I don't own the characters. They belong to S.M.

This is my first my FanFic. I hope you guys enjoy

BPOV

May 29, 2009

Standing there in front of the mirror that sat atop my dresser, I started to cry again. I've been doing that a lot lately, but that is expected. I take one last look at myself in the mirror. Esme would be proud. Even though my makeup was smeared from crying again, I look beautiful. My long curly mocha brown hair hung down to my waist. My flat black dress was knee length, sleeveless, and had a low cut front. I even had matching black 3 inch strappy shoes. I wore a small amethyst jewel incased in a silver pendant around my next. It belonged to Esme's mother. I also wore the matching earrings. I wanted to show how much these gifts meant to me. I wanted to show the world how much I love Esme. I picked up the folded paper on my dresser and read it for the millionth time. The front, in very pretty font, read: "In loving memory of Esme Riley Parker. 1969-2009." I was, again, fighting the storm of tears that wanted to spill from my jade green eyes. I opened the folded paper, even though I knew what it said ,I couldn't stop myself from reading the inside passage. "Esme Riley Parker was born on June 7th, 1969. She left this world May 27th, 2009. She was surpassed in life by her mother Mary Parker. She was an only child. Her father wasn't present in her life. She leaves behind three daughters, Bella, Alice and Rose Parker, all twenty-two. Esme Parker went to medical school at George Washington Medical School here in Washington. After receiving her medical degree, she spent the first five years working at local hospitals. She has spent the last four years working at St. Mary's Court nursing home. She was very passionate about her worked and loved being able to be one on one with her patients. Her family and her beloved patients will miss her dearly." I tried to hold the tears at bay, but after reading my mother's obituary again, I couldn't stop them. Tears were falling from my rosy red cheeks faster then I could wipe them away. They left small black droplets on my wood dresser.

What were Alice, Rose and I going to do now that Esme is gone? We are all of legal age to be on our own, but our mother's love wont be there to help us through the tough times. We won't have her at the holidays to make our favorite cookies or go on our Christmas shopping spree. She wont be there to make us birthday pancakes like she's done ever year since we came to live with her. She isn't here anymore. Rose, Alice and I will never get the chance to show her how much her love meant to us, how grateful we were that she saved us from an abusive foster home we all lived in.

Rose, Alice and I are not blood sisters, but we couldn't love each other more if we were. We were eight when Esme found us living with an elderly lady and her 30 year old son. Esme was paid by the state to take care of the woman, her name Jane I believe. Her son had moved in with her after we had arrived. The woman was wonderful but the son was abusive. He beat his mother and the three of us. Esme came over one day, heard us crying, and called the police. The son went to jail and the woman went into a nursing home. Esme, not being able to have kids, took the three of us home that day and never thought twice about it. She always had such a big heart and encouraged us to follow ours no matter what. And this wonderful woman had to die? Why?

A man took our mother from us. Taken from her daughters, the only family she had, taken from all the people who loved her. He followed her to her car after her shift at the nursing home and stabbed her in the heart until she bled out. And if that wasn't enough to destroy our lives, the man drew, in Esme's blood, a strange symbol on the door of her car. It looked the two "B" put together. One "B" was facing the normal way and the other was reversed and against the normal one. I looked it up online after I saw it painted on my mother's car. This strange symbol, called a Shieldknot, is known for its protection. This symbol haunts my dreams and I have no idea why. I can't figure out why anyone would kill my mother let alone draw an ancient protection symbol on her car.

I was brought out of my mental rant by soft tape on my bedroom door. The noise made me jump and make a small squeal. By the soft tape on the door, I knew the person on the other side was Alice. If it was Rose she would have pounded on the door or just walk right into my room uninvited.

"Hey, it's me Alice. Can I please come in?" Alice was always so polite.

"Of course Alice, come in," she cracked the door open and peaked inside before she opened the door enough for her 5'3, 100 pounds body to slip through. Like me, her face was stained with mascara streaks on her cheeks. She was also wearing a black dress similar to mine. It stopped right above her knees, was sleeveless and low cut. She was wearing black pumps that made her three inches taller. Her chocolate brown hair was cut short and spiked every which way. She called it a pixie cut. Hell if that made any sense to me, I just thought it was cute and fit her hyper personality. Looking up into her sea blue eyes I could see they were blood shot from hours of crying. I don't think any of us have stopped crying since the morning we found out about our mother's fate.

