April 28, 2009~

The deportation room is white and gloomy, unlike the waiting room underneath the convenience store. Lorraine waits with Kerry, Max, and me with her flashlight but says nothing at all. I lean my head against the white wall, but suddenly my phone vibrates. I slip it open, but it is from an unfamiliar number. It says:

We know where you are, Renesmee. If you want to keep your little friends safe, come to Greenwood field within twenty minutes of receiving this message.

I gasp and slide my phone shut. There is only one person this could be: Edward.

"I have to use the lavatories," I barely manage to whisper to Lorraine. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry, madame!" she calls after me as I race through the door. Alsace isn't in the waiting room, so I run into the back room and find her sitting there lazily.

"What do you want?" she scoffs.

"Take me up," I say. "It's an emergency."

"You leave in forty-five minutes," she growls. "You—"

"I don't care!" I practically shout. "My friends' lives are at stake. So take me up to the store now!"

Alsace stares at me, astonished. "Okay, okay, if you insist," she mumbles and leads me out the glass door and into the dark tunnels.

When we reach the store again, I grab a piece of paper from the shelves and scrawl down a note to Max: You've been a great friend, but now I have to end this once and for all to save you and Violet. Edward threatened to hurt you guys if I didn't meeet up with him. I'm sorry I had to say goodbye like this. -Nessie

"Alsace," I say, panting. "Take this and give it to Max." I shove the crumpled piece of paper into Alsac'e pale hands.

"I will," she says gravely. Then I thank Alsace and burst out into the cold, open streets of Eastwood. I've never felt so scared and alone in all my life. But I must do this for Max and Kerry.

Part II:

The air is unbelievably humid and sticky on this eerie Sunday twilight. All day: on and off rain. In the deportation room, Max and I had heard thunder crashing outside of the large white room. Now with the Underworld coven gone, it is only me, Kerry, and Max against Edward, Rosalie, Jasper, and the rest of their evil minions. Would we make it? We weren't sure.

The sun has already faded behind the trees of the familiar forest that once seemed friendly to me, only so long ago. I shiver as cars speed by me on the avenue and I approach Greenwood Field. The softball diamond remains untouched, but the rest of the field has a steady, impenetrable haze settling above the ground and dissolving into the treetops. I know that I am making possibly the worst mistake of my young life as I step out onto the wet grass. What is awaiting me? What will Max think of my note that I left him? Will he comprehend it the way I need him to? Worse of all, will I live or die tonight?

There are no more cars on Randale Ave., and I begin to regret my decision of following the mystery note to the abandoned Greenwood Field. Suddenly, the crickets cease to chirp, as do the birds lingering in the woodland trees, and I feel alone. It is a warm climate, but I feel frozen. Then, I hear the noise that nearly kills me.

Pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh, something whispers. I feel a slight breeze behind me and a rustle in the underbrush near the swampy river. Standing alone in the middle of the foggy field, I hear the spine-chilling whisper once again: pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh…

"Hello?" I call out into the emptiness. "Who's out there? I can hear you whispering."

Pssh, pssh, pssh…

I start to sweat. Who was that kid with the hockey mask that drowned at a New Jersey camp? We used to pretend he came out of the closet in our basement and attack us…Jack, was it?

Pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh…

He, or "it", was nearing; closing in on its prey: me.

"I know you're out there, James!" I holler into the mist. There is quiet for a second, and then…

Everything happens all at once. Something shoots into my back, too heavy to be a throw-able weapon. A person? Maybe…They slam, rock-hard, into my back and send me flying into the mud and grass. I struggle to get up, but reach my feet. A man in tattered clothing and a cracked hockey mask stands in front of me with a machete sheath on his waist. He goes to swing at me, but I leap up into a tree and jump lithely to the adjacent branch when he climbs up after me and slashes at the limb, knocking it off the trunk. The man is about to get me, but I quickly grab the branch above me and pull myself up onto it with all my strength. Then, I feel him snatch my ankle and wrench me down. "HELP!!" I holler desperately, but I crash land onto the ground in a twisted heap. My wrists snap back and my legs crack sickeningly. I scream in pain and feel my consciousness slowly drifting. My ears notice the soft sound of a machete being pulled from its sheath. I scream as it digs into my back and carves one straight gash through my skin. I cannot breathe. I cannot feel anything. The machete rips through wind, but abruptly pauses at the faint noise of someone clapping. It stops right next to my left ear.

"Well done, Jason, well done," a smooth voice rewards my attacker. The man steps off of my back and walks away. Jason. That was it! The guy who wore a hockey mask to cover his deformed face that lies beneath it.

He is a serial killer, though, so I'm not making any better progress than before.

"Well, well, look what we have here," a hypnotizing female voice coos. "A victim…or just the girl we were looking for." Oh no: Rosalie.

"Hello, little one," she says, leaning into my ear. Her cool breath tickles my cheeks. "You did exactly as you were told, and we're very glad that you decided to obey. Otherwise, you and your little friends would pay the most unfortunate price."

Is she talking about Kerry and Max?

"Edward!" Rosalie calls out, and I hear footsteps coming closer and closer to us. Edward. Soon enough, the man I dread most is standing over me. There is a knife in his hand. He pulls it back and launches it down, until I scream, "DADDY, NO!!!"

