Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight

A/N: Ok...you knew this was coming. :(

Chapter 10

"All five horizons revolved around her soul

As the Earth to the Sun

Now the air I tasted and breathed

Has taken a turn

Ohh, and all I taught her was

Everything

Ohh, I know she gave me all

That she wore

And now my bitter hands

Chafe beneath the clouds

Of what was everything

Oh, the pictures have

All been washed in black

Tattooed everything"

Black – Pearl Jam

The next eight months were the best I'd ever had despite the fact that Bella and I didn't get to see each other very much. I was playing Basketball for the Varsity Team again and on top of that, my dad had forced me to get a job. He fed me some bullshit line that he wanted me to learn what a good work ethic was, but I just knew that it was just his way to keep me away from Bella. He'd somehow figured out that we were dating even though we didn't even hold hands in front of him, and though he didn't say anything in front of Bella, he made it clear to me on almost a daily basis – that he didn't approve.

The other reason I didn't get to see Bella very often, was because she'd not signed up for the dance team since she wanted to concentrate on her grades and had started a new job at Newton's sporting goods to help pay for school. She was trying to get a scholarship to University of Washington in Seattle so that we could go to school together. I didn't need a scholarship since my parents had no problem paying for tuition, so it was mainly just about making sure Bella got in so that we could go off to college together.

Our plan was to go to Seattle together and finally get out of Forks. Alice's parents had already found an apartment there for her to share with Bella, and I was going to stay in the dorms on campus. Alice didn't need a scholarship either, since her parents had plenty of money to send her to college. I'd gotten pretty comfortable around Alice, even though I found her pushy attitude to be pretty annoying at times. The three of us stayed close to each other at school, and even though I still had my guy friends, I mostly hung out with Bella and Alice.

There weren't a lot of jobs in Forks, let alone ones that interested me, so I started looking for work in Port Angeles. The only job I could find was in a local Mortuary there. My job was to help the guy transfer the bodies from the van to the gurneys inside where Waylen – the mortician – would clean them up and stuff, and then I'd help to transfer them to the coffins after he'd finished his work. It was a simple job that paid really well, and since I never had to do any of the dirty work, it didn't bother me too much.

Bella hated it.

Not because she didn't get to see me, but because she just thought the whole thing was creepy. She had some weird fear of death and dead people that she wouldn't even talk to me about. If I even brought up any stories from work, she'd change the subject or leave the room and her mom said just talking about death gave her anxiety attacks for some reason. It wasn't just Bella though. My mom got pissed whenever I talked about who we'd worked on too. It was usually just old people who were brought in. It didn't bother me because I just figured they'd lived a long happy life, and now it was time for their body to rest.

Still, Bella always got sad when I brought up anything from work, so I stopped talking about it. Sometimes she'd take her mom's 4-Runner and drive up to Port Angeles just to have dinner with me, but only if I promised to meet her somewhere. She refused to go anywhere near the mortuary.

I laughed because it just seemed funny.

"They're dead, Bella," I smiled and wrapped my arm around her. "What, are you afraid they'll come back to life and attack you like in the movies?"

"It's not funny," she stewed and crossed her arms across her chest. We'd just finished eating at this little restaurant one Thursday night and I was teasing her once again.

"Alright fine. I'm sorry," I pouted and leaned over to nuzzle my face into the crook of her neck and then down into the cleavage of her navy blue t-shirt.

She giggled and pushed me away. "Jerk. I wish you would just quit that job. There has to be somewhere else you could work."

"It's only for a little while longer."

"I know," she sighed.

We kissed and snuggled in the parking lot of the restaurant until finally I had to pull away so I could get back to work. I watched her get in the 4-Runner and drive down the road until her white vehicle faded into the black night, before I got in my car and drove back to the mortuary.

When I got back to work, Waylen had two bodies that he needed my help with. They were a couple of men that had been brought over from a local nursing home and Waylen had just finished working on them. We got right to work, moving them around and placed inside their boxes while the stereo played heavy metal music. We never talked much at all while we worked together so neither one of us knew anything about each other's personal lives. I only knew he was married by the thick gold band on his left ring finger.

We'd just gotten the second man positioned into his coffin when the work phone rang. Waylen turned the stereo down and took the call in the other room. He came back a minute or two later as I was placing the man's hands over his chest.

"The coroner's bringin' one over in…oh… ten minutes?"

I nodded and went back to fixing the dead man's suit jacket, straightening out the lapels. "Another stiff from Harper Manor?" That was the name of one of the local nursing homes.

