Dreams

CHAPTER ONE:

BELLA

The dreams were starting to get on my nerves. When I was younger my mother wouldn't let me watch vampire movies anymore because of them. This however is going too far. I am now eighteen and basically living on my own. Last year, when my mother came up from Florida for my graduation, my parents Charlie and Renee rekindled their relationship. Although I felt bad for Phil (the "interims mate" of my mom for the last 4 years), he really was a nice guy.

The only restrictions my mother had for my dad was that she wouldn't live in this gloomy town – she was referring to Forks of course. Unlike my mother, I rather enjoyed this gloomy town as she put it.

I was happy that they were together again – living alone with Charlie was easy, but I haven't seen him this happy except from old videos that had Mom in them and I always felt that he still had strong feelings for her. I was more than willing to give them some room to enjoy themselves, to get to know each other again, to rediscover their love. So I decided not to stay with them even when they asked me on an hourly basis.

So, my parents finally accepted my argument about leaving me here to take care of myself. The house was paid for and I also got a job – I mean, how much electricity could one girl use a month?

Waitressing was the job l had in a nearby town called Port Angeles. It was not the best job in the world, but it helped paying the bills. There was once a day I had hoped to go to college, but I had to put that on the back burner for now. I rather enjoyed the peacefulness I had at the house these days, except for the unrelenting dreams. They're not bad ones it's just that they keep me heated the way I have never been in reality. Being in love in my dreams was never the way I had planned to go about my life.

Some people say that dreams are a foretelling of your reality. Well, if they saw MINE, they would say I have gone completely insane. I have had these dreams since I was about ten or so. At first, they were sort of sporadic flickers, not a whole lot of a meaning, visions of this beautiful amber – eyed god. As beautiful as he was at the time I was scared of him. Something in his eyes made me aware of the depth of pain he had endured. They were just glimpses of him now and then is all it was. But down here alone in Forks, in the past few months, they have gotten quite interesting.

Instead of the amber eyes that I was used to, now they were green. All I saw in his eyes now was happiness. These visions lasted longer now as well. We were standing in a meadow and he was on one knee asking for my hand in marriage. This dream had a lot of emotion. The sun was shining down on us; the wind blew, helping me catch my breath from his proposal. There was – I think a cabin far in our view down the hill to the left of us. On our right was a line of trees starting the forest. Turning back to the exceptional smile on his face was breath taking. I of course answered his question with a polite "Yes". We were in a trance for a while, and then we both too soon realized that there was a storm heading in our direction. We chose to go into the trees to cover ourselves from the storm. The air was starting to get a little chilled, so he wrapped his arms around me. Ahh – I could stay in that position forever. He swiveled me around to look at him, I looked deep in his eyes as he said "Bella, I love you – it will always be you for me, love." In that moment I fully believed him. He passionately kissed me and I felt as though I was sitting on a cloud, everything was weightless. Then something grabbed me from behind roughly, rude. He yelled my name as someone or something was pulling him the opposite direction from my own. I screamed "Edward – help me!"

At this point we were so far from one another that we couldn't hear or see the other. I felt my body turn to look at who or what it was that was doing this to us. This person gripping me looked very old as I looked into his eyes, but his skin told me differently. "What do you want from us?" I asked. He said "I am so sorry Bella as much as I would love to have you with us, I cannot take the chance that you would harm us in the future." I was confused, considering I had no idea who he was or what he was talking about at all. "Bella, it's time for you to leave this earth. Again, I am sorry for this." He grabbed me from behind my neck ever so slightly while saying "Goodbye, my darling Bella."

That's when I wake up. It was such a lovely beginning with an ugly end. The smile on Edwards face, oh how I wish he was real. I must have a really hyper active mind. Gain control Bella. Realizing now that I am late getting up for the day, I hurried to the bathroom and took my shower and went back to my room then dressed for work. Waiting for me outside was my old red truck. When I arrived at work, I was happy to see that it was not terribly busy yet. Break time came and as I was walking outside when my boss came to me and asked if I could work the second shift. The other girl had been sick and couldn't come in. Well I don't see why not, I have nothing better to do and to earn some extra money was cool.

