Forks, Washington, 2002 (Three years before Bella moves to Forks)
"Do you have everything that you need?" Esme asked me as she handed me my backpack and sack lunch.
"Esme, that's the fourth time you've asked me that in the last half hour." I replied. "Yes, I have everything I need."
Even though Esme and Carlisle were like parents to me, they still weren'tmyparents, and I didn't refer to them as such. They knew it too, and they were okay with it, for right now, anyway. I think that they understood that things were still hard for me, and it might have been easier to call them Mom and Dad if my actual parents weren't still alive.
Carlisle told me that my parents never stopped looking for me, but that it also wasn't safe for me to go home to them, that I would attract other vampires to them, that I might not be able to control my bloodlust around them. I know that he had a point, but it didn't make it any less hard for me.
Although I could never see them, Carlisle kept tabs on them for me. They still celebrated my birthday, kept my room the way that it was, hoping that I would come back someday. Since my body had never been recovered, they kept up hope that I was alive.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows on that end, though. My brother's body had been found dried of blood, and with no witnesses being around, and since Carlisle had disposed of the body of the vampire that killed him and turned me, everyone thought that I was the one responsible. Everyone except for my parents.
"Hey..." Esme squeezed my arm, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Are you sure that you're ready for this? You don't have to go if you feel like you aren't ready."
"Have to get back out into the world sometime, right?" I said, forcing a smile to my thin lips. I had always hated how thin my lips were, my brother always referred to me as Frank Burns fromM*A*S*H.
"Your mother is right." Carlisle said as he entered the room. "If you feel like you aren't ready, then we don't want to push it."
Even though they knew how I felt, they still referred to themselves as my parents, and introduced themselves as such to others. In the beginning it had left a bad taste in my mouth. I still had mixed emotions about it, but Carlisle had saved me after all, the least that I could do was suck it up.
"Hey there little sis, you ready for school?"
I let out a yelp as Emmett came in and ruffled my hair. "Will you quit?" I grumbled as I fixed my hair, but he would be able to tell that I didn't mean it. "90 years old and you still act like a child."
"Lighten up, will ya? First day of school won't be that bad."
"It's not just the first day of school, it's my first day back in civilization other then going into a gas station in a town with a population of 300." True, maybe I was a little bit tense, but it wasn't my fault. I had tossed and turned the previous night, my dreams filled with me sucking the blood out of everyone in the school.
I didn't see why I even had to go back to school. I was 19 when I was turned, I had finished high school (with barely passing grades, but my point still stood). Carlisle had said that it would help with my socialization and controlling myself, but that didn't make me any more happy about it, I could just as easily practice that working at the diner or the supermarket.
I walked out to the garage with the rest of my siblings, hopping in the driver's seat of my '66 Chevy Impala. I had always loved the classic cars, and Carlisle had surprised me with this one five years ago. It had needed some repair work, but with the help of Emmett and Edward, I had gotten it to ride smoother then it had when I had bought it.
My siblings all loved to race to see who could get to town the fastest, but I preferred to take my time. Rolling my window down, I slowly pulled out of the garage, honking my horn at Esme and Carlisle who were standing by the front door, watching us leave, although I think that they were watching me and Jasper more then anything else. Jasper was still having a hard time controlling his bloodlust, so Carlisle had made sure that in all of his classes, one of us was in that class as well.
Once I got to the highway, I sped up a little bit, smiling to myself as I felt the wind running through my hair. I turned up my radio, humming along toWelcome to the Jungle. I really hoped that today didn't go up in flames, I wanted to prove to Esme and Carlisle that I as ready to be let out into the world, I was so sick and tired of spending day and night at home with nothing to do but watch movies and read. Edward had tried to get me to play piano, but we had learned quickly that I was WAY too clumsy for it.
I was about halfway to town, singing along to the radio, lost in my thoughts. I seemed to do that a lot, people would have to say my name two or three times before I would respond.
This time the thing that brought me out of my thoughts was a hugeKa-thunk, like I had run something over. I slammed on my brakes, putting the car in park before hopping out. Laying in the middle of the road was a man, with tan skin and jet black hair. I remember Esme telling me that Forks had a Native American reservation, the Quileute tribe, if I remember correctly.
He was laying there, not moving.
Jesus, I killed him.
I moved closer, kneeling down, pressing two fingers against his neck, hoping to find a pulse, anything that indicated a sign of life.