DISCLAIMER: SM owns all Twilight characters and settings. No copyright infringement intended.
WARNING: Contains accounts of physical and verbal abuse against a child. Please read with caution.
Chapter Two – First Sight
Every night for two weeks Edward followed the path along the river looking for the princesses, hopeful that they would want to see him again, that he'd made an impression on them. He would stay in the woods later and later peering into the darkness and when they didn't materialize he began venturing off the trail always being careful to keep the river in sight.
He didn't talk to anyone else about them, not even Jake who was his best friend most of the time. He just wasn't sure that anyone would believe him and he didn't want to give anyone another reason to think he was a weird little kid. Besides, even if they did believe him, he liked the idea that it was only he that knew about them. No one else on the reservation talked about seeing beautiful ladies that wandered around the woods at night so he guessed he was the only one that had ever seen them.
But after a while he stopped going into the woods at night, stopped believing in them himself and tried to ignore the wet tears that ran down his cheeks when he would pack up his army men and head home to his basement. He didn't like being a crybaby about it, but he thought they might have really liked him and he wasn't use to being really liked by anyone. After a while he sort of forgot about them and had a hard time remembering what they looked like and a while after that, he thought he might have dreamed the entire thing and was glad he never told anyone about them in the first place.
He never did find out what bad things people were saying about George and Karen and since he wasn't the one that said anything, he couldn't tell George what it was, not even after George hit him with his belt thirteen times. He had a hard time sitting down for a few days, but the good thing was that so did Mike, Tyler and Eric and that meant they left him alone. The bad thing was that social services came and visited the house which made George mad and Karen nervous so after the nice lady talked to all of them and after they lied like they'd been taught to do; they had to go three whole days with no food as punishment.
He didn't really mind so much. There were lots of places he could get food and Jake even invited him over for hotdogs one day for lunch and not having food was better than being hit, but it made his foster brothers irritable and they spent an entire afternoon burning him with a cigarette lighter. Well, they weren't really burning him, they were burning the stink bugs that they put on him, but he got burned along with the bugs. When Karen saw the blisters all over his arms and on his stomach and even his back, she made him sit in a tub of water with ice cubes in it and no matter how much he cried and tried to get out she held him down, telling him to stop being such a big baby or she would burn him too.
The good thing was that Mike got locked up in a closet for an entire day and wasn't let out even to go to the bathroom which Edward thought was pretty funny when he wasn't crying from the cold water or blisters from the burns.
On the Saturday following the week he was burned, Jake asked him over for dinner with a bunch of the Quil…yoot families. At first Edward didn't want to go; he knew without having anyone tell him that he didn't really belong on the reservation, didn't really fit in and he didn't want to do anything that might make him get noticed by the adults, but Jake said he could invite a friend and Edward was his friend. So he went even though he felt a little stupid that he was the only kid without a mom and dad at the party. Eventually he forgot that he was uncomfortable and just ran around and played with the other boys who didn't seem to notice that he was the only white kid without parents at Billy's party, but when he saw a police car driving slowly up Billy's driveway, he got scared and hid in the woods. Police cars usually meant something bad was going to happen and he didn't want to be around when it did or he would get in more trouble then he already was for even being at Billy's.
He felt better when he saw it was only Charlie who was Billy's friend and came to the reservation a lot even though he wasn't Quil-yoot and wasn't part Indian just like him. Charlie was also the policeman that brought Mike to live with Karen and George and ever since then his life had been pretty bad, but he couldn't blame Charlie for that. He was surprised to see a little girl get out of the passenger side of the police car. She looked scared and quickly ran over to hold Charlie's hand. He wondered if she might be a foster kid and if maybe she was coming to live with him.
When no one came looking for him in the woods and everyone went into the back yard he followed. Charlie was drinking a beer with Billy and some of the other Quil…yoot dads and Jake was standing by the girl who was still holding Charlie's hand. She didn't look very happy that everyone was staring at her so he thought he should probably just wait until the others went away. He knew what it was like to be the center of attention and he didn't like it at all. But just when he was ready to go find Quil and Embry, she looked up at him and caught him staring.
