I slammed my door shut, kissed Jacob goodbye, and let myself into the house. Both charlie and the oily smell of the fish he would inevitably bring home were absent.

I trudged up the stairs to my room, a little black cloud of my own hovering over my head.

Another storm was brewing, the last seconds of sunlight had been abolished by angry purple stormclouds. Thewind was whipping up the clothes on the line outside into a frenzy; Charlie's work pants danced, and my favorite blue blouse waved and whipped against the fence.

I fiddled with the stray coin on my table, listening to the steady sound of the ticking clock on my old pine dresser.

CRACK

I jumped as a fork of lightening hit nearby, and the coin leapt out of my numb fingers and rolled away into a crack in the floor.

But instead of hearing a soft 'whump' as it hit what I thought was dust between stories, a plastic-y click caught my ears.

Curious, I got down on all fours and peered through the hole in the floorboards.

Something hard was under there, a stack of something.

With some kind of concentrated, frenzied interest, I gazed wildly around my room for something to prize the board up with, but found nothing.

I ran downstairs, narrowly avoiding tripping on the last step and inevitably breaking my nose.

"Bella?", Charlie asked, as I rooted around in the garage for a crowbar.

"A crowbar??"

A look of frantic alarm was etched on his face.

"My, uhh..window is stuck", I said sheepishly, rushing back upstairs before he could say another word.

My window was open, and the howling wind from outside was playing havoc in my room.

I dropped to my knees and pried up the floorboard, throwing the piece of wood aside once I had finished.

Underneath the floor, nestled in a black plastic garbage bag, were two pieces of folded paper, and his cd. Of his music. With my lullaby.

Lightening cracked again, and rain sprayed against my chair next to the window.

Funny, I was sure it hadn't been open..

I clambered to my feet and saw muddy footprints on the floor..

And then, a voice from the darkness, soft and musical..

"Bella?"