Author's Note: I just had to get this chapter out before the night was over, even though it's nearly 4am.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT AND WILL NOT EVER OWN TWILIGHT NOR ITS CHARACTER. IT WAS ALL STEPHANIE MEYER'S IDEA.

P.S. - There is content here from the book New Moon by Stephanie Meyer. It starts copying directly from the book at the beginning and end of the flashback.

Chapter Four: The Past

Previously:

"Didn't Edward tell you?" I asked, curious as to why he hadn't.

"No. Every time I ask, he always says that it was his fault that you died. And that if he would've stayed then you would still be here. But, I don't understand what any of that means." She looked confused but I understood.

"It was my eighteenth birthday…"

Now:

"Wait. Is that eighteen years of being a vampire or being a human?" she interrupted. I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her.

"Oh. Okay, I won't interrupt anymore." She smiled and got comfortable for story-time by leaning her upper body on the headboard.

"Are you sure you want to know my story? There is no fairytale ending. It's actually quite tragic." I warned her, and then she seemed to realize how bad it really was.

"Yes. I want to understand." She said after a few short moments of consideration.

"For my eighteenth birthday, Alice decided that she wanted to celebrate with a small gathering in their home, which I was strongly opposed to from the beginning. While Edward and I were driving to their house, I kept feeling as though something was about to go wrong, but my uncertainties were dissolved by the time we'd reached our destination. The inside of the house was beautiful, as usual, but I noticed that everyone was gathered in the living area dressed appropriately, of course. They showered me with unwanted presents and attention but then that uneasy feeling came back. I was opening one of the wrapped gifts, when I got a stupid paper cut. Needless to say, that's not a good thing in a house of seven vampires." I paused to glance at her face and her expression was horrified at what she knew happened next.

"Jasper…lost control and tried to attack me, but Edward threw me into their glass décor, in an attempt to keep me further away from danger. Instead, the glass severed my arms and they were bleeding pretty badly. This nearly caused everyone else to lose control, but they were strong enough to resist and flee. Afterwards, only Edward and Carlisle stayed. Carlisle was a doctor and had exceptional restraint so he removed the glass and sutured the wounds that were too deep to heal on their own. To me, everything was fine but Edward didn't take it well at all. First, he began to distance himself from me, and whenever I got the chance to be alone with him, it was like he wasn't even there. This went on for three days after the accident until one day he asked me to take a walk with him in the woods. I immediately knew something was wrong because Edward hated when I went into the woods. He said that there were beasts out there with little to no control over their actions. Anyways, I followed him deep into the forest until we stopped in a small patch of grass that remained clear of trees. And that…was where he broke my heart."

Flashback

"Okay, let's talk," I said. It sounded braver than it felt.

He took a deep breath.

"Bella, we're leaving."

I took a deep breath, too. This was an acceptable option. I thought I was prepared. But I still

had to ask.

"Why now? Another year–"

"Bella, it's time. How much longer could we stay in Forks, after all? Carlisle can barely pass

for thirty, and he's claiming thirty-three now. We'd have to start over soon regardless."

His answer confused me. I thought the point of leaving was to let his family live in peace.

Why did we have to leave if they were going? I stared at him, trying to understand what he

meant.

He stared back coldly.

With a roll of nausea, I realized I'd misunderstood.

"When you say we–," I whispered.

"I mean my family and myself." Each word separate and distinct.

I shook my head back and forth mechanically, trying to clear it. He waited without any sign

of impatience. It took a few minutes before I could speak.

"Okay," I said. "I'll come with you."

"You can't, Bella. Where we're going… It's not the right place for you."

"Where you are is the right place for me."

"I'm no good for you, Bella."

"Don't be ridiculous." I wanted to sound angry, but it just sounded like I was begging.

"You're the very best part of my life."

"My world is not for you," he said grimly.

"What happened with Jasper–that was nothing, Edward! Nothing!"

"You're right," he agreed. "It was exactly what was to be expected."

"You promised! In Phoenix, you promised that you would stay–"

"As long as that was best for you," he interrupted to correct me.

"No! This is about my soul, isn't it?" I shouted, furious, the words exploding out of

me–somehow it still sounded like a plea. "Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care,

Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you–it's yours already!"

He took a deep breath and stared, unseeingly, at the ground for a long moment. His mouth

twisted the tiniest bit. When he finally looked up, his eyes were different, harder–like the

liquid gold had frozen solid.

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He spoke the words slowly and precisely, his cold

eyes on my face, watching as I absorbed what he was really saying.

There was a pause as I repeated the words in my head a few times, sifting through them for

their real intent.

"You… don't… want me?" I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, placed

in that order.

"No."

End Flashback

I didn't know that I began to sob until Melissa hugged me and tried to comfort me. But I knew that it wouldn't work. No amount of hugs or consoling words could keep me from experiencing the pain of being rejected, humiliated and damaged beyond repair.

