Chapter Five| questions & answers

There wasn't much that I could do because of my disability, so one of the first things that I found myself doing since I was little was observing. I never spoke of what I saw, knowing the last thing I needed was to be told I was impolite.

It was the only thing I could do.

Half of the time I didn't have the energy to say anything and the other half of the time I wasn't able to say what I wanted to say. It was enough that I just didn't talk more than half the time, there was no point in doing so.

So, it didn't take long for me to take mental notes on the Cullens and the Hales. I wanted to put my whole trust in them and sometimes my naivety would come through. I would believe they were like any other person.

Especially Esme, she had been nothing more than a motherly figure for me.

She was more of a motherly figure than Renee was. Not that Renee was really a mother figure to me, she was just on the surface of the water, she would never jump into the deep end for me. I was certain Esme would jump into the deep end for anyone and everyone that needed her. She was doing so for me right now and it mattered how much she loved me already.

I noted how the family didn't eat much and when they did eat when I would be sitting at the circular cafeteria table with the golden eyed teenagers around me and Esme feeding me, I could tell there was disgust that was in their eyes when they would look down at their own trays. They would eat their food but there would be a fakeness to them. As though they were only eating because they knew they would be looked at even closer if they never ate during lunch while they would be sitting with me.

Things became even more peculiar when Leigha had to take me to school and be there with me the whole day instead of Esme on a sunny day. My feelings had been hurt quite a bit when she didn't come to pick me up to take me to school. Leigha had told me that the Cullens would go camping on the rare sunny days that happened in Forks, though Esme actually ended up getting sick so she had to stay home so she couldn't pass the cold to me.

I hadn't talked to Esme when she came back to pick me up the next day, knowing it was quite petty of me to do that, but I had become attached to Esme. It wasn't healthy for me to become so dependent on Esme and Leigha, but I could never become truly independent. For the rest of my life, I would have those around me that would help me with motor skills.

As time went on my curiosity came even stronger and I knew I couldn't help but want to know the truth. I couldn't deal with the fact that I would be left in the dark. I had come to the decision to ask them the truth as I was sitting at the cafeteria with my dark purple painted fingers (Leigha had painted my fingernails the night before) tapping against the wheelchair, enough that Alice had a look come across her features.

"I…need…to talk…to you."

Everyone was patient as they listened to me talk. I closed my eyes and continued, "I…want to know…the truth. Not human."

My eyes opened and I noted how everyone was still. Rosalie had irritation that was across her features at the fact that I had known they weren't human. Esme let her eyes flicker towards Alice as though she was asking her permission if they should tell us the truth. Alice nodded her head, never saying anything, but letting us know anyway that she agreed with this.

Esme turned and looked at me, before she nodded her head. She seemed reluctant with the fact she would tell me the truth, but she also knew it was only a matter of time before I would tell them I knew they weren't human.

"You're right, Bella. My family and I aren't human. We can't tell you what we are here. I'll take you to our house this weekend, if you are okay with that."

I managed to give a small nod to let them know I understood before we went back to what we were usually doing. Esme fed me, while Emmett was joking around to make me laugh. Alice and Rosalie were conversing with each other while Jasper kept glancing over at me with both sadness and understanding. The only one that was missing from the equation was Edward but that was because he had to sit at the table next to us, this table was completely full of Esme sitting here with us.

Edward seemed to like sitting by himself, he often sat there and was reading some classic novels with so much attention focused on them it was unhealthy. I knew there was something about me that made him more tense and uncomfortable about it, and by now I knew it wasn't because of my cerebral palsy. There was something else that was the problem other than my disability.

It wasn't until the weekend, on the day that Esme would come and take me to her house to spend the afternoon with them, that Charlie came upstairs when I was sitting on my bed and Leigha was brushing my hair softly. She was humming as she brushed out my hair. It was something that she always seemed to be doing while she was brushing out my hair.

She seemed content with everything around her, though she was a little nervous when she first found out that the Cullens wanted to become friends with me. Especially when she learnt they wanted me to come over to their house and hang out, but they had been nothing more than polite to me (except for when Edward first met me and Rosalie having her moments).

I was dressed in a large periwinkle purple baggy sweater with some comfy gray cotton pants, and some slip-on boots that had fur trimmed on the inside. I even had little colorful plastic butterfly hair clips placed throughout my bangs to keep them away from my face. I didn't need to have any makeup on, I found no reason why I should put Leigha through the process of putting makeup on me.

