A noise from the floor below made me jump in surprise. Feeling anxious about what was going on downstairs, I opened the door and rushed down. "Hey," I said loudly, probably because of my nerves. "Is everything…" my eyes finally saw clearly the scene before in front of me, and my voice fades away.
Sitting on a wooden chair was Reese, while Brian was staring with a bored expression at the open door. I followed his gaze and I saw a man in a police uniform. The atmosphere was so heavy I could have heard a pin drop. I caught my aunt's eye and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head slightly to indicate that I shouldn't ask. The man, whom I took to be a police officer, suddenly locked on me. I recognized the look of relief on his face*. This left me more puzzled than ever.
"Charlie, this is the niece I told you about," Reese was saying. I turned my gaze back at her to see her gesturing at my general direction. She continued to chirp gleefully about having new company in her home. Slowly, the atmosphere lightened. I glanced subtly at Brian to ask what the big deal was, but he was already gone. I assumed he went to a room in the corner that I had missed when I first came here.
I watched my aunt and the policeman Charlie chat for a few seconds, before realizing that they might take a while. I took a silent, deep breathe, before crossing the room to the door. I gently closed the door behind me, praying desperately that the policeman would not take notice.
He unnerved me for some reason. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm still deathly scared of the possibilities of this place bearing a curse – as all horror movies tended to have haunted houses – and his coming suddenly on the day I arrived with a tense aura surrounding him convinced me more of curses being true. There was also the slight alarm when he had the same name as Bella's father, and inadvertently the same job. I shook it off and opened the door.
The kitchen I entered was spotless. The first thing I saw was a tiled countertop for where preparation of the ingredients was done on the wall opposite where I was, placed like a divider in the middle of the room. On my left side was a gas stove, sitting on another countertop adjacent to the wall. Beside that were containers of what I took to be condiments, while a white refrigerator fitted snugly into a space inside the wall. The right side had more of the space in the kitchen. There was a red table on its side of the room, with matching chairs with red seats. Instead of a countertop adjacent to the wall, there were cabinets containing plates, utensils, glasses and the sort.
For a moment I was panicked. Brian wasn't in the room, so where could he possibly be?
A draft reached me and I shivered. A movement to my right caught my eye. I turned my head and realized there were curtains blowing in the breeze. My heart thumped heavily against my ribs, and I gulped as I made the decision to check what was on the other side of the closed curtains.
The first step caused my heart to go on a painful, faster and heavier tirade. I clutched at my chest. I was unable to cope with this kind of suspense. With a deep breathe, I practically tripped over myself to reach the curtains. I pulled back the drapes and was greeted by a mild view.
There was green everywhere. As far as the eye could see, there were trees. When I breathe, I could smell the dampness of everything. "Pretty sight, huh?" I heard a voice say, and I rapidly faced where it came from. I saw Brian gazing at the same sight with his eyes closed. He seemed to like doing that, didn't he? Absorbing his surroundings with his eyes closed, I meant. I made a mental note of this and stowed it away in my head for future reference.
I nodded. "I've never seen anything like this before," I mentioned while I drank in the landscape before me. He moved his head and I turned mine in sync in order to see what he was going to do. Our gazes once again met; his green hues with my green-gray ones. But I saw something in his eyes, something I couldn't quite place.
A roar cut through the air. This wasn't a roar like that of a lion; it was a great deal closer to that of a diesel engine. It was enough to jolt and send me back to reality and out of the mystery in Brian's eyes. He turned his head the other way before I was able to ponder on it more. "Come on inside," he said, already walking away. "Charlie's leaving, so at least now you'd have time to really settle in."
He left me standing there, oddly speechless.
The next morning, I showed Brian the Twilight saga. He showed interest in it, so I let him borrow everything. It turned out that he was a very avid and fast reader. For two days I tried to set a routine for myself, and in that time span Brian finished the four books.
"You what?" I stared at him incredulously, unable to believe he was able to finish over a thousand pages in two days. "I know, right?" he smirked. Brian certainly has surprises in store for me, I thought.
That same day, I went to the kitchen only to find Reese nowhere and a new full-body mirror I never noticed before. "Hey Brian?" I called out, walking warily towards the mirror. "Yeah," I heard his faint reply. "Can you come here for a sec?" Footsteps stomped down the stairs as he marched up at me. "What is it?" Brian said to me as he arrived. He was clearly peeved at being disturbed.
I nodded my head at the mirror. "When did you get that?" He followed my gaze and saw the mirror. His face was puzzled, but he shrugged. "Huh," he said. "Maybe mom got it while we weren't looking." I didn't believe him one bit. I looked at him before seeing the book he was holding in his hand.
"Oh hey, that's the thickest book, isn't it?" I said to him. He raised the book as if he forgot it was even in his hands. "Huh? Oh, yeah. It is." For some reason, I had the urge to laugh. I quelled it just in time, though. I started my way to the door when Brian, who hadn't moved from his previous position, loudly said, "Hey Eve, let me show you something."
