15th August 2004:
Evelyn Hale had never been big on sunshine or heat, preferring the cool air and beautiful colours that came with Autumn or the beautiful white snow that Winter brings.
But rain?
Rain was something she absolutely despised, no matter what season it was in.
So, of course, her mother just had to move them to the wettest place in the continental US.
When she had been told about the move, part of her had wanted to kick up a fuss, to refuse to leave New York, her hometown, and demand to live with her Grandmother or Aunt instead. But the other part of her couldn't do that to her mum. Not after what they had gone through following her fathers death.
Her mother needed to be somewhere away from the places that were crowded with memories of her husband, her highschool sweetheart, and, deep down, Evelyn agreed. Everywhere she went had a memory attached to her father and she was slowly growing tired of the now familiar feeling of tears filling her eyes.
The goodbyes had been gut wrenching, hugging all of her cousins and her aunt and uncle while showing off how much taller than her Grandmother for the final time, all of them teasing the elderly woman. It had all been over too soon, the slams of the car door echoing through her mind as she desperately waved to her family, trying to capture the image of them all together and save it in her mind.
She knew it would be a long, long time before they all saw each other again.
It had been a long drive, the two of them deciding to drive rather than fly thanks to Evelyn mothers fear of aeroplanes, but the views had been nice and the car karaoke sessions had had them in fits of laughter.
When they finally arrived, all of their stuff had already been moved into the house, being dumped in their respective rooms just waiting to be moved or unpacked.
The first few days hadn't been too bad, mostly staying inside the house to sort the furniture out while her mum was the one who went out and got food and other various supplies. It had been fun, just the two of them in the quiet house. They had always been close, even before everything, but over the last year they had grown impossibly closer, bonding over their shared grief.
But then, like always, real life kicked in and her mum had to go to work at her new job at the hospital, popping Evelyn's safe bubble that she had built around the two of them and reminding her that the world still existed around them, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.
That was when the neighbours started popping around with wide smiles and little home cooked meals. Charlie Swan, the chief of police that lived just around the corner, was the friendliest of them all. His offerings weren't home cooked anything, rather large dishes of different pies and cobblers from Grill a few roads down.
His visits were always Evelyn's favourites. He reminded her of her dad, in some ways, and despite being careful, she could feel herself latching onto him.
"I know how tough it can be moving to a new town, especially a small town like this," He had said with an understanding smile when he had first visited Evelyn and her mum, "I have a daughter about your age. Lives up in Phoenix with her mum, I'll make sure to introduce the two of you when she next comes down to visit," He looked a little unsure about when that would be but Evelyn thanked him anyway, her usual half hearted smile growing happily - something that delighted her mum immensely.
Currently, Evelyn was doing a half jog, half run down a road she had never seen before, having been caught in yet another unexpected shower of rain without an umbrella or raincoat, desperately trying to keep her bag of supplies dry as she tried to figure out where on earth she was.
Everytime she decided to walk rather than drive, the constant cover of clouds reminded her exactly why that was a big mistake.
She had been walking along the edge of the forest, not brave enough to enter but too entranced by the scenery to leave it, and had somehow gone straight past her road, ending up in an unknown place with no houses or cars in sight.
By now her auburn hair had been completely plastered to her head, small little ringlets of hair attaching themselves to her cheeks or forehead no matter how many times she pushed them away, eventually giving up. Her hair never liked to cooperate on a good day anyway, let alone when it had been soaked with rain.
Realising that she must be walking further and further away from town, Evelyn came to a sudden standstill, turning to look back the way she had came.
It all looked the same to her.
Every tree, every fern, every bit of moss - it was like the whole forest had just been duplicated again and again and again. It was messing with her head.
Face screwing up in annoyance, Evelyn let out a small growl of annoyance, her fingers gripping the paper bag she held in her arms so tightly that small tears began to form, the many heavy cans inside threatening to tumble out.
Tilting her face up to the sky, she closed her eyes, the delicate skin of her eyelids flinching everytime a drop of rain hit her face. Just standing there, letting the rain wash over her as she breathed deeply, a sudden deep sense of calm overtook her, pushing her anger out of the way as she let herself relax for the first time in weeks.