Usually Waylen and I would joke around a bit to lighten up the mood, considering our work. But the way he was rubbing his neck, told me that he was in no mood to joke around.

"Um…nah, it's some kid that was just in an accident on the highway. Poor girl didn't even have her seatbelt on."

My head snapped up. "A girl? How old? What was she driving? What was her name?"

Waylen held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, slow down, kid. Won't know nothin' til they get here. All I know is that she crashed a couple hours ago, and that uh…she's pretty mangled. Her face is pretty much gone, so it'll be a closed casket. Hospital morgue was full so they asked if they could bring her here instead. They don't usually do that…"

I stopped listening as my blood ran cold and I reached into my back pocket to grab my cell phone. I quickly dialed Bella's cell number but it went straight to voicemail. I growled and cursed myself because I didn't know the fucking number to her house. I called the Forks police station and calmly asked for Charlie but was told that he was off for the night. Just as I was about to call information, there was a knock on the side door where the bodies were always brought in.

I raced over and wrenched the door open to find the two guys from the coroner's office. They were standing beside the usual black body back on top of a gurney. It was the way the bodies were always brought to us so it shouldn't be anything alarming, except that this bag had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up on end.

The one Italian looking guy raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking me if I was going to move so they could come in. I stepped back without a word while the wheeled the gurney forward.

"What's the girl's name?" I murmured to the second guy, an older balding gentleman.

He stopped and looked down at the body bag. "We don't know yet. Couldn't find her ID."

My fingers began to tremble and my body shivered as I shuffled my feet toward the head of the gurney. With shaking hands, I started to unzip the bag, freezing when I saw brown hair, matted with blood.

I gasped and stepped back, running into a tray of instruments.

The girl had the exact same hair color as Bella, and the same pale white skin.

"Shit, kid," Waylen yelled. "You know this girl?"

My head shook of its own will. "No…" I muttered. "No… It can't be her."

Everything stayed silent until all I could hear was my rapid heartbeat.

"Wh-what was the car she was driving?" I asked - my voice thick with fear.

The bald man spoke up. "Uh…it was a white Honda Civic with paper plates from a dealership in Seattle," he whispered.

I sagged against the wall with relief. It wasn't Bella.

Thank God.

Taking slow deep breaths, I stood again and stalked to the front room and out the door to my car. The entire drive back to Forks I felt both sick and elated at the same time. I felt horrible for that poor girl's parents and elated that it was her and not my Bella. Then I felt guilty for feeling that way.

By the time I made it to Bella's house, I was an emotional wreck. The tires screeched as I pulled up in front of her house. It was after eleven at night and all the lights were off but I didn't care. The white 4-Runner was in the driveway along with Bella's Chevelle and that made me happy. Without another thought, I walked up to the front door and knocked determinedly.

A few seconds later, the front door swung open and a bleary-eyed Bella stood before me, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Edward? What…what's going on? It's late and I thought you had to work until midnight."

I stood there and drank her in as she spoke. She was wearing little red shorts and a skin-tight, grey, Forks High basketball t-shirt and her hair was all mussed up like a haystack.

"Edward?" she asked again.

"You didn't answer your phone," I whispered. Charlie came down the stairs and stood behind her as I stared down at her. "They brought a girl in…same color hair…no ID…blood all over her…You didn't pick up your phone…you didn't pick up," I rambled.

Bella's hand was touching my arm where I stood, soaked to the bone from the heavy rain. "Oh God, Edward, you're shaking! Come inside." She tried to pull me inside, but I couldn't move.

"You didn't answer your phone and I thought…Fuck, Bella, I thought…"

She stepped closer until we were chest to chest, and placed her hands on my face, staring up at me. "I'm here, Edward. Nothing happened to me, okay? I'm alright. I'm here."

Charlie stepped forward and pulled me inside by my shoulder before he shut the front door behind us. I couldn't take my eyes off Bella, though. I heard Charlie sigh and felt his hand pat my shoulder a couple times before he shuffled off to the kitchen.

"Come on, let's get you dry," Bella said. She grasped my arm again and turned to go up the stairs, but I stood frozen, staring down at her. She halted in her steps and turned back to look up at me. "You coming?" she asked sweetly.

