Chapter One

Deja Vu

I was watching myself. My younger self, my nine-year-old self. I looked down, confused. Waving my hands in front of my face, I saw that I was holographic. I looked like a ghost, I was so transparent. I felt my face and my hair. It was definitely not the same as the little boy in front of me. The child in front of me had a bowl cut, the same bowl cut I had hated all those years ago. My hair now was shorter. I was so much taller. I looked back at my young self. He never noticed me; it was like watching a movie. He, well, technically I, was sitting on a swing at the local Chicago playground. I looked around. Carlisle was sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper, glancing over every few minutes to make sure his son was alright.

There were no other children around. Little Edward Cullen looked bored. I knew why no one was around. It was the beginning of the end. Times were bad, very bad. Evil had started to spread though the country after the Volturi came to America. Aro, the leader of the Volturi, assassinated everyone who stood in his way. No one could stop him. Not even us.

I heard another child's laughter. I turned to the source. I suddenly remembered this; it was total déjà vu. The cute, bell-like laughter belonged to a little girl with long brown hair, and she was wearing a cute little pink summer dress. She was running toward the swing set that I was at, but when she saw that another kid was there, her laughter stopped abruptly as if she got caught doing something that she wasn't supposed to. My younger self stared at her, like he'd never seen another girl in his life. In truth, I probably hadn't other than my sisters. She stared back for a few seconds and then sat two swings away from me.

"Hi," my nine-year-old self said. I smiled. Even then I was a little stud. I knew the look on his face. It was the same expression I still wore today when I saw something I wanted. He thought the little girl was pretty with her long brown hair and big brown eyes and little heart shaped face. She looked back at him with wide eyes, not expecting him to talk to her. Probably not wanting to be rude, she smiled back without saying anything.

"What's your name?" little Edward asked. I wanted to laugh. My attempts at flirting worked even when I was nine years old. He smiled at her crookedly. How many times had I used that smile since then? Not much, seeing as I never really saw many new people.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said in a small voice.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, either, but I'm still talking to you," my persistent child self said. He got up and sat in the swing next to her. He looked over at Carlisle to see if he was paying any attention, the sneak. He stuck a hand out for her to shake.

"My name is Edward," he said. She shook his hand with a curious expression.

"People call me Bella, but my real name is Isabella. My mom said she named me that because it means 'beautiful' in Italian," she told him shyly. I smiled, my seventeen-year-old self and my nine-year-old self. This was the epitome of cuteness, two kids meeting for the first time.

"That's a pretty name, Bella. I think you're beautiful, too," he said. It was a good thing they couldn't see or hear me because I was roaring with laughter. My flirting worked, though, because the little girl from my memories grinned and blushed.

Suddenly an older woman's voice called out for Bella. The woman was running towards us looking harried and once she looked at me, she gasped. "Bella! What did I tell you about running away? Come here!" she grabbed Bella and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Edward!" Carlisle called nervously. I remembered being curious about why he seemed so alarmed….so…scared. There was fear in his voice. He ran up to my young self and I got off the swing. He put his hand on my shoulder. I could see his hand shaking. The woman and Carlisle looked at each other. Carlisle glanced at the little girl, and then back at the woman.

"Didyme," he stated in recognition.

"Carlisle," she recognized him, too. I heard struggling voices somewhere near the park. "You should go now," Didyme said, looking around. She looked nervous now. I looked at Carlisle. I saw the fear in his features. My younger self and the little girl Bella were looking at each other, as if trying to ask each other what had their parents so frazzled.

"Come, Edward, we must leave," Carlisle said, turning away from the woman and the girl.

"But, Daddy, I want to stay and play with my friend Bella," the boy said.

"I'm sorry, Edward, maybe another time," Carlisle said more forcefully, grabbing me and walking away quickly. Little Edward had no trouble keeping up, of course, but as they ran off, he looked back at the little girl with a small wave.

"Bye, Bella," he called sadly.

