~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ Chapter One – Final Words +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Edwards' Volvo was waiting outside, engine off. I grabbed my green midtown backpack off of my unmade bed. I saddled the bag upon one shoulder as I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab an orange from the counter before heading out the door. The sky was still dark; I hadn't realized how early it still was. Edward insisted that he talked to me first thing in the morning, but this is ridiculous.

As I approached the vehicle, Edward stepped out of the drivers' side and walked around the back of the car. I was envious in the grace in which he walked. It was as if he wasn't walking at all, but merely making the motions as he hovered above the asphalt. He greeted me with a tight embrace and a blissful kiss. I looked deep into his bronze eyes and saw a look of apprehension. I wondered if he could sense the tension I had of my dream last night. He pulled away from my bear hug and he gazed into my stare.

"How was your night?"

Yep. He knew. Knowing him, he probably had Alice looking after me with her visions all night long. She probably warned him about my fit last night. "It was…" I struggled to find the right word, "Interesting." I shifted my weight to my other foot. My backpack was really heavy. "How so?" He asked. I shifted my weight again. "Do you mind if I sit down. My bag's really heavy." Edward reached passed me to open the passenger door of his car. I climbed in, careful not to hit my heads in the process. Edward got into the drivers' side of the car and turned on the Volvo, causing it to purr gently. "What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked him. Edward pressed lightly on the gas peddle. The car lurched forward, speeding at a familiar, yet still uncomfortable, speed.

He closed his eyes for a moment before turning to me. I wanted to tell him to keep his eyes on the road, but I knew there was no need. He's a vampire. He doesn't need his eyes to drive. He has other senses to do that for him. His bronze eyes stared at me intently, his teeth biting into his lower lip. His expression was nothing but tense.

"Edward?"

A shiver crept its way up my spine. Edward was still looking intently at me, and I stared back at him. "Edward," I told him with edginess in my voice. "What did you want to tell me?" His lips parted then, and he said "I have to leave"

His words lingered in the air like the stench of garbage might linger in an alley. ""Oh." was all I could manage to say. I felt my lower lip quiver, my eyes still locked upon his. "Edward, you can't do this to me again." I had to hold back my tears, but it was next to impossible. Edward broke his gaze. He looked strait ahead of him, though the windshield and onto the road. "The last time you left, you locked yourself in an attic for six months wile I stayed here and almost killed myself!" I screamed at him. This is the first time I have ever so much as raised my voice in his presence.

"Why? Why do you have to leave me again?"

I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. They streamed down my face, making the collar of my shirt damp. My body suddenly lurched forward; Edward had slammed on the brake. I only realized now were we actually were. We were at the end of a gravel road, surrounded by mountains covered in forestry. We were at the entrance to our meadow.
"There have been some problems," He finally said. Before I could comprehend what was going on, he was out of the car and outside my window. He opened the door and offered his hand.

I wiped the remains of my tears on my sleeve before I grasp it. "There are people around here. Some very dangerous people." He helped me climb onto his back. "Do you mean Victoria?" Edward shook his head. "No. If it were, I wouldn't leave. I'd stay here to protect you." We started running through the trees. "There are people around here who hunt vampires." He told me. "It is no longer safe for me, or the rest of my family, to stay here in Forks." I was perplexed. "Couldn't you just fight them off? If there just normal people-

"They are not just normal people."

Edwards pace slowed to a stop. I climbed down from his back, my foot stepping onto the soil of the most familiar place in the world. I just realized now that I was still gripping my orange. I gazed down at it and took in its features; a grid of lines covered its' surface, forming intricate patters across the skin. Some of the lines were broken from where my fingernails had dug into the flesh.

Edward took my hand, his cold fingers interlacing between mine. I couldn't bare look at him. Someone is hunting his family, I reminded myself. If he doesn't leave, he'll die. I shouldn't hold him here out of my own selfishness. As they say, if you truly love something, you have to let it free. But somehow, this didn't seem right. I don't want to let him go. I want to keep him locked in his cage, and throw away the key. I loved him so much; I don't know how I could possibly let him go.