So I finished both shifts and returned home for the evening. As tired as I was I decided to go to bed. Again, the same dream appeared and the ending was the same. I was startled by the intensity of this old man's eyes and woke up. 'No!' I yelled, late at night, again. Not able to get more sleep in this night I decided to get up. I did my normal routine and made some breakfast, put my laundry in and sat down to read Wuthering Heights again. After my laundry was done I cleaned the house which hardly ever dirty, just dust and mopping.

I was ready for work and then remembered my boss telling me that we would probably have more customers this evening. The local high school had some type of function, so more than likely we would have some. On the way down there I noticed I was still thinking about the dreams. How unbelievably handsome this Edward was. I felt a smile creasing my face. Stop it already, this is crazy! Why on earth am I still thinking of that?

Work was slow when I arrived. I punched in my time card and made my way to the front. "How many tables do I have tonight, boss?". "Oh, hi Bella, well right now I think five maybe more if Nicole doesn't show up soon." Sipping on my coke, my boss said "Bella, you have two tables up, hun". "Thank you" I replied sourly. I went over swiftly and took their drink orders and went to fill those when I heard "Bella, there's another one for you". Oh crap, that was fast, I just walked back here. Hurrying with the drinks in hand I quickly placed in front of the proper owners and started to walk to my new table. Darn paper – come out already! My note pad wouldn't come out of my mini apron. As I looked down to pull it out I tripped over my own foot. Well that is embarrassing.

I finally got up and headed to my table too embarrassed to look up right off the bat, I said, "Hi, my name is Bella, what can I get you to drink tonight?" The female answered "Nothing for me, thank you." The male started to say "I would like a..." I froze in place, I knew that voice. There is no freaking way, I am not hearing this! I have gone mad. I couldn't help myself and looked up. Noticing I was not breathing at this very moment I tried to turn to just walk away. As I turned I couldn't see anything but darkness.

"Bella are you ok?" "Can you hear me, hun?" "Maybe we should call an ambulance…" my boss stated nervously.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well we don't know. A couple at your table yelled for someone to come and see if you were alright and then they left. Are you ok, Bella?" my boss asked.

"Umm – I think so." I said still unsure of what happened.

"Dear, I think you fainted. Maybe you should go home. I will try to find someone else to take your shift, ok?"

"Umm, no. I think I'm fine. If it's alright with you, I would like to stay."

"Are you sure, Bella?" My boss asked again.

"Yes I'm sure." I replied absent-minded. What did just happen? I don't know if I could even answer that question myself. I really think it's time I go and see a psychiatrist though. There is no way I just saw the man of my dreams (literally) sitting in front of me. I dare not to say a word of what just happened. I will for sure be the crazy lady across town for that one. So, what is my story then? Oh, this one is simple. "Uh - I just got light headed, that's all." That's believable. I finished work easily except for spilling a few drinks which I thought was pretty impressive for me. I punched my time card out and left.

On my way home I couldn't help but think about what had happened. The thought of him really sitting in front of me was fascinating. Of course I knew it wasn't real. Could it? No, that's just nonsense. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous though. The girl that was with him was very pretty. Short spiked hair, kind of pixie like. Well, if that's the kind of girl he likes I am way out of her league. Alright Bella Marie Swan, get a hold of yourself! I was getting jealous over a girl that did not exist and let's not forget about the guy that also did not exist. Maybe it's time to get some sleeping pills and hope there are no more tantalizing dreams to keep from losing my job.

Who is that? She looks like me. The same boring brown eyes as mine, slender, but the face is a little different. I realized I was following her down the sidewalk. She had odd clothes on, something from another era it seems. Looking around I soon noticed that everyone around me were in the same kind of clothing. The woman wore long dresses that belled out, very sophisticated looking. The men wore suits with hats. I pressed on following this woman. It was as if I was stalking her so I was going to stop, but I didn't. Why was I not stopping? I soon realized as I was walking by others that I grew a few inches. She was too tall for it to be me. I walked into a diner and went straight towards the restroom. As I was doing so a man stopped me and said "Sir, I think you are going in the wrong one." What! The man was apparently startled by this. So I went to the men's room and looked in the mirror. What the hell is going on? This figure in front of me was huge. Ok Bella, time to wake up! I started screaming. That woke me up – thank you, thank you, and thank you! Uh – well, no more pills for me. That just brings out the weird dreams.

