Chapter 21 - starting new lives means the end of old ones

Edward's pov

Relief and desire coursed through my veins as our embrace deepened into kissing and muttered "I love you"s and whispered promises never to leave the other again. A tidal wave of emotion broke over me and drowned me, the sobbing exploded out of my chest. I clutched on tighter almost afraid my world would disappear in a puff of smoke and only my grip was keeping her here.

I smiled as my sobs and Bella's sobs quietened, "I cant believe I found you so quickly," I whispered, and truly I was having a hard time believing I got so lucky.

Seeing her as a vampire made me feel so much more strongly... about everything, especially Bella. It was almost total sensory overload. My mind and body had grown stronger, it only made sense that my emotions had as well, now that I was strong enough to bear them. I was right where I belonged, I was home, AKA, Bella. I was with Bella. The sense of release was so great, it almost broke me. As it was, my mind seemed to be paralysed while my body took over. I pressed Bella closer to me, as if she could be absorbed into me so we would never have to be separated again.

I had been in love with Bella before but that was a weak, fickle, childish love. A love that stayed on the surface, small and insignificant. When I saw Bella for the first time I was suddenly completely submerged in the feeling, it was drowning me yet lifting me higher than I had ever been before. It was working its way through me, changing every cell in my body, so that everywhere was stamped with my all-consuming love for Bella. Even with my many-layered mind and heightened senses, I didn't even notice that we had knocked down a tree... or two, until Rosalie cleared her throat awkwardly.

I purposefully didn't read into her thoughts – I'd gotten a lot of practice of tuning stuff out with Tanya – and just watched as she slowly smirked. She knew this day would come, when me and Bella would be united. She just wasn't expecting it to be so soon and after thinking I'd ditched the entire Denali coven in search of human blood. The irony wasn't lost on me.

In less than a second, Bella was upright and had pulled me to my feet as well. I could see her grin through Rosalie's eyes, and it matched mine. We were both flying high, it was the most intense, best feeling ever. Fact.

Rosalie stared at us for another minute then shook her head and went to phone Tanya, Kate and Irina. I shuddered at the thought of them coming back here. Bella noticed my shudder and turned to gaze quizzically at me.

That was when I noticed it.

I couldn't hear Bella's thoughts. I frowned, confused. Then I tried... actively trying to read her mind. That didn't work either. Then Bella turned confused as well, oh, I forgot she didn't know I could read minds.

"I cont read you mind," I whispered in wonder, being with her was refreshingly quiet, "I mean, since becoming a vampire... I've been able to read minds, but you... I cant read you."

"Oh... I'm not doing it on purpose. Honestly." she said, her innocent eyes widened, begging me to believe her. I couldn't help my laughter, she was just so funny.

We went to join Rosalie and Jasper after it was sorted that me and Bella would stay together, I told them about my telepathy and explained how I knew where to find them through that. I told them that I couldn't hear Bella's thoughts, but Jasper found that strange because he could sense and manipulate her emotions – I could even hear him do it! I smiled as I sensed all the love between us vampires, even though I felt nothing more than polite friendship for Rosalie and Jasper yet, they both had a deep-rooted affection for each other and the seeds of attachment towards Bella. But what made my mood soar higher than the sky itself was the love between me and Bella. The way he sensed emotions was like looking into a calm pool, the emotions were there; but detached and weakened slightly, what he felt between us was amazing and strong and beautiful, but nothing compared to truly experiencing it. And I saw Bella felt exactly the same as me.

We decided to spend a few more months isolated in the forest – just to avoid temptation when we were still so young – and move on to another town. We would try a sparsely populated town first, with plenty of woods and clouds – ironic really, that the town that fit that description perfectly, would be the town that we couldn't go back to... not for another eighty or so years.

I sighed thinking wistfully of home. I felt horrible for abandoning my family, they don't know how to cope when disaster strikes... and now I am the disaster. I felt guilt and worry eat away at me, but what could I do? I was stuck in a bad situation... with regards to my family. But I could hear people's thoughts! I could run faster than the speed of light, I was immensely strong, I had incredible senses... and everything was more intense. My love for Bella had grown so strong, it seemingly defied the laws of nature... I wouldn't give that up for the world.

We decided to head for Appalachia, a small town in Virginia, very close to Kentucky. It was a small town, spread out and surrounded by forests, it was perfect. But that wouldn't be until six months had passed.

It was as strange and unpleasant as I thought it would be; living in the forest. None of us needed any food we wouldn't be able to hunt out here. Comfort was starting to become a foreign concept as vampires found everything comfortable, uneven ground that would dig into a human was just like sitting on a textured rug, twigs slipped past our skin like caressing silk, temperature no longer brought any pain with the extremes of hot or cold. Having eternity stretching on before you and new mind, built to contain the capacity for comprehending such a span of time made boredom and irritability not really an issue.

As if I could be bored when I was with Bella.