"I thought… I thought I lost you. She had the same color hair…she…she…"

"Edward, look at me." I thought I already was looking at her. I focused on every detail of her face until all I could see was the little flecks of gold in her deep brown eyes. "I'm alright," she continued. "I promise, nothing's going to happen to me. I drive slower than you do – slower than your grandmother, probably. Seriously," she chuckled but I didn't laugh. I could only stare at her. She looked down at my hands and gasped. "I thought you were just cold, but your hands are warm…you're still shaking. You really thought it was me, didn't you?"

Without another word, I pulled her to me and buried my face down in her neck, inhaling the smell of her lavender shampoo and feeling the warmth of her body. Bella wrapped her arms around my waist and held me, running her hands up and down my back. She didn't seem to care that I was soaking wet and dripping water on the floor, or that she was probably going to have to change her clothes and dry off as well.

We stayed like that for a long, long time, until finally Bella said that she had to pee. It made me laugh just slightly, but I would never forget that horrible night. Renee gave me several hugs and told me I was going to get wrinkles if I didn't quit worrying so much. Charlie didn't even protest when I slept in Bella's bed. He only came in once after we'd climbed in together to say that he better not hear the bed squeak once or he'd shoot my balls off and hang them on his trophy wall with all the other dead animals.

I laughed and promised him I'd be on my best behavior. It wasn't a lie. I had no interest in sex that night. I only wanted to hold Bella close to me, to prove that she was really there and not sitting in a body bag or a freezer somewhere. It was the most horrible thing I could ever imagine and it made me understand Bella's fear of death.

I quit my job at the mortuary the very next day.

.

.

.

For the next two months, Bella and I were inseparable – when I had free time, that is. My dad made me get another job, so this time I made sure to look harder for one in Forks. The only thing I could find though was cleaning cages and feeding animals at a local pet store. It didn't pay half as much as the mortuary job did, but I didn't give a shit about the money. It kept my dad off my back and allowed me to be closer to Bella.

We were able to spend a little more time together than before and though my dad constantly gave me shit about it, I was happy. We were happy.

Everything seemed to be going so perfectly, I should have known that our perfect fucking bubble was about to burst.

A week before graduation, I'd just come home from a party to find my mom and dad sitting on the couch, waiting up for me. I was about to call Bella and let her know I'd made it home alright, since she wasn't able to go to the party with me.

"What's up, guys?" I asked, suspicious of the way they were sitting on opposite ends of the couch.

"Honey, come sit down. We need to talk to you about something," my mother said, nervously.

I gulped and sat down on the coffee table across from them. The first thing that went through my mind was, Oh shit, they want to chew my ass out about having sex with Bella in their house.

My dad had come home one night while we were getting busy in the dark on the couch – the same couch where my parents were now sitting, ironically – and although I was positive my dad hadn't seen anything, Bella was completely freaked out.

After a brutally excruciating pause, my dad finally spoke up.

"Edward, your mother and I have decided to get a divorce," he said as he swirled his glass of Scotch. He just said it like it was the weather report - cold and unfeeling.

Okay, I had already known this was coming for months – years even. I'd expected it.

I nodded at him and glanced over to my mother who was choking back tears. My chest suddenly clenched to see her breaking down. I moved to sit between them, putting my arm around my mom to comfort her.

"I've accepted a position in Seattle," my dad continued. "I leave next week," he said with no emotion in his voice. "Your mother is staying here in Forks."

My mom began to sob and shake until she finally got up from the couch and ran upstairs. A door slammed up above us and I looked over to my dad with malice and hatred.

"Don't look at me like that," he barked.

"Why didn't you just divorce her a long time ago, instead of putting her through this torture for so many fucking years?" I spat.

"You think I didn't try? I did. I tried to leave your mother years ago when you were just a baby," he explained, looking at me as if I were a total idiot. I hated when he looked at me like that, so I lowered my head and stared at the cream-colored carpet fibers below my feet. "But the longer I stayed, the harder it was for her to accept. Which brings me to another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

I glanced up at him, confused.

"If you really care about Bella, you need to end this little thing you have with her. If you don't, you'll end up just like me and your mom. Bella will be just as miserable as your mother is now. Is that what you want for her?"

Completely shocked, I stared at him in disbelief. How could he be saying this shit? I was nothing like him.

"I would never cheat on Bella," I swore.

He laughed through his nose and raised an eyebrow. "You say that now, but I was young and naïve once too, Edward. Don't fool yourself. Things change. People change. And I used to say the same thing you're saying right now."

I shook my head and gritted though my teeth, "No fucking way. I'm nothing like you."

