Remember Bree? from the third book Eclipse. well what would have happened if the Volturi had not killed her?
Now that I look back on my "life" – if you please- I realize how many things went right, apposed to wrong. That first bite was the best thing that ever happened to me. That first war changed my life. But then again, there were some wrong turns I took. All in all though, my life was fairly pleasant. Sometimes.
It all started late in the summer. I was a model, filled with potential. Some unheard of magazine called me to Seattle for a photo shoot that I fail to remember the name of.
I got settled into the Inn that the company was paying for. It was a scummy place, filled with rats no doubt, but I was glad I was only going to be there for three days. The Manager set my bags down by the bed and stood there nervously. Did he want a tip? I thought to myself.
"Oh jee, its so exciten' to have a real model from California here, in our little town!" I smiled at her half-heartedly then walked to the bathroom. I was never very good with small talk. When I heard the door close, I walked from the bathroom with the Ice bucket.
I strode down the hall, in search of the ice machine. It smelled like dusty air vents and it was oddly humid. I came to the small counter and asked where the ice machine was. Every one stared as if I had a third leg. The man at the counter told me it was through the hallway on the first left. I fallowed his instructions. It led to a small room with an ice machine and a table with newspapers on it. I set the card-bored bucket under the ice dispenser; it slowly filled the bucket three cubes a minute. I figured I had some time so I sat on the small yellow chair next to the table and began to read one of the papers. The headline read SEATTLE TERRORIZED BY SLAYINGS. As I read I became more and more worried about my stay here. Thirty-nine linked homicides had happened in the last three months alone! My heart stuttered, I was glad I was sitting, my head started to spin. Murders were happening all around this town and I had to stay three days here! The possibility that this could happen to me was low but just being in the percentage scared me. I sat uneasily in the chair. Things like this, murders, never bothered me before. I would always feel sorry for the people that it happened to and scared for the people it might happen to. I tried to push the thoughts away. A clattering noise echoed in the small room. I ripped my eyes from the paper to see the bucket over flowing with Ice. I jumped up putting the paper back on the stand.
"Dang it!" I muttered while picking up the melting ice. As I got up I took one last look at the headline of the newspaper before stepping out of the small room. a spine grinding shudder moved down each vertebrae, slow and agonizing. I shrugged my shoulder, wiping it away.
"Thank you." I said to the boy behind the counter. He nodded in my direction and smiled. The door clicked behind me as I made way to my room. I took in a deep breath before setting the tray down. Suddenly anxiety was swelling inside of me.
"There's nothing to worry about…" I said while scooping some ice in a glass. "Except for the fact that I'm talking to my self." I grabbed the bottle of gin and pored more than necessary into a small glass cup. With one hand on the counter, I took a large swig of it. The cool beverage slithered down my throat and its seductive poison intoxicated me, after a couple of anxious minutes, I would be relaxed. I sat on the bed and stared at the ceiling, tracing patterns with my eyes. This room was depressing. I was home sick, as I always was when away from my cozy apartment, in California. Why was I freaking out like this? Never, not in my eighteen years of living, have I gotten worked up about some crazy serial killer on the loose. Though that sentence made it seem much harsher than it really was. Never have I been this worked up about a killer that has least chance of choosing me to hunt. Killers had to have a reason right? I drank the thoughts away till I was completely relaxed. And soon my relaxation turned into sleep.
I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door. I moaned as I turned over in the sheets to get up.
"Ms. Taylor?" said a woman's voice outside the door. I grumbled on my way to the door.
"Yes?" I said when I got the door open.
"Room service!" the woman at the door was short and blonde and was grinning like she was giving my a million dollar prize.
"Um…yeah in about fifteen minutes…"
"Alrighty then I'll be back in fifteen minutes!" she smiled again. What was with that lady? I thought after closing the door.
The big wooden clock above my bed read seven thirty. I had my photo shoot at eight thirty, so I decided I should get dressed. As I passed the mirror in the small hallway I stopped to look at myself. I still had the clothes on from yesterday and I had a gin stain on my lavender shirt.
"Don't I look dazzling?" I said to myself while placing a lock of hair behind my ear. "Jeeze…" I left the mirror; it was depressing me more than I already was. I walked to my bag and got out a white cotton dress, it was a strap less and was pleaded at the front. It was cut in the middle of my thigh; I loved this dress. I stepped into the shower and turned the hot water on. It soaked my skin and washed away the stress from yesterday; that I still wasn't very sure about. When I was done with my shower I combed out my hair and put mousse in it. It made my brunette hair shine just the way I liked and it kept my curls bouncing. I slipped my white dress on then grabbed my purse; I was ready to go.
"Bree my sweet darling!" yelled Camiel, the magazine editor.
"Hello Camiel." I said while hugging her.
"You look ab fab sweety darling!"
"Thanks, you look great to." I said smiling. She placed her hand on the small of my back and led me to hair and makeup.
"Now I'm going to leave you here, and when I get back we will get some good shots in alright?" her Russian accent was intimidating; as if she would kill if they weren't good.
"Sounds great." I smiled then walked to the satin chair in the corner where it faced a tall mirror that stretched around the room.
"Hello." Said a woman behind me, coming in from the back door. She must be the makeup artist. The day dragged on and my hair and makeup lasted for two hours so when my photo shoot came it was ten thirty. Then, because the day wasn't lasting long enough already, the camera had some malfunction and that took about three hours to fix so by the time I was done with the shoot it was one thirty.
"ok darling, here is Daniel Archen, he will be the your Photographer fro the day." She smiled at me while waving a hand at Daniel.
"Hello, I'm Bree. Nice to meet you." My Australian accent slithered off my tongue and made Daniel swoon. He blinked twice then reached out to shake my hand. Men never noticed me; that was until they heard me talk. My voice had something inside of it that was very attracting to them. My looks were normal. I was about 6 feet tall and my hair was cherry brown. It waved down to past my shoulders. My figure was what a model would want, but I still had some meat to my bones, I wasn't crazy skinny. My skin was California tan; the sun did it not a sun tanning bed.
"Yes well, lets get started." Camiel patted Daniel on the shoulder then walked to a lather chair in the corner of the room, ready to watch.
"Ok Bree, go ahead and take your robe off."
By the time it was all over it was dark outside. Daniel said I did well, but I didn't really care, my head was burning from a hang over. When I got back to the Inn, every stared like they did the day before. I clicked the door shut behind me and sank into he door. Did I even bring aspirin on this trip? I sighed heavily then dropped my bag on the floor. As I passed the mirror in the hallway I stopped to stair at my poor soul again.
"Well I certainly look as bad as I feel…" I brushed my fingers through my hair and pulled it to the side.
Turns out I did bring some aspirin but it was out of date and didn't ease my headache. Sleep came easily and in the morning I repeated the same agenda, but the camera didn't break.
"Thanks Cam! Thanks Daniel. I'll see you tomorrow for the last shoot." I smiled and gave Daniel a hug.
"Be careful out there, Bree. You've seen the headlines." Oh, great. I was just forgetting about those stories! I thought as I walked out the back door to the back alley. I figured this would be part of the movie where every one would be yelling "DON'T GO IN TO THE DARK!!" but this wasn't a movie so I kept walking. There were no people out here anyway. And that's exactly right, there were no people.