A/N: Well this is my first fanfic and I hope you like it. I'm not a native speaker so please don't be too harsh on me...

Disclaimer: As much as I wish, I don't own twilight or any of the characters. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer

I woke up that morning with an impending feeling of doom on my mind. As I tried to open my eyes and failed miserably, I was still unable to remember what was the reason behind it. I was restless and I couldn't quite understand why, seen as I'd gone to bed around nine the night before, until I reached out my hand searching for the switcher of the pinkish bed lamp my mother had bought me when I was a child, and found nothing but more bed. Could I possibly be that far from the edge of the bed? I stretched my other arm and yet all I could find was more sheets and a huge pillow. And then it hit me.

I tried to focus on the noises that were supposed to be coming out of the kitchen, I had always woken up to my mother's attempt at breakfast, and yet, today, nothing came. It was silent. I wasn't used to silence and I found it uncomfortable. I already knew that the noises wouldn't come but still I couldn't help myself, I had to hope for them to come. Because the other option would be accepting that my mother had left me. Not in a "I wanted this holidays all my life and I simply can't afford to take you" way, but in a "I'm sorry I'll never get to see you graduate but I know you will turn out a fine lady" way.

I fought the instinct to hide my head under the pillow and cry until all my anguish had vanished. I fought the instinct to scream until someone, my mom, came and lied here next to me on this over sized bed. I had to calm myself, for my own good, and more important, for Charlie's good. My father (I was still getting used to the idea of having one let alone calling him that) was the owner of a multi-something, some sort of corporation that I was having some trouble understanding. All I knew was that he made loads of money selling houses and farms and all sorts of places where one can live.

I had never really got to know him seen as my mother had never told me who my father was. All she had ever told me was that they had been high school sweethearts and when he got his first job offer at a major company she let him go to Seattle all by himself so that she could stay in L.A. and pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Needless to say that, like most of the things she got herself into, that too was just a phase of her life. Only after did she find out that she was pregnant, and even though she wasn't ready to be a single mother, she still abandoned her dream to raise me. She never told Charlie and neither did I expect her to. She wanted him to be happy and she knew that he would probably leave Seattle to take care of us and that would doom him to a life of unhappiness.

So, Charlie found out about my existence when Renee got cancer. At first she thought she was going to be able to fight it. But as it became more and more obvious that wining the fight against cancer would be highly unlikely, she started to prepare me for what was coming. She told me everything she thought I needed to know about graduation, college, marriage and children, and then she told me about Charlie. I could tell she wasn't too happy about me moving in with him but I was going to start my freshman year at high school and I couldn't just live all by myself with no income.

When she died, I was devastated, I knew that it was going to happen but I still wasn't ready for it. At first, I kept living at our old house, waking up every morning and cooking breakfast like she used to, playing crappy old songs around the house and dancing on my tiptoes like she did so many times before. But after I had spent all my savings on food, I had to face reality and call Charlie. It was the end of summer but from what Renee had told me about Charlie, he must be working and I didn't want to have to hurry my story so I called him on a Sunday hoping that he wasn't such a workaholic that he would be working even on a Sunday.

The conversation wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He took it pretty well seen as I had just told him that he had a daughter who was moving in with him because his high school sweetheart had died of cancer. At first he was a little bit astonished but he seemed to remember my mother remarkably well and he didn't doubt my word even once when I told him that I was his daughter. He sent me some cash so that I could feed myself for another two weeks while I packed all my belongings and then he bought me the plane ticket.

So that was why I had woken up in a bed that was completely strange to me. A bed that was way too big for just one person. In a bedroom that was way too big for it. I got up and tried to remember last night. I had arrived around noon and Charlie had been at the airport to greet me. I had to admit that he wasn't such a bad person, he had a wide smile in what I figured was an attempt to make me feel at ease. He failed miserably but I still gave him some credit for trying. I greeted him with an awkward "hi dad" and then stared at my feet while I waited for him to say something. Eventually he managed to whisper " I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened like this. I'm sorry Renee had to die for us to meet. I liked her and I'm sorry you are hurting." I looked up to see his eyes full of grief and I knew, at that instant, that Charlie was a nice person and we would get along.

When we got home (I still flinched at the thought of this house as my home), he had shown me my bedroom and then left me alone to unpack. It took me forever to get all my clothes in the right places of the damn closet and by the time I was finished I just needed to get some rest. So even if it was too early to go to bed, I went downstairs (probably the only place I knew of this house apart from my bedroom) and waved Charlie goodnight since I wasn't comfortable with kissing him goodnight yet.

I wondered where he was now. Reluctantly I called Brianne, the only other person I knew in this town. She was supposed to be Charlie's housekeeper but I got the feeling that she was more like a friend now. She was at my door in no time wearing what seemed to be her uniform to work.

"Good morning miss Swan. Is there anything I can do for you?" - she asked too politely

"Oh Brianne I could use a friend right now so please call me Bella. No need for all the formality." - I didn't want her to know how desperate I was for someone to talk to but I could see no other way to ask her that.

"Sure Bella. Did you need something?"- apparently it had worked because this was so much better.

"Yes, I was wondering where Char-, I mean my dad was..."

"Ooh... Mr. Swan has already left for work. He asked me to make sure you ate something because you skipped dinner last night and to introduce you to the rest of the house. So, maybe you should get dressed while I get you something to eat and then I can either show you the house or you can go out and get to know the city. What do you think?" - I saw guilt cross her face and wondered if she regretted that he wasn't home to show me himself. But I didn't want to be rude by asking her that so I just agreed.

"Sounds good enough..."

I made clear that I was going to get dressed now, and she understood it and left the room. I went to my private bathroom, where I hadn't been before, and once again I felt like a three year-old because everything was just too big. The center of the bathroom was occupied by a huge round bathtub and the entire room seemed to revolve around it. There was a shower at one of the corners near the door and a toilet on the other corner near the door. The opposite wall was filled with a long stand with two simple square sinks in the middle. I couldn't understand why would someone need such a huge stand when there was a perfectly good dressing table by the bedroom's window but... maybe that's just me.

I took a quick shower trying to erase any sign of my plane trip and after brushing my hair I went to the closet and grabbed some old clothes without even looking at them. I stuffed my wallet, my sunglasses (hoping I'd get the chance to use them), my mobile and a set of keys Charlie had given me yesterday inside my welcome gift – a Prada handbag – and ran downstairs.

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