"Now boarding flight 89B to Port Angeles. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Thank you." The shrill voice announced over the intercom. The travelers put down their books and tablets, chattering about finally getting onto the plane. I had mixed feelings, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to leave the airport. I didn't want to have to deal with the reality of what lay on the other side of the 2 hour flight.
"Excited to get home dear?" an older gentleman asked as I grabbed my carry-on from the seat between us. I faked a smile and nodded as if it was excitement I was feeling rather than dread. All around me there was excited freshmen and sophomores, ready for a spring break at home. Across the airport you could see the legal-aged juniors and seniors in their summer hats and sunglasses, ready for a week of booze and beach. I should've been standing with them, but instead I was going home. Forever.
The seat-belt light finally flashed off but I didn't want to take it off. I felt secure and happy, like I could almost forget about the pain that waited only a few minutes away. I would've stayed in my seat until the last possible moment, but I was an aisle seat and I could feel the anticipation coursing through the blood of those sitting next to me. So I unbuckled my belt and jumped into the crowd of people heading off the small plane.
I had lived in Northwestern Washington - Forks - for the first seventeen years of my life before zooming off to anywhere else. First I had traveled Europe with Jason, my high school sweetheart. I had come home for about two weeks after that and then moved off to Oregon to live with an aunt who always needed a little more help on the farm. Once I had had enough of shoveling manure I moved back home for about three months until I went off to Berkeley for Environmental Science. No one was too sad to see me leave again. Jason had moved on to a more blonde and bigger busted girl. Mom and dad had enough on their hands with a newly-turned thirteen girl I had to call my sister. And Avery, my identical twin, spent all her time with Seth, the boy who replaced me as best friend and true love.
I felt like puking as I thought of Avery, the sole reason I had left California to come home. After a few seconds of nausea my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn't even remember the last time I had told her I had loved her, and now she was gone.
Avery, my other half. The only person who had seen me laugh so hard I cried. Avery, who looked at me with my eyes and judged my every stupid dream but would always support me. Avery, who I'd never see again.
After my last class before spring break I had raced back to my residence room to grab my cell phone. I had a night of partying planned, like most university students. As I turned on my phone I stuffed my face with whatever leftovers I could find in my fridge. I almost chocked when I noticed I had twenty-five missed calls from home. I had thought my family was ignoring me since I had decided to head to Miami for spring break. I could think of nothing that would merit so many calls. I dialed the familiar number as I washed my mouth out with a glass of water.
There was silence on the other line even after someone had picked up the phone.
"Mom? Dad? You guys there?" I asked into the silence. I could hear someone sobbing in the background.
"Hazel... There has been an accident," my mother croaked into the phone before letting out a broken sob. My heart sunk. What had Jami, my thirteen-year-old sister done to make mom so distraught. Was she okay? Or had dad had a heart-attack?
"Your sister, she... A truck hit her on her way home last night. She didn't make it." Mom started to sob again as I heard the phone hit the floor. I started to shake. Jami was so young, she didn't deserve to die. Tears streamed down my face.
"Is Avery home, can I talk to her," I whispered into the phone once my mom picked it back up. I needed to speak with Avery, we always knew how to calm each other down. My mom started to sob harder.
"Avery... Avery got hit."
"Oh honey," my mom cried as her arms encircled me. I breathed deeply to keep the tears down as I let go and hugged my younger sister. Lastly I hugged my father, who looked as if he hadn't slept since it happened.
"She wouldn't want us to be like this," I whispered as one lone tear slipped down my face. It was true. Where I was melodramatic, Avery was happy-go-lucky. She wouldn't let anyone frown or cry or scowl, it was always smiles with her.
No one spoke as we drove home to Forks. I knew it was hard to have me back. Looking at me would remind everyone of my sister. But I also knew it was necessary for me to be home. Families needed to stay together in hard times.
"Have we started planning the funeral?" I asked from the backseat, squeezing Jami's hand.
"Seth and his mother suggested we have it on the beach, because she loved the ocean," mom whispered and smiled at the memory. I closed my eyes and remembered how Avery's face would light up once her bare feet touched the wet sand. I nodded and silently thanked Seth for knowing my sister as well as I did.
Seth Clearwater. He was my sister's first love, her only love. Avery fell for him hard and fast. They met when I was in Europe and it was apparently love at first sight. He lived in La Push, a quick drive from Forks, and worked as a sort-of cop for the community. He was a year younger than us, tall, tanned with short black hair. I had never met him in person, but I hated him all the same.
He had stolen Avery from me. We had plans, me and my sister. She was supposed to come to Oregon with me, she was supposed to attend Berkeley with me. He ruined all those dreams. Seth made my sister feel content staying home and getting a clerk job at the local hospital. She only dreamed of life with Seth now.
I may have liked him more if I had met him. When I had first come home from Europe, Avery had said he was busy with his job. Apparently some Italians were trying to kidnap some girl and Seth and his gang of friends had to team up to protect her. And when I had come home from Oregon he was on some extended trip to Alaska. I think he hated me as much as I hated him.
But I had to be thankful for him. He had made Avery happy, he had loved her.
Author's Note: I don't know if any of you ever thought you'd read something of mine again, but ta-da I'm here. I actually thought I was forever done writing Twilight fanfictions, but this story has been eating away at me for so long. I wrote and rewrote this "pilot" chapter probably a million times. Name changed, main characters changed and storylines changed. But finally I got it right. And I've already written about half the story, and chapters will be released on a weekly basis. This story will only be nine chapters long, with a possible epilogue.
Anyways, this story takes an idea I have never read on this page: identical twin imprints. You'll see where I'm going to take this idea and I hope you like it. And don't worry, Hazel will get less sad. I promise
R&R my friends :)
