Title: A Past Revealed
Author: Dreaming of Forks
Beta: Beta Needed - The first few chapters that I have written on my own and I have edited the ferociously, but as writers we always seem to miss things. Would also be nice to have another perspective on the plot as it develops. An experienced beta is preferred. I do expect that this will become fairly long.
Disclaimer: The Twilight Series, and all that encompasses it, is the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I am just borrowing the characters and promise to give them back, but not after a little suffering of course. Any original characters are of my own creation, and are only added to support the movement of the storyline. I am not a big fan of Mary Sues anyway.
Timeline: This will pick up shortly after Twilight, during the summer before New Moon. I wanted to pick a time that was spoken of in the series and would not conflict with the events in New Moon. I can't guarantee that will not change as the story progresses, but I will try my best. Some spoilers for Eclipse and Breaking Dawn may also exist.
Summary: What if some else could hear Edwards thoughts? How does his mind reading ability connect to his human past? Beth Sutton, a seemingly average college student, might just get to find out, whether she likes it or not.
Authors Note: While reading the Twilight Saga, many questions have often formed in my head. Perhaps, I just have an eye for details, but sometimes my mind gets off on tangents, and stories like this are born. Edward always has the freedom to read others minds, except Bella, and see their deepest thoughts. What if the tables were turned, and someone else could read his mind? Or even interact with him through the channel of his mind? How might he react?
I started writing this story as a way to answer that, but also found that I had several questions about his past that are not necessary explored in the book. How did he come to possess his mother's wedding ring and pendent in Eclipse? (Vampires don't necessary inherit things by legal channels, since technically they no longer exist to their human friends and families) What might his relationship been like with his mother?
I have developed an original character for this story to reveal some things about Edward's past, and to force him to have to grow as a character. Bella and Alice will also play a role in the story, but may not show up until little later. The story is told through Beth's POV and Edward's POV.
While I have written fanfiction off and on for several years for my own entertainment, this is the first time that I have published any of it, and my first attempt at Twilight. I hope you enjoy it. Feedback of any kind is welcomed.
Chapter One
The small plane I had taken from Seattle started its final decent into Port Angeles, Washington, a little after four in the afternoon. I looked out the window at sheeting rain over the bay. Grey storm clouds pressed down from the sky, making it look almost like dusk. I patted the raincoat that lay across my lap, satisfied with my preparation. This was my first visit to the Olympic Peninsula of Northwest Washington State, but even I knew of the region's infamous reputation for gloomy skies and never-ending rain. Even in June.
Several tourists seated around grumbled about the weather and the potential implications for their vacation plans. But I smiled to myself, secretly welcoming it.
I felt the wheels of the small aircraft make contact with the ground, officially announcing our arrival. The plane taxied into one of the small gates, and the engines shut down with a shutter. Passengers began moving about the small cabin to claim their belongings, as the one flight attendant opened the door. I pulled on my raincoat, grabbing my purse and suitcase from the overhead compartment, and made my way to the front of the plane. Pulling my hood up over my head, I entered into the rain and quickly clambered down the rollaway stairs toward the gate. This airport was far too small to have enclosed ramps like the other airports I had visited on my journey here from Grand Rapids.
Once in the small terminal, I made my way to the counter to pick up the keys for my rental car, slightly dreading what might be on the receiving end of that key. In an effort to keep my budget minimal, I settled for the economy rental.
I signed the paperwork and grabbed the keys from the clerk, before re-entering into the rain to search the parking lot for the correct numbered space to match my key. I soon found that I had been given a small white Hyundai hatchback, barely big enough to be considered an automobile.
The damn thing looks like an egg lying on its side with wheels. It sure is a far cry from my Mazda 6, but I guess it will just have to do.
After loading my suitcase into the tiny hatch, I sat down in the front seat and pulled out the map I had bought to check the quickest route to the highway. In earlier days, I might have been excited to spend several days in this quaint little tourist town -- exploring the shops by the bay or taking a day trip to Victoria.
Today, I just wanted to get as far away from the noisy tourists and find some peace in the surrounding wilderness. For some reason, I couldn't help feeling like their excitement and banter, somehow echoed in my head, like a scurry of insects in the walls of house. It was giving me a strange headache for some reason, even though this had never really happened before when I was around lots of people.
Strange! Probably just the long hours on the plane and the early wake up to get the airport this morning. Dismissing the strange feeling, I started the car and eased it out into traffic.
When I found Highway 101, I turned left and headed west towards the Olympic National Park and the small town of Forks, identified by a small green sign on the roadside. This was where I had made my hotel reservation tonight, and I hoped that there was a least a small restaurant in town where I could grab some dinner later.