It was nice.
She felt at peace.
Or she did until the now soaked and torn paper bag suddenly split open, the various cans of food spilling out of her arms and rolling down the road as the pathetic remains of the bag flopped onto the wet road.
The sudden peace she was feeling suddenly ripped away, the returning anger feeling like a slap in the face as she jerked her eyes back open, looking at her shopping scattered across the road in front of her.
It was if every single piece of anger she had shoved down and hidden away over the last few months or so came rushing back in, taking over her body as she let out a furious yell, kicking one of the cans far away from her as she spat all of the vulgar phrases and words she had learnt over the years, face bright red with anger.
Anger at the rain for ruining her day.
Anger at this stupid tiny town for being so rainy and miserable all of the time.
Anger at her mum for moving them to this town.
And anger at her dad for dying and being the reason her life had flipped upside down in less then a year.
Evelyn paused at the sudden thought of dad, tears flooding down her cheeks as sadness and grief took over her anger. Her emotions were a mess, eyes rubbing desperately at the steady stream of tears, desperately wishing they would go away as she mentally berated herself for having a small breakdown in the middle of nowhere, out in the open.
Anyone could drive past and see her.
The realising that she was in fact just standing sobbing on the side of a road with food scattered around her had Evelyn darting into the forest before she could think about whether it was a good decision or not, her hands still wiping at her face as she tried not to stumble over any logs or plants.
The change was immediate, the harsh noise of the rain dampened by the leaves overhead as she made her way into the forest, her sobs lessening and her tears slowly drying up as she stared in awe at the gorgeous greenery that surrounded her, tears slowly drying up.
Wiping at the remaining few tears, Evelyn slowly spun in a circle, staring up at the huge trees that surrounded her, marvelling at the height of some of the evergreens that were near. She had always been an average height for her age, a modest 5 '5, but she had never felt so small surrounded by nature before.
Now she knew how her grandmother felt.
A chuckle worked its way out of her mouth at the thought, mirth filling her body as she sat down on a fallen tree trunk, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivered, suddenly feeling the cold. It was if her mind had latched onto the brief amusement, using it to push the sadness and anger away.
Even as she laughed to herself, she couldn't help but feel confused. Her emotions had changed so quickly in the space of about 10 minutes - frustrated to calm to angry before laughing and then back to calm again.
It was almost as if someone was playing around with them, influencing her like a small puppet.
'Or maybe it was just the week before your period,' She thought to herself, shaking her head with a roll of her eyes. 'Someone playing around with my emotions, who do I think I am? The main character in a supernatural story?' She shook her head at her own stupidity.
A sudden snort of amusement came from behind her, startling her as she whipped around, standing up with wide eyes.
"Who's there?" She shouted out to the trees as she stepped over the log she had sat on, wiping the moss from her jeans as she tried to look for a stick that she could use to fend off a potential attacker, "I heard you laugh," Her voice shook ever so slightly as she called out again and she could only hope they hadn't noticed.
Balling her hands into fists when she realised there wasn't a good stick within reach, she stepped forward again, preparing herself for fight with whatever creep was stalking her.
Just as she went to shout out again, a tinkling laugh stopped her. It was followed by a short girl with a pixie cut stepping out from behind a tree with a wide smile and bright, happy eyes.
Evelyn was taken aback, the word fairy jumping to mind as she stared at the tiny girl, her fists dropping as her mouth opened ever so slightly.
This was not who she had expected to see at all.
The girl smiled even wider, giving her a short wave as she began to speak happily, "Hi, I'm Alice and this is Edward and Jasper," Her voice was extremely kind as she pointed over to a tree across from her, two tall and extremely handsome boys walking out to stand beside her. "And I promise we weren't stalking you. We live nearby and decided to take a walk,"
The boy Alice had referred to as Edward seemed to glare at her for a moment before amusement shone through, the corner of her his lip twitching as if he was trying to keep himself from laughing.
