Disclaimer: I dreamt my story, just like Meyer. But in her story, Edward's gayer.
She owns it, loans it, and so much more
*I would finish the Disclaimer, but I am so overcome by grief that I can't bear to write any more – sorry*
Yeah, so this one is in Alice's POV too, but stay with me! Others are coming!
Chapter 2:
Cullen Foundation
Alice's POV
I heard people talking first, soft murmurs that I was sure I wasn't meant to hear. Then I could hear other things too – the scrape of a chair being pushed back, an elevator ding, more voices.
Where in the fucking hell am I? I thought. Come on Alice, harden the fuck up. I peeled my heavy eyelids apart oh so very slowly, the light peeping through more and more. I groaned. It felt like I had one hell of a hangover (Well, I had never actually had one, but I imagine it felt like this). I was in a white room. Clearly they hired the same designer as at the institution. Ugh. Gross. There was a desk next to the bed I was in and nothing else. Shadows crept into the corners of my room.
"And the sleeping bitch wakes up. You broke my nose hooker. You'll fucking pay for that." Growled a guy hidden the shadows- apparently the guy whose nose I broke.
"Sure. As soon as it heals, you let me know and I'll break it again." My voice was confident, but my head was reeling. Where was I? Who are these people? What do they want from me? Am I going to die? I didn't want to die. No matter how hard my life was. I wanted to live – if only to shop for the first time, or, kiss a boy for the first time, or, have an intelligent conversation with someone for once.
The unknown man growled and punched something next to him. Things skid across the floor with a loud CRASH! "Jeremy, leave. NOW." Another voice spoke, this one calm, but filled with an underlining authority. A door opened, and then slammed shut behind the so-called Jeremy. "Sorry about him," the voice continued to say, "he is a bit of a hot head."
Then he came into view. He was… average...I think… I have never really seen a cute guy before, but this one didn't seem very cute to me. He wore a shiny black suit that just screamed expensive.
He pulled a briefcase onto the desk and grabbed some papers. "Where am I?" I asked, my voice croaky and raw.
"You are dead. Or at least, to everyone else you are. Consider this your afterlife Hell." His voice was deadpan, no emotion. "'A girl who claims to have visions. She says things will happen before they do, and those things almost always did happen.'" He read from my patient file from the asylum, I realised. "Well, you are quite talented, quite talented indeed. And, according to this, you fight too. Seven doctors put in hospital because of you – they deserved it I am sure. Your parents never visited, they disowned you. They didn't love you. And now- to the rest of the world- you are dead. You need us. And we need you." Still, no emotion in his voice.
"What the fuck! How dare you! How dare you asshole! You faked my fucking death so you can use me for your own fucking…whatever the fuck it is I have to do!" I was yelling. I was furious. I was ready to kill.
"What life did you have anyway? No parents. No friends. Never been outside the asylum since you were admitted. Your parents were paying enough for the doctors to keep you there for the rest of your life. You never would've left. You need us."
I was silenced by that. He had a point. But I wasn't ready for him to know that yet.
"Here, you can have friends, you can be appreciated, and you can go outside – into the real world. In your life at the asylum you were dead anyway. You had no life. No future. You could never leave. We have given you a new future; a better future." His voice was so calm, so assuring, I had to believe him. What a naive girl I was.
"You are right. Oh my gosh! You are right!" I started to laugh, I was so happy. I was free!
"So, I will continue. I work for sector five of the Government. You've never heard of it. Never will. Cullen Foundation is the name. We are a secret organisation founded by Carlisle Cullen. We fight the enemy. You would be a valuable addition."
"Yes. Ok. I am listening." It was rather obvious I would sign up, no matter what he said. After all, nothing could be as bad as what I came from... right?
"That is all you get to know until you sign this." He said, pushing a pen and piece of paper towards me. "It allows your immediate termination should you defy confidentiality rules and tell anyone of this foundation. Also, it binds you to the foundation until you are 35 years of age, only severe injury, or death permits you to leave earlier." I signed it. "Miss Brandon, do you believe in Vampires?"
I scoffed, I mean Vampires? Really? Was he afraid of the dark and pray the tooth fairy will keep him safe too? "What is this? A scary children's novel? No. Definitely not."
"Well, you had better start believing. They are the enemy. They are large at numbers, and definitely hard to kill. But, not impossible. You will spend the next six months under the training of our dojo master. If she says you are ready earlier than that, you will leave earlier. If she says you need more time, you leave later. For those six months you will not leave campus. You will do exactly as she says. If she says jump at 0300 hours and you have a hell of a hangover, you ask how high. Our secretary will give you the grand tour." His calm facade was gone – it was all a ruse. And he left the room military style.
Not long after, the secretary came in. We are looking at fake blonde, make-up overkill, fake boobs, tight shirt, mini skirt, high heels and could lose a few kilos on her stomach. "Hi! My name is like Jessica and I'm here to like, show you around. So, let's like, get going!"
"Hi," I responded, whilst getting out of bed, "my name is Alice."
"Are you going to train? Not all of them do you know. Like, me. Well, I did train, for three years actually, dojo master's a bitch and kept saying I wasn't ready, and I was too afraid to break my nails to be of any use. Which is, like, a scary thing isn't it?" She paused, looking at her perfectly manicured nails. "She was jealous of course, 'cause I'm like, way gorgeouser than her. Anyway, everyone believed her and since I had already signed up till I'm 35, I got secretary instead. You know she might be jealous of you too, 'cause you're also really pretty."
"Really? You think I am pretty?" No one had ever called me pretty before.
