A/N: Here we are, once again. We have got to stop meeting like this! *blushes* As always, review, review, review! I am a silly woman, who seeks validation! Feed my addiction! Reviews make me update faster!

Also, since several of my favorite ff's have sadly ended, I am lacking in good ff to read! If you have any recommendations, tell me in the reviews, or shoot me a PM!

Disclaimer: Yeah. I don't own this. I DO however, own a handmade Potter Puppet Pals Snape, plush! He is adorable!

BPOV

"Bella!" Jacob wheezed, as he ripped my hands off his throat. He stumbled back, and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The tantalizing scent was quickly overwhelmed by Jacob's wet-dog smell, and I began to regain my head.

"Oh my God, Jake! I'm so sorry!" I gasped, horrified at what I had just done.

I just attacked Jake! I said I could never hurt him! I could have killed him! A wave of horror and shame washed over me, consuming my every thought.

This is turning out to be one of the most emotional days of my life. Can't SOMETHING happen that isn't life-changingly dramatic?

What did I tell you? You weren't meant to be together. If you were, you wouldn't be able to hurt him.

Shut up, shut up, shut UP!!!! I screamed internally, my frustration causing me to growl under my breath.

"Bella, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Jake whispered roughly at me. His eyes were filled with hurt, and anger.

"I don't know!" I sighed, my face twisting with remorse. "All I know is that as soon as I got in here, I smelled this delicious scent, and something snapped. I couldn't control myself. When you jumped in the window, I assumed you were the source of the smell, I guess…" I trailed off, my voice getting quieter and quieter.

"You were going to try and kill me, weren't you." Jake whispered. It wasn't a question. He knew the answer.

"Yes." I mumbled, in a small voice. I was ashamed of myself. I had been ready to kill Jake! What the hell was wrong with me?! "The scent caught me off guard. Last time I think I was able to resist killing those guys, because I knew that they were there; I was expecting it. It didn't take me by surprise, so I had time to steel my nerve… Jake, I'm sorry!" As I spoke these words, I saw Jakes put his hand over his face, and message his temple; trying to process what I had just done. In that moment, I think it finally hit him that I was no longer the sweet, clumsy, human girl he once knew; I was now a killer; bloodthirsty, and deadly. No matter how hard I tried to control it, there would always be that menacing part of me, lurking beneath the surface. I held my breath, not wanting to take any chance of hurting Jake again.

"You knew this would happen. Take it in stride, take it in stride" Jake mumbled under his breath, attempting to calm himself.

"Jake… I-"

"Wait." Jake interrupted, glancing up at me suddenly. "If the scent was affecting you so much earlier, then why aren't you going crazy now?"

"Oh… Well…" I sighed, running my fingers through my hair, and taking a deep, but hesitant breath. I almost gagged at the horrible stench that wafted through the air.

"Honestly? It's because you came in. You kind of… You reek, Jake. You kinda' overwhelmed the other smell." My mouth twisted up in a grimace; why was this so awkward? If Jake had smelled bad when I was human, I certainly would have no qualms telling him so. Maybe it was because he smelled so much worse now. It certainly wasn't unbearable, and, if I didn't think about it, I didn't notice it very much. But it certainly wasn't pleasant.

"Me?" Jake snorted, his mood visibly lightening. "What about you, Miss Bella? You smell like Icy Hot, and bleach!" Jake swaggered over to me, and rested his wrists on my shoulders, a smug smirk on his adorable face. "Out of the two of us, I'm the one who smells the best!"

"Speaking of smells," I interjected, carefully listening for any signs of life within the house. "Charlie's not here. So, what was that? The smell that made me go psycho-serial-killer on you." I teased. What on earth could that smell have been?! It smelled amazing! Like… Strawberries, almost.

"Oh. Bells, we're in your room. That smell is you. Or, the human you. Like I said, you smell nasty now." Jake teased back.

That smell is me?

"Holy shit!" I whispered, my eyes getting as big as saucers. "That smell is me? Oh my God, I smelled amazing! No wonder Jasper took a bite at me!" I was shocked! I mean, I knew that I had smelled good to Edward, but I didn't think I smelled that good! My scent made me go crazy, and it was a week old!

