Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, and I truly appreciate all of the kind words and encouragement. If there is a good enough following, I'm going to continue on with this story along with 'The Island'.
"Why don't you come outside, you big baby? You scaaaared?"
Four thirteen-year-old boys stood outside the large, stone, fairytale house, calling out cruel taunts to the boy inside. Their winter boots left careless, ugly cuts in the fresh white snow like crumbs in a pristine glass of milk. It was cold outside, turning their cheeks and noses pink, and the muted gray sky cast a silver sheen over everything. The boys' voices carried well, but the boy inside never showed himself. The attic window remained empty.
"He can't come outside," said one of the boys, a sneer in his voice. "He's like, a vampire or something."
The others nodded. They had seen the ghostly white skin, the unnatural gold eyes. He wouldn't come outside, he didn't go to school with the rest of them, and he seemed to shun the outside world at all costs. For the four thirteen year olds, this was more than enough evidence that the boy in the attic was a freak. And freaks had to be dealt with.
"This is stupid," said one boy, scooping his hand down to pick up a rock. "Let's make him come out."
Coming up the street was a twelve-year-old girl, awkward and gangly, her arms heavy with books from the library she had just come from. Her long brown hair was tied into two long braids that hung down her back, and unusually deep brown eyes shined out from a remarkably pale face. She was in the uncomfortable stage between child and young woman- her face had begun to shed some of it's baby fat, but this only drew more attention to the braces on her teeth. She had just gone through a growth spurt, and she looked even bonier than usual. Knobby knees and spindly legs made her feel thoroughly uncomfortable in her skin.
She heard the voices of the boys- boys she knew from school- and looked up curiously to see what they were shouting about. A feeling of anger welled in her stomach when she caught the tone of their words. They were taunting the strange boy she had only ever caught glimpses of. Their unprovoked hatred left a bad taste in the girl's mouth, and she quickly strode over to them.
As she did, one boy let the rock in his hand fly. She watched it, as if in slow motion, as it arced gracefully through the cold, gray air and shattered the attic window with a resounding smash.
"Stop it!" she yelled, the books falling free from her arms and scattering in the snow around her. She ran at the boy who had thrown the rock, lost her balance, and fell into him, sending them both into the snow where their limbs became tangled. She shoved his shoulder angrily, a disgusted look on her face as she sat up. "You're unbelievable, Mike. Why do you have to be such a jerk?"
As she got up she dusted the snow off of her pants and she looked up at the window. It was empty. She hoped that the boy hadn't been in the attic at all, but she had a feeling that he had been there all along, hiding from the kids that so blindly hated him.
Her books were in the snow, some of them laying open, getting damaged. She hurriedly picked them up, scowling at Mike and the others with the haughty air of someone much older than twelve years old. "Leave him alone." she said angrily, her brown eyes flashing. "He's never done anything to you."
Mike had a small smile on his face, and he walked over to Bella, standing closer than she liked. "We're protecting you." he said stubbornly. "That boy's not normal."
"He's a vampire!" chimed Eric Yorkie.
Bella looked at them all in disbelief. "Don't be stupid," she told them with a scowl. "He's not a vampire! He's just like us!"
"Then why won't he come outside?" countered Eric, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why doesn't he go to school?"
Bella faltered, unsure. "I- I don't know." she said weakly, and then her cocoa colored eyes flashed as she mumbled angrily. "But I wouldn't want to come out to see you jerks either."
"Come on, Bella. I'll walk you home." said Mike, throwing his arm casually over her shoulders. She shrugged him off, irritation written all over her face.
"Get away from me." she said venomously, a contradictorily hard look on her soft face.
The boys rolled their eyes- their game had ended and the fun was over. They needed to leave before someone called the cops for them breaking a window. "Suit yourself." said Mike with a shrug. They turned and left Bella, walking in the direction she had come from. Bella looked up at the shattered window, trying to see into the attic, but it was too dark and she couldn't make anything out.
On the sidewalk, near the steps leading up to the door, was her final book. She looked at it, unsure, afraid to venture so close to the house that everyone seemed to avoid. On the other hand, the thought of leaving her book to get damaged and lost was an overwhelming loss. She gulped, shuffling the books in her arms, and steeled her resolve with one final look at the window.
