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Life has been cruel to me. Life has been dark. My name is Bella Cullen and I'm a vampire. My whole existence has been a nightmare since the year of 1908. The only thing that has kept me sane is my 'family'. The most important souls in my life aren't actually my 'blood related family', but we are definitely closer than anyone can possibly be. We are all vampires, so we help each other survive and assist each other get through the hardest times. In my family, there's Carlisle, my fatherly figure, Esme, the mother anyone could ever hope to get, Alice, one of my sisters who I love dearly, Rosalie, my other sister who I relate to the most, Jasper, my brother who influences me the most and Emmett. Emmett is my 'big brother'. I am the closest to him out of all my family members and we both protect each other through even the slightest problems. He and I get along together effortlessly and sometimes I feel like we actually are siblings. I am the youngest vampire in the family; I was changed last; when I was only seventeen years old.
We don't drink human blood; we feed off of animals because we don't like the feeling of killing something that we all once were; of killing an innocent human that has a normal life, which my family and I all wish to have. Rose and I both dream the most of being humans, which is one of the reasons why we relate so well to each other. Some of our kind has remarkable powers. Alice can see the future, Jasper can sense and control emotions of others around him and I am a shield. I can block a lot of other powers from taking effect. Carlisle has a theory about vampires like us. He believes that we get powers like this because we have certain dominating traits when we are human that get amplified during our change from human to vampire. He thinks that I was extremely protective in my past life. I think that this is true for every vampire because for example Esme has the biggest heart out of anyone I've ever met and she really loves all of us with her whole heart. She is a natural mother. I think that her past human compassion got amplified.
This is all I know of. I can barely remember anything about my past human life; about my real family. I remember quick glimpses and moments at certain times. Carlisle has also told me a brief version of my story; when they found me dying. I was lying on the beach with a vampire hovered over me. He was draining my blood and life in that instant. The monster had killed my parents before me. I remember feeling petrified and in panic. My now, dear family came and Emmett tackled the vampire who was draining me. He destroyed him. Maybe this is why we feel so much like siblings; because he saved me from what would have been my untimely death. If I would've known then that I would be put to this eternal life, I would've taken death with a smile. Alice had said to me that she saw me in one of her visions and thought of me as a sister before she had even seen me at that beach. I love her. She is my best friend, even though she is a hyperactive pixie that has a burning passion for shopping, which I can't stand about her. Alice takes me on shopping trips constantly buying me new clothes with the infinite amount of money us Cullens have. I can't stand how I can barely wear the same clothes twice. I'm an easy person to please. I seem to have a memory of a special event that was happening the day I was changed, I just can't remember what it was.
One thing that I do remember, is the breathtakingly gorgeous ring my parents gave me, which I still wear everyday. It is a shiny silver ring with an intricate pattern of large diamonds that refract light into the most beautiful of rainbows. All those diamonds lead up to the most dazzling green stone I've ever seen; even in my century old existence. It's an enormous, brilliant, deep green emerald that contrasts perfectly with the sparkling diamonds. I never let my ring anywhere out of my sight; I never take it off. It's special to me because it's the only thing that I have that's left of my old self to remind me of how little of my past I remember.
Another thing that makes my life more difficult is the fact that I have no one to share it with. My whole family has mates that they love with all of their unbeating and undead hearts. Carlisle and Esme are head over heels in love; Alice and Jasper worship the ground that each other walks on, and Rose and Emmett love each other to no end. They all have celebrated the love between them by the human ceremony of marriage, but I, I am alone. I see their love and only hope that I will find that someday. I have been looking for a love for over a century, but I haven't found anyone who has had a connection to me in the way that would make me melt when I stand near them. What's the worst part about living forever? That would have to be repeating high school over and over again. Doing it is like going through torture everyday.
