4. Wake-up Call
I opened the door into my new room. I probably would have fainted if I was human. Now I wanted to see everyone else's rooms! I wasn't sure if this was some kind of apologetic gift or if this was just how rich the Cullen's really were, I'd only know them for less than a day! I stop in the door way to take it all in.
"Oh. My. God" I said in awe. I stopped breathing then. I'd been doing it out of habit lately. The room must have been the highest in the house as the ceiling sloped down toward the floor at the wall across from the door. The door entered onto giant red rug which filled most of the centre of the room. And like the other rooms, the left hand wall was a giant slide able window (I guessed that was for easy access to the forest)
"Didn't you have your own room in your foster home?" I broke from my daze to see Rosalie staring, interested from behind me. I shook my head, but I must have looked a bit shocked because they all laughed, and Rosalie wrapped her arm around me, pulling me close to her.
"It's OK EJ, we all got our own rooms when we first came here, this is just a way of welcoming you to… our family" She smiled lightly as did Bella, Edward, Emmett, Carlisle and Esme. Alice was beaming from my other side.
"I can't find the words to say how much this all means to me. But I can assure you that your already by far the best family I've ever had!" I laughed nervously. It sounded cheesy but it was true. I was used to being passed back and forward from family to family, but with the change and all, I would probably be here for a good while, if not a life time…
"I think this pretty much say it all about how we feel about you Emma" Alice said in her musical voice, her smile still hadn't faded, she was looking around the room, clearly proud of her work. Jasper was with her now. I hadn't even seen him take to her side. It was hard to believe how nice Alice was , they all were. They were already like Family to me. Carlisle and Esme were stood in front of another door at the far side of my new room, smiling all the while. I wondered if something was going to jump out from behind the door and surprise me yet again. Edward chuckled. I took a deep breath and walked across the giant red raged rug which filled the middle of the floor, the floor underneath it was black floorboards. I'd always wanted one of these rugs, but my family could never afford one. The walls were also black, Perfect! How did they know that red and black were my favourite colours? I noticed there was no bed, instead there was a large corner sofa to the left of the window, its also was red and covered all different shapes and sizes of black pillows. Above it was a neon sign with EJ written diagonally in big letters, it looked like the kind of sign that would hang outside a club. I sort of fell back onto the sofa, still dazed with my surprise. The black walls disappeared, as the light from the lamp that hung over the sofa shown down on me, making my skin sparkle. I had a view of the whole room from hear. My eyes scanned the room, passing the sofa and the door beside it , at the other side of the door was a corner desk, fitted perfectly in the corner. On the beautiful oak table, sat what looked like a computer, but when focused on the small print (which I could now see perfectly well), I saw that it wasn't just any kind of computer, it was in-fact an Apple Pro! That alone must have been pretty pricey, not including all of its hard and soft ware. I recovered and continued to scan the room. Little details such as carving in the oak wood of the door and frame, amazed me and added to the awesomeness of my room! Beside the desk, was a hammock. It was attached to both the far wall and the right, so that it would float in-between. Awesome! After passing the brilliant sofa, doorway, hammock and desk, my eyes brought me to a large collection of units and shelves at the right of the window. I sprung to my feet, and was at the object in a flash. Wall mounted, the shelf's were stocked with hundreds of CD's and DVD's. All of my favourites were there. The Cullen's must have physic abilities that know one told me of. Under the shelves, was what looked like a mainframe! Thousands of buttons and switches covered the shinny silver surface. I realised that it was a sound system when I saw two big standing speakers at either side of the box-like structure. They were linked up to other parts of the room, where speakers were mounted in the corners of the room. Then I gasped, as if my very own giant sound system wasn't enough, beside it, hanging on the wall were 3 Guitars. Not just any guitars, but steel, electric and Fender. I would have know the make anywhere. One was black, another was white and the other was red. The colour scheme continuing throughout the room. I moved my fingers over the strings, being careful not to break them.
"We had the strings specially made. There is a strong metallic fibre running through the core of each string so you cant break them with your new strength. You can hook those up to your new sound system which is fitted with amps." Carlisle said proudly, him and Esme still guarding the mystery door.