"What's up, everything alright?" A stupid question I know, but Alice would understand what I meant.

"Rose is ready and the limo is down stairs to take us to the funeral." Her voice cracked a little on the last word and my heart broke a little more with it too. I walked across the small room to Alice's side. I hugged her fiercely and linked my arm within hers and we walked out of the room, down the steps to where Rose was waiting.

"God, I've been waiting forever for you two to get ready. I don't want to be late to our mother's funeral." Rose informed me impatiently. She too had mascara streaks running down her swallow red face. Her makeup couldn't hid her pain.

"Sorry Rosy, I don't want to be late either. We're ready now so let's go." I told her in the gentlest tone I could muster. I know that her snapping at me wasn't due to anger but unmanageable grief. Rose had a hard time dealing with her stronger emotions like these. The three of us, all dressed in black dresses and wearing black veils, walked arm and arm out the front door of our four bedroom cottage house. It was such a beautiful house. Esme worked very hard at the nursing home and picked up extra shifts at the hospital to buy that house for all of us to live in. I unhooked my arms from my sisters and turned around to slide my silver key into the dead bolt. It made a small clicking noise as the metal slid into place. I turned around again and saw Rose and Alice were already getting into the limo. I have never been in a limo before; it's sad the first time would be for a funeral. As I made my way down the porch and walk way I noticed how shiny the black paint was on the limo. How big it looked compared to my waiting sisters. They climbed into the car as I got closer. Rose then Alice climbed in. As I was about to get into the limo I turned around and looked at the house. Esme would never see this again. Never be up to her elbows in the front yard planting flowers. She would never hang her bird feeders all over the yard or feed the squirrels. She would never step through that bright red door and yell for us to watch a movie and eat ice cream with her. She won't be there when we get married or have babies, she won't be there to guide us through rough breakups or talk boys with us at the mall. She won't be there for anything, ever again. Once again, the tears spilled from my eyes like a river breaking through its damn. It was only eleven o'clock, today was going to be the worst day of our lives.

The limo ride was a quiet one. The three of us sat huddled together silently crying. We didn't know what to say to each other. We didn't know what to think. It has only been a few days since we found out the horrid news; we haven't had time to deal with it. Alice and I were handling it better then Rose, but then again Alice and I handled emotions better. We were open about what we felt, I think that's why Alice and I were more like best friends then sisters and Rose was closer to Esme then she was to us. We all love each other dearly and we are all very close.

The ride to the funeral home was short. Wow, this place is packed. I knew Esme was loved but I had no idea she was loved by so many. It warmed my heart to know Esme had so many people that are going to miss her. The limo stopped at the front entrance to the funeral home. Powers was written on the sign in the front yard. The door opened suddenly, making us all jump and a quiet scream escaped our lips.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you ladies. My apologies." A man dressed in a dark grey suit. He was young, probably no older then us. He had blonde hair, cut short. His eyes were as clear as water and almost the same shade of blue. His facial features looked like they were carved from stone. Any other time, I would have found this man attractive but today he was just another shadow in a dark room.

"Its alright, we are just a little jumpy today. No harm done." Alice was the first to respond to him. We climbed out of the limo and thanked the young man for getting the door. After all of us were free from the vehicle, we straightened our dresses and, with me in the middle, grabbed each other's hand. We walked like this into the funeral home. We knew people were watching us, and I could hear whispers, "Poor girls, Esme loved them more then anything in this world." Hearing that made my flood gates open and tears slid down my cheeks leaving gray marks in their path. We took our seats in the front row. I squeezed Alice and Rose's hands when we sat down. It's the first time we've seen our mother since she left for work. I sat there, in between Alice and Rose, staring at the casket. I was made of cherry wood, very high dollar or so we were told, and glossy. Esme was beautiful. The guys at the funeral home did a wonderful job. She looked peaceful and asleep. This is the way we should remember her, no bloody and slumped against a car.

