DISCLAIMER: This is the original intended ending to this story. If you don't want to have an unhappy ending, read no further. In fact, you probably should've stopped after chapter sixteen. Either way, you've been warned.

I own nothing Twilight.

Chapter Eighteen - Meet Me on the Equinox

Edward POV

It sounds like a firecracker going off. Happening so quickly, I don't understand what is going on. One minute I see Bella standing on the porch, her hair blowing around her face, that smile-the one that always makes my heart pound faster. The next, she crumples to the ground, her legs giving out, her face full of shock. I can't understand what's going on, there's loud noise, then there's screaming and yelling.

It's all happening in slow motion at first, I turn my head when I see a blur of movement to my left. There's two of them standing there, one with his arm extended, the gun still aimed in Bella's direction. The other is younger, his mouth formed in a perfect 'O.' Bella's mom stands in the doorway, her shrieks bring me out of my daze.

I run towards the porch, my legs somehow able to propel me forward despite the shock I'm in.

"Charlie! Charlie!" Renee yells, "Oh my god, oh god."

She runs back into the house once she sees that I'm next to Bella. There's so much blood, on the ground, on Bella, on my shirt as I clutch her to me.

"Bella," I say, my voice surprisingly calm, "Bella, look at me."

Her eyes are looking at me, but utterly unfocused. I put my hand over the wound on her abdomen, remembering everything I've ever seen on television about applying pressure to a wound. Her breathing is shallow, there's too much blood, too much blood on everything, everywhere. How can she still be alive?

"Bella," I say again, "You're going to be okay, it's going to be okay."

"Edward," she whispers so low I can barely hear her.

"It's me, Bella, it's Edward," I can feel the blood pumping out of her underneath my hand, the feeling making me more and more nauseas.

She looks over my face, her eyes glazed over. She finally focuses in on my lips, and I know without words what she is asking. I gently place my lips over hers, her kiss is light and weak, but it is there. I move my own against hers, deepening it ever so slightly. I close my eyes, taking in the moment. The moment when I knew with 100% certainty that I was in love with Isabella Swan. I pull away to look at her, her face the palest I've ever seen it. She smiles suddenly, that side smile that always drives me crazy. Her lips move with words I can't hear.

"What?" I ask, leaning down closer to hear what she's saying.

My ear is so close to her mouth, I can feel her shaky breathes on the side of my face.

"Darling understand," she says, barely audible, "that everything ends."

I look down at her, confused, not understanding her words.

"I don't. . .what?" I whisper back.

She doesn't repeat herself, instead her eyes burn into mine as though she is waiting for me to comprehend what she said. She's too light-headed from the blood loss, too delirious to know what she's saying, her words probably just a random assortment of things going through her head.

"Don't talk, you need to save your strength," I keep one hand pressed on her stomach while using the other to wipe the hair out of her face. Her blood smears on her forehead as my hand moves across it, and I finally feel myself lose it.

"They're on their way," Charlie's voice sounds far away, "Jesus."

My own tears are blurring my vision and I can barely see it as Bella closes her eyes for the last time. And takes her last breath. And dies in my arms.

She was right. Everything ends.

The End.

You all probably hate me, but that is the ending I actually wrote for the story after completing the first chapter way back when I started the story. Sorry if it is not what you wanted. There will more explained in the epilogue, which I will post asap.