Hi. Guess what? I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I haven't gone missing, and I'm not dead. Can you believe it? My excuse is those Nancy Drew computer games. For some odd reason, I can't stop playing them. Even though I SUCK at them. And badly, too. Takes me a couple days to get through half the game. And there are twenty of them, so… yeah. Until I can stop my insane impulsiveness to not give up on them and make it through them on my own and without cheating (I get that from my dad; walkthroughs are our best friend… but I'm working on stopping), updates will most likely be scarce. I'm very stubborn.

And guess what! This story won first place in the contest that I wrote it for! I'm pretty proud of myself! I'm going to shut up now, okay? Okay.

Field Trip From Hell

Chapter 6

And Then I Remembered

"You've been a vampire for little over a month, you know."

My breath caught in my throat and I glanced up at him. He couldn't have been serious… right?

He looked down at me and met my gaze and he nodded, only slightly, but it was enough for me to understand. He was not joking.

And for some odd reason, I was mad.

"So, everything that you, and Alice, and everyone else have told me… has been a lie?" I growled. It probably wasn't fair for me to come to that conclusion so quickly, but I couldn't help myself.

He closed his eyes and chuckled under his breath. "No, no Bella. You just never received the entire story."

He opened is eyes and his gaze met my inquiring stare.

"So…? What is the 'entire story', then?" I pressed.

"Well, beginning from where you left off in my journal, I was able to get you back to my house and to Carlisle before I did anymore danger to your well-being. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and Carlisle and I both knew that you would need to be changed, or we would have lost you. But —"

"You already explained this," I interrupted.

"Just a simple recap, love," and he began again, "But I didn't want him to change you. I wanted to do it. And so I did.

"And you woke up three days later. And after we told you what had happened to you… well, you weren't exactly the happiest girl in the world, I'm afraid." He looked down at me and gave me a knowing half-smile.

My eyes went wide and I gasped. "What do you mean? Did I hurt you or someone else? Oh, my God, I am so sorry —"

He laughed, cutting off my apology. "No, no, no one was hurt. I can't say the say the same for Esme's family room furniture, though. Didn't you notice the lack of, well, anything when you went downstairs today?"

I shrugged. "Guess not. But please, continue."

"Well, after you woke up, you avoided me for days. In fact, you avoided any male that just happened to be in the house, period. You would only speak to Alice and Esme. Which was odd, because you didn't know who it was who had changed you. You just hated us – me most of all – and when Alice and Esme told you that it was me who had changed you, you nearly lost it."

"What do you mean, 'nearly'?" I asked, picking up one of his hands and tracing invisible circles all over it.

"I mean when you found out it was I who had changed you, you were at my throat for days. When they explained to you why I had changed you, though, was when you backed off and began looking at me with expressions other than those that were filled with absolute hatred." I winced. How could I not remember any of this? It all seemed so important.

"I love you, you know that, don't you?" he asked me quietly.

"I love you, too," I answered back, just as quietly.

His eyes softened and he smiled down at me lovingly before bowing his head and pressing his lips to mine for a few seconds. And then he continued,

"Over time, you began speaking to me more and more. And when you were comfortable enough around me…" he stopped what he was saying and asked me a question, "Bella, would there be a reason you never wanted to be around any of the men around the house, and it took you so long to become comfortable around us?"

That question ruined me. The barriers that had protected me from the pain of remembering what happened that summer in Arizona.

I remembered the roomful of mirrors – the old ballet studio that I attended as a child.

All the screaming I had done, and the pain I had felt.

And the man's voice. The face that went with the voice, though, remained lost to me.

Just the pain of remembering that horrible, horrible experience was excruciating.

"Bella! Love, are you alright?" Edward sounded so worried and scared and upset.

It was then that I realized that I was gripping onto him so tightly that if he was human I would have crushed his bone in his arm, and I was doubled over in pain. The pain of remembering…

- - - - - - - - -

Before you say anything, yes, you're supposed to be confused. But it WILL be explained. And yeah, I know the chapter's short. In fact, it's not even a short chapter. It's not even 1,000 words, I know, but I thought it was better than nothing… especially considering that it's been who knows how long since I've updated. And yeah. You should be confused. Review, please.

Oh, and before I forget. I have a poll up on my profile concerning my other stories and their updates, so if you could go check it out, you'd seriously be my best friend.

And now you can review ;D