"Well, yeah, like, totally... anyway, we gotta get going." We walked out of the annoying white room and into a hallway. "Here is the main hall. Nearly every room you'll need is along here. We are talking, the gym – which is that room over there, left of the room you were just in; the dojo – which is through there, next to the gym; and well, other stuff too. At the end of the hall is two staircases, the left leads to the men's rooms, the right, to the ladies. We have a few spare, so you can pick whichever on you want. You missed out on the first training session today; every new person does, so there is a make- up session with her-royal-bitchiness in 1 hour. Go to your room and get sorted, then meet in the dojo them. You may want to – uh," She looked at my dirty white asylum uniform. It was dirty because of the struggle before I got here. "Change your clothes."
Then she whirled around on her heels and left. Now, where did she say the ladies room's were? Down the hallway and to the right? No, that's not right. To the left of the gym? No, no, no! I have no fucking idea! "Jessica, wait!" But she was already gone.
"It's a bit overwhelming at first isn't it?" I spun around. There, standing in front of me, was a man. He was the epitome of perfection. He was tall. He had short, lightly curly, dark blonde hair. He had strong, defined cheekbones, hazel eyes and, and, EVERYTHING! HE was cute. Oh, and the way he talked! A southern American twang. I loved it! "My name is Jasper." He said, and, putting his hands on my shoulders, he turned me around. "The female bedrooms are up the stairs and on the right." He gave me a gentle, encouraging push, and I turned to thank him, but he was already gone.
Walking in the direction he showed me, I crossed my arms over my chest and touched my shoulders where his hands had been. Following his directions I found myself in another hallway. But, this one had different coloured doors with numbers on them. The numbers 1-80 I think. As I passed some of the rooms I notice a card hanging from the doorhandle of some of them saying 'unoccupied'. I kept walking until I found one that felt right. Number 56. I opened the door and it was...perfect. It had cream walls with a dark red feature wall. Black patterns of flowers and birds decorated the corners of each wall. A big bed lay in the middle of the room against the red wall with red covers and the same flower pattern as the walls. Two mahogany bedside tables lay either side of it. A big window overlooking a green forest was on the wall furthest away from me with thick, black, velvet curtains ready to cover the view. The wall to my left had a door containing a bathroom. Complete with a big tub and shower. The fourth wall to my right had another door. This one was a closet, with no clothes in it.
I had just under an hour to kill, so I decided to have a bath. Whilst filling the tub I stood naked, scrubbing my white dress and undergarments, ready to be used again after I got out.
Stepping into the tub I jumped back out and screamed. The water was HOT! I never used a tub before, but in the movies, people just turned the taps on and stepped in. I decided to have a shower until I could figure out how to use the bath.
After my shower I stepped into a big fluffy red towel hanging on the towel rack. I walked back into my room and nearly dropped my towel in surprise. There, sitting cross legged on my bed, was Jasper.
"Umm... hi?" I whispered, too nervous to find my voice.
"Hi, sorry, this does seem rather odd, but Bella sent me to find out if you were settled okay. She also sent clothes up; they are in your wardrobe." I hurried over to my closet and found it filled with clothes.
"How was all this brought up? I mean, I wasn't that long in the shower."
"Bella's gift is teleportation. When I said she sent clothes up, I meant, she teleported them."
"Oh." I said stepping into the closet and searching for something appropriate to wear. "How long have you been here?" I asked.
"Only about a week. I came with a friend."
"Why did they want you?"
"That is really none of your business." He snapped. I was taken aback. "I am only here to make sure you are fine. Which you are. So I will leave." And he was gone. The door slammed on his way out.
After getting dressed I wandered down to the dojo, pondering Jasper's strange behaviour.
My first thought was one of intimidation. The dojo was HUGE and very professional looking. There were bars for stretching and big mirrors attached to the two longest walls. Then there was a corner stacked with boxes with labels such as Protective gear and Weaponry. But I hardly noticed. I was concentrating on the bars.
You see, in the asylum we had dance classes to pass the time – well, more like it was a reward for recovering patients. Because there was nothing wrong with me that they could tell, I was allowed to go. We learnt ballet. I loved it. Though, as soon as my parents found out they had my teacher fired. Miss Emily was the closest thing I had to a friend in that place.
I looked around, I was early and no-one else was there. I quickly stretched and started dancing. I was restricted in what I could do because I didn't have ballet shoes with me, but that did little to prevent me from leaping and twirling around the room.
Suddenly claps reverberated in the dojo. I fell over with a thud at the unexpected noise. Looking around I spied the culprit. A lady, about 20 years old, with long brown hair pulled into a pony tail, was standing in the doorway. An amused expression on her face.
"Well done. You are quite the dancer." She said.
"I know." Well, it was the truth.
"Modesty obviously isn't one of your fortes." She replied, still amused.
"Modesty is for people who are either dumb, blind, or fishing for compliments. Who are you?"
"In the dojo I am Sensei Isabella. Outside, I am just Bella. I am your instructor."
"You are the one who teleports! Thank you for the clothes!"
"Are they the right size? I was informed about your odd...predicament and assumed you had no clothes; I had to guess your size. I'll get some ballet shoes so you can practise your twirls if you like."
I eagerly nodded. Just like that, I had made my first friend.
Bella may be really nice, but Sensei Isabella was a hard ass. Although she quickly explained that she had to be because 'it is either you train now and learn how to fight now. Or you die later.' But people tended to think that she was overreacting until they had their first fight with the vampires.
Litres of sweat and three hours of training later she ended the class.
"You know, I expected you to be more of a..." I thought about what Jessica said about her.
"A cold hearted bitch? You're not the first. Unfortunately, Jessica likes to spread rumours. Don't listen to her."
Bella left the dojo, and, because I was already warmed up, I continued dancing. Bella teleported my ballet shoes to me mid-dancing session. I had at least five blisters on each foot, but it was worth it.
My life had finally reached a point where I found myself to be cautiously optimistic.
