Author's Note: Thank you to all who reviewed the first chapter, and thank you to all who read, but didn't review, but decided to read the second chapter as well.

WARNING: Edward is a real bastard for awhile in this story.

DISCLAIMER: I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but I don't own Twilight, and I intend no copyright infringement with this story. It's just a idea that's been floating around in my head.

Chapter 2 – Shattered

I tried to stay up until Edward came to my room, but I ended up passing out from the pain pills around two hours after I got home. After I finally drifted off, I thought I would slept peacefully because of the medicine, but all it did was make it impossible for me to full wake from the nightmare I was having. I dreamed of what I imagine hell was like. I was in a black sea of nothingness, drowning. I could see nothing, and I could only feel heartache. Time had no meaning, and I felt that I would never escape. I finally woke up when I heard the alarm go off.

That was really weird, Edward usually woke me up, and I never set the alarm anymore unless I knew that he wasn't going to be there. I might have set the alarm last night. I was pretty loopy from the medicine. It seemed kind of coincidental, though. If I was loopy, I probably wouldn't have set the alarm. I would have just woken up too late to go to school. I shoved out of my mind the thought that Edward had come into my room and set the alarm, and left before I woke up.

I went about getting ready for school, including grabbing some random clothes out of my closet. Alice usually picked out my clothes, but when she went hunting or if it was too sunny, I had to get my own clothes. Alice thought that I was fashion challenged, but that really wasn't the case. I absolutely hated my closet. I avoided it as often as I could. I spent as little time in there as possible. I never told Alice that, so she was becoming more and more exasperated by my lack of fashion sense.

I fully expected Edward to pick me up. He didn't. That didn't bode well for me. I slowly made my way out to my truck, dreading whatever was going to happen. Little did I know, my doom was coming sooner than I had expected.

There was an envelope on the passenger seat of my truck. I recognized the elegant writing on the front as Edward's. The letter seemed to repulse my hand. I had to fight to get the thing in my grasp. It was just a letter, for goodness sake. Why couldn't I just grab the letter? When I finally managed to hold on to the envelope, my hands shook as I opened it. I hadn't even unfolded the letter, and I felt physically sick. I had a very hard time not throwing up my breakfast. I stood beside my truck as I read the letter.

Bella,

The events of last night's party have caused me to question our relationship, or rather your unhealthy fascination with me. I have only recently begun to realize that you thought that our companionship was something more than what it was. Someone as plain and ordinary as you could never hold my interest for very long. Just look at the two of us.

I only ever intended this… whatever you want to call it, to be a distraction from the monotony of school, but my time with you has begun to bore me. On some level, you had to know that my interest in you was merely clinical. The only reason I ever took note of you was because I believed that your mind was unique. I wanted to know you better so that I could figure out why I couldn't hear you, to learn if you had some great power over me. Don't fool yourself; you do not have such a power. Some time ago, I realized that your mundane human mind wouldn't be of great interest to me even if I could hear it. It's probably a blessing that I couldn't hear you.

I hope that you already realized that I was never going to change you, and this could only end in one of two ways, either I leave you or you die, and I can't justify staying with you until either me or one of my family members kills you. It wouldn't be fair to ask my family to continue to struggle to keep you alive. Could you imagine the guilt the offending party would feel if they slipped for a moment and accidentally killed you? I can't do that to them any longer, especially when my curiosity with your mind has waned.

It's best to separate you from them now before they start to become attached to you because one day we will have to leave. I know that it would be easier on you if we just left now, but my family does not intend to move at this time. We need to remain here for a few more years, but please don't embarrass yourself by attempting to remain friends with my siblings. My family only ever thought of you as a novelty, nothing more than a passing whim. Your human reactions amused them, but I assure you, they are more than ready to move on to the next quirky human.

Because of my perfect memory, I will never forget you. Likewise, because of my rather unique nature, I doubt that you will ever forget me even though you are only human. That being said, I have already moved on. I have merely been biding my time, waiting for the right opportunity to arise, and making absolutely sure there could never be anything between us. Now that I am sure, I must bid you goodbye.

