Why do children stop talking, I typed into the search engine bar. After spending the night at the Cullen's, I found that I was feeling less than content with my situation than normal.

I'd had a pretty bad nightmare during the night. I woke up to Alice and Esme shaking me softly, whispering soothing things. They had been nice enough about it, but I could see the worried glances, and during breakfast, which no one else ate—I didn't question it—they were acting differently around me—like I was something fragile that needed to be tip-toed around. I soon got tired of it, and made excuses to leave as soon as was polite.

I glanced through the search results, seeing a lot of different questions of 'How to get your child to stop talking?' Once I'd sifted through those, I found that there were only three legitimate explanations for long term muteness. The first was if the child had experienced something traumatic, but thinking back to my childhood, I couldn't remember any specific moment that would be traumatic enough for such a drastic response. The second one and the most common reason, was if the child had a form of autism, but I'd had multiple tests done on me and I knew it wasn't that. The other one was just as unhelpful.

'On very rare occasions, a child will just cease to talk without rhyme or reason. There are very limited opportunities to study the cause of this as there are so few cases. Elective muteness is similar to selective muteness, where someone is unable to speak in certain circumstances."

I exited out of the page, roughly slamming my laptop shut in frustration. Well, that confirms it; I'm a legitimate freak.

By the time Monday rolled round, I'd had enough time to think through my actions. I'd come to the conclusion that something was seriously wrong with me. I mean, what the hell was I thinking! Going to a near strangers place, staying the night, and worst of all… trying to communicate with them.

How could I be so stupid!

Nothing bad happened, a little voice in my head whispered. They were nice.

Shut up, I mentally screamed at myself. Certain that this was a sign that I was already in Crazyville, I plugged my headphones in and turned on my music. I let the blasting sounds of Avenged Sevenfold distract me from my own thoughts as I strolled to my first class of the day. I was regretfully early today, so the halls were full of students. I could see them trying to make fun of me, but my music was so loud that it blocked out their taunts.

I could see Jessica and Lauren standing a few feet away, their lips moving, and their eyes narrowed on me.

I ignored them, softly bobbing my head to the pounding beat of my music.

That is, until they decided they were bored of me not paying them attention. They sauntered forward, and ripped my headphones from my ears, shoving me into the lockers while they were at it.

Shrill laughter rang out around me as I tried to catch the head phone cord hanging from my pocket.

Bella, Bella

Can't get a fella

Doesn't speak, no not a peep

Ugly Swan Bella.

I ignored the asinine rhyme and continued on my way.

Entering the class, I saw that Alice was already there, seated at the back next to my usual desk. I ignored her stare as I made my way to the seat at the back… on the other side of the class. I needed some space from her and her family. Even though the sleep over was fun, I had pushed myself way out of my comfort zone. I needed normality, I needed space.

Classes passed dismally slow today. I avoided the Cullens and the Hales as much as I could, but having to sit next to Edward for biology wreaked havoc on my resolve. His scent alone was intoxicating—seemingly whispering to me to bring me out of my self-isolation. Edward himself whispered to me numerous times during the class, but I stared straight ahead and ignored him, no matter how much I wanted to interact with him.

I drove home fighting tears the whole way.

I'm doing the right thing, I know I am. I can't let myself get too close to them. I didn't believe that they would intentionally hurt me, they were too kind and too wonderful to do that to me. So it wasn't them I was worried about. It was me. I didn't know how to be friends with someone. The things I was feeling toward Edward was something new and foreign to me, and I knew that I'd screw it up.

Not to mention the fact that I still didn't know what they were. For all I knew, he could be completely alien, and not even able to be with me like that.

I had to keep my distance—for my own emotional safety.

When I pulled up to my house, I saw that a car was already there—a silver car that I knew too well.

Shit.

Having nowhere to run, I got out of my truck and ambled to the front door, taking my time. Edward was leaning against the door, his head upturned towards the cloudy sky. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful.

I stopped a couple steps away from him, unsure. What was he doing here?

He opened his eyes, and I knew—I just knew in the pit of my stomach—that he was beyond furious. His normal golden eyes were dark, so dark I couldn't see where his pupils ended and his irises began. It was like they were lit from a fire within that made them blaze despite their dangerous colour.

Crap. I'd never meant to make him angry. I didn't even think that he'd care all that much that I was ignoring him.

But… it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

He just stared at me, his eyes blazing, a stark contrast to his seemingly calm face and stance.

I wanted to say something, anything to calm him down, to tell him that I'm sorry. I needed to explain why.

He moved so fast, one minute he was two steps away, the next he had me pinned to the door, his cool body a hairs breath away from me.

I'd been in similar positions with Mike, but even though I knew that Edward was far more dangerous than that simpleton, I felt completely different standing there with Edward. A delicious warmth spread through me and my breathing became harsher. If I even tilted my head up just a millimetre, my lips would be on his.

"Bella…" he whispered, his voice a dangerous murmur almost lost in the wind. "Don't you ever put me through that, again."

And then the most magical thing happened. He closed the infinitesimal space between us, pressing himself to me. His lips were cool and hard, forcing mine to meld to his as fire raced through me. His tongue traced along my bottom lip, so I opened myself to him, rejoicing in the feel of him tongue sweeping around my mouth.

His hands gripped my hips and pulled me up to his height. I used it to my advantage and ran my fingers through his already tangled mess of hair and he helped me cross my legs around his hips. His lips traced a pattern down my neck, leaving a scorching path in his wake.

For a moment, I let myself get lost in the feel of him. But then, reality brought me crashing back down. I had no idea what I was doing, was I even kissing him right? Oh God, I was probably doing it all wrong and making a fool of myself.

Mortified, I pulled back from him. I tried to untangle my legs from his hips but they weren't co-operating. I probably would've fallen flat on my ass if Edward hadn't of caught me.

He was always catching me.

I felt my cheeks flaming with my embarrassment. What was wrong with me?

Turning quickly, I unlocked the door and slammed it shut behind me in Edward's stunned face.

Well, at least he wasn't angry anymore.

I raced up the stairs to my room and threw myself down onto my bed, face first. Hot tears stained my cheeks as I buried my head into the pillows. Why couldn't I just be normal? Why did I have to be one of the very few children to just stop talking for no reason?

I slammed my fist into the pillows beside my head. Asking myself 'why' wouldn't change anything. This was my lot in life, and I had to live it. But no one said that I had to be okay with it.

With renewed strength, I went to the window to check if Edward was gone. Leaning over the edge, I saw that his Volvo was gone. Good.

Just as I was about to pull back, my hand slipped on the ledge and I fell forward a bit. My other hand shot forward to catch myself before I tumbled out of my window.

Breathing deeply, I leaned back inside, no worse for the wear. There. I didn't need Edward to catch me.

I opened up my laptop and typed a question into the search engine. How to get your child to start talking?

It had been so long since I've talked that I'm pretty sure that my body doesn't know how to form words anymore. I'd have to start at the beginning. I opened the first cite to pop up. It was pretty helpful, once I'd skimmed past the first half explaining that children are learning sentence structure long before they start talking. I already knew all that.

I decided to start simple. I closed out of the website and opened up Youtube. I found a clip of someone reciting the alphabet. It was obviously meant for kids, but I didn't let that bother me.

"Aye…" the woman's clear voice rang out around the room. I listened carefully to the pronunciation of the letter.

For the first time for as long as I can remember, I opened my mouth with the full intention of speaking.

AN; so I broke my hand in three different places. I'm wearing a giant cast, which means that I typed this with one hand. The things I do for my lovely readers... So show me some love if you appreciate it. Thoughts?