The Twilight Twenty-Five: thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: #12 (Exit Stairs)
Pen Name: Maddie-the-Muse
Pairing/Character(s): Bella Swan
Rating: G
Word Count: 300
Photo prompts can be found here: thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
The emergency stairs leading to Chiltern Street look nothing like the ones in the theatre back in Forks, but every time she gets off the Circle Line at Baker Street she thinks back a lifetime ago to a conversation she had with her then best friend while sitting on the stairs of the theatre.
It had been decades since she had thought about Jacob, or Forks at all for that matter, the first time she saw the stairs. She couldn't place just what about them brought the memories, but every time she had to go to the library at Westminster University, which these days happened with increasing frequency, thoughts of the boy who had professed his undying love for her came rushing back.
Stopping at the bottom of the emergency stairs, she lost herself in the memories yet again. She wondered if he had ever found someone to return the abundance of love he had to give, or if she had taken that chance away from him completely. She feared that he may have turned hard and avoided connecting with anyone after she, as he had said, died. She had often thought of looking into his life—to see if he was happy—but had always stopped after a brief search had come up dry. He'd be an old man now, and finding out that she had prevented him from finding someone to love was more than she was willing to endure.
Someone bumped into her back, drawing her back to reality. Drawing a deep breath, Bella shook her head as if to clear away the cloudy visions of a life past, and made her way toward the exit. She had a lecture to prepare for, and Edward would worry if she were later than she said she would be.