I miss the rain and fog that was my home. It hasn't rained here yet, and I can't stand it! Hanover is definitely not my cup of tea. It reminded me of Arizona, minus the heat and sand. The city bustled and the streets were crowded. Dartmouth is boring. I already know the material, and Edward insists on studying like the average student to, "Keep up his grades". This statement was almost always followed with a smirk on his part.
I hadn't seen my mother or father in the two months that I had been a vampire, and I was reaping what I'd sewn. Let's just say that my last conversation with my mother didn't go as planned. She didn't take to well to mine and Edward's sudden matrimony. Turns out, my mother had a secret grudge against my relationship with the man I loved. "He's too serious for you" she'd told me, followed by the classic, "Stop rushing into things! You have forever for marriage". But little did she know, in my mind, only now that I'm immortal, do I have for ever.
My new family thought that Edward and I going to school in New Hampshire would give me a break from my family feud issues, so they shipped us off. Emmett had a good laugh, thinking that we would have nothing to do at night except read and talk about our feelings, and Rosalie jabbed him with an exceptionally sharp pencil.
As for my father, well, we just fell out of contact. He stopped calling while me and Edward were on our honeymoon on Esme's island, and the last letter came to the house right before me and Edward left for Dartmouth. The last letter declared that he'd had enough of the lies between the two of us, and it made him sick to think of our delusional love story. So, in other words, my father and I are on a no speaking status.
Esme had greeted me with open arms, saying that I should have moved in with them sooner, and she already had a room set up for me and Edward. She had declared his room to small for two people. And the small bathroom that was attached to it just wouldn't do. So, Esme being Esme, she added an entirely new wing to the house, Complete with an office, master bedroom, balcony, and a king sized bathroom.
Alice and Rosalie filled the bathroom to the brim with beauty products, funny smelling soaps, flowery shampoos and conditioners, face washes, and so many perfumes, we could re-stock Macys. But the same day, I went out and purchased my good old strawberry shampoo and conditioner for myself and some sturdy looking 2-in-one shampoo/conditioner for Edward and his Manly needs. But I kept all the designer clothes they stocked the huge closet with. I even wore the heals without falling flat on my face.
Girls have always taken harshly to me, saying that not only did I marry fresh out of high school, but I married the most handsome, desired man in Forks High school. But I never knew they would take it this far. I've been pushed, glared at, talked about, called names, and much more, and I always glared back, growled under my breath, clung to Edward, or scurried away, but the one person who always knew how to push me to the edge of my limit. Mariah Conway.
Mariah somehow always knew where Edward was all the time. She followed him to first period, always very sneakily, hiding amongst her pack of wolves, waited for him after second period, so on and so forth. But she was always angry to see me walk out on his arm, for Carlisle had specifically requested that the two of us have the exact same schedule. He never noticed her in the first place, but she still tried.
"Bella, love, please stop fidgeting." Edward whispered in my ear one day at lunch, his sweet smelling breath fanning over my face and making me dizzy. I tilted my sunglasses down onto the low end of my nose to expose my still ruby red eyes.
"I'm sorry, but Mariah keeps staring at you like you're a peace of meat." I stated obviously. She always sat at the table closest to us with her gang of wolves close by her side, even though most stayed away from us, and she just sat there and stared at us like we were the most interesting thing out there. Well, Edward was, I don't know about me.
"What's new? Bella, she's no threat to you. And I married the one I love…I wonder where she could be? Hmm…" He teased, looking around the small cafeteria.
"Shut up…" I said, and I hit his arm to return the favor. He actually winced.
Our night classes were almost up. Just one more class. P.E. with yours truly. The one class Carlisle couldn't find for me and Edward, and the one class that I had with Mariah alone. I knew we should have gone to the University of Alaska.
The bell rang and both of us stood up.
"Bye, don't do anything I wouldn't do…I love you." He said, kissing my head and walking away.
No promises I thought wryly, glaring at the pack of 3 people still sitting at their table, even though with bell had clearly rang.
Mariah's head follower's name was Amberlyn Lynche. She was short and skinny, with pale skin and flat brown eyes, her hair was the lightest shade of blond, and I could see her brown roots starting to show. But she had good fashion sense. All of her outfits matched with flawless planning, and I had a growing suspicion that she dressed Mariah every day.
The second was Tammy Lyon. She was of average height, maybe a little shorter than me. Her hair was long with soft curls that were a deep black tinged with a blue undertone. She had shaggy black bangs that swept her forehead, but the rest was pulled back gently with a headband. Her skin was pale, with a snowy glow, and her eyes an astonishing ice blue. She was a kind hearted girl, she always smiled and waved at me when Mariah or Amberlyn weren't looking, and I always smiled and waved back.
I stood when I felt I had lingered for long enough. I gathered my stuff and set off for my next class. I walked down the east hall way toward the gym, just as I always did after lunch, and heard some unholy sounding clicks from behind me.
"Move it, Mrs. Cullen." Mariah sneered, with a nasty look. She stopped right in front of me and looked up to look into my eyes and threatened me coldly.