The sound of a car pulling on the gravel driveway made me push my wheelchair in the direction of where the window that overlooked the front yard was. I peered out and noted how Esme's nice and top-of-the-line van was waiting for me in the gravel driveway.

Esme opened the front driver's door and got out, dressed in simple but tasteful clothes that were perfect for lounging around the house. She even had on some of the slip-on shoes that I was certain were the exact same brand that Renee had been wanting to buy but didn't have the money for.

Leigha pushed my wheelchair out of the bedroom and down the hallway, while there was knocking that went politely against the front door. Reaching the chairlift, Leigha sat me down quietly into the chairlift as the front door opened and Esme came calmly into the house.

She looked as though she had come into the wrong part of the town, she was so much more beautiful and expensive than anything in this house. Then again, she could be far older than this house or even the town…but the age of the inhuman woman standing in the front of the open foyer of the house wasn't something that I should be concerned about.

Once I was at the bottom of the stairs and back into my wheelchair Charlie gave me a warm smile.

"Are you sure you want to go and hang out with Esme and the kids? We could make a movie marathon if you want, all your favorite movies."

I could only stare at him with shock across my features, allowing him to know I was surprised he would offer me to stay home when the said person who would come to take me to their house was in front of him. Charlie had always been someone who was serious about manners, he never wanted to sound rude or have me raised with rude manners. So, him doing this was out of character for him, but then again Charlie was a quite possessive father when it came to protecting me.

"I…am…fine. Go with Esme," I managed to tell him, earning a sigh and a nod from Charlie before he leant down and kissed me on the forehead. Leigha kissed me on the forehead too, before she let Esme push me out of the house and down the ramp.

I was quiet the entire time it took to go to the Cullen house. The house was a good bit past the town but not too ridiculous of a drive. There were dirt pathways to the street that led up the large front yards and properties of the houses so you couldn't see what the houses that were out here looked like. The houses were shielded due to tree covered miles and I knew that the Cullen house happened to end up being one of those houses.

Esme pulled up to a mailbox that was made of a whitewashed brick arched column for the mailbox that had been placed in the middle of the column. The trees sent out an overcast of silhouettes over the van as we drove down the dirt road. Esme had her fingernails, which were manicured, tapping against her leather steering wheel calmly.

She had all the time in the world, even though she knew she was about to tell me along with the rest of her family what they actually were. I had no idea what they were but so far, they hadn't hurt me, and I was willingly in this van with her, so that meant they weren't going to bring me only for me to find out they were some cults that sacrificed those who learnt their secret to some unknown Celtic God or Goddess of nature.

My eyes widened when the three-story house appeared in front of us. The first floor was stone, with tall walls and angled in an L shape. One of the parts was the three-car garage while the other was the actual living section. There was a second story that was completely living quarters along with the third floor, the two upper stories of the house were completely windowed and shaded, they went from ceiling to the floor. There were stairs that went up to the second floor of the house, and there was beautiful landscaping that was around the property. The second and third story were modern, sleek wood paneling that wasn't too dark nor too light.

"Pretty."

Esme seemed to puff up in pride at the obvious approval that I had towards the house. I wasn't surprised since she was the architect of the house. I would have loved to live in the house if it weren't for the fact that I was wheelchair bound. The house was nothing more than a complicated mess if I had lived there, but at least I could admire it.

"Thank you, I worked really hard on the house. It took some time to work on, but it was worth it in the end. I hate how we have to move after Edward and Alice have to graduate but we can't stay too long in one place because we don't age," Esme informed me, making me tap my fingers against my leg to let her know I understood her.

She pulled up to the front courtyard of the house and parked it before she got out and went into the back hatch of the van, grabbing my wheelchair before placing it onto the driveway. She shut the hatch behind her in a soft thud before she reached my door and opened it. She unbuckled the seatbelt for me and placed me gently into the wheelchair before leading me to the first floor of the house, which happened to be the kitchen and open floored dining section of the house.

There was a sunken sitting corner with a large flatscreen television and a comfortable, stylish deep green sectional that must have been a foreign luxury brand. A coffee table made out of the trunk of a tree was nestled in the middle of the sunken sitting corner with all different knick-knacks on the surface of the coffee table. A unique chandelier hung above the sunken sitting area, in the Edison lightbulb era with copper wire.