"You are exactly like me," he snapped. "Let me ask you something. Did you plan on going to the same college as Bella?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, that is exactly the same thing your mother and I did. We went to high school together in Chicago. Then we went off to college together, and guess who got knocked up during the first year there?"

Shit. How come I've never heard this story before? I thought.

"No," I argued, shaking my head. "We're careful. That won't happen to us."

He snorted in disbelief and stood up. "Suit yourself. But don't come crying to me when I'm right and you're twenty-years-old with a baby and a wife to support while you're struggling to make it through college and then Med School. And all the while, your wife is bitching about how you're never home and blah…blah…blah!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn't believe the fucked up things I was hearing from him. So I was the cause of my dad's infidelity? I was the reason he'd been such a miserable prick from the time I started to walk? That would never happen to us, would it?

"If you're smart," he continued, "You'll end things with that girl, now, and come with me to Seattle. It's the best thing you can do for her. Trust me. And then maybe, later on, if you still want anything to do with her after you've got your shit together, then by all means." I didn't say a word. I simply watched him pace back and forth and rant. "I'm telling you, if you really care about her, end it." And with that, he got up and left the room.

I don't know how long I stared at the same patch of white fabric on the couch in front of me. It could've been minutes or hours. Eventually, my eyes began to sting and my muscles ached from sitting in the same position. I got up and trudged up the stairs like a zombie. Once I made it to my bathroom, I stepped into the shower and my mind went into overdrive.

What if my dad is right?

Will that happen to us?

What would I do if she got pregnant? I don't think I would mind. It would be hard but I wouldn't be upset.

Would I eventually start cheating on her?

By the time I got out of the shower, my brain was fucking throbbing. I dragged my ass over to my bed and flopped down on my pillow. It smelled like Bella. Everything in my room reminded me of her. There was one of her shirts in my clothes hamper, even. I had pictures of us on my desk, and there were a couple of her books there as well.

I got up and picked up one of the picture frames from the desk. It was a picture of me and Bella, standing in front of her Chevelle with our arms embracing each other. Alice had taken the picture. The thing I loved most about this picture was that instead of looking at the camera, we were looking at each other and smiling. It was obvious to me how much I fucking loved Bella. And to see the way she was looking at me, I was pretty fucking sure she felt the same way, although we'd never said the words to each other.

I lay back down on the bed and threw my pillow over my face as all the worries and doubts slowly crept into my thoughts. My cell phone buzzed on my desk, but I ignored it. It was probably Bella, but I couldn't talk to her right then. I was afraid of what I might say. She hadn't gone to the party with me, and she probably just wanted to say goodnight, but I just couldn't talk to her.

.

.

.

The next week of was pure torture. I couldn't eat or sleep, and I couldn't seem to look Bella in the eyes or say much more than one-word-answers. I could tell she knew something was off, but she let it go, never pushing me for answers. Even on graduation day, she kept her distance from me, eyeing me cautiously.

Even Alice was acting weird toward me.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's a bad idea," Alice said when she passed me at the ceremony. She was always saying weird shit like that, but on that particular day, a chill ran up my spine after her words.

I'd already made a decision about what I was going to do. I just didn't want to have to do it. I felt like it was going to kill me. The day before graduation, I'd found out that Bella had not only gotten into University of Washington, she'd also been accepted by every college in the state of Washington that she'd applied to. So after the ceremony was over, I found Bella standing off to one side of the gym, talking to her parents. Emmett wasn't there and I was glad, because he'd definitely kick my ass for what I was about to do.

I quickly greeted her mom and dad, then touched Bella's arm briefly. If I let it linger too long, I'd chicken out of what I was about to do.

"Come and take a walk with me," I muttered quietly.

We began walking down the sidewalk and down a dirt pathway, away from the crowds of people. When we reached the end of the path, she stopped and turned to me.

"What the hell is going on?" Bella demanded. "You've been acting really weird lately and it's freaking me out."

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "My parents are getting a divorce and my dad's moving to Seattle."

Bella frowned and put her hand on my arm. When I backed away and she saw the look on my face, her frown deepened. "There's more isn't there," she said.

"I'm leaving… with my dad. Tomorrow."

She eyed me for a moment, not really understanding what I was saying to her. "O-kaaaay… well, I'll come visit you over the summer until me and Alice are ready to move down there."

I didn't say anything, and it seemed I didn't have to.

My heart fell as recognition passed over her face. "You don't want me to come visit you," she stated, not as a question.

"No." I felt like I was about to fucking throw up. It was pure fucking misery. Why did I have to do this? Fuck!