"Wow…Thank you" I managed sheepishly, carefully plucking each string. I was going to have a ball tonight! Just as well the house was located out of town, I would probably wake any neighbours, if not deafen them. I looked at the sockets on the sound system, examining there functions. There was an input for guitar on the speakers under the main unit. Everything had been so clearly thought through in such a short time by my new family. They'd had under 2 hours or less to fix me a room and they had created what would have taken any normal person weeks. In-between my sound system and hammock, was a door, guarded by Esme and Carlisle. I was slightly worried about what was in there… I bit my lip, and glanced at the figures that were observing my room from the door way. Alice was still beaming and she suddenly made me feel very exited about my new room, life and family. I beamed back at her and held in a sudden urge to laugh at myself. Lets not spoil the perfect moment Emma. Edward seemed to spot my thoughts of giggles, cause he laughed, trying to compose himself before it would get out of hand.
"What are you's laughing at?" Rosalie said beginning to laugh herself. Suddenly everyone was very cheery, and laughing too. Carlisle and Esme hugged and whispered a few low words to each other, laughing all the while.
"Jazz!" Alice said, in-between giggles. Emmett's booming laugh filled the room and Rosalie fell into his arms, hiding her face in his chest, muffling her musical laughter. Bella and Edward laughed at each other. I laughed to myself, as I walked over to laugh with the others. My laugh used to be real dorky and now it sounded so musical, but with a hint of cheesy dork somewhere in there. Jasper just smiled and kept his concentrating whilst Alice chuckled over his shoulder. So Jasper was manipulating our emotions to ease the tension?
We all calmed and the giggles faded. I continued to laugh because of the sudden stop of laughing fits. Edward did too, always thinking as I am. We all continued to smile at each other. Everyone smiled at me. I could tell I was going to fit in quite well here.
"Satisfied Jasper?" Esme's motherly voice broke through our laughing fits. Jasper laughed himself.
"Yes, Esme" Jasper said composing himself, Alice nudged him playfully. Esme walked on forward. She stopped before me and took hold of my hand.
"There's More to come, I'm afraid this one isn't quite finished yet though" Esme pulled me to the door that her and Carlisle had been guarding. Carlisle opened the door and Esme pulled me through it. Everyone else followed through as well, Rosalie was saying I wanna see! I wanna see! I forgot that her and Emmett hadn't seen yet as they had been hunting when all of the work had been done. When I got to the other side I mumbled under my breath Holy… I picked out Emmett's low booming snigger from the rest. We were in a closet just like Rosalie's one earlier only maybe not as big. A mirror filled the back wall and railings and shelves hung on the walls. The Shelves And Railing were bare, obviously this was what they meant by not finished yet. You'd think I would have lost all sense of surprise since meeting the Cullen's, but I still seemed to do a double take when I saw this. There was enough room for hundreds of outfits. Of the little I remembered from my human life, there was not being wealthy. It was going to take a while to settle into the Cullen Routine of being able to have what ever I wanted, whenever I wanted. So I guessed this means I was going to be staying for a while, I pretty much lived here now that they had given me my very own room.
"We'll need to know your sizes before we can get you some proper clothes. We cant let you go out and buy them yourself as your still newborn, it would be too risky. It will be a while until we can let you out into the public eye again, as well as school. But we know how much you like Converse, so we got you these" Esme removed a sheet from the bottom of my new closet and revealed every colour of converse available.
"Oh my god! You guys are amazing!" I said bending down to touch my new shoes. There were plenty of choice! Some were high tops and others low, some were bright others dull, ever colour under the sun probably! I could really get used to this new life of wealth! My thoughts of the future were broken by a sharp and unfortunately far too familiar burning that push its was up my throat yet again. I let go off the yellow Converse and dropped to the floor, grasping of throat with one hand and supporting myself with the other. They had me up on my feet and began grasping and shaking me.
"I'm fine its just the burning again, its back" I gasped as the pain urged in my dry throat. I guess I would have to go hunting again.
"Where'd everybody go?" I asked Carlisle and Esme, everyone had suddenly vanished from the closet.
"Their away to make sure the forest is safe, wouldn't want you catching unnecessary scents" Esme said in her motherly voice, something wasn't used to. Carlisle put a hand to my shoulder and took me through to my room. He sat down on one side of me on the big red corner sofa, with Esme following to sit by my other side. I hadn't realised I was grasping my throat so hard until Carlisle tried to pull it away from me. He managed but with some effort.
