In The Dark, Dark House...

by Dead Heavenly

Author's Note:

Thank you for wanting to continue reading! Before we go any further, I wanted to clear something up. There are two ways to interpret the time line of this story; either it takes place in the distant future or Twilight takes place in what would be our distant past. I am writing it from the perspective that Dark, Dark House is somewhere in our future. That being said, do not expect flying cars or cell phone implants. I thought a great deal about it and while IDDH is a fic set in the future, it is not science fiction and I feel that too much emphasis on advancements in technology would detract from the actual story. My plan right now is to be sort of vague about most (but not all) things, so you can fill in for yourself how you think things will look when we get to Sara's time.

Lastly, thank you everyone who followed or reviewed! Appreciate it!

Now, on with the story!

chapter two

Midnight found me in front of my bathroom mirror with a coffee mug half full of my Dad's good Baileys. I took another big gulp, made a face at the mug as if the stuff could help tasting kind of gross, and then went back to examining my reflection.

There were deep bruises, almost like ruts, on each of my wrists. My knees looked just as bad. You could see the outline of fingers pressed into my side above my hip. Three of my toes were swollen and although I could wiggle them, they were not happy about it. I looked down at them and remembered how kicking at him felt, like I was fighting with a brick wall. My neck was the worst. Long sleeves and jeans could cover up the rest of my body but the mark on my throat was like a brand. It looked nothing like a hickey, which I guess made me feel better. It looked...like a burn. My skin had been scalded by him. I rubbed desperately at it but it didn't go away. Seeing it made me feel unclean.

When the tub was full I turned away from the mirror to sink in to a bath, taking my coffee mug with me. I could hear my father snoring downstairs, passed out in front of the television set while some talk show host prattled on about pregnant teenagers. I hadn't told him what happened. He had enough to worry about (new job, new house, dating prospects, college fees for his ridiculously talented daughter, paying for his therapist, paying for my therapist, deciding whether or not he was ever going to talk to my sister again, and his car payment, just to name a few) without adding me winding up dead in the woods to the list. I also didn't know what he could say to make me feel better. He'd be pissed I did something sort of dangerous, then he'd act guilty for not keeping an eye on me, then he'd wind up hugging me and saying he was lucky he had a girl that could take care of herself. After that, he'd ask me to get him a beer. None of that would really help.

But shit, I wished my mom was here. I would tell her every single detail.

I sat there soaking and stewing until the mug was empty and I couldn't think about anything anymore. It was a relief. That night I dreamt of dark houses and golden eyes.

.

.

.

By the time I woke up the next morning, Dad was already gone. There was a note on my bedroom door (which he had not opened without knocking since I went through puberty, thank god for small favors) in his loopy handwriting asking me to pick up some nails from the hardware store so he could fix the back porch step when he got home. Since it gave me an excuse to go talk to Len, I went right away.

I was the only car in the parking lot of Newton's (Your Hometown Hardware Destination Since 1989!) besides those belonging to employees. A ditsy girl named Karin (who like, totally loved my hair) was standing by the register and I gave her a passing curt nod. I hadn't made a lot of friends around here yet, for reasons like that. I just wasn't terribly interested in being nice to anyone. I didn't have a connection to these people. I would only see them when I was home from school. Most of the kids my age would only be around for the summer too so really what was the point? Friends for three months? No thanks, I had a lot of reading to catch up on.

Len "Please don't call me Fig" Newton was an exception to this. It made my Dad feel better to see I had made a (one, singular) friend and he was actually a pretty nice guy. He didn't seem to have a ton of friends either, so we gravitated towards each other at the few parties I had been invited to before people caught on that I was kind of a bitch. He didn't hit on me, or any girls, so I felt safe trusting that he wouldn't use our friendship as a conduit to sex. Plus, he made me laugh. With a friendship checking off all those major boxes, did I really need anymore?

"Hey." I called out to him, spotting his tall frame stacking boxes against the end of an aisle.

"Sup Sara? Rocking the sister wife look I see."

"Shut up." I told him, tugging down the sleeves of my shirt so they covered my hands too. "So I went to check out that house in the woods."

"Really? Great spot, right? Did you get your Pulitzer shot?"

"Well I got something." I replied vaguely. "Who did you say used to live there again?"

"Nobody." he shrugged. "Not for a long time. I think the last people that really lived there were the Cullens, I mean, people call it the Cullen house, but they've been gone for forever."

"So it's abandoned, right?"

"Yeah. Why?" He looked at me. "Did you see somebody?"

"No." I wanted it to sound casual. I didn't want to tell Len about what happened either, but for different reasons. He might do something stupid like think he needed to protect me, or want to go give the guy a piece of his mind for scaring me. That didn't end well in any scenario I could think of. But he still might know more than he had told me about the house. "I was just wondering. It's weird that there's this beautiful house just sitting in the middle of nowhere."

"Weird, right? I think the Cullen family still owns it, technically, but there's none of them left around here. They were mad rich though, so maybe they just forgot about it. Oh, Mitsy, I just remembered, didn't we have that house in Forks that belonged to your Aunt Coco? You know what Herc, I think you're right!"

I laughed. He basked in the praise of his humor then started in on the town gossip, a bunch of names I didn't know doing scandalous things, but it was enough to push the mystery man to the back of my mind for an hour or two.

I returned home, bag of nails in hand, and went to check my messages. I had three from Lizzie and I remembered guiltily that she was going off the rails about some guy from her church camp and probably had wanted advice or birth control or something. I skimmed through the first two – Kyle said he wants me to have dinner with his family before we go to the movie, is that weird? Should I wear a skirt? - and sat down to read the last one she sent more carefully. It was from this morning, short, and to the point.

Hi Sara!

My date went awesome. Dinner. Movie. Ice Cream. Park. But I'm not telling you anything else until I hear back from you! How is everything in Forks? Did you meet anybody there yet? Have you taken any cool pictures?

Gran and Grandpa say they love you and come visit soon.

I miss you!

Love Liz :)

Now I felt worse for not answering her sooner. Stupid little hobbit and her stupid cute smiley face. I immediately started typing back .

Hey Liz,

I miss you lots. Tell me all about your date. Say Hi to Gran and Grandpa.

I hesitated, then added,

Dad says he loves you and misses you bunches. I hope you guys talk soon.

I got some great pictures. I'll send you the best ones.

Luv U, Sara

I sent the message off and expected one back any minute. She probably had it ready and waiting. I might as well take a look at my pictures so I could send her anything that looked cool before I really got in to editing the shots. I thought of the perfectly frame image of the old chair and stack of books and something in my stomach tightened.

My camera.

I left it at that house.