Chapter 1
The beacon of love
I'm Bella Swan and I thrive in a town were popularity and the world of cliques take center stage. I live in Maryland, Italy. My mom left my dad with me when I was five, my dad also told me bedtime stories but one really stuck out and it was the tale about the vampires and lycans known to all as werewolves. I'm now seventeen and Maryland has gotten a whole lot of cases where people have suddenly gone missing but my dad Charlie Swan is taking care of that. The legend of the town talks of creatures that thrived on the blood of humans and that these creatures could only be seen in the twilight. My dad doesn't believe these legends but I do.
It was my first day at Maryland High and my dad decided that it would be a good idea to drop me off with all the cases and missing people I thought it was a good idea too. Maryland High was characterised as the school for all the hottest and brightest people in the town but I didn't fit this criteria at all. My friend Julia was all I had and she transferred from Maryland High to a school in Washington called Forks High. Word around the town or should I say according to her boyfriend, Spencer, She suffered from depression because of the constant bulling and names she was called. I didn't believe this because Julia was the most popular person I knew so I Think that she left Maryland High because her dad, Billy, got a better job offer as police chief for the Forks police station.
The first day was going well and no one had approached me so my plan of staying under the radar was clearly working. Lunch came and to my dislike the school had a cafeteria. The cafeteria can be known as the meeting ground of all the cliques of the school. I didn't belong to a clique so I spent my lunchtime in the corner of the cafeteria where I'm sure no one could spot me unless they were… never mind about that I know it's a legend and I should believe my dad. Just when I thought I was alone a funny looking guy came to my table. I felt like I knew him but I didn't. He had brown hair and his features were very distinct. One word to describe him was perfect. I realised suddenly how I was being rude and I decided to greet this mystery guy. Unfortunately he beat me to it. "Hi, can I sit with you?" I immediately said yes. "Oh and my name's Edward Cullen and my sister Alice told me your name's Bella." I was shocked that my plan to stay under the radar wasn't working and that for once someone wanted to sit on my table for a change. "Of course you can sit on my table and I saw you in my English class. My name is actually Isabella Swan but I prefer it that people call me Bella I think it's less formal and it has a nice ring to it. Well enough rambling about myself tell me about you. "Well my dad's a doctor and my mom's an acclaimed author. She usually writes about vampires and werewolves but I know that it's just fiction." I was enjoying his company and I found that he was at ease and he generally wanted to speak to me which was cool. The bell rang and the day went on and on until the end of day bell rang. Charlie was waiting for me which was great because I hated waiting.
The evening wasn't silent and peaceful because of the constant ringing of the telephone about more people who had gone missing as well as the finding of dead bodies in the Mary River which was just 10km from my house. I took a shower and did my homework. The most interesting homework was the history assignment we were doing about the town's legends. I obviously decided to do my assignment on the vampire and lycans legend. The assignment was due on Friday so I had four days to do my assignment. I had started to gather information by doing research on the vampires first. I found things like, vampires could be killed by using a wooden stake and they could also be killed by being burned to ashes.I was intrigued and excited then I got a call from Edward. I answered immediately. "Hi, Bella this is Edward. I was wondering whether you could meet me tomorrow after school in the school parking lot?'' Sure, I'll see you tomorrow then, bye.
I was wondering the whole night why Edward would need to see me after school tomorrow but I started to think of one statement I saw when I was conducting my research and it was about a group of strong vampires that controlled the other vampires. They were situated in an old building underground Italy. The group was referred to as the Volturi. Another statement was that if you were born a Vampire you're abilities and the need to drink blood would only occur when you turn 30. I thought about all that I read but the peaceful sound of the night eventually made me fall asleep.
The next day came swiftly Charlie dropped me off again and lunchtime came and the day went by quickly. The end of day bell came quickly and I ran to the parking lot. I found Edward there and he looked as though a bus had just hit him. "Hey, Bella, I needed to see you because my mom has just suffered a stroke and the doctors say that she isn't stable and that we should start preparing for the worst. I didn't know who else to speak to but you." I was immediately shocked and I knew that he needed a hug and that's what I gave him. I was never the person someone came to when they were in pain but I guess that a lot things have changed.