IMPORTANT NOTES: I have edited the first chapter – really , really minor changes.. And to point out how minor they are, I have underlined them!! Yehey for me!! And for all of you too.. blush
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I don't own any characters here, or any part of the character as well.. sigh Since, my sister forced me to add this, I did, because I don't want to be sued.. TT
A/N: I thought it would be hard for everyone, especially for me, to put this story in any particular character's POV. So I'm using mine, so it's like a narration from someone who sees all - even my characters' thoughts.. :P
And oh, take note - when the paragraph or phrase is italicized, it means that it is a character's thoughts - mostly Bella's - and yeah, it's the consequence for using my POV.. Well, enjoy!
CHAPTER 1
In a particularly hot day in Phoenix, the townspeople were inside their houses, protected from the sun, but not from the heat. And so "The Valley of the Sun" proves its nickname. By the White Tank Mountains in the west and where the Salt River's course runs through, a young girl, the daughter of an inn keeper, sluggishly reclining by their rooftop lets her mind wander through the skies.
Ah. Such a lovely, hot day. My kind of day. I love the sun, it gives me energy, more importantly, it gives me purpose to go out. Oh. It's already setting, but I can still feel some heat though. I really love staying here by the rooftop, having some.. Bella time, relaxed, nothing to worry about, - ..
"Isabella Marie Swan!" a high pitched voice shook her thoughts. – and disturbed by my mom. Again.
She climbed in her bedroom window and shook her feet. God. I must have had a long Bella time. I feel like I haven't moved in years. She climbed down a pull-up ladder and glided towards the kitchen, "Yes, mom?"
Alice giggled and turned around holding a tray of roasted ham on a plate, "Dinner's ready!"
They ate like they do every dinner – the mother inquiring about her daughter's day, the daughter replying coy details, and then the mother scolds her, infuriated by her daughter's indifference.
"Calm down, mom," Bella coolly asserted her mother, "It's summer, what do you expect me to do?"
"You should go out more frequently! Or at least interact with the guests - there's a group of teenage boys in the second floor." Alice squeaked in the thought and went back to washing the dishes. She spotted an ant line and started to wash them off with hot water.
"Mom, I'm always outside. I love being outside! In fact, I think I'll go out now," Bella declared, stood up, and went back upstairs.
"Oh, that's nice dear," Alice, obviously aloofed and distracted, didn't turn when Bella stood up to go back to her room.
Inside her room, Bella sat by her bed and stared at a crescent-shaped scar on her hand. It was a birthmark, but it looked as though something has bitten it. She let her mind wander again and made her way out her window and back on the roof. Still staring at her scar, she reclines herself on the roof and notices the moon.
It's crescent. And looks exactly like my scar this night. Oh. Tonight's a cloudless night. I can clearly see like, a zillion stars! She satisfyingly rested her head on her two hands and began counting the stars.
128.. 129.. Oh! A shooting star! She sat up and closed her eyes. I better make a wish before it's gone..
She opened her eyes, expecting the shooting star would be gone by then. And blinked them twice, to make sure what she was seeing was real.
It's getting bigger.. and bigger.. and closer! Oh my God! It's a meteor! Headed straight here!
Benumbed, Bella scooted herself into the bedroom and hid under her blanket. When she heard a slight crash, she shrieked in panic, still under her bed's cover. Alice hurriedly jostled through her door, carrying a rake.
"What is it, honey? A burglar? Housebreaker? Rat?!" She shouted every word as though to scare the perpetrator.
"Worse! We're all gonna die! A meteor – heading straight for us – will squish us all!" Bella cried, still hidden under her blanket.
"Oh, that's nice dear," Alice said using again her aloof high-pitched voice, "I should've known better. There's nothing to steal here. Oh dear. Good night , honey," she squeaked as she giggled her way down the stairs.
"But, but, mom!" she shrieked, finally getting up from underneath her blanket. "I saw it! I made sure! I even blinked twice!" she screamed, her voice cracking as she cried in hysterics.
She looked out the window, went off her room, and climbed thru the steep roof, scanning the vast fields. She went further up and stepped on the chimney – still scanning the fields – and saw a mass of great, glowing slab of a rock-like object by the shore of Salt River.
Her eyes went wide with the confirmation of what she saw, "Aha! I knew I saw something! Okay, so it was not as big as I saw it, but I knew there was something!" She went back down the roof and entered her bedroom.
"But it was glowing, and green. An alien maybe?" She deliberated for a moment and went back out the roof again and climbed down their rhubarb vines, "I don't know, but I'm not finding out just sitting here!"
Bella sneaked past their house and went up a steep-looking hill and fumbled her way down. She landed with a thud on her bottom. Ouch. Stupid, klutzy girl. She rubbed her butt and continued on her way until she reached the shore of Salt River.