As I drove on, the houses and businesses gave way to high vertical slopes covered with towering evergreens and creeping ferns. The slopes towered on each side of the road, creating a tunnel of dark green under the thick cloud bank. Rain still sprinkled on the windshield, but seemed to have slowed since leaving the airport. Every few miles, the slopes lowered to the valley floor allowing occasion views of the snow-capped Olympic peaks to the south. The view was amazing, but my mind began to wander towards the events of the past few months of my life and the circumstances that had brought me to this place.
*****
It was the last week of March and end of spring break at school. I was in a hurry to return to my dorm at Cornerstone University, about an hour drive from my hometown, Greenville, Michigan. A distant suburb of Grand Rapids.
I had come home to visit Gran for the week and catch up with old friends from high school.
I have lived with my grandmother, Beatrice Ryder, or just "Bea" to the residents of our small town, since I was eight. My parents died in a car crash when I was young, and Gran had since served as my parent, guardian and best friend. I don't remember as much about parents as I wish I could, but I always keep a picture of them tucked in my wallet as a reminder. This has always been the best way I felt I could keep them with me and remember the few memories that I still have of them in my early childhood. So much has faded with time.
My parents were moderately wealthy, and had arranged for me to have a small trust fund to pay for college and other expenses when I turned eighteen. Their death has often been marked as the town tragedy, and some folks still see me as the orphaned victim, even at nearly twenty. "Poor Beth", I would often hear from family friends and neighbors who knew my grandmother while growing. They never said it to me directly, but I would always hear is muttered softly when I passed or in hushed conversations. Others in town had given up the sympathy act a long time ago, labeling as just another privileged brat with an easy pass to college.
Indifferent to either extreme, I just tried to work to do my best and be true to myself, with bigger plans in the world that would take me far from the little town that I often found boring. Since I could remember, I had always wanted to study photography and travel the world documenting nature.
I was running late that day, and stopped off quickly to give Gran a quick hug to say goodbye. I had dinner plans with my roommate, Jenna, and needed to get back to campus for an early class the next morning. When I arrived on campus and rushed into our modest dorm, Jenna sat impatiently at the bottom of the steps that let up to our floor.
"Where have you been?" she exclaimed.
"I am so sorry I'm late. I got a late start back and lost track of time this afternoon". I started to tell her about the afternoon I had spent with friends at the beach, but she interrupted me.
"You received a phone about twenty minutes ago", she started. "...it was from the Sheriff's office."
I stopped talking noticing the urgency in her voice, and examined her blanched complexion.
"Something has happened. They need you to call them back as soon as possible", she continued grimly.
"The Sherriff?" I questioned, watching her worried expression deepen. "Did he say what it was about...?"
"Not directly. But he did say that was very important for you to call him back tonight when you arrived home. I wrote down his name and number", she added, handing me a piece of paper.
Panic began to creep into the back of my mind as I took the piece of paper from Jenna. I dialed the number on my cell phone, having no idea that my life was about to change forever.
To this day, I don't remember the exact dialogue of that conversation. Numbness had taken over almost immediately; I functioned in a state of it for several weeks afterwards. Gran had collapsed in the backyard near the garden and been found by one of the neighbors. She has been the victim of a massive stroke and died several hours later. As the only living and immediate family, I was left to largely plan her funeral and memorial service on my own. In the following weeks, I was an amiable host to concerned neighbors and friends, and even returned to school to finish up my sophomore year. I was functioning on the outside, but merely an empty shell on the inside. It wasn't until I returned home from finals for the summer in the middle May to an empty house of memories, that I started to feel again and even cry. I shut myself away in the house for nearly three weeks, before I finally decided that life had to go on, whether I wanted it to or not. I finally started cleaning out the house during Memorial Day weekend, and decided that I needed to get away. Anyway. It was then that I read an online article about the Olympic National Park and the Pacific Northwest, and knew that this was the perfect place to get away, and start fresh with my dream as a nature photographer.
*****
My mind was suddenly rocketed back to reality when the horn of a semi-truck blasted from behind me. Startled, I jumped and looked up in the rearview mirror. I was met with the reflection of an angry grill of a logging truck nearly inches from the back of the car. It was so close that I could not see the driver, but I could only imagine his impatient expression.
Beginning to panic, I looked around frantically for a place to pull off. I spotted an upcoming opening in the guard rail for a turnout, and swerved the tiny car to the right. I almost lost control before coming to an abrupt stop in the dirt about a foot from the rail. The truck sped, shaking the tiny car in its wake. I sat there, frozen with fear, for several seconds while my heartbeat returned to normal.
"What the hell was that?" I screamed to the silence. "That guy must be crazy!"
The speed limit on the highway was marked at 55 mph. That guy had to be doing at least seventy or more.
Back home, I was well known for being a bit of a speed demon myself, but event I was not crazy enough to take the curving mountain roads of this highway at any more than the posted limit.
After several minutes, I eased the car carefully back onto the highway and continued on to my destination. And with a greater awareness of what might be bearing down behind me.