Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters

TRIGGER WARNING: Attempted SA

Help, I'm still at the restaurant

Still sitting in the corner I haunt

Cross-legged in the dim light,

They say, "What a sad sight"

I-I stayed there

Dust collected on my pinned up hair

I'm sure that you got a wife out there

Kids and Christmas, but I'm unaware

Cause I'm right where

I cause no harm, mind my business

If our love died young, I can't bear witness

And it's been so long

But if you ever think you got it wrong

I'm right where you left me

You left me, no

Oh you left me, no

You left me no choice but to stay here forever…

THE MANOR AND ALL ITS LONELY GHOSTS

I will not be used as a weapon.

I will not be his weapon.

Those were the two things that Isabella was absolutely sure about. Her village, her family… he had been collateral damage in a war they had no idea was happening and now she played a crucial part of it. A part she never asked for, a part that now condemned her to a solitary life.

You will not have an ally in this world.

You cannot have a friend.

You will not have a home.

As Isabella tied the strings of her cloak around her neck, she wondered, what was her purpose now? Before she never really thought of her purpose, it had always been so clear. He had been her purpose for as long as she remembered, just like she knew she was his purpose. Everything she did, every minute of every day, every second was all for a life she thought she would share with him.

But he was gone.

And she was alone, forced to live in a world where he no longer existed.

Isabella didn't necessarily feel grateful for this newfound life she had, but she was grateful to Benjamin for saving her from what could've been had the Volturi found her. And it was because she was grateful that she couldn't put his life or the lives of his parents and mate in further jeopardy. Benjamin had fought it at first, reminding her she had no idea what to expect of their world or her new vampiric abilities, but Isabella would rather learn that on her own than to further risk him and his family. Amun was more than happy to see her go.

So, after Isabella had a chance to clean up, changing into a new dress and cloak Tia had gifted her, it was time to say goodbye.

"Avoid going out in the sun in public, the glow of your skin will give you away to the humans," Benjamin said. "Go west. I heard there's ships that are taking humans to the Americas. You'll be safer there than in Europe, at least for the time being."

"But do not go until you know for a fact you can be around humans. Your control is astonishing, yes, but you have not been around humans as of yet and you cannot risk losing control and bringing attention to you. For now we say stay as far away from the human population as possible," Tia added. "It may be decades before you can endure being in close range to a human."

"It'll be difficult, but not impossible," Benjamin concluded.

Isabella nodded to herself, the thought of decades making a cold chill run down her back.

"Thank you," she managed to say, and she meant it. She was so thankful to Benjamin and Tia, they were the only ones who have shown her kindness. A kindness she was afraid she'd never find ever again. "For everything."

There was still hesitation in both vampires, she could see it. Tia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Isabella, pulling her into a hug. Isabella hugged her back, her anxiety slowly crippling back on her.

"No matter how hard it gets, how hopeless you may feel, do not give in," Tia whispered. "Do not give in."

Tia pulled back, taking Benjamin's hand.

"We have to go!" Amun called out from where he stood with his wife at the edge of the forest. "Wrap it up."

"Good luck," Benjamin said as a final farewell, and all four vampires were gone in a blink of an eye, leaving nothing but the sound of the rustling leaves in their wake.

Isabella looked at the woods that surrounded her.

Now what? she thought. Where could she go? What was she supposed to do? There wasn't a goal ahead of her, nothing besides not getting caught by the Volturi, but other than that, what was she supposed to do?

It'd been easier before. Before when there was an end. It didn't matter how far the road of her human life stretched, at least she knew there was an end. But now? Her life - or existence for that matter - had no end. Nothing. It didn't matter if she ran that road as fast as she could until her legs gave out, there would never be an end.

Isabella wasn't sure what to do, where to go. She wasn't even sure in what direction to go. She stood there, for what felt like an eternity, staring off into the dark void between the trees trying to make sense of everything. Trying to make sense of her new reality, but nothing could prepare a person for such a drastic shift in their life. Nothing could prepare a person to lose their home, their family, their purpose and then be expected to live an eternity without them.

