to lutzygal12, xxaloxx, caffinatedcaffy, raeb2008, m. todd, bellandedward4ever,XxXxpitchblacktigertankxXxX, laura-shi, moon surfer, angel19872006, .xXlonelyvampboyXx., missScarlet202, sisi, khatrina, mouth, joy, carina xox, update please(lol), ayydeezy, aero, AE, u, and , cleo4ever44, luce, mybrandofheroin, it's a wolf thing16, jacobsgirl12, lisa, tainted-angel21, and musicxbutterflyx...thank you all for reviewing this story and encouraging me to keep going you have all really helped me and i sincerely thank you. i also thank anyone else that read this story and followed it until the end
A lifetime in a week
WRITTEN BY ICE NINE KILLS
Well the streets can't get much darker
As I step into my car
I'm driving east
I'm trying to calm myself until I know where you are
Cause my mind makes up excuses
Or you say that's what I do
Because it's taken me too long to know
It's time I meet with you
And this is the last time
I look before I leap
I confess I'm a mess when you leave
And these days pass
But I still haven't slept at all
And I'm terrified to call
You can't forget me
We promised not to change but then we grew up
But not too fast
We lived a lifetime in a week before you left
But I'm still stuck here
And all I have left are those nights in your bed
With my hand
Slipping further up you're dress
Then you stopped me
But it's cute
Because you do it so smooth
And I seem to recall several nights spent
In the back of your car
You said
I want you to know my body's burning for yours
Or those days spent drinking
With nothing to do
Except get lost in the moment
As I slowly undress you
And I'll pretend that you're here
And you're not gone
It's not the end if you were here
And you're not gone
(Breathe in give me some time with you
to show I've got, I've got so much for you to know
tell me, tell me
is this what you had chose
I know, I know it's wrong)
That I won't let you go
No I won't let you go
And no I won't let you go
No I won't let you go
epilogue
Third person p.o.v
Monday:
Sticks and stones pierced his bare feet as he ran. The dirt, turned to mud by rain, stained the hem of his black dress pants. The rain made his hair stick to his forehead and clouded his vision. Despite his panting, the ache that threatened to burst his lungs, and the dark day that did nothing to assure him he was in the right direction, he kept running. He knew the path by heart anyways. In his right hand he carried a pair of ragged converse that threatened to fall apart.
His feet stung from the splinters and bled, he tripped but quickly got back on track. It wasn't until he noticed the opening of the forest as he came nearer that he picked up his speed. His hand grasped the shoes, which were tied together by the shoelaces, tighter. He was close to the opening, he pulled his arm back and as the woods opened up into the meadow he flung the shoes forward as hard as he could, coming to a stop the moment the shoes left his hand.
He panted hard and watched as the shoes got caught in the highest branch of the tree. They dangled for a bit and then stopped moving. He stared intently at the tree, almost every branch dressed in shoes. White shoes, black shoes, green shoes. Converse, vans, Nikes, even sandals tied together by a string, and in one case one pair of high heels.
He had only been ten and she eight when they found this meadow. She immediately fell in love with the tree that stood in the very center and looked for a way to mark it as theirs. She figured she didn't want to pee on it like dogs. No that wouldn't do. Her shoes had been old and ratty that day anyway. She remembered the shoes she tended to see dangling from the telephone wires of the town. From them on it had become their tree, instead of disposing of their old shoes they always came here to add one more memory to the tree. With time they had worked on building a swing with some rope and a wooden board.
Now he stood alone, with a heaving chest. Hair that had been perfectly gelled for the occasion was now ruined by the heavy rain. Feet that had been clad in dress shoes stood naked, the shoes disposed of in some corner of the house. His carefully composed face, rid of any emotion, was now broken. With tears ruining all that carefully composed facade.
The rain was loud in the quiet forest, but if he listened hard enough he seemed to hear her laugh echoing throughout the meadow. Every inch of the place was impregnated with her memory. In that swing she had laughed when he pushed her as hard as he could. She had cried when she fell off of it. She had even passed out in this very place. It had been the first time she fainted and that day she had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. She had only been nine years old.
His mouth was open trying to regain his breath. It was useless; the anguish left him without even the chance to stabilize his heartbeat.
