DISCLAIMER: SM owns all Twilight characters and settings. No copyright infringement intended.

WARNING: Graphic descriptions of physical and verbal abuse against a child. Read with caution.

Chapter Three – Monsters Everywhere

Edward didn't start getting worried until it was so dark he couldn't see the tops of the trees anymore. He was lost. There was no question about that. He had done a dumb thing and run into the woods, not following any path and not paying attention to where he was going and when he finally stopped, he could see nothing but trees and ferns and grass, no matter which way he looked. He couldn't even tell where he had just come from.

At first it didn't matter. He was happy to be alone so he could cry and no one would hear him. He sat down in the middle of the wet green carpet of grass and cried, huge hiccupping sobs that he would never do in front of George or Karen or his foster brothers or anyone on the reservation. He didn't know if Bella would mind, but he was glad she couldn't see or hear him. He didn't want her to think he was a baby. It made him feel a little better that she seemed sad to be leaving him too. He didn't see her sniffle or cry when she said good bye to Jacob and she'd known him a lot longer. He thought he might be as special to her as she was to him.

But being specialdidn't help his situation, because now he was lost and he would get in big trouble when he went home. He tried to think in his mind how long it would take before anyone would know he was missing. George would be watching sports on TV and drinking his beer and something he had in a bottle that smelled bad and tasted like icky medicine from the one time he tried it when no one was looking. He probably wouldn't notice that Edward wasn't home at all unless one of his foster brothers tattled.

Karen on the other hand, would notice right away. She always checked to make sure everyone was home before she locked the house up. It was her responsibility as the foster mom to make sure they were all inside. Now that it was dark, she would check and find him missing and then she would be mad and that would be bad, very bad for him.

He decided he better try to walk home even if he didn't know the way but it wasn't easy. The ferns and weeds and all the green grass was thick and the moss was slippery and he fell down a lot until he was almost completely covered in mud. Now he was lost and really dirty and he didn't think it was laundry day for at least three more days so he would have to wear dirty clothes for the rest of the week.

He didn't get scared until he heard weird noises that sounded like birds squawking but not the birds he heard in the daytime which didn't make weird noises, but sang and chirped like normal birds. These birds were screaming, if they were even birds at all and he thought something might be killing them so he began to run. But it was hard to run when he didn't know where he was going and couldn't see even a few feet in front of his face and even if he could see, he was crying so hard, that it wouldn't have mattered.

Eventually he had to rest so he sat down on a log and he tried to wipe his face with his muddy hands and he made himself stop crying so he could think. He didn't care that he would get into big trouble from George and Karen anymore. He thought being home even if he was going to get punished was better than being in the woods with the large squawking birds that sounded like something was killing them. He thought pretty much anything was better than being out in the woods alone in the dark and he couldn't remember when he had been as scared as he was at that moment.

When he saw a white flash of color that didn't look like it belonged out there in the pitch black night, he at first felt better. He remembered how his princesses had glowed like that and he thought maybe they had found him and would take him home like they did last time. Maybe they weren't really his neighbors and just lived in the woods looking out for lost little boys like him and the reason he hadn't seen them was because he wasn't ever really lost, not when he stayed on the path by the river. But this time he was lost so maybe they were coming to rescue him.

He saw the white flash again but this time it was on the other side of him and it was clearer and closer. Edward wasn't sure how he knew it was not one of his princesses, since it really moved too fast to see, but unlike when he saw his princesses, this white glowing thing made his stomach knot up and before he could stop himself he opened his mouth to scream, but now sound came out just a big gust of air. Maybe it hadn't seen him. He slid behind the log on his hands and knees and peered over it, looking where the white glowing thing had been but it wasn't there anymore, it was on the other side of him and it was closer.

He finally knew what it was to see a real monster, not like a pretend monster or a monster that was really just George or Karen or his foster brothers on a bad day but a true monster; the kind that would eat little boys like him that were so stupid as to get lost in the woods when it was dark outside.

