-Chapter 10: The Fourth Wall-
Charlie didn't talk to me much. I suppose I was spoiled to his apparent character, reading the books from Bella's point of view. I had assumed he would eventually start to talk about something – anything – but he remained quiet, only speaking when I asked him something or when it was otherwise necessary. It was a sort of cold and distant quiet, as well, so I didn't break the silence often.
After Alice's call, Charlie had allowed me to stay at his house until it was time for me to leave and meet with Alice. I was thankful for the hospitality – though I suspected Alice was the one who convinced him – as well as the shower and clothes. Charlie had given me an old rain jacket since I didn't have one. It wasn't very warm, but it kept the wind from chilling me and added an extra layer as well. I didn't sleep in Bella's old room, though – I didn't even get to see it. Charlie laid out a sheet on the couch and allowed me to sleep there for the night.
Charlie woke me up before he left for the day, telling me he would allow me to stay here until he got off work – a few hours early today – so he could drive me to Seattle. I was honestly surprised at this gesture – not only offering to drive me all the way to Seattle, but also letting me, a stranger, stay in his house while he was away.
After he left, I switched on the TV and watched whatever was on. I didn't dare go up to the second floor, even though I was kind of curious to see what Bella's room looked like. I didn't, though, because although Charlie didn't expressly say "don't go upstairs," the stern look he gave me before he left pretty much implied it. And so, I stayed in the living room for most of the day, only leaving to use the restroom and to take in the pizza I had ordered for lunch.
At 3:00, Charlie came home and showered. And that was that, we went to his cruiser and we started the drive toward Seattle, which is where I was now.
It was a long trip – though not as long as the one from Missouri to Washington State. In the books, it never felt like such a great distance to travel – especially in the third, with the whole 'newborn army' thing happening. But it wasn't close – it was almost a 4-hour drive. An hour into the drive I had switched the radio to a classic rock station, hoping that Charlie wouldn't mind. Luckily he didn't.
It was 7:30 when we finally pulled up to the hospital parking lot. The lot was mostly abandoned, save for the small number of fancy cars that probably belonged to doctors. When the cruiser pulled to a stop, I opened the door and stepped out, felling a bit strange for not having anything with me to carry after the long car ride. I took a deep breath and bent down to peer back inside the car.
"Thanks for the ride, Chief Swan," I said, smiling awkwardly.
"You're welcome," Charlie said instead of his customary nod. I nodded back to him anyway and closed the door, stepping back so he could drive away.
I still had half an hour until Alice got here, so I zipped up my newly acquired jacket and sat down on one of the parking lot light's concrete bases. Once again, I found myself doubting my choice in seeking the Cullens for help. The chances were slim that they would know anything about what had happened to me – if they even believed me – but for the life of me, I couldn't think of another group to go to.
Well, that wasn't true. I had considered going to the Volturi once I had realized I was trapped in this world, if only because I actually knew where to find them. I knew how horrible and evil they were from the books, but I also knew Aro loved puzzles and rarities. I was both of those.
But, I could never go there now. Not even if the Cullens turned me down. Unknowingly, I had revealed the existence of vampires to two humans in this world, and I would not be the cause of their deaths. Matt didn't deserve that after helping me – he deserved a reward, not death. If there truly was no solution or way back to my world – if I was to be stuck here for the rest of my life – then I would make peace with that and leave Matt to live his life without any other supernatural influences.
It was about then, when I was wrapping up my thoughts on the Volturi when I felt it.
It was a warmth; a pulse like I had felt with all other people – and yet it seemed so different. It was…concentrated; brighter? It was just more. My body turned automatically, and I caught sight of the bright-yellow Porsche that had just zoomed into my line of sight. My eyes widened as it grew near. There wasn't one pulse; there were two.
The car skidded to a halt in the round about that was a part of the hospital parking lot about twenty yards ahead of me. My lungs ached as two figures exited the yellow vehicle, and I let out a forced breath; I hadn't even realized I wasn't breathing. My heart was thudding away from both fear and excitement, pounding in my temples and distracting me from the frigid air that still attacked me through my jacket.
The figures moved closer, and as they moved under a street lamp I finally got a clear image of what they looked like.
The first one was so obviously Alice, from how she was described in the books. She was short – much shorter than the movies made her out to be – and her haphazard haircut reminded me of that static ball at the St. Louis Science Center that would make all the hair on your head stand on end. The second figure was much taller than Alice, and had wavy, blond hair that obscured part of his face. I was almost positive this was Jasper.
They did move with grace and a strange fluidity that wasn't displayed at all in the movies, but the most shocking thing was their apparent ages. While I was reading the books, I, of course, drew a mental picture of each character in my mind. The books were descriptive enough for me to get a pretty solid image, but the one thing that threw me was their physical ages.
