Chapter Four: Imitation

Eden wandered the woods for a while, no longer wishing to join the family she had once dreamed so much of becoming apart of. She hadn't expected to long for her journal so soon, but she felt her hands twitch with the desire to pour the pain in her soul to words on a page. As she roamed mindlessly, pinpointing certain scents and landmarks as not to get lost, she allowed herself to hum the music she used to hear above the ceiling of her room. It was a piano, her father playing lullabies for Renesmee and Bella. They were quite beautiful. Eden wished, for a fleeting moment, that Edward would write a lullaby for her, but he disliked her. Oh, did he detest her. If he ever gave her anything, it would be the suggestion that she quietly rid herself from his family.

She knew she'd gotten a great enough distance from the house that no one would even sense her nor the stalker that'd been following behind. She had pretended not to know, completely aware that Alec had been leisurely tracking her. Taking a rest at the stream she'd discovered, she took a seat on a rock and watched the water dance over the pebbles.

"I have nowhere else to go," she said to him, not realizing how shocked he'd be to know she'd sensed him at all. Alec had been the Volturi's number one tracker, even though he was not gifted in such a way. He was silent, stealthy, and completely calculated in his approach. How she even noticed his presence was astonishing. "You don't have to worry of me running off."

"My assignment was to shadow you and as such, I must do so."

Eden smirked, "As if that's the only reason you followed me."

"It is."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"No?"

"I don't understand this game." Alec murmured, his statuesque demeanor slightly cracking at the perplexed expression on his face.

"It's not a game."

"Then what is it?"

"What do you think it is?"

He was lost for words. He was her senior by an exceptional number of years and yet, she seemed to have the wisdom he'd been lacking. The petty questions had depth, truly digging in to his mind without his realizing. Aro had reason to wonder about her; She was nothing they'd encountered before.

"I can hear thoughts," Eden admitted, feeling it only right she tell him. "I thought it was something everyone could do until..." her words died upon her tongue, but she only faltered for a moment, "-it doesn't matter. The point is that I knew you weren't comfortable staying in the house and I knew you would follow me, so I decided we should both leave."

"We?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I'm not comfortable either."

He was silent, patiently waiting for her to go on, but she never elaborated. He never asked. The silence stretched over them, but not a moment of it was uncomfortable. Alec once again lost himself in his thoughts, though they now revolved around Eden and her complexity. He couldn't figure the girl out. Meanwhile, Eden wondered what he thought was so deep about her. She wasn't very much at all, naïve and still very young; He would surely be disappointed with whatever he found.

If only she knew what was buried within.

They sat in silence for what felt like a moment, but the dipping sun and replacing moon said something more. She did not want to return the house, it was not home anymore. It never was, that she was beginning to realize. Alec watched her, his eyes seeming to glow in the midway of night and dusk. Eden glanced to him, meeting his gaze head on. Her eyes had originally looked crimson, but now, he could see that they weren't a true red. There were thick thrashes of carbon and coffee with a hint of gold at the iris. They were an astonishing sight to behold. She saw a girl in his mind and gasped, shocked by the horror of her beauty. She was hideously magnificent, beautiful in the darkest of ways. The girl was not meant for anything, but pure seduction from her full lips to the long eyelashes. Her eyes were paralyzing, their color so demented they could turn someone to stone.

"What are you thinking about?" she breathed, entranced and terrified by what the image in his mind. Alec was again perplexed by her, the question was one she could answer, was it not? He did not pursue it, noting the terror in her gaze. She was truly an anomaly.

"You."

Eden shook her head vigorously. As Renesmee's twin, she looked like her. She never questioned that. They were identical, weren't they? They had to be. Her head slowed before pausing and a look of deep thought arose, her eyes blinking quickly. She stood abruptly and took off like a shot in to the woods. Alec was left astounded by her sheer speed and had only her scent to follow, which was fading quickly. How unusual. This girl was just full of surprises.

She barreled in the house, disturbing everyone as she'd been moving so fast they hadn't even sensed her coming. Fast as light, perhaps. Renesmee stood from her place in the kitchen, pushing aside her cup of coffee. Jacob looked up at her, "You okay, sweetheart?"

"Eden is back."

Eden was back, but she was not the same. She now stood in the bathroom before a mirror for the first time in her life. She looked nothing of Renesmee. Not even close. Perhaps the same nose, but that was not a relevant facet in the rest of her being. From her dark, pin-straight tresses that gleamed like silk to the haunting shade of her eyes to the snow-white color of her skin, she was the demonic version of her sister, but even then, she looked nothing like her. Their faces were different. She didn't know who she was before, but now, she couldn't believe that the outer being was this oh-so-horrifying person. Was she even a person?

She didn't know.

Alec arrived at the house moments later as the Cullen's gathered in the living room just outside the bathroom door, puzzled and slightly concerned. Most of them, at least. Renesmee stood at the front of the huddle, her eyebrows drawn in worry.

"What happened?" Bella demanded of the Volturi member.

Alec wasn't sure, but he didn't want to seem inferior to these people. They weren't below him, though he did know they feared him and he'd prefer it that way. He rather not be tested and forced to hurt anyone.

"She saw herself in my thoughts and spooked," Alec said, then pieced it all together. "She's never seen herself before... has she?"

Silence fell as the door to the bathroom opened. A gasp emerged from Renesmee at the sight of her twin. Everyone had the same question, but words died upon their lips. Alec stared, knowing exactly what happened as the blood-red tears streamed down Eden's cheeks. Her hair was gone, all of it. She had shaved her head bald, the dark fuzz all that was left. Eden was a sad sight to behold, pathetically small and lost. Edward felt sorrow for the girl, something he hadn't expected.

They then watched in awe as the hair she had rid grew back at an alarming pace. The little pricks of black lengthened and began to flow past her shoulders. Eden's body began to shake as sobs wrenched past her lips. Alec saw it coming, as he was sure everyone did, but was the only one to move at the moment she began to collapse. In his arms, she cried. Her hair pooled around them, longer than before and shimmering with the radiance only an immortal possessed.

"It won't stop growing," she hiccuped, "Why wont it stop?"

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry this took forever and I also apologize for the short-ish length, but it'll all make sense in the end. Hope you liked it! Remember to spread the love and until next time, stay safe! Good luck at school this week, everyone 3

Allie