"Since that day, my heart has remained shattered into billions of unrecognizable pieces." I continued, after calming myself. "And I wish that I could say that everything eventually got better but, honestly, it only got worse. However this wasn't the first time that the vampire world has caused me a near death experience. Only months before my birthday, a vampire named James hunted me, merely because he thought that Edward trying to protect me was a challenge that he just couldn't fail. While I was with Alice and Jasper executing the plan, he called me and pretended like he had my mother. I couldn't let her die because of me. Especially when I hadn't even bothered to inform her of this new world that I'd been adopted into. So I met him in my old ballet studio, like he asked only to realize that my mother was never there. He lied to get me there and planned to feed on me until I died. He bit my arm but didn't get to drink my blood because Edward came and saved me. They fought until the rest of the Cullens came and killed him but no one noticed that the venom was still traveling up from my arm and throughout the rest of my body. I began thrashing around from the internal five and Carlisle final realize that it was from the venom. At this point, Edward had two choices. He could let the venom spread and change me into a vampire, or he could try to suck the venom out, not knowing if he would be able to stop before he killed me. Obviously, he trusted my trust in him and he removed the venom from my system."

"But how did you become a vampire if he removed the venom?" she asked quietly.

"Well, after Edward left, I was…nothing. Actually, my doctors described me as depressed and sometimes even helpless. I didn't speak to anyone unless directly addressed. I didn't eat almost ever. I slept a total of probably twenty hours in one week. And that's absolute heaven compared to how I was before I began to try to be normal for my biological father, Charlie. But he saw right through my act and it killed him, as well as my mother and friends. Charlie thought that he failed me as a father. A protector. A provider. I wish more than anything that I would be able to see him just one more time, just so I could tell him that he was an amazing father and I loved him almost as much as I knew that he loved me. That's obviously impossible now but I always imagined that it wasn't." I paused.

"You really miss him, don't you?" she asked being watchful of my emotions, but I remained calm and answered sincerely.

"Yes. Yes, I do." At this point I knew that we had to get on with the story or I would never finish it. "Anyways, as I said, Edward left me unprotected. Did I mention that James had a mate?" I asked.

"No." she said, as if it were an irrelevant factor.

"Well, he did. And she was hell bent on avenging his death…by killing me." Melissa gasped.

"What? Why? I thought Edward and the rest of the Cullens killed James." She was very analytical with everything that I said but it felt good to not have to edit or leave anything out.

"Victoria felt that it would be fair for her to kill Edward's mate since he killed hers."

"An eye for an eye. A mate for a mate." She whispered to herself.

"Exactly." I confirmed.

"But she didn't kill you."

"No." I sighed hoping to skip this part. "She did something much worse."

"What…happened?" she asked and from her disbelieving tone, I knew she was thinking exactly what Edward thought yesterday. What could possibly be worse?

"She…killed everyone that I have ever loved. Some were torn to apart, and others were drained of their blood. But each death was different. Each and every one was always more gruesome than the one before. And we still haven't reached the worse part." I ended making it sound more like a scary story than my own autobiography. Her eyes widen and I knew that she would probably have nightmares from this one.

"She waited until I was done with the transformation, so that I could witness every single person die and never lose the image of their corpse or the sound of their screams. And after she killed my father right in front of me, she fled. I haven't seen her since." I felt my eyes prickle with unshed tears as each of their images quickly flipped through my mind. Suddenly, I smelt the unmistakably salty scent of fresh tears. She was crying. I looked up to see her usually bright blue eyes, darken yet glisten with more tears.

"Please, don't cry over the past. Just try not to make the same mistakes that I did." I warned her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't give your heart to the wrong person. Treasure it. And don't let anyone break it because once you do, no one knows if you will ever be the same. I know that I will never be Bella again. Isabella is protective, beautiful and powerful and many other positive things…but she will never compare to Bella. The sweet, innocent and clumsy girl, who fell in love with a vampire." I realized these words were true after I said them.

"Isabella, why do you think I'm here with the Cullens?" she asked, as perplexity became obvious on her face.

"You're Edward's mate. Why else would they bring you into a castle full of non-vegetarian vampires?" Now it was my turn to be confused.

"I am not Edward's mate." She said, though she sounded reluctant to tell me this.

"What?" I heard her perfectly clear but I don't understand any other reason for her to be here unless she was mated to Edward. Who would put a human in danger for no reason?

"We tried to form a relationship but I gave up when it became obvious that he was trying to find another Bella. We have so much in common and I knew that it wasn't just a coincidence." She said but I still felt lost with the purpose of her presence.

"Melissa, why are you here?" It sounded a bit rude but I wasn't paying much attention because she showed no signs of being disrespected. I was too focused on her answer.

"I was raped by a vampire a week ago. Now, I'm pregnant."

Author's Note: Okay, so now we have Melissa and Isabella sharing secrets with each other. Why? You'll find out soon enough. But only if you continue to read my story. I know that things have been getting quite confusing but all of the events will lead to building an amazing plot but I need your help. I need to know what my readers think about this story and if it's a waste of time or not...so...review! Let me know what you think SHOULD and SHOULDN'T happened.