Maybe it was the cast from the movies that threw me off, or maybe it was just the character-to-actor age difference that was all too common on TV. You would see it all the time: a twenty five year old playing a high school student and seventeen year olds playing the thirteen year olds. It was a trend that was difficult to grasp or pay attention to, because it seemed like every TV show was doing it.
But these people – these vampires – actually looked like high school students. Well, at least Jasper did. Alice looked much younger than I knew she was, and it was immediately apparent why she always played the part of one of the younger siblings. She was so tiny that it disarmed me momentarily, and it took my brain a moment to process that this apparent sixteen year old girl was a vicious killing machine.
"Davis?" Alice asked, though it sounded more like an introduction or a hello than an actual question.
"Alice and Jasper," I replied, nodding at each of them. Alice gave a slight nod back while Jasper's eyes narrowed. A small spike of fear shot through me as I realized I had shown off my seemingly-all-knowing omniscience to the blond fighter, who didn't seem to like being in the dark in regards to information. I swallowed as I realized he had probably come with Alice because he considered me a potential threat.
He would kill me if I even looked wrong at Alice. It wasn't a psychic premonition or an educated guess – it was in his piercing gaze and protective stance. I looked at the ground before I could do any more damage to my chances of living through the trip, only watching them through my peripherals.
I wasn't the mate of one of their family. I was a human that knew way too much, and I got the instinctual feeling that it was only Carlisle's will that kept Jasper from killing me like he wanted to do to Bella at the beginning.
"Let's get going," Alice said, giving Jasper a glance before turning around and heading back to the car. Jasper didn't move from his spot; he only motioned me to follow Alice, and I complied, walking past the menacing vampire. I assumed he was following after me, but I couldn't hear his footsteps and I didn't dare turn around.
Alice waited by the driver's side, her door open, as I reached for the back-seat door handle. Jasper appeared to my right, opening his door, and I jumped slightly. I entered the Porsche quickly and shut my door. I reached for the seatbelt out of habit, but decided not to bother. Alice could see the future and had supernatural reflexes – there was a very slim chance she would crash.
"Where's your stuff?" Alice asked me, turning around in her seat to look at me.
"I don't have any," I answered, not sure how to exactly explain I didn't even come here with a body of my own. Alice's face contorted in a grimace I'd never seen before, then morphed into a mega-watt smile, displaying her white teeth. Her character was so predictable in the books, so it didn't take a genius to figure out Alice wanted to shop for me. "Go nuts," I sighed. Instead of getting more excited at my permission, she seemed to frown.
"How did you-," Alice started to say before pausing and turning around. I could still see the confused side of her face from the backseat.
"I'll explain it all to everyone when we get there," I promised. Alice nodded and seemed to accept that answer.
With effort, I relaxed into the comfy back seat and attempted to sleep as much of the next twenty or so hours away as I could.
I re-entered the car with my bottle of water and granola bar, shutting the door and pressing into the back of my seat as the car lurched forward and sped out onto the highway. This was our last stop before we reached their home.
I wish I could say I spent the car ride getting to know the two vampires I had read about, but then I would be lying. To be honest, Jasper scared the shit out of me. Couple with that the distracting pulses that were rippling off the two Cullens with enormous power, and it turned into one strange and uncomfortable ride when I wasn't sleeping. Which I tried to do as much as I could.
Originally, when I was back in my world and reading the books, I had thought Denali – if that's indeed where we were headed – was a city or town. It wasn't. It was a national park, with nothing but woods and mountains capped with snow. A single road wove in and out of the isolated wilderness, away from any artificial light or cityscape.
Suddenly, Alice turned off the main road and headed down what looked to be an extremely small trail through the forest. The tree branches and intermittent rocks and boulders came within inches of the car as it maneuvered through the path. We continued on like this for over half an hour before the forest opened up and we came to an enormous house.
Well, it was more of an enormous cabin than an enormous house. The structure was built from logs and it reminded me of those old camping cabins you would see in horror movies – only much, much bigger. The atmosphere wasn't sinister, though, regardless of its vampire inhabitants. It looked open and inviting with the wide windows on each of its three stories and the porch that wrapped around the front.
The car stopped and I gathered my trash and exited the vehicle, following the two vampires up to the porch. I was somewhat grateful for the chilled wind, even though I was shivering. I was sure I smelled a little bad from going almost 24 hours in a car without a shower and I hoped some of the potential smell would drift off me – I remembered how sensitive a vampire's senses were supposed to be.