It is as if an electric shock wave rides through him, because he stops in a rigid posture. "Renesmee," he murmurs, his velvet voice echoing in my head. I remember the first time he ever called me that. It was so, so long ago. Almost an eternity in the past, Kerry and I had been alone; never knowing what was to come in the future. Never knowing that this would happen…

"Father," I croak feebly. "Father…"

"Do not speak to him that way, you disobedient child!" Rosalie hisses, sending sparks of venom stinging in my core. I feel helpless. It is three powerful killing machines against one girl who is way in over her head.

I suddenly know inside my heart that honestly, there is no possible way that I can make it through the night alive to see the light of tomorrow.

"Father," I try again. What am I doing? What is willing me to say this?

Listen to Rose, I tell myself, listen to Rose!

"Father," I moan. "Forgive me. It's my fault that you are a mindless robot. Please, forgive me, your daughter."

Shut up!!!! I shout inside my head.

"You are too weak to serve with us!" Rose spits.

"Please…," I manage. "I know the good is in you somewhere."

"Renesmee," Edward repeats, a hint of confusion in his beautiful voice.

"Yes," I say. "I am Renesmee, you are Edward, and mother is Bella."

"Renesmee, Edward, and Bella," he repeats.

"Rosalie," I groan and point to the stunning blonde woman beside Edward. "Rosalie and Emmett and Alice and Jasper and Carlisle and Esme."

There is a long silence as we all reminisce. I let my tears flow unstoppably while thinking of Alice and Emmett and what they had told us before they parted with us. I am so afraid of the man that I thought I could trust.

"Renesmee," Edward says for a fourth time. "I-I…am…sorry."

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, which cuts into my rib cage and back with such pain that I am afraid to breathe again. "Edward…"

He kneels down to me, suddenly placing a marble hand on my shoulder. I turn ever so carefully to look into his golden topaz eyes. There they are, beautiful as ever.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, Renesmee," he whispers. His hand shakes uneasily as he strokes my bronze hair softly. "What…have I done?"

"We've hurt her," Rosalie says, her voice returning to normal. It is then that I notice the reddened tint disappearing from their topaz eyes. "Bad."

"Oh, no…," Edward cries. "Renesmee—Nessie…I'm such a monster!" He turns to look down at me. My milk chocolate eyes can barely stay open. Everything aches terribly as I gulp down the tears that want to continue pouring out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!" Edward screams. He jumps up and runs his fingers through his red-brown hair in distress. "What have I done?!!" He reaches down toward me, but fear overpowers me. He's an intelligent robot, my mind coaxes. He's just saying this to get closer to you! He will kill you!!

I stumble and fall backward into the mud, my busted ankle smarting greatly. "G-get away from me," I order. "Stay…away…"
"We won't hurt you," Rosalie explains. Her eyes are full of pain. She is upset that she and her family were used as weapons against us.

I back up further, leaning over the mucky riverbank. Edward reaches to me for a second time, but I shake with horror and scramble away. His lower lip is trembling. I don't know if it is with anger or sadness. Blood leaks onto the bank uncontrollably at my feeble attempt to escape from my father who had just tried to stab me to death. "Don't com near me," I warn, my voice quavering. "D-d-don't come near me…"

"Renesmee," Edward breathes, "you must forgive me…"
"N-n-n-nooo," I croak, just as I black out.

Part III:

"Someone get this girl a doctor!!"

"What is wrong, sir?"

"She's been stabbed and her legs are broken…"

"By whom, sir?"

"I…I'm not sure…I need to get her a doctor. She is dying."

"Edward?" A new voice.

"Carlisle…help her…Renesmee…she is hopeless…"

"We can…..little time….casts…..may be dead already……"

"Nooo…..pulse…..dhfbskjbgaskjbg……"

"Infdlsks…….sfhsidfjsdkjf….."

I cannot understand Carlisle and Edward any longer because I see a light within the dark tunnel where I lie.

Part IV:

Heaven? Am I in…heaven? No. My back still throbs terribly. I am in a bed, lying there serenely. Edward is in the corner, his bronze hair returned, his skin back to the normal white, and his eyes a beautiful topaz. His lip is trembling.

"Renesmee…I'm so, so, so, so, sorry."

I sniffle, but a sharp pain in my ribs makes me wish I hadn't. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Hackensack Hospital…I ran you here, love."

"Where's…where's Mom?"

Edward's golden eyes don't leave mine. "She is in Forks. She escaped with Esme, Carlisle, Alice and Emmett."

"Yes…we…we saw A-Alice and Emmett…they warned us of you and Rose and Jasper."

"I'm so, so sorry, love," Edward says again.

"You st-st-stabbed me," I reply miserably.

"That was Jason."

"J-J-Jason was on y-y-your side."

"I was evil then. The government used me as a weapon…you tried to save us with the Underworld coven."

Abruptly, I remember Max and Kerry for the first time since Greenwood Field. "The Underworld coven…my friends."

"Yes, Renesmee, they are good vampires. They are kind and intelligent. Especially the young one."

Piper. "Yeah…why did they use you as a weapon?"

"I don't know, Nessie. They are terrible people for doing such a crime."

"You scared me, when I faced you on the rooftop in New York City. You scared me so…so much."

"I'm so, so, so, sorry. You must forgive me."

"I-I-I do, Daddy."

Edward leans forward and brushes the loose strands of hair from my clammy face. His cold hand is like an ice pack for my bruises and a healing salve for my damaged heart.

Then, I woke up.