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Chapter 1: Running

I always loved running around the Cullen property. We had so much land around us and there was no way that I couldn't take advantage of it. I liked to run every day. I had to keep my body in fine shape if there was anyway that I would be able to recover from Carlisle's disappearance.

My husband, Carlisle, had left one day. He said something about Italy and then I never heard from him again. Alice said that she saw a vision where Carlisle had been executed, and since then she hasn't been able to pick up anything on him. I didn't want to know the details, I would just go on pretending that he would be back. He would never leave me alone and he would be back. There is no way that it would be like that for him in his last moments.

I took Carlisle's absence hard. He was everything to me in my life and now he was gone. I wasn't sure how I would go on with my life. I found that if I did the opposite of things that I enjoyed with Carlisle that I could forget about him for a moment at a time. I know that he would always be in my thoughts since he made me who I was in the first place.

I wish I hadn't been so stubborn to him when I was first changed. I wish that I would have fallen in love with him right away. I thought we had forever to be together but I was wrong. Wrong. Esme has always been called the passionate one, she's always nice, always loving, always caring. But right now that was the last thing on her mind. I made sure that I would at least try and forget about Carlisle during this run. It should be easy right?

I put both of the ear buds from iPod in my ear and cranked up the music, I wanted it so loud that I could hear nothing else but the beating of the music. I knew that no matter what I would still probably be able to hear everything around me but I thought maybe it was an idea I would try. I could still hear every time my foot hit the path, hearing that steady beat I wanted to run faster. I was concentrating on the noise it would make. I am sure that that's what my heart once sounded like too when it was still beating.

I tried to deny the flashbacks in my head, the first time Carlisle and I kissed when he ended up taking me right there in the living room. I knew it would be trouble when he ripped off my dress by accident. But it wasn't like I didn't want it to happen. The passion that I had pent up came out for him. I never had anyone care for me like he did. And the way he touched me...the world could crumble around me and I would never notice. I loved that about Carlisle, he made me forget everything. I could really use him now while I'm trying to forget about him.

I couldn't run hard enough or fast enough now. Why couldn't I run faster? I wanted to be just like the wind. Then maybe I could float away. Even being able to climb trees right now didn't give me solace. Having all this power and all the money in the world couldn't make me forget.

I stopped in right in my tracks because I caught a scent of something I was very used to. What was this smell? And why did I know the smell but couldn't put it together? As I slowly started to turn around I saw him. He was standing up against the tree with a sly smirk on his face.

"Oh Esme, how nice it is to see you here. I have been waiting for you."