This was their place. It was her place; surely her ghost would be here. The swing was slightly moving back and forth, the wood dark with the rain.
And so it was the swing he looked at as he talked. "Are you hurting little sister? Are you sad? Or are you happy? Are you burning in hell?" his body shook. "Or are you up there picking daisies?"
He waited for a response but there was none. The swing continued to move, taunting him.
"Why?" he breathed. "Did you think about dad? About mom? About me?" rage licked at his insides. "Did you think about ME!" he hit his chest. With the rain it was difficult to make out the tears. But they were there.
"You have a cousin back home looking down at you, asking when you're going to wake up! Did you think about HIM! DID YOU!...THINK ABOUT ANY OF US! CRUEL HEARTLESS BITCH! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF! THAT'S WHY YOU LEFT!"
He became dizzy; he hadn't eaten a thing since he had gone to the airport. He stumbled to the tree, his feet finally registering the pain. He slumped against the tree and let out all the things he had kept in while he was at the house.
The house of the summers was filled with people. Though it was no party they were holding. Some quietly talked to each other, others cried. Either way they all mourned. The only exception was the children. They played, unaware of what was happening.
Mrs. Summers sat on a chair with her husband behind. He found it impossible to bring any comfort to anyone.
They had been at the airport one hour before the time they were meant to arrive at. They weren't surprised to find Dr. Cullen and his family. The two families were just as anxious to see their children.
Mrs. Summers was eager to see her daughter, she had left behind any anger she had in the house and was just waiting to have her baby back in her arms safe and sound.
Their plane arrived and the two families searched for their children who would come out at any moment. Something was wrong though. The passengers all got out but there was no sign of them. Bobby called her cell phone but it just rung and went to voicemail. Alice called her brother but his phone was dead.
Just as they were to go and ask they noticed workers bustling around the entrance.
It was safe to say that all the people in that airport will never forget that day in which a young girl was taken out in a stretcher. A handsome boy walking out holding her limp hand and looking unnaturally pale his eyes already held sorrow beyond his years. People talked people that didn't even know her cried. Her mother…her mother ran to her and clung to her daughter's body, screaming at her and shaking her. The shock of what was happening stunned her husband and made him utterly useless. His son pulled his mother from his sister and the mother struggled and screamed she went so far as to slap her own son.
The day would forever be a never healing cut in the family. The type you learn to live with but never really get over.
Now the woman held her daughters cold hand as if she were merely in the hospital again trying to bring comfort by telling her the needle wouldn't hurt her.
The Cullen's were close by, looking at the broken family. Esme worried about her missing son who hadn't had the strength to attend. He wished to remember her as she used to be and not in this cold dysfunctional way. They should have realized his son was now facing many years of depression.
Thursday:
The blue foamy waves crashed into the shore. Edward breathed in the salty air, the cold air bit at his bare arms. He stood at the edge of a cliff wearing a woeful expression, an expression that said accepted fate and was now suffering at its hands.
His hands gripped tightly a small blue vase. His hands shook slightly and it had nothing to do with the piercing cold.
He had almost not come. There was no point if he didn't have the permission to do what he wished.
You know where I want to sleep that's what she had written for him should she fall asleep forever.
Memories of the last week went by his head at an alarming rate.
He had been bumped into by a small black haired girl. His initial thought was that it was Alice but the thought left as soon as it came. Though they were both small their body types weren't the same. She was just slightly bigger than Alice. This girl's hair reached her shoulders. They both apologized and she looked up, she was fairly attractive, who would have known she would become the most beautiful of them all in his eyes.
They were pushed against the crowd of people; they were hit occasionally and stomped on. The loud music blared off the amplifiers and made them feel the vibrations of the music in the very center of their chests. He turned to her and she was looking up looking like a fish as she gasped for air. He laughed and took her hand to keep from losing her.
He had been violently woken up when her elbow hit his chest unnecessarily hard. He panicked when he couldn't breathe and watched in horror as she tried not to laugh. Right then he knew that, that girl had serious problems.
The next day she laughed and played with him as they both rode the carousel numerous times. He could never forget that smile she wore as she leaned forward on the horse and wrapped her arms around its neck. For that moment she looked like a little girl innocent and looking at the world for the very first time.