But living in the forest did have it's drawbacks; I could no longer play the piano. Or the guitar. I often found my fingers itching to run fluidly across the ivory keys or strum across the musical strings. The forest was silent. It would be eerie and frightening sometimes... if we weren't vampires. I could tell that Bella often had the same cravings as me to do gymnastics, but – unlike me – she couldn't really take part in that even when we re-entered civilisation. I still saw her practising though.

Plus, we were still getting accustomed to being newborns, I saw being in the forest as a sort of transitional phase, between being human and being vampire. Our time as humans had drawn to a close and as our eyes were slowly showing our own blood draining out of our system; the last vestiges of our former human selves - apart from memories - slipped away, leaving our golden eyes filled with the blood of animals inside the bodies of vampires.

The transformation of our eyes took four months to complete. By this time, I barely gave a thought to my thirst, and Bella told me she felt the same. So, Rose and Jaz decided to test us by leading us across old human trails. Having smelt the scent of humans once before, I was more prepared than Bella and didn't react, although Bella only stiffened in response and gradually relaxed after twelve minutes. Our mentors seemed pleased and over a few weeks we were able to walk into towns around people... holding our breath. But me and Bella were determined not to become murderers.

The real test would come when we moved to Appalachia, when we started our new lives as vampires.

Keira's pov

I hated Bella. Like, what did she think she was trying to pull when she disappeared? I mean, I had like no clean clothes left, I was feeling all greasy from all the take-outs I'd had recently, was she, like, trying to prove a point or something? She's so fucking selfish, like a little, spoilt brat just going attention seeking everywhere all the time. Bitch.

I like, stared at the stupid fucking washing machine that was just blatantly refusing to cooperate. Stupid piece of good-for-nothing scrap metal. I could feel my eyes, like, stinging with rebellious tears that insisted they just had to fall. I kicked the washing machine, like, really hurting my toe, then braced my back against the wall and slid down it, why was everything, like, so fucking hard? Edward had been gone all week as well – Bella obviously stole him away with her, cause she just gets everything she wants!

I had been in isolation all of last week, but they couldn't keep me in for another week so yesterday I had gone to biology to see Edward... and he just, like, wasn't fucking there! Well, I hope they're having a nice time together – wherever they are... not!

Doesn't she actually, like, realise people still exist while she's not here? Life fucking goes on.

I screamed and hit the washing machine again, "Stupid fucking piece of junk!" it was just like my bitch ex-sister, works when it wants to, but not when you need it the most.

Tears of frustration ran down my face, like why the fuck was she doing this to me? Why should I be tortured like this? Suddenly I wanted my daddy home. He never told anyone his work number cause it's like, top secret, untraceable and used on secret operations, he can't have people phoning him up all the time at work. Next time he comes home, I'm like, not letting him go away again.

It had been a week since Bitchella had disappeared, you would have thought she'd got like, bored by now. She better come soon, get that fucking elf Alice off my back. Jesus that... whatever she is – takes overprotective to a whole other fucking level. She keeps like, blaming everything on me, well it's not my fault my sister ran away with her brother. Maybe he just got fucking sick of hearing her bloody voice all the time, can't say I fucking blame him if he like, wanted a break from that.

That thought got me a slap. It was funny how her slap was like, totally weightless. I told her so and she like, ran off fucking crying. Well, she can just fuck off, she's still getting fucking fed, still getting her fucking clothes washed, still has food in the fucking cupboards, I don't know where the hell Bitchella got the fucking money to go shopping from. I can get my boyfriend to buy me clothes, but food is like a completely different matter! There's no fun in food shopping!

I heard the door rattle a little before it opened. I launched myself out of the room towards the door; if it was Bitchella coming back, I would fucking murder her; if it was daddy coming home, I would jump straight into his arms and see what present he got me.

"Daddy!" I squealed when I saw it was him and like, threw myself straight at him.

He caught me but immediately put me down. My eyes searched him for my present but he didn't have one with him, maybe it was in the car? But before I could ask, he started speaking, "Is it true? Is Bella missing?" he asked frantically.

God! He doesn't see me for ages, then when he does, he forgets my present then is straight away asking about Bitchella! I wanted to tell him to fuck off, that no-one cares about Bitchella and that he was my daddy too. But he was a cop, and was very good at interrogations, one look at his face told me he was being deadly serious and I better answer or else...

I huffed frustratedly and crossed my arms, "Yeah, she ran off with the new boy, Edward Cullen."

He gets really angry then and storms off to get into his car and drives away. Fine! Forget about me why don't you! All you fucking care about is Bitchella! You always come home when she's in trouble!

Alice's pov

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks and they'd found nothing. Not even a trace of evidence to lead them to Bella and/or Edward. Even though it was pretty obvious that they couldn't have survived in the forest for three weeks, the police couldn't close the case or pronounce them dead yet. And it drove us all mad with worry and anticipation. We were all hanging on, waiting with baited breath for the phone to ring and the police to tell us they'd found them. It was cruel really. But I couldn't blame Charlie for not giving up.