"Well yeah... I mean, some of is. Charlie has been in here too. Pretty recently by the smell of it. I guess he finally got up the nerve. After you vanished, he couldn't bring himself to come in here, after the one time he came in to do a search for your stuff."

"Poor Charlie..." My heart ached dully at the thought of him. I pushed the thought away, focusing instead on the scent around me.

Imagine how hard it must have been for Edward to avoid killing you! I thought, suddenly awestruck by his monumental effort to keep me alive. Or, at least, the monumental effort he displayed, at first.

"He WHAT?!" Jacob yelled, suddenly breaking the quiet. His sudden anger made me jump, and flinch out of habit. I knew he wouldn't hurt me; Jacob couldn't hurt me. Not like I had hurt him, both physically and emotionally. Never like I had hurt him.

"Yeah," I mumbled, my dead heart aching dully. "It was one of the reasons they left. Remember how I had those stitches on my arm when Sam, um, found me? Well, Alice had thrown me an 18th birthday party, and Jasper lost control. Edward pushed me out of the way, but he kind of shoved me into some glass plates… It's ok though. It was an accident." I continued in a monotone. It was an accident, and I didn't blame Jasper, but it still hurt to think about. No matter how long I lived, I knew I would always love Edward Cullen. Damn him. I could try as hard as I could, to give my whole heart to Jake, but it would never work. It was still marked "Property of Edward Cullen". Damnit.

"Those two bastards had better hope I never catch up with them!" Jake growled, his massive form shaking with anger. "If I do, I will kick their asses, then rip them limb from limb!"

"Jake, Jake, calm down!" I soothed, putting my hands on either side of his face. "It's in the past now. It was an accident. Calm. Down."

Jake's shaking slowly decreased, and I looked into his brown eyes; wide with emotion.

"Jake," I said, trying to distract him. "Let's do what we came for, and then leave. Charlie could be back at any time. Look; it's starting to get light outside." I motioned to the slowly lightening sky, outside. The dull, gray, morning light was already starting to make my skin shimmer slightly. I walked over to my dresser, and steeled myself before opening the drawer that was full of clothes, that were surely saturated with my human scent.

No more crazy freakouts, Bella. You know what's coming. There is no food here! No food!

I inhaled once more, steadying my nerves, before yanking open the drawers. The tantalizing scent permeated the air, hitting me full force, like a battering ram. I could feel my instinct begin to kick in, but I fought against it gaining control. I would keep my mind; I would not lose control, and hurt Jake again. After several seconds of an intense mental battle, I was able to force my instinct away, and have complete control of my mind. I sighed in relief, and slowly began digging through my old clothes.

"Jake," I asked, without turning around. "Can you get my backpack out of the closet? I need to take a lot of clothes." Who knew when I was going to get another chance to have access to them? It's not like I had money. I had a bank account with a little bit in it, but I couldn't take any without Charlie finding out.

Charlie… I sighed internally, pausing as I pulled clothes out of the drawer. I miss him so much… I just wish there was a way to tell him that I'm still alive! Maybe if I-

"Bells, what is this?" Jake called from the closet. I turned around and saw him clutching a dusty garbage bag, the heavy objects inside straining painfully against the plastic. I sucked in a horrified breath. It was their bag. The one full of my birthday presents.

"Jake! Don't touch that! Put it back, put it back!" I gasped, panic stricken. My shocked face startled Jacob, and he dropped the bag. The contents spilled out on the floor, silver boxes tumbling out of the plastic. I dashed over to Jacob's feet, and began hastily shoving everything back into the bag. Jacob stood above me, looking down with confusion at my odd behavior.

Why does this matter so much to me?! Why does it hurt so much to look at these presents? I can talk about them; I talked about Jasper trying to bite me, and it didn't hurt at all! Why is this effecting me so much?

