Yeah, I own nothing…. Stop rubbing it in…
This is a relatively short chapter, it leads into the next chapter, and then in 2 or 3 chapters, WE MEET THE CULLENS!
"My story," Matthew paused, looking down at me, apparently wondering if he should go on. I nodded to him.
"My story is different." He paused again, looking at the floor. A vein in his neck pulsed in tension as he tried to restrain himself.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want." I told him softly, patting his knee. I was amazed at how comfortable I was talking to him… consoling him. I was in pain, yet I wanted to take his upon me, I wanted to relieve his pain, even if it meant adding to mine.
"No," he said suddenly, shaking his head. "I want to. " He paused once more, then began.
"I was born in 1812, in the New York countryside. We had this little family farm. I had seven brothers and four sisters. I was the youngest. My brothers used to –well- be brothers." At this point I smiled, and he continued with "But you don't need to know that. Then, when I was nineteen, I married an amazing woman. Elizabeth Cutter. She was seventeen. We wanted to expand, so we moved to what is now Oregon. And, uh, we had a daughter about a year later." He closed his eyes in a quiet reverie. "She was the most beautiful baby girl ever. Absolutely gorgeous." I looked over at Peter and Bryan. They both were quiet, and had cheerless expressions on their faces. I waited for the sad parts of the story.
"Our closest neighbors had to be at least seven miles away, so when the barrel of kerosene we used to keep the lamp filled tipped and no one realized it, there was no one to help us. The whole cabin went up, with the three of us inside. I crawled out, my skin literally on fire, and I had to listen to my wife scream in terror and pain, and my daughter's cries of anguish as they were burned alive.
"Peter had seen the blaze, and came to see what was happening, found me outside, and bit me. I thought I was still on fire. About a hundred years later," he hastened after he saw my face, which I couldn't feel, but assumed had a horror-stricken expression. "We found Bryan. Another hundred years, we found you. So in summary, I am twenty-years old. I was changed a month and a half before my birthday." He smiled.
"And I'm glad you did." I murmured.
"My turn!" Bryan said gleefully. I giggled, and then sighed. He reminded my so much of Emmett.
"I was born in Michigan, and had a pretty good upbringing. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor, either." He chuckled. "I was an only child; my mother had died in child birth. Hmm." He chuckled.
"My father actually died a few months before I was changed, and the day I was changed, I went for a walk in the woods, and got attacked by some robbers," He paused to give Matthew an intimidating stare, as Matthew was laughing into his hand. "Sorry, sorry." He laughingly apologized while explaining, "It's hard to imagine you being attacked and gotten the best of, you and your 'macho-man' attitude all the time." I laughed.
"Seriously! He's like someone out of the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers show." Bryan glowered.
"I was holding my own –against- three men, I might add, until they pulled out a gun. I felt the bullet go clean through my chest, and I dropped. Peter came along, and he bit me, after I begged him to help me, and here I am today." I smiled at him, and he smiled back.
Perhaps my life wouldn't be so truly horrible after all.
So what do you think? Next chapter (tomorrow?) will be a monologue by Bella describing her life, sixty-some years later, and then maybe chapter 7 I will have the Cullens show up.