Adelaide played sick the rest of that school day. She kept it up on Tuesday, and that was how she found herself staring at the contents of the box left underneath the floorboards; which somehow contained multiple pictures of Edward. How was that even possible? He should be dead.
She spent the afternoon rearranging her room, and was glad she did so because she realized one of her boxes must have made its way upstairs. That was where her mom put the "overflow" boxes that she didn't want to deal with right away. With how busy her mom had been, it was no surprise that she had put one of Addi's boxes upstairs. And with how absentminded her mom could be, it was no surprise that she had the box tucked away underneath a rather large, heavy box.
"Come on, mom," Adelaide grumbled, trying her hardest to wedge the box out from its spot.
With one final tug, the boxes came tumbling down, sending Adelaide falling onto the floor. As she and the boxes landed, she heard a loud crack, and felt a jagged edge stab harshly into her back, followed by the warm sticky sensation of blood wetting her shirt.
She let out a string of curses that would have made her grandmother faint, and maneuvered herself up. Looking down at the floor, she could see that the weight of her and the boxes had caused the old wood to break, revealing the contents underneath. This time, instead of a box, it was an old journal, weathered by age. It looked to have at one point been a nice, expensive black leather locked book, but due to the time it had spent there now wouldn't even be taken in by Goodwill.
"Do I need to search every floorboard in this house?" Adelaide shouted, feeling her annoyance rise.
Quickly grabbing the book to avoid spiders, she placed the book on top of the box she was taking back to her room; and put the other boxes back in their place. She didn't want her mom to walk into a mess when she came to check out the broken floorboard. It was already going to be bad enough for her to witness the hole in the floor.
Carefully, Adelaide made her way back to her room and set down the book and box. Rummaging through her dresser drawer, she found Advil and took four for the throbbing pain her back was starting to cause. Taking a fresh shirt and gray lounge pants, she went straight to the bathroom to check out her awesome wound she got from the floor. Then, it would be straight to the journal.
Examining her back in the mirror, she could tell that most likely, she would need stitches. And a tetanus shot, no doubt. It looked to be fairly deep, and already had some deep purple bruising set in. She would have to have her mother look when she got home and make the final judgement on whether she should go to Forks general or not. For now, she wrapped white bandages around her waist the best she could.
She exchanged her dirty clothes for the new ones, and made her way to her room where she laid on her stomach with the book and wire cutter in hand. Although the lock was old and rusted, she wanted to make sure she had everything she needed before settling in to read whatever the journal contained. Considering she didn't get any glimpse of someone putting the journal in the floor, she could guess that Bella was the one who hid it.
Ironic really, that both her and Edward would hide something in the floorboards.
Cutting the rusty lock off, Adelaide opened the book to the first page that was filled with a scrawled, slanted writing; flipping through the rest of the journal briefly she could see that the entire book was that way. On the very last page, a pressed violet wildflower floated out, and she noticed on the back cover the words 'from the meadow' was written.
Setting the flower aside, Adelaide began reading the first page.
Perhaps I'm writing this now because I now look as I did in my nightmare, old, wrinkles where there once was firm smooth skin, wispy grey hair where there once was chocolate brown. The only thing that has stayed the same since my time with them is my eyes, and of course, my wretched blood.
Perhaps I'm writing it down because it's been so long since I've spoken about them, and it feels good to do so. It's almost as though I'm flexing a sore muscle, stretching it out so it's nice and taught and starting to burn; within the pain of course, comes the slow feeling of relief.
I think I may have finally found my relief now, in my eighty two years of age.
This isn't the first time I've written about them, of course not. Well, I suppose the times I've written of them before have only been pleading letters, angry letters, sad letters. There hasn't really ever been a recording of my time with them. Only my feelings about how they left. So much of my life before and after them are blurry; maybe this is how they view human memories. The memories with them are some of the most crystal clear in my collection; others involve time with Jake and the pack, a few of Charlie and Renee.