"You may be married to him, but just know this, every time he tells you he loves you, every time he kisses you, he's thinking of me." she sneered. While they were walking away, Tammy turned to look at me with a sympathetic look in her eyes. She mouthed the word 'sorry'.
As soon as they were a safe distance away, I let out a growl and stormed to the gym. We were running around the small track that was placed in the large gym. Something to take my anger out on.
But little did I know that the track was definitely what the beast inside me wanted.
It wouldn't be a hard thing to do…all I had to wait for, really, is for her to be alone in the locker room with me, which didn't take to long.
"Hey Mariah, can I talk to you for a sec? Just girl to girl." I said, as I glided past the door to the locker room, switching down the lock on my way past.
"And with whom and I speaking?" She said from the stall she was changing in. She almost sounded polite. Almost. But the beast inside me roared, and I quickened my actions.
"Oh, just a passer by. I just have a quick question for you… about our history exam tomorrow..." I could hear her breathing stop, then start and quicken. She was excited for some reason.
"Oh sure!" She said, cheerily, bounding out of the stall in her volley ball uniform, ready to run.
I was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, looking at my nails.
"Ew… it's just you…" She sneered. She went over to the mirror to look at her grotesque appearance. I rolled my eyes and walked forward, my boots clicking quietly on the linoleum floor.
"Aw c'mon sweetheart, I just want to be friends…" I said, pushing a strand of curly blond hair behind her ear, the monster in me giggling in delight when she cringed away from my cold hand.
"W-what are you doing?" She shuddered.
"I just want to play with the Barbie…" I said, slipping off my sunglasses. When she saw my ruby red eyes, she gasped and stammered back. I smiled, a low rumble up stirring in my chest and started toward her. She gulped in a mouthful of air to scream, but I was faster. I darted behind her and put my icy hand over her soft, warm, moist human mouth. She grabbed onto my forearm and dug her nails into my rock hard flesh, only to split three of her nails, causing red blood to erupt onto my pale white complexion. It smelt exquisite. She smelt exquisite.
"Oh, God!" She screamed when I let my hand go. Hot tears ran down her face and she whimpered loudly.
"No God…just me." I purred in her ear, and bit down on her jugular. Red liquid spewed into my mouth and the taste of her most abundant bodily fluid washed over my tongue and coated my throat in a wave of soothing warmth. It was like nothing I had ever tasted, nothing like the elk and dear that roamed the forests at home, nothing like the bears and mountain lions that prowled the forests about a mile out.
She struggled and squirmed, until I could take no more of her nonsense and snapped her neck, exerting the lightest pressure in my wrist, and crushing her neck between my hand and the floor.
My work was rewarded by silence, and the sweet taste of her blood on my burning throat. It was such a relief, and I didn't understand how Edward and the rest of my vegetarian family could learn to live without it. Because I knew that if I got a taste of one more human, I wouldn't be able to control it.
I sat up and looked at my work. I had drained her dry, and she looked weak and lifeless with no color in her face. I let out one hysterical giggle, then another, and another, until I was laughing quietly on the floor in the locker room, and then I realized what I had to do. I had to find a way to hide the body. That was going to be a problem.
I sat up onto the balls of my feet and looked at her limp, lifeless body, then, I had a surge of genius.
I waited until the class had ended, and slung her over my shoulder, thankful that her dorm was right next to the gym, and walked into her dorm with the card I found in the back pocket of her knock-off designer jeans.
I dumped her crudely on the ground and went over to the small closet in the corner. I pulled out a long, black belt and dropped it next to her. I then got a good look at what the room looked like. There was a bunk bed up against the wall. It had bars across the top. Perfect.
I looped the belt between the bars and tightened it. Then I looked over at her dead body. There was a very prominent bite mark in her neck. Not a problem. I swept my tongue over the bite mark, closing it and erasing the mark completely. If I were not the one who put it there, I would not have known it was there at all.
I tied the make shift noose around her neck and strung her up. Then shifting through the paper work on her desk, I quickly memorized her handwriting and wrote a suicide note.
And that was that. I closed and locked the door behind me, and strutted down the hall. I wiped the blood off from my mouth on my black jacket sleeve, and whipped out my cell phone.
4 missed calls.
8 new text messages.
All from Edward and Alice.
And then I remembered. Alice. She probably just saw everything that took place, then told Edward. And now I was caught. So I did what I knew I had to do. I called Edward.
It rang twice before he answered.
"Bella?" He answered. I could hear the stress in his voice. I walked off of school grounds and onto the street while slipping my sunglasses back into place, my boots clicking with each step I took.
"Hey sugar…" I purred into the receiver.
"Bella, where are you? Are you okay?" He said in a rush. I heard the dorm door close and lock, then he picked up some bags, probably the two he brought and the three I had. I was about three blocks away from the school now.
"On first. Are we leaving so soon? I'm still so thirsty. Mariah needed a cheeseburger or something, because she was thin…" I said sarcastically. Now I knew for sure that he would find me, and we would be on the first plane home.
"Oh god, okay. I'm coming to find you and we're going home, Bella." He said slowly, like he was talking to a three year old.
"Okay, but you better make it fast. I see a juicy one." I said snidely, and hung up.