She looked really scared, more scared then even he was the first time he came out and saw all the Indians. She had dark brown hair like Charlie and was pale white and she stood out like a sore thumb next to Jacob's sisters, Rachel and Rebecca who were trying to push Jake away. He thought it would be a good thing to smile at her and show her he was friendly and just like her and he was happy to see that she smiled back at him. He decided for a little girl she was very pretty, much prettier than most girls he knew and suddenly he felt shy, not wanting her to see him in his old dirty clothes and shoes with the holes in the toes.
But right at that moment Jake saw him and waved him over and he didn't want to look like a weird little kid by running off in the woods to hide so he reluctantly walked over to Jake's side ignoring the mean stares of the twins.
"Edward, this is Bella, she's the same age as you. Charlie's her dad," Jake said politely. "She lives with her mom and only comes here in the summer."
"Hi Bella," he said shyly. She was even prettier up close. She looked like a doll, but he didn't think he would mention that, because some girls might not like being compared to a doll.
"Hi Edward." She was still looking at him so hard it made him look away.
"Come on Bella, let's go inside and play," Rachel said. Bella was a girl so it made sense she would want to go play with the girls, but he really hoped she wouldn't and she didn't seem to want too.
"Bella, why don't you go play with the girls, "Charlie pulled his hand away from hers, and was trying to encourage her to go.
Edward noticed how he said girls which sounded like he didn't want Bella to play with the boys, namely him and Jake and namely him judging by the way Charlie was looking at him.
"I know you, you're Edward right?" the policeman asked him before he could slink away.
He nodded his head and looked up at Charlie knowing adults didn't like it when their questions were ignored.
"How are you getting along living with George and Karen? Is Mike behaving himself?"
He nodded his head again then thought he probably should say something. "It's fine, they're nice, Mike is nice."
Billy made a funny noise and Charlie looked at him strangely, so he thought it was probably wrong to say they were nice. Everyone knew George and Karen weren't nice and Mike came to the foster home in a police car so how nice could he be? But then Bella came in that same police car and she seemed pretty nice.
"Well if Mike ever isn't nice to you, you tell Billy and I'll come out and have a talk with him," Charlie said, downing his beer in one long gulp and crushing the can in his fist giving Edward a big grin.
He nodded and grinned back. He liked Charlie, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be saying any such thing about Mike to Billy or anyone else for that matter. Being a tattletale was even worse than being a weird little kid.
Bella spent the rest of the day playing with Rachel and Rebecca, so Edward didn't get to talk to her again, but a few times he caught her looking at him and every time he did, she would smile at him then look away like she felt embarrassed but she didn't have any reason to be embarrassed. He was the one that was weird and talked shit and had dirty old clothes but she didn't look at him like that and it made him feel good. So good that he didn't go home until Bella left even when he heard Karen calling for him and that earned him two slaps to the side of his head when he got home, but it didn't hurt that much and thinking about Bella made him smile even as he laid on his mattress in the dark and cried himself to sleep
Bella came to the reservation a lot after that. Jacob couldn't remember that she visited so much in the past but Charlie got a promotion at work so he worked a lot and Billy or Sue Clearwater would sometimes watch Bella when he was gone.
She stopped being shy around him and the others and spent most of her time playing with them just like a boy would. She didn't mind getting dirty, making mud pies, playing in the river and climbing trees. She said she didn't like dolls and didn't want to play with the twins, but she was trying to be polite and Charlie told her she should play with the girls not the boys. Edward thought it was a little silly to do things you didn't want to do just so you wouldn't hurt someone's feelings. It wasn't like when he had to do things he didn't like to do just so he wouldn't get hit, but he didn't tell her that. It was easier when Sue watched her. Leah liked to play with the boys as much as Bella did so even if he didn't have her all to himself, at least she got to play outside and do boy things.
He liked Bella a lot, more than he had ever liked any girl before, maybe even more than he liked Jake. She never made fun of him or called him a weird little kid like the boys did. Whenever he was with her he got a warm feeling that reminded him of how he felt when he saw the princesses in the woods that one and only time which may or may not have happened, but still, the feeling was the same. One day, when Jacob were sick and stuck in bed and it was only him and her playing outside, he decided to tell her about them making her promise over and over again that she wouldn't tell anyone or they would make fun of him.
