Hello everyone! I know it's been forever since I updated a story, but I needed to change the story line a little, and I didn't know how to do that. Now I know exactly what I'm doing, so I can update a lot. I am currently two chapters in advance, so there will be another chapter right after this, and I will put the one after that up by the end of the week.
Thanks to twilightfanjm for looking my chapter over, and letting me rant!
That's all! Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, and I do not own the Twilight Saga. This is an unofficial fan sequel. All characters in the previous series by Stephenie Meyer belong to her. I am not claiming any monetary reimbursement for this story, I do it for my own enjoyment, and to better my writing.
Chapter 3: Secrets
I picked up my boxes of shoes, and towed them inside. I heard the television on in the other room, so I popped in. "Hi dad," I greeted.
"How did you get those shoes, Addison?" he asked gruffly.
"A friend gave them to me, my new dance partner," I explained.
"Your dance partner just gave them to you?" he didn't believe me. He hadn't even turned around to look at me. This was going to be bad.
"Yeah, he did," I told him truthfully.
"I don't believe you," he stated.
"How else would I have gotten them?" I asked timidly.
"I think you stole them," he told me, getting up and walking closer to me.
"I wouldn't steal from Ashley," I promised desperately.
"I didn't say they were from Ashley's. There's plenty of stores there in town," he told me, close enough to touch me.
"I promise you, I didn't steal them," I whispered.
"Well, I didn't pay for them," he said. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. I wanted to flee, but he grabbed my arm, preventing me.
"He did," I insisted.
"Did you sleep with him?" he interrogated.
"No," I whimpered.
"Then how did you get them?" he yelled.
"I told you, they were a gift," I sobbed. The fear was running through my veins like ice, and I could tell that I was going to begin to shake. My father's grip was tight and hard like iron. It cut off my circulation, and I knew that there was no getting out of this. I braced myself for what was about to come, but a knock on the door saved me.
"Go get that door," he demanded. "I'll deal with you later." He pushed me in the direction of the door. I sobbed silently for a moment, until I ran frantically out of the room. I composed myself before opening the door. Standing on my porch, looking debonair was Daniel.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi," I replied softly.
"I came to see if you got the shoes," he explained.
"Uh, yeah. Thank you," I acknowledged.
"No problem, my family has a little money to throw around. And I overheard your conversation with Ashley earlier.
"This isn't really a great time," I explained. "We can talk about this tomorrow."
"Are you sure, because I heard yelling," he stated.
"Just stay out of it," I begged.
"Please just come with me," he pleaded.
"I can't," I explained.
"We can go to your room and pack a bag, and you never have to come back here," he begged.
I knew that he wasn't going to let me dismiss him, but I didn't want him to get hurt. He barely knew me, and he didn't have to protect me. What he needed to was leave, before my dad took his anger out on him instead. "Please just leave. Nothing's going to happen," I told him.
"But," I cut him off.
"Just leave!" I shouted hysterically.
He didn't say anything for a moment, and I began to feel bad for yelling at him. His face looked like a puppy dog that had just been kicked. "Alright. I will see you tomorrow. You're welcome for the shoes. Call me if you need anything," he said,departing. I shut the door quietly, and walked back into the room towards my fate.
Three weeks later, I parked next to Daniel's Audi. I had been avoiding him for weeks now, and I knew that I couldn't avoid him any longer, considering Ashley was making us rehearse again today. I got out and knocked on the tinted window on the passenger side. I knew he would be waiting for me inside. The doors unlocked and I slid inside. He silently backed out of the parking lot without looking at me.
"Not going to class today?" I inquired.
"Nope," he said. Nothing was said for a while after that. We just drove. I knew we weren't going to the studio though, because we were going the opposite way. I didn't ask him where we were going. I didn't want to talk to him much at all. He had witnessed me in one of my most vulnerable states that night. Nobody had ever seen that, and I never intended for him to see it ever again. "How did you get that bruise on your arm?" he asked solemnly.
"I ran into a bookshelf last night," I lied.
"And it grabbed you," he exclaimed, taking my wrist, and exposing the purple ring around my arm. I tried to pull my arm out of his hand, but his cold grip wasn't budging.
"You're going to be the one with a bruise if you don't let me go," I threatened.
He scoffed and let go of my arm. "I would like to see you try," he said menacingly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I defended.
"Nothing," he replied. The silence fell between us again, and I fell back into my seat. I let him drive for another twenty minutes before saying anything.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To the studio," he answered.
"No we're not, it's the other way," I stated.
