Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga belongs to Stephanie Meyer, I just borrowed her characters to tell my own story.
AN: This is my first fanfiction, it is a way for me to get a relatively small original story I wrote into the big world. I'm using the characters of Twilight to get it across. I hope you like it. A special thanks to my prereader Baynewen, she encouraged me to start writing myself.
BPOV
"RENESMEE CARLIE CULLEN!" He bellowed it out through the house. My husband was more than a little agitated with our daughter. He had just finished a phone call with the principal of her high school. I of course had heard both sides of the conversation.
Oh, maybe I should explain that, of course we are vampires, vegetarian vampires to be exact and our daughter is a human-vampire hybrid. I got pregnant, with her, when I was still human and was changed on the day she was born. That should be enough for now, it's a long story.
Renesmee had apparently gotten in a shouting match with some of her classmates, not only did it happen to her, she started it. The principal had surmised that much, also the reason for the shouting match had to do with her great disrespect for ancient things. Her classmates were proud of some of their family's heirlooms, and our daughter, yes, our own child had disrespected those.
Unbelievable, her father is almost two hundred years old for goodness sakes. Her grandfather is over four hundred years old! In human years even I am about nineteen years older than Renesmee, in vampire years I am actually three days younger, never mind. This shows why she should always respect heirlooms, no matter how trivial. Anyway back to what happened.
Jacob came running into the room, a very big furry Jacob. He had been out on patrol around our house. He runs patrols in order to warn us of approaching traditional vampires, those at least which are not our friends.
Jacob is, by the way, Jacob Black, a Native American Quileute shapeshifter. Also a hybrid life form, he is a human with a twist, he can change into a wolf.When we relocate he travels with us, because he is our daughter's soul mate. And after my husband, he is my best friend. All part of the long story, so please let me apologize, if I refrain from telling you about that.
"What is wrong," Jacob huffed, after he had turned human again. Edward flicked around and asked: "Where is your wife, I need to have a very serious talk with her." Jacob looked puzzled at his expression, "I don't know where she is. I thought she was in our room doing her homework. Why are you still sending her to high school anyway, you two aren't going anymore." Edward sighed: "This time around, we wanted to be parents again for a change."
Renesmee shuffled into the room, she probably felt safe to come in now that Jacob was there to defend her. She already had her contrite expression plastered on her face, after all she was not stupid, even though she sometimes acted that way. Her father rounded on her, "Where have you been, a good five minutes have past, since I called you." Renesmee bristled, "I am not a child anymore! I finished my trig homework before I came down, I was in my room." "Not a child anymore! That is a good one, so why are you acting like a baby in school? Shouting matches over family heirlooms…" Edward almost shouted. "Listen, old baby, I will tell you a story, when that story is finished you will tell me the significance, and how it applies to what you did today in school! Now SIT DOWN!"
Renesmee and Jacob sat down on the loveseat together. Edward and I sat opposite on the couch. Edward closed his eyes, sighed and started in his storytelling voice. Velvet tones washed over us, when he took us away on a little mind trip of his making.
"For years the lumberjack had watched the gnarly old oak tree. He hated it more and more. It obstructed his view of the splendid new high rise, which the counsel had had erected not long ago."
Renesmee was watching her father with a furrowed brow, she didn't have a clue where this was going.
"Tonight he would finally get rid of it. Gleeful he once again sharpened his axes. They had to be absolutely top notch for the job he had this gathered his gear, mentally checking if he had everything. Torches and matches, he needed light, check. Axes, check. Towel, to wipe his sweat, check. Water, he would become thirsty, check. Whiskey, just because, check. Everything was accounted went on his way, just after dusk. He had to do this in secret, because he couldn't get a license to cut down a nearly thousand year old tree, that wasn't sick. Something about it being National Heritage or shit like that.
It was totally dark when the lumberjack arrived at the tree, he quickly lighted the torches, placing them in a half circle around his workspace. The spread of the branches was so wide that the torches actually scorched the leaves on the lower ones.A rustle went through the leaves, as if the tree reacted to the intrusion. The lumberjack looked up and said: "Yeah, protest all you want, but I'm going to get you tonight!" He spit in his hands, rubbed them together and grabbed his first axe. He made his first cut facing towards the high rise, outside his circle of light, he had done this so many times he could do it blindfolded, if needed. That first cut took him quite a long time, more than he expected. "You are a feisty one, aren't you," he said, after it was finally finished.