I turned and walked towards him. There was nothing that could've tripped me, but all of a sudden I lost my balance and bumped Brian with force. He, in turn, lost his balance and his grip on the book. I watched in sudden horror as the book was launched into the air, crashing and breaking the new mirror.
Shards of glass flew out of nowhere. Something turned me around from the sight in order to avoid the glass hitting me. It took me a brief moment to realize that the something was Brian, and he was using his body as a shield to protect mine. It was highly probable that I wouldn't be hit, since compared to me, he's huge.
Finally, he let go of me and I saw the mess I single-handedly caused.
Among the shattered glass on the floor, there were a few torn pages as well. I looked at the state of the book, Breaking Dawn. Almost half of it had been pierced by glass. "Damn," I said under my breath. Rianne's probably going to kill me.
"Damn," Brian echoed. He snapped out of his reverie faster than I did. "I'll get a broom," he said, leaving me in the room alone. I gazed sadly at the book. It occurred to me that only the latter part of the book was damaged, but it looked like it couldn't be saved.
I sighed. It was lucky that this wasn't the only Breaking Dawn book in the world.
I turned on my heel and thought about calling Reese and telling her what happened; it was my fault in the first place, anyway. As I walked out the door, I heard an eerie noise. It was as if some omnipresent being was… laughing.
~** a few days later…
A strange, annoying ring was pummeling gruesomely against my ears. I groaned before reaching out blindly at whatever was making the noise. Weirdly enough, I realized I could not move my arm more than a few inches. With a disgruntled grunt, I opened my eyes and looked at what was holding my upper extremities back. It was like peering at a kaleidoscope; lights were coming from everywhere in my vision, and nothing made sense.
It took me quite a while to realize that I was moving my head around too much, therefore affecting my coherence. I finally figured out that my arms were tangled in the bed sheet, but I still cannot see where that stupid noise was coming from.
Oh wait, the alarm clock. I free my self and shut the thing up. It said that the time was seven in the morning. I flopped back on the bed, relishing my ability to sleep and my inability to worry about time.
What seemed to be mere seconds later, someone was knocking enthusiastically on my door. Although the action appeared to be innocent, it was treading on deadly waters. My morning wrath, to be more specific.
"What…?" I moaned to my pillow. "Wake up and come down the stairs," Brian's muffled voice said. "Why…?" I refused to leave my bed for nothing short of a matter of life and death. "Just do it, alright?"
I growled, before turning and accidentally falling off the bed. With half-shut eyes I patted for my robe and pulled it on. I went down the stairs slowly. "What, Brian?" I said groggily. I rubbed my eyes and opened them to see Brian fully dressed and drinking something out of a mug. "Oh, you're supposed to go with me for groceries today, "he said casually. He eyed my getup with mock disapproval. "If you're trying to start a new fashion, don't."
I blushed with mortification, causing Brian to laugh. "Just kidding, Eve. But seriously, get dressed. You have about forty-five minutes to get ready and eat breakfast." I squinted at him with puzzlement. "Why are you timing me, anyway?" He shrugged. "I want to get this over with as soon as possible."
How could I have forgotten getting the groceries? Reese was so intent on me not missing out on the first trip to the grocery store with Brian that she brought it up at dinner about two days ago. I shrugged it off, thinking she wasn't serious about it. But in retrospect, I should have taken note of how she stayed on the phone almost all day, informing them of her niece going out in Forks for the first time.
I got ready grudgingly and had time for toast when Brian announced, "Okay, let's go." He grabbed a list and strolled out the door while I stumbled behind him. "Wait, Brian! Where's your mom?" I had not seen her at all as I darted from task to task earlier. "Oh," Brian replied, sounding as if he hadn't given that much thought. "She's probably out back." I raised my eyebrows. "Out back…?" I trailed off questioningly. He cleared his throat. "Yep. Come on, move it." Well, that sounded like an abrupt change of topic.
Without much conversation, he and I left for the grocery store.
We suddenly stopped at a traffic light behind a Mercedes sedan. I looked with interest at the car and asked, "Hey, who d'you think might be driving that?" After about two seconds of no reply, I turned to Brian and was surprised to see him awkwardly gawking at the car.
He whispered something in disbelief under his breath, something that sounded to me like "No way". I widened my eyes in an attempt to figure out why he was reacting like that. "What, what?" I said eagerly. "Is it someone famous, what?" I saw his stare survey the sight in front of us. "Minivan" was what I thought I heard when he murmured incoherently.
