Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight
Author's note: I know this is short, but I'm going to try to get you another chapter by the end of the day. Yay, president's day and obligatory government holidays!
Only a few times in her life had Bella ever run this fast. She wasn't sure if you could even call it running...she was all but invisible as she shot through the grass like a bullet. This kind of running involved wind and fire together. Normally she'd be too cautious to use fire intentionally, but this was an exceptional situation. She didn't know how fast vampires could travel and she needed to make sure they couldn't catch up.
So she ran and ran, using all of her strength, her endurance, and the extent of her powers, until she couldn't run anymore. When she finally stopped, her legs no longer able to carry her weight, it was dusk. Her watch told her she'd run for 9 hours. She looked at her surroundings as she collapsed into the field of corn where she had stopped. There was nothing but a sea of green and gold everywhere she looked but she knew exactly where she was. She was 11 the last time she was in Iowa. She guessed, if her quick calculations were correct, that she was about 80 miles southwest of Des Moines. Too exhausted to marvel at the distance she'd managed to travel, Bella put her head down on the dirt and fell unconscious.
Water...water. That was the only word that ran through Bella's mind as she awoke the next day. The sun was high in the sky and she felt the worst thirst she had felt in years. Stumbling onto her knees, she brushed off the bugs that had made her warm body home the night before, and rose gingerly to stick her head out of the corn.
Nobody. She didn't expect to see anyone out here but old habits die hard, and hers were reinstating themselves even as she took her first steps. Listen. She listened carefully, extending her ability far in the distance around her even though she could hardly think from the thirst.
There. A house, a little under two miles away to the east. There were people as well but she'd worry about that when she got there. She needed water, fast. Not so fast though, she reminded herself. Her rules were in full effect now. She needed to follow them to the letter as she had during her last two years in exile. Those rules were probably the only reason she was never caught and, more importantly, why no one was killed those years.
Travel at normal speed unless you're losing control. That was one of the rules. Running as fast as she was capable of took a lot out of her, and she needed all her strength in case she felt the fire rise up. But there was a simple, practical reason too. Using up her strength like that made her very hungry and she never had enough food or water for a normal day, let alone when her metabolism went through the roof as it did after running.
Avoid roads as much as possible. Walking along the side of a road was an invitation for all kinds of trouble, especially for a young woman. Worse than the shady predators that wandered through the country however, were the good samaritans who would try to help a young, obviously lost girl. She had made that mistake once early on. While walking down a road shortly after the incident, an elderly couple stopped their car and tried to help her. In a burst of surprise and relief, she caused an explosion that destroyed them along with four other passing cars and their passengers. 14 people including that couple died. She never again took a road to travel between towns.
When she got close enough to the house to be able to see inside, she stopped and hid in a thick patch of orchard trees. This is close enough, she reminded herself. If you're going to take any kind of action, do it at night when everyone's asleep. She couldn't go inside now, no matter how much her thirst tortured her. She would wait until cover of darkness. In the meantime though, she thought with a small smile, she'd make do with some fruit. Two apples from the tree above her zoomed into her waiting hands as she carefully stepped back into the cover of the corn field. Keep your distance, her mind recited as she bit blissfully into one of the apples.
Bella chose a spot a mile from the house-close enough that she could listen if she chose to yet far enough for her to feel somewhat safe to think and feel as she pleased. She was so tired...tired enough that it was unlikely the monster would show itself today. Her body ached from yesterday's run. Her emotions were drained. Her mind too focused on quenching the thirst to be of any use to her. But as she worked on her second apple she slowly regained the power to think. She closed her eyes, laid back and stretched her limbs on the cool dirt. One hand remained close to her heart, clutching tightly at Rosalie's necklace.
These fields...She had spent a lot of time tramping farms such as this, especially when she was smaller. A 15 or 16-year old could roam a small town's streets during the day with nary a second glance unless it was during school hours. A 10-year old could not. And so her first years on her own were spent hiding out in thick corn and wheat fields like this, as well as the wild Appalachia country. It was so hard back then. Not only did she have to deal with the uncontrollable fire and the yet-unfamiliar pain it brought, she had to learn how to survive in complete isolation. These fields probably saved her life, she thought, reflecting on a particularly horrible stretch of time during which she nearly starved. Every time she approached a house or a store, no matter how hard she tried to keep her emotions tempered, something exploded nearby triggering a wall of flames. She had lain in a field like this, emaciated and expecting death, when, on a whim she reached out and took a bite from a corn still on the cob. It was a little bitter but edible. That corn and whatever she managed to shake down from orchard trees kept her alive for nearly a year while she worked at calming her emotions. There were a lot of unexplained wildfires in the Midwest that year.
