Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic. I update between Mondays at 8 AM to Tuesdays at 11 PM CT at the latest.

Thank you Goldielover, DarkAngel2581, and Fairy Tail Master23 for the reviews! I do love to hear from you guys.

Disclaimer that all of the Twilight universe characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, though Mina/Lily and her family are similarly structured to my own but not majorly based on my family. I hope you enjoy!

*UPDATE: I had to fix the date as well as some other continuity errors in this chapter*

BOOK TWO: CHAPTER SIX

~Friday, December 16th, 2005: Forks, Washington~

These few months had been hard for everyone.

For all anyone tried, Bella refused to live anymore. Anytime she saw Lily, she either shrieked in rage or wept bitterly. Or her new favorite, refused to acknowledge her very existence.

But to be honest, they seldom ran into each other now.

At first, Bella had tried to return to her 'normal' as best as she could. But Edward was not sloppy in removing every last bit of himself from Bella's world. So she shrunk in on herself, a husk of the girl that everyone had loved so dearly.

Lily was not one to back down, though.

Through tears of sadness or frustration, she made meals for Charlie to take to lunch or to have for dinner.

Through sleepless nights and busy days, she made sure to help Charlie with keeping the house clean and presentable.

She was on the verge of sinking herself but she'd be damned if she let that wonderful father go down in flames.

And her sweet Carlisle.

She finally bought a cell phone a few days after they found Bella. It was a cheap basic phone, but she was interested in the fact that it could connect her with Carlisle. But oh, how it was a painful discovery to find that hearing Carlisle's voice tugged at her heart painfully and she couldn't talk without weeping. Carlisle found it hard to stay in Alaska when he heard her cries, so they begrudgingly only communicated through letters.

They wrote to each other about everything: how their day went, what the weather was like, how much they loved the other. Lily took many pictures, some with herself and some of the outdoors, and would send them with notes about what had happened during the picture. This started with Carlisle and the others sending pictures or little knick knacks as well.

The rest of the Cullens (excluding Edward) kept in touch with Lily. More often than not, they emailed each other. Rosalie and Emmett had gone off for a few months to honeymoon but every now and then would join up with the others to hang out. If that happened, the girls would group call to gossip. They made sure Carlisle was at work or off so that the pull to go to each other wasn't strong. Jasper tended to have long conversations with Lily, especially concerning his guilt towards the separation. But it was quite clear where she stood about who was really to blame. And Emmett sent her silly videos of himself or others doing silly or outrageous things.

Even all this could not stop the loneliness that captured her heart.

School had been out for a while now, so now Lily had even less to distract herself with. The library was closed for the holidays and with the public schools now out, Lily couldn't go to Charlie without the fear of setting off Bella.

Also, they had been hit with some snowy weather and she hardly had the heart to go out herself.

It was a day like this that Lily gave in to the fatigue of her body and soul.

Her hair, grown out so that it was brown to her chin and then light auburn tips from where it had been dyed long ago, was lose curls to her shoulders. A tee shirt that used to fit snug on her body now hung loosely from her thin frame. Stress had taken its toll on Lily. She hardly ate and what little she did was tasteless and dull. And her favorite sweatpants needed the drawstring to hold them up. She was nearly a pile of bones, one that the hard work she did daily beat down upon easily. Like rough waves on a lone swimmer.

Curled up in a mountain of blankets on her couch, she popped in some Claymation Christmas movies, and became dead to the world herself.

The door knocked a few times, but she never heard them.

The door was opened, but she didn't respond.

A person took her, and she couldn't resist.

A.N. If you ever have any ideas you'd like to see in the story, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Reviews and comments are always welcome! I'm always really curious as to how other people view my works and you guys really do inspire me to continue posting!

Have a wonderful day!

Ellie T.