That point brings me to the present where us 'kids' will have to attend school tomorrow to keep suspicion away from our family; like that will help. We might as well stay home. This way there won't be any obvious raging hormonal teenagers swooning all over us; watching our every move. We have been going to Forks High School for 2 years now after we came here from Alaska. Yet, the children that go here never cease to amaze me. They all look at us in over obvious lusty faces and with raging jealousy. I feel sympathetic to Jasper. He has to feel all of the dirty feelings from these kids. Right now, we live in Forks, Washington. We live here because it always rains, so we can go to school as much as possible… great. There are forests everywhere with plenty of food and everything is a dark shade of green; perfect for us. Since today is our last day of summer vacation, my family and I are going to hunt. It is hard to keep control of killing human teenagers with the annoyance that they are. Emmett and I keep kids away from the family. It turns into a little game each year. We've got to do something to keep us sane anyway. I wonder if I will be put through hell today with back to school shopping.
"Bella, get down here!" That shout from the uptight pixie herself pulled me out of my reflections. I was lying down on my bed thinking about the past. I sighed and forced myself to get up. One of the things that I have accepted about Alice is the clothing that she picks out for me to wear everyday. I walked slowly into my closet, trudging forward. I was in an extra irritable mood due to our situation for tomorrow. I sighed again. I opened the double doors and walked into my closet that is in fact bigger that my actual bedroom.
"Bella, I knew you would be living here so I already fixed your room up for you!" Alice squealed in excitement
"Thanks Alice, you never cease to amaze me." She smiled widely and stuck her tongue out at me. I was just getting used to the indescribable beauty of the house. We walked through a door in the hallway on the second floor to a gorgeous red, gold and deep green color schemed room. The bed was huge with silky emerald green and gold blankets. There was mahogany bookcases around the deep red room filled with many books. It looked as though it could have been a library. "I absolutely love it Alice! This is the most gorgeous room I've ever seen!"
Alice jumped up and down." Oh, I just knew you'd love it! Rose and Esme helped me decorate. You haven't even seen the best part yet!" Knowing Alice there was something big coming. I saw double doors on the opposite side of the room and looked up at her questioningly. "Yes! It's through those doors" she laughed sounding like a bell. We ran at lightning speed to the doors and stopped. I slowly opened the door.
"Alice! Why did you give me a closet bigger than my room? It's actually possibly bigger than the entire third floor!"
"I know, isn't it great?!"
"No!!" I yelled. I heard a deep chuckle from downstairs shaking the house a bit; Emmett. I heard him say, "Bella better watch out. If they fight I'm betting on Alice." I heard Rose's perfect laugh voice her agreement.
"Why'd you ruin my whole mood Bella? I thought you would love this part. What kind of a person wouldn't like this?" Her face broke into a pout.
"Someone who doesn't like to have a mall in their room wouldn't like it!" I spit back
I chuckled, as I thought over the memory. Without Alice, this house wouldn't have an energy source. I picked up the royal blue cocktail dress and grimaced a little when I saw the high heels. Why I would need to wear this while hunting, I will never know. But, I have learned to never complain to Alice about what she buys for me. She's a bit sensitive when it comes to clothing.
I finished getting ready for the day by brushing my hair. Then, I walked through my door into the hallway and walked down the stairs to be greeted by everyone. Emmett ran right up to me and pulled me into a big bear hug grinning from ear to ear.
"Emmett, you know I've only been upstairs, right?" Everybody laughed.
"Alright, is everybody ready to go hunting? You guys have to be prepared for tomorrow" Carlisle stated. I groaned and Jasper chuckled.
"Yeah, Bella, Rose and I have to go shopping! We're running low on clothes!" Alice said. I looked at her quizzically and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Hey, is that why I'm wearing this to go hunt?" I added sarcastically pointing over my attire.
"No Bella." She sighed and I rolled my eyes. There was no use arguing because she probably just saw us going shopping in a vision already. I felt instantly calmer and I smiled thankfully at Jasper. He saves me a lot from exploding in anger.
