Hi guys, you all should be very proud of me! Last chapter got more reviews than ever and you now obviously know what motivates me more than anything. REVEIWS. They give me confidence and a better mood so that I don't do anything like kill off a main character. This chapter is pretty much everything that happens to Bella after she leaves forks. Since she is getting older I am going to put some rough language, but nothing that they haven't put in a pirates of the Caribbean. Which roughly means that I will rarely say damn or hell. I don't like swearing but it adds character to it in the way I'm doing it. Not like a teenager trying to be cool. In a review from Klutzrus she asked me how old Bella is. Bella is thirteen, so is Edward and Alice. Emmett is fourteen and Ryan is seventeen. Also Bella gave Edward and Alice both letters, Alice's is in the chapter but she doesn't give Edward his. We might never find out the contents of the letter….or will we? Who knows! I don't even know because I haven't decided yet! Moving on to the extremely annoying disclaimer…. DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT. IT BELONGS TO STEPHENIE MEYER. ALL LEGAL RIGHTS GO TO HER. I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT AND NEVER WILL. Ah well. That was humiliating… now that we understand each other I can actually start typing this chapter….
Fourteen (BPOV)
After we left Forks and settled down things went relatively back to normal, Emmett took up football and Ryan graduated high school. He started college and met Caroline, who became his steady girlfriend. She was a sweet kind girl, with golden blond hair and grey eyes, just like his. She came over for every holiday (She doesn't have any family, so we kind of adopted her) and went on every family vacation. A month ago they announced that they were engaged and that Caroline was pregnant with a baby girl. Carlisle and Esme are the world's best parents. They were gentle and kind, but firm with Emmett. He and their biological son, Jasper, became best friends. Jasper is a honey blond boy with blond hair and blue eyes and became my brother, and best guy friend. And soon girls at school were trying to use me to get to his heart, I usually gave them bad information for Jasper's sake. He had really helped me when I first came to D.C. he helped me learn to smile again, just the way Emmett helped me laugh again. Mom and Dad helped me love again, because I soon came to adore them, and their patience and kindness.
"Bella!" My dad's voice interrupted my thoughts. "We need you in the living room!" I jumped off my bed and ran down the smooth staircase. I zipped into the living room to see everyone sitting with grave looks on their faces, a look I was all to familiar with. Mom had ducked her head into dad's shoulder, her caramel curls quivering. The comfy armchair in front of me looked suddenly forbidding, I gulped and sat down.
"What's going on?" I asked cautiously. Ryan cleared his throat loudly, he and Caroline were sitting on the love seat, her sparkling grey eyes had gone dark. I saw the suitcase by the door, my stomach dropped.
"Bella, sweetie when I turned eighteen I legally became an adult in the eyes of the world" He spoke in his soft firm voice. My brow furrowed in confusion. What's going on? "And in the eyes of the U.S. army" Oh god. Oh no. Not now! Not him! I shut down all of my raging emotions. My face remained smooth, waiting for him to continue. "I registered for the the U.S. army, because I want to serve my country. I hope you respect that. I have been called to Iraq for a two-year service. I am a young, educated man, and they need me in the air force. I'm leaving in the morning. I love you and I hope you can understand" My heart had stopped. Everything did. I felt the ice around the edges of my heart creep in deeper cutting off my breath. My body moved in robotic, wooden movements, like I was watching myself from a distance.
"You're afraid of heights" I said icily. I turned and walked to the porch hearing his soft footsteps behind me. I finally let my fear surface. I gripped the rail so hard that my fingers ached; my teeth came together with an audible snap. I felt Ryan's soft warm hand on my back. My whole body yearned to turn around and hug him, but I stayed in place. I heard him sigh quietly, but I still didn't move.
"Bella, I don't want to leave but I don't have a choice! What do you expect me to do?! Tell them 'oh! I'm sorry I changed my mind'!" His anger fueled my own. I needed him! His family needed him! His child needed him! And he was going to take himself away out of some misplaced sense of public duty?! I turned around and leaned against the rail, staring him down.
"Esme is inside crying her eyes out" I said coldly. He flinched away from my gaze and stared at his shoes. "Caroline is being strong for you, because of how much she cares about you. And your going to leave her and your baby without a second thought" He peered at me through his lashes with anguished eyes, I saw in them my reflection. I didn't see the happy girl I had been, her eyes were cold and unforgiving, they widened slightly, and fear flashed across them before going back to normal. "Just do what you want Ryan" I snapped walking past him.
"You always do"
I ran up to my room, throwing myself onto the pillows. Only one tear went down my cheek.
When I woke up in the morning he was gone.
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Fifteen (BPOV)
My little niece Renee Isabella swan was born that year on September 17, 2007. She was an adorable girl, with my hair and eyes like her father. I rarely ever spoke about Ryan anymore, and I made a point of not thinking about him. Of course every now and then I would try to imagine what he was doing, or if he was thinking about me. I had some how become popular. How you might ask? All the guys wanted to date me and I had a lot of friends. I began to just try to get out of the house whenever possible, it was to painful to look into his empty room knowing he might never see it again… three days after she was born we sent a picture of Renee to Ryan.