I don't remember the funeral. I know people got up and said wonderful things about Esme. I know Alice, Rose, and I got up and talked about her, but I don't remember what any of them said or what I said, for that matter. All I know is as the funeral started, it was over. Two hours gone. I looked over at Alice and then Rose and saw they had the same look of confusion on their faces. If I had to guess they just lost two hours too. We stood up and made our way to the back of the building. Everyone else got up and followed us. We stopped by the door. Everyone that left shook our hands and told us how sorry they were or how much Esme meant to them. I was a very hard half hour to get through, as the last person walked out of the door, the funeral director came up to us.

"If you will follow me to the limo, everyone else that is participating in the procession will follow the limo to the cemetery. Then the limo will drive you ladies home. I will call you in a few days and see how you girls are doing." With that the funeral director led the way out the door and we followed him to the limo.

The next thing I remember is the limo pulling up to the house. Grief is a strange thing. I lost over three hours of my day so far and I still had to go and see everyone in a couple of hours at the Wake. Esme was tremendously spiritual. And she had many friends that didn't want to come to the funeral. Because we loved Esme, we wanted to make her happy in life and now in death. Esme's more spiritual friends will be at the house in an hour. The funeral home provided us with food and even had a few of their employees come back to the house with us to set up. Alice, Rose and I were in no condition to set up anything. Alice, who loves to plan parties and putting them together, didn't have it in her to even help. For the next hour, the three of us sat on our oversized white leather sofa. We didn't change out of our black dress and veils. Didn't remove our pumps, or strappy 3 inch heels, or in Rose's case 4 inch black stilettos. We walked in the door, made our way through our foyer that was full of colorful flowers and lots of natural light, and straight into our living room. It was a comfortable space. The room was covered with family pictures and had vases everywhere full of lilies. There was also an oversized white leather couch, a matching love seat and a big cherry wood coffee table. She had to replace the first coffee table; the four of us playing football in the house was a bad idea. The memory brought a small smile through my tear stained face.

"What are you smiling at Bella?" Alice asked me in a soft whisper.

"I was remembering the time Esme taught us to play football, remember? She wanted her girls to understand sports, so we wouldn't be afraid to talk to guys." I laughed a little quiet laugh.

"Oh yeah," Now Alice was smiling, "I remember that. Esme threw the ball to Rose and she tripped on the rug and fell into the table, broke two legs right off of it." I was so nice to hear Alice's musical laugh, even though it was a small one.

"Whatever, I didn't trip. Bella was coming after me and she fell. I was trying to get out of the way so she didn't land on me. I just so happen to bump into the table in the process." Even Rose was smiling and laughing a little as we all recalled one of our most favorite memories of Esme.

"Hey, I didn't trip. I was going to tackle you but missed." This made all of us laugh louder and harder. God it feels so good to laugh with my sisters like this. None of us has even cracked a smile since we found out about Esme. Once we started laughing we just couldn't stop. The knocking at the door made us all jump and scream.

"You ladies alright in here?" One of the guys from the funeral home peeked around the corner and asked us.

"Yeah we're fine," I answered him; "we are just a little jumpy today, that's all."

"I'll get the door for you girls, anything else I can do for you, let me know." Alice and I looked at each other. The funeral home guy was so hitting on Rose, and from the looks of it, she was eating it up. Alice and I both looked at Rose, after the guy left the room.

"What?" She asked us trying to look all innocent and failing miserably.

"What? You know he is hitting on you, and we know," I made a hand gesture pointing between myself and Alice, "that you, my dear sister, are eating it up like a kid with cake." And again, we burst into laughter. This is the way it's supposed to be. Happy and laughing and loving each other.

