The sun was beginning to set and the intense Arizona heat was beginning to cool much to Bella Swan's delight, although she had lived in the south as long as she could remember the weather had never felt right to her. Her family was originally up north so perhaps it was in her DNA, but when Bella's parents split up her mother moved them both down to sunnier climates when she was younger she used to spend the summer with her father in Washington and one of the best parts of those trips was the escape from the Arizona heat.
Today felt like it had gone on forever, school had been fully of it usual annoyances, bitchy cliques, creepy guys and teachers who droned on constantly with no sign of stopping. So Bella was relieved to finally be walking through her front door, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror her pale skin was drenched in sweat she always tried to stay out of the unforgiving sun but whilst she managed to avoid a tan the heat still found her in the shade.
Walking into the living room she dumped the bags on the sofa and immediately headed to the kitchen for a drink. As she filled a glass and quenched her thirst Bella noticed a note on the counter and sighed, her mother had been in a long term relationship up until a few months ago when the guy suddenly cut it off and disappeared with no explanation. After a short period of being heartbroken her mother decided to "get back out there" and had been on a dating rampage ever since.
Bella was glad she was trying to move on but having a single mum didn't agree with her, she was barely ever home anymore most of her mother's time was now split between work and dating Bella hadn't even seen her this week the only sign she was still alive were the notes she left for Bella to come home to. Bella had always been independent in fact ever since her early teens she had taken on the majority of the chores around the house everything from the cooking to the cleaning but she had always liked having someone in the house. Without the sounds of movement someone to chat to casually or someone to eat dinner with Bella soon found herself feeling lonelier than she had expected. And that loneliness made her feel selfish, Bella wanted her to be happy and couldn't bring herself to ask her mother to give up her new happy life just to keep her company.
Opening the letter Bella found exactly what she had expected a hastily written note explaining her mother wouldn't be home for dinner and that she was sorry with a promise to make it up to her. Bella refolded the note and put it back where she found it "she might as well keep this one and reuse it tomorrow it would save on paper" she thought cynically as she opened to fridge to make a start on her dinner. The cool air hit Bella face as she opened door and her mind went back to childhoods with her dad in Washington she hadn't been back there since she started high school her mother had thought that constantly going back and forth across the country would be good for her socially so from then on her dad came to them instead. Maybe it was nostalgia distorting her memories but Bella had been thinking of going back there for a while now, her mother seemed happy and Bella only felt like her presence was only getting in the way so moving in with her dad seemed like the best option for them both. Bella had been waiting for a chance to bring it up to her mother but had not been able to, She had been tempted to leave a note for her mother as a form of revenge but hadn't had the heart. So with another sign Bella grabbed a couple eggs from the fridge and went about making dinner.
A loud thump woke Bella from a deep sleep, she blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked over at the alarm clock by her bed, 03:30 it read. She groaned her mother had finally made it home and from the hushed giggling Bella could hear she hadn't returned alone, Bella rolled over and tried to go back the dream she had been having, she had been dreaming about the last time she had seen snow, Bella began to drift off again but another thump pulled her from the snowy dreamland. She angrily groaned and dragged herself out of bed this had happened before and Bella knew from experience that unless she said something ther mother and her date would continue being ''quite''. Stepping out of her room Bella was surprised to find herself in darkness, "that weird" she thought to herself usually her mother left a trail of lights on through the house when she came home drunk but it didn't look like a single light was on in the entire house "Mum?" she called out but she received no reply, Bella called out again but still received no reply usually her mother would come round the corner quickly apologize before hurriedly dragging her date into her room. Concern came over Bella so she cautiously stepped into the hall and searched the house, her first thought was the bedroom and Bella was hesitant to open the door at first not wanting to catch her mother in the act but her concern won over and she opened the door. The bedroom was empty and the bed was still made "she definatly not been in here". Next she checked the kitchen but found it empty as well, "Maybe i dreamt it" Bella thought and was contemplating heading back to bed when she heard a faint noise coming from the living room, as she got closer she noticed the door she had left open when she went to bed was now shut and the noise was beginning to become clearer. It sounded like choking.
Panic came over Bella as the mental image of her mother being strangled jumped to the front of her mind she ran over to the door and swung it open.
What she saw on the other side of that door shocked her, in the center of the room stood a man who must have been way over 6ft tall, his arms were wrapped tightly around her mother lifting her clean off the ground but what froze Bella where she stood was the sight of this stranger sinking his teeth into her mother's neck, at first Bella thought she had walked in on a private moment but the dark blood which had covered her mother's front quickly dispelled that notion.
