I'm back! I'm so sorry for anyone I have been keeping waiting. It's been half a year since I've updated, and I hope that over the last six months my writing class has helped me in my skills. Please review, and if you do, I'll be more likely to continue to write another chapter or two!

"Mom, why do you have to leave?" I pulled on her hand as she stood in the doorway.

She stopped and turned to face me. "I have to go up town to get some milk. I'll be right back Claire, sweetie, I promise." She dropped my hand and jangled the set of keys in her other hand. "Now be a good girl, I'll be back in an hour. When I return we'll open presents. Won't that be nice?" For a moment she turned to exit, but at the last moment she crouched down a little so she was eye level with me. "I love you, Claire." She pulled her cardigan sleeve over her hand and wiped at the corner of her eye.

"I love you too mom," I said in an instant, it was never a question to me whether or not my mom truly loved me. I would always feel the same for her too.

Fire. I'm on fire. What's happening to me? Why hasn't some one killed me?

A lady with the name tag Sue directed me through a door in the clinic. It was the place where Quil had been instructed by my father to bring me to three times a week. This was my ninth appointment with a speech therapist. She signed to me but I had no idea what she was saying.

I signed the generic sign for "Hello" and took a seat on the couch.

She saw my confusion and started speaking vocally while using her hands. "Claire, how often have you been looking at your flash cards?"

I shrugged my shoulders. To be honest, I hadn't even picked them up once. Quil offered to help me run through them once a night, but I always turned him down. The longer I put off not learning sign language, the longer I could keep peacefully to myself.

After my mother's death, I had come down with a case of bronchitis which destroyed my vocal cords. For a while I could talk in a very quiet and scratchy voice, but I had lost that ability now. For a month now I haven't had to say a word to anyone. It was probably for the better, considering I wasn't nessacarily happy with anyone.

Sue sighed, "Claire, the sooner you learn, the sooner you won't have to see us anymore. I'm sure your older brother is sick of driving you here."

That would be Quil she was talking about. It was just easier to explain to people that he was a brother. It wasn't that far from the truth. While he was here, he had decided to sign up for a sign language class for the "Family of the Impaired". He had picked up a lot, and frequently tried to teach me anything. I would be lying if I said I hadn't picked up a few words from him, but most times I just felt like tuning him and Sure out.

KILL ME. I heard voices constantly around me, why weren't they killing me? Did they not know the agony I was in?

Quil's muffled voice yelling was louder to me than the sound of the ocean pulling me in two seperate directions. He screeched out my name twice before I saw him dive beneath the surface. I watched his blurry figure come closer and closer to my body that seemed like it was stuck to the ocean floor. His hot hands grabbed my frail, twelve year old shoulders and before I knew what was happening, I could breathe again. My throat burned while my body was being towed. I started coughing up a mixture of salt water and snot.

Soon enough I was being dragged up onto the sand. Quil's toned body was crouched over me, his t-shirt clung to his chest. His hands came to my face as I tried to keep away from his concerned eyes. "Claire, what were you doing?"

I kept my eyes away in shame. I had thought that I was finally able to surf alone. I had come to the beach on a cold, stormy day, hoping that no one would catch me. The waves were bigger than I thought, I got caught up in a rip tide. Now my surf board Quil had bought me was drifting out to sea and he had ran out of the tribal meeting to come and save me.

He sat next to me the next few minutes as I finished up my coughing fits. He sighed as he started to empty out his pockets. He pulled out a wet cell phone and a wallet.

I finally gathered up enough strength to sign, "I'm sorry." My eyes started watering.

He tossed the items back in his pocket and lifted me up. "Don't be sorry, my Claire bear. I don't even care about the board. I'm just glad you're okay. From now on you and me are going to spending more time together." He looked at me in his arms and mustered up a smile. It was hard to stop the lip rising sensation from crossing over my face too.

Gradually, I could feel my body start to cool down. I wasn't sure what was happening, it just felt like the flame that had been enveloping me was subsiding. The memories that I had started focusing on as a distraction were becoming easier and easier to remember. The ones involving Quil were working the best.

I woke up from the same nightmare I had been having since my mom died. I don't even know if you could've considered it as a dream. It was just me floating above my bed staring at myself asleep self. As if I were close to death and having an out of body experience each night.

I glanced at my alarm clock and slammed my hand against the buzzer just seconds before the alarm could go off. My first chore of the day was getting Holly ready. I changed her diaper I dressed her in a giraffe printed shirt and pants. I pulled her from her crib, walked into the kitched and set her down in her high chair. For breakfast she had baby carrots and dry cheerios.

While she was distracted by throwing her cheerios on the ground and laughing, I went around to wake the boys up. I was their personal alarm clock. My dad passed by me in the hall and kissed my head. "We got fifteen minutes, boys," he yelled in the general direction of the bedrooms.

