Twenty years earlier
"One more night Bella," sighed Edward longingly as he played with my brown curls. "One more night and we'll be married".
I snuggled closer to Edward, his arms wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him as I squeezed his torso tightly.
"Tomorrow night, I'll be Mrs. Isabella Cullen," I sighed.
Edward nodded happily and tightened our embrace.
"Mrs. Isabella Cullen," he whispered. "I like the sound of that".
I smiled as Edward kissed my hand and then the diamond of my engagement ring. Blood rushed to my cheeks. Tomorrow night, I would be married to the love of my life. We'd live in a small, cosy house and have many children. They'd grow up, marry, have children of their own and visit us every day. Our young grandchildren would present us with fresh daises and their laughs would ring loud and clear as we'd push them on the swings in the park.
"What are you thinking about?" whispered Edward into my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck.
"The future, where we'll be together forever," I murmured as I rubbed my eyes tiredly.
Edward's hand lightly touched my hot, pink cheek. He pulled me closer to him, until there was barely a centimetre of space between the two of us. Edward tilted my chin up so he could look me directly in the eyes. He pushed stray strands of hair off my face with twinkling, excited, green eyes.
"I'll love you for the rest of my life and even after that," declared Edward. "I'll love you for longer than forever, more than all the fish in the sea and stars in the sky. I love you more than everyone; more than any human on earth could possibly love you. And, I swear with my entire heart, soul and being that I love you more than James will ever 'love' you".
"More than James ever will," I repeated.
James, the one always plotting to break Edward and I up.
James, the one who always vows he loves me the most.
James, the one who doesn't care a bit about my feelings or the people I love.
James, the one that I will never be able to love.
"Don't think about James," I pleaded. "You know I'll never love him, you know that you're the only one I love, you're the only one for me!"
Edward's lips touched my forehead as I heard him sing quietly, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family..."
I touched the front of Edward's shirt and closed the remaining space between us. I waited for a response but Edward didn't say anything. A hot, sticky liquid began to seep through Edward's white button up shirt, staining it. The liquid spread onto my hand.
The hot, sticky, thick, red liquid.
Blood.
I jumped backwards out of Edward's frozen embrace. Edward's legs gave way and he collapsed into a heap on my bedroom floor, blood pooling around his body.
That's when I saw him.
James, standing in my bedroom, holding a kitchen knife.
James's electric, red eyes seemed to swirl around madly in their sockets. His blonde hair was dirty and unkempt while Edward's blood had stained his dirty, grey T-shirt.
"Hello sweet," growled James.
That's when I found my voice and screamed.
That's when I fumbled around in my jean's pocket, searching for my mobile phone and dialled triple zero.
"C'mon sweet, don't be like that," said James in a low, deep voice, trying to sound seductive and alluring.
He stepped over Edward's body and closed the space between us. James forced his lips onto mine as I tried to muster enough strength to kick him off me. He pushed me onto my bed and held himself over me as he continued to roughly kiss me. James ripped off my singlet and grabbed my breasts eagerly, pressing them to his face.
"Get off of me James!" I yelled as tears ran down my face. "Now!"
James' eyes glowed darker and I closed my mouth, my screams reduced to mere whimpers. He violently pulled down my pyjama shorts and underwear and thrust into me.
"Stop James! No, don't!" I said quietly too tired to continue protesting.
He jammed his mouth onto mine try quiet me and continued thrusting into me faster and harder.
"Stop, please no, help!" I whined almost silently. My pleas didn't help. All I earned was a hard smack across the face and a rough kiss on my neck. I stayed still and didn't move or react at all, hoping James would grow bored and stop. I lay on my bed and prayed that help would arrive soon.
I heard the grandfather clock in my room chime midnight, when in actual fact it was only ten thirty.
I heard the sirens grow louder and cars squealing to a stop in front of my house.
I heard James' heavy breath in my ear. "C'mon sweet, forget about him. You know you love me!"
I watched fearfully, my face shining with sweat and tears as the police broke in and pulled James off my naked body. I watched cautiously as the paramedics assessed Edward. I watched as the police handcuffed James and consoled me. I continued to stay and watch.