So, in all the confusion and pain she was in, Isabella pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and did the only thing she could think of. The only thing she knew she could do.

She walked.

Her speed left many trees victim to her vampiric clumsiness, but Isabella was determined to regain control over her own body. She had to, for she had learned the importance of practice when she was a child learning how to play the piano.

She used to complain that her fingers were too small for the keys and thus the reason why it'd taken her so long to master the instrument, much to the annoyance of her mother and instructor. It'd been one afternoon when Isabella had gone on for what felt like hours complaining about having to learn such an unnecessary skill and how she'd never be good enough that he gave her such advice.

"You mustn't give up," he had said. He'd been fourteen at the time and she remembered the slight change in his voice as he spoke, that change that took him from a boy to a young man. "If you wish to stop because you have no interest in the instrument, by all means. But if your reluctance is because you believe yourself not good enough, then you mustn't give up."

"Then what can I do?" She'd asked him, plucking a dandelion from the grass where they sat across from each other.

He simply shrugged, giving her that crooked smirk on his boyish face that made her heart skip a beat.

"Practice makes perfect, love."

So she did, she practiced and as a consequence, many trees had been victim to her speed. It took time, but as the days and weeks trickled by, Isabella slowly began to master it.

She learned a lot of her new body in the weeks following her meeting with Benjamin's coven. There wasn't much left for her to do but learn in the quiet of the woods. She learned the length of her strength at night as she sat beside the fire, hidden in the caves when she pulverized a small rock between her thumb and index finger. Then a rock big enough to fit in her fist which she cracked without even putting that much effort into it.

There was also her sight. Everything around her seemed to buzz with a vibrancy she'd never seen before. Then there was also the glow of her skin under the sunlight. She remembered the story he had once told her of the demons who lurked in the shadows and fed on the blood of maidens. She remembered how in his story, demons burnt to ash under the rays of the sun.

So, hoping against all hope, she stepped out of the shadows and waited for a burn that would never come. Her skin would take an almost angelic glow under the sun that she would've admitted was beautiful had it not been so unnatural.

The colors, the textures, the sounds and smells of it all, all part of the old world she used to live in now seemed alien to her, as if she was rediscovering it all for the first time. There was a certain beauty to it had it not felt so tragic.

And in the absence of purpose, Isabella was able to find a routine.

She walked.

She walked, hood over her head, in the darkness of the woods with nothing but the sounds of crunching leaves under her bare feet.

She walked. And as the sky began to clear, changing from darker shades of blue to lighter, she'd find a shelter. Most of the time it was a cave. And while the animals came out of their hiding, as the world resumed their daily routines under the sunlight, she slept.

Sleep, she found, was the only unpredictable thing in her new life.

Sometimes, sleep brought her home. She'd dream of waking up in her bed - the attack, the vampires and all just a terrible nightmare - and when she'd walk out of her bedroom, her parents would be there, waiting for her, telling her it was time to get ready for her wedding. She'd hug them, relieved and crying, telling them how much she loved them, and she would pass it all as a terrible, terrible dream.

Her mother would help her get ready for her wedding, put on the dress she'd chosen for that day and they'd walk her across the village to the church. Her village would buzz with the same familiar light and life as it always did. The dream would always end when they reached the church's doors, just as they were about to open, before she could even catch a glimpse of him.

Then she would wake, back in the cave and her spirit would shatter once more.

Sometimes, sleep wouldn't come at all. She'd be restless, tossing and turning, feeling a pull in her chest. An urge to go, find something. What? She wasn't sure. That feeling was the worst of them all. The inability to escape her reality even for a couple hours. So, on the days she felt restless, she'd walk.

That was her routine. That was her life. Walk and feed, sleep and wake, and then do it all over again. And again. And again. And again.