"Let's go get us some bear!" Emmet blurted out changing the subject. He took Rose's hand and led her out the door. We all followed outside. I got in my red Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren; my baby. My Mercedes is the most brilliant car that exists. Its sleek body, red and black leather seats, and black tinted windows add to the irresistible appeal. Rose loves my car and helps me add new features to it regularly. Rose and Emmet always ride in my car with me, except during school, of course. Ugh… school. We can't drive my car to school because we can't stand out. So, we ride in her red BMW M3 convertible during those dreaded days. Hey, it's a little less flashy than mine at least. Carlisle, Esme, Alice and Jasper all got in Carlisle's black Mercedes. Carlisle and I started our cars and we peeled out of the long drive.
I raced through the streets going 150 mph. I love speed and it is such a burden to drive slowly and waste all of the potential that my car has. Rose and Emmett were joking around about my face when Alice was talking about going shopping. I shot a glare at Emmett.
"Whoa, sorry there, I didn't know you were going to cry about everything today sis." Rose snorted quickly and snickered as I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, well I deserved that one." I laughed along with them for a minute. I turned on the street where we park our cars and stopped. Carlisle wasn't there yet, so we waited a half a minute when we heard Carlisle's engine and ten seconds later he raced around the turn and stopped next to my car. We all got out.
I smirked when I saw Esme's surprised face and laughed a bit.
"What? You seem like you've never seen me drive before Esme." She smiled and Emmett was guffawing. He must have seen her priceless expression before. We have the same sense of humor.
"Yes, well that was even faster than usual today." She must have seen me spinning circles on the street. Alice laughed along too.
"Alright let's go hunt." Jasper offered.
We took off running through the forest and split up. I stilled for a moment and smelled the air carefully. Yum, grizzly seems good today. I sped through the forest following the attractive fragrance. I heard footsteps behind me.
"Oh no Bella, don't you go after that bear. I'm going to take it down; or it'll be you if you don't listen." I heard Emmett's voice yell from somewhere behind me. I hesitated, but laughed and got faster.
"No, Emmett, this one is mine. You can get it if you beat me there. It's fair game."
"Bella, I'm not going to let this go." We continued our pursuit and I was actually getting nervous when I heard him become faster and faster. He was gaining ground. I pushed into the clearing and jumped right to the bear, wasting no time. I drained it clean and jumped out of the clearing, right when Emmett stormed in.
"Wrong move." He growled playfully and I smiled smugly trying to make my way to escape deeper into the forest. I didn't hear anything for a moment, so I stopped to listen for any sign of Emmett. I looked up and gasped when I saw something from above coming down hard. Emmett must have made a huge jump there. He knocked me into the ground and got up laughing into hysterics.
"Karma Bella." He managed to choke out. I smirked
"Yeah Emmett, that's exactly what I'll be thinking later when Alice rips you to shreds after she sees my muddy clothing,"
"Oh. I'm uh going to hunt now." With that he flew off into the forest away from me. I was bubbling in laughter and continued to hunt. After I was done, I ran to where my car was parked. I climbed on the hood of my car and waited. Carlisle, Esme and Jasper all came at the same time. They looked at my ruined muddy clothing with confusion and Esme raised an eyebrow asking me her unspoken question.
I giggled. "Emmett." Understanding washed over their faces.
"Of course," Jasper said and Carlisle smiled warmly.
It was a moment before the others appeared through the forest; Emmet looking slightly nervous and Rose was laughing at me. I looked slowly towards Alice to see her fuming silently, but she never did say anything. Thanks again Jasper. With that thought, I smiled. Without him, things would get so out of control.
We got in our cars and drove off. After a minute of comfortable silence I said under my breath, "You're so lucky Jasper was there." They laughed and we continued our trip back. Emmett must have already told Rose. I arrived home in no time. It was around six, so before everyone else came home I went up the stairs to my room. I threw my clothes away and took a shower to get the dirt off of me. Afterwards, I got ready and made my way downstairs. Carlisle hadn't made it home yet and Emmett and Rose were talking outside, so I laid down on our couch and relaxed. After a short time, the others arrived home. Rosalie and Emmett came through the door and sat on the couch next to me, holding hands. Alice came in first, with the others trailing behind.