People started to fill the house. As much as we didn't want to leave our bubble of happiness on that plush sofa, we got up and went to mingle with Esme's more nature loving friends. At some point I seemed to have loss Rose and Alice and was forced to talk to people on my own. Out of the three of us, I was the most anti-social. I would rather read a book then go shopping like Alice or play sports with the guys like Rose. I didn't talk to strangers, or people that I barely knew. I didn't mingle well. I wanted to crawl into a corner and people forget I was there. But sadly, that wasn't going to happen. Not today. People stopped and talked to me, while I was looking for my sister. I didn't really understand or care what they were saying. It was all the same things: "We are so sorry about your loss, or She's in a better place." I didn't care. She was gone and nothing they said was going to make that pain any less. Before I knew it, it was almost ten o'clock. The guys from the funeral home were cleaning up after everyone was leaving. I can't believe how tired I was. I hugged Alice and Rose and told them both how much I loved them and made my way to my room. I walked past Alice's door. Anyone would know this because Alice was written in big pink letters on her door. It's been that way since we were eight. Then I walked past Rose's door. She had a very pretty rose painted on her door. I stopped and traced the rose with my finger. I looked behind me; there was Esme's bedroom door. At the opposite end of the hallway was her door. Fresh tears filled my eyes. I couldn't move. On her door, hung a family picture, one that was taken a few months after we became a family. She has never replaced it, never took it off her door. She would tell us that, that was the happiest day of her life. The Gods gave her three wonderful girls to call her daughters. As hard as I tried, the tears fell from my eyes. I almost ran to my room. I flung myself through the door and collapsed on the bed. Normally I would find comfort in my queen size bed. But tonight all the pillows and the huge comforter was making me cry harder for some reason. I had no idea what time it was when the tears won and I fell asleep, but it was the first night I slept in days. And it was wonderful.

EPOV

It was a little after midnight when I heard the back door open of our four bedroom house. Who the hell was coming in the back door? I rolled out of bed. I just had black boxers on and didn't bother putting pants on. It was just my father, my brothers and I living here so none of us bothered with cloths in the middle of the night. Not wanting to talk to anyone, I snuck out of my room and quietly made my way down the stairs. I've snuck out enough to know where the creeks in the floor were. I'm pretty sure Jasper and Emmett possessed the same talent as their brother. We aren't bad kids, but we do love to push the limits with Pops. For some reason or another, Pops has always been real strict with us. Get good grades, don't get into trouble, and stay away from the nature lovers in town. I was always curious to the last one but never liked to fight with Pops to get to the answer. I heard the water turn on in the kitchen. It has to be daddy dearest. Us boys know better then sneak in and use the kitchen sink. I finally made it to the bottom step. I had to jump a foot from the bottom step to avoid the last, and loudest, creek in the floor. I hugged the wall on my way to the kitchen. I peaked around the corner and saw Carlisle bent over the sink. He was talking to himself, but I was to far away to hear him clearly. I just caught a couple of words. It looked like he was washing something off his hands. I tried to get closer, staying in the dark corners of the hallway. I managed to get closer and could see something red covering Carlisle's front. His hands and arms were covered in something red and sticky. What the hell? He was scrubbing hard to get it to come off whatever it was and he would keep saying words like "witch", and "got to protect my boys and everyone else." That doesn't even make sense. Witches aren't real, was Carlisle losing it? I was about to turn around when I heard a clinking noise against the marble counter top next to the sink. I could feel my eyes almost bulge out of my head; Carlisle just dropped a knife on the counter. I have never seen this knife before in my life, where did it come from? I don't know why, but for some reason everything I was seeing came together. I could blame it on the millions of hours of horror flicks I've seen, but I think I understand now. Carlisle was covered in blood. I'm pretty sure the mystery knife was covered in blood too. Did Pops kill an animal? God, I hope so. I'll have to ask my brothers about this in the morning. I was leaning so far from the wall to get a good look in the kitchen I hit the table with my hip bone. Shit. I didn't see if Carlisle saw me, I didn't give him the chance. I shot up the stairs two at a time. I had to jump from side to side to avoid the creeks. I could hear Carlisle walking from the kitchen to the hallway making his way to the stairs. I opened my door the same time Carlisle took the first step. I jumped over the pile of clean clothes that sat between my bed and the door and half dove half tripped into bed. I was just pulling the blankets up over me when Pops opened my bedroom door. I've had a ton of practice pretending to be asleep. Like I said, I was a pro at sneaking out and back into the house. Pops took a step into my room as I was trying to control my breathing, but changed his mind half way through his step. He turned around and left pulling the door shut behind him. God, that was close. I am defiantly having a talk with Jasper and Emmett tomorrow morning. This is just too weird. Carlisle comes home after midnight, he's covered in blood, and has a knife that doesn't belong to any of our sets. Thinking about it, I heard him come home this late a few days ago. I was too tired to go down stairs to investigate but now wish I had. What the hell was going on?

This is my first attempt at writing a story, so if you like it tell me. I hope to get a lot of reviews. Thank you for taking the time to read.