Goosebumps covered his skin and he started shivering even though he didn't feel cold. He watched the white thing get closer and closer and even though he knew it was like his princesses, this one was stalking him. He was frozen in place, couldn't run if he wanted to; his eyes were as big and wide as they would go, but he didn't blink, he didn't move. He knew better than to move. He'd seen a stray cat on the reservation hunt mice and birds and the minute they tried to run or fly away, the cat would pounce. He thought that was what the white glowing thing was waiting to do to him.

So he sat locked in place and watched until it stopped and just stared at him waiting for him to move. That was how monsters were; they took their time and made sure that little boys and probably little girls were good and scared before they ate them.

He remained still for so long that his legs folded under him began to hurt. He had a better look at the monster now. Even though he didn't see it move, it was closer, much closer. He whimpered. The monster wasn't a creature with twenty eyes and long fangs, but a man that looked much like his princesses did. His skin was pearly white and glowing, his hair was golden colored like Rosalie, but it wasn't any of those things that made him so scary. It was his eyes, solid black against his pale face, like marble eyes, dead eyes or maybe he didn't have any eyes at all and Edward was just looking into the man's head, but either way they were terrifying and he wondered what was it about the woods that could produce these white ghost-like creatures, some so frightening and spooky where others were friendly and nice.

He squeaked a little when he saw that it, the man had moved closer again. Now he looked like a statue. Not even his chest moved. He was getting ready to pounce; Edward was sure of it. No matter how still he held himself, he could feel his body trembling and he guessed the monster in front of him must have seen it too. He understood now why the mice always ran and the birds always flew, even when they knew it was dangerous to move. No matter how much he told himself not to move, he wanted to jump up and run as fast as he could away from it which was the worst mistake he could make.

But it wasn't Edward that moved first, it was the monster, the man whose head suddenly snapped around and looked towards the trees.

"Jasper!"

A voice, he heard it, a women's voice. It sounded like his princesses' voice but it was different, higher, almost singing. He didn't move a muscle but his eyes shifted towards the trees and sure enough there was another one; a girl, a beautiful girl in a tree closer than the man and he hadn't even heard her coming.

"Jasper, you won't hurt him," she said.

Edward was confused. Was she calling the monster in front of him Jasper and who wasn't he going to hurt? Oh…but then he remembered. It was him. Apparently the monster had a name and it was Jasper and the pretty girl knew that he wasn't going to hurt him though how she knew that he wasn't sure, because as far has he could see, Jasper had been ready to do that very thing.

He turned his head just a little to look at her better and saw that she was looking at him too and her eyes were sparkling gold like his princesses, so she must be one of them too and then he felt better. Or he thought he felt better until he realized he was making funny sounds and was crying like a big baby in front of the pretty new princess and the scary monster man called Jasper.

"Oh don't cry little one, we're sorry we scared you," she said, apparently not understanding that she hadn't scared him at all.

He wasn't sure if he liked being called little one but he wasn't going to complain given the circumstances. He did try to stop crying, because he was pretty sure that he had cried enough for the night and it never did any good to cry anyway, it only made things worse. He felt a little better when he looked at Jasper out of the corner of his eye and saw that he had not only moved away but his eyes didn't look like black holes in his head any more. They looked gold and sparkly just like the girl and his princesses. He didn't look like he was about to eat him and that made it easier to stop crying.

"Are you lost?" she asked still keeping a little back from him but squatting down so she could look at him directly in the eye.

He thought about lying and saying he wasn't lost, but then he didn't know how he was going to get home and there could be more Jaspers in the woods that wouldn't be stopped by a pretty girl with spiky brown hair that sort of looked like a crown. So instead he just nodded.

"Well I think we better get you home. What's your name?" She was standing again but he didn't remember her doing it.

"I'm E…Edward An…thony M…Masen and I'm s…seven years old," he stuttered, feeling stupid and foolish that he was talking like a baby.

"Ahhh. So you're the young man, Esme and Rosalie told us about." The girl chirped, clapping her hands. "I'm Alice and this is Jasper and we're your neighbors too."

Edward wasn't sure what he thought about that. He was happy that they knew Esme and Rosalie and he thought it would be nice that Alice was his neighbor, but he wasn't sure that he liked Jasper very much. He might be too scared to come into the woods anymore, if he knew Jasper was around.