"Why?" she whispered.

Why, why, why….

"I'm… not good enough for you, Bella."

Please, Bella, just go. I can't take seeing you in pain. Go. Run away from me.

She shook her head, smiling. "What?... What the hell are you talking about? You're perfect for me, Edward. And I….I love you."

No! Why did she have to say it, now? Fuck, fuck, fuck!

She touched my arm again and I took another step back. Her smile fell and she narrowed her eyes. "What's going on? You were fine last week, and now…now you're scaring me."

Shit. Think, Cullen. She's not going to let this go unless you think of something to make her not want you anymore.

"The party," I blurted out before my brain could catch up with my mouth.

"The one you went to last week? The one at Lauren Mallory's hou….Oh fuck… Did…did something happen?" The blood drained from her face as her genius mind went to work.

"Um… yeah," I lied. "I was in the bathroom…and I was really drunk…Lauren came in and…I…" Fuck! This was bullshit. It physically hurt to be telling her this horrible lie.

It was true that Lauren had been in the bathroom with me that night, but nothing had happened. I had just finished taking a piss when she barged in on me, and barfed all over the floor, nearly missing my feet, but not quite. I helped her to find the toilet, and then got the hell out of there. End of story. But Bella hadn't been there because she was working that night and couldn't get the night off.

"You…" Bella started to say, her breathing becoming ragged. "No…you couldn't…you…please tell me nothing happened," she begged, tears welling up in her eyes.

I kept my mouth shut and reached out to touch Bella's arm but she flinched away from me.

"Don't!" she hissed. "Don't you fucking touch me!"

"Bella," I murmured. "I'm sorry."

This shit had gone too far. I couldn't stand to see her like this. I'd suddenly changed my mind and decided I needed to tell her the truth – nothing really happened between me and Lauren.

She gasped for breath as she wrapped her arms around herself and backed away from me. I took another step forward to her, my heart feeling like it was being ripped out of my chest. Bella's bottom lip quivered before she reached up and slapped me hard across the face. I'll admit that it really fucking hurt.

"Bella, just listen to me for a second," I pleaded. I was going to fix this. I had to. It was a stupid fucking idea in the first place. Fuck what my dad says, I'm not leaving her.

"No you listen to me," she seethed, a tear running down her cheek. "I hate you. I fucking… hate you, Edward Cullen. Do you hear me? I hate you!"

"Don't say that," I pleaded. "Just listen, please! I didn't really-"

"Go to Seattle, Edward," she interrupted me in a flat tone, her jaw set and her eyes staring past me. "Get out of here and don't come back. I won't follow you. In fact, I never want to see your fucking face, ever again….I hate you," she said through gritted teeth, as more tears spilled down her face.

Well, congratulations you asshole, you broke her fucking heart anyway.

She turned and started stalking away. "Bella, wait!"

Bella whirled around. "Fuck you!"

She turned back without another word and ran over to her family, then passed them. They all looked over to me briefly before they followed after her. She ran across the parking lot and jumped into her car before speeding away, Charlie and Renee right behind her. I stared at the empty space where her Chevelle no longer sat for at least ten minutes, not knowing what to do.

My mom hadn't seen the whole thing go down since she was inside the school talking to some people, but she knew something had happened and tried to get me to go to dinner with her. I told her I didn't feel well and she let it go. I eventually got in my car and drove home. Once inside my house, I ran to the bathroom in the garage and threw up in the sink before punching the mirror.

If there was one thing I knew, it was how stubborn Bella was. She would never talk to me again after this, no matter how hard I tried to explain. And I tried hard. I called her cell phone several times that night. On the fifth call, I was informed that her number had been 'changed or no longer in service'. I tried calling her house and Renee gave me the ass chewing of a lifetime, before slamming the phone down in my ear.

So I started packing, knowing I had royally fucked up everything. I took everything I could fit into two suitcases, including everything I had of Bella's. Even though she would probably pretend like I'd never existed, I couldn't do the same. I took everything of hers that I had – clothes, books, pictures, everything – and packed it.

Eventually, I'd have to let her go, but at the time I didn't know how. Bella was a big part of my life and I knew it. I'd basically fucked it all up and there was no fixing it.

The drive to Seattle was the longest of my life. Everything I saw along the way, reminded me of Bella in some way. It was fucking agony. So many times I wanted to turn around and drive back to her house and demand that she listen to me. I even contemplated telling her that I'd take a lie detector test to prove that it was all bullshit.

