
Instead she got knocked up by some would-be police-officer after too many tequilas and Sambuca's.
He'd been overjoyed and proposed the next day, offering her his mother's ring. His mother had died ten years ago and he swore she was the only woman for him.
She'd been rejected from her dream job after failing the interview and with little else going, she said yes.
Charlie was over the moon when he brought his bride home to his humble two bed house in his home town of Forks. The constant rain depressed her and despite her brief stint in interior design, she found she never warmed to the house.
Despite it all, she cared for Charlie and couldn't blame him completely for the mess they were in. So she threw herself into marriage and it wasn't until the result of that love had reached six months of age that she saw the way her life would be.
Bonfires. Cookouts.
Exchanging mindless gossip with people who secretly, she found as dull as dishwater.
So she got out, taking Bella with her. Breaking the heart of one of the finest man she would ever meet.
Over the years, they'd set up house in many a city, almost considering it a home before the chains of normality tightened their grip and threatened to consume her.
Bella was the one constant and as such she took her for granted. Choosing the fickle affection of men over the needs of her daughter. Disappointing her further by forgetting such trivialities as scholastic achievements and assemblies.
"I said I was sorry Bella."
Through all this, Bella loved her mother and was always forgiving.
When Phil entered the scene, he saw to it that all the bills were paid and that his girls had everything they needed. Bella was pleased her mother had finally found a good man and was satisfied she was no longer needed.
It was only when the girl returned to Forks so that her mother could travel with her new husband, that Renee realised what she had sacrificed…
A loving companion.
A constant cheerleader.
A shoulder to cry on.
When her ex-husband's worried call informed her that her daughter had left home and was making her way to Phoenix – she had longed to go but Phil's baseball schedule got in the way.
It would later prove a stumbling block for the newlyweds.
By the time she'd rushed to her daughter's side, it was to find that she was hell bent on returning to Forks and a part of her died inside.
There was someone else in her life. Someone who mattered a great deal more than her mother…
It was September when a frantic Charlie called Renee informing her that Bella had been found miles from town, deep in the forest in the midst of one of the worst storms Forks had ever seen. The rain had obliterated her tracks, disabling the Pack from their search whilst a relentless human continued her pursuit of her introverted, controlling, brooding, Vampire Love.
A branch had sent her sprawling down a mudslide, landing in a shallow lake where the cold water claimed her body, seeping through layers of clothing and past her natural defences.
The cold had possessed her lungs and drowned out her resilience – leaving her a pitiful shell of humanity.
The fall had caused many bumps and cuts that, left untreated, only intensified the suffering.
She had lost the will to move and so the consequences were severe…
XxX
They found her in the small hours of the morning. Her skin, translucent. Her eyes listless and her temperature below freezing.
Despite all their efforts, Bella never recovered.
Her body rejected all methods of help falling into an abyss known as shut down.
"Oh Baby Girl. You can't leave me now. Please Bella. I need you. Charlie needs you."
Her anger grew as the lifeless form failed to answer.
"Don't give in Bella. Don't give up."
Still, her anger grew only for a great swell of despair to override it.
"Please!" She tried once more. "Don't leave me alone…"
XxX
Bella lay enshrouded in a gleam of light, her eyes looking down on the scene below.
She'd never seen her mother like that.
All she knew was the erratic, hair-brained Renee who never grew up…
She felt so tired now but something urged her not to give in…
"Life's not a song
Life isn't bliss.
It only is this.
It's living…
You'll get along.
The pain that you feel
Can only be healed
By living."
She couldn't remember where it came from but the meaning was clear…
"Oh darling, please. I should never have let you go. If only you could wake up, I'd be better, I promise. I'll be a mother. I'll…"
The heart monitor echoed dangerously slow, rapidly decreasing by the millisecond leaving an overwrought Renee crying out for help.
"You can't leave me Bella. Please! Baby girl!"
Bella knew then and there that she didn't want to die.
She wanted to live…
Her body was growing colder still, preparing itself for the solace of the after-life. She raced downwards, desperate to reach…
Desperate to feel a mere trace of human companionship…
XxX
As the heart monitor revealed a constant monotonous line, Renee collapsed in her grief. Charlie stood frozen as his only child said her last good-byes to the world… Her pale figure melted into the sheets as the nurses removed the life support and ventilator.
He had always considered the Cullens to be good people but now he knew the truth. They had destroyed his own flesh and blood and he'd never forgive them.