And again.

She walked aimlessly.

She walked and she hadn't the faintest of notions that twelve months had passed since that dreadful day. Twelve months of solitude, of never seeing a new face or hearing anything but the sound of the woods and her own breathing.

Walk and feed, sleep and wake.

She began to question whether anybody was looking for her at all.

She decided to try her luck one evening, venturing close to a nearby city. She'd never been in a city before, and yet, there she was.

Trying to be smart, she didn't venture into the city until nightfall where most of its inhabitants were safe in their homes.

That night marked the first time she tasted human blood and the first time she killed another vampire.

She'd been walking amongst the quiet streets of the city, marveling at the structures and the sounds of the humans in their small apartments when she heard her.

"Stop! No, please leave me alone!" A woman cried, sending a chill down Isabella's spine.

"Shut up!" A man hissed.

Isabella's feet moved before she could even think about it. She followed the sounds until she came to an alleyway where, tucked in the darkness, a man had a woman pinned to the ground. The woman kicked and wrestled against his hold, but he was taller, stronger. She was no match against him. When Isabella saw his hand reaching under the woman's skirt, she moved.

She grabbed the man by the back of the collar of his shirt and yanked him off the woman, throwing him against the opposite wall of the alley. The woman yelped, crawling away from Isabella as she turned back to the man.

"You bitch," the man spit out, rubbing the back of his head. When he pulled his hand back, his hand was covered in blood.

Isabella went impossibly still. Her throat went instantly aflame, every nerve in her body twitched with the urge to lunge forward, sink her teeth into his skin and drink.

With the last of her resolve, she looked at the helpless woman on the ground and gasped out, "Go."

The woman crawled up to her feet and fled the alleyway without a second thought, leaving Isabella with the bleeding man.

The man spit at the ground, pushing himself off the wall with a heavy breath.

"You fucking bitch, you will fucking regret that."

Isabella didn't bother to give the man a word. She lunged, pinning him quite easily on the ground as the man let out a startled gasp, that gasp turning into a cry as she sank her teeth into his neck.

For the first time since becoming a vampire, Isabella delighted in feeding. She marveled at the fact that this man who had tried to harm an innocent woman and change her life irrevocably, was nothing compared to her. As he struggled against her, as his life slowly slipped away as she drank, she marveled at the fact that he now knew how helpless that woman felt. So she fed and she kept feeding until the body under her went limp and she heard his heart give out.

Only then did she let up, feeling satisfied for the first time in almost a year.

She pulled away, wiping away the remnants of the blood from her chin when a shadow walked into the alleyway, clapping slowly.

Isabella went still again.

"It is not every day you see a man get a taste of his own medicine," the shadow said. "I am quite impressed."

Isabella said nothing as she scurried off the ground. She sniffed the air and every hair in her body stood in alert.

He was a vampire.

"I was going to get him but you beat me to it," he continued, nudging the corpse with his boot. He tusked at the spilled blood on the ground. "You are quite messy, haven't mastered the art of feeding have you?"

Go, the voice in her head growled. Leave.

The vampire stepped closer and Isabella fell back a step until her back met the bricked wall.

"Curious thing. Either your sire abandoned you or…" he trailed off, taking in her features. Isabella could make out how the corners of his lips curled into a smirk in the darkness. "You know, I heard Aro was in search of a little vampire. Word says, she is his mate and he desperately wants her back. Are you her, darling?"

Lie.

Isabella shook her head.

"You know, if you are, I can take you back to him. I'm pretty sure he'd be most grateful."

"I am not," she stuttered out.

The vampire hummed with a slight shake of his head. His eyes roamed over her body, taking in her tethered dress and cloak, the dirt on her bare feet, grim on her hands. All signs of a vampire in hiding. A vampire that did not want to be found.

"You are a bad liar."

Attack! The voice in her head screamed.