I opened Eric's and Gene's room only to find Eric, who had rolled onto the floor. I tapped his shoulder letting him know it was time to get dressed. Eric had trouble sleepign whenever it was Gene's night for patrol.

Walking over to Kail and Ty's room I knocked first. " 'Min," I heard Kail say drowsily. I rolled my eyes and opened the door just to slam it. It was truly the best way for those oversized wolf boys to wake up in time for school.

"God damnit Claire!" I heard Tyson yell as I walked away snickering.

I felt like laughing after that memory. That routine had become so normal that often I forgot how to wake up past 7 AM.

"Something's wrong," I heard a soprano voice say.

For a while I had been able to hear voices, but it wasn't until then that I was able to focus on the words they were forming.

"Or right. Do you hear that?" Another, more deep, voice said.

"That's not possible, the venom reached her heart before we could try to take it out."

I felt my heart speed up in fear. Then in surprise, as I was finally able to feel my own heart. Something that had gone missing in the flame. Before long I was starting to feel my own fingers and toes. I dare not wiggle them, in feared that if I moved, the fire would ignite again.

"She can hear us now," another voice chimed in, "Claire. Don't be scared. We're only here to help you."

Who the hell were these people and how did they know my name?

"My name's Edward Cullen and the other voices you are hearing are my father Carlisle and my wife Bella. Jacob Black is my son in law, perhaps you know him?"

A Cullen. Often I had heard about the Cullens, but never had I thought I would meet one. I had met Renesmee of course, but she wasn't a- vampire. It hit me then that I was surrounded by a bunch of blood thirsty vampires. What the hell could they want with me?

I could hear Edward chuckle. "By the way, before I get ahead of myself, I must let you know that I can read minds, which is why I'm the one responding to you right now. Don't be afraid, we're not interested in having you as a snack. Now, if you can, I need to try to wiggle your fingers or toes so we can evaluate what exactly is happening with you."

I remained still.

"The sooner you try to regain control of your body, the sooner you can wake up."

The sooner I can find out what the hell is going on. I struggled sending messages from my brain through my arms down to my fingertips. They didn't want to move a muscle.

It sounded like another person entered the room. "What's happening? I can hear her heart," said a female voice.

The deep male voice, who I was assuming was Carlisle, responded. "Apparently, the venom didn't reach her heart. We don't know why yet."

"But if it hadn't, how come she has been going through the transformation for the last twenty hours?"

Twenty hours. My head tried to wrap itself around the idea that I had been experiencing this pain for the last day. Again, I tried harder to move my fingers. After minutes of straining myself, I could finally feel my pinky finger lift off the ground. Or whatever platform I was on.

One of the women gasped. "She's done, so soon?"

"This isn't our normal transformation, Rosalie, we can't be sure what to expect," said Carlisle.

Before long I could move all the fingers on my hands and the toes on my feet. The voices started to ring even clearer as more and more people joined in the conversation. My eyelids opened and I found myself surrounded by eight beautiful, pale people. I gulped, knowing that I was staring into the faces of vampires.

Nearly everyone took a step back.

"Her eyes," one said.

"They're brown. She didn't change."

What the hell were these bloodsuckers talking about? What change?

"Claire!" A red haired woman broke through the crowd and grabbed my hand. Another copper headed male pulled her back behind him though. I could recognize her as Renesmee, Jacob's wife, but why had that guy pulled her back?

Was everyone afraid of me?

"Could everyone step out for a moment? Maybe just me and Edward should see her right now. We've got a lot to figure out about Claire," a blonde gentleman, who's voice matched Carlisle's.

Everyone started to file out of the room.

Before I could even begin to think about it, I felt my mouth open and my vocal cords vibrate. "What the hell is going on?" I said, my voice loud and indignant.

I cupped my hand over my mouth in fear of the sound that came from my mouth. "What happened to me? I can talk? I can talk!"

My mouth started running a million miles an hour as I sat up in the bed and listened to the how sweet it sounded.

The copper haired man looked to Carlisle. "She lost her voice five years ago from a sever case of bronchitis."

Carlisle scratched his head. "Edward, then, she must have gone through some sort of transformation, not the normal one by any means."

I eyed the man Carlisle regarded at Edward. "So, you're the mind reader? You want to explain to me where I am and why I'm here?"

What's coming up?

"Do you feel different," Edward questioned me. I started to feel uncomfortable with him standing over me, he read my mind and instantly took a chair. I didn't know if I could get used to that.

"Besides the fact that I'm some sort of vampire, I feel really normal," I told him honestly.

Carlisle inquired next. "Do you have a craving for anything in particular? Or does your throat itch?"

My hand went up to my neck instantaneously. "I don't think so. Wait, do you mean blood?"