So
I can't come to regret my decision to move to Forks, it brought me
to
Edward, and it brought David back to me…
My mother,
Mary had always told me I was a single child, I believed her,
until
I was 15 and my brother came to visit us in Alaska.
She
thought I wasn't listening, that I wasn't going to spy, I did.
His
name was David, and he was my brother, well half brother.
My mom had a fling
with Charlie Swan after his father William,
well after she left David and his
father William.
My mother wasn't the most committed type.
He came wanting to know why
she left him. He called himself a jumper, and her
a paladin.
"I left to protect you David, I had two options, kill you
or leave you,"
my mother explained.
Kill him??? WHY? Was he bad, what had he done??
"I was five Mom! So what
now, you going to chase me down?" David
questioned.
"I'll give you a head start, because I love you…" She stated.
He left without a word.
I peeked out the window and saw him walk
to a girl in a red coat and boots,
and then they disappeared.
I don't mean that they left quickly. They literally disappeared.
Poof. Gone. Like space and time opened around them and sucked them away.
I had to know the truth.
"Mom who was that???" I demanded.
"No one, just a salesmen, go upstairs" my mother ordered.
"NO! He, he's my brother!
Why who, what did you do! Who are you?????" I
screamed.
"Isabella
Sofie Swan! You lower your voice right now! All you need to know
is
that I'm doing my job and David is doing his!"
"What
does that even mean! What's a jumper??? What's a paladin??
Are
you going to kill him???" I panicked, I wanted to know him,
have him know
me.
"No sweetie, but well…. Okay.
Here's the thing. Jumpers are people
who can jump to any
location they want to, they think and then they are where
they
thought. But it is unnatural, only god should have that power.
Paladins
hunt and kill jumpers." She explained.
"Before
I met Charlie I was married to William, I loved him, and David,
but
when he was 5 and took his first jump I had to make a choice."
Pain was on
her face.
"But… why didn't you ever tell
me?! My own brother! You're, you're
not a secretary, and
you're a liar!" I was irate.
"Sofie," She tried, using
her nickname for me, everyone else called me
Bella. "Please,
I had to, for both of you…." She tried.
"AM I A JUMPER????" I yelled.
"NO! Your not, and don't try it,
it'll just make things harder for all
of us!" She
ordered!
That was the last and only time we spoke of it.
It's been a year since then. I wish I
could lie and say it got better, but
it didn't.
David came to me the next year, on my 16 birthday.
He jumped into my
room thinking I was asleep; I awoke seeing him with
presents in
his arm.
"Shhhhhhh…." He quieted, "I shouldn't be here as it is!"
"Da…david???" I asked.
"Yeah,
look…. I… I know you don't know me but I… I wanted to
give
you this. It's from Spain. I know birthdays can be
sad on your own. It
reminded me of you…" David
started.
"OH, David. It… it's wonderful" a small snow
globe filled my two
hands, in it was a scene with a man and a
bull. They looked like they were
dancing.
"Are you staying?" I asked.
"No, I shouldn't of come in the first
place, Millie will kill me…" I
grinned.
"Millie?"
"Yeah,
my uh… Girlfriend. She doesn't approve of me seeing you,
well
seeing as you well, might turn us in" he pressed.
"I
won't! I want to know you, but Mom won't talk about it. I
think of
you a lot, always wanted a big brother you know…" I
blushed.
"I wish I could stay, but it wouldn't be safe,
for either of us" he
explained.
"Will I see you again??" I asked.
"Sure, I'll drop in from time to time,
leave you trinkets!" He laughed,
"but you have to be careful,
the paladins will kill you, and I can't
protect you from that"
His eyes looked stressed and conflicted. Like he was
betraying me
by visiting.
And now a year later I was leaving that
place where we met. Traveling back
to the Forks. I
hated Forks, I had visited as a child, well until I made fits
and
made Charlie visit me.
The drive with Charlie was difficult,
neither of us could talk, we're not
so good at it.
"So…
uh… I'm sorry bout your mom, she was something, I wish I
could've
been there, for the uh… funeral."
Right. The
reason I was heading back to the forks, the paladins killed her
for
protecting David. Everyone thought it was a car accident, David
and I
knew better.
"It's okay Ch… Dad" I said.
The awful thing was the Paladins tried to recruit me,
some guy named Roland
came after the funeral, telling me to join
the legacy. I feigned innocence
and said I just was a
normal, clumsy girl who wanted nothing to do with his
war.
That was the end of that, for a while.
David couldn't be at the
funeral, for obvious reasons. I brought one of
his snow
globes to put next to her just in case. So she knew he was
thinking
of her.
David loved to leave me snow globes. I had
several in a box in the
cruiser's trunk, 20 or so, all my
favorite.
David would leave them on my desk over the year.
It made me feel safe,
wanted.
Though he hadn't visited or
left anything since mom died. Maybe it was
just too hard, or
maybe it wasn't safe without her protecting him… at
least
that's what I told myself.
The first day at Forks High was interesting to say the least.
I wasn't used to the
attention, in Alaska people usually kept to
them selves.
Boys rarely talked to me, but here, everyone was.
Well, everyone except Edward Cullen.
When I walked into bio he looked as if
I'd stabbed him with a pencil. Like
he loathed me more
than anyone he'd ever met.
I was frightened, I'm not gonna lie.
He looked so livid I could barely breathe.
And yet, I was so interested in him. He seemed intriguing.
But
that was it for the first week, because then he was gone no where to
be
found.
"Hello I'm Edward Cullen, and you're Bella" he said a week later.
I was stunned, "Uh… yeah"
"You were gone…" I tried.
"Yeah, ummm… I went away, personal reasons," He explained
"Oh," trying not to push.
"So do you like the rain?" He asked.
"Um…
no I… I don't like the cold, I should be used to it
though,
coming from Alaska and all" I stated, as if it was
obvious.
"Then why'd you come?" He questioned.
"It's complicated" I avoided.
"I think I can keep up…" He wouldn't sway.
"Well.. my mom died and Charlie was the
only uhh… relative I could stay
with, until I turned 18" I
stated.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude,
I just… well I'm
sorry" He apologized.
"It's fine," I said. We were pretty quiet the rest of class after that.
I didn't see the car coming for me. I heard it before I saw it.
Tyler's van was out of control, skidding
on the iced over roads of the
Forks.
My truck didn't
skid because Charlie had put chains on in the morning.
Guess
Tyler didn't.
I turned to see the panic in Edward's eyes.
I thought about standing next to
him, escaping the van from
crushing me.
I heard the van crash against my truck, but when
I looked up I was next to
Edward's silver Volvo on the other
side of the lot. He was standing next to
my truck with a
look of shock on his face.
I had JUMPED!
I saw a thin
line that swerved through the air like a mirage, and reached
through
it. It sucked me back in, right next to Edward, next to my
truck.
He looked as if he was gasping air in too fast.
I
looked panicked. No one saw except for Edward and me. All
of this
happened in a matter of mere seconds. Human
Seconds.
"What just happened?" Edward asked.
"I think you hit your head…" I avoided.
"No, I didn't. You weren't here a second ago…" He growled.
"Yeah, well neither were you, how's that for secrets!" I retorted.
Soon
everyone crowded around us. I looked at the Cullens who looked
freaked
at best… Jasper looked especially perturbed.