"Bye, Edward," she waved her small hand back.

I awoke with a jolt, sitting straight up in my bed. I sighed. That memory had been occurring in my dreams often lately, more often than usual. I never saw the Bella girl again, though I was sure she'd be my age by now if she was even alive. Over the years, the events of that day replayed in my dreams, but lately I dreamed the same thing over and over again. Was it supposed to be a sign or something? It always confused me. I always wondered what happened to that little girl. Carlisle explained to me when I was older why we had to leave that day.

Once, we were the most powerful group of gifted people alive. People worshipped my family and everyone in their clan. The Denalis and the Cullens were respected by all citizens. Years ago, before I was even born, the world was peaceful and happy. The Cullens and the Denalis watched over the world. They were kind of like superheroes, except not all of them had gifts. Carlisle could heal people, but only if the person's heart was still beating. Like if someone had a cut or a broken leg, he could touch it and the person would be healed instantly. If the person's heart stopped beating, essentially dying, then it wasn't possible for him to save that person. He started out as a doctor, but everyone found out what he could do, and people started to pressure him. Carlisle's human. He can't save everyone. One of his patients couldn't be saved, and the patient's family went after Carlisle and tried to kill him. My father was raised by an officer in the army and he was a skilled fighter, so he wasn't scared of these people, but he quit his job anyway, knowing that the situation would happen again. So he saved people on the down low, which was how he met my mother, Esme. It became an everyday thing, and soon enough people started to recognize him as some kind of superhero. Esme had no gift, but after begging Carlisle to let her help, he trained her, and they fought crime as a duo. Other gifted people, the Denalis, came to him and asked to help him.

Eleazar had the gift of knowing what kind of gift others had. He could tell just by looking at someone what they could or couldn't do. His wife, Carmen, was just his wife. She didn't want to be a part of the crime-fighting. Sasha, Carmen's sister, had three girls named Irina, Kate, and Tanya. Sasha's husband left her beaten and with three children. She hunted him down and killed him. She loved justice so much, she joined with Carlisle and Eleazer. Her oldest daughter, Irina, was old enough to help, too. Citizens of America loved them all. Statues were put up in their honor. They were like human Supermen. Years passed…Esme and Carlisle settled down and had Emmett, Alice, and me. Crime wasn't a big deal anymore. No one dared to pass The Elect, as they were called. At least, not until the Volturi came along. News had spread around about an evil squad in Volterra in Italy. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were brothers who dreamed of taking over the whole world. The Elect wasn't really worried about it until they found out these men were gifted, too. And they were seeking other gifted people as well to aide them. By the time they took over all of Europe, there were over nine gifted people in the group. They terrorized cities, killed thousands of people. Then they set out for Africa. When Africa was theirs, the new target was North America. They were unstoppable. Aro was obsessed with seeking out new gifts for his clan, and he heard about us. He knew that my family used their gifts for good, but he tried to get my father on his side anyway. Carlisle turned him down, of course, and then tried to fight him when he planned to take over America, but even with the Denalis help, it was useless. Since Carlisle refused to join, Aro wanted him killed so that he wouldn't get in the way. The Volturi began to hunt down The Elect and Irina and Sasha were killed. Esme grew terrified that she would lose one of us, and begged Carlisle to let us flee, to go into hiding. Emmett was fourteen, I was eight, and Alice was six. Carmen and Eleazer adopted Tanya and Kate, and they all fled with us to Chicago. Aro still wanted all of us dead. He knew that most gifted people's offspring inherited the "super-gene," and he became scared that Alice, Emmett, Tanya, Kate, and I would grow up to defeat him. That was when I met Bella. I knew none of this then. I just knew that we went from having everything in the world to having almost nothing and moving from place to place. I learned that the woman in the park with the little girl was Didyme, Marcus's wife. She was supposed to be helping the Volturi find us, which was why Carlisle freaked out when he recognized her. Aro eventually killed her. Carlisle says he thinks it was because she let us get away. Bella had been Marcus and Didyme's daughter. I asked Carlisle if he ever found out what happened to her, if she was still alive or not, and his answer was always vague. He didn't know. I always hoped that if she was still alive, she wouldn't be a monster like her family.