I turned my head into his direction. I finally got the courage to look at him then, but he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze, and I saw it. The sun had just peaked out from behind the horizon, casting a red hue to the otherwise black sky. It was truly beautiful. I turned back to Edward then, and what I saw was breathtaking; Edwards' skin was glittering in the sun, as if diamonds were imprinted into his skin. His eyes shone along with them, glowing a bronze color with such intensity that you couldn't even imagine. "I brought you here," He started, "So we could share this last memory together." That's when it truly hit me. Edward wasn't leaving tomorrow, or next week. He was leaving right now.

I dropped my orange onto the forest floor, and the rest of my body collapsed with it. You would think that my tear ducts would have run dry by now, but that obviously wasn't the case. I wept on the ground. "Please," I gasped. "Please don't leave me again."

I laid there for what seemed like hours, not helpless minutes. Eventually, Edward lay on the grass next to me, his sparkling face gazing up at the now bright sky. I joined him. I snuggled into the nook between his ribs and his arms. He wrapped his arm around my neck and kissed me lightly on the forehead. With his other hand, he picked the orange up from the ground and looked intently at it. "I realize now," He said, "That the human life is as fragile as this orange." He tossed the orange lightly in his hand before continuing. "If you treat it with love and respect, it will make you happy," his expression quickly turned sour. "but if you abuse it, It will do you no good." With this he crushed the orange in his hand, sending fragments of the fruit and juice to pour all over his shirt. Edward looked so sad. His eyes were squinting, as if he were about to cry. But vampires can't cry. I reminded myself. That only made me cry harder. "I'm so sorry," He whispered. "I am."

The car ride back to the school seemed too diminutive. I wanted it to last forever. The final moments of us being together shouldn't have to be forced upon us like this. Life is nothing more than a sick perverse joke. Once you loose the ones you love, whether physically or emotionally, is there really any point of going on? It feels as if my soul has been torn into two, my heart drowning in the sorrows of my pain. Bella… I would never hear him say my name again.

The Volvo slowed to a stop. We were parked in front of the school. "I don't want to go to class today," I muttered. "I want to stay with you. Forever." Edward took the key out of the ignition and put them into his pocket. "You don't think I want the same thing?" he spoke this in a monotone, like someone removed his vocal cords and replaced them with a machine. "Of course I think you do." Edward leaned close to my ear and whispered, "I'll love you forever, and always. Please remember this." With that, he turned my head with his perfect hands and kissed me on the lips.

I still felt the tension of his mouth as it grazed over mine. I wrapped my hands around his neck and deepened the kiss further. I expected him to freeze up and pull away, like he usually did, but he did not. We continued the kiss for what seemed to be hours, but I didn't care. The only thing I cared about right now was Edward Cullen. The love of my life. Just then, he froze up and pulled himself away. Damn. "Wait," he started, "Earlier, you said your night was interesting. How so?" I wiped my lips with my sleeve before starting,

"I was walking alone in the meadow when you came from behind a tree. You tried to attack me, but I changed into a vampire, and you became human. I started to chase you, but this blond guy with a glowing knife stepped out from behind a tree and-

"A blond boy with a glowing knife?"
"Ya, and then he-
"Was there anything odd about him, like scars on his arms, or anything?"
"I don't see how this is-
"Please, just answer."

I wiped my forehead. "Ya, he had scars. Really strange ones. On his arms." Edward's expression changed from bland to horror struck. "Edward, what's wrong?" His head snapped to face the windshield, the keys flying back into the ignition so fast that it was all just a blur. "Do you know this person?"

Edward pulled very hard on the gear shift to put the car into reverse. "This changes everything," He said through clenched teeth as he stomped onto the gas peddle. The car went shooting into the distance at a blinding speed. "Edward, what do you mean?" but the only answer I got was the whining of the engine as we sped off onto the highway, and away from Forks.