Winnie POV

"Winifred," my mother's sweet tender voice called,
I looked up from across the creek towards our campsite,
I sighed, I had told her how many times? She was supposed to call me Winnie.
"Yes mama?" I answered, as I continued to search for Agates in the riverbed.
"Come on back now, it's time for dinner,"

I smiled slightly as I heard her curse a cut finger she'd received chopping vegetables.I was indeed hungry, so I waded back to the Willow through the cold wet sand and sat atop the big bolder where I'd left my shoes and stockings. They all resided at the base of the aged tree to get my shoes.

As I began to replace my stockings and shoes I realized that I didn't need to wear them, no one was around to judge me, I was free out here. Which was why I was so eager to go camping with my family in the mountains in the first place. So I could get away from all the people who questioned my every move.
I wiggled my toes satisfied to feel the sand and dirt in between my toes.

Smiling as I stood to go back to the campsite, I flinched at an ear piercing scream;
Collapsing back onto the boulder, I moaned at the pain of the fresh scratches and bright bruises on my knees.
I looked around shocked, my mama had been the one to scream.

With wide eyes I peered out from the Willow leaves and crawled down the roots to the sandy riverbank.
I approached the campsite quietly, even though my heart beat noisily in my chest.
I peered around the side of the white canvas tent and called softly,
"Mama?" my voice tentatively called,
I heard nothing; trembling I walked around the sight and gasped,
"MAMA!" I cried.

She lay on the ground unmoving, unconscious, she was dead; collapsed next to the dinner she'd been making for that night.
I fell to my knees beside her, tears streamed down my cheeks, I couldn't function.
"Mama," I sniveled quietly, "Mama!" I wept in despair as I collapsed and hugged her limp body.
There was blood all over her, something had bitten her in the throat, maybe a mountain lion.
I continued to cry and sob, my father was supposed to be back any minute-

I gasped as there was another terrified shriek off in the distance a ways, my father.
I swallowed and stood slowly, my uneven breaths escaped silently from my mouth.
I began to panic as I realized what ever had killed my mother had just stolen my father's life too.
I could hear fast footsteps coming back to our campsite.
There was a feral growl, the beast was coming closer if I didn't run away I would be next!
I turned and ran back to the river, I slid down the damp grassy hill onto the riverbank, I looked around and in a panic I crawled into the grotto like roots of the willow tree. I tried to be as quiet as I could, maybe it wouldn't find me.
*SNAP*
I covered my mouth so I wouldn't scream,
A twig had broken under the weight of the animal that was hunting me, it was big, I could hear it breathing. It seemed slightly disoriented.
I trembled and listened as the footsteps grew closer and closer, right as they were about to cross in front of me, they grew still. There was a ferocious growl unlike anything I'd ever heard before.
I squeaked out of fear, there was a quiet grumble the animal moved away slowly to look elsewhere.

I remained very still and tried to look for a way out of the tree.
Besides the opening at the front; I saw a break in the roots near the back, by the hill.
Silently, I moved away from the opening to the back of the tree. As I reached my dress got such on a root and tore. I yanked my arm away and cut my hand open on a rock. I gasped and clutched it tightly. It wasn't a second later that there was a snarl, the beast was coming back, I gasped and scurried as fast as I could up the opening.
Right as I made it out of sight the beast tore away at the roots and almost grabbed me. I shrieked and ran away from the river, never looking back. I climbed up a tree thick with leaves. The monster was coming, I could hear it running, and it was so fast that the only reason that I hadn't been caught was because it had gotten caught in the roots itself. That was one advantage of being little like I was. I could hide, maneuver easily and I was fast.

Suddenly, it was quiet, I couldn't hear the monster anymore.
My heart leapt as I saw a young man walk into the clearing, he was big and very strong.
I knew he could save me from the monster.
I scampered down the tree and scurried up behind him, already in full blown tears.
I tugged on his sleeve and once he turned I hugged his waist, his initial reaction was to hold me.
"Please help me!" I whimpered, "There's a mountain lion chasing me, it killed my parents, please you have to help me…"
I continued to cry, my tears soaking his cream colored shirt.
He reached down and grabbed my bloody hand, he looked at it
"I fell down," I whimpered,
I finally began to notice how strange this man was, his clothes were dirty and stained with blood, and he was very pale. I looked up at his face.
"Where- where you chased by the lion too?" I asked.