He thought she might laugh at him when he told her about seeing two beautiful women walking in the woods at night, but she didn't laugh, she just nodded her head and listened to every detail that he could remember. Then when he was done, she said that if she ever stayed overnight, she would come with him out in the woods and look for them and that made him feel better about the entire incident and gave him hope that they really did exist.
Bella liked to read as much as he did and when she found out he didn't have any books to read except when he went to school which was out for the summer, she started bringing him her own books. He kept them safe from his foster brothers by hiding them under his mattress. It was during their reading time together that Jake would get mad and leave them to play with Quil and Embry. Edward felt bad about that. Bella was supposed to be playing with Jake and his sisters, not him, but inevitably she always found her way to him. Not that she ever came to his house. He told her without telling her why that she couldn't ever come over.
Bella didn't know that he and his foster brothers were locked out of the house ever day right after they ate their dry cereal. George and Karen didn't like being disturbed during the day by bratty kids so he and Mike, Tyler and Eric couldn't come inside until dinnertime on the reservation which wasn't really a time, but just when all the other kids went inside to eat. If it rained, they might be able to come in so as not to draw suspicion, but otherwise they sat on the porch of the house or played in the big shed that no one seemed to own or in Edward's case, went to Billy's or Leah's or hid in the old barn by Quil's house. He sometimes felt sorry for his foster brothers for not having any Indian friends, but then he remembered it was because they were bullies and none of the kids on the reservation were allowed to play with any of them and it was their own fault that they didn't have any friends except for each other.
Even though Bella seemed to prefer to play with him, it was Jake and his sisters that were supposed to be her playmates not Edward. He was a foster kid and therefore was bad and Charlie was worried about Bella hanging out with him or at least that is what Billy said to Harry one day when they didn't know Edward was there. Jake heard too but tried to pretend he didn't but worse of all Bella heard and when she looked at him with her big brown eyes and asked behind her hand what a foster kid was, he ran from the house so she wouldn't see the big tears running down his cheeks. He didn't even care that Billy and Harry saw him, but after that, Billy had trouble meeting his eyes and he didn't feel he was very welcome in Jacob's house any more.
He didn't see Bella as much when he didn't go to Jakes, but when he heard them out playing he would run in the woods by Billy's house and call to Bella from the trees. She would wait until Jake wasn't paying attention and come find him and they would run along the river bank or find a spot in a tree to read.
Eventually he told her about the foster home and George and Karen and Mike and Tyler and Eric being honest but not telling her anything that made him look like a baby or a weird little kid and when he was done she started to cry.
"What's wrong Bella?" he asked, upset with himself for telling her a sad story.
"They're so mean to you, it makes me so mad. I hate them." Bella sniffled.
He was surprised at how angry she sounded.
"Where is your mom and dad?" She asked, placing a hand on the back of his neck and rubbing it gently.
He felt warm all over from her touch and didn't understand why he reacted in such a way. It reminded him of the princesses in the woods, but where their touch was cold; Bella's was warm so it wasn't really the same. They were sitting in their favorite tree branch in Billy's back yard.
"I don't know, they just left one day and never came back. The babysitter had to take me to the police station because she had to go home."
"Maybe they just got in traffic and were late. Maybe they looked for you."
Edward shook his head slowly. He had already gone over it and over it. Even if they were late and came home and he was missing, they should have gone to the police station because that's where people went when their little boys were lost. Or at least that's what he had been told. "No the police looked for them for a long time, but they were just gone. I had to stay in the county home for a few weeks but then I was sent to George and Karen's house and I've been here through one whole grade of school and all of this summer."
Bella nodded, and sighed. "I'm going to tell my daddy to get you away from those mean people and you can come and live at his house. He's there all by himself most of the time and he has a big house. You can stay in my room."
Edward didn't say anything at first. It would be nice to live with Charlie, but Charlie was Bella's dad and if he was a weird little kid then Charlie would find out about it and might not let him see Bella when she came home. Besides, Charlie didn't think it was a good idea that he and Bella played together so he probably wouldn't want him staying in Bella's bedroom whether she was home or not.
"It's not so bad at George and Karen's, especially now that social services comes to check on us and I get to see you almost every day. I'd be sad at your dad's house if you weren't there. You should move here. How far away is Arizona? Maybe I could come visit you."