U.S. ARMY HOSPITAL SEPTEBER 27 2007
Ryan sat on his bed staring at his daughter feeling more than he thought he ever could. Joy, love, sadness, guilt, but no regret. They had shot him out of the sky; several chunks of steel impaled him. He was bleeding to death on the inside; there was nothing they could do. He would be dead in hours. Tears welled up in his eyes as he thought about the daughter he would never see, and the sister who hated him. He stood by his decision, he fought to make a better life for his family. He asked the nurse for a pen as he pulled a box from his nightstand drawer. Inside were postcards he had been saving since he got there. He began to fill them out for specific dates to be sent.
Deer Renee,
Sorry I missed you first words, steps, and birthday.
To my baby girl,
Love, Daddy
Dear Renee,
Sorry that I couldn't take you to your first day of school
To my baby girl,
Love, Daddy
Dear Renee,
I wish I could've told you to stay away from boys. Happy thirteenth!
To my baby girl,
Love, Daddy
Dear Renee,
Sorry I couldn't put the fear of god into your first boyfriend.
To my baby girl,
Love, Daddy
Dear Renee,
I wish I could've walked you down the isle
To the my baby girl,
Love, Daddy
Dear Renee,
There is nothing I would've liked to do more than hold my grandchild.
To the joy in my life,
Love, Daddy
He leaned back against his pillow with a sigh, feeling a wave of pain over take him. He took out one last slightly crumpled piece of stationary and began writing hurriedly.
Dear Bella,
If your reading this I'm gone, I'm sorry for leaving like I did, but I though it was best. You always seem so sad Bella, and I think I know why. I have only one wish and that is you find the joy in your life. I've found mine.
Love, Ryan
P.S. I'll tell mom that he's sorry.
When he finished he collapsed onto the pillow and spent a long moment staring at the picture of his daughter. He was going to miss her whole life, every precious moment. Caroline would eventually move on and find someone else, but that was ok. She deserved to. It was meant to be this way, him dieing. He was the sort of person who you remembered, but not until after he was gone. His family would remember him, try to be like him, and think of him in times of sadness to lift them up. He would be gone but not forgotten. He smiled at the thought. He looked at the picture one more time, his vision was clouded. He felt like he had been riding through a storm that just cleared.
He closed his eyes and let the waters take him.
BPOV
Emmett and I were in the living room having a stare down. He kept winning because he made funny faces. I laughed when he made a fish face.
"No fair!" I spluttered clutching my side. He grinned.
"No you just are an easy laugher!" The doorbell rang. I laughed as I got up.
"You are such a goof!" I choked out heading towards the door. When I opened it my smile vanished. It was a marine officer, looking all high and mighty in his uniform. He regarded my expression coldly. For a moment I felt kind of bad for him. Nobody wanted to see him at their door. He handed me an envelope and walked away without a word. Nope. All compassion gone.
I ripped it open to see a letter for my parents. And one for me. I recognized the messy scrawl across the front. The one for mom and dad was from the navy. Mine was from my brother. I knew before I opened it what had happened. My brother was dead.
I didn't cry a single tear. I just felt a crushing pain in my chest. My last words to him had been an insult. That was the last time he heard my voice. My horrible, despicable, voice. This sent the ice all the way to my core, it just froze me. I remembered that girl who had been there the last time had seen him. The mean Bella who said things just to hurt people. I hated her.
"Bella?" I turned and saw my mom in the doorway; I just ran to her and hugged her as tight as I could. Pressing my face against her red sweater. I waited for the pain to become slightly bearable. I looked up at her face and handed her the letter without a word. I wanted to cry, to melt the ice, but I couldn't. One tear, and I would shatter. I turned and ran up the steps, only to run straight into jasper.
He looked at me, his big blue eyes filled with concern.
"Bella, what's wrong?" I stared into those eyes, trying to find any comfort that could relieve the pain in my chest. But relief never came. His eyes were not the ones I needed.
They weren't green
Sixteen BPOV
Jasper and Emmett started a band. It was an alternative rock band that soon became popular at all of the dances and parties. I sometimes wrote songs for them. But there was never a piano part. I hadn't touched the piano since my brother died. I didn't even try to think about him anymore. Alice and I emailed constantly. But I hadn't heard a word from Edward, not one. He had become a distant memory, my first kiss.
Ever since I left Forks a started trying to get kissed like that again. Some were good, some bad. But none were like my first. Where the lightest touch sunk straight down to my toes, and filled me up. I tried to tell myself that that is what your first kiss is like, but I knew the truth.
Seventeen (BPOV)
I stared out the window of the plane as I saw the New York skyline come into view. I yawned and drummed my fingers against the window. Dad was going to be chief of surgery at New York Memorial Hospital. The biggest on the east coast, probably the country. I was going to be enrolled in a fancy private school for rich kids. I continued to smile at the skyline. I should smile right? This is what I wanted. To get out of D.C., out of that house. I took a piece of my hair and twisted it between my fingers. It had grown out, I looked a lot different than I used to. My teeth had straightened out, my skin had cleared, and well my chest… had turned out quite nicely in the eyes of the male population. And in other words, in the minds of guys a had become the girl everyone tried to get. Fun.
"Hello passengers this is your captain speaking, we are preparing to land" My fingertips skimmed the windows surface.
Welcome Home
Hi I know, I know I killed Ryan. But that was always the plan, he was based of Ryan Skidmore, he was the bravest man I ever knew, may he rest in peace. Now when I said that I would kill a major character, I meant an original twilight character. And for future notice, most of the time when I put an extra character in it's just to kill them off to make the main character sad and depressed. Now we are up to present and the Edward and Bella fluff will commence in five… four… three… two… one…
-Emily-
