Lily Dwyer
"Your sister used to live in this very house. This was her room, in fact, but she wasn't around here much in the final years that I knew her. The final time I saw her, I was living in Jacksonville. We hadn't been back in this house since before Phil had started traveling, although we did visit Phoenix once. Of course, it was because she had fallen down, and was in the hospital. I was horribly worried about her."
Renee Dwyer spoke the quiet words mystically, captivating me in her mysterious tale once again. The story was not unfamiliar to me, but I had not lost any interest in it since the first time that I had heard it. Although I knew how it would end, the finality of the conclusion of this story confused me every time. It was like hearing it anew every time, trying to guess what happened at the end, as if I didn't know what my mother would tell me later.
My nod came slowly, my eagerness evident. My mother told me this story often, to remind me of the sister that I had never known, never would be able to know. Pictures of her surrounded me at home, but they could never tell me as much about her as I wanted to know. The story was the one that my mother liked best to tell about Bella, and it was all I would ever know of her.
Ten years ago, my sister had disappeared without a trace. My mother had planned on going to visit her at college, to surprise her by showing up and announcing that she was pregnant with me. But when she arrived, the college told her that no one by the name of Isabella Swan had ever gone to that college. Somehow, Bella had fooled her parents about her whereabouts, lied to all of her friends about her plans for the future. And she was never found. The story sounded dull that way, but when Renee told it…
"Bella took care of me, before your father and I got married," Renee continued, recapturing my attention immediately, sending away all of my other thoughts. "Phil wanted to travel, to work on his career, and I couldn't leave Bella at home, all alone, while your father and I traveled. She was only seventeen, not old enough to be alone so often. So instead of making me stay with her, she decided that she would like to move to Forks and live with her father, Charlie. She was very mature for her age, much like you, and very self-sacrificing to willingly move to Forks. That was when her life truly became interesting… And she met a boy.
"Edward Cullen was certainly not average. At first glance, you could see it. His looks were strange. His skin was paler and pastier than I had ever seen, even on someone from Forks, and his eyes a strange shade of gold. When I met him in the summer, the oddities of his personality came to light, as well. I realized just how much he cared about my Bella, and it frightened me. Edward looked ready to jump in front of a bullet for her, and she would have surely done the same, although he didn't look like he needed much protection.
"I never saw any reason to mistrust Edward. His family was quite interesting, too. His father, Carlisle Cullen, was a doctor, an amazing surgeon, who had chosen to live in Forks with his wife, Esme. Edward had four siblings, all of which were adopted. Rosalie and Jasper Hale, who were fraternal twins and foster children, and Alice and Emmett Cullen, who were adopted by the Cullens. This was another strange thing. Although not related, all of the Cullens shared a striking resemblance. Their skin was all pale, and their eyes all strange. At the time, I blamed it all on coincidence. After all, anyone living in Forks would be without a tan for certain, and the eyes were simply similar by chance, probably magnified in my mind by the fact that their skin was similar.
"I really trusted Edward to protect my daughter, but it seems now that my trust was misplaced. Even his sister, Alice, made me think better of him. She was the same age as Edward and Bella, and became Bella's best friend in a heartbeat. Although a bit eccentric, she was a good friend and very eager to please. The whole family seemed to take a liking. Emmett seemed to adore her, and Rosalie, his girlfriend as well as stepsister, seemed distant, but not unfriendly. Jasper, Alice's boyfriend as well as stepbrother, seemed distant as well, although not as much, as he seemed to like Bella almost as much as Alice. The whole family was perfect, completely flawless, as far as I was concerned."
