Summary: Bella gets lost in the middle of the forest on the way to her friend, Jasper's, wedding rehearsal. The forest is completely desolate besides one lone cabin owned by a mysterious bronze-haired artist. Can this man help Bella with more than just finding her way back home? A story about love and finding yourself in the most unlikely of places. AH/AU-ish

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters

Chapter 1: Light in the trees

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The old gravel road was worn and bumpy and caused the truck to spin and bounce. It made me move up and down against the seat and i found myself sliding off of it. I was probably going over a hundred miles per hour at this point. It didn't really matter though, being as the only thing I've seen for miles on end is pine trees and gravel road. The dark sky cast an eerie cloud above the forest only broken by the beam of the truck's headlights.

I pushed aside the half empty coke cans in the cup holder to see the dashboard clock.

8:15

Shit

I was supposed to be at Jasper and Alice's wedding rehearsal at 8.

I pushed down the gas petal with a little more force which resulted in a defiant moan from the engine.

Come on please, not now.

I was desperate to make it to the rehearsal on time. Jasper always teased me for always being late to everything, saying I would be late to my own funeral If I could. I wanted to prove him wrong so I got ready early and left the house at 7 o'clock, exactly one hour before the rehearsal started. He told me his aunt's house, where the rehearsal was taking place, was about a half hour away from my apartment.

If it was a half hour away then why am I straight in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Washington forest? I reached over and flung open the glove box and pulled out the napkin which Jasper scribbled the directions onto.

Drive 10 miles down Route 37 until you see the fork in the road turn left.

I've been driving a lot more than ten miles, that's for sure. Where's the fork in the road then? I pushed my head outside the truck's window to get a better view of the upcoming road when I was hit with a large, cold gust of wind. The wind sent my long brunette curls to fling up and wrap around my face, which blocked my vision. I tried to smooth down my hair with one of my hands, to untangle the strands.

This is what I deserve for not doing my hair for the rehearsal. My hair was just kept down and swept to the side. I was in such a hurry not to be late, I didn't have much time to do anything about it. I did manage to put on some mascara and some lipstick though. That made it look like I put some effort into my appearance. On the other hand I put on a plain navy blue dress and black heels. The outfit kind of made me think of my mother, Renee, who always loves to dress up in this kind of stuff. I'm not really one for dressing up. I usually just wear jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt. I don't really do my hair and I only usually wear makeup when i'm in that 'impress that hot guy that works in the office' kind of mood.

Today is different though. Jasper made me promise him that I wouldn't show up in converses and jeans; I reluctantly agreed. He also made me promise that I'd be on time.

One promise followed through, that's not so bad?

I squinted my eyes to see in the distance better when my hair began to fling itself around my face again. I groaned, and tried to get the hair tie from my wrist and still continue to look forward. I saw a small, green sign on the side of the road with small, white writing. Maybe the sign would give me some idea of where I am. At least if it told me I was in some type of town I could see if Jasper mentions it in the directions and If it isn't mentioned in the directions at least I know I'm for sure lost and need to turn.

I managed to grab the hair tie from my wrist and I removed one of my hands from the steering wheel to tie my hair back. The car jutted into a weird angle and almost threw me off my seat. What the hell. The front tires then turned forcing me to make a sharp left off the road and into the forest floor. I screamed and grasped the steering wheel with both hands, throwing my entire body weight into making a turn back into the road. The tires screeched and my small body bounced up and down on the seat from the force of the car's movement. The turn was too late. The side of my car turned down a small hill before the forest landing. The next thing I know, the front of my truck enters the forest and my entire body is thrusted forward in my seat. I hear the screeching of metal and tree branches scratching the glass of the windshield. The contents in the cup holders flew out and hit the ground along with all my stuff in the passenger seat like my sneakers and backpack.

It all happened so quickly that I wasn't sure if it were real or not. One moment I'm driving down a quiet, road in the middle of the forest and the next im head first in a car collision. Smoke began to soundlessly lift from the front of the car along with a large cloud of dust and leaves. The engine also began to make some weird sort of chugging noise which can only be identified as 'not a good sound.'

After the loud sounds of the engine and the damage of the metal scraping the tree subsided, I'm left alone with the quiet sounds of the forest like the 'hoos' of the owls and the swaying of the wind throughout the spaces of the trees. My hands are still firmly planted on the steering wheel and my whole body is shaking from the adrenaline of the impact. What the hell was that?

This can't be happening to me right now. This is the kind of stuff that happens to those girls on the late night horror movie shows. The girl whose coming back from her boyfriend's house when she accidently runs out of gas and is found by some psycho killer in the woods.

Oh no.

I winded up the window and sunk down into my seat. Oh no, Oh, no. I reached over and locked both car doors. My hands were shaking and I could feel my eyes growing heavy from unshed tears. I fumbled with the pile of fallen objects on the floor looking for my cell phone. I would call Jasper and tell him to come find me or I'd call the police. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. I just need someone to help me get out of here. Who knows what could happen if I just stayed here in the middle of nowhere? This was certainly not how I pictured my last hours on earth. I wanted to be an old lady in my beach house in Miami with my husband by my side or some shit. I didn't want to die alone in the middle of the forest when I was only twenty three. When I found my cell phone, I sunk back down into the seat and flipped it open.

