The Lovely Bones, Twi Twist
I remember being really small, so small I couldn't see the top of the table.
There was a snow globe, and I remember the penguin who lived in the snow globe.
I remember my fater sitting me on his lap. He would turn it over, letting the snow collect on the top, then quickly invert it.
The two of us watched the snow fall gently around the penguin.
The penguin was all alone in there, and I worried for him...
When I told my fathe this, he said, "Don't worry Bells, he has a nice life. He's trapped in a perfect world.."
Chapter One
I remember being given a camera for my birtday. I loved the way it could capture a moment, before it was gone.
Thats what I wanted to be when I grew up. A wild life photographer.
I imagied when I was older I would be tracking wild elaphants and rihnos. But for now I would have to do with Grace Tarking when she went joging.
It's strange the memories you keep, I remember going with my Dad to the sinkhole out at the Cullen's farm, it was something about the way the earth could swollow things hole. And I remember the girl who lived there. Reneesme Cullen. The kids at school said she was weaird.
But now I know she saw things others didn't...
And I remember the worst thind that ever happened to us as a family, the day my little brother Emmett stopped breathing.
"MOM!" I shouted as I ran around the house, frantic, and scared out of my mind.
"MOM! Oh god!" I shouted and ran out to Emmett.
"What happened?" I asked Emmett's friend Jasper.
"He swollowed a twig!" He answered.
"Ok. Go home to your Mom and have her ring my parents. Tell them what happened and to go to the hospital!" I said.
I picked Emmett up and put him in the back seat of the car. I smashed the plant pot with the spare car keys in it. I started the car and stepped on the gas and drove past cars swerving around me and honking their horns loudly. I didn't care. I got Emmett to the hospital.
And I remember the light in my parents eyes when he was ok. The relife me and younger sister Leah felt. We wern't those people, those unlucky people whom bad things happen to for no reason.
My Granma Martha had said that I would live a long happy life because I saved my brother. But as always, Granma Martha was wrong...
My name is Swan, like the bird, first name Bella. I was 14 when I was murdered on December 6th, 1973.
This was before missing childrens pictures were on milk cartons and were storys on the daily news, people back then belived stuff like that just didn't happen.
I remember my family and I going to the mall, Leah was oggleing at the new doll houses while Emmett and Dad were looking at the train sets.
I was in the magizen store with Granma Martha. I then saw Jacob Black... He was here with his parents, they were Native American. I was practicaly in love with him. Granma Martha noticed me staring at the boy.
"He looks cute. Does he like you as much as you like him?" She asked.
"Granma. He's a senior, he doesn't even know I exist." I told her.
"He looks like a great catch." She said.
"Can you please just drop it!" I said.
"Look, he's going into the record store." She whispered and walk away.
I wasn't safe. I man in my neighbor hood was watching me, if I hadn't been so distracted, I would have noticed something was wrong. Cause that sort of thing gives me the skeviez.
But I was too busy thinking about the length of Jacob Black's eye lashs, I had counted each one in library time while he was reading Ebloard and Hilouease the most searious tradgitc love novel...
"So. Have you kissed him yet?" Granma asked. I shook my haed no. I took a sip of my milkshake. There were two people there. One of the men looked over at me.
"Why not, you like him, he likes you. What's the hold up?" She asked.
"I'm just afraid I won't be anygood at it." I said.
"My first kiss, was with a grown man." She said, I stared at her in shock.
"Your not going to tell on me, are you?" She asked.
"Of course not. How was it?" I asked.
"The kiss, it was wonderful, beautiful. It took me a long time to realise, a kiss like that, it only happens once." She said. My face fell a bit.
"Bells, just have fun." She said and patted my hand. I smiled again. The man how was looking at me got up and walked into the toy store.
It wasn't that man by the way, that was Mr. O'Dwyer, although he does look pretty suspisious, but Mr.O'Dwyer could never hurt anybody. His own daughter, Kate, died a year and a half after me, she had Lukiema. But I never saw her in my heaven...