The car in front of us gave a sudden lurch forward, and Brian's jaw dropped even more. "What is it, Brian?" I said, raising my voice and resisting every urge to slap him out of his trance. But then, I didn't have to, as he did it all by himself. Not the slapping thing, of course, although that would have been incredibly funny. "Have you ever read those books, Eve?" he said, beginning to drive to the grocery store again. "Um, no. I haven't had the time," I replied a bit uneasily. If this was going to be a lecture on how I wasted a perfectly good book by making someone throw it at a mirror, then I'd gladly shut up about who was driving the Mercedes.
"Not at all?" Brian continued, signaling before taking a turn. "Not even, say, Twilight?" I shook my head. "A few pages of it, yes. But I never finished it." He made a humming sound that I took to mean that he understood. He took a deep breath. "Well, Eve. As you know, I've read the books," he said. "And I wasn't kidding when I told you that I finished all of them in two days." I nodded ardently, willing this not to be a lecture. "But I have to say, what happened earlier with the Mercedes sedan —that wasn't just a Mercedes sedan. That was a Mercedes Guardian."
I blinked uncomprehendingly. "O… k…"
Brian looked as if he was trying very hard to get through to me. "What I mean is it's the same car as the one Bella was driving in Breaking Dawn." I furrowed my brows. "So… what?" My companion slowly continued, "And the minivan to its right matched what was written in the book. And the pedestrians on the other side of it: even the number of people there."
I shrugged. "It could have been just a coincidence." Brian nodded, and I thought he would acquiesce and finally shut up about it, but then he said more. "Did you see the car lurch earlier? It was as if the driver didn't know how to drive a car like that."
"Oh yeah," I said. "I did." Brian smiled, probably figuring that I got his point. "That's exactly what Bella did in the book. Can't you see? It's like we're watching what happened in Breaking Dawn… live!" I saw what I took to be the grocery store coming up on our right, and I absentmindedly agreed. Brian began to park the car.
"Now, all I need to do is figure out how this happened, and we could be well on our way," Brian was saying cheerfully. I looked at him blankly. "On our way to where?" He returned my gaze with a look of incredulity. "On meeting the Cullens, of course." It was then I figured, oh heck. There would be nothing wrong with playing along. I snapped my fingers. "Oh right, right."
Brian killed the engine and both of us stepped out of the car. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, probably the list of what we were supposed to buy. He and I were walking at the same pace, almost in a parallel line. As we were walking, though, there was change in the atmosphere so abrupt that I stopped. "Did you feel that?" I asked, looking if he was bothered. He had stopped, too. "Yeah," he replied, his voice low.
I surveyed around me to see whether something had changed. Brian called my attention to the sky, and I lifted my gaze to see what he noticed. The birds were frozen in mid-flight, and the clouds weren't moving even if I was pretty sure there was a wind earlier.
And then, just as it happened a few seconds ago, everything went back to normal. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision. It wasn't possible that I was going crazy, since Brian felt and saw what I did, too. When I glanced to where Brian was, I didn't see him. I became a bit frantic until I realized he was on his way to the grocery store, already brushing off the weird moment earlier, I guessed. I stumbled as I tried to catch up with him.
"What do you mean that you don't know who I am?" I heard him saying with disbelief. I went in the store to find him talking to the man behind the counter. "I've been coming to this store for fourteen years!" The man behind the counter shrugged. "You must be mistaken, kid. This is the first time I've seen you." He turned around and started to sort out things.
I ambled to Brian. "What's up?" I asked, seeing his agitation. "This is so weird," Brian said, muttering pretty much to himself. It was then that a boy that looked about my age approached us with a hospitable smile on his face. "Hi there! You must be the new kids in town," he said. I gaped at him. Even I knew that Brian spent most of his life here in Forks. "Have a nice day, you guys!" the friendly folk continued, before strutting away with his groceries.
I turned my attention to Brian, who was gaping with equal shock at the boy. "What's going on?" he asked out loud. "There is only one new kid in town, and that's you." He sounded accusing. "And everyone would have known who you were, since mom's been on the phone all day yesterday." There was a moment of silence, and I figured I shouldn't say anything or else risk being the object of his anger; an anger that would have been a product of being confused and wanting to find the only answer he could see – that is, blaming me.
"So why can't anyone remember who I am?"
~*** from the author:
Well, this is embarrassing.
Firstly, I would like to thank Twilighterr, finger cracker, and maddiegirl for the reviews. 3
I am grateful for the time you gave to read my first chapter. Also, this would take place in Breaking Dawn, as suggested by finger cracker. Thank you Twilighterr for that idea; I'll use that. :] Thank you maddiegirl for liking the story. x]
I would like to apologize for having been unable to update this for over two years. I have a lot of reasons why, but I doubt that anyone would like to hear my excuses, so there goes the second chapter :3
*This is sort of in reference to Charlie knowing about vampires and expecting the newcomer (Eve) to be one, which is why he was relieved to see she was human.
Once again, criticisms and suggestions will be highly appreciated.
