A/N: No copyright infringement intended.
Concept inspired by Buffy The Vampire Slayer, with totally new rules for dealing with sparkly vampires.
Watching The Moon: Pink
I was scrubbing the invisible grime on the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush when I heard Charlie's cruiser pull up into the driveway. I continued cleaning but stopped when I heard two of the car doors slam shut and two distinctive sets of footsteps, Charlie's almost soft thud-thud, and then the sharp knocking on the concrete of heels, a woman's heels. I sprang up from my position on the bathroom floor, violently ripping off the cleaning gloves from my hands. I tiptoed in a rush to the stairs, where I bent my head out to look down to the front door. I could hear muffled voices, a giggle and then the loud ear splitting sound of someone popping bubble gum.
"I'm sure Bella will be pleasantly surprised with your visit," I heard Charlie say, he dragged in two large black leather suitcases.
"Hm," the voice said, still chewing her gum. Even the short "hm" that came from her mouth was lined with a bit of apathy and aloofness.
"Bella!?" Charlie called out.
I dashed from where I was, trying to make it seem like I wasn't standing there the whole time. I walked down the stairs, still trying to get a look at the woman who stood next to Charlie. "Yeah?" I asked meekly.
Charlie moved out of the way of the woman, and instantly I realized I had overestimated her age, she was a girl, probably my age, give or take one or two years. She wore tight black jeans, the new cut that I saw in fashion magazines, a bright yellow cardigan with only the top buttoned and underneath that a moss green shirt, and her shoes, the heels that made the noise that made me jump, worn out silver glitter heels. I looked up at her face, a coy smile on her full lips.
"Hey," she said, her voice airy.
"Madeline?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
She grinned, "I knew you wouldn't forget me." She opened her arms out towards me and I met her in a tight hug.
"I...can't," I began to let out, feeling my ribs crush against my lungs.
She let go of the tight grip she had on me, "Sorry, I have that way with people."
Charlie laughed, "She almost suffocated me at air port."
Madeline shrugged, her icy blue eyes twinkling. Madeline was my cousin, daughter of Charlie's older brother Calvin. She, like her parents was beautiful, one of the only normal humans I ever considered on par with the Cullens. Her usual skin tone was bronze, typical of a girl from a southern California beach town, but now her skin was paler, it was like mine. Her long wavy platinum blond hair was still platinum blond, but it was stick straight now and cut into a short bob. Her face used to be soft and childlike, angelic even, but now it was worn, rugged, beaten, like as if she had gone through a war. She was still very tall, standing at 5'11'' and her body was still very athletic, but her personality had changed, she wasn't always this calm, always this tranquil. Everyone used to call her jitterbug because she was always so lively, so talkative. She couldn't find enough ways to expend her energy. Sometimes she would just tap her foot or wiggle her fingers where she stood, but here she was, her hands folded across her chest, still as a statue.
"So," I said awkwardly placing my arm across my belly, "What brings you to Forks?"
"Oh right, Charlie didn't tell you," she said casually running her hand through her hair. "Dad has to be in Hong Kong for the year on business, and I decided it would be reasonable to try to finish my senior year in an American high school. Not that it makes a different though, I'm already accepted."
"You have been?" I asked, "Where? How?"
"Columbia," she said nonchalantly, "Early decision." She picked up her luggage effortlessly, "Where to?"
"Oh right," Charlie interrupted, "Why don't you go put your bags upstairs, we'll have to go pick up the furniture from Ronald's."
Ronald's was the store where most of Fork's dumped it's unused things, from televisions, to radios, to dressers, to beds. Sure, sometimes he would get a deal on something new, but either it was too ugly, ridiculously over priced, or gone too quickly. I hoped Charlie would have something planned or else he would be in for a world of disappointment. I followed behind her, a little worried that she would start going through my things, not that she'd find anything. I was an empty shell, I didn't need a diary to remind me.
"Woah," she said, "Your room looks so," her sentence trailed on.
"Yeah, I don't really spend time in here," I said, shoving my hands into my pockets.
"It shows," she said, putting her luggage in a corner of the room next to a window. "You don't mind if I rummage through here? I kinda wanna change my shoes." She leaned down and pulled the zipper back on the suitcase.
"So," I said, trying to spark up a conversation, "How has everything been?"