My murderer was a man from our neighbor hood, I took his picture once, as he talked to my parents about his Boarder Flowers. He stepped out of no where and ruined the shot... He ruined alot of things...
I remember making the boats in the bottles with my father. My mother never saw the point in it, I thought it was cool.
"Jessica's got a crush on you." I said.
"Witch ones Jessica?" He asked, he was concentrating on the boat in the bottle.
"You know, blond hair, meaga blue eye shadow." I said.
"The tall one?"
"She's not tall, she wears platforms.." I mumbled. "She dosen't know you work for the police." I said.
"I'm guessing thats a neagative."
"Did Mom ever know when she first met you?"
"Know what Bella?"
"About your obbsession." I said.
"Bella, hobbies are healthy. If you get it wrong, you do it over and over until you get it right." He said. "My Dad taught me how to do this now, I'm teaching you." He said.
I smiled.
"Your my first mate Bells." He said and smiled at me too.
"Guys! Dinner!" Mom yelled. I got up.
"Hey, wait. Lets finish." He said. I grinned and walked over, held the string that pulled up the masts and sails, I held it like Dad showed me and I gently pulled, the masts and sails went up. I smiled.
"Now that is a thing of beauty." Dad said and stared at me. I laughed.
And I remember the last day I spent on this earth...
"Look at the state of this room!" Mom screached. "You'll clean this up, tonight." She said.
"Yeah sure. Hey Mom. We need to get these developed." I said to her and tiped to box that held the roles of film.
"Bella, you used up all the film? Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost?" She asked. I shrugged.
"No, no absolutly not. Out of the question."
"Thanks alot, theres my future down the toilet." I said.
"Oh, don't be so melodramatic." She scolded.
"What? What's going on?" Dad asked.
"Charlie, she used up all the film we got for her birthday." She said.
"All of it!" He yelled.
"All of it. Every single one." She said.
"Bella." Dad said scolded.
"It's a crime to be creative in this family." I sneered.
"Say we develope... One role a month." Dad said.
"One role a month?" I asked.
I got dressed and went down for breakfast.
"I hope you know, by the time I see all my pictures I'll be middle aged." I said.
"Look, we got her 24 roles of film, its $2.99 a piece to develope, thats $71.76. I don't think we're being unfair." Dad said.
"Oh honey." Mom said.
"Are we?" He asked.
"Thats why I love you." She said and kissed him.
"PLease, could you not do that during breakfast." I asked.
"Alright. Fine, fine." Mom said.
Emmett was playing with his cement mixer while putting his Otties in it, he was making siren sounds.
"It dosen't have a siren you morron, it's a cement mixer." Leah said.
"Please don't call your brother names." Mom said.
As me and Leah were abot to leave for school. Mom stopped me.
"Bella. Here." Mom said handing me this preschool knited hat with a cotten bun on the top.
"What's that?" I asked as I held it in my hands like it was a dirty sock.
"Thats your new hat." She said. I groned.
"Wow Mom. I didn't know you were still kniting." Leah said.
"Oh I'm still kniting. Want me to make you one too?" Mom asked.
"No." She said and ran out after me.
"Looks really good on you." She teased.
"Shut up." I mumbled.
I had this feeling I was being watched. But I pushed it aside. If only I hadn't...
I remember walking out of film club with my best friend, Roseligh Hale. I never liked her boyfriend, Edward Masen, he had the stero type of the bone headed jock who feels like he can get anything he wants.
"Othello. What is that? It sounds like a mint." Roseligh said.
"And that gut looked really stupid with make-up on." I said.
"Witch one?"
"The one with two first names." I answered.
"Luarence Oliver."
"What a loser." We laughed.
"Rose. C'mon lets go." Edward said.
"I'm talking to Bella." She said.
"It's nice to see you too Edward." I said sarcasticly.