"Bella shook her head sadly. "You have to fly on a plane and it's really hot most of the time. I think it's a long way away."
"Is it by the sun?" he asked, thinking Arizona didn't sound like a very nice place to live.
Bella shrugged then held up the book in her hand, Island of the Blue Dolphin. "Almost done."
These weren't picture books. Bella was an advanced reader for her age. Edward didn't know exactly what that was, but she told him that he was an advanced reader too, because he could read the same books she did and they were the same age. He didn't know if he believed her or not; he wasn't advanced in anything as far as he knew, but it felt good that she thought so, so he didn't argue with her.
His favorite book so far was Harry Potter. Bella only had the first book here in Forks because Charlie bought it for her and didn't know she already read them, but she had the whole set back in Arizona. When she found out how much he liked it, she asked Charlie to buy her the second one too and gave it to him for his birthday. Never mind that his birthday was a month before and he hadn't gotten any gifts; she said birthdays were for gifts and she hadn't known him then so this was a belated birthday gift. Now he had three books; Harold and his Purple Crayon, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He kept them all hidden under his mattress with his army men and baseball. So far it was the best hiding spot and his foster brothers didn't like the basement too much so they usually didn't mess with his stuff.
When he was with Bella, he forgot about George and Karen and his foster brothers and even when she left with Charlie every night, he still had that warm feeling in his stomach and didn't notice too much when there wasn't enough for him to eat or when Mike would jump him and hold him down so Tyler and Eric could pinch him until he had big red welts all over his body. He would just keep imagining Bella and spending the whole day with her, thinking about doing it all over again the next day.
But then it all came to an end and that shouldn't have surprised him too much. Anything good in his life never lasted. It was only three weeks before school started and all the kids on the reservation were going shopping for school supplies and school clothes except for Edward and his foster brothers. Edward didn't mind so much because he had Bella, but then Bella told him she had to leave and that it would be their last day together.
They were sitting in the tree outside of Jacobs's house reading like they did almost every day. Sue Clearwater had taken Jacob shopping because he didn't have a mom and that was what moms did. Edward tried not to think about how he didn't have a mom either but no one took him school shopping. He wasn't Quil…yoot so no one was responsible for making sure he had new things for school. If he was sad about that, it didn't' compare to how sad he was when he found out Bella was leaving. She said that Charlie was taking work off the next day so they could spend it together in the city and then she was leaving that night to go home.
He didn't cry when she told him but just kept staring at the pages of the book he was almost done with, The Mouse and the Motorcycle. It was her book and she had to take it back to the library before she left so he needed to finish it. He tried to concentrate but he felt his face burning and was glad that his hair was longer than most boys and covered his his ears which were burning too. She didn't say anything else or ask him any questions and he was glad for that because he was pretty sure that he was going to cry.
But he didn't cry. No one liked a crybaby, and he didn't think Bella would be any different. Instead, he pretended to read the book which up until then he'd been enjoying very much and when Jacob came home from shopping, Bella had to go inside with him and have lunch and spend some time with him and Billy and the twins before she left.
They jumped from the tree together and she hugged him as tight as her arms could until he hugged her back and even though he didn't look up at her, he could hear her sniffle and saw her wipe her face a few times and he knew she was crying and she didn't care that he knew and somehow that made him feel a little better. She was sad too.
He didn't leave right away. It was still early in the day and no one was making lunch for him and he didn't really want to go back to the house where his foster brothers were playing in the yard so instead he sat in the woods by Billy's house and waited until Charlie came and the last he saw of his Bella, she was waving goodbye to Jacob. But even through the windshield of the car he could see her eyes were looking in his direction. She was looking for him and this made him feel a little better, at least for a little while.
But after the squad car disappeared down the dirt road leading off the reservation he ran, and this time he didn't follow the path or the river; he didn't care about getting lost and he didn't want anyone to see him cry.
Author Notes:
To clarify something for those readers not in the US, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was the first in the series of Harry Potter books, but the name was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States.
I hope staying exclusively in the mind of a seven year old isn't too redundant. His vocabulary isn't that extensive despite being an advanced reader which is why I decided to write his childhood from a third person POV in the first place, but I'm obviously not utilizing the benefit of it and have told this story as a child would.
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