She came out of the water in which Edward had just gone into with her, angrily shouting curses at him before he quickly covered her mouth with his own. He had had many other kisses; it had been her first kiss, for him it had been like his very first kiss.
She danced with him, well more like grinded her hips with him. He was shocked he didn't know she was capable of something like that, because…well the girl got scared when she felt his erection! But she had no problem with grinding her crotch against him, it seemed unbelievable to him.
She moved in perfect timing with him, though it was her first time she had adjusted rather quickly. Really this wasn't sex they were having; they really were making love to one another. Never again would he be able to be so connected to her.
She walked out of the bathroom, looking like she had just walked out of some fairytale. Her small sharp features looked much younger than her years, she carried a peculiar aura that seemed emanate innocence of the purest kind. And when they arrived to the Moulin rouge she definitely made heads turn. Her innocence ran so deep she never seemed to notice any of the lustful looks of other men nor did she seem to notice Edwards's protective and possessive stance next to her.
Her watery eyes sparkled as she looked upwards to the sky. The lights illuminated her face in lovely ways. Her nose was pink with cold and her lips red. He wanted her, just not in a place where they could both get hypothermia.
They announced the arrival to Washington. Edward quietly shook her to wake her up.
"Hun" she was deep asleep. "April it's time to go" he shook her harder but she didn't budge. He took her hand to kiss it, and then he noticed it was unnaturally cold. In fact she looked really pale….
She had gone in her sleep due to cardiac arrest. Her heart simply turned off. Like when you turn off the lights. She hadn't even felt a thing, that's what he had told himself, it's what he wanted to believe.
He didn't go to the…funeral. It was too much. But her brother had given him a notebook. The same one in which he had found her writing in often. It was the reason that he was here now.
"No."
"Mrs. Summers… I just want her to…rest happily"
"No"
"Mom" bobby intervened. It came as a shock to everyone. They couldn't remember the last time he had talked. "Are you going to ignore you're only daughters last wish?"
The tears going down her cheeks made their way faster. She hid her face in her husband's chest.
Through red eyes Mr. Summers looked at Edward in the eye and nodded a silent approval.
His body shook as he lifted the lid off the vase and he sobbed relentlessly.
Holding the vase out in the air he tilted it and let the ashes be carried away by the wind before serenely resting on the ocean.
"You know, the day I die I want my ashes scattered on the sea."
"Don't think about that"
"It's never too late to start making plans"
You know…better than anyone where I want to rest and how.
He sat down before the grief made him lose his balance, for his legs buckled precariously. From out of his back pocket he pulled out a small journal. She had barely begun to write in it. Just fifteen pages were taken up. He took out a pen and opened it to a new page.
February 2, 2010
Dear April,
You've been gone for…three days now. In reality it feels like three years. It was hard getting you all the way here. You're mom put up a good fight but in the end I think she realized she couldn't deny you of this last wish. I'm glad she acceded.
I promised you I would bring you back some day…however I didn't expect it to be like this.
None one took well to your departing…but I didn't expect them to either.
I won't go into details about since the last thing I want is to sadden you. I don't like being here, it's not the same…although, I suppose you're here with me in a way.
I need time…I won't stay in the house. You ghost wanders in it haunting my being whether awake or asleep.
I'll come back. Every year. I promise.
April I miss you.
-Edward
January 29, 2011
Dear April,
Has it already been a year? It seems like longer yet it also feels like just yesterday we were gazing at the northern lights.
Things haven't gotten better. For anyone.
I come here with a heart full of agony and guilt.
Believe me April I have tried my hardest, but there's only so much I can do. Still I feel like I haven't done enough. Please forgive me.
We have all taken different directions to vent our pain. You're mom… no one knows her anymore. She talks to no one that's not her family, a couple of months ago she was diagnosed with clinical depression. The medication has taken her away. You father he works nonstop. I've never seen such an unhappy man in my life. You're father's forty three, he looks ten years older. Bobby...I began to talk to bobby days after you're…departure. Despite all that we were both going through we got along. I liked him then about a month later things got weird. He's fallen fast and deep into the world of drugs. As if you're mom wasn't going through enough he just added to her load. He left the house five months ago. We hear about him now and then. It still astonishes me how drugs can bring you down under just one year.
