AN: And we're back to Bella!

I went home that night and tried not to think about what Jacob had told me. According to his legends, the Cullens weren't just odd, they were vampires. Something I'd seen in storybooks, and movies. Always a scary villain in a dark cape, with an insatiable appetite, and always defeated by sunlight and garlic. It seemed completely unrealistic to me. Especially since all of the Cullens were frequently out in the daytime, and I'd never taken stock with the garlic thing. But they did look, well… dead. The purple bruises under their eyes, the skin so white in pallor that even I, the palest person I knew, was literally no comparison. When Edward had pinned me to the ground I felt no warmth from his breath as he spoke to me. There were times in biology class where I could swear he didn't even breathe. And his eyes were unnatural. They fluctuated between gold and black, neither colour normal, and the shift in colours certainly wasn't. But did that all matter? He'd been observant enough to figure out my little secret when most of the friends I spent every day with hadn't, and then he'd kept it, trying to make it as easy for me as possible. Selflessly changing his speech, even his physical body placement to ensure that I could read him. He'd also whisked me away to the nurse like I was a damsel in distress when I was ill, even though normally he could barely stand to be near me, let alone touching me. He'd walked miles in the pouring rain to ensure I got home safely too. He didn't seem evil. His father was a doctor for heaven's sake, saving lives in the hospital, surrounded by blood at all times.

I mulled all of these thoughts over as I hit my bed early. I was extremely restless, but also extremely exhausted. My brain was buzzing with activity, but my body wanted to collapse. I lay there, trying to fall asleep for what felt like forever. When I eventually did manage to coax myself into sleep, my dream had changed.

I was in a car, but we were driving through a forest. Jacob was driving, like a maniac, frantically looking over his shoulder, as if we were fleeing something. I heard an icy cold, musical laugh and suddenly Edward Cullen was in the road in front of us. Jacob wasn't swerving, looking instead like he was determined to run him over with the car. I leaned over, grabbed the wheel and yanked it towards me. We cartwheeled in the air, my hair spinning around my face as the world around us turned into a green blur. I felt a sharp pain in my leg, and suddenly my world went black. I woke upside down, staring at the pool of red liquid gathering on what I ascertained to be the roof of the car.

A part of me, that knew I was dreaming, was instantly scared and confused. Although this was exactly what had happened to me, my dreams rarely re-lived the entire event. Apparently I would not be so lucky tonight.

I could feel a warm wetness dripping down my throat, landing on the underside of my chin. I tried not to think about it while I worked on getting myself free. I didn't look over at the driver. I didn't want to see her, dead, hanging lifeless from her seatbelt. And then my dream-self recalled that it was not Sarah who sat beside me, but Jacob. I glanced towards him, and his straight ebony hair was shrouding his face. I would have probably not known if he were alive or not, until I noticed that his airbag had not deployed, and in its place, the shaft of the steering column had rammed his chest. Just like Sarah. As I turned my head to look back at my seatbelt, I saw my leg. My femur was sharp, white, and jabbing out from my thigh, and into my abdomen, where my legs were curled up. Blood was dripping down onto my face, and into my mouth. The taste of the warm coppery liquid turned my stomach and I vomited. The scene was made even more horrific, as everything pouring out of my mouth was a bright crimson red.

I woke this time, throwing myself sideways as I hurled onto the floor. There was some liquid, but it was mostly air my stomach tried to force up. I was immensely grateful I had skipped dinner. During my heaving, my leg spasmed, and I toppled from my all fours position sideways (narrowly missing my ejected stomach contents) into the fetal position. I lay there for a few minutes with my eyes closed, breathing forcefully through my mouth. Gross. Not the most ideal way to start the morning. Head spinning, stomach heaving, and a clean up on aisle four.

I pushed myself up, found the cleaning supplies in the supply closet at the top of the stairs, and began cleaning up my mess. When I was done, I cleaned myself, taking a very long and hot shower. I went downstairs afterwards, and ate a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal was such a sturdy and stomach-calming food. It was an extremely pleasant day outside, so I figured I'd try that exhaustively long run again. My leg could use the strengthening. As I started getting into my running gear, I realised that because it was actually quite sunny and warm, I could probably get away with shorts and a t-shirt. I donned them, feeling like I was back in Phoenix, and began my run.

…

Thump thump thump. My heart pounded in my ears and I went, directionless down the street. I made sure to stick to the asphalt, which was least deadly to my coordination efforts. I watched the road, dry - for once - black, and sparkling, as I ran. My feet thudded against the pavement and my leg started to burn.

