"Bella, we're leaving."
I took a deep breath. This was an acceptable option. I thought I was prepared. But I still had to ask.
"Why now? Another year—"
"Bella, it's time. How much longer could we stay in Forks, after all? Carlisle can barely pass for thirty, and he's claiming thirty-three now. We'd have to start over soon regardless."
His answer confused me. I thought the point of leaving was to let his family live in peace. Why did we have to leave if they were going? I stared at him, trying to understand what he meant.
He stared back coldly.
With a roll of nausea, I realized I'd misunderstood.
"When you say we—," I whispered.
"I mean my family and myself." Each word separate and distinct.
I shook my head back and forth mechanically, trying to clear it. He waited without any sign of impatience. It took a few minutes before I could speak.
"Okay," I said. "I'll come with you."
"You can't, Bella. Where we're going… It's not the right place for you."
"Where you are is the right place for me."
"I'm no good for you, Bella."
"Don't be ridiculous." I wanted to sound angry, but it just sounded like I was begging. "You're the very best part of my life."
"My world is not for you," he said grimly.
"What happened with Jasper—that was nothing, Edward! Nothing!"
"You're right," he agreed. "It was exactly what was to be expected."
"You promised! In Phoenix, you promised that you would stay—"
"As long as that was best for you," he interrupted to correct me.
"No! This is about my soul, isn't it?" I shouted, furious, the words exploding out of me—somehow it still sounded like a plea. "Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care, Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you—it's yours already!"
He took a deep breath and stared, unseeingly, at the ground for a long moment. His mouth twisted the tiniest bit. When he finally looked up, his eyes were different, harder—like the liquid gold had frozen solid.
"Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He spoke the words slowly and precisely, his cold eyes on my face, watching as I absorbed what he was really saying.
There was a pause as I repeated the words in my head a few times, sifting through them for their real intent.
"You… don't… want me?" I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, placed in that order.
"No."
I stared, uncomprehending, into his eyes. He stared back without apology. His eyes were like topaz—hard and clear and very deep. I felt like I could see into them for miles and miles, yet nowhere in their bottomless depths could I see a contradiction to the word he'd spoken.
"Well, that changes things." I was surprised by how calm and reasonable my voice sounded. It must be because I was so numb. I couldn't realize what he was telling me. It still didn't make any sense.
He looked away into the trees as he spoke again. "Of course, I'll always love you… in a way. But what happened the other night made me realize that it's time for a change. Because I'm… tired of pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. I am not human." He looked back, and the icy planes of his perfect face were not human. "I've let this go on much too long, and I'm sorry for that."
"Don't." My voice was just a whisper now; awareness was beginning to seep through me, trickling like acid through my veins. "Don't do this."
He just stared at me, and I could see from his eyes that my words were far too late. He already had.
"You're not good for me, Bella." He turned his earlier words around, and so I had no argument. How well I knew that I wasn't good enough for him. No, he didn't think I was good enough for him.
I opened my mouth to say something, and then closed it again. He waited patiently; his face wiped clean of all emotion. I tried again.
"Is… that what you really want?"
He nodded once.
My whole body went numb with heartbreak. I couldn't feel anything below my neck.
"I would like to ask one favor, though, if that's not too much," he said.
I wonder what he saw on my face, because something flickered across his own face in response. But, before I could identify it, he'd composed his features into the same serene mask.
"What?" I asked, my voice sounding stronger.
As I watched, his frozen eyes melted. The gold became liquid again, molten, burning down into mine with an intensity that was overwhelming.
"Don't do anything reckless or stupid," he ordered, no longer detached. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I nodded numbly.
His eyes cooled, the distance returned. "I'm thinking of Charlie, of course. He needs you. Take care of yourself—for him."
I just nodded again, too heartbroken to speak anymore.
He seemed to relax just a little.
"And I'll make you a promise in return," he said. "I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I'd never existed."
My knees must have started to shake because the trees were suddenly wobbling. I could hear the blood pounding faster than normal behind my ears. His voice sounded farther away.
He smiled gently. "Don't worry. You're human—your memory is no more than a sieve. Time heals all wounds for your kind."
I was starting to feel angry now. "And your memories?" I asked. It sounded calmer than I felt.
"Well,"—he hesitated for a short second—"I won't forget. But my kind… we're very easily distracted." He smiled; the smile was tranquil, and it did not touch his eyes. Did he always think so little of me? Am I truly seeing him for who he really is now?
He took a step away from me. "That's everything, I suppose. We won't bother you again."
The plural caught my attention. That surprised me; I would have thought I was beyond noticing anything.
"Alice and Jasper and the others aren't coming back," I realized. I don't know how he heard me—the words made no sound—but he seemed to understand.
He shook his head slowly, always watching my face.
"No. They're all gone. I stayed behind to tell you goodbye."
"They're gone?" My voice was blank with disbelief and indignation.
"She wanted to say goodbye, but I convinced her that a clean break would be better for you."
I was dizzy with rage; it was hard to concentrate. His words swirled around in my head, and I heard the doctor at the hospital in Phoenix, last spring, as he showed me the X-rays. You can see it's a clean break, his finger traced along the picture of my severed bone. That's good. It will heal more easily, more quickly.
I tried to breathe normally. I needed to concentrate, to find a way out of this nightmare.
"Goodbye, Bella," he said in the same quiet, peaceful voice.
"Wait!" I choked out the word.
He leaned down and pressed his lips very lightly to my forehead for the briefest instant. I was still in shock.
"Take care of yourself," he breathed, cool against my skin.
There was a light, unnatural breeze. The leaves on a small vine maple shuddered with the gentle wind of his passage.
He was gone.
I just stood there for a while, trying to fully comprehend what had just happened. I thought I had found where I belonged. I thought I had found a family that understood me. I thought I had found someone that loved me.
I screamed earsplittingly loud. I was passed denial at this point. Now I was infuriated.
"How dare he use me like I was some toy?! How dare he insinuate that I am some weak little girl?! I am sick and tired of everyone looking at me like some docile and submissive damsel in distress! I am no damsel in distress! I am the daughter of the chief of police, and the Cullens have fucked with the wrong family!"
(Time Skip)
When I saw my dad next, I told him everything. I told him what the Cullens were, what really happened in Pheonix, what happened at the unwanted birthday party, and I told him what just happened with Edward.
He wasn't as surprised as I thought he'd be, and when I asked him why he believed me so quickly, he told me that he already knew. He said he was trying to find a way to get me away from them without upsetting me and that as the chief of police, he knew about every kind of supernatural being to help keep the town safe.
I asked if he could tell me, and he agreed. We had a long talk about how there were two types of vampires, the Day Walkers that I had met and the Night Walkers that were like traditional vampires. He told me about the different types of magic users and how we have magic in our veins that acts as a shield to mind magics. He told me about the Children of the Moon and how the Quileute Shape-Shifters are often mistaken as them. We discussed this topic late into the night.
The next morning, dad suggested that I should leave so that if the Cullens come back, they will not be able to locate me. We debated when I should leave and if it was worth finishing school, but we both agreed that it would be best to leave within the month.