"It wont fall off Emma" He laughed. Of course I knew that, the pain was just so excruciating.
"We want to take this time to talk to you about your past family. We know you were fostered and we now have to ask you to be part of our family. You don't have to, you may go your own way if you like. We have committed you to this life, giving you no choice of your own, we wouldn't want to force you to stay with us as well. As you can see, you are very welcome here and we would love to have you with us for a century or two" Carlisle said.
"Will I ever see my foster family again?" I asked, not that I really cared that much for them.
"Maybe, when your in control of yourself, but that could take years. Would you prefer to go your own way?" Esme asked, she actually looked as if she cared for me.
"No, really I'd love to become part of your family. I have nothing to lose from my other family anyways" I laughed, I really didn't care at all. Esme smiled as did Carlisle. Then, Emmett burst through the door.
"Emmett, what has that door done to you? You nearly blew it off its hinges!" Esme said.
"I tend to have that effect don't I mother?" Emmett said, fluttering his eye lashes at Esme. She simply laughed sarcastically and got to her feet with a hand on my back.
"Of course Emmett, is the forest clear?" She said, sliding open the window.
"Yes" Emmett answered, jumping for the window. We all followed, I had yet another thrill I as leaped from the window and landed gracefully on the grass below. Emmett ran ahead, Esme, Carlisle and I followed until we were deep in the forest. Rosalie joined Emmett, as did Alice and Jasper. Edward and Bella were not with them, hiding the humans probably. Then the scent was there, it was much stronger than before. It seemed to satisfy my throat so I followed it, leaping right over Alice and Jasper and again over Rosalie and Emmett. I jumped so high that I ended up submerged in the trees, jumping from branch to branch as the smell came closer. Below I could see Elk grazing in the long grass, but I was going for the stronger scent. I left the tree and landed on the forest floor, still running. I followed the wind where the scent was coming from, then I realised I wasn't alone. I heard trees shaking from behind me and Emmett jumped into view leaping through the Oak trees above me. He chuckled as he went. Oh know he didn't, this meal was mines. I sped up as fast as my feet would carry me until Emmett was behind me. I was fast. The scent grew stronger when we reached the end of the flat land. The land began to slope upwards and we found ourselves running through the hills. Emmett had obviously done this before, he jumped from hill to hill in a couple of bounds. I copied, out-running him in the end. I saw a giant brown bear come into view as we neared the highest hill. I inhaled as I approached the big, the scent was enough to cure the burning in my throat. I could hear Emmett gaining on me. I leaped, and the Elk came into my head from earlier. Rosalie said the guilt would haunt me for a while, but I had to remember I was just another predator in the animal world. Emmett tried to push me as we both leaped for the bear but I threw him away, I wanted this. I landed on the bear, pushing it to the floor and inserting my razor sharp teeth or fangs, into its neck. The warm flow began and it soothed the ache in my throat as It went, I relaxed as I enjoyed the taste and Emmett's growls for behind me. The flow ran dry and I released the carcass from my grasp. I hadn't spilled so much this time, just a dribble of my tee-shirt, which was red anyways so it wasn't so noticeable. I turned to Emmett and laughed, as he was sat with his arms folded across his chest, on a large bolder like I little kid. The rest of the family emerged from the trees and laughed with me at Emmett. I looked from them to the bear carcass. I hadn't really noticed how large the bear really was, yet I sucked it dry in a few seconds.
"That's quite a kill you've got there" Jasper said, he looked stunned by my success.
"Ignore Emmett, he's just jealous, he likes to win and bears his favourite" Rosalie laughed, ruffling Emmett's short hair. Emmett sighed and come out of his mood. Rosalie had that effect on people. He put his arm around her waist, giving into her beauty.
"Yeah, sorry Emmett" I chuckled, biting my lip as I did mean it as a true apology.
"Looks like you've got some competition, Emmett" Alice said laughing too. Then she darted to the left, running into the forest before anyone else could catch the scent of Elk nearby. I saw her leap into the bush and then come back out 2 minutes later with a satisfied look on her face, no blood or even dirt. I had to remember they had all been doing this for decades if not centuries. I still had a bit more to learn.