He looked like death and he was waist deep into meth. Only now I see how strong the connection was between you and him. You were his ruin April, he's completely lost. Last time I saw him he was in my room crying like a lost child, asking for you. He said you came to him while he slept. Sometimes when he's drugged enough he can see you. One time i heard him talking what he supposed was you. But there's no way to help him. I've tried but every attempt has been equally futile.
But I'll keep trying, I promise you. He's my friend and I won't give up on him.
Me? I went to college. I'm studying literature moved out of my house but I go home when there's a chance. There's not much else to it. I've got a few friends but most tend to give up on me.
How have you been? I've missed you…there's not a day that passes without me thinking of you. I trust I'll see you again someday. But I must be patient.
I love you…forever.
-Edward
January 29, 2012
Dear April,
The other day I was flipping through the channels. Robert Pattinson was in a talk show. They asked him what his weirdest fan encounter had been. He said once a girl had ran to him while screaming and pushed him into a fountain.
Does that remind you of anyone?
A couple of months ago I talked to jasper hale through the phone. One of our witnesses remember?
He remembers that night we got married he said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Turns out they were there because his sister Rosalie was thinking of marrying in Vegas. You'll never guess who she married.
Emmet McCarty the very same man that nearly killed you when he fell on you at soma.
I can't believe I never told you but your dad and my dad used to be great friends in college.
Now I truly understand just how small this world really is.
After a year and a half of playing with fire bobby finally decided to put an end to his habits. You'll never guess why though.
His girlfriend left him shortly after you're departure. He was just too out of it to give her any attention.
Well a couple of months ago he began to take a liking to none other than Alice, yes my sister Alice. The feeling is mutual. They have been going out for two months now. And he's been clean for three months. It's not easy and Alice dedicates as much of her time to him. He very obviously needs her right now. I'm glad he's found someone to talk to. He needed this.
Maybe it's because she's given her her son back, but you're mom adores Alice. Slowly but surely she's leaving her medication. She has her weak moments and breaks down now and then but she's fighting. You're father developed diabetes but he's taking care of himself. Slowly you're family's life seems to be going on the right track. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I know that you're beaming with pride right now.
My parents visit them often. And I visit them when I can. You were wrong. About two months ago I finally told them you had married. They thanked me, because they were sure that I made you're last days the happiest of your life. You're mother says that over these two years I have become like a son to her, as has Alice.
Sometimes when you're mom sees Alice and she's not feeling particularly good she cries and tells her that sometimes at first glance Alice reminds her of you.
Me?
I'm in college. Dedicating all my time to school. My life doesn't consist of much to tell you the truth.
I miss you…every…single…day.
April? Did it hurt? When you're heart died? Did you notice? At what point in the plane did you give your last breath?
You won't answer me will you? Not until I experience death too at least. I didn't expect you to.
Did I really make you the happiest you've ever been? Did I give you the best time of your life?
Do you think about me? Can you see me from wherever you are?
Do you need me as much as I need you?
Do you still love me? Because I do.
I read this book not long ago; it's called the five people you meet in heaven. I loved that book like you can't imagine. I haven't read anything so good in a while. Well in it, it says that everyone's heaven is different than everyone else's.
What's your heaven like?
My heaven?
My heaven would be here in cadaques with only you for eternity.
Will you be one of the five people I meet in heaven? Will you be there at the very gates with welcoming arms?
My questions must be driving you crazy. I'm sorry.
You know how I promised I would text you as soon as we got home?
Well I texted you while I sat on the hard plastic chairs of the hospital. But you didn't answer, you never answered.
I realized how little control we have over our own bodies. You weren't able to make it keep working. As I write I can't make my hand stop shaking. It's sad really; realizing you're body owns you and not the other way around. As if we weren't inferior enough as it is.
I'm rambling now. I'm sorry…I must be tired. This place always takes a lot out of me…I love you. I will see you next year. I promise.
Don't forget me, please.
Nineteen years later
Edward Cullen silently pedaled on an old fashioned bike along a lonely road of cadaques. The wind blew on his face and disarranged his naturally unruly hair. He could hear the gravel crunching under the wheels of the bicycle. He could hear his own slow breathing and the wind.