But the seeds of doubt that my father had already planted in my head were starting to grow.

Maybe you did the right thing.

"You guys are too young to be getting so serious anyway. This is for the best," my father kept saying.

Then there were my own traitorous thoughts of doubt.

Just let her go. She's better off without you.

She'll find some guy who's not as fucked up as you are..

Ugh. The thought of her with another guy disgusted and angered me. But above everything else, I just wanted her to be happy. I had to not be selfish for once and not think about what I wanted. Because what I wanted was to go back to Forks, throw myself on her front doorstep until she heard me out, confess my undying love, and ask her to marry me.

Then I reasoned with myself and realized that was probably the dumbest thing I could possibly think of. If I didn't go to college, what kind of life could I possibly give her? I wouldn't be able to live off dear old Daddy's money forever. I needed to go to college and get my own life going, get my shit together. Then maybe I could make my way back to Bella and be the man that she deserved.

I pulled up to the address my dad had given me some time after eleven am the next day. It was a very upscale apartment complex near the heart of Seattle. I didn't say much to my dad as I unloaded my bags. He already had my room set up with new furniture and shit, but I couldn't give a flying fuck. I was like a zombie, just going through the motions. I didn't even bother unpacking before I left the apartment to go for a walk.

For what felt like an eternity, I walked the streets of downtown Seattle, seeing the sights, but not really seeing them. After aimlessly wandering for awhile, I eventually I stopped in front of a tattoo shop called Mark. What a stupid fucking name for a tattoo parlor.

Inside, there were only two guys sitting on a couch near the entrance, no customers besides me it seemed. One guy stood up to greet me. He had sandy blonde, shoulder length hair and looked to be about my age if not slightly older. Both of his arms had various tattoos covering them.

"Hey man," he drawled in a southern accent. "You lookin' to get some ink today?"

"Uh, yeah definitely."

"Well, alright. Come and take a seat over here, my friend, and we'll talk about what you think you might wanna permanently mark yourself with." He gestured to a black leather reclining chair off to the side. There were several bottles of different colored ink, a tattoo gun and a photo album, sitting on the table beside the chair. He walked me over to the area and turned to me. "I'm Jasper by the way."

We shook hands. "Edward," I informed him.

I sat down in the chair, watching him as he pulled a rolling stool over and plopped down on it. "So, what did you have in mind?"

We talked for several minutes about the idea I had in my head. I could've drawn it out myself, but I just didn't have the energy. After a bit, he had it sketched up and ready for transfer paper.

Once the stencil was placed on my shoulder and I checked the placement, Jasper went to work. The hum of the tattoo gun seemed to hypnotize me as he worked diligently, the needle scratching and burning across my skin.

I closed my eyes and welcomed the pain into my skin. It was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

Besides the meaning of the tattoo, Jasper only asked me questions about where I was from and how I ended up in Seattle. I told him everything, but mostly I talked about Bella, although I never actually mentioned her name.

It was therapeutic, talking to Jasper. It turned out he was going to the same college as me, studying psychology, and he was only a couple years older than me. He listened as I explained that my father, Carlisle, wanted me to be a doctor like him.

By the time the tattoo was finished, Jasper had convinced me to think about changing my major, since it didn't sound to him like 'medicine' was something I was remotely interested in. I told him about my drawings and he asked me to come back and show him sometime. It excited me to see someone else besides Bella who was so interested in my art. I agreed to come back the next day and bring him some of my work as I stood up to look at the finished product on my left shoulder.

The blood red human heart stood brightly against my pale skin, contrasting the orange and yellow flames that licked out of the top and sides of it. The bronze chains wrapped tightly around the heart, ending with a padlock near the heart's center. Jasper was amazed that the script lettering on the scroll beneath the heart had come out so well, as script was not his strongest skill - according to him. It read perfectly – 'Only she holds the key'.

As soon as I finished up at the tattoo shop, I ran over to the jewelry store I'd passed earlier in the day and paid for the necklace I'd seen there. It was a small, antique-looking, silver skeleton key on a silver chain. The handle of the key was shaped like a heart. I knew Bella hated yellow gold so this was perfect. The lady said it was platinum, not silver which was supposed to be even better. I had the lady gift wrap it and put it in a shipping box with my note, before mailing it at the post office.

Bella,

Please don't throw this away. I know you hate me right now, but please just hold onto this until you're ready to hear what I have to say. I promise you things aren't as bad as you think they are.

Always,

Edward

A/N: I know...I know... Hang in there.