* * *
The days past, and I was beginning to get used to my new life. Everyday I would learn something new, and with everything new, I remembered something old from my past life. Even though I'd been a newborn vampire for a couple of months now, I was still not allowed out into the public, just the forest. It was killing me, I wanted to go exploring. I was going to end-up talking to the owls in the trees at night. Everyone else had someone to snuggle down with; Rosalie had Emmett, Alice had Jasper, and Bella had Edward. Esme and Carlisle spent most of their time studying or watching documentary's, spare time was never an option for them. During the day I spent most of my time either with Rose and Alice or my brothers. I reluctantly, I was my sisters mannequin and my brothers wrestling parent. Rose and Alice liked to dress me up and fix my hair, where as Ed, Jazz and Emmett liked to throw me around and test me to my limits. I didn't mind that, I liked to be ruff and I was super competitive, always had been. That memory came back me after Emmett and I raced for that grizzly a couple of months ago. I was like the family pet. School still wasn't an option for me. I wasn't allowed to go back until I could contain myself whenever I ran into the scent of human blood. I'd had to be restrained many times after my first hunts. I'd be covered head to toe in bruises, cuts and broken limbs if I were human. We must be careful when we hunt, as hunters are always about Forks for the Grizzly's and the Elk. Hunters are normally about at midday or in the evening, so I stick to hunting in the early morning hours and midnight, as sleep is never an issue. Night can be a bit of a bore for me. With everyone being together, you don't really want to be in the house at night time… That's when my room comes in handy. My bedroom is at the highest in the house, so I don't need to worry about noise from upstairs. The gadgets my family had fitted in my room kept me busy when I was bored. I was guitar god now, I could play along to any song that blasted from my sound system. When I wasn't in the mood for rocking out, I would surf the web or relax in my hammock and listen to my favourite play list. Other times I would just sit in silence, lounge on the sofa and write something. I was a creative person and I could always think of something to write, whether it be a story or poetry it just came to me. Either way, life was pretty sweet.
I awoke from my daze when I heard a bang on my door. I quickly found the remote and turned down the volume on the sound system. I put my hand behind my and reached the door handle. It swung open and I didn't bother to look around to see who it was, I just kept my eyes on my Notebook, pretending to be engaged in something other an thought.
"Ya?" I said, still not taking my eyes from the page as wrote whatever came into my head. I found myself writing The cat lay on the mat, whilst the dog ate the hat not realising how childish I sounded. I felt a slight movement of the sofa as somebody sat down.
"Hmm… Poetry" I recognised Rosalie's voice, similar to my own now. I turned my head slightly to the side and looked up at her from under my lashes. She was biting her lip, well I couldn't exactly blame her I mean come on The cat sat on the mat whistle the dog ate the hat! Rosalie and I both let out bursts of laughter and I snapped the notebook shut and threw it onto the desk across the room. Rose and I had really gotten close over the past months, since it was her fault I was here I guess she thought I kind of deserved it. She, Alice and Bella were now the sister's I never had.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling my legs closer to me. Rosalie started twirling my hair around her finger and my head tilted towards her.
"You might want to take those off-" She said, nodding to my white skinny jeans.
"We're going hunting soon" I wasn't allowed to go out during the day alone, it was to risky for a newborn. I had to be attended at all times. It's a wonder they let me catch my own prey or even drinking its blood by myself. I unclenched my arms from around my legs and stretched them out in front of me. Rosalie released my hair and got to her feet fluently, pulling me behind her. I walked to the closet and leaned against the back wall with my arms folded across my chest, I knew that she would want to do it. I gestured to the rails of clothing and Rosalie beamed and began sliding hanger after hanger along the railing. I knew this was the only reason she came up to tell me we were going hunting. Just then, we heard my door open and Alice's small footsteps walk across the floor and into the closest. She stopped in the doorway and gasped.
"Hey, Its my turn!" She said, gawping at me and then pointing at Rosalie, who continued to rummage through the clothes. I just sighed and shook my head, it was the same ever day. Alice just pushed Rose out us the way and began rummaging herself. They both picked out an outfit each for me, leaving me too choose. Oh no. Alice picked out a white cotton, long-sleeved, V-neck top, and a dull greenish pair of ¾ length pants. Rosalie picked out a black and white, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of grey skinny jeans. Of course these weren't just any clothes, these were Designer. It would be unlike my family to make me wear normal clothes. This was one of the many things I loved out my new life. Rosalie's choice was D&G, and Alice's was GUCCI. I didn't understand why they made me dress so well when I was just going hunting. They both stared at me.
