Chapter 4

Heaven is waiting

Age: Sixteen Years, One Month

Sam disappeared two weeks ago. The police say there's nothing they can do to look for him. "He's twenty-two Fay, he can do what he wants. I know you're worried, but he probably just took a trip or something," the police chief had told her when Fay went to report him missing.

No one knew Sam like Fay did, and she was sure her brother wouldn't leave her in that hellhole. Just the week before he had told her that when he moved out of his shoebox of an apartment and into his own house next month, she could move in with him. He had no reason left to run away. He was now free of his father, had a job, a girlfriend, and his life was finally reaching livable.

Fay's life on the other hand was becoming a fight for survival. Her father had gotten worse. What is worse than kicking, punching, choking, slashing with broken glass, whipping with the buckle end of a belt, bending limbs to their breaking point and past… Well, easy, when he barged through her locked bedroom door in the early hours of the morning. When he straddled her, and choked her out of her already torturous nightmares, only to smash her head back against the wall so hard, and so many times, that she was knocked out cold. For her to wake up the next morning with blood in her hair and all over her sheets, left with no memory of the night before.

To add insult to injury, Fay's so-called friends had been distant lately, and school days had gotten harder to get through. The local bullies had been pushing her mentally and physically, calling her every name in the book while pushing her to the ground and laughing at how easily she crumbled in pain - not seeing that she was already injured.

So as Fay hobbled home after another day of school, only to see her father's truck in the driveway, it all came crashing down on her. That if she walked back up those steps, back through that door… she may never leave again, may never escape this endless circle. Every time she walked through that door, she was risking her life. How much of a life is there to risk? She thought to herself. This wasn't a life, this isn't living, or waiting to live. There is nothing out there waiting for me. If I walk back in there, there is no escape for me, all I'm doing here is waiting for death, sweet, sweet death… not like anyone would miss me.

Fay had never really wanted to die, but then again, she never had dreams she wanted to live… She would never jump out in front of a truck but if there was a truck coming straight for her, she probably wouldn't move out of its way. Do I really want to live? She asked herself but found no answer. Do I really want to die? Fay bit her bottom lip at her own thought. She wanted to say yes, to be able to give into her impending doom right then and there. To not have to go on any longer but she just… she just couldn't.

Something in her felt the need to live, to be able to say she survived. There had to be a reason for it all… To make her life worth something. But then where would she go… She couldn't walk back through that door… Sam was gone to lord knows where… And for the best she couldn't stay in this town where her father could just drag her back here. She needed to go somewhere he couldn't find her. The police wouldn't help. She had tried telling them before showing them her bruises and scars, but they overlooked it, taking the word of a grown, hardworking man over a clumsy, little girl.

She stood still for many moments thinking over ideas… When one realistic solution came to her mind she didn't hesitate before turning around and walking off the road into the trees. Disappearing into the forest darkness like she was no more than a shadow in the shade, lost in the world of her own as she walked deeper into the forest with only her school bag and the clothes on her back. But she wasn't scared, or sad, or happy, or angry, or mad, just… free. She hadn't thought of that word for so long the bare concept of it sounded strange.

She didn't have someone controlling her now, as long as she didn't turn back she was free… free. Across her face spread a wide grin, something so unknown to her face that it hurt, but she could handle this pain. A delighted chuckle left her lips as she looked at the life ahead of her.

…

Bright light from the full moon rained down through the thin clouds to fill the small clearing with a magical light. It hasn't changed since Fay had last been there, still an abrupt finding among the trees. Fay had walked through the afternoon and late into the night, but the whole way she wore a smile on her lips. Now as she looks up at the abandoned house, she feels it was the right decision.

A shudder ran through her body as the cold wind started to get stronger. Fay keeps her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she strides towards the house. She can hear her every step as she climbs the stairs and hops over to the door she last entered through. The house is dark but not impossible to move around freely in, given there isn't much for Fay to kick her toe on or fall over as she makes her way up stairs.

Fay had thought over where in the house would be the best place for her to sleep. It had to be secure and sealed off from the elements. She had considered the downstairs bathroom, it was a cleaner room and sealed off, but the tiles would make it cold, like sleeping in a freezer when winter hit in a few months. She had wanted to light a fire in the living room fireplace to help keep warm, but it was too open. In the end she chose the dressing room that connects to the master bedroom. It was large enough for her to stretch out, no open windows, and surprisingly clean with the walls still in very good condition compared with the rest of the house.

Last month, after Fay and Jacob had gotten back from their camping trip Jacob had asked his father about the house they had stumbled across. Billy said Cold Ones had lived there, long before the treaty was written banning them from that land. Jacob had taken it as a joke, a warning not to go back there or the big bad vampires will come and suck their blood. But Fay believed the older man's words. To her it made sense.

Since this house had belonged to something long gone, she felt no guilt setting up camp there. It was like this place was made for her. It was broken and needed fixing, with no purpose left in the world. She was broken and needed fixing, with no purpose left in the world. Together they could help each other. Fay now had shelter, a roof over her head, and the roof over her head now had Fay to shelter. Two things so different, now… after years of neglect… depend on one another to survive and not just collapse in the forest like they were never there.

#The house isn't the Cullen's current house from the book, it's the one they had when they first lived there (even though I don't think they owned another house on Quileute land, in this story they did)#

#So hope that all made sense, if not PM or review your questions and I'll be happy to answer them#

#Thanks to all the amazing people that have put this story on their Favorites and/ or started following#