No one was around, she assured herself. No one was going to see her if she walked up to the house. Besides, it wasn't as if she was doing anything wrong! She was only picking up a book. But, she thought warily, still frozen in place as if the soles of her shoes were glued to the icy pavement, what if someone saw her and saw the shattered window and thought she was responsible?I'll just be quick, she told herself, and hurried toward the steps that led to the front door of the fairytale house. The sidewalks were icy and treacherous, already a hazard for the well coordinated. Bella Swan was no match for such conditions. Yet, she somehow reached her fallen book in one piece, swooped to retrieve it, and put it snugly in her arms with the others. She glanced anxiously at the front door, making sure no one had seen her, and tip toed away, preparing herself to hear at any moment the piercing wail of police sirens intent on wrongfully arresting her for the broken window.
But none came, and she got safely to the end of the sidewalk without any mishap or persecution. She had done it, she thought, looking guiltily at all the glittering, broken glass lying in the snow far below the window. She had gotten away, just like awful Mike Newton and his horrible friends.
A siren rang loud and clear down the street, it's wail echoing off the pristine houses and melting snow. Bella's heart nearly stopped in shock and she jolted, losing her balance. One foot moved too far behind her on the slick, melting ice while the other slid too far forward, and her arms wind milled, grasping at thin air for something to hang onto. She found nothing and spiraled down toward the asphalt, landing exactly right and slicing her knee open on a jagged edge of sidewalk. Her crimson blood swelled from the new gash and overflowed in tiny, sparkling droplets on the snow. Her warm blood on the crisp, white powdery substance looked like an impressionist painting, and as she looked at her own blood she began to feel a little dizzy. The police cruiser raced down the street, straight past her, and she realized with humiliation that of course it hadn't been meant for her.
Up the sidewalk, the door of the fairytale house creaked open. It was dark inside, and Bella couldn't see who stood in the doorway. For a moment nothing happened, but she had the feeling the person in the doorway was looking at her, and then a woman hurried outside.
Bella had never seen anyone so beautiful in all her life. The woman who rushed toward her, a look of concern on her pale, lovely face, looked like some sort of kind queen in a modern era. She perfectly fit with the fairytale house, or at least that was how it seemed to Bella in her haze.
She woman's honey-brown hair flowed smoothly over flawless, ivory skin and hung in perfect, soft curls around her slim shoulders. Her lips and cheeks were flushed a healthy pink, and a pair of familiar golden eyes showed utmost concern. Bella had only ever seen one other pair of golden eyes, and she thought instantly of the boy in the attic that the others had taunted.
Who was this woman? Who was this woman with her ephemeral beauty and golden eyes and overwhelming compassion? Bella had surely never seen her before- a woman like this one stood out in a crowd. She radiated grace and kindness in a timeless manner, and it wasn't until the woman was swooping her into her arms that Bella even realized the woman was old enough to be her mother.
"Are you alright?" asked the kind woman- the good queen in the fairytale. Bella nodded her head vaguely, not truly comprehending. She could feel the world moving underneath her and realized she was being carried. Her arms tightened around the woman's neck for fear of falling, and the honey-haired woman smiled softly in response.
Bella was caught completely off guard when the bright world around her changed to one of darkness. The door of the house shut behind her and the natural light was instantly cut off. It took a moment for Bella's eyes to adjust, even though several lamps were on.
She was taken to a cozy kitchen and placed in a chair at a round table near a draperied window. The drapes were drawn shut, and on the table a candle flickered in a jar.
"What happened, honey?" asked the woman, kneeling before the girl and inspecting the gash on her knee. It was already starting to clot and blood had ceased to flow so freely.
"I- I fell." Bella answered weakly, looking all around her at the beautiful interior of the home. Her eyes were still adjusting to the change in light though, and she couldn't see much beyond the kitchen.
"Well, I'm not the doctor in the family," said the woman with a kind smile. "But I think you'll be okay." Her smile widened. "Why don't I get you a band-aid and a cookie?"
Bella nodded with a sniffly smile, her brown braids bouncing as her head bobbed. The woman stood and strode away toward the cabinets. The girl watched curiously, but a wide pair of dark eyes caught her attention in the hall.
A girl a little younger than her was standing in the hall, peering back curiously with her head cocked to the side. She hugged the wall, chewing on her lip as if she was unsure, and then bounced into the room, her shaggy black hair bouncing around a milky white face.
"I'm Alice." she said, skipping to a halt before Bella, a wide smile on her lips. Her high-pitched, tinkling voice made her seem even younger than she was, and she was quite petite. Bella had a hard time deciding how old the strange, dark eyed girl was.
"I'm Bella." she replied tentatively, offering a weak smile. She caught Alice looking at her bloody knee and looked embarrassed. "I fell outside your house." she explained.
Alice leaned in closer to inspect the wound, squinting her wide, opulent eyes. The darkness made it almost impossible to see, thought Bella, and she leaned over to grasp the edge of the curtains.
