An hour later, we finally arrived at the small two bedroom house. It was the same from what I remembered from my short visits with my siblings and grandmother when I was little. Bella and I were only a year apart but we liked to celebrate our birthdays together. Instead of having a party in Phoenix, where we both lived, we all came down to visit Uncle Charlie. Or in Bella's case, Dad.
It took only one trip to bring all of my self to Bella's old room. It also like the rest of the house was the same. Same wooden floor, the scratches and the marks from Bella and me running around were still visible at least to my eyes. The walls were the same color blue, I would have to ask Uncle Charlie if I could re-paint, hopefully he won't mind. And of course the yellow lace curtains were still in place. I would have to change those as well.
The only things that had changed was the bed instead of the baby crib and the desk with the second-hand computer. I'm glad that I have my Mac book. In emails, Bella always complained about the Internet service and how long it took for her to simply dial up. And don't forget the pop-ups!
I smiled. Just standing here, in her room, it was almost like Bella was still alive. I waited for her to burst through the door and grin at me.
"Thia!" she'd say, "I'm so glad you're here! This is going to be amazing. I am so glad that you came to visit"
But it didn't happen. I threw my bag onto the bed and sighed. I opened my suitcase and grabbed a handful of hangers from the closet. When I took a step back one of the hangers fell from my grasp. I bent down to pick it up but something else caught my eye. It was a white square in the very back corner of the closet, gathering dust and cobwebs. I put the rest of the hangers on the floor.
I picked up the white square and wiped away the dust. I widened my gray eyes when I saw Bella's messy handwriting. It said,
Bella Swan and Edward Cullen
September thirteenth
I flipped it over and wiped away more dust. It was a photo of Bella and an extremely handsome guy with bronze colored hair. I studied it more closely.
Bella was grinning widely at the camera but she seemed awkward like her mind was somewhere else. The guy, who I guessed was Edward, was also smiling but it didn't reach his topaz colored eyes. He looked more like a statue than a real person. He couldn't be real. I stared harder at his eyes. It was weird. I had never seen someone with eyes that color. It was unnatural unless he was wearing contacts.
I was still staring at the photo when Uncle Charlie walked into the room.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
I sat down next to him and showed him the photo and asked. "Who's Edward Cullen?"
Uncle Charlie sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Edward and Bella had a history"
"What kind of history?"
"A dating kind"
"Oh"
"Yeah, that picture was taken on Bella's eighteenth birthday and then only a few days later the Cullens' packed up and left. No warning. No heads-up. Nothing. Bella was a complete wreck for awhile. The only person that seemed to make her happy was Jacob Black" Uncle Charlie studied his hands.
I decided to stop asking so many questions. It seemed to bother Uncle Charlie and he didn't seem to like to remember the past so much. I nudged his shoulder with mine and smirked.
"So what's for dinner?"
He chuckled. "I ordered us a pizza. It should be here in about ten minutes. You hungry?"
My stomach growled loudly, just at the right moment. We both laughed.
Uncle Charlie smiled. "I'll take that as a 'Yes'"