AUTHOR'S NOTE. EDWARD'S POINT OF VIEW CHAPTERS WILL BE RELATIVELY SHORTER THAN A NORMAL CHAPTER.
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Chapter 6 - The Moon Softly Weeps a Lullaby – The Autumns
Chapter 6 Part I
There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.
-Jean Anouilh
Edward Cullen.
Late September, 2009.
Somewhere in South America.
I had tried to find Victoria. I had tracked her to Houston and then had followed a false lead to Brazil.
I am now in a deserted attic above the busy, hot streets of Fortaleza. My mind has turned into a perpetual DVD player with a movie of memories on repeat to a soundtrack of unequaled happiness with undeniable devastation laying on the horizon. Every angelic curve of her lips as she began to smile. Every crinkle in her adorable nose as the most glorious sound of happiness came from her luscious mouth with her laughter that tamed the demons raging within my dead heart. I could feel her soft flesh burn me with her warmth, could hear her sigh my name and cling to me in her sleep, the only glimpse into her precious dreams that were forever barred from me.
I lay in this filthy, rat infested attic curled into a ball, never feeling more alone or despicable.
The look of pain on her face.
What is the punishment for hurting an angel? Hell?
Already there.
Every image of her in front of my eyes that saw only her was my only medicine against the festering infection of loneliness and self-hatred that I hoped would give me a long and pain death. But when these images faded for a brief moment I became lost in regret the raging fires of hell would lap at my mind and I would take it for a few moments, deserving it, until my selfishness brought my mind back to her image, as clear as crystal but as tarnished and imperfect as uncut quartz for no memory can suffice the image of an angel.
Her face was aglow with her beautiful blush, her skin the epitome of life. Therein lays our demise.
I am Death and she is Life.
I am condemned to Hell and she deserves Heaven.
I am Dead and she MUST Live.
Our love was never supposed to survive. The most pure and innocent of loves, the most passionate and true of loves, the most happiest and saddest of loves could not overcome the boundary of Life and Death.
It was then I realized. For over a century I had looked for love and had found it. I had finally found that love existed for me and was the most earth shattering experience in my existence and always would be, until the day I ended it with the crossing of my love into the paradise she deserved in the afterlife after having a full, happy, human life, with children and a husband and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I would wait and wallow until our souls would one day meet again at the gate barring Heaven from Hell, where we will meet again for one final blissful moment before I am cast into the flames that are already lapping at me, and she will be swept away be a cloud and into paradise.
Love can overcome anything, even death.
The only thing that Love cannot triumph over is Life. The one she must have.
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I don't' know how long after I had this epiphany that my phone started to vibrate unremittingly. It went on for a full day before I finally snatched up the infernal device and pressed the glowing green button, my frame shaking with outrage and annoyance.
"What!" I shouted into to the receiver.
"Well, someone's a sour puss today." Rosalie's aggravating tone rang in my ears.
"What the hell do you want Rosalie?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose, aching to get back to my dream-like nightmares.
"Well-" she was suddenly cut off and there was some loud high-pitched screeching and some static coming from the other end before a familiar shrill voice let into me from the other end.
"Edward, come home now!! It an emergency!" she screamed into the phone.
"Alice, I'm sure whatever it is you all can handle it without me." I hung up. Two seconds later the phone rang again. I let out a roar of frustration.
"WHAT!" I roared into the phone, nearing crushing it with my hand.
"It's about Bella." I froze at the sound of her name on someone else's lips. My dead heart was being strangled by the icy hands of guilt, pain, and worry. But it didn't matter.
"Alice, we must let her live her life."
"That's just it Edward, if we don't do something, she might not have a life to live." The phone slipped from my hand. The sun and the stars and the whole universe exploded.
I could not interfere in her life, but I could make sure that it is protected. I picked up the discarded phone, Alice repeating my name into it.
"I'll be on the next flight."
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Canada
British Columbia
Town of Terrace
About a day later
I'm not sure why I decided to do what I did, I certainly never had before, I suppose it preserved my last remaining shred of sanity. I made a list. (OOO- a cosmic connection to Bella perhaps?)
1. Procure a plane ticket.
I made my way onto the moonlit rooftop of the building I had resided, standing above the dark Brazilian streets, the venders and pedestrians of the daytime now either tucked into bed or out in the club and bar part of town. I leapt from roof to roof at inhuman speed until the long rows of lights coming from the airport were in view. I jumped door to the street three miles from it. And hot-wired the car parked on the street in front of me, no one around to see this. I sped to the airport and left the stolen car in the back of the parking lot, running to the entrance. The airport wasn't busy, Fortaleza is a vacationing town and it's the off season, not much business for the airport. I charmed the clerk into a first-class ticket for the next flight to New York City, luckily for me it was boarding in fifteen minutes. I took this opportunity to sneak into the employee locker room and shower, not wanting to let Esme see how poorly I have been living.