My time with them really started with Biology class, truly, how mundane is that? The most spectacular time of my life started in a simple Biology class, with a course I had already done in Phoenix no less! In better times I have started to laugh over that fact.
Adelaide went on reading several paragraphs, detailing Isabella's time with the Cullen family, starting with Biology class; Edward leaving, coming back, his mood swings, saving her from being crushed by a van, him ignoring her questions. It wasn't until after the Port Angeles entry that the storytelling slowed and Isabella seemed ready to answer Adelaide's biggest question- how the hell was Edward able to do all these superhuman acts?
I had for the most part realized myself what he was- after all, Jake had inadvertently told me himself without realizing the legends were all true. When the words came from my lips and Edward confirmed it to be true, I wasn't terrified. As the pack liked saying, I was good with weird. I like to think that even in my old age i still am.
Edward and his family, they were a coven of vampires.
Adelaide felt her heart drop to her stomach and reread the passage several times. It wasn't that the fact was unbelievable to her; after all she knew about the wolves and she herself had an abnormal gift. It was the fact that they had came back.
That was what terrified her. How could she protect herself?
They moved around to new places every few years. And, unlike traditional vampires, they didn't drink human blood. Instead, their inside joke was that they were vegetarians, because they fed on animal blood. Comforting, except my blood was Edward's personal brand of heroin. But somehow, he managed to control himself around my blood during the time we were together.
Unlike traditional vampires, they could go out in the daytime, and they didn't sleep. Ever. If they went out in sunlight, they wouldn't burn but instead, sparkle. A brilliant, shining light that despite my greatest attempts, I have never been able to recreate. Perhaps it's best I didn't, who knows how I would have taken it.
The Cullen coven, as I knew them, consisted of Carlisle Cullen, Esme Cullen, Rosalie Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Alice Cullen, Jasper Cullen, and of course, Edward Cullen. In their human life, Esme Platt, Rosalie Hale, Emmett McCarty, Mary Alice Brandon, Jasper Whitlock, and Edward Anthony Mason.
They truly were a family, aside from the differences they all had from usual family dynamics. You know, the part of them being a vampire. Esme was the mom I never had. Emmett, Jasper, Alice and even Rosalie the siblings I never had. Carlisle, an amazing father figure, in addition to my own father Charlie. And Edward..
Edward.
Adelaide stopped there, hearing footsteps on the stairs. Shoving the journal under her covers and quickly hurrying to the door, she opened it to her mother's surprised face.
"Feeling better?" Her mom asked, shrugging off her jacket.
"Well, not sick anymore," Adelaide bit her lip, and motioned towards her back. "I went upstairs to get one of my boxes, and fell through the floor."
"What?" Her mother asked, now looking at her in alarm. She examined the wound, and tsked. "Adelaide, you still have splinters. You should have went straight to the ER."
"I didn't think it was that bad." Adelaide shrugged, and then regretted it as a shock of pain went through her body.
"Let's go," Turning around, her mom put her jacket back on. "Get a sweater, we're going to Forks General."
Adelaide tugged on a black sweatshirt and followed her mom out to the car. The entire way to the hospital she was treated to a rather long lecture from her mother about being safe, accompanied by her mother almost running a stop sign. Ironic.
They spent at least half an hour in the waiting room, during which Adelaide read a few Buzzfeed articles and her mother flipped through magazines while grumbling about how she should have gone in earlier.
"Adelaide?"
Adelaide stood up, and her mother followed. An overly smiley nurse showed them to a room, where she proceeded to take Addi's vitals.
"You'll be seeing Doctor Cullen today." The nurse said with yet another megawatt smile, not noticing how Adelaide's heart seemed to leap into her throat.
Cullen.. She was about to meet Carlisle Cullen. The vampire.
hey all, hope you liked this chapter! It came out later than expected but hopefully it was worth it! I love all the support ive recieved so far! Let me know what you all think of this one.
thank you for all the reviews!
-theflyinggraysons