"Well you know," she said as she changed into a pair of purple canvas sneakers, "Just, I don't know. I've been busy."
"You lost your tan," I noted.
"Well doesn't make sense for me to be out in the daytime."
"What?" I asked trying to figure out her response.
"So, where are we going?" she asked when she was done, dodging my question.
"Uhm, I think Charlie reserved something at Ronald's. Its like Forks' dumping ground. We'll have to take my truck though, I doubt you can fit a bed on Charlie's cruiser."
She let out a laugh and followed me down the stairs. When we got down, Charlie was already gone, and so was his cruiser. I couldn't help but think that was all an elaborate ploy to get me to have friends again. Well I had Jake, but after the morning's encounter I doubted he'd ever want to see me again. Maybe with Madeline here I wouldn't be so empty, I wouldn't be that zombie again. I just needed someone with me, someone that could respond to me, remind me that I'm still alive, to give me a reason to move on. Sometimes I sat at home, waiting for Edward to come home, then the cynical part of me knew he would never be back, and that my depression had to move on. My cynical side died with Edward and the vampires. How could I be cynical, how could I be rational when I was surrounded by a world of fantasy?
We hopped into the truck, chatting along the way about minuscule things, nothing important. It was like we were both trying to hide things from each other. We tried talking about movies, but then we both realized we had no clue what was playing. It was the same with television and current events, so we finally settled to talk about something we didn't mind sharing, our past together. We talked about California, going to the beach and me almost drowning in her swimming pool. About getting lost at the mall and hiding out in the Toy R Us because we thought it was the only place that was safe.
"I am really in love with this car," she said passing her hand across the door.
"Really?" I asked. "I mean I've grown to love it, but it's more out of necessity."
"I'll trade you," she said, her hands touching the dashboard.
I laughed, "What do I get in return."
"A silver shiny Volvo," she said.
Volvo. Edward. Ugh, I tried to hide my chagrin at the word Volvo. It would be too soon if I never saw a Volvo again.
"I guess you don't like."
"I don't," I said harshly, finishing her sentence before she could say another word.
The remainder of the ten minute ride to Ronald's was awkwardly silent. Occasionally I would catch her letting out air, as if she was about to say something, but she never got around to saying a word to me. When we got to Ronald's I wanted to say something to her but I couldn't find the words, I'd figured once we were inside a conversation about the beds had to be forced.
"Well, we're here," I said parking the truck with it's trunk towards the storefront.
"I can see," Madeline said mockingly. I could feel the sourness of her words. I didn't blame her, I didn't do much to encourage happiness.
When I opened the car door, the sun shined through, almost igniting the interior of the truck with sunlight. For a brief moment I stopped to admire my scar, still glittering in the sunlight, until I felt a hard grasp on my hand. I could feel the bones of my wrist pressing against each other, and a sharp pain on my skin. My hand was beginning to feel heavy with the loss of circulation
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
Madeline was examining my hand, moving it back and forth, into the sunlight and back where the sunlight didn't reach it. "How did you get this?!" she demanded, holding up my hand to my face.
"I-I-I," I stuttered, what was I supposed to tell her? I got bit by a glitter monster?
"Tell me!" She said, fury building in her voice.
"I can't," I let out, "I can't tell you." I tried to fight back from her sharp grip but I felt as powerless as I did when James had me captive.
She finally let go of my hand, perhaps out of sympathy for my hand or utter frustration. I was still trying to soothe the pain in my wrist when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the same beautiful shimmer I saw on Edward in the meadow. The same heavenly shimmer that was on my hand. I turned around in fear, I didn't remember her blue eyes being anything but blue. Could it be? Could she be a vampire? I had my answer when I looked at her. She had taken off the cardigan and there on her arms where scattered bites, all shining. They extended from her arm to her neck, but I couldn't even see the scars where the sunlight didn't hit. She looked beautiful, but so mangled.
"How?" I asked my voice faint, only a whisper.
She looked at me, her face full of sorrow. She didn't say anything, perhaps waiting for me to fill in the blanks but I couldn't even begin to imagine what was the reason behind the bites. Who did it? Why did they bite her? How did she survive? How wasn't she a vampire by now? She saw my puzzled face and finally breathed in a mouthful air for what she was about to tell me.
"That's the price you pay," she said, looking back down to her scars, glittering like stars, "When you kill vampires."