The Stranger's eyes shot up and locked with Bella's, his crimson red eye matched the blood covering his mouth, he unwrapped his arms from around Bella's mother and let her drop to the floor with a sickening thud. Bella looked down at her mother's body hoping for a sign of movement but she remained where she fell lifeless and still. The Stranger took a step closer to Bella bringing her attention back to him, a disturbing grin had formed on his face showing off his blood stained teeth. The movement provoked a wave of adrenaline to fall over Bella and she ran concern for her mother overridden by the instinct for self preservation, she made it to the front door had grabbed the handle but before she could pull it a cold hand clamped down on her shoulder.
The Stranger squeezed and Bella collapsed in pain she would have fallen to the ground but the Strangers gripped held her up like she was weightless, painicing Bella reached out blindly trying to find a weapon of any kind, but struggle must have upset her assailant because he squeezed harder and Bella heard a loud crunch as her shoulder blade cracked under the force of the Stranger's grip. Bella cried out in pain screaming desperately, she couldn't escape but maybe someone would hear and come to her aid "stop it" the Stranger ordered angrily his voice was rough like that of a heavy smoker, but Bella could stop even if she wanted to the pain from her shoulder and the fear coursing through her was to strong. She heard what sounded like a growl from behind her and felt the man's teeth close onto her neck, as he bite down Bella was overcome by shock, this couldn't be happening, this must be a dream. A cold feeling started to spread through her body until she felt entirely numb looking down Bella saw her own blood begin to stream down her body and drip onto the carpet below her. Bella's head began to feel clouded and the panic which had taken over her entire body dissipated, she could only focus on the feeling of cold. She hadn't felt cold in a such a long time and her mind drifted back to to the snow filled dream she had been having, Bellas eyelid grew heavy and she could find the energy to keep them open anymore as she slowly loss consciousness.
The snow filled wonderland did not last as Bella was dragged back into consciousness as her entire body burned she thrashed and screamed until the pain became too much and she blacked out.
This continued for what felt like years until she finally awoke, her body no longer burned it felt weightless, Bella slowly lifted herself off the floor and looked around everything seemed different she had lived in this house for year but had never noticed ass the cracks in the walls of the brightness of the paint, she could hear a loud assortment of humming and whirring coming from the kitchen "how had i slept with such a racket going on" she thought. She took a step to investigate the noise but stopped when her foot landed on something strange.
The usually beige soft carpet was now stained red and felt rough against her feet as she stepped onto her own dried blood, Suddenly the events of the other night came flooding back to her and fear set in again. Bella ran into the living room and was hit by a rancid smell covering her nose she stepped into the room. Like the hallway she had woken up in the living room was also now red the beige carpet now had what looked like large red foot prints trailing around the room and toward the doorway she now stood in and in the center of the room was a pool of red with a blonde body face down in the center.
Bella felt tears well up in her eyes and she crept over to her mother hoping praying that she was okay that she was just asleep like Bella had been, she knelt down by her mother and turned the body over.
All hope left Bella, her mother's body was stiff and her face and body was covered in crusted blood matting her hair and staining her clothes, the face which had been part of so many memories was frozen in a look of anguish. Bella turned away not able to see her mother in this state any longer. She saw the house phone hanging from its place on the wall "i need help" Bella said her voice cracking as she tried to hold back sobs. She wanted to call the police but she could get any strength into her legs her entire body felt weak and her throat ached "must have been from that screaming" she thought "someone must have heard that why haven't the police come yet".
Consumed by grief and too weak to move bella remained where she sat frozen until a loud knock came from the door snapping her out of her trance, "hello Ms Swan, this is the Police open up" came a loud authoritative voice before another loud knock. Bella looked towards the noise and noticed how dark it was outside "i swear it was morning a few minutes ago" she thought "I must have zoned out", another knock rang through the house "Ms Swan if you're in there open the door or i will be forced to knock it down".
Bella knew she should go answer but could find the strength to get to her feet, the police gave another warning but Bella ignored it. A loud crash came from the hallway letting Bella know they had kicked in the door "Jesus christ" exclaimed one of the cops, they called out again but Bella wasn't listening to them, she could hear a strange noise which immediately drew her attention a faint thumping sound was also coming from the hallway. Bella felt her throat go dry and tried to swallow but found it had no effect. The thumping grew louder and louder and as it grew louder Bella throat became dryer until it began to burn.