"I know, we're stopping somewhere else first," he defended.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the last place I expected: a cemetery. My mother's cemetery. I didn't know how to feel about this. On one side, I felt like he was finally going to open up to me. On the other hand, it seemed a little creepy. I followed him to an older part of the cemetery, until we came to a plot that was kept in the best shape out of all of the others. It was beginning to bud with flowers and the granite headstone was kept in gleaming shape
Emiline Frost-Brandt
Beloved Mother, Wife, and Sister
Died with a dance in her heart
"Who is this?" I prodded.
"She was my mother. She died when I was seven. My father wasn't around. So, I went into foster care. Eventually I was placed with Carlisle and Esme, and I found a permanent home. But the first few years were hard," he finished.
"Daniel, why did you bring me here?" I asked exasperated
"You wanted me to open up, so here I am: opening up to you. But I expect you to open up to me in return," he bargained. I nodded, a little defeatedly.
"Follow me," I ordered, leading him to a newer part of the cemetery. After a minute, we reached a memorial. It was a small white statue of an angel. On the base, you could see my mother's name. "This is my mother. She died when I was eleven: car crash. Her car went through the bridge and into the lake. I was with her, then. Somebody kicked my window in, and pulled me out. They left my mom to die though. They never found a body, you know. Or the car she was driving.
"Sometimes though, I think I see her. On the street, or looking in the window. I used to like to pretend that she would just walk in the door one day like nothing had ever happened. I know that it's never going to happen though. She's what inspires me to work as hard as I do at dancing. She was a dancer, and she always wanted me to be one too. I guess when she dies, I started wanting it for myself as much as she wanted it for me."
"Addie, I'm sorry. I didn't know," he whispered.
"You've been in this town for a month, and you didn't hear it from anybody yet?" I asked skeptically.
"If you haven't noticed, I'm not much of a joiner. I don't talk to anyone outside of my family except you," he stated.
"Well, you're more like me than I thought," I said sarcastically.
"Now that I figured out," he joked.
We stood in silence for a few minutes, just looking at my mom's memorial. The silence was comfortable between us, and it would have continued that way if the reality of where we were hadn't dawned on us.
"Are you ready to go?" Daniel asked softly.
"Yeah, you go back to the car, I'll be there in a second," I informed him. He nodded, and trekked off silently to where he had parked.
I stepped closer to the memorial, and looked up at the angel's face. If I didn't know any better, I would say that my mother had turned to stone, the resemblance was so uncanny. I put my hand in the outstretched palm of the angel, and held it for a second. "Bye mom," I whispered, sliding my hand off of the cool white marble.
"Ugh!" I exclaimed as I fell on the floor for the fifth time in a row. I was finding out the hard way that balancing on one pointe shoe for fourteen counts wasn't easy.
"Pretend that a string is lifting you up. It may keep you from falling," Daniel suggested.
"You think I haven't tried that?" I asked hotly.
"Let's just go from that part one more time," he suggested. I went back to the starting position of the phrase, and began again. Once again, my ankle folded under me just as I was about ready to land in Daniel's arms.
"Again," I panted as I got up off the floor. I began the phrase once again. As I got closer to the part that was troubling me, I felt my heart flutter with nerves. Finally, it came time for me to try again. This time, as I balanced on my toe, Daniel's hands stayed close, ready to catch me if I fell again. He never needed to catch me though, because I stayed up. After my balancing act, I felt Daniel's frigid hands fall onto my waist. Finally, we came to the last spin, and he dipped me into my last position.
I suddenly realized the closeness of our two faces. He was kneeling below me, and my back leg was pointed like an arrow to the heavens, my lips just inches from his. I noticed a deep need to kiss him. Slowly, our lips met,and a fire started in the room. The kiss was passionate, and gentle. He brought me back up from my awkward position, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
Too soon, I heard footsteps outside the door, and I pulled away. We didn't say anything for a few minutes, we just looked at each other. I struggled to compose myself and slow my racing heart as the first student walked through the studio doors. Braking our eye contact, I moved to greet her. "Good afternoon Emily!" I said a little too enthusiastically.
Finally, it was time to go home. "Oh! I left my car at school!" I exclaimed as we reached the parking lot.
"That's okay, I'll take you home, and pick you up in the morning. You can get your car then," he offered. I silently followed him to his car. The amber twilight sky made his usually blue Audi reflect a more purple hue, and it was almost hard to recognize it this way. I slid in the passenger seat, and we headed home.
The ride back to Youngstown was filled with idle chatter about the day, and other small things. It was evident, though, that the atmosphere had changed between us. As the welcome sign came into view, our conversations grew silent. I looked over at him to figure out what had caused this sudden silence, only to find something I never expected. An errant ray of sun had caught on a small exposed patch of skin on the back of his hand. Instead of reflecting a slight glow as I expected from his pale skin, I saw something else entirely. His skin threw shards of light around the cab of the car.