"C'mon." He demanded.
"Ok. Cioa Bell." She said and walked off with him.
I opened up my locker and put my books in.
"Hey, Bella." I knew that voice. I turned to see Jacob Black standing there.
"H-hi Jacob.." I said.
"What did you think of the Mhore?" He asked.
"Who?"
"Othello?"
"Oh.. Well, yeah. It-it was amazing. I loved it." I said.
"My faviourite play. Thats another thing me have in common." He said. I gave a look of confusion.
"What else do we have in common?" I asked.
"Don't you know?" He got closer. I quickly turned to my locker and my books fell out.
"Crap." I mumbled.
"Whoops." He chuckled. He bent down with me to help.
"It's ok." I said.
"I got it." He said.
I remember him slipping a note in my Biolagy book.
"Darn books, don't even read them, I mean I do read them I jus-" He cut me off.
"Bella. What are you doing on Saturday?" He asked. I looked up. We both stood up.
"Are.. You really Native American?" I asked stupidly. He smiled.
"Yes." He answered. "You are beautiful Bella Swan." He said. He moved closer, he was going to kiss me! His lips nearly touched mine, the priceipal came around with Renesmee Cullen.
"This is out rageous. There are no BREASTS on this modle." He said.
"There are no eyes or mouth either. But we were told to draw in the face." She said.
"Your drawings got the Newton boy very exited, now there are pictures of naked woman all over the school!" He yelled. He saw us.
"Ah! Move along." He said. Renesmee went to take the picture but he pulled it away.
"Sir, may I have my drawing back." She said.
"No. This will be disposed of." He said. She walked away.
"Didn't you hear me, go to your classes." He said as he walked away.
"Meet me at the mall, Saturday." He said.
"Where in the mall." I asked.
"The gazibo." He said and smiled. Mine mirrored his.
I remember walking home.. I always went threw the corn field when it was cut. It was a short-cut home.
I went to put my hat on but dropped my books. A piece of paper fell from my biolagy book. It flew off in the wind.
"Opps. I hope that wasn't your homework." A man laughed. I looked up. It was Mr James Harvey. We all called him Mr James.
"Hey, your the Swan girl, you remember me, I live right down the street. Mr James." He said.
"Oh, hi." I said.
"Well, your the perfect person for me to bump into, cause I just built this thing over here and I need a second appinion, mind taking a look?" He said.
"Um, I sorta have to get home now, sorry Mr James." I said.
"Oh, well... I just worked so hard on it, and I'm sure the other kids a gonna love it." He said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's really neat." He said.
I was trying to figure out if I should go or not.
"Your probably late already." He said. I decided I would take a look. I knew I shouldn't have...
I followed him to a hole in the ground, there was a ladder down to it, there were candles and stuff down there.
"I thought it would be a great place for you kids to, you know, hang out." He said. I climbed down, Mr James came down too and closed the top on the entrence.
"Wow. This place is neato." I said as I looked around.
"Here, you can sit here." He said and gustured to a seat. I sat down.
"Well, I put some games, cause I know you kids like games, and these fluffy animals, comics and these little angels, I just thought they were so nice. And uh, thats it. It is nice with the candles right Bella." He said.
"Yeah, this is so cool Mr James. This was really nice of you to do this." I said.
"Thats a cute hat, I like that hat very much." He said and felt the hat on my head. I instantly became scared.
"Would you like a refreshment Bella?" He asked.
"Acculy Mr James. I really must be going-" He cut me off.
"Now be polite, you have to be polite." He said. He opened a coke and handed it to me.
"Boy it's warm in here, you can take your coat off." He said and took his off.
"Mr James..."
"It's speical here, isn't it." He said.
"Yes, yes it-it's very speical here." I squeeked. "I think I should go..." I whispered.
"I don't want you to leave Bella." He said. I then ran for the exit. He came after me and tried to pull me back.
