"You're... You're dead!" I screamed in horror.
"I never died." Edward said softly, his eyebrows twisting up in confusion.
"What happened, Edward?" Carlisle took a step back from me as he said this. I unwound my arms from his waist.
"You knew about this! You knew he wasn't dead!" I hissed to Carlisle – and the rest of the Cullens as they suddenly appeared.
"We knew nothing about this, Bella." Carlisle said.
I gave Alice a pained look as she hung her head. She still hadn't told me about all of her visions.
"I hid in Canada for awhile, and then Alaska . Word spread that you had found someone else, but I didn't believe Tanya. Now that I see it's true... I guess I'll be going."
"No – Wait!" I called and reached for him.
Carlisle hesitated for a moment, I saw the look in his eyes. Would this mean that I would go back to Edward? Carlisle would go back to Esme and everything, besides me being immortal, be like it had before?
I bit my hard lip and stepped back. Edward's face showed no emotion now.
"What happened, Bella?" He asked me.
"I-I thought you were dead, Edward! You... went to volterra after I almost died!" I said.
Everyone, including Carlisle, had left. It was just Edward and I.
"Accident?" He asked.
"You didn't know?" I shrieked.
He gave me a blank expression.
"I ran my truck into a tree. Carlisle told me you knew, and you went to Volterra to die."
"Oh. I see that you've became quite... attracted to Carlisle." He said in disgust.
I realized what he was thinking. Carlisle was his Dad.
I didn't say anything. In truth, I didn't know what to say.
"You don't want me anymore then?" He said. My thoughts seeped back to when I had said the same thing, when I was human.
"I... don't know." I said.
I suddenly felt like a third wheel. What if Carlisle planned all of this? Was this some kind of sick, unbelievable joke?
"I guess I'll go..." He said and looked to the floor.
I suddenly made a decision. I was a vampire now, I could go out on my own. Nothing could kill me unless they put up a very good fight. I wouldn't have to deal with any of this nonsense.
"No, Edward. I'm leaving. It's your turn to pretend that I never existed." I ran over to my closet and pulled out the small suitcase which held a wad of cash that Carlisle had gave me for emergencies. I threw some clothes in, thinking about where I was going to go. Alaska would probably be best, there wasn't too much sun...
"Goodbye." I flung my purse over my shoulder, grabbed my suitcase, and sped out of the room.
I stopped in La Push – not realizing where I was – to stuff my clothes in my purse. I didn't want to lug the suitcase around, and my purse was big enough to hold everything I had thrown in it. What I wasn't expecting was an old friend. Someone I hadn't seen in years.
"Bella." Someone spoke.
Jacob Black was standing a couple feet away from me, pained expression on his face.
"Jake." I said. He cringed at my new voice.
"The bloodsuckers changed you." He grumbled.
"I got attacked, okay? I either died or became this." I said sharply.
"You could have returned my calls." He said after a long moment of penetrating gazes.
"I put my phone out of service."
Another couple of minutes passed. I blinked. My throat was scorching, I needed something. Weren't there any animals around here – besides Jacob?
"So... I heard that you were with the blond." He mumbled.
"How did you hear that?" I snapped.
"Word gets around in this town, Bells. Someone was probably eavesdropping." He shrugged.
I grumbled something about idiot nurses while he grinned goofily.
"There's my Bella." He laughed.
"Shuddup." If I was human, my cheeks would be stained red.
"So... Moving out?" He motioned to the empty suitcase besides my foot.
"Yeah. Edward came back." I hissed.
"What? He's... dead!" He said.
"That was my response, too."
"So... why are you leaving?" He was clearly confused.
"I think everybody lied to me, Jake," I said softly. "Edward knew nothing about my accident. He never went to Volterra. He was with the Denali coven."
"Lying, filthy bloodsuckers," He hissed. I ignored the bloodsucker remark, even though I was one also. "You cold have stayed with me."
"I know. I didn't want any of my depression rubbed off on you, Jake. I mean... with your Dad... you seemed upset enough."
I looked sideways, not wanting to talk about it.
"Where are you going to go now?" He said softly.
"Alaska. I need to hunt, Jake. My throat is killing me."
"Oh."
He walked forward and wrapped his steaming hot arms around me, cringing at my coldness.
"You can always come back to me. Vampire or not." He whispered into my hair.
"I love you, Jake." I smiled sideways as I pulled away.
"Love you too, Bells."
He shifted into a wolf and then disappeared into the trees. I stood there for a long moment before making my way up to Alaska. It wouldn't take me too long to get there.
I reached the border that night, but kept running. It was snowing hard outside, a huge blizzard that iced everything in it's path. I stopped up by one of the signs along the road to figure out where I was. There was a big, twisted lump set alongside the road. I could almost swear I heard someone crying and calling "Mommy, mommy! Daddy!" Even with my excellent eyes, I couldn't make out the heap. I fished around in my purse and pulled out a small flashlight.
Snow was falling slower now, I could see it swirling around in the wind. I could also see big red stains blotted round the heap. I breathed in. Blood. Someone had crashed, they were dead. The smell ripped through my body, venom appeared in my throat. I threw the flashlight down and twisted the metal heaps off of the two lifeless bodies. They still had a bit of blood left in them, just enough to satisfy my hunger. I felt my razor-sharp teeth sink into one of the bodies hands, the blood entered my mouth almost s quick as I sighed. I wanted more, a lot more. The body was dry of blood soon, so I leaned over and pressed my mouth to the other bodies hand. This blood wasn't as good as the other, and it was hairy. I was grossed out for a moment, but then got wrapped up in the taste. This was probably a man, he had been drunk while driving. That would explain the bitter-tasting blood. He was dry of blood soon. I regained all of my senses and jumped up to leave.