Off to the hallway that was separate to the house I would learn there were two offices, one of them was Carlisle's while the other office happened to be Esme's. There was a bathroom also along with a library that the whole family used.

A piano was in the corner of the front room, angled and must have been around a hundred years old. It had to be a Steinway and Sons piano, which was around 2.5 million dollars. I immediately fell in love with the instrument, wishing that I had enough strength in my arms and hands for me to play the piano. Sadly, that was just a dream of mine, a dream completed for another Bella than the one that existed in this world.

On the other side of the front room there was the open floor planned kitchen along with the dining room. The kitchen was a mixture of white and natural wood details. The dining table was a mixture of metal and wood, along with the dining chairs. A bouquet of silken flowers in a glass vase was in the middle of the dining table, commanding attention with its unique colors and aesthetic.

My eyes scanned over everything, my heart racing in my chest at the knowledge I was inside the house of the Cullens. I had never imagined I would be here. I knew that I would eventually become close to Esme by the time I would graduate high school here, but I never really thought about being here. I was here though, and I was here for more than a quick drop by.

Esme stopped me at the end of the dining table, pulling one of the chairs away and sitting it a little bit off to the side before she rolled me up to the dining table. I looked up at her to thank her only for me to look back down and find the whole family sitting in the chairs around me, making my heart jump in my chest at the sudden sight of them. I narrowed my brown eyes at them, at the knowledge that they were doing that on purpose even if they hadn't thought too much about the reaction, they would receive from me.

Carlisle sat on the other end of the dining table, while Alice sat to my right and Esme sat down to my left. Next to Esme was Edward, while next to Alice was Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett sat a few chairs down since there were so many chairs and they could skip a couple. Rosalie didn't look as though she wanted to be here, but Emmett was intrigued.

"Thank you for coming, Bella. I'm sure that you have any questions for us. Let me start this off by saying, yes, we aren't human," Carlisle started, earning a hum from me to let him know that I understood him. His eyes flickered over his children, and though Rosalie seemed as though she wanted to protest to everything that was happening, she knew she would be outvoted.

"Do you have any ideas of what we are?"

I turned my head, noting how it was Emmett that had asked this. He was serious, and there was no playfulness that I had been accustomed to in the past. Rosalie shot him a look, but he shot her one too, which made her slump her shoulders. She knew he wouldn't be on her side this time.

I closed my eyes and re-ran everything that had happened since I had moved here. I reevaluated every little detail that made up the Cullens before saying one word that came to my mind, "vampires."

I opened my eyes, noting how there was a silence that was around me that was different than before. The silence in the past had hope from some of the family members that I wouldn't know the truth. Now everyone knew I knew they were vampires, and they were thinking of how they should progress and what should happen next.

"There's also something else," Edward whispered, making me slowly turn my head towards Edward. I noted how he had guilt that was swarming in his golden eyes, and he closed his eyes, as though he was ashamed that if he looked at me, he would break down even more.

"Tell…me."

Edward opened his eyes and looked at me before saying, "in our world there's two different types of people that make a large impact on us. The first person is our mate, who is our soulmate–"

I felt my heart drop at the thought of Edward being my mate, since there was no romantic chemistry that I swore was surrounding us.

Edward continued, "the second person is our Singer. The person whose blood is the strongest and most desirable for the vampire. Your blood happens to call out to me. That's the reason why I've been distant towards you, not because of your disability, but because of the fact that you are my Singer. There's also the fact that I happen to be a mind reader, but I can't hear your voice. It's the first time that's ever happened to me and it's quite annoying."

I tapped my fingers against the arms of my wheelchair, the two taps must have been already told to the whole family long ago when Esme had learnt the signal herself. So, everyone seemed content with the knowledge that I understood, and I didn't seem as though I wanted to go home. It would probably hurt some of their feelings, but they knew it would be best for me if I decided I didn't want to be friends with them anymore because they were vampires.

As though they knew I was wondering if any of the rest of them had 'gifts' as they liked to call them Alice beamed brightly.

"I have precognition, I can see the future but only to a point. I can see what path a person decides on but that's not really concrete. A path can pop up for two seconds and then the person will decide on something else. So, like they say, the future isn't set in stone. I can only see so much."

Alice turned and looked at Jasper, he didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was the other person in the family that had a gift. He also had his hands tightened together, and his jaw was clenched. His eyes were the darkest at the moment, black was rapidly splotching across his golden irises, and he closed his eyes before he pushed his chair back and stood up. He walked out of the house through the large glass sliding doors that led to the backyard, and the garden that Esme had created for the backyard.