Edward

I had to read the letter a few times because my mind couldn't comprehend the words the first time. My eyes saw them, but my brain couldn't understand what I was reading. I tried to read it out loud, and still the words didn't make any sense to me. I actually heard myself saying them, but it might as well have been in a foreign language because they made absolutely no sense to me. But the third time I read it, I finally grasped the meaning, and it shattered me. I threw up my breakfast right outside my truck. I knew that I didn't have the will to make it back inside the house, so I curled up on the seat of the truck and cried, screamed really. Even after there were no more tears, I stayed there for hours before I finally had the strength to walk back into the house. I took Edward's letter with me and thought about destroying it, but ultimately decided against it. I kept it as a reminder of the pain associated with opening myself up to someone. This is what love got me, a gaping hole in my chest that could never be healed. I hid the letter inside my favorite book, Wuthering Heights.

Charlie got home after work and found me in my room, curled up on my bed, staring at nothing. I was in a fetal position, trying desperately to hold myself together. My tears had long since dried, but the hollowness in my chest was slowly becoming both more painful and more profound. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe.

"School called and told me that you didn't show up today." Charlie informed me, sounding very worried.

I knew that I had to tell him at least the general details even though I could hardly get the words out of my mouth. I knew he would either hear about it or figure it out.

"Edward," it nearly choked me to say his name, "and I broke up this morning. I was too emotional to drive." I finished my explanation robotically. I never once looked in Charlie's direction.

Even though I couldn't see him, I could hear his angry grunts, and I knew that he was turning purple from rage. He continued breathing heavily until he was calm enough to talk to me.

"What happened?" He asked cautiously. It sounded like he wasn't sure if he wanted to know or not.

Okay, Charlie, you see, my perfect vampire boyfriend finally decided that I wasn't good enough for him, and he left me before his older brother could eat me. That would be a pleasant conversation, and it totally wouldn't result in me spending the rest of my life in a mental institution, I thought sarcastically. I couldn't even tell him the slightest detail about it.

"I don't want to talk about it." I muttered.

"Did he cheat on you?" Charlie demanded.

I knew I had to answer this one. If I just repeated my mantra that I didn't want to talk about it, Charlie would assume that Edward did cheat on me, and I didn't want him to charge into the Cullen house with a shotgun. Obviously, the bullet wouldn't even dent Edward, and it would be clear that there was something different about the Cullen's. Charlie didn't need to know about the world of vampires. It would just open a can of worms that he doesn't need to open. It would only change him. Not knowing was better, trust me.

"No." I sighed.

"Did he try to pressure you into…" He started to ask, but I cut him off.

"No."

Actually, I wondered about that. Edward did seem more interested in sex lately, but something was off for me. I couldn't put my finger on it, and I really didn't want to head down that path right now, but Edward had been trying to push my boundaries in our physical relationship. Maybe that's why he left me because I wouldn't sleep with him. He did say that he wanted to make sure there was nothing between us. Maybe if I had given in, there would have been. I am so stupid. Who says no to an amazingly gorgeous man like Edward Cullen?

"Then why, Bella?" Charlie pressed.

I searched my mind for a semi-plausible explanation that wouldn't end up with Charlie storming over to the Cullen house and yelling at Edward for awhile or attempting to physically harm him. That would only end badly for Charlie.

"It just didn't work out." I breathed, trying very hard not to break down. "These things happen."

That was all that I could come up with, and yes, I knew it was lame, but it was all I had. I hoped that Charlie would leave it there. I highly doubted that it would work. Being a police officer, he was naturally inquisitive. He usually rested at nothing to get to the bottom of anything he wanted to know.

He surprised by laughing. Nothing was funny anymore. There was nothing in the world that could ever make me laugh again. Still, Charlie continued chuckling to himself. I finally looked in his direction to see what was so funny.

"So I suppose it's okay if I finally tell you that I never liked that boy?" He smiled at me, hoping to cheer me up. Actually, Charlie looked like it was Christmas morning. This was the best news he'd heard in a very long time.

His attitude about Edward didn't help in the slightest. It only made me feel worse that Charlie could see that Edward and I weren't meant to be together, but I couldn't see it. Why didn't I know that Edward has always been too good for me? It isn't like he never told me.

"I never liked the way you always seemed to do what he wanted to do, even when he wasn't around." Charlie explained.

I didn't really remember doing very many things I didn't want to do with Edward. Sure, there was the prom, and the birthday party, and the shopping trips, and now that I think about it, many, many times that we did the things he wanted to do rather than what I preferred. I thought that I had been happy in our relationship. I was happy to do anything as long as he was there. Now, I felt it didn't matter what I did; I would never be happy again.