It was the only logical explanation for the blood and dirt on him.
I gasped as I finally saw that he had pure black eyes, they seemed wild at the moment,
I pulled away from him a little, he hadn't let go of my hand
"C-Can you talk?" I asked, he smirked a little, and nodded, "What happened to your eyes, why are they black?"
He knelt in front of me, I reached at his face confused.
And oddly enough he breathed in deeply near my wounded hand, as if he were able to smell the spilt blood.
"You'll see," he said in a deep menacing voice,
I looked at him confused and gasped.
I backed away and tried to pull away, he wouldn't let go of my hand.
"Let me go!" I cried, he snarled and I screamed.
He tried to pull me closer but I whacked him in the face with my bloody hand, leaving a stain on his face. He snarled and tossed me like a rag doll into the base of a tree. I crunched against the tree and remained breathless.
Then I screamed as I felt a terrible pain arise in my leg, I looked down at where I felt the agony, my poor leg lay twisted at an odd angle and motionless.
I couldn't move, my leg was broken, and I was too weak to go anywhere anyways.
Where could I go to escape this fate? He would catch me in an instant.

The man stood back up and slowly stalked his way over to me, I could only watch him drift closer.
I came to the realization that I was looking at the creature who'd killed my mother and father.
It was no animal, and it wasn't any human, this was a real monster.
I cowered in the dirt and began to cry,
Slowly, the man crouched in front of me,
"Please," I sobbed, "Don't hurt me,"
He reached and took my thin shoulder in his massive hand,
"No," I sobbed my voice cracked pathetically, "No, please,"
Then he pulled me with a great tug into his iron grip with what looked like a gentle hug from a distance; but was really him crushing me to keep me from thrashing. He smelled my hair, I continued to cry at the pain I was in, I gasped for precious air, he was suffocating me to the point that my ribs would break soon. I tried to push away from him.
"Let me go!" I shrieked growing dizzy, the world around me spinning;
"Shhh," he hissed, I gasped for air,
I shrieked as I heard something inside me crack.
I grunted in pain,
my heart sped up, I was afraid of dying.
"Stop it!" I sobbed, "Please it hurts…" I said softer than before,
He loosened his grip and I took in a deep breath, but let a wail of agony out from the broken bones inside me; I was dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Before I could move away from his masculine chest, he moved.

I gasped in agony as all of a sudden there was a terrible biting pain in my neck, I struggled to pull away.
I moaned and whimpered at the violent pain.
I choked on the hurt again and again.
I begged him to stop, nothing would allow him to release me though.
That's when the fire began, I gasped and screamed bloody murder as I felt the bite start to blaze.
It got worse as I screamed again and again.

Finally, I lost the strength to move, I could hardly breathe, time barely passed and my tears fell one by one slowly. I simply watched the cloudy sky as little rain drops fell onto my cheeks next to my tears. They fell so perfectly that you wouldn't be able to tell which drops were Tears and which were rain.
In that moment, I wondered who made it rain? It had to be God, angles, some divine being of good?
I knew they were real because I knew what this man holding me was; now that he had basically killed me, and he had drank mine and my parents blood; That meant he was a vampire. Devils and Demons or just plain old monsters were real and so that meant something had to be waiting for me to contradict what this bad man had done to me.

