I have a song for the scene later in this chapter where Edward and Hayden are running around the forest playing games and messing around—basically it's Edward's test to see if Hayden can recognize fun, and how she reacts. It's "Manhattan" by Kings of Leon. It seemed to fit the mood of what I was thinking.

Chapter 12

Hayden

I was afraid, I'll admit. I pushed my chair back and stood up. I followed him to the bottom of the stairs.

"There are clothes for today upstairs on your bed," he said calmly. "When you're dressed, meet me outside the front door."

"Al-alright," I stuttered.

Then he left.

I went upstairs to my room. Jeez the house was huge!

A pair of jeans, clean socks, and a long-sleeved cerulean shirt sat on my bed. So I took my pajamas off and got into these clothes. They fit wonderfully.

Just to see what I looked like, I went into the bathroom and flicked on the light. My hair was in such a messy ponytail I undid it and brushed it out. I have to say, I sort of looked pretty the way the waves fell down my back and shoulders. My face was clear and creamy like it normally should be, except for slightly rosy cheeks. The shirt hugged my body perfectly. And along with the jeans, my hourglass shape was very clear.

After I put my shoes on I went outside and met him there. He looked like he'd be waiting for this moment a very long time.

Edward

The way she stood in front of me was like looking at a female version of me. Her eyes matched the same color they were when I was still human, but her hair was just perfectly red, not bronze like my own.

The other thing was, she was definitely at my top list of one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. Bella will always be the most gorgeous person to me and then comes Renesmeé. But I'm considering Hayden to be a close third.

Whether she knows it or not (I'm guessing she doesn't), Jacob reacted the worst to anybody I've ever seen. His thoughts were incoherent, and a bit graphic I must admit.

But anyway.

There were a few reasons why I felt I knew her the most.

One, I could read her mind. I knew what she was like probably more than anybody here. And two, we're both extremely blameful of ourselves. And even though my story was a little bit different, I too had wanted to kill myself once. "Let's go take a walk," I said to her, smiling.

"Okay," she answered.

I sprinted into the forest. She soon followed, laughing.

We chased eachother around, joking at eachother. I was the fastest in the family so she didn't quite keep the lead, but we weaved in and out of trees and large rocks, and she was best at keeping me guessing where she was, even though I had the pleasure of looking into her head.

Sometimes when I looked at her though, I could see Victoria. But it wasn't her fault. She probably didn't even know who she was. And besides, Victoria's dead. We didn't have to deal with her anymore.

We never got tired. Both of our cheeks were beginning to be sore from grinning, if that even were technically possible. She has having fun, and to be honest, so was I.

At one point I had no idea where she was and I was disciplining myself from looking into her mind. When I was running past a particularly large tree, suddenly I felt a weight on my back and I almost got pushed down.

She had been hiding in the tree, and then jumped on me. She giggled and laughed, and I was laughing too.

Then I took her toward the house again. I was going to tell her a little bit about the family on the way there.

"So, have you guessed what's strange about our family yet?"

She thought for a minute. What, other than the fact you're not like any other vampires I've ever met before? Even though each of you act a little bit different… She followed that train of thought. Then she answered, "Something's strange about you guys. You're always looking at me like a person in shock. Alice is always hugging her temples, and Jasper made me calm when I was ready to rip Jacob's head off." She raised an eyebrow. The inquisitive look was enough to get the information out of any person. If she ever started dating, she'd break some hearts. "I'm guessing each of you have something particularly special about one another."

"You're very close," I told her. "Each one of us has brought a trait into our vampire life, and some of us have even been gifted with special abilities to go with that trait."

She hung on every word.

"For instance," I continued, "Alice can see the future."

"So she's physic?"

"Very much so, yes. And Jasper can manipulate emotions."

Ohhh, she thought. That makes sense.

"I have never been able to read Bella's mind. Even when she became a vampire. In fact, because of this private mind of hers, she can work with force fields."

Shut up, she said. That's… not real.

"Oh, it is real Hayden."

Her face was freaked out as she looked at me. "You…"

"I can read minds."

She stopped dead and looked at me. "No way," she whispered.

"It's true."

She rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, shaking her head. She was biting her lip and had her eyes closed. "No."

"Yes."

"No!" she exclaimed, as she began to cry.

I gathered her in my arms. "It's okay, Hayden." My own voice was hoarse. "The things you're going through are so hard for me to imagine. I want you to become comfortable with us all, because we can help you."

She sniffed into my chest. "No you can't," she whispered. "Nothing you can do can help me. Besides, it doesn't even matter. I won't be a bother to anyone much longer."

I made her look at me. "Listen to me: I almost killed myself once. It was because I thought Bella was dead, so I wanted to end my life. So in return of me wanting to kill myself, I nearly got her killed because of me. I couldn't believe I was so close to missing out on her life, and mine. I'm just happy we're both together for the rest of eternity."

She just closed her eyes again and let the tears keep rolling. My life is nothing.

"It's not nothing!" I nearly shouted. "Stay with us for longer than a few days, a few weeks. I want you to experience what it's like to be loved by people around you, because I know you didn't experience that where you came from."

Her green eyes, which blended with the surroundings around us, narrowed down. One side of her lip curled. "I do know one thing: You don't know where I came from."

Desperately, I searched her thoughts for any flicker of remembrance.

There was nothing!

"I know that much. Where I came from is the worst place on this planet, let it burn in Hell. It's why I am what I am. Don't even remind me of it anymore." And oh, yes. I got LOADS of fucking attention!

With that, she ripped herself from me and ran back to the direction of our house.