"Let's go shopping before we run out of time! And I call driving." I complied and stood up, walking towards the door with Rose following behind. We got into Alice's yellow Porsche and we took off towards the mall in Seattle. I sat in the backseat with Rose in the front. We talked about random topics and frequently, Alice would look in the rear-view mirror, smiling brightly at me. She had a bright spark of excitement in her eyes; must be the shopping trip.
After driving for more time than I would have taken, we arrived at the mall. Alice went into every overpriced store and bought us all about 2 full bags of clothing from each store. We kept getting stared at and followed by humans, which made me a bit uncomfortable. Rosalie helped Alice pick out what to buy, while I just followed along obediently, carrying my bags. I hate shopping. After what felt like days, an announcement came across the mall announcing that the mall is now closing. We left with about sixteen bags each and traveled home. Alice kept giving me those strange glances.
"Alice, why do you keep giving me odd glances? Did you have a vision?" She looked at me and smiled more exuberant than before. I take that as a yes. We arrived home at eleven p.m. and I made my way upstairs. I always feel strangely exhausted after these shopping trips, which is a bit humorous because we don't sleep. So I put my iPod in my speakers, listened to Debussy, and laid down on my bed. Not many vampires have beds, but to me, they are far too comfortable to waste. I opened my worn out book and read Romeo and Juliet again for about the thousandth time.
I was bought out of my relaxation by Alice bursting into my room.
"Bella, we have to get ready for school today! Get up!" she exclaimed. I took a glance towards the antique clock in my room and frowned.
"It is 4 o'clock in the morning Alice; we have to leave at 7:30. So, what are talking about?"
"Oh, we all have to look stunning today." She said
"We've been going to this school for two years though." I was starting to get a little suspicious. She had the same over excited expression on as yesterday in the car to and back from the mall.
"Third impressions always count." I grunted and got up. She is definitely hiding something from me. She pulled me into my closet and walked up and down the endless isles of clothing. We stopped at various places and Alice occasionally picked things off the racks.
"I'm done! You are going to look amazing today!" I smiled and she started leaving. Then, she turned around. "Oh and come to my room when you're done. Rose and I are going to do your hair today." I groaned.
"All right I'll be there in a minute." They seem to love dressing me up for some reason. Maybe because they love to torture the one girl in this house that doesn't like it. Why not Esme? I quickly put on a pair of dark blue designer skinny jeans; no doubt over $100, an expensive looking, flattering, tight royal blue sweater, and a pair of matching blue 3 inch heels. This is going really overkill, but I'll just deal with it. Alice knows how I hate the attention on me. And, better yet we are supposed to blend in. I still don't understand, after all these years, why Carlisle says that I can't drive my Mercedes, and yet, Alice is allowed to dress us up like supermodels. I would be beyond happy wearing looser jeans and sweaters, with sneakers.
I walked slowly out of my door and to Alice's room across the hallway. Before I could open it, she slammed it open. She looked at my outfit, "Perfect!" She pulled me in and towards her bathroom. I caught a quick glimpse of Jasper, who was snickering as he felt the emotions that I had. I gave him a death glare and he only started laughing harder. I took a deep breath as Alice sat me down on a chair. Rosalie walked through the same door soon after and into the bathroom to help Alice. I closed my eyes and waited for them to finish.
"We're done!" Alice screeched. I opened my eyes and looked into the mirror and I was pleasantly surprised. My mahogany hair was flowing down my shoulders and back with perfect waves. They had put makeup on my face to give me a little more color. There was dark pink lipstick on my full lips and a little blush on my cheeks. I had a coat of mascara on my already extra long eyelashes, making them bolder.
"I look great! Thanks you guys." I looked at Alice, who was glowing and to Rose who was looking smug.
"Now go wait for us downstairs. We need to get ready too." Rose said laughing
"Okay, I'll go keep Emmett company," I left and climbed down the stairs.