Jasper, the other boy, looked in pain, his eyes wide and jaw tense as he stood close to Alice, his hand reaching to hold hers as he nodded at Evelyn in greeting.
A sense of unease and awkwardness took over her as she attempted a half smile at the two boys, not even allowing herself to wonder why the three of them had decided to take a walk when it was raining. She was sure she wouldn't get an answer even if she asked.
"You're…Evie, right? The new girl in town!" Alice chirped happily, her smile never wavering as she leant against the tree beside her.
None of them attempted to close the distance between themselves, seemingly happy with the distance that separated them from her.
Evelyn nodded slightly, letting out a small chuckle, "Uh, it's Evelyn," She corrected, "Evelyn Hale. News travels fast in small towns, I guess," She smiled as she briefly looked down at the ground, kicking a tiny stone before looking back up at the three weirdly beautiful strangers.
All of them looked shocked.
Well, at least Alice and Edward did. Jasper still mostly looked like someone had kicked him in the balls and he was trying not to scream.
"Hale?" Edward suddenly asked, repeating her last name with an expectant expression. She nodded, frowning when his expression became stiff, "And where did you move from?" He asked, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets.
Evelyn actually flashed them a real smile at that question. If she had a dollar for everytime she had been asked that in the last 2 weeks, she would be rich.
Although she had been born and raised in New York, her accent wasn't very strong. It was more of an undertone than an accent - probably due to the ridiculous voice training her father and aunt had forced her to take since she had learned to talk.
"Oh, I'm from New York - I know it doesn't sound like it but I promise I was," She said with a chuckle, her wide smile still present, "My whole family's from there - lived their for generations as far as I know,"
Her smile slowly faded when neither Jasper nor Edward returned her smile. Alice made an attempt but it disappeared as soon as it had appeared.
Picking anxiously at the skin of her fingers she stared at them for a moment before speaking again, "Why'd you all look so shocked? Is there like…" She floundered for a moment, throwing her hands up, "...a ban against New Yorkers in Forks or something?" She attempted to joke again, her chuckle fading off when once again only Alice let out a short laugh in response.
Alice stepped forward a bit, hand noticeably squeezing Jasper's hand tighter as she did so, "You'll have to excuse our reactions, Evelyn," She said with a smile, "It's just that Jasper's last name is also Hale… as well as his twin sister, Rosalie," Alice looked sideways at Edward as she mentioned Rosalie, her smile wavering ever so slightly, "We've just never heard someone else with that last name before,"
"Ah," Was all Evelyn said in response, well and truly weirded out by the reactions of these three to her last name, "I see,"
The silence dragged out once again, none of them attempted to fill it this time. Not even Alice.
Eventually, Evelyn grew sick of it, clapping her hands together slightly as she began to walk backwards, "Uh, it was lovely to meet you, I suppose, but I have to go. Sorry for shouting at you earlier. I guess I didn't expect anyone else to be this deep in the forest,"
Alice simply smiled, waving it off before she suddenly perked up, all traces of the shock that had been there only moments ago now gone, "Oh! Will you be starting school next month?"
Evelyn nodded, not at all surprised by the question. It was one of the many she had been asked during the last few weeks. She tucked her hands into her pockets, rocking back on her heels awkwardly as she attempted yet another smile.
"That's great! I guess we'll see you then - and I can introduce you to Rosalie as well!" The short girl said excitedly, her original wide grin having now returned.
From the looks that both Edward and Jasper sent the smiling girl, Evelyn made an educated guess that Rosalie would not be interested in meeting her at all. Smile now growing awkward, she nodded for what seemed like the hundredth time before turning and beginning to walk back the way she had come, giving them a short wave as she left.
Keeping her eyes to the ground, she stayed silent for a while, not making a single peep until she somehow made it back to the road and was one hundred percent sure they would not be able to hear a word she said.
"What weird fucking people," She muttered to herself as she bent down to pick up a few of the cans that hadn't been kicked by her or squashed by cars that had passed during her time in the forest.
In the distance, she was sure she heard the sound of Edward roaring with laughter.