He took a drink of water, and for the hell of it, also one of whiskey. Now for the big wedge cut, which would determine what way the tree fell. He grabbed another axe, the first one completely blunted by the hard wood of the slow growing, ancient oak axes , a bottle of water and half of a bottle of whiskey later the lumberjack noticed it got marginally lighter around him. He was almost finished with the wedge cut, he stepped up the pace, and he had to be ready before it was fully light.
When the wedge was driven into the first cut, to make him surrender totally, the majestic old oak tree realized this would be his last dawn. He started to say goodbye to all the little creatures living in his branches. The ants, the squirrels, the mistletoe, all the birds, even the woodpecker which had hurt him. He had felt the flames of the torches scorching his branches, and had woken from his slumber. Slowly he had realized he was being murdered. Sadly it was not in his nature to be able to do anything about it. When he felt his trunk being cut, his arteries to his life-giving roots slowly demolished he thought about his life. It was good the murderer used old fashioned tools, it gave him more time to say goodbye to each of the years he had been. From sapling to seemingly everlasting. The hundreds of birds and other creatures which had lived in his branches all passed through his thoughts. He silently greeted the light of the new day when he felt he could not hold on any longer.
The wedge made the last of his arteries snap the tree bad farewell to the world. He started falling slowly. Faster and faster became his fall. With a thundering blow he hit the earth, crushing the lumberjack in his way.
The first rays of the sun sparked over the horizon, it promised to be a beautiful day."
Silence filled the room, Renesmee had silent tears running down her cheeks. Jacob had wrapped his arms around her. I had turned my head into Edwards shoulder, I couldn't cry anymore, but the feeling was the same. "Good, the tree got his revenge." I said. "Bella, is that all you got out of this story?" Edward asked incredulously. I looked at him and said: "No, of course not, but the rest is up to Renesmee. If I start explaining things, she won't have to think about it, or her actions today in school." Jacob sighed, "Wow Edward, were you channeling Billy? The only thing I missed was the bonfire. This could have been one of our legends." Edward smiled, remembering Billy, the good and, sadly, the bad. Vampire memory sometimes really was a curse. He shifted his gaze towards Renesmee, "Well, young lady, what do you have to say."
Renesmee looked perturbed, wiped her tears away and swallowed heavily. "I think, in a convoluted way, that this story shows the childishness of bigotry and not having respect for things so old they are outside your comprehension. The lumberjack was really childish to find more beauty in the high rise than the tree. I see all that, but the kids at school had stupid things, and I told them so." I shot off the couch, flitted to Edwards and my bedroom and grabbed the cushion from the rocking chair, it was the cushion with the angel embroidered on it. I still had it, after all that time. It was given to me, at birth, by my grandma Marie. I ran back downstairs, and was back with them in two seconds. I handed Renesmee the pillow, and said: "Something like this, perhaps?"
A shocked look came on Renesmee's face, she whispered: "Why do you have something like this?" Now it was Edwards turn to flit upstairs, only he went to Renesmee's room, and pulled the encased friendship bracelet of the wall. Coming back down, he handed it to her, and asked: "Why do you still have this? Now explain why you should demean emotional mementos of others."
Jacob looked perplexed, he never thought his soul mate would have to learn this lesson so late in life. After all she was a genius, a prodigy although no one really knew this. He was known to be stupid at times, but he never would do something like this anymore. He said: "Darling, I used to be like that when I was still human, and when I just became a wolf. But I learned pretty quickly that toying with people's memories is not a good thing. By disrespecting their memories and heirlooms, you hurt and disrespect them. You effectively act like a bully."
Renesmee started crying: "I understand now, I will apologize tomorrow at school. I really thought they had just yanked anything out of the closet, just to show something. I never let them tell the memory behind the objects. After all this time, how can I be still so stupid?" Edward smiled and wrapped his arms around her, "I think that you channeled Emmett, but that is no excuse, only a cause. I am glad you understand now, and you will make amends. Let's be glad the rest of the family is hunting today, or your lesson would have been far more embarrassing."
The next day, after school was over, Renesmee came running into the house, calling: "Daddy, daddy, you were right! Those stories belonging to those objects were amazing."
I put a plate of sliced apple in front of her and said: "It looked like it would be a beautiful day."