"Oh. There it is. It's like it's waiting for me to discover it!" she excitedly crossed the river, not even bothering to fold her jeans.
When she reached the remnants of the 'meteor', her eyes went wide with shock when she saw an inactive piece of blob. When she bent over to nudge it, it suddenly hardened – molding into a fetus-shaped animal – and slowly started taking the shape of a human. It moved ever so slowly – disgustingly slow. Bella stepped back reflexively at the sudden movement.
Ew. It's like evolution fast forwarded right before my eyes. Ew. Oh. God, it's an alien! Oh! An alien!
Instead of running back immediately to the safety of her house, out of curiosity, Bella leaned forward, that her face was just a mere foot from the blob.
After a few seconds, the blob stopped remolding and Bella ran her eyes over the thing. It's a man. A man made out of marble. A marble man wearing last century's fashion! Ew She stood up and stepped back a little now, just when the man stood up ever so gracefully, but like a ghost.
The marble man blinked his eyes – slowly as well – and scanned his surrounding, stopping his eyes on the figure in front of him. He bent his head to the right and to the left seeming confused. He stepped forward and blinked again, this time opening and closing his eyelids in a fast rate.
Bella blinked as well but didn't step backward seeming to be rooted on the spot. Her mind was blank but as the marble man approached her, her eyes went wide as reality came over her.
"Oh! You're an alien!" Her voice rose as she watched the marble man stop in surprise. Her eyes went wider as she circled him in every angle, acting like a child seeing a toy for the first time.
She stopped in front of him and put on a n inquiring look. "Gosh. You look like a god sent from heaven. And if that's what you'll say you are, I'll definitely believe you. And judging from your entrance, I say you are."
The marble man had a puzzled expression – a raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes – and still stood perfectly still.
Reality dawned on her face, as she realized they weren't understanding each other. "Oh. Can you talk? You know, words? Blah, blah, blah, like that?" Silence, as they stared at each other, "Can you do that? Blah, blah, blah?"
The marble man opened his mouth and out came his first words, "Blah, blah, blah."
"Well, you get the idea, anyway."
Bella became so overwhelmed with excitement with her new found friend that, as they went back to her house, the thought of how she was going to explain how she found a god-like creature from outer space to her mother.
"Oh. I forgot. I can't just walk in with you there. I've got to hide you from mom, or else, she would freak!" She searched for a feasible home for her friend. "hey, there's a place! Grandpa's old stable house! How convenient! And it's hidden behind that power plant!"
She skipped towards the stables dragging the marble man with her, "There. You can rest here for a while. And to think we own a fine inn and I'm letting you stay here!"
"Huh?" The marble man put again a puzzled expression and his angelic voice gave Bella a hot blush that she didn't realize that he was headed for the power plant.
"No! Not there!" She quickly ran to him and grabbed him away from the high-voltage wires that in the process, her elbow touched the wires for a moment and she pulled back immediately. That moment was instantaneous but it was enough to send about 500 volts jolting through her right arm.
"Ow!" She tried to suppress the pain but it was scorching inside of her arm.
"You are hurt," a gentle but concerned voice flooded her ears and suddenly, the pain was gone as she felt a numbing coldness in her elbow. She looked down to see that two hands were holding her in her right arm. And she looked up to see a bland pair of eyes staring back at her in a worried expression.
The touch numbed her of the pain but sent ecstasy coursing through her veins and she unintentionally blushed again.
"You are red," the marble man again spoke with such gentle yet concerned voice.
"Uhm. Yes, thank you." Bella pulled back her arm, letting the pain recur, yet she hid the pain and just let it subside in her.
"Okay. Alright then. You go inside the stables and stay there, alright?" Bella said as she guided him in, "Don't go out until I come back here tomorrow. And please don't go near the power plant, okay?"
"Yes," he said flatly.
"Okay. Good night, marble man. Sleep well, marble man." Bella whispered as she took a final glance at him and closed the stable house's door.
"Yes," he said again flatly, while Bella wasn't there and couldn't hear him anymore, "Sleep well, marble man."
……………………………………………………
High in the skies, in a tower well-equipped with 20th century technology, a squad of scientists and US Government agent, Jacob Black, where an alleged informant came rushing in.
"Sir! We have detected an intrusion in the Earth's atmosphere!"
"Coordinates," his firm but menacing voice inquired.
"112 degrees to the North, sir. In Central Arizona, sir," the informant's voice shaken and frightened, responded back.
"Put the crew into order. Inform the General. We have a creature to apprehend."
A/N: Oh, okay. I tried to retain everyone's traits but I just loved to make Jacob the antagonist, to make him cruel and self-centered, I mean. He's just so hot that way! Well, Read and Review people! Tell me how I did.. XD