Like a million diamonds, his skin sparkled. The sight filled me with both terror, and awe as I processed this sight. I glanced at Daniel's face, only to see a steely expression on his face: not unlike the one he had worn when I first met him. I would not get any answers from him if I asked him, but I knew one thing: it was not normal. My mind raced, desperately trying to put together pieces of the puzzle. His skin was icy at best, and now his skin was sparkling? What kind of drugs had he slipped me? Or was this actually happening? Was there actually something so wrong with him that this would happen. Like a distant memory, though, the ray of sun had disappeared, and his skin was back to normal.
We rode the rest of the way back into town in silence, and not soon enough, we pulled up to my house. "Thanks, bye," I acknowledged as I scrambled out of the car and slammed the car door. I was hoping he would drive off right away, but he waited to watch me walk to the door.
The place that usually felt like a prison felt most like safety today as I closed the door and pressed my body weight against it. Soon though this place felt less safe as I heard my father's footsteps. "That's not your car," he said obviously.
"Daniel drove me to dance, it was late, so I left my car at school. It will be fine until morning," I assured him.
"I didn't say you could ride with this Danie person, did I?" dad asked, coming menacingly closer.
"I didn't figure you'd have a problem with it. That's less you have to spend on gas, and more you can spend on booze," I insisted, instantly regretting it.
"You will not lecture me under my own roof!" he exclaimed, grabbing the collar of my shirt, and pushing my back against the wall.
"I'm sorry, I promise I won't ever say it again," I sobbed.
"Not good enough," he claimed as he reared back his hand to slap me. Suddenly, the door that I had forgotten to lock slammed open, and a figure with dark hair charged in in a blur, pushing my dad back against a far wall. The figure moved too fast to see, but I knew it was Daniel. I could see his car, now vacant, still sitting on the curb.
"Daniel, stop!" I exclaimed. But he didn't He shook my father with such force that his eyes rolled back into his head. "That's enough!" I yelled in terror. Daniel, breathing hard, instantly stopped and pointed upstairs.
"Get a bag, now," he panted. Too terrified to deny him, I ran to my room, and quickly packed some clothes, and my laptop in a duffle bag. I ran down the stairs to Daniel. I flinched as he put his arm around me protectively, and led me to the car. Still too stunned to realize what I was doing, I followed him.
We were on the road and driving towards the forested outskirts of town. I didn't know where he was taking me, but I knew it was in my best interest to cooperate now. Finally after quite a long period, Daniel had calmed enough to speak. "You're not going back to that place," he said. "Ever," he added as an afterthought.
Gathering up my courage, I spoke. "You're not my father, and quite frankly, I'm a little terrified of you right now," I breathed.
"I know that you saw my skin earlier. Let me explain when we get to my house.
"Fine," I submitted, not relaxing in my seat, briefly wondering why I had agreed to get in a car with someone I was afraid of in the first place.
The drive through to forest was tense. But before long, Daniel pulled up to a looming structure. This was his house. He parked the car in front of the house, and quickly raced around the car to open my door. I shied away from him, as I exited the vehicle. I was not any calmer at his house than I was at mine.
Taking a hint, he didn't touch me as he showed me into his house. "Carlisle, Esme, I need you down here," he called, only slightly above normal volume. After a few seconds, the pair that I had never laid eyes on descended the staircase. Dr. Cullen, true to his reputation was a handsome young man with clean cut blonde hair and honey-colored eyes to match. His wife, Esme, as Daniel had just called her was significantly shorter. She was elegant and petite, with her long caramel hair framing her breathtaking face.
"Welcome," Carlisle said warmly. "You must be Addison, Daniel has told us a lot about you," he greeted, not offering his hand to shake.
"Would you like something to drink?" Esme inquired. Her presence was a calming one, and I suddenly felt myself relax in the presence of Daniel, whom I had been afraid of a few seconds ago.
"No thank you Mrs. Cullen," I replied.
"Oh, please, call me Esme," she insisted. I nodded politely. Next to me, there was another conversation going on. "I have to tell her Carlisle," Daniel explained. "I had to get her out of that house, and I revealed myself in the process."
"You do realize what they can do to her if they find out?" Carlisle clarified. Daniel nodded somberly. "Alright," he submitted. "Addison, why don't you follow the three of us to my study." I followed him as directed, suddenly nervous again.
We wove through the house to a room in the back corner of the house. I had a sickening realization that I would not be able to find my way out if I needed to. Carlisle seated me in a leather seat, across from a couch where he joined Daniel and Esme.
"Who would you like to hear it from Addie?" Daniel asked.
"I think you owe me the explanation, Daniel," I shot at him.
"Alright," he agreed. He tensed to tell me what was happening.