A/N: This chapter is really short on purpose and since it's short I decided to give it to you early

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Chapter 3- Gone

I spent the next four days in complete and utter agony. No one knew why Carlisle had quit his job when he dropped me off at the hospital that night. The Cullens did not show up at school, and the beautiful house hidden in the forest was empty. The cars and personal items were gone, but the furniture was there, covered up with sheets, already collecting a thin layer of dust. I had been to the house once, the day after the accident, hoping that somehow Edward or another member of the family would be waiting for me, or that there would be a note explaining where they had gone. When I found nothing there besides the furniture, I was paralyzed with painful grief. I agonized over why they would leave without telling me, and why Edward would take my ring. The only possible reason I could come up with for Edward taking my ring that didn't tear my heart apart was the idea that Edward wouldn't want to cause me too many problems with Charlie until he was here to help explain. I had no reason for why they would leave without me unless they were in serious danger, or they really had left me behind. The second idea was more than I could handle. I wasn't able to stop sobbing long enough to leave their house for hours, arriving home after twilight.

Three days after my accident, the two remaining Cullen high school students were officially withdrawn via a phone call. The school was buzzing all day about their abrupt and inexplicable departure. I fielded tons of questions all day but wasn't able to give them any more than they already knew. Every part of me told me that what was coming was extremely bad. The Cullens never would have removed themselves from school if they had planned to come back with any kind of permanence. They valued their human charade too much to risk pulling Alice and Edward out of school completely if they were planning on coming back. I was so confused because I knew Edward never would have left me without a single word if he had any choice at all. My brain ran over every scenario I could think of, each more impossible than the last. I cried myself to sleep that night and woke up an hour later screaming Edward's name.

The next day, as I came home from school, I anxiously checked the answering machine again, and then walked out to check the mailbox. I had argued with myself many times in the last few days, trying to figure out why in the world they had left without a word. I knew that they would have a hard time explaining their disappearance to anyone else. I was forcing myself to believe that their absence was temporary due to the incident with Jasper, and I consoled myself with the idea that they would contact me soon and come back the moment Jasper could handle it. I refused to think about the fact that my ring was gone after my extremely painful visit to the Cullens' home. I reached the mailbox and my heart skipped a beat as I found a large brown envelope inside. I flipped it over and my heart sang as I saw the familiar handwriting. It was from Edward. Finally, I would have the answers I desperately needed and would be able to figure out a game plan to get back to him as soon as possible.

I ran inside and tore the envelope open. Inside there was a CD that was sealed in a strange clear package. It took me a moment and then I realized that it was one of those new 2 day DVDs that had just shown up in a couple of the small convenience stores in Forks. I had never seen them used to record something other than a commercial DVD, usually containing the newest movie to be released to DVD, which was rarely worth wasting time on. With trembling fingers, I tore the package open and put the disc into my ancient computer. At this point, I noticed that a new DVD drive had been installed. My old one could only play certain discs; my heart beat slightly faster as I thought about who would have installed this and why.

The program seemed to take forever to load, but finally, my Edward's face was freeze framed on the screen. For a moment, I stared at the screen, rememorizing his gorgeous face that seemed to be twisted in an expression of pain. I wanted to go through the screen and take all his pain away. I tried to catch my breath and willed my heart to slow down before I pressed the play button on the screen.

After a moment, the DVD began to play and Edward's voice rang out with a flat, dead tone;

"Bella, my world is not a safe place for you. We need to stop pretending that lions and lambs can be together. Lions kill lambs and I refuse to be the one that ends your life. We have left Forks and I do not want you to come with us. Bella, I am not what you are, and I cannot continue to pretend to be something I am not. I am tired of the charade. I let this go on far too long. I am deeply sorry for everything I did and said that allowed you to care for me so much. I do not have the words to express how badly I feel about the 24 hours before your birthday party and all that I did to make you think I loved you right before I pulled myself out of your life. I never meant to hurt you, and I will never forgive myself for the pain I have caused you. I know that this will be hard for you Bella, but you will forget me and move on in time. This is the last time you will see or hear from me or any other member of our family. I will leave you without painful reminders so that you can have a clean break and move on. I am sorry to have to tell you this way, but we had to leave immediately before the questions started. Please be safe, Bella. Do not do anything foolish or stupid that would cause you to get hurt. Charlie needs you too much and you have a long life to look forward to. Be happy and forget me. Goodbye, my Bella."

I stared at his image in the screen without moving for what seemed like an eternity. Then, with silent tears streaming down my face, I hit the play button again. As I watched the recording the second time, one phrase stood out above all the rest - "I do not want you." As that statement sunk in, the overwhelming pain tore open a huge hole in my heart. I felt like I would never be completely whole again. Part of me went missing, and without him, I would never get it back.

The next forty-eight hours were agony. I watched the DVD over and over again, memorizing every aspect of his face and tone, desperately searching for something that would tell me he had been lying when he made the recording. As hard as I looked, I couldn't find anything to doubt. He really didn't love me and he didn't want me anymore. Slowly and agonizingly, the invisible hole in my chest grew and it felt like I couldn't breathe. At the end of forty-eight hours, the DVD became unplayable. I let the pain completely take me over and I did not resurface.

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