"Deal with it." I huffed. I was not in the best mood today. As I continued to run I lost track of everything. I was thinking about Edward Cullen. What would I say? Or would I even say anything? I clearly didn't care. If he'd been that much of a threat to me, he obviously wouldn't be running around pulling vans off of me. If he truly did drink blood, that might explain another thing. He always seemed to lean further away from me when I blushed, which unfortunately, due to numerous clumsy incidents and mis-hearings, I did quite frequently. Perhaps the anger I had perceived as coming from him that first day in Biology was not anger at all, but restraint of hunger. Or thirst. Whatever the vampire equivalent was.

I didn't realise how far I'd run, until I looked around and realised that I had no idea where I was. I slowed my run, and walked around for a bit to cool down, trying to think about the route I'd taken. There were a few turns, but I thought I could follow it back. I began walking back the direction I came, confused by the forest around me, and was like that for what I guessed was about an hour, when I came across a little hitch. There was a fork in the road. I was standing at the start of two streets. Had I come down the left fork, or the right? I patted my pocket for my phone, and then realised that in my haste to enjoy the sunshine it was probably sitting by the door.

"Shit."

I decided that since I thought I had headed south, the left fork looked more promising. I only needed to bump into a house, or a car of some kind. Ask for directions. I took up a jog, as the trees were so tall here, the light was dim, green and eerie. I was just starting to lose hope that I would find another human being when I suddenly found a store. I ran across the parking lot to the window and realised it was the Newton's Sporting Goods store. And it was closed. Judging by the hours posted on their door, that meant it was after 3. Surely there'd be a phone around somewhere. A payphone? I walked around the store, finding nothing. Should I wait here? Surely that would be an easy landmark for someone to find me. But how long would it be until someone came looking? I could handle this. I definitely hadn't noticed the store on the way in, so I could back-track to the fork. Or was I even sure of that?

"Shit." I muttered again.

I looked around and thought hard. Well, I knew that the store was close to the highway. I'm sure I'd be able to hear it if I could. But which way? I began to run in the middle of the road further away from the fork I had come from. My legs were beginning to shake with exhaustion but I knew that I would clear more ground if I ran. The shadows of the trees started to engulf the road more as I ran, and I started to think that I was definitely going the wrong way when my leg gave out. I hit the asphalt hard, rolling to soften the impact. I lay on my back for a second in the road and then realized how dangerous that was for someone who couldn't hear. I brushed myself off but noted that I had scraped up my knee and arm relatively noticeably. Shorts and t-shirt wasn't feeling like such a good idea now.

I continued on for a little more, deciding to count to a hundred before turning back but my pace was now slowed by my stiff and sore knee. I was starting to feel super lost, and I was on the verge of tears when suddenly, a black Mercedes pulled up beside me. I was so shocked I fell sideways away from it, earning what felt like a pretty fantastic bruise on my hip. The car stopped and out of the driver's seat popped Doctor Carlisle Cullen. He rushed over, concerned.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry I didn't mean to start you." He probably said startle, but I had the gist.

"Yeah, no I'm fine. I was kinda weak anyway. Been running for – well, all day I guess." I admitted. I was still sitting on the ground, but now that my legs were no longer supporting my weight, they were kind of screaming at me. They felt jelly like, and I could feel a tremor starting. Exactly how far had I run? Doctor Cullen looked over my scrapes with a critical eye.

"Did I do that?" he asked, worried.

"Nope, I fell before you drove up too. I'm accident prone." I reassured him. His eyes darted towards the woods, back to the direction from which he came, then settled on me. He offered a hand and I took it, marveling at the fact that it felt like icy stone as he tried to pull me up. He succeeded, but my legs didn't particularly feel like letting me be vertical anymore. I ended up falling towards him before he'd even let go of my hand. He slipped his arm under both of mine and lifted.

"Apparently my legs don't want to cooperate right now." I joked. "My adrenaline is probably up, I definitely was starting to panic about being lost."

"I can help you there, you're actually quite close to the highway, but you're very far out of town. I'm surprised you ran out this far to be honest." He said, loudly and clearly as he hoisted me up, against the car. I rested uneasily against the shiny black vehicle that probably cost more than Charlie's house. "Would you like a ride home?" he asked, innocently as my stomach knotted in fear. Damn cars.