Hm – so, now I was dreaming about being a huge freaky man? That psychiatrist thing is looking better and better by the minute. My boss thought it might be best for me to take a few days off. I was happy to oblige and after my latest psycho moment it was probably best. After I ate lunch I had a phone call. To my surprise, it was Jessica from high school. I was excited to hear from her although she seemed to be jealous of me. Why, I did not know, but we still talked off and on.

"Hey Bella!"

"Hi Jess!"

"Are you busy this weekend?"

"Um – yeah, actually. I have work. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking about coming back to visit. I thought we could hang out on Friday. But if you're working, I could come some other time. I'm really missing Forks."

"Um, if you could wait one more weekend I can see if I can take that weekend off."

"That would be great. So how have you been lately?"

"I've been good, a little bored since all of you have been gone though. Have you spoken to Angela or Mike at all?"

"Well, I heard that Angela was doing well, but she misses her family. Mike is on the college football team from what I know. Hey, something's come up; can I call you more towards next weekend?"

"Um, sure. Hey Jess – thanks for calling."

"You're welcome Bell. Talk to ya soon."

"Ok, bye Jess."

"Bye."

My weekend was over, which was not the worst thing. Time passed too slowly while alone in the house faced with my nightmares, so I was very happy to go back to work. Of course I also needed the money. There was money in the bank, but just enough to cover a few bills in case I got behind. I told my parents that I wanted to do this alone. I didn't want any handouts. That's when I remembered my dad Charlie arguing with my mom that he didn't like this idea of leaving me alone. My mother of course knew I could handle it –my living with her told her that I could. So she persuaded Charlie by naming the facts,

"No Charlie, Bella is never going to know what it is like to take care of herself if we don't give her the space to let her show us that she can." That was all it took; he knew better than to argue with her. He was very disgruntled by the fact that after all these years he was alone, he had to face the music now. But in the end he tends to trust her – again. So he just sighed and kissed her forehead. They looked so happy together; I was happy for them.

When I arrived at work that evening I asked my boss if there was a chance that I could get the next weekend off. "I can do that Bella if you tell me that you can work another double shift next Thursday for me."

"Um, sure."

"It's just that Nicole will be gone out of town and I thought you might like to catch up on the days you lost."

"Yes I do need to so yes I will work it."

"Great, thanks Bella."

"No problem, oh and thanks for next weekend."

"You're welcome."

Work was a breeze for the rest of the week. Of course the occasional run of the mill trips to the floor and spilling something but good in the average. Tuesday I had off that next week, but I wanted to catch up on the time I lost so I worked that day too. Two more days and Jess would be here, I couldn't wait to see her. Although I had high hopes that there was not going to be any shopping involved, with Jess, shopping was definitely on the agenda. Anyway, hearing what she thought of college was going to be fun. Boys were also going to be a topic, I was sure.

It was Wednesday now and I had work again. While driving to work I felt goose bumps crawling on the back of my neck, I felt like I was being watched. I looked around and saw nothing. Great Bella, here you go with that crazy stuff again! Keep it cool, you don't want another scene at work. Work was the same as any other night, well except for that night last week...We won't talk about that though. Just at work, my boss was calling me "Bella, you have three tables, hun."

"Thank you." More and more guests were coming so I was quite busy, always starting with "Hi, my name is Bella, what can I get for you this evening?" That went on for another five tables then two more side by side. I walked to the first table and said the same line. As I was waiting for them to decide I looked at my next table to see how many I had. The same pixie like girl was there again.

This...is...not...happening... I am for sure going to lose my job this time. Keep it together Bells, It's not him with her, there's no way.

"Miss, did you hear me? Are you ok?" My table asked me. I was so not listening to them. This is starting to sound like a broken record. Get it together please.

"Yes I am so sorry what can I get you?"

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter to do this story. I have most of this story already done, but I will only post a chapter a week. Please leave a review so I know whether or not I should keep posting. Thanks Reena!