I pulled up in front of the big white house and stopped. I had had a little trouble finding the house, which was off in the woods, but I had eventually gotten there.
I hopped out of the car and practically ran to the front door. That's when I stopped and realized the house looked abandoned, even from the outside. Not losing hope, I peeked in through the large window and saw the room through it empty.
I was dejected as I climbed back into the car. My hopes had soared for a moment, only to be crushed minutes later.
As I drove, staring at the road, I could've sworn I had seen an animal looking through the green trees. It had been dark gray, and it seemed to have been a large bear-like creature.
I shook my head and payed attention to the road. All this talk about vampires had left me in a superstitious mood. It had probably been nothing out there.
At home, I opened the diary again. There was no way I was letting it out of my sight again. Embry's concern about someone hurting me ran through my head again. I shook the thought away and continued reading.
I learned that Carlisle had been born around the 1650s in London. Edward had told me that when Carlisle had realized what he had become, he had tried to destroy himself, disgusted with the monster he had become. He had tried drowning himself, starving to death, jumping off cliffs...
Obviously, none of his techniques had worked.
He eventually realized that he could feed off of animals, instead of humans, and he felt happier about his newfound immortality. He spent his time quenching his thirst for knowledge, and ended up working as a doctor to save human lives. In Italy, he met a group of people, named Aro, Caius, and Marcus, who called themselves the Volturi. They tried to convince him to follow their kind's natural diet, human blood, and in contrast, he tried to get them to switch their diet. Later, Carlisle left them and continued his work as a doctor.
He was working in the hospital in Chicago during the Spanish influenza. Lonely as he had been for centuries, he decided to make a companion and ended up changing Edward, who had been dying of the influenza in 1901.
Edward told me that after a few decades of living with Carlisle, he had had sort of a rebellious phase. He was upset that Carlisle was trying to curb him from their natural diet, and went off on his own for a while. After a while, he realized that Carlisle was right and rejoined him.
We ended up in Edward's room, and I got to see his impressive music collection.
Soon, Jasper came in and casually said that there was a storm coming up, and if Edward wanted to play ball. The usually quiet vampire's words confused me, since I didn't see how a storm demanded a baseball game.
I found it funny that vampires would play baseball, as the sport was so normal. Edward said I'd understand why they needed a storm to play, and I anxiously awaited the game.
Carlisle's story had fascinated me. Who could've guessed the handsome doctor's dark past?
I didn't know why, but when Bella had mentioned the Volturi, it gave me a feeling of deep dread. I shook it off, telling myself it was silly.
And vampires playing baseball...it just seemed so bizarre. I was now confident that there was no way that Bella had made any of this up. I turned the page, anxious to continue reading.