"Here," she said, drawing back the drapes. The bright winter sunlight poured into the kitchen, illuminating both girls. Alice looked up in shock and covered her head with her arms, screaming as if in pain. Bella stared at her in scared bewilderment, wandering what was happening.
Alice's screaming continued and she writhed. Her cries were loud and clear and heartbreaking, and the golden-eyed woman immediately turned from her task and swooped the tiny black-haired child into her arms, quickly closing the curtains and instilling darkness in the house once more.
"Shh, shh," she cooed, rocking Alice back and forth in her arms, stroking her dark hair. "You're okay, you're okay."Alice's wailing subsided to soft whimpers and the woman kissed her temple, setting her back down. Bella looked at her closely, trying to ascertain the cause of her sudden distress, but she looked fine. Alice wiped one hand across her tear streaked face and sniffed, glancing at Bella, then fled. Bella looked after her in confusion.
The woman sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly, then gave a soft, apologetic smile to her guest. She took a seat in the chair across from Bella at the table and hung her head.
"Perhaps I should explain." she said, and looked unbelievably sad. Bella wanted to comfort her in some way, to tell her it was really alright, to put her hand on top of the woman's, but they were practically strangers, and Bella couldn't even summon the courage to open her mouth.
"My son suffers from a very rare, very severe genetic disorder. The disease was submissive in both my husband and I, but it is dominant in my Edward. He has a disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum. In short, he is allergic to sunlight. He cannot go outside, he cannot stand in the sun, he can never be exposed to daylight. If he were to go outside into the light, his skin would burn and blister in moments and he could go into a coma. He has to be very careful."
This explained why he didn't go to school, thought Bella, nodding her head in understanding. It also explained why she only saw him on very dark, overcast days when the sun was blocked behind clouds, peering out at the world from the window in the attic. "And Alice has…" She couldn't pronounce it. "this disease… too?" Bella asked, frowning. The mother looked down at the folded hands in her lap, a sad expression marring her beautiful face.
"No, she does not. But Alice and Edward are twins, and Alice has always stayed with Edward. She has seen the pain it causes him if the sun touches him, and she is terrified of sunlight too. But Alice is normal. She could go outside and play anytime she wants, it's the irrational fear, and loyalty to her brother too, that keeps her inside."
The brown haired girl could not understand this. It added a whole other level to the mystery of this strange family. She fidgeted uneasily, suddenly feeling as though she was intruding on their lives. She felt like she had no right to be there at all, felt guilty that they shared their secrets while she shared nothing. She was taking, but giving nothing back.
Any other person her age in the small town of Forks would have been worrying and fidgeting for completely different reasons. They would worry their friends would taunt and tease them for going into the vampire house, would question and harass them for answers, but that wasn't Bella's worry. She just felt sad for the family, sad that two people her age would never go out into the sun, especially Alice, who could.
But Edward…. Edward could not. She felt as if a weight had fallen over her as she imagined such a life, a life of confinement and ostracism. She felt the deepest sense of empathy for the painfully beautiful boy with the flawlessly pale face and the glowing golden eyes. How horrible for him, she thought, and she wished that there was some way she could help.
"I should get back home," said Bella abruptly, standing from her chair. She winced as the gash on her knee stretched, then collected her books from the table. The woman's golden eyes widened a little and she nodded, also standing.
"I'll walk you to the door." she said, giving a sad sort of smile that Bella could see clearly now that her eyes had adjusted. It's not so dark in here, she realized. It only seemed that way after coming in from outside. She timidly walked toward the door, feeling the woman walking behind her. When she got to the door, the mother reached out and opened it.
"What's your name?" asked the woman, and her gold eyes looked ephemeral in the sunlight. Bella felt momentarily entranced and had to look away.
"Bella." she mumbled, and the woman smiled, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I'm Esme. And you can come over anytime you like, you don't have to be afraid. I'm sure Alice and Edward would love to have a child to play with."
Bella mumbled something non-committal and hurried out. She started rapidly walking down the sidewalk and turned to look over her shoulder at the attic window, which was as disappointingly empty as she had expected it to be. But there, littered among the broken, glittering glass and the white snow under the window was something red, sticking out like a beacon.
Bella hurried over to see what it was and picked the thing up. It was a folded piece of red paper, and on the inside was a note in very neat, beautiful cursive.
All it said was 'Thank you'.
Sorry if this chapter seemed a little slow. The next one will start to pick the story up, but I wanted to establish the story line without rushing it. Thanks to everyone for sticking in and having patience! I promise, this is a romance!
Also, if you liked what you read, it would mean the world to me if you reviewed :-)