But I knew the answer. I could talk about Jasper, because when he had attacked me, it was just an accident. No emotions were involved. When I saw these presents, it reminded me that, at one time, the Cullens had cared for me. It was easier to accept their leaving, if I pretended they had never cared for me at all. And now here I was, with that proof staring me in the face.

Why does this hurt so much? They've been gone for almost a year! Get over yourself, Bella!

It hurts because you know you were meant to be with them. You weren't just morning for a lost boyfriend, you were mourning for a lost future; a future in which you would have lived with the Cullens forever, and been completely, and blissfully happy. You knew when Edward left, you didn't just lose a lover, you lost an eternity of happiness.

I… No… I want to be with Jacob. The Cullens left. That's the end of it. I'll never see them again, so it doesn't matter. I tried, unsuccessfully to push away my emotions, just as I was pushing away the presents.

You may want to be with Jacob, but you were meant to be with the Cullens. Eternity is a long time; you may see them again, yet.

"Be quiet!" I mumbled, under my breath as I shoved the now full garbage bag back into the closet, and slammed its door, accidently cracking the frame.

I'm getting pretty damn tired of not knowing what I want.

"I didn't say anything!" Jacob began, turning his shocked face to mine. "What was that stuff?"

"Oh…" I muttered, hesitant to tell him the answer. I sighed, steeling my nerve. "They were presents from the Cullens for my 18th birthday. After they left, I could never bring myself to open them."

"Oh." Jacob said in a monotone, obviously upset by the fact that they still had such a hold over me.

"But, that's in the past now." I comforted him, walking over and placing my hand on his shoulder. I searched the depths of his brown eyes, and tried to convey how sorry I was. "It doesn't matter anymore. That was in another lifetime. I'm going to put it behind me, and move on."

He looked down at me, disbelievingly.

"Listen, Jake." I changed the subject, trying to distract him. "Can you leave for a second? I have to change." I really did need to change, but that wasn't my reason for asking him to leave. I really just needed a moment alone. It was just easier to say that I needed to change, then to explain that I needed a moment to grieve, one last time.

"Yeah, sure." He muttered, walking out into the hall, and quietly shutting my door behind him.

I stood still for a moment, watching the closed door; as if afraid it would spring open again at any second. Then, I pulled a shirt and jeans out of my drawer, and began to change. After I had pulled on the heavy flannel button-down and a pair of my jeans, I started to walk over to my bed to sit down. I wanted to feel the wonderful comfortable nostalgia of lying down in my own bed, one more time. After this, I promised myself I would never return to my old life. I would have to leave forever, and start anew, if I ever wanted to be able to be a functional person. This was my way of saying goodbye.

On the third step, I paused; noticing a slight difference in the way my steps on the wooden floor sounded.

"That's odd…" I muttered, stepping on the floorboard once again. Yep. There was that sound again! How weird. It didn't sound as hollow as the rest of the floor... Like there was something underneath it. But I never put anything under my floorboards…

"What is that?" I murmured, kneeling down to examine the source of the sound. I stroked my fingers along the edge of the seam, between the boards. There were slight indentation marks, where it felt like someone had pried up the board. I gingerly grasped at the edges of it, and began to pull it out from its place in the floor. After a few moments of gentle tugging, the board came up, revealing a long box, concealed between the beams. It was long, black, and unlabeled. I pulled it out of its hiding place, and set it in my lap, before opening the lid.

As I looked inside the seemingly inoffensive box, my stomach dropped through the floor, and I let out a terrified gasp. I reached out a trembling hand to pick up the picture that lay on the top of the stack of items, and held it up in front of my horrified face. No, there was no mistaking it. It was the picture of Edward and me on my 18th birthday.

The picture I thought he'd destroyed.

The picture he left here, for me to find.

What does this mean?!

End Notes: Hah! Do you like that little twist I threw in there? You all thought it was Charlie, but it WASN'T!

Now, take that cute little cursor of yours, and push the review button! Feed my addiction I say! FEED IT!

Nom nom nom.

Edit: Hmm... Not sure what happened with that coding that somehow got stuck in the middle of my story, but I've fixed it now! No more random codes!