The improvement from age 9 to 10 was dramatic. By the following winter, she was able to sneak into homes for food and small necessities without hurting anyone. For Christmas that year, she rewarded herself with her first trip to a library since the night her mother died. The satisfaction was short-lived however. The library had computers. It was during that Christmas eve that Bella learned the true extent of the destruction she had caused on her 9th birthday. News reports, pictures, interviews, obituaries...and 328 people dead because of her. That library burned down that night, though thankfully no one was close enough to get killed.
It was then that she first became aware of her limitless mind. Running through a field of wheat with her eyes shut, the fire in the library raging behind her, she tried and tried to forget the names and the pictures of the dead. She couldn't. Every face was etched in her mind and in perfect detail, and would remain so forever. Later, when she calmed somewhat, she slowly realized that she could remember details of the last year in a similar photographic fashion. Though it would become critical to her survival over the upcoming years, Bella often cursed her perfect memory...and she cursed it again now.
As she watched the thin wisps of clouds pass by overhead, Bella wondered again at her memory. It was a question she often pondered...whether it was a gift or a curse. Her memory allowed her to keep track of her route through the countryside. It allowed her to easily distinguish between edible and poisonous plants after one reading of an appropriate book. But it also meant she would never find peace. She would never forget that old man and woman's concerned faces as they tried to offer her shelter. Her memory of her mother would always be ringed in fire. And now, though all but a fraction of her life had been spent in brutal loneliness, she couldn't force herself to forget the strange aberration that was the last few happy months.
She wanted so badly to forget. But the more Bella pleaded with her mind to move on, the stronger the Cullens' hold proved to be. With the Cullens, Bella had found a warmth and fulfillment she had never before known. Even her happiest memories with her parents were marred by their unease with her abnormality. Though they didn't have the slightest idea what they were harboring, Bella still felt a wonderful ease with them that, from the beginning, convinced her to give them-to give herself a chance. And until yesterday she had succeeded. Not only did she avoid accidents while in their presence, she managed to forge powerful bonds with almost each member of the family. After adjusting to their secret, Bella found herself not fearful but elated that her adopted family consisted of vampires. They might understand, she had thought to herself. Of all people, this family could've understood what she had gone through.
Her fingers softly caressed the necklace. None of that matters anymore, she reminded herself. You betrayed them in the worst way. Emmett doesn't deserve what you've done to him. And Rosalie...Bella could only pray that yesterday's revelation doesn't break up their marriage. She hoped Rosalie knew her husband well enough to be able to fix the wrongs that they had almost done. As for her, Bella hoped one day she might stop seeing Rosalie's face when she closed her eyes.
That night, Bella did what she had done a thousand times before. When her ears detected a chorus of soft rhythmic breathing, she made her way to the house. With one look, the back door unlocked itself. As softly as she could, Bella opened the door and floated inside. Take only enough for a day, she reminded herself. But first...water. After she had her fill, she found an old backpack in a storage closet, filled it with several bottles of water and a few snacks to get her through the next 24 hours, and exited the home, locking the door behind her.
She would have to get used to the hunger again, she thought, sighing. If she'd been living on what Charlie's money could buy and the hot plate in her shed, she might not have as big an adjustment to make. But it wasn't going to be so easy going cold turkey on Esme's cooking. After months of forcing herself, she had finally somewhat gotten used to eating like a normal person should-if you could count Esme's mouth-watering fare normal. That was gluttony compared to what Bella would have to retrain herself for now.
Bella looked to the stars to guide her and started walking. 60 miles away, Shenandoah's library closed early most days and last she checked it didn't have security cameras. There was an old upright there too.
Author's note II: Bella's super fast running is like a bullet from a gun. Fire provides the thrust, while wind carries her momentum.