I couldn't even cringe at the awful pain anymore, I felt the life leaving my body and when he finally pulled away with a violent jerk, I was torn away to the reality of my impending doom. His breaths were deep and ragged. His eyes were closed, I watched his face with wide eyes, and I remained motionless. I was too afraid to close my eyes so I just lay in his arms wounded and waiting to die. Unlike his, my breaths were quiet, my heart was stuttering. I lifted my hand to my chest and rested it over my heart trying to find a steady beat.
He looked at my raised hand and cupped his hand around mine holding it softly.
I looked up at him confused, his eyes were full of fear and guilt.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't want to-to hurt you,"
What? What did he mean? He didn't want to do this? He'd had too? Been forced too? By what?
I rested my head against his chest barely understanding that what had just happened wasn't personal.
My eyes focused in the distance on the dark clouds in the sky.
"What's your name?" he asked nervously
"W-Win-Winnie." I murmured breathlessly, another rain drop fell on my cheek, or was it a tear?
I couldn't tell or feel anymore.

"w-who are you?" I managed to whisper in a bewildered voice,
"E-Emmett, Emmett Cullen… Winnie how old are you?"

He was afraid to ask, he knew I was little.
"E-Eleven." His face twisted in agony,
"Eleven," He said ashamed,
Another tear ran down my cheek,
"D-Don't l-le-lea-leave me a-all al-alone to d-die," I whimpered
"Shhh," he murmured reassuringly. "I'm not leaving you, I know you can't understand that that wasn't me hurting you."
"N-Not you?" I whispered.
"Winnie I'm- I'm a vam-
"V-Vampire?" I whispered, I knew what he was, it was obvious now.
"Yes, there's a vampire in me, I-I can't control myself-him sometimes, but that's-that's no excuse, I shouldn't have hurt you."
"I forgive you," I whispered through my dry blood caked lips, there was nothing else to do now anyways, I knew he meant his apology, he looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"Don't!" He cried, "I don't deserve it,"
I never responded to that, I sighed deeply,
"M-Make the fire go away," I said in a disoriented whimper,
"I-I can't." he murmured, my eye lids fluttered, "I wish I could,"
"Sta-stay-with m-me,"
"Whatever you want." He murmured,
Right as I tasted my own blood, I gasped, and felt my heart stop.
I looked at Emmett afraid as one last drop fell down my cheek. Then my eyelids seemed to have all the weight of the world on them at once and they slowly closed. His handsome face faded away slowly, eventually I lost sight of his immensely innocent eyes. I fell into nothing but a painless silence.

Emmett POV

Winnie closed her pretty blue eyes, and blood ran down the corner of her little mouth
I panicked,
"Winnie?" I asked, no response, "WINNIE!" I cried.
The little girl was gone, I had killed her, I'd murdered an innocent child.
I couldn't physically cry, but this was the closest I'd come yet, as I hugged her small cold body.
"No, no, no, no Winnie," I sobbed, "I'm sorry,"
All I could do was hold her, knowing that's what she would want.

There was a sudden hand on my shoulder, I looked up at Carlisle and burst into pathetic sobs.
I was a grown man but I couldn't control myself from crying like this because I was so horrified at what had happened and at what I'd done to this poor child. Her ribs were broken, her leg was broken, I'd bitten her mercilessly, and blood was spattered all over her tiny body.
Carlisle knelt beside me and looked at Winnie, his expression was pained and his eyes sad.
"She's just a baby," I moaned miserably,
"It was an accident," he murmured,
"I hurt her so badly, she was so scared,"
"It wasn't you," Carlisle murmured,
"It was me! Her blood is all over my hands, this is my fault!"
"She was bleeding Emmett,"
"It doesn't matter," I growled, "I will never not blame myself for this, I should have been stronger!"
Carlisle sighed and took Winnie's cheek in his hand, he tried to see if there were any way to save her.
"She's gone." I murmured.
Carlisle nodded and pulled his hand away, he spoke after watching Winnie's face a moment.

"You stayed with her so she wasn't alone, Emmett she felt safe with you the last few minutes, even after what happened, you explained you gave her a reason why this happened, you took care of her. That meant everything to her."
Of course I nodded so Carlisle would think I believed that. But internally I felt evil, like a real monster. I was the creature children like Winnie had nightmares about. The monster her mother and father had probably checked for in her closet 1000 times when she was little and afraid. The beast villagers had hunted and burned at the stake only 300 short years ago. I was a ruthless killer, I deserved death for what I had done; sadly no one would ever know I had done any of this. I would get away without question.