They were horrible. With the knowledge of the "super-gene," Aro wanted gifted people to breed with gifted people so that there would be generations of super humans. It was disgusting. That poor little girl. I thought of her…every day. She lost her mother, possibly the only good person that was in the Volturi. Who raised her? Was she still alive? Did she remember the little boy at the park who thought she was pretty? Was she a monster like her father and his brothers? Did she murder just for fun? What would she look like now?

I'll bet she's beautiful now. If she's even alive.

Oh well. It didn't really matter, anyway. I would never see her again. I hadn't seen her in the last nine years. We fled to Forks, Washington. About two years after meeting Bella, we had nothing left. No home, no food, nothing. We lived in an old rundown cabin, hiding from our enemies. Carlisle was convinced that it was safe and that he could get a job as a doctor under a different name. So that's what he did. We were home-schooled. Public schools were out of the question, partly because the whole country was taken over by the Volturi and most schools were closed, and mostly because we were gifted and still wanted. People would notice our abnormalities. Emmett could lift a car as if it were a feather. Alice could see the future. Her visions weren't always what truly happened, though. The future can change. And me…well I got lucky. I ended up with two gifts. Actually, not two gifts seeing as I thought one of them was a curse. My favorite was the fact that I could run faster than the speed of light. It wasn't always good, though, because I would run so fast, my shoes would catch fire. Esme always complained about having to buy me new shoes, so I didn't really run fast unless I had to. It sucked because when I ran as fast as I could, it felt like I was flying, but I never got to use my gift. We had to appear normal, and my ability would never go unnoticed. And then there was my curse…I could read minds. I didn't discover that gift until I hit puberty. I loved it at first because I knew when someone was lying to me. But then I couldn't stop it. Thoughts that I didn't want to hear flooded my mind without my being able to control it. The worst was when I had to hear my parents during their alone time. Their thoughts…weren't exactly what I wanted to hear.

It only got worse. One time, about a year ago, I heard the thoughts of a rapist about to attack a young girl. I followed his thoughts. I always wanted to be like my father…fighting crime and saving people. I beat the shit out of the guy and the girl thanked me and ran off. I thought for sure that Carlisle would be proud of me, but instead he was furious. He kept asking me if I wanted to ruin our family now that we'd finally successfully made a decent living. He thought the girl was setting a trap for me to see if I was one of the Cullens. I told him he was absurd and that I wasn't just going to let her die, and he said that that was the attitude that had gotten us into this mess. His attitude. His drive to help people had the most powerful clan in the world after our throats.

Soon after that, Carlisle found Jasper. Jasper could control all emotion in a room. He was sent to an asylum, which was where Carlisle found him. As his appointed doctor, Carlisle freed Jasper of the insanity ward, and we adopted him, adding another gift to our home. Alice took a great liking to him and they were lovebirds soon after. I liked Jasper, but from his thoughts I knew he was jealous of me. He was a good guy, but he loved power, and he wanted to have more than one gift like I did. His sister, Rosalie Hale, had no gift, but when their parents committed suicide months later, she came to live with us, thus starting Emmett and Rosalie. My family started to question if she possibly had a gift like Heidi, one of the Volturi. I didn't think so. They said that she could lure people with her looks, particularly men, and could convince them to do what she wanted, but she never had that effect on me. I thought she was pig-headed. She was so full of herself, I couldn't figure out why she was with my brother. A mirror and a dildo seemed like they would satisfy her every need. We never got along. And this was all made worse by the fact that I had to hear their every thought. One time Jasper was thinking about Alice naked and I went a little crazy.

