HEY!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  REVIEW… first time author and I need encouragement!! sorry if it starts off slow but PLEASE REVIEW!!

btw….

Except for Audrey, none of these characters belong to me (all Meyers )

"Come in," I waded across what I assumed was the carpet to a falling apart sofa. Mike followed me. I wiped off all of the rubbish from the threadbare cotton and carefully sat down. He didn't seem too embarrassed about the state of his apartment – I would have been.

The walls were bare and an air of general doom and sadness hung over the place. Everything was filthy and just generally rancid. But Mike didn't seem like a very happy person. And why had the name of my mother upset him so much? Oh God, he had better be able to help me.

"So, what do you want?" I gulped. This was it; I couldn't stuff it up now.

"I need to know about my mother – what happened when she was younger? She's such a sad, lonely person and she never tells me anything and I just know that I'm missing something." Mike narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have any idea what the something is?" I bit my lip.

"I found some boxes…" I remembered it so clearly.

I had just been clearing out the loft; we were going to convert it so Grandpa could come and stay. He still lived in America, I wasn't really sure were. Knives or something like that…

Anyway, I had been moving all the junk and dusty boxes out down to the landing when I found one of the clear plastic ones with the wheels. It seemed to be quite new compared to the rest of the junk. Curious, I had opened it. It was filled with photos and CD's and all sorts of things – but they were all about this one person. A boy that words could not describe. He was the most beautiful creature on this planet, even in photographs. That had gotten me curious. Why did my mother have all this stuff about the guy? She wasn't a stalker or anything. And so my search had begun.

"I know who that boy is."

"Who!" I knew that this person would be able to help me.

"His name was Edwards Cullen."

"And?"

"He was your mum's boyfriend." A boyfriend. Well, why would my mother have all these photos of some teenage romance? She wasn't a sentimental person like that. She hid away most of the time. Bella had a shell and I was determined to crack it open.

"Do you know where he lives? Anything about him at all?" Mike furrowed his eyebrows, thinking hard.

"I remember, just before graduation, he disappeared with his family. They were a strange lot you know. Your mum spent her teen years in Forks, but you probably knew that…"

"No, I didn't." Forks! That was where Grandpa lived. Knives…

"Well, Forks is a dreary place. Wet, rainy and generally miserable most of the time. Every now and then we'd have a couple of beautiful days, and on those days, the Cullens just disappeared! Outdoorsy people is what everyone said. But I don't know…" Outdoorsy people? That didn't sound right. Mum was not an outdoorsy person. She was sort of… clumsy. I was the sporty one. Come to think of it, I wasn't much like Mum at all. She had dark hair and mine was a golden bronzey colour, with amber eyes to match. She liked to stay indoors and read and cook and never dreamed of going out and actually exercising. I was on the school netball team, swimming squad and athletics team.

"Anyway, I remember, just before graduation they just left. They moved somewhere way out in the desert, middle of nowhere. And the moment Bella graduated, she left too."

"To England?"

"That's what I heard." How strange. Clearly, this Edward person had a pretty decent effect on my mother's life.

"Do you know which desert these people ran off to?" Mike leant over, obviously thinking very hard. He kept wiping his teeth with his tongue, making a really annoying sound.

"I think, now don't hold me to this, but I'm 99 sure it was the Great Basin." I tried to think back to those geography classes I had payed minimum attention to. I had a feeling it was on the western side of North America. Near the Rocky Mountains?

"Isn't that a cold desert?"

"Sure is." So, it looked like I was going to be making my way all the way from New York (kindly situated on the east coast) to the Great Basin Desert (on the western side of the country). What a hike.

"Thankyou for your help." I stood up to leave, not really sure what I was going to do now. It was obvious that I needed to get to this desert place. But was the use of that if I wasn't even sure that these Cullen people would be there?

"That's okay." I was about to leave the room when Mike took my arm.

"Wait."

"What is it?" I was beginning to get nervous. Would this man rape me in his nasty little NYC apartment?

"Is Bella… Is Bella okay?" Ummm… Why did he care?

"I think so. But I don't know. I imagine that she'll be worried about me. But even before that… She seems just a bit sad. Like she's missing something. And I want so badly to bring that missing piece back to her. And if that means crossing the country, then so be it."

"Listen, get a plane (if you can afford it) to Nevada and start searching. I'll be praying for you." I was touched. Mike obviously cared for Mum a lot. Maybe they had had something? No, they couldn't. Mum was definitely devoted to this Edward person.

"I'll try." And with that I practically skipped down the corridor. So, I was in the wrong side of town in a seedy apartment block full of druggies and hobos. But it didn't matter. Because I had something. Something that was going to take me to Nevada.