Bella.

The house was strangely quiet. It had been like this for hours now. Usually with my new, improved supersonic hearing, I was left with the chatter of the six vampires that busied themselves downstairs. They lived their lives like nothing had happened. Like nobody from the family had left. I seethed with jealousy. I wished more than anything that I could get up off of this couch, march downstairs and join their conversations. But I couldn't. I couldn't even bring myself to hunt. These past two weeks, Emmett and Jasper had been force feeding me; dragging me into the forest against my will and literally shoving the broken necks of the animals to my lips. I knew this was an act, for they had to continue attending school, and Carlisle had to continue his job at the hospital, otherwise it would raise suspicious about my disappearance. Alice had explained that Edward's absence caused some controversy, but they cleared it up with a statement about how he was too upset about my "death" to stay in Forks, so he left to stay with some family in Alaska. They were trying to set everything right, and I loved them dearly for that, but nothing could fix this. The only person that could fix this didn't want me.

I sighed loudly, and rose from the couch. I tip-toed to the closed door, and pressed my ear against it, hoping to hear some kind of noise from downstairs. Nothing. I frowned. It was a Sunday afternoon. Where could they have all gone? Surely, they wouldn't have gone hunting without me. Panic was quickly growing within me. What if they got tired of me being depressed and left me here? The thought of them leaving me as well made me cry out. I quickly wrenched open the door, and cascaded down the staircase. The living room was empty. My bottom lip began quivering, and my fingers balled into fists. You're pathetic, Swan. You chased away your only family. The thought made another miserable sob rise from my throat.

"Bella? Are you okay?" a deep voice boomed from behind me. I whipped my head around, to see Emmett standing there, a gameboy in his left hand. I gasped, and without thinking, lunged at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt him tense, but his arms wound around my small body, overlapping themselves.

"I thought you all left me," I muttered into his shoulder. He laughed, and I pushed myself closer to him.

"We wouldn't ever leave you. Don't be stupid, Bella." He laughed again, stepped away from me, and let his hand move messily through the top of my hair. I grunted, and quickly fixed it. He sat down on the couch, still clutching the gameboy. I stood for a moment, but reluctantly sat down next to him. I cleared my throat.

"Where is everybody?"

He was silent, and I watched as his eyes quickly darted to me before they returned to his game. I frowned. Even as a vampire, I was still kept in the dark. My fisted fingers punched his forearm lightly, but he recoiled, dropping the gameboy onto the couch. He was rubbing his arm.

"Ow, Bella! Will you quit doing that?" he murmured, staring at me with wide-eyes. I had found that punching Emmett was quite a stress-reliever. Though sometimes I felt bad that I was actually hurting him, I knew I'd feel glad about it in the near future, when my incredulous strength would subside, and he'd go back to being obnoxiously strong once more.

"Where is everyone?" I repeated myself.

"Carlisle was called in at the hospital, Esme and Rose are hunting, and I don't have a clue where the hell Alice and Jasper are," he announced, picking up the gameboy off of the couch. I stared at him, waiting for him to sigh, and tell me the truth. I knew he was lying. He looked at me through the corner of his eye, and dropped the gameboy again. He quickly grabbed his forearm again, and I had to stifle my chuckle.

"Don't hit me again, Bella. Just nod your little head, and accept what I just told you, okay?"

I huffed, and crossed my arms over my chest. He laughed for a moment, and I waited for him to retrieve his gameboy again, but instead, he shifted closer to me.

"Bella, you need to get the idea out of your head that we're going to take off on you. Everybody in this family loves you. Hell, you are family. We are going to do everything in our power to help you with this. If you asked me to right now, I'd track down that jackass, and.." he stopped himself when he seen me wincing. "We're here for you, Bella. Please don't believe we'd ever leave you."

"Not everybody loves me."

"Bella, of course he loves you. He-" I stopped him, holding my hand out.

"It wasn't him I was referring to." Emmett stared for a minute, before he inhaled and realized who I was speaking about. He sighed, and adjusted the baseball cap that sat on his head.

"Look, Rose is .. well, complicated. She's having a hard time swallowing the fact that you openly handed your humanity over to Matilda without thinking twice. She's bitter, and somewhat offended that you chose this, when none of us had that option," he explained. I felt the anger growing inside of me. The whole Rosalie situation was left untouched from before my transformation, but now I felt it resurfacing.

"Why did I have to make my life decisions according to what Rosalie wanted? Why was it up to her and Edward if I became a vampire? It wasn't! Which is why I asked Matilda to do it. I wanted to change. I was trying to not only please myself, but please the Volturi, and rid myself of being a big human burden. It was the only option I had that would make everybody happy. It was the best option there was! Why am I being punished for it? Why does he hate me now? Why she does she hate me? Why can't anybody understand that this is what I wanted? It was my life, I had the right to decide!" I was unaware that I was screaming, but turned to see a stunned Emmett on the couch next to me. My nostrils flared when I smelt new scents in the room, and I turned to see Rosalie, Esme and Carlisle standing at the doorway. My hands were gripping the cushions of the couch so hard, that feathers were sputtering out of the holes that my nails had dug. Rosalie stepped forward.

"Bella-" she tried, but I stood.

"I'm sorry about the cushions, Esme," I mumbled, before ascending up the staircase, into Edward's room, and back onto that damned couch.

Edward.

Stepping out onto the busy street, I realized what a huge mistake I had made. I should've stayed inside my apartment. The street was full of people. My thirst wasn't a problem, but she was. I saw her everywhere. Every time I turned my head, I would see long locks of mahogany hair, and my dead heart would jolt with hope that it was my Bella. But it never was. And I was glad it was never her, because I didn't deserve that. I didn't deserve for her to come looking for me, not after what I had done to her. Alice's voicemail still rung sharp in my head. I listened to it frequently; for it was my only way to feel that connection to my family.

As sad it was, it wasn't only Bella's face I was seeing. I had grown so attached to my family, that my remorse of leaving wasn't only for her. I often spotted a blonde haired man, and wished that it was Carlisle, or Jasper. I even spotted a Rosalie a few times. I wanted more than anything to return to my family. My now, complete family. This was everything I had selfishly wanted, and I had ran away from it.

I jammed my hands into my jean pockets, and continued to walk. I scowled at the thoughts of female passerbyers, whose thoughts were always full of how hot and gorgeous I was. I never once looked up at them though. My eyes were only for Bella.

Deciding to ditch the busy street, I turned down a shady alleyway. It was about seven, so the sky was quickly darkening. I looked up as I walked, and spotted two figures huddled close together at the end of the alley. I listened to their thoughts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.. I frowned, and whipped my head up in confusion. I listened for the other one. A, B, C, D, E, F, G.. My pace quickened. There was something weird going on. Not many humans counted and recited the alphabet in their head. My steps became faster, until I was reaching them. Their faces were hidden by shadows, but it was their scent that hit me like a ton of bricks. The small one stepped forward, and grinned. I saw the bright white of their teeth. I knew the scent, I knew who they were.

"Hello, Edward," Alice greeted.

Sorry about how short is is! They really are a lot longer when I'm typing them, but I hope this'll last you until my next chapter, which will be very soon. Happy Halloween!