I tried running away once. The thoughts, the feelings, everyone's memories and misery were all replayed in my mind. One day I couldn't take it anymore and snuck out late. My father always warned me what would happen if one of us Cullens were caught, but I never really paid any attention. I was so fast that no one could even see me when I ran, and even if someone would try to hurt me, I would hear it in his mind first. I told Carlisle this, but he said that it might not work that way. I learned that he was right just two days later. I snuck out to my favorite spot just past the city, my meadow. It sounded girly and stupid, but I loved my meadow. When you live in a world full of turmoil, chaos, and evil for so long, you begin to appreciate nature. My meadow was so quiet. I couldn't hear anyone's thoughts, anyone's miseries. It was peaceful. I would go there to clear my head. Carlisle really didn't want anyone to leave the house because of the danger, but I was always gone and back before anyone even noticed. Two members of the Volturi had apparently known of my abilities, because they followed me one night with blank minds, not thinking anything so that I would not grow suspicious. I later found out that their names were Felix and Demetri, and they attacked me that night. I got away, but it wasn't easy. My speed saved me. I'm strong but I can't take on two super sized mass murderers. That's Emmett's specialty. I ran home and notified my family, and we were already out of that state two ours later. I agreed with Emmett and Jasper. They said that we should just take them on and fight so that we wouldn't have to keep running like this, but Esme had a fit, saying that she would not lose any of us to those monsters. We moved to Washington, hoping to start our lives…again.

I sighed. There was no explanation for this. Those big brown eyes came back to my mind, haunting.

I was thinking about what the girl would look like now when I heard Emmett knocking on my door. He wanted to go somewhere.

"Come in."

"Hey, I'm bored. You've been sleeping all day. How about me, you, and Jazz go somewhere? Guys night out?" he said hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess." What else is there to do?

We grabbed Jasper and headed off to the bowling alley, one of the few places open anymore. Everywhere I looked, I saw boarded up buildings, old cars rotting away in the streets. People rarely traveled by car anymore because if you bought a car, it was likely stolen days later. There were tons of crime because there was no government to stop it. Policemen no longer existed. The Volturi were large in number now, spread out all over the country doing Aro's bidding. The Volturi only came out at night though. They were like vampires or something, killing people in the dark for fun, damaging everything in sight. They wore dark cloaks like in that movie Underworld.

We were out later than usual. After bowling a few games, we got a bite to eat and Emmett and Jasper wanted to see the new Saw movie, saying there was nothing like a bloody, scary movie to watch when the world is coming to an end. I didn't want to go with them; I just wanted to go home. It was getting close to midnight and I started walking home alone when I saw a few men, about seven of them following a girl down the street. She was alone. They kept whistling at her. I couldn't see her face, but she had long brown hair billowing down to her waistline. She was thin, wearing a long jacket up to just above her knees. She was walking fast, trying to get away from them. The men disgusted me with their thoughts. I tried seeing her face through their minds, but all they could see was her back facing them. I searched to hear her terrified thoughts, but I could hear no fear. I tried to listen closer but nothing came from her. It was like her mind was a complete brick with no thought or feeling. That was strange, but I reminded myself it was of little importance at the moment. She was in danger.

The men stopped abruptly and started whispering to each other. One of them said to split up and they would herd her into an alleyway where they would "all have a good time." Three of them cut around a building and started running around it to cut her off. I followed the other four that still had their eyes on her. I was so angry that I couldn't think. The perverts kept undressing her with their minds, shoving into her until she bled from the inside out. I saw the alleyway they were planning on getting her into. The four behind her started chasing her and she started running. The other three came out of nowhere and started running toward her. She looked around, not screaming or even looking scared.

That was when I saw her face.

Her heart shaped face, the big brown eyes, and long pin straight brown hair that was so much the same and also so different from the girl's in my dreams. I stopped in my tracks. This had to be her. It was dark and I hadn't seen her in nine years, but I knew it was her, the little girl from the playground. She was alive after all this time. And she was about to be raped and murdered.