"Do you want us to walk you home?" Alice said holding out her hand.

He looked over at Jasper who he could barely see now. He moved again. He was far away but he glowed in the dark so it wasn't hard to find him.

"Don't worry, Jasper can be scary but he won't hurt you." Alice patted him on the head when he didn't take her hand.

He wasn't too sure about that. He thought Jasper might very well have hurt him if Alice hadn't come along but he couldn't understand why. Now that he knew Jasper wasn't a monster and just a man, he could think of no good reason why he might want to eat a seven year old boy but he didn't want to say anything because he thought that might be rude.

Instead he held up his hand so Alice could see it was dirty. He didn't want her to feel bad for not taking it, but she took it anyway and before he could even tell her where he lived she started walking with him through the trees. Her hand was as cold as Esme and Rosalie's had been and this made him feel like she could be trusted, that she was who she said she was.

From time to time he looked over his shoulder at Jasper who never came any closer than he already was and pretty soon he stopped looking back because Alice was talking to him and she talked fast so he had to listen carefully to understand her.

She was telling him that they lived in a big house not far from there and that besides Rosalie who she thought of as a sister and Esme who she thought of as a mother, there was Emmett who was like a brother and Carlisle who was like her father. He was sorry to hear that there were two more men at the house and he hoped they weren't like Jasper. He didn't think he would be going into the woods too much anyway so maybe he wouldn't ever get to meet them.

He didn't know where he was or how much further they had to go and he didn't want to ask if Alice knew where she was going, how she knew or how much further it was, but he surprised himself and her when he just stopped walking and sat down on the ground. He was too tired to go any further and he didn't even care that she knew it and would think he was being a baby.

"Are you tired, honey?"

He nodded and yawned for emphasis but he really didn't feel that kind of tired.

"Here, let me carry you."

Before he could tell her he was too big to be carried she picked him up and held him on her hip like he'd seen Sue Clearwater do when she was carrying Seth around but Seth was a lot younger and smaller than him. Alice didn't seem to think he was too big and he didn't feel like she might drop him so then he thought that maybe he wasn't as big as he thought if this girl could carry him as easy as if he were a baby.

Her arm was ice cold around his back and he thought she was really strong for a girl but of course he didn't mention that, because he didn't want her to tell him that no he was just really little for a seven year old. After he stopped being embarrassed about being carried he realized that they were going really fast. So fast in fact that he could hardly see the trees, they were just a blur and he barely had time to rest his head against her shoulder and think how nice she smelled, like cake with the frosting still on it, when she stopped and said he was home.

He looked up from her shoulder and saw that they were close to Jake's house, not anywhere near his house which made sense. She didn't know where he lived but maybe she could see which way he'd come from when he left Jake's that afternoon. He decided not to say anything and sighed when she slowly slid him to the ground. He liked being held in her arms even if he was too big. She had strong arms and she moved really fast and she smelled good and he felt safe when she held him.

"Are you alright, can you make it from here?" she asked stroking his cheek with her cold finger.

He nodded his head again and decided not to say anything. He didn't want to stutter like an idiot in front of her again and she didn't need to know that this was the wrong house. It wasn't far for him to walk home and he didn't want her to see where he really lived. It was bad enough that Esme and Rosalie knew that the rundown old house was his.

"I'm sorry Jasper scared you honey. He was just surprised to see you. It's not often that we run across little boys out in the woods at night." She appeared sad that he'd been afraid of Jasper, but he was too tired to lie to her to make her feel better. Jasper was scary.

Instead he reached his hands up to her to give her a hug and she smiled a big huge smile and hugged him in her arms so tight, lifting him up in the air then putting him back on the ground again, but not before he got another good smell of her. It was the best smell, one he thought he would never forget.

"Good night Edward."

"Bye," he replied softly, waving his hand back at the spot of white he could see in the trees that he knew was Jasper. Even if he was super scary, he was Alice's friend so he thought he should try and be polite. Besides, Jasper hadn't hurt him so there was no good reason not to be.