Looking for service

It said clear as day, in small white taunting little print. My heart may have died a little after processing those words. All sense of hope was thrown out the window. There was no town nearby for miles, so no one was likely to travel by here. Maybe there would be the occasional tow truck or something that would pass by who would help me. How likely was that though? It's not like I could wait for that to happen either. It could be days until someone drove by here and I didn't have any food with me besides a couple old half-empty cans of coca cola.

It was then I realized I never read the sign on the side of the road. I opened the glove box and pulled out my small, pocketsize flashlight and shined it out the windshield towards the sign in the distance to get a better view.

Forks 20 miles

Forks? I've never heard of the town of Forks and I've lived here, in Washington, since my junior year of high school, Hmm, weird. At least there is a town nearby! This is a good thing. Since there's a town close by the chances of someone driving down this road are greater.

Well, there weren't any cars on this very, same road for the last 30-something-miles, the more reasonable part of my brain argued.

That very thought made my eyes fall watery again. Silent tears streamed down onto my cheeks as I hugged my knees close to my body. There was so much still in life that I'd wanted to do. I never got a chance to go skydiving or go and visit Italy or go sightseeing in New York. Instead I was going to die in the middle of nowhere when I was twenty-three-years-old before I even began to live due to some crazy ax murderer. The tears became more consistent and broke out into small sobs. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, trying to keep my mascara from running. I must look like a complete train wreck right now, or car wreck would be more appropriate I guess. With the messed up hair, smeared makeup, stilettos and skanky little dress I probably looked like some runaway stripper or some prostitute that was just driving around looking for clients. I groaned and tried to untangle my hair with my fingertips that was thrown and clumped against my scalp.

My only hope was that a car would make its way down the road and offer to help me. If it happened to be some sleazy tow truck driver I didn't want them to think I would 'reciprocate' them for their kindness, looking the way I did now. The thought made me shudder.

Hey, no offense to the two truck drivers. Maybe I was just being unreasonable and paranoid like I usually did in situations like this. Not that I've ever been in a situation really anything close to this though…

This part of the forest was so isolated that a passing car could do anything they wanted to me without it ever being noticed or heard. They could take all my stuff and just drive off and nothing would happen to them. Well, the only thing I had of value was the fourteen dollars in my wallet and my cell phone which was the old outdated version that probably had a value of one dollar on eBay.

Defeated, I laid my head on the truck's window and looked out into the dark forest, trying to calm myself down. The sky was almost pitch black besides the eerie white color of the moon, causing most of the dark-colored bark on the pine trees to look united instead of separated from one another. They created almost a silent wall against the night. The silent sway of the leaves was the only movement visible.

I stayed still for a moment watching the leaves, feeling my body begin to relax. They seemed so peaceful I couldn't help but feel entranced by them, hypnotized by the movement. I admired the different shades of green on every leave, how no one leaf was the same compared to another.

One of the leaves had a weird shine of yellow over the surface of it. It glimmered and held my attention over the others.

The neighboring leaf also had a shade of yellow on it, the one next to that one too. I then began to notice that all the leaves around that area where shining with some weird whitish-yellow glow. I picked my head up and leaned over the dashboard to get a better view. All the trees that lay behind the tree with the glowing leaves were also illuminated. I unlocked the door and opened it cautiously, which opened with a loud creaking noise, deafening the small sounds of the forest. My shoes made small snapping noises with the fallen leaves of the ground as I got out of the car and walked closer to the tree with the shining, yellowish light. When I got to the tree, my heart began to race. Light.

I whipped my head behind the tree to see a small cabin in the distance with a small window in the front that shined across the pine trees. The light was beaconing, welcoming.

I don't know who's up there or if there's a god or anything like that. I've never really been much into religion but something about that cabin was unworldly. What were the chances of it being here, right when I needed it. It was almost like fate. Pfft, yeah ok. Fate was only something used in cheesy chick flicks. It was just a…extreme coincidence.

I felt my body mindlessly moving towards the glow of the window. Walking turned into jogging which turned into full on running through the trees towards the house. My body felt light on my feet and I probably had the goofiest grin on my face. The relief and exhilaration was coursing through my veins. The cold air pierced the naked skin not covered by the thin material of my dress, as I ran between the trees, making me feel even more energized. I felt invincible.

The cabin was so close I would reach it any second. It was just outside of the forest's tree line in a opened meadow surrounded by small white and blue flowers scattered about. On the left side of the house was a small stream of water that splashed quietly around the rocks, only visible by the light coming from the window.

It about took my breath away. It was beautiful, perfect.

I was just about outside of the forest and into the opening when a small vine on the forest floor wrapped itself around the heel of my stiletto. One half of my body stopped while the other part was still moving towards the house, causing me to slam down into the ground, hard. The air left my lungs in an audible whoosh. I didn't feel invincible anymore. I didn't know what I was feeling anymore. Black crept its way into my vision and my body felt weak, with sharp pains scattered throughout my arms and legs.

This is what you get for trying to run in heels Bella

I tried to groan at my stupidity, but it even hurt to do that. I just laid motionless as the pain began to increase and my eyes began to close slowly. In some distant part of my mind I heard yelling and the swishing the sneakers.

"Are you okay?" A voice yelled, followed by a warm set of muscular arms wrapping around me. "Can you hear me?" the voice whispered, slightly shaking me. It was pleading and desperate sounding, the hold on my body got tighter. I felt myself being lifted from the ground and moved towards the bright light in the distance.

I lost the battle to the darkness physically and mentally. I felt drained and left without fight. I closed by eyes to overcome the pained sensation spreading through my body. Before I knew it...

i was out.