I collapsed on my bed, thinking about the scene two weeks ago when Charlie arrived at our house, banging on the door in a rage.

I jumped at the sound of the fierce banging on the door. The house had been too quiet without Edward. Sure Edward himself was quiet, but for a week we had been deprived of the gentle sound of the piano or the lazy strumming of his guitar that gave a nice background to life at home. I tried to solve the problem once by putting on a CD of classical music... but it wasn't the same.

I sat quietly as mum went to answer the door. An angry man in a suit barged into the room and started looking around wildly.

"Where is he?" he demanded, "Where's Edward Cullen?"

My twin's name tugged mercilessly at my heartstrings. I stared bewilderedly at the stranger in my home demanding to know where my missing brother was like the whole town didn't know that him and Bella were missing.

I could see my mum bite her lip in response to hearing him looking for Edward here. "He's not here," mum said quietly, "Him and his girlfriend Bella went missing a week ago."

He turned on my mum then, "What?" he shouted, "Bella had a boyfriend and I didn't know?"

Both me and my mum were confused then, "Excuse me but, who are you?" my mum tried to ask politely.

He blanched then and collapsed on the sofa opposite me and hung his head in his hands. He looked utterly defeated. I glanced at my mum, confused by the man's strange behaviour, my mum looked back, just as confused.

"I'm Chief Swan," he looked up at us then, "Do you... do you know when...?" he pleaded with us.

My mum looked at me and came to sit next to me and held my hand. I was glad of her support as I started my story, "Well, Edward needed to meet with Keira – Bella's sister – because he was her partner in biology and Keira hadn't been at school all week. But Keira had been pretending to be Bella for the week, cause Bella had been off school cause Keira and her friends had attacked her in revenge for... something. So when Keira answered the door, we thought she was Bella, so Edward tried to dump her because we didn't really like her, but then the real Bella came out of the house as Keira was trying to kiss Edward, then they kind of had a fight but Edward pulled Bella off Keira then Bella ran off into the woods really upset and then Edward went after her... And we haven't seen them since" I finished on the brink of tears.

Chief swan was staring at me in disbelief, "Keira? It was Keira who did that to Bella?"

I nodded, "probably, Angela suggested the idea – because apparently it's happened before – but Bella said she didn't want to say anything this time. She promised that this would be the last time she let Keira do that to her."

"I've been away too much, far too much." Chief Swan looked up at me, "This search will be top priority,here and in neighbouring towns. Have you given recent pictures into the station?"

I nodded as he stood up and glanced briefly around the room. His breath caught as he saw one of our pictures displayed on the wall. He strode straight up to it and pointed at Edward, "Is this him? Is this Edward?"

Again I nodded, I couldn't think of anything else to say, should I explain more about me brother? Explain more about how he was going out with Bella? But Chief Swan saved me the hassle, "I saw him... at the hospital. He was with Bella when she got an infection..." he mused, "He was the one that brought her in... saved her life... He saved my daughter from her sister... I wont rest until I find them." he vowed, his voice turning full with conviction and determination as he turned to look at us to say the last sentence. Then he walked out of the door.

Since then, Chief Swan had moved back home to lead the search for Bella and Edward and to handle Keira. If it was up to me, she would be in prison... but I suppose Chief Swan doesn't want to put his remaining daughter in prison. Unfortunately. I tried to console myself with the thought that it was only a matter of time before Keira acted out again and actually would land herself in prison.

But that was two weeks ago. Three weeks since we reported them missing. How long does it usually take for missing people to turn up again? How far could they get in three weeks with no money?

I also found it odd that the girl who Emmett had a huge crush on suddenly disappeared at the same time. Only they had moved to Alaska... apparently. But I could tell that mum was getting uncomfortable around Forks, all the memories of Edward... we were going to move again. As soon as the police closed the case, finding nothing; we would move. That's just the way it was with mum.

It occurred to me that mum had lost faith in finding Edward... as had I. Dad had been at the hospital so much that I could hardly remember his face, let alone try and work out how he was feeling about the search. We were trying to cope... but that was Edward's thing. Maybe we would be moving sooner than the cessation the search.

I sighed. We would be moving on, leaving Edward behind. I hated it, my dream from the night they went missing was still haunting me, I had no idea what it meant but I suspected there was nothing I could do. I didn't want to start a new life somewhere else, especially not as a twin.

A mere three months later, mum was looking at new homes for us. I thought nothing of it until my gaze automatically zoned in on the exact house I had been dreaming about for a week. Mum had listed it as a maybe but suddenly I felt it necessary to move there. If I had to start a new life somewhere, I was going to start it there.

A/N – Finally! I get this chapter up! - that's the first piece of good news.

-bad news: this is the end of identically opposite. The lives of the characters are moving on and this the conclusion of them...

-which brings me to piece-of-good-news#2: I'm contemplating a sequel... which will be much more centered around the vampire world – if I actually write it.

-And because I don't want to waste my time writing crap that no-one will read... I'll only write the sequel if I get ten reviews pro-sequel. =]