He slowly came to a stop as he saw the beach. A beautiful, deserted pebbled beach. When he got off he looked straight at the water as he let the bike crash to the ground. He walked silently on the rocks and pebbles and settled between large rock pillars he knew well. He remembered so well the position he had taken when she was with him. She had sat with her back against the pillar and he had lain on the ground with his head on her lap as she slowly stroked his soft hair and talked with him.
Tears ran down his handsome face that had aged in the last nineteen years. It had matured and gathered some wisdom. When doing nothing his eyes took that sorrowful look that had been permanently etched onto him.
He breathed in the salty air and closed his eyes for a moment. Opening his eyes he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out an old worn out journal and a pen with black ink.
January 29, 2029
Dear April,
I'm sorry I failed you. I didn't come back. I wrote to you though. Although I know it isn't the same thing. I have missed you like you can't imagine. I won't lie to you and tell you that I did try to come. I didn't. I couldn't stand to come here without being able to embrace you, without being able to stroke your hair or look into your eyes. I couldn't stand being met with only silence. I couldn't stand not being able to make love with you or hear that you love me. I just couldn't do it anymore. It simply wasn't helping the state I was in.
I wrote to you, this is the second to last page on this journal you started.
You're family? Their all well. You're brother became a father seven years ago. He left the drugs for good. It was hard, he slipped often but when he found out that he was going to be a father he left it all for good.
He and Alice only lasted two years though. They loved each other a lot but they began to drift apart. They remained good friends though. Bobby began to go to college where he met Cindy Paige. They fell in love and as soon as they found out they were pregnant they married.
You're mom and dad are well. Their happy and love their grandson like you can't imagine. Your mom has often asked me to bring her here where you are. But I just can't ever bring myself to say yes. I feel like this is our place and no one should be here but us. Is that wrong?
Alice studied fashion design and has her own boutique. She married none other than jasper hale. They had two children, a boy and girl. So I'm an uncle now and I couldn't be happier. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, jasper, Cindy, and bobby often get together with their kids and so do I.
You were right. What you told me as we sat on the Alice in wonderland statue. You were right, I did find someone…in due time. Her name is Bella swan. She was my book editor. It took some time before I allowed her to get closer to me. She was patient and gave me space and time. She loves me and I love her a lot too. She doesn't know anything about you, I can't bring myself to tell her because…I feel like telling her would be like letting you go. I may have not come in seventeen years to see you April but it doesn't mean I'm ready to let you go.
I'll never let you go.
I married her and now I have two daughters. A six year old named Annie and a nine year old…her name's April. I had to insist on the name I wouldn't settle for less and Bella acceded quite happily.
April I love my wife completely. I am devoted to my family and I adore my kids, I adore my wife like you can't imagine.
But it doesn't keep me from thinking that those two girls should have been yours and mines. It's not a healthy thought, I know it. But I have no control on it either.
I lead a moderately happy life April. I'm a successful author. But I'm only successful because you have been my inspiration. I would be nothing if it weren't for you. In just a week you taught me so much about life.
I still love you like I did when we first came here… April, I wish…I wish you could have said you loved me earlier and often. There are times in which I can remember the way you're lips moved when you said it. But there are other times when the memory is so faint it almost seems like it wasn't real.
I told Bella I needed to come to Spain. I didn't tell her where but I told her I just needed to come. She demanded to know why and why she and the girls couldn't come. I just told her it was important for me to come alone. She let it go but she probably won't next year. I'll have to start thinking of an excuse.
My heaven hasn't changed April. You would still be my heaven when I die. It's amazing how young love can last forever isn't it? I suppose you and I had more than average love. Not many people have the privilege of experiencing that and it makes me feel truly blessed.
Its painful being here, but I don't think it's like the last time I was here.
Are you mad at me for moving on and forming a life in which you weren't part of? Are you mad at me for loving someone else? I don't love you any less April. I love you more. And I wish I could have shared a long and happy life with you. I feel like it was the way it was meant to be.
