Chapter 5: Past

Nessie's POV

I blinked a few times before opening my eyes. Even though I had been here for a day already I was still shocked by the unfamiliar surroundings. I kept expecting that I would wake up in my bed, in our tiny apartment, back on the island. Even the foster family's house was small compared to this. Especially with all the children they looked after.

Today was Saturday I soon realized. I thought back to what Saturdays used to be like before everything went downhill. Mom was always gone by the time we woke up. She would leave breakfast and lunch ready for us.

Usually I would either go down to the beach to the surf. Or if I baked the night before I would have a bake sale. Jacob usually went to baseball practice or games if their was one. Anthony preferred to spend weekends at the library. We were pretty much always on our own since mom was always working.

Mom had to work two jobs in order to be able to keep up with all the bills and put food on the table. She worked at Walmart and McDonald's. I couldn't remember the last time mom had a day off because she always working at one place ir the other. Sometimes she would even work the opening shift at McDonald's and closing shift at Walmart or the other way around. The pay was terrible at just minimum wage but mom knew how to stretch her money as far as she could.

Personally I preferred her McDonald's job. Mostly because her manager was cool and would always let me eat free Big Macs there. I would show up just to see mom and then get a free meal out of it as well.

Her walmart job was a completeco different story though. Mom always came home super stressed when she worked a shift there. Then about a week before the car accident I heard mom talking on the phone. She thought I was still sleeping but I had gotten up to use the bathroom. I overheard her talking on the phone. It sounded like she was crying. I overheard her saying that she was being sexually harassed by one of her coworkers. Management wasn't able to do anything about it though.

I had already learned what sexual harassment was and my heart was breaking for my mother. I knew she wanted to quit that job but she couldn't because we wouldn't have enough money to survive. Mom always looked so overworked and tired.

Oh how I missed her. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. No matter what she loved us and we loved her. There wasn't anything that I wouldn't give to have her back again. I could remember the day of the accident as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

My brothers and I walked homd from school like we did every day. Mom wasn't home when we got there which was to be expected. It would've been more of a surprise to see her home actually. We didn't even begin to suspect that anything was amiss until it got later and later. At 11:30 we were close to panicking. Mom never took this long to come from a closing shift. I called the police and told them what was going on. Once we told them our names he asked if we were related to a Isaballa Marie Swan-Cullen and we said 'yes' he gave us the sad news.

We were placed in a foster home the very next day. Fron then on we went to see mom in the hospital every day after school. We talked to mom all the time because the doctors swore that she was still able to hear us. The image of my mother lying in bed unconscious, covered in casts and bandages, was hard to erase from my mind.

We tried to keep to as normal of a routine as possible. Luckily we were still allowed to go to the same school. As much as we hated school because of the bullies changing schools a few months before graduation would have sucked. I felt another pang of sadness. What if mom wasn't better at the time of our graduation? She had already requested the day off at both of her jobs so she could come watch my brothers and I promote from elementary school and move onto middle school. It had meant the world to us knowing she was going to be there.

I sighed as I got out of bed slowly. Everything was so different now. So painfully different. Thats why my brothers and I refused to be sent to separate homes. We had already lost so much. We didn't need to lose anymore.

I freshened up in the bathroom and got dressed. It was not until I reached the stairway that I heard unfamiliar voices. I had gotten to the know the Denali family the day before. Late last night I had overheard them saying that my brothers were in "their territory" after coming back from searching for them. Whatever that meant. They simply told me that they couldn't find them when I asked.

"Wait why do I hear a heartbeat?" A voice asked. I froze on the spot.

"Well Carlisle that's kind of heard to explain,"

"What is going on?"

I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. I took a deep nervous breath. Suddenly there were seven pairs of golden eyes staring at me. I could feel my stomach churning as tbe uneasiness settled in.

Then I saw him and my heart actually stopped beating. Apart from being taller the boy looked exactly like me. The bronze hair, pale skin, hell even our faces were identical. Apart from the fact that I was a girl with chocolate brown eyes we looked alike. This guy couldn't be my father though. He couldn't have been more than six or seven years older than me. However I could imagine a much younger version of my mother with him.

I could feel him watching me closely. They all were but there was something about the way he looked at me that felt more intense. The silent stares made me more nervous. I took a step back but instead of my foot landing on another step there was nothing. My foot met air and I began to fall.

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