My inner beast purred, and then, a hard object hit the back of my head, and everything went dark.
I woke up to the quiet purr of and engine, and a massive amount of weight pressing down on my wrists and ankles.
I hissed in protest and writhed to try and get out of their iron grip. Four pairs of gold eyes.
"Bella, I need you to calm down for Me." said Carlisle from the driver's seat, Rosalie, who was sitting in the seat next to him, pulled out her cell phone and hit the 4 on speed dial. Emmett and Jasper, who were holding my hands and feet, tightened there grip.
I struggled more, wiggling my mid section. I whipped my head back too see Jasper's eyes as he clamped my hands in his iron grip. His face was pained, and his eyes rung with a fear that confused me. He looked as if all he wanted to do was let my hands go and run away.
"…I know, but they can't hold her much longer… Edward wait- Hello?" Rosalie spat into the receiver. She slammed it shut and turned to Carlisle.
"He said that he wanted to be alone until he got his anger under control…" She said to him. He shot me a look and pulled over. He nodded at her and she got out of the car and ran the opposite way. The humans driving down the highway didn't even see her. I looked up at the sign above the speeding cars. We were in Seattle… if she ran the other way, she'd be heading back to the airport.
"Bella, we're almost home." He said, reaching back to pat my knee. I flinched away from his touch.
"Where is Edward going?" I asked. I shifted my glance from Carlisle to Emmett to Jasper. All looked weary and unwilling to answer.
"We'll talk about it when we get home. As a family." He replied with a deep sigh.
"Emmett, Jasper, I'm calm now. Can you let go, please?" I asked. And truthfully, all I wanted was a big gulp of dear. I felt dirty on the inside, like I drank mud. I needed to calm myself, and detoxify my body.
Emmett nodded and released my ankles. Jasper, however, looked scared again. Then I realized why.
"Jasper, I'm calm, I swear. You can trust me." I said, sitting up. My wrists were still in his iron grip, and I had a feeling it was going to take some persuading on my part to change that.
But surprisingly, he let go, and I sat up straight and buckled my seatbelt.
"Carlisle….I'm so sorry…" I began, but he cut me off.
"Bella, don't you dare apologize. It was no ones fault." He said in a stern voice that made me want to stop talking completely.
It was a quiet ride home , and the tension in the air was practically tangible. We all sat staring forward, only letting out occasional awkward cough. The silence was shattered by Carlisle's cell phone ringing, making everyone jump.
"Hello? Esme what's wrong… He said that?... Okay well we're about ten minutes away…I love you to." He said, and shut his phone. He pulled onto the invisible driveway that lead to home, and the rest of my family. I sat in the window and looked out at the moss green trees flying past us at alarming speeds. It was good to be home.
Carlisle skidded into the drive way, and as soon as the car stopped, Emmett was pulling me out of the car and into a bear hug that could put any other hug he has ever given to shame.
"Bella I missed you so much! You missed mine and Jaspers paint ball war in the forest the other week! But Esme made us clean it up after so I guess you scored..." He trailed off into another thought, then started again. "Even Rosie missed you! We caught her sitting in your room." He whispered the last part, but that wouldn't stop Rosalie. A rock came whizzing through the air, and barely missed his head. He dropped me and went running into the house.
Next was Alice. I was tackled to the ground by her small body that was jam packed with strength and energy. She kissed my cheek over and over. "Bella! Don't ever leave me like that again! Emmett was bored and you know how he gets when he's bored… Esme had no one to help her garden, and Carlisle's one person book club was missing its one person! AND I WAS SOOOO LONELY!" She wailed the last part and buried her face in the crook of my neck. I laughed and picked her up, setting her on her feet. She scampered off to go talk to Rosalie.
I was sitting in the lawn now, watching everyone laughing and smiling with there significant other, then, the thought struck me.
"Hey guys, where's Edward?" I asked, and all heads turned to me.
"He's staying with the Denali's for a couple days, just to sort things out. He'll be back in three days." Carlisle said, with a cautious look in his eyes, but a soft smile on his face.
"Okay…. that's okay, I suppose…" I said slowly, not wanting to sound depressed or upset by the fact that he wanted time to himself. If I were in this situation, I would to.
But the only problem was that everybody was still staring at me.
"Really guys, if he wants time alone, then I don't blame him. This has probably been really stressful for him…" I said, and an unexpected voice but me off.
"But what about you?" Said Jasper from the stairs on the porch.
"…What about me?" I replied, confused.
"Well, I just think he's being selfish. He should be here for you, because this kind of thing just isn't easy to deal with on your own." He said while looking down at his hands, where he observed a small rock.
I got up and went to sit next to him. He looked down on me and his eyes were gentle. I and Jasper had never been particularly close; always staying at a safe distance, so the sweet smell of my human blood wouldn't tempt him. But now that my blood was no longer present in my body, that barrier fell.
"Well, why don't you just help me cope with my….uncontrollable guilt… just until Edward gets back, of course." I said with a small smile. He nodded and smiled back, sticking out his fist for me to punch. I punched his fist and we got up to go communicate with the rest of the family.
I smiled to myself, then at my new friend.