On the plane the coach section was full except for a few seats but the first-class section held only me, three business men, and a gay couple.
I leaned forward in my seat with my head in my hands, getting back to my imaginings, this time not enjoyable, but unequally painful.
I went through every possible scenario that would be potentially life threatening to Bella. And, considering it's Bella, the situation could be as small as walking across a flat surface, to being abducted by terrorists and being held for ransom. I couldn't help myself from imagining her in pain, afraid, and or helpless. And I felt pain, fear, and completely helpless. I had no right to feel this way either. I had given up that right to protect her. And now she was in danger because I wasn't there to protect her. I should have stayed and hidden in the shadows; I should have walked just out of the line of her sight and made sure that her life was safe and happy. I should have done something.
It took every ounce of self control I had not to make a sound. It took every ounce of self control it took to sit quietly and let my screams and groans and sobs of agony inside of me.
2. Procure a ticket to British Columbia, Canada
When the plane finally landed in New York I was the first one off the plane. I had no luggage so I went directly to the ticket counter again and charmed the clerk, a man this time actually, into giving me the last first-class ticket to Prince Rupert Airport Authority in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada that was supposed to be reserved. I smiled ruefully and set off through the JFK, sticking to the shadows to avoid the sunlight and ignoring the stares of the females.
3. Finish the journey.
Once I got past airport security I waited the remaining hours of daylight out in the small waiting area before the sun was safely tucked away behind the mountains. Then I set off for Terrace, British Columbia, Canada, the small town that my family now lived. I ran faster than I ever had before. the image of my love spurring me on, my worry and anxiety creating a hurricane in the pit of my stomach.
I burst through the door of the yellow house that sat in the Canadian woods. Esme was sobbing into Carlisle's shirt on the couch and Alice was sitting, sifting through the future with Jasper at her side. Rosalie and Emmett were a mile away, finishing off a couple of elk. The TV was on the news and the very second that I took a step towards my family the headline that completely shattered my existence appeared on the screen along with the reason I lived.
Teenage Girl From Washington State Missing Since September 13th.
I screamed and sank to the ground in guilt and anguish.
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Alice Cullen
September 15th 2009
Terrace, British Columbia, Canada
I hate Edward. I finally had a best friend and he took her away from me. He is such a fool to think that Bella will just be able to move on. Any blind, deaf, and stupid person could see that they were like two halves of the same soul. They were both so stubborn and so passionate. Before Edward had met Bella he was dead, he was just there. He was miserable, lonely and in pain. He never smiled, never laughed, and rarely socialized with the rest of the family; and it killed Esme to see him like this. And then when Bella came into his life he smiled, he laughed, he joked with his brothers, we got along, and we were all so happy to see the post-Bella glow that beamed from his face whenever he had been around her.
Anyway, it was two days after we had respected Edward's wishes against our better judgment and had moved to the small town of Terrace. I was sitting with Esme on the couch, unpacking family photos when Emmett plugged in the new flat-screen and the channel 3 news came on.
The headline made both Esme and I drop the frames we were holding, the glass breaking.
Small Town Police Chief's Daughter Missing For Over 24 hours
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Alice Cullen
Terrace, BC, Canada
Who the hell cares how much later? Really? Like WTF, who cares if its like a day later anyway?
The point is it's like anywhere between 2-9 days later. Whatever.
We had debated for a long time whether to tell Edward or not. Since Forks is over two hundred miles away we had no way of knowing how accurate the news we got about Bella was, but so far the Canadian news had heard nothing from the Washington officials.
"We, HAVE to tell Edward, this could get him to come home," Esme, eyes wide with hope.
"He, wanted us to say out of her life," Rosalie, just not wanting to have to be further involved with Bella.
"But what if she's in real trouble?" Emmet, receiving a glare from Rosalie.
Later we had taken a break from the debate when I walked in on Rosalie, she had finally gotten a hold of Edward. I pounced on her, wrestling the phone from her while screaming to Carlisle.
I got to Edward for a brief moment before he hung up. I tried one last time, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Jasper looking apprehensive while Rosalie sulked off into the woods.
I told Edward that Bella was in trouble. He hung, up saying he was coming home.
It was then that I was swept into a vision.
Vision~'~;~\
There was a flash of red, and a grating sound. There was water.
There was a crowd, a ticket counter with blurred images and words.
This can't be quite good.
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Author's Notes.
Alright. Like it? No? Tell me please.
I will TRY to have the pictures up something later this week.