I thought I was free, I thought I escaped... I remember running by Renesmee. She was walking home, she had found the piece of paper that Jacob slipped into my book. My hand brushed hers. Anyone else wouldn't have felt it, but Renesmee was more in tune with the other world.
My Dad was going around town looking for me.
"Have you see my little girl?" He asked people and showed them a picture of me.
"Dad!" I shouted, he couldn't hear me... No one could.
I ran home. I only heard mumbling. I couldn't see anyone.
I remember the police finding the hole in the corn field. He had distroyed it. They found my hat.
"We found Bella's hat there." The chief of FBI said.
"And Bella?" My Mom said, tears were streaming down her face. The chief took the hat back.
"No, we didn't find her..." He said.
"Ok. Ok, you found her hat but you didn't find her, she could still be alive!" Dad said.
"We also found blood, a large amount of blood." He said.
My mother and father, cried like there was no tomarrow that night.
My murderer took my charm bracellet to a construction site. He kept the little silver house and threw the bracellet into a water hole.
I remember the police asking him questions. He was able to fool them.
I woke up in a strange wood. I was in a gazibo, one like at the mall where I was supposed to meet Jacob.
I looked around, I saw on the seat in the gazibo a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it, it was Jacob's hand writing, I knew that messy hand writing anywhere. I read it.
If I had but, an hour of love,
If that be all is given me,
An hour of love upon this earth,
"I would give my love to thee. From, the Mhore." I said. I closed my eyes to let it sink in.
When I opened them, there infront of me was the mall. It was like a progector was showing it. I saw the gazibo, Jacob was in it, he had a sad expression on his face. Then, Renesemee Cullen came over...
"Are you the Mhore?" Renesmee asked Jacob.
"Why?" He asked. She took the piece of paper out and handed it to him.
"W-where did you get this?" He asked.
"I found it." She said. She sat down next to him. "I write poetry. Your very good." She complemented.
"Don't you have somewhere to go?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
"You miss her don't you." She said. He looked at her. "I never knew what dead ment, I used to think it ment lost, frozen." She said.
"It means gone, she's gone." He said.
"But what if she's not? What if she's still here." She asked. She looked over to where I was.
I remembered when my hand brushed her's when I ran by her.
"You're not supposed to do that!" A girl with pale skin and short spiky hair said, she reminded me of a little pixie. "You're supposed to keep moving forward." She said
"What?" I asked the girl.
"You shouldn't do that." Alice said.
"I think my hand touched her's." I said.
"Thats all it takes, She'll carry it now for the rest of her life. You have to keep going." She said and walked away.
"Wait! Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Alice, Alice Go Likely." She said.
"Thats not a real name." I said.
"I know, I changed it, you can do that here." She said.
"You mean... In heaven?" I asked.
"No silly, this isn't heaven, your not there yet." She said.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Well. This place is not really one place, or is the other place." She said.
"It's a bit of both." I answered. I looked around. There was a giant colourful ball on a blue sea and glass bottles with boats in them, like the ones my Dad and I made. We walked across a beach. I then saw a lush golden field. There was a big tree.
"What is that?" I asked Alice.
"Thats where we're going." She said.
Alice said there was a wide wide heaven beond everything we knew. Where there was no corn field. No memory. No grave. But I wasn't looking beond yet. I was still holding on.
My father was looking at the boats in bottles that we had made. He took them one by one and smashed them off the table.
The boats out on the water began to brake and shatter.
Once he distroyed nearly half of the boats he fell to his knees and held the bottle me and him made. He cried for nearly the entire night.
"Dad?" Leah asked.
He looked up.
"She's dead, isn't she." Leah sobbed.
Dad nodded.
My murderer began to feel safe, no one was looking at him. He knew people wanted to move on. Needed to forget. He took comfort in that.
My Dad took the boat in a bottle that we made and put a long candle on it and set it on the window sill.
There was one thing my murderer didn't know though. He didn't understand the love a father could have for his child.