"I- I didn't want to hurt her," I murmured in a broken tone.
"I know son," Carlisle's voice wasn't disappointed, it was just sober and morose.
I had to face the fact that what was happening was very real and this wasn't a dream.
"I can't leave her out here,"
"Emmett please, you know it has to look as natural as possible,"
"No, I can't leave her out here,"
Esme knelt beside me as well, her honey golden eyes fought tears, it killed me to see my mother hurting so badly; the last thing I wanted was for my mother to grieve because of me. Esme had suffered enough in her human life, being abused by her ex-husband and losing her baby. I wonder what she thought of me now. I had killed a child, she loved little ones like this, and the fact I had brutally ended this one's life so violently was a betrayal to Esme. I was at the very least thankful that Esme hadn't had to watch.

"Emmett you know you have to let them be found naturally, it's the only way. Anything else will draw suspicion."
"But I-I- I told her I wouldn't leave her." I intended to keep my promise.
"We know, and I'm reassured that you care so much about this little girl, but you know this is the way it has to be."
I sighed and looked at Winnie's dirt-streaked, pale face.
"I-I can't do it,"
"I'll take her," Carlisle murmured gently,
I nodded and resentfully handed Winnie to Carlisle, she was lifeless but Carlisle carried her away with the same care he would if he were carrying a newborn baby.

Meanwhile, I sat there feeling empty and worthless as Carlisle walked away. I was pathetic, useless and a coward. My head fell in my hands and I began to sob tearlessly.
Esme hugged my shoulders softly.
"Never again." I murmured, "Never, I'm not going to hunt anyone ever again."
"I know," Esme murmured. "I believe you."
I choked back a sob,
"You shouldn't be near me Esme, I might hurt you,"
"Nonsense,"
"I don't deserve your company, after what I did to W-Winnie, you should hate me."
Esme looked at me stunned, her soft voice startled.
"I could never hate you, you're my son. Why would I hate you?"
"For hurting Winnie, for being like Charles."
Esme held my cheek tenderly in her hand, I looked up at her in despair,
"Emmett, you are one of the sweetest young men I have ever met, don't you ever compare yourself to Charles, he was a true monster. You made a mistake, but Carlisle and I don't love you any less. You learned today, and I know this won't happen again because you won't let it. This changed you, your heart is good Emmett, you and I both know you would never have hurt Winnie if you'd had a choice."
I nodded slightly,

Carlisle POV

I set the child down on the ground beside the tent and placed her to make her look as if she had fallen.
Emmett had been completely crushed by this child's death, which was understandable, he'd been doing so good, resisting humans and all. The fact the girl was so little, well, it made it worse for Emmett.
She hadn't had a fighting chance against Emmett.
He would feel like a monster for a long time and I regretted that I couldn't take his pain away. He didn't deserve it, he never would have hurt this little one had he had a choice.
Never, of that I was certain.

I noticed a little gold necklace around the girl's neck, it was a heart with a W on it.
"W for what?" I asked as I thought out loud,
I returned and looked at Emmett who stood now, clearly in despair, next to Esme.
His clothes were tattered and stained, the rain was starting to fall down again so his hair stuck onto his forehead, his eyes were bright red and ashamed.
"Let's go home." I murmured solemnly,
Emmett nodded, but I knew he was terrified of his wife and siblings finding out what he had done. Esme took off first, Emmett was about to follow when I stopped him, catching his shoulder in my hand.
"Emmett, here, you might need this." I murmured,
I set the little chain in his capable hands, he recognized the scent
"Carlisle?" He asked, "Why'd you give me this."
"She's special," I murmured, "I don't think you'll slip up again after this, she'll be your last, which means you need to remember her."
Emmett nodded and slipped it into his pocket,
"Why W?" I asked
"W is for Winnie." He murmured in a solemn voice
"Winnie, that's lovely,"
Emmett nodded slightly,
"It was,"