Edward stood outside his house for a long time but he couldn't see any sign that anyone was up waiting for him, so maybe he would luck out and could sneak in before anyone noticed he was gone. The front door was locked, but he knew that by lifting the door knob he could open it. He was pretty sure they all knew the secret to getting the door open when it was locked, even Karen but he didn't think she knew that they knew.

Once in the house he snuck downstairs and in the dark of his basement he took off his clothes that were full of mud and sopping wet. He felt bad that Alice had to carry him home and get mud on her clothes and he didn't understand why she looked so clean running in the same woods as he did. It was only then that he saw that the wet on his clothes wasn't just from the wet grass and just when he thought he had no more tears left he started crying again.

He had peed himself and it was all over his jeans and his underpants and on his legs and probably all over Alice too. He couldn't remember doing it and didn't think he had to go to the bathroom even once, but then he remembered how he had been so afraid when he saw Jasper, not knowing it was Jasper and he thought that was probably when he did it and that thought made him cry harder. He was a big baby. Not only did he cry like one but he let himself be carried like one and he peed himself like one and now probably got Alice's nice clothes full of his pee too. He was horrified about what she would think of him when she finally noticed it and this made him cry harder, forgetting that he needed to be quiet so he wouldn't wake George or Karen up.

After he changed into his pajamas and climbed onto his mattress covering himself with his only blanket he felt a little better and decided that as long as he didn't go in the woods anymore he wouldn't have to worry about seeing Alice or get embarrassed for being a baby. No one else knew and he could wash his clothes tomorrow to get rid of any pee smell before he threw them in the laundry. He'd almost drifted off to sleep when he heard a thumping above him and realized someone was walking around upstairs.

He didn't get that feeling of stark terror like he had when Jasper was stalking him, but he felt the knot in his stomach that made him feel like he was going to be sick and he froze just like he had out in the woods and listened. Back and forth…back and forth; he could hear someone moving; heavy footsteps so it was probably George and that made him feel a little better. George drank a lot at night and he didn't go down stairs very well, so if it was George he probably wouldn't punish him until morning.

He listened harder. Now he thought he heard voices, but he couldn't be sure. Sometimes they would get into big fights and yell and scream at each other all night keeping him and his foster brothers awake. It was during those times he liked being in the basement by himself away from the fighting. It was quieter and usually the fighting stayed upstairs though sometimes they fought in the yard too.

But then he heard the click of the basement door at the top of the stairs and he felt a shudder run through his body. They were coming down for him. They heard him come home or they heard him cry but either way they knew he was there and he was going to be punished.

There wasn't any light in the basement but the upstairs light reached the bottom of the stairs and from where he lay he could see the shadow of George as he descended the stairs. There was no other way out of the basement so he couldn't runaway. Instead he rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his arms, protecting himself in the best way he knew how.

But George didn't give him a chance. Instead of hitting him, he grabbed his foot and dragged him from the bed without saying anything, not a word and even when Edward gripped at the sides of the mattress holding on as long as he could, George just jerked him hard and he lost his hold and was pulled across the cement floor.

Real terror took hold of him then, like the terror of being in the woods with Jasper stalking him, but this time he knew there would be no pretty princesses to save him; this time he was all on his own. George didn't say anything when he dragged him up the stairs still holding him by one foot ignoring Edward's screams and kicks as he tried to free his leg, but Karen said a lot. She was standing at the top of the stairs and she was saying plenty.

"You ungrateful little shit. Are you trying to get us in trouble, running wild all over the reservation, disappearing for hours and hours coming home whenever the fuck you feel like it."

George lifted him up by the ankle when they reached the top of the stairs and dropped him head first at Karen's feet. Fortunately he had his arms in front of his face and it only hurt a little, but then Karen kicked him in his stomach and that hurt a lot.

"Where were you? Tell me the fuck where you were or so help me I will beat the shit out of you!"