Alice bit her lip and gave him a sad look, one that was also full of longing, but she turned her attention back towards me. She would go and see Jasper after she continued, "Jasper is an empath, he's a sponge when it comes to emotions. With Edward having a Singer, it's very difficult for Jasper. He's had troubles in the past, as almost all of us, and it's difficult for him to have a vegetarian diet."

"We drink animal blood, not human blood," Carlisle spoke, before he nodded his head at Alice. She stood up and came around the table before she bent her head down and kissed me on the cheek. She barely stood there and the next moment the front room was empty of her, the sliding doors had opened and closed. She was going to Jasper.

I fiddled my fingers together, and everyone looked at each other. They could tell that I wasn't really in the talkative mood anymore. Esme stood up from her spot she had been sitting on and crouched down next to me so she could place her hands onto mine. She was wordlessly asking me how I felt about the whole thing that had just happened. I shrugged my shoulders, allowing her to know I didn't know how to feel about this whole situation.

It was one thing to be friends with the doctor in town's family, and his wife being my helper at the high school, but it was another thing for them all to be vampires. Even if they drank animal blood instead of human blood, they still drank blood. That was the whole vampire thing, but they hadn't shown any type of true danger towards me.

Esme had been nothing more than a second mother to me, and Carlisle had seemed like a wonderful doctor in this town along with being one of the best people in general. Edward longed for my blood, but he hadn't attacked me when he had the chances to, the same was with Jasper. Jasper had left the inside of the house when he was overwhelmed with the smell of my blood. Rosalie didn't like me but that was only because I was a human and I was a danger to her family, Emmett liked me. Alice really liked me; she had been so excited to meet me.

"Need to think."

Esme nodded her head to allow me to know she understood. "I understand, darling. Do you want to go back to your house? I understand also if you decide that you'd rather be at your house so you can think about what we told you."

I nodded my head to let her know I wanted to go home. This was too much for me to truly process, and I didn't want them to be around the house waiting for me to tell them what I truly thought about this. She went behind me and pulled me away from the table so she could push me in the direction of where the front door was. My head was dipped down and I almost felt bad at how I was leaving not that long after I had first come here.

"I told you we shouldn't have told her. Look at her, she's scared. She already has enough to deal with, telling her we are vampires shouldn't have been added onto her stress," Rosalie remarked, a dark bitterness present in her voice as the blonde goddess-like vampire glared at me with pity and anger. Those darkened golden irises made me shrink into myself.

"Leave her alone, Rose. I think she was brave," Emmett remarked to her, in the kind of voice that let the blonde know he understood why she thought the way she thought but he also thought that it was in bad taste to say something like that. Especially when the said person that Rosalie was talking about was still in the same room.

"Bye," I mumbled as I looked down at my hands again.

Once the front door was opened by Carlisle, I was gently pushed outside of the house and the door was shut behind me. I noted in the corner of my eye Carlisle was walking next to his wife, his hands in his pockets. He seemed carefree and didn't have any problems with telling me that he and his family were vampires. I wished I had his confidence but that was something I had never been granted with nor had the ability to grow for myself.

Esme arrived at her van and opened the front passenger car door to help me up, but before I was put into the van, I motioned for her to move me to see Carlisle. Carlisle crouched down so that he was in front of me, so that I was more at eye level with him. He was even more beautiful up close. He was too perfect for the human eye to see.

"Thank you, C-Car-Carlisle," I whispered to him, which in return made him widen his features into a soft smile. He put my hands in his and brought them up before he kissed me on the hands in a fatherly, guardian-like manner.

"Take all the time you need when it comes to what we've told you. I understand if you decide you don't want to be friends with our family anymore. Esme and I will stay professional with you, but the others won't bother you," Carlisle informed me so I would know that it was okay if I decided to choose the option that had them not be a part of my life in a more personal manner.

Carlisle helped me into the van and as Esme drove us away from the house and back towards Charlie's I couldn't help but have a longing to say I would stay friends with them. I wanted to prove that I could get out of my comfort zone, I wanted to prove I was brave. So, it was only a few hours later that I decided I would be friends with the Cullens.

Author's Note: 3 in 1 update. All three books in the stand-alone trilogy will be updated at the same time.

as always: Twilight doesn't belong to me

-Emmy