"Hmm… Well I like the white top… but with the grey skinny's. There satisfied?" I said happy with my assumptions. They just gazed from me to the clothes and then back to each other. Rosalie sighed and put back the top she had picked out, followed by Alice putting back the pants she picked out.
"Jacket?" Alice said.
"Shoes?" Rosalie said. I walked to the cupboard and pulled the bottom drawer open, revealing all of my shoes. They were mostly converse. Since they were making my dress So neutrally I though I would liven it up a bit by wearing Red Converse. They both hung there heads in shame as I pulled out the shoes, and I chuckled.
"Oh come on!" I laughed, taking the clothes from Rosalie and Alice. Then I pushed them out the closet still laughing, and shut the door to get changed.
I changed into my grey skinny's, white top and red Converse in a flash and ran downstairs. Carlisle and Esme were still sitting at the dinning room table on their laptop, doing god knows what, and I could hear the others outside. I Slid the glass door open and went to join the others at the end of the garden. Our garden was pretty much just part of the forest by the way it blended in with its surroundings. Esme had planted a few colourful flowers and shrubs to make it look more homey, even though the forest was pretty much our home. Beside the picnic table, Emmett was stood with a football in his hands, threatening to hit Alice with it. Alice was laughing, by the looks of things it was at Emmett. Jasper was sitting on the picnic table with Edward and Bella. Rose wasn't there. I walked down the sit with Bella, Jasper and Edward.
"Hey" I said casually, standing in front of the table. Then Alice was by my side, pulling at my arm.
"We need to fix your hair!" She sighed, trying to get me to budge. I stood as hard as a rock, but for a small person, Alice was extremely strong. I gave in to her childish ways and let her yank me away. I rolled my eyes as she took me into Rosalie's Room. What was I in for today? Rosalie had all of her hair products out on her dressing table, and she stood beside them like a beautician and gestured to the chair in front of her. I muttered words of protest, but I was pushed into the chair without choice. In front of me were all sorts of cosmetics and equipment. There were sprays, serums, creams, straightening irons, curlers, brushes of all shapes and sizes and many other things I couldn't name. Fingers and brushes pull their way through my hair from either side, and murmurs came my sisters, decisions of what to do.
"How's about you let me go?" I wriggled in the seat and tried to get up, but white hands flashed out in front of me, forcing my shoulders into the back of the chair. In the end, 2 beat one and I ended up in there for about half an hour. They giggled, and Just about everything on the table was used on my head.
"Done yet?" I sighed. It had been ages since I last hunted and I was truly starving; if that's the right word for it. No body answered me, although I knew they were still there. Voices sighed, and the chair swung round to face the giant bed in the middle of Rosalie's room. Alice and Rose stood in front of the bed, admiring their work. Alice cocked her head to one side and squinted her eyes, something was bothering her. She darted over and reached for my head. No. My hand snapped out and grabbed her wrist before she began playing hair dressers again.
"Guys, I swear I'll bite you if you don't stop holding me hostage. I'm going" I said in a flat tone. My eyes stayed on Alice as I rose from the chair, my hand still grasping her wrist. Alice could have probably pulled me off, but she knew me well enough not to push me. I released her from my grasp and stood from the chair. Rosalie came over and removed the clips from my hair and perfected my look by running her fingers quickly though it.
"Done. Aren't you going to look?" She asked, cocking her eyebrow. I nodded my turned to face the long mirror on the wall. My hair waved over my shoulders and slightly down my back. It was golden blonde now, nearing Rosalie's colour. My curls hung perfectly, again just like Rosalie's. The resemblance was kind of scary actually, not that I didn't love it. I couldn't wait to get back to school to see the reaction from the humans!
"Thanks, now lets go" I gestured for them to leave an the obediently followed my commands.
"No Jacket?" Alice frowned as we joined the others in the garden. Not that we would get cold or anything, but she liked for us to at least dress human. I turned and jumped for my bedroom window on the 3rd story. I landed without a sound on the red carpet and went into the closet. I began rummaging through my clothes until I came to a navy blue hooded zipper. Rose and Alice wouldn't be happy that it didn't match my shoes but oh well, after all, they'd live… I slipped into the zipper and pulled the hood over my hair, so that my curls hung out of the front. I jumped from the window and began my run into the forest.