Edward rolled on his back holding his stomach trying to think what he should say that would get him in less trouble. He lied a lot and was pretty good at it, except it was hard to know which was better, to tell the truth or to lie and if he lied, which lie he should use. If he said he was at Billy's playing with Jacob that would make George mad. George hated Billy. If he said he was at Sue's playing with Leah which he rarely ever did, that would make Karen mad, because a long long time ago, George and Sue were boyfriend and girlfriend. If he said the truth, that he got lost in the woods, that would make them both mad because getting lost sometimes meant calling the police and if they had to call the police then social services would get involved and that would jeopardize everything.

So instead he thought fast and decided to tell a little bit of truth but mostly a lie.

"I fell asleep on the path by the river. I was reading and I just fell asleep." He sat up, not straight, it hurt too much to sit up straight and held out his hands shrugging his shoulders.

He was looking up in Karen's general direction and didn't see the kick from George coming. He was hit squarely in the side and didn't even have time to think about who hit him before Karen kicked him in the other side.

"Lying… green…eyed…fuck," George screamed as he punctuated each word with another kick. "We were down by the river looking for you so unless you are totally fucking deaf, you weren't anywhere near the fucking river."

Edward didn't try to come up with a better lie. He didn't think it mattered what he would say. It was going to be a bad night and he just had to do what he could to minimize the damage. He curled himself in a ball and felt them kick him over and over again. It was a good thing they both were barefoot or it might have been really bad. George had steel toed boots and one kick from them could make him pee blood for a week.

After a while they got tired of kicking him and he thought they might go to bed, but then he felt the snapping noise and knew that George had gotten his belt. His body was already numb from all the kicks so he didn't feel the belt too much unless it got him in a sensitive place, but he was crying and screaming all the same. He couldn't remember having cried so much in one day in all of his life. Even when he found out his mommy and daddy were gone for good he hadn't cried that much.

He kept his eyes firmly clenched shut but he could still feel the tears leak through his closed lids and there was nothing he could do about the snot that ran out of his nose. He was pretty happy that he wasn't crying like that when Alice found him, but then what could be worse than peeing your pants like a baby.

When a blow from the belt buckle caught him in the face he cried out in pain and his eyes popped open. He was surprised to see Mike, Tyler and Eric staring out at him through the door of their bedroom, but what was really strange was the look on their faces. They looked scared, really scared, not like they were enjoying watching him get punished at all. That was strange he thought, because usually they liked it when he got in trouble.

He thought he probably stopped crying about the time George stopped hitting him with the belt but he couldn't be sure. He just knew they told him to get up and go downstairs, but he couldn't do that, not even after George kicked him again and he slid across the floor towards the stairs. There was nothing he wanted more than to go down and lay on his mattress and finally get some sleep; but then he decided that right there at the top of the stairs was as good a place as any to get some sleep and if they didn't think so, they could carry him down themselves.

It was like they could read his mind, because the next thing he knew he was downstairs, though he was pretty sure they hadn't carried him down, at least not like Alice had carried him. He was pretty sure that he had been kicked down the stairs all the way to the bottom and as far as he was concerned that was just fine. The cement at the bottom of the stairs was nice and smooth and hard and cold and it sort of felt like Alice was holding him anyway.

Author Notes:

In the words of seven year old Edward, I'm going to do a very bad thing, a very scary thing. I'm going to stray from my original outline. Initially, other than the prologue, I planned on writing this story in chronological order. Part One was going to be about Edward as a young child written in the third person and Part Two was going to be present day from Edward's POV.

But now I've decided to eliminate using a part one and part two and though I will continue in chronological order with Edward from seven on up; I am going to periodically include chapters from Edward's POV that started with the Prologue. Generally, I am not a huge fan of flashbacks or in this case, flash forwards, but I think it will give the reader a break from young Edward and you won't have to wait so long to find out what the heck is going on.

The only downside is that there won't be a lot of surprises, namely what happened to Edward in the Prologue, what is wrong with Bella and why the Cullens "abandon" Edward. I'm going to try and remain fairly cryptic for as long as I can but I think overall, writing this story almost as if it's two separate stories combined in one will make it more interesting in the long run.

So with that said, the next chapter will be from Edward's POV, Present Day.