The Truth About Heaven.

"Would you like to hear my story, Bella? It doesn't have a happy ending- but which of ours does? If we had happy endings we'd all be under gravestones now."

I sat, smiling at Vera and her young son. There had been a time when I was unbelievably jealous of her happy family, but now that my own was so close I pitied her, knowing that mine would be so much more enjoyable than hers was.

Soon I would be married to Royce, and I would have fair-haired children of my own. I thought of all this as I stood up to leave. It was late; I could see the street lights through the window. I hadn't meant to stay this late, but time had gotten away from me.

I kissed Vera's cheek, exiting the house to a chorus of waves and giggles from the raven-haired infant. I smiled and waved goodbye, and as I walked along the cobble stone path I let my mind wander to my impending marriage. There were still plans to be made, and the guest list needed to be finalized… If this weather kept up, I was going to have to move the wedding inside the church; it was so unseasonably cold for April.

As I turned towards my house, I noticed a broken street lamp with a handful of drunkards beneath it. Suddenly, I wished I had called someone to walk me home.

"Rose!" I heard someone shout.

I hadn't realized that they were dressed as gentleman. I realized with sudden certainty that it was Royce, with a few of his other well-off friends.

"Here's my Rose! You're late," he called out stupidly, slurring his words. "We're cold, you've kept us waiting so long."

I hadn't known that he was a drinker; I'd barely seen him sip his champagne at the soiree's we'd been to. I noticed that he was standing next to someone I didn't recognize; I assumed that it was his friend from Atlanta.

"What did I tell you, John, Isn't she lovelier than all your Georgia peaches?" Royce shouted stupidly. I stood there, as still as a statue. The more he talked, the more afraid I was. John was very unlike any other man in our small community. He had dark hair, and his skin was tanned a deep tawny. The way he looked at me, I felt like some sort of product he was buying. An apple at the market, or a horse perhaps.

"It's hard to tell, she's all covered up." His voice had a southern twang to it. They all laughed, like it was some big joke, a joke that I didn't understand in the least. Royce reached out, and tore the jacket form my body. The buttons skittered across the ground.

"Show him what you look like, Rose!" Comprehension dawned across my face, and my eyes grew wide with horror. They meant to take advantage of me. He laughed again, a horrible, mean laugh. A laugh completely devoid of humor. He reached out and wrenched my hat from my head.

I screamed, startled by the pain in my scalp I hadn't been expecting. Strings of hair hung from the pins that had held the hat to my head, the hat that Royce now threw on the ground. He walked towards me, leering. I didn't know what to expect.

"Rrr... Royce?" I stuttered. He reached out, and laid his hands gently on my arms. He pulled me close to his body, and inhaled the scent of my hair.

"Rosalie, baby… I need you. I need you to do something for me and my friends here, okay? Can you do something for me?" He whispered in a velvety soft voice. I shuddered in his arms. This was not the charming sweet Royce I knew. This drunken man seemed unbearably dangerous to me.

"I don't know Royce, I want to go home. I don't like this. Let go of me." I said, as firmly as I could. Under the circumstances, I think I managed pretty well. I inhaled shakily and tried to step away from him, but he wouldn't let me move. I tried to jerk away again with the same result. Royce was squeezing my arms more tightly now, hurting me.

"No, Rosalie. I need you. You aren't going home until we're done with you. Do you understand?" He said, as he leaned in to my face menacingly. There was an icy threat in his voice I hadn't heard before this night.

I struggled in his arms. I threw my weight around, I kicked my legs, I tried to move my arms… but it had no affect at all. I opened my mouth and tried to scream but before I could get out a sound John ran over to stand next to Royce and clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Baby, don't be like that." He whispered in his sickeningly sweet, southern voice. He asked Royce if he was going to get 'seconds'. An all new thrill of fear shot through me when Royce nodded, and John stroked the side of my face.

I tried harder to scream. I kicked harder. I struggled more tenaciously, but it seemed the harder I tried to get away the better they liked the situation. Royce and John dragged me to an alley a few feet away. They threw me to the ground and lifted up the skirt of my dress.

Now I understood what was to happen. And suddenly, I realized that there was no way I would get out of this situation. I stopped kicking. I stopped struggling against John and Royce's relentless hands. Shortly thereafter my shoes were off, my dress up around my waist, and my bloomers thoroughly ripped off of my body.

I laid on the ground, writhing in the appreciative glances of Royce and his friends. I closed my eyes as Royce grabbed my knees and spread them apart, then unbuttoning and pulling down his pants. Two of his friends whose names I didn't know grabbed my arm, and one held his hand over my mouth. John leaned against a wall and watched the scene play out. Suddenly there was a pain I had never experienced ripping through my body.

There were knives tearing through lower body, up into my abdomen. I had never touched, never even looked at the part of my body that was currently being thoroughly and viciously assaulted. The pain dulled after many minutes, leaving a dull throbbing ache throughout the lower half of my body.

Without my jacket, shoes, or dress most of the rest of my body had become numb as well. When Royce was finished with me John took his place. He was gentler, slower, took more time. I never thought I would appreciate the way someone took advantage of my incapacitated body. John finished. He kissed my cheek and stood up, buttoning my pants.

Another man let go of my arm and took his place. He was nervous, but it didn't stop him from doing the same as the rest. After he was done, he took the spot of the man holding my arms. He was replaced with another nameless friend of Royce's. He was the most vicious of all of them. He beat my face and stomach, getting off every time I shouted out in pain. When he was done, there were fresh waves of pain lapping at my entire body.

There was one more man, and then they were done. They stood back, observed their handiwork, and then walked away cracking jokes about the entire incident. I laid on the ground, trembling in pain, and from the cold and exhaustion I was experiencing.

I could still hear the men walking away from me laughing. Shaking, lying in a pool of my own blood, all I could think about was that there was no way I was going to be able to plan a wedding in this condition, and that my favorite outfit lay entirely in ruins.

And then Carlisle was there.

I left Edward's room, closing the door gently behind me. "Why did you tell her that story, Rose?" I turned, and saw Emmett leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, and his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"I- I thought… I thought she should be able to make an informed decision." I stuttered. I was shocked to see him; I hadn't known he was listening.

"Are you that unhappy with me, Rosalie? Am I not good enough for you?" He asked.

I stared at him blankly "You know that isn't true, Emmett."

"Do I? Do I, Rosalie? I don't think I do. You're always living in the past. It's all you care about, what could have been." He glared at me, obviously hurt.

"Emmett don't be like this!" I cried, desperately.

"Every day. Every day I look at you, and I wonder 'How did I get so lucky?' But I didn't, did I? I didn't get so lucky. You don't love me, Rose." He whispered, hoarsely.

"Yes I do. You don't know what it's like, Emmett."

"No, you're right… I don't. I had a family too, Rose. You know that. But I would gladly, joyously; I would GRATEFULLY give up my family a hundred times over, just to be with you. And you don't even care. You would rather be with Royce, six feet under. You would rather have died that night, wouldn't you have? You only saved me because I reminded you of someone you used to know! It's not me you wanted. It never was," he spat.

"Yes it is, it always will be! Emmett we belong together," I whispered, urgently.

He scoffed. "It's not just me you're lying to Rose. You question your love for me just as much as I do. But you're playing yourself just as much as you're playing me," He turned away from me, and was gone in a heartbeat. I heard the front door slam as I slid down the wall, tears rolling down my cheeks.

So this is her idea of heaven. Well, the truth is, it rains in heaven all day long.