I remembered the voice I had heard earlier.
"Mom?" The small voice trembled.
I moved more metal out of the way and grabbed my flashlight which was laying besides my foot. Shining the light on the spot the voice had come from, I saw a small girl. She was probably around eleven. A huge scar held dried blood on her face, just above her eyebrow. I frowned and opened my mouth to speak.
"Are you god?" She asked.
I almost burst out laughing. She thought she was dead.
"No, honey. But I can help you."
I was glad that I wasn't hungry anymore... and surprised that my senses weren't out of control like Edward had said they were for everyone else.
I grabbed her hand and yanked her up, not realizing how tall she was. She had been huddled up in the backseat of the small car, but now she was as tall as me. She looked about 15 years old now, as a bit of light shown on her face.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Willow." She whimpered.
"Were these your parents?" I asked.
"Yes." Tears streaked down her face.
I peered up at the huge, bent sign. There was a hospital just ten miles down the road, she needed to get her head stitched up... but I wasn't sure if I should risk that.
"What did you do to my parents?" She asked.
"I-I was checking to see if they were really dead." I muttered.
"Climb on my back." I said after she gave me an odd expression.
"What?"
"Just do it."
I grabbed my purse and gripped her arms, so she wouldn't fall off, as I decided where to go. The hospital wouldn't be a good idea, there was far too much blood. I didn't want to tempt myself, Willow's scent was already making my throat burn a bit. I didn't understand why I wasn't going crazy for blood.
I did know one doctor. All I would have to do is run in, have Carlisle stitch her up, and then leave. Simple as that.
We arrived in Forks two hours later. Willow had fallen asleep, I had to listen carefully to make sure she hadn't died because of the gash on her head. I ran as fast as I could, so I could save her, but slowed down once I reached the Cullens house. It was about seven in the morning, I could see Edward up in his old room – which had been turned into mine. He was holding something, peering at it. A second later he was staring right at me.
He opened the back door and jumped out, landing next to me.
"Where's Carlisle?" I muttered.
"Study. I'll get him." He said.
I noticed how he didn't look at me. He looked everywhere but my face – at Willow, in the trees... he acted like I wasn't there. Wow. I must have really hurt his feelings.
"Bella?" Carlisle asked.
He was probably hoping that I was coming back for him. I was still pissed at him, he probably made up the whole thing. I wondered what Esme thought. She obviously knew about Carlisle and I.
"She needs help. Her name's Willow. Saved her from a car crash not too far into Alaska."
"Hand her over." Carlisle said.
I handed her to him and stood back up straight. He stood there to stare at me, smiling faintly. I couldn't help but to have the urge to walk over and grasp him... but I didn't.
"Mind if I come in while I wait for her to get stitched up? I don't know what I'm going to do with her, Carlisle. And I don't want to leave her with you. Not with Jasper." I looked sideways at the ground as I spoke.
"No problem. Stay as long as you need," He smiled. "Er... you might want to stay away from Esme and Jasper. Jasper's mad at himself for attacking you, and Esme's got mixed feelings about both you and I."
"No problem." I said faintly and waited for him to leave.
I had found myself in the garage, with Emmett. He was the only of the Cullens who didn't mind being around me. Alice was shamed because she didn't share her visions, Rosalie had always had problems with me, Esme was avoiding me... along with Edward, Carlisle was probably trying to make up with Esme by not speaking to me, and finally, Jasper was mad with himself.
I was glad Emmett was quick to forgive.
"So... Is Esme pissed at me?" I asked him.
"Nah, she's mad at Carlisle." He spoke from under the jeep.
"Oh."
"So, what are you gonna do with the girl?" He asked.
"Willow. Right. Er, I'm not too sure."
"Rose thinks you should leave her here."
"Why?" I said as he rolled out from under the car.
"You know how badly she wants to have a kid." He raised his eyebrows.
"We'll see." I muttered.
I sat there for a few minutes as he walked over to check Rosalie's convertible.
"So, where are you going to stay tonight?" He asked.
"Seeing that most of everyone is mad at me, I;m going to go stay with Jake."
"The mutt?" He asked in confusion.
"Yeah. I ran into him right before I left. He said I could stay with him whenever. He's pretty much got the house to himself, so there's enough room for two more people."
He smiled, getting ready to say something, but Willow appeared.
"Hey. You ready to go?"
"I guess... where are we going?" She asked.
"An old friend of mine."
I walked up to Jacob's red faded door and knocked on it, careful not to rip it in half.
"Bella!" He said as he opened the door.
"Mind if we stay here tonight?" I asked.
"Sure. Wait... we?" He asked.
"Yeah. Willow and I. Found her today, she was going to die... but I saved her." I smiled.
He didn't notice. His eyes were set off in the distance, jaw swung open. Looking at Willow like he was seeing sunlight for the first time.
I almost burst out laughing.
"Oh my god, Jake! You imprinted on her!" I giggled.
"Willow..." He said.
I pushed past him and walked into the house. He decided to go freak her out or something, because as soon as I turned around, he was walking up to her. I looked around the small room. It wasn't too messy, Jake was keeping it clean. That was good.
I wasn't too sure about him though. He still had that odd expression on his face as he followed Willow up to the doorstep like a lost puppy.