The front door opened and a man and woman exited it and stopped on the porch. If I hadn't met Alice and Jasper first, I might have assumed that the female was Bella. But she looked too old – twenty three or twenty four. I could tell they were a couple, though, and since the male had even lighter hair than Jasper and wasn't a hulking blob of muscles, it was safe to assume this was Carlisle and Esme. They looked curiously at me as I approached, with no hint of malice, and I relaxed an inch.
Like before, the too-strong pulse emanated from the two vampires, and I had to put my hand on my leg to make sure I wasn't vibrating with so much energy nearby. My thoughts were interrupted, though, as I realized there weren't any other pulses in the house. I could only feel the four warm spots instead of the ocean of them I had been expecting.
"Davis Marks, I presume?" Carlisle asked as I moved onto the porch. I nodded, but he must have seen the expression on my face, which – I assume – was one of confusion or contemplation as I continued to search for the missing family memebers. "Is something the matter?" he asked me.
"Sorry," I shook my head. "And yes, I'm Davis. You must be Carlisle and Esme?" I was certain of who they were, but my voice came out as a question.
"Yes," Carlisle answered, gesturing to the open door behind him. "Please, come in." I nodded and entered ahead of the group, slowing down and allowing Carlisle to overtake me and lead the way to wherever he wanted to talk.
He led me to a sitting room of some sort. It was quite large, with various chairs, couches, and loveseats along the walls. Hanging on the wall was an enormous TV – it must have been over 70 inches – which took me a moment to get over before I took a seat across from Carlisle, who was already sitting in the loveseat with Esme. Alice and Jasper trickled in as well, the former taking a seat a few feet to the right of mine, while the latter opted to stand against the doorframe.
"Alice told me you needed my help?" Carlisle asked. I laughed a short laugh, relaxing into the seat I was sitting in. Carlisle scrunched his eyebrows together while Esme looked somewhat worried.
"Yeah," I said as I drug my hand through my hair, cringing slightly from the difference in texture to my original body's. "Though I have to tell you. It is just…well I'm not sure you'll believe me."
"Alice told us you knew things – specific things – about the Quileute tribe and my family," Carlisle replied. It was kind of another topic all together, but I could see what he was trying to imply. If I knew about their strangeness, I should feel more comfortable expressing my own.
"It's completely-" I started. "I honestly don't think you'll be able to help much, but I just didn't know where else to go. I know you're used to strange things, what with the shape shifters and you guys being vampires." A gasp left someone's mouth, but I was staring at the floor as I continued to speak and only paused for a moment. "It's just…this is-this situation is just so…" I realized I was beating around the bush, not really explaining my problem, but how was I supposed to begin to explain that they were fictional characters?
"Let's start there," Carlisle said, seeming to know I had run out of steam on my explanation. "How did you come to find out about our family?"
"No," I said immediately, tilting my head up and thinking. "Anyone could have known – everyone does – that's not really the problem. I mean, I see how it's a problem for you, but…" I cringed at my babble mouth that didn't even make sense to me.
"Forgive me, but you're not making sense," his face looked apologetic, as though he hated to tell me what I already knew. I shook my head and took a deep breath.
"I'm not from this place," I started slowly. "I don't mean Alaska or North America or anything like that. I'm not from this…world?" the word came out as a question again. I thought I was on the right track, though.
"Earth?" Carlisle questioned, eyeing me skeptically and as though I was crazy.
"No!" I said immediately. "I'm from Earth; just not this one. Where I'm from…and please believe me, because it is the absolute truth. Where I'm from you and your family – and the shape shifters, the Volturi, and vampires in general – don't exist. It's all fake where I'm from – all part of a book series."
"You think my family and myself are a part of a book series?" Carlisle questioned, his expression wasn't skeptical anymore, but I couldn't place the look.
"I know you're from a book series," I countered, then decided to convince them. "I know all about your family from those books. Edward Mason was the first one you changed; then Esme Platt, Rosalie Hale, Emmet Mc…I can't remember his last name. McCarty?" I shook my head, then continued. "Mary Alice Brandon and Jasper Whitlock joined you later. Edward and Bella had a hybrid child named Renesmee, which caused the Volturi to almost kill your entire family because they thought she was an 'immortal child.'" I took a deep breath when I was finished and looked around the room.
Dead silence.
End notes: There you go, the first meeting with the Cullens.
I am very glad all of the traveling scenes are done with. Those are kind of difficult to write without adding a time break (which I did). It just feels a bit disjointed to me - rushed, maybe.
I've also decided that I am going to try my hand at writing a fanfiction that doesn't involve an original character after this and Unstoppable Force are finished. It's always felt a bit strange to me, trying to tell a story from an already-established-character's point of view, but I'll try it out and see how it goes.