It's late and I'll be going home tomorrow. I filled the last two pages April. I'm at peace like I know you are. And I wait with patience for the day in which we will be reunited. But for the meantime do you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to go home kiss my family, tuck in my girls then go and make sure my wife falls asleep. And when she does, April, do you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to sneak into my studio and I'm going to write. I'm going to write about you, I'm going to write about you and me and our experiences together. I will keep this process until I finish our story. Then I'm going to let it sit there. Hidden from the world. And maybe, just maybe someday I will be ready to let everyone know about what happened between us in your last week of life.
As I write I have come to the realization that no matter what I won't ever let you go. You are forever engraved into my heart. And I will always love you as I did in that day when you gave you last breath.
I'm sorry if I made you feel like I forgot you when I didn't come back but know that I will always love you no matter what.
If departure hurts you as much as it hurts me remember I will always come back to you. I am forever yours.
Before closing the journal he turned to the first few pages that she had written. He ripped them out and put the loose sheets with her handwriting in his back pocket. Then he closed the journal, stood up, and walked. He walked until he found the small cliff from where he once scattered her ashes. And when he stood at the very edge he kissed the journal that had so often been touched by her very hands and he threw the journal into the sea. He watched as the sea embraced the pages and took away the journal into her waiting arms.
Meet me on the equinox
by death cab for cutie
Meet me on the equinox
Meet me halfway
When the sun is perched at its highest peak
In the middle of the day
Let me give my love to you
Let me take your hand
And as we walk in the dimming light
Oh darling understand
That everything, everything ends
That everything, everything ends
Meet me on your best behavior
Meet me at you're worst
And let our bodies intertwine
But always understand
That everything, everything ends
That everything, everything ends
That everything, everything, everything ends
A window, an open tomb
The sun crawls across your bedroom
A halo, a waiting room
You're last breath's moving through you
As everything, everything ends
As everything, everything ends
As everything, everything, everything
Everything, everything, everything ends
Meet me on the equinox
Meet me halfway
When the sun is perched at its highest peek
In the middle of the day
Let me give my love to you
Let me take your hand
And as we walk in the dimming light
Oh darling understand
That everything, everything ends
Eleven years later
January 29, 2040
At forty eight years old Edward Cullen stood once more at the edge of a cliff in cadaques. This time he held a book and a sheet of music in his hands.
Gray hairs in parts of his copper hair signaled his age. A couple of wrinkles around the eyes ruined the perfectly smooth skin of his face. Yet none of this took away from his handsome features. Even close to fifty he still attracted a female's attention.
"I did it" he said. Through the years his voice had gotten deeper and like the rest of him it had matured. "I hope you're proud of me because it was my goal."
He looked at the book and stroked its cover.
A lifetime in a week
Edward Cullen
He opened the book to the dedication page.
This book is in the memory of April Cullen
Had you never come into my life I might not have learned what it means to truly live.
In that page he put a photograph that had been taken on a carousel. April summers and Edward Cullen smiled at the camera with toothy grins. The background clearly indicated it was a carousel. He closed the book and tossed it into the water. Following the book came the music sheet which was carried in the wind and slowly made its way to the ocean.
"I wrote a song for you" he whispered to the ocean and watched once more as the sea took the items into April Cullen's waiting arms.
one day about a year ago as i lay bored in my room listening to music the song a lifetime in a week came up on my ipod. i had just watched the bucket list the week before and soon a plot began to form in my mind. it intrigued me and kept nagging me. just begin to be written. and i did and i couldnt be more proud of it
from the beggining i knew it would end this way and i tried a million different ways to give her her happily ever after but nothing worked. this was the way it was written. i'm sorry i'f i dissapointed you in anyway. i know many of you might hate me for this but i think it is a risk that writers often take.
this was the second story i wrote and it was the first i finished. i'm completely pleased with it and i hope that you find it in yourselfs to forgive me.
i am happy to say that this story is now being translated into russian by a girl by the name of alisssa. my many thanks to her i really do appreciate what shes doing for me.
i myself am thinking of traducing it to spanish. if i di decide to do it however it will take time.
for the time being this is the end of a lifetime in a week and thank you for those that stuck with this story. and i'm sorry to let you down. but think that mmaybe just maybe the lad of fiction has too many happy endings.
-airali