Isabella lunged forward with a feral scream, digging her thumbs into the vampire's eyes until she felt them pop under her touch. The vampire screamed, falling to the ground.

"You fucking bitch!" He yelled out.

Isabella ran, ran out of the city, back into the woods, but the vampire was quickly after her, using her scent to chase her. Isabella went back to her cave, hiding in the darkness as she heard him come to a rampant stop against a tree, toppling it over.

"Come out, you little cunt!" he hissed, blood trailing from his eye sockets down his face. "I was going to be nice and deliver you to Aro in one piece, but now I am going to rip you apart piece by piece and send him your fucking head! Come out!"

Isabella held her breath, sinking deeper into the dark. But it was too late, he had caught her scent once more. In his blindness, he turned to the cave, tilting his head, waiting for a sound, anything that would tell him where she was.

"It's okay," the vampire continued, stepping into the cave. "I think I'll keep you until my eyes heal and when they do, I know of a couple vampires in the area who would love to get back at Aro. We'll have our fun with you first, make you wish you were dead before delivering your head."

A cold chill ran down Isabella's back. No, no, no, that can't happen, she thought. She couldn't let herself be caught. She couldn't.

The vampire walked deeper into the cave, his ears perked, waiting to hear her falter, waiting for her to make a single sound so he could pounce. There was nothing but the sound of the branches snapping under his boot and the wind rustling leaves outside.

The vampire stopped and the entire cave went silent.

…

"Where are you, you little-"

Isabella hit the vampire with a rock on the back of the head. The vampire fell with a loud grunt and Isabella quickly climbed over his back, raising the rock over her head once more and letting it fall on him again, and again, and again. She screamed as she smashed his head in, her screams raw and visceral. They were screams full of desperation and pure rage, a rage that she had held in for almost a year. She hit him over and over and over until his blood coated the cave's walls and Isabella herself.

When she finally stopped, she dropped the rock, her back meeting the cave's wall as she crawled off him and finally took a breath.

There would be no healing from that.

She bit back the bit of guilt creeping up on her. She'd never harmed as much as a fly in her life, and yet she took two lives in one night.

They were terrible people, she reasoned with herself. The man in the alleyway was going to hurt that poor girl. This thing was going to hurt me. I had no choice.

But even with all the reasoning, Isabella still couldn't grapple with the fact that she had taken two lives. Was that really what her life had come to? Killing in order to survive? Was that what she had to look forward to?

She'd made a mess of things that she knew. The young had seen her pull that man off of her like it was nothing. She'd killed him and made a mess of it, a mess that still laid in the alleyway and now this. If what he said was true and there were vampires in the area, they would come looking for her.

She had to leave.

She left the vampire's corpse in the cave and washed off the blood in a nearby river.

And she did what she knew she could do.

She walked.

She walked and fed - animals once more, not as filling as the scum in the alleyway, but it was better than the alternative. Slept and dream, and the dreaming was injury anew. She didn't know what was more tragic, the fact that the memory of her loved ones, of her family, of him brought so much pain she could almost physically feel it or the fact she couldn't even mourn them.

Because both went hand in hand. In order to mourn, you turn to the memories of those you loved and Isabella could not, she couldn't bear it. The alternative was to live as if they never existed and Isabella could not think of a greater insult.

A child could've been born on the night she ventured into the city. That child would go through their childhood, grow into their adolescence and into adulthood. They'd find a purpose, whether it was to change the world or help keep it steady. They would meet someone and fall in love, get married, have children and watch as they navigated through their own childhoods, adolescence and eventually find someone they loved, get married and have children of their own, continuing the endless cycle of life.

That child, born on the night she ventured into the city, would grow into their old age and play with their grandchildren. And one day, as they sat side by side with their spouse, they would marvel at the life they had together.

That child, born on the night she ventured into the city, would die warm in their bed in their old age, as it always should've been. As it always should've been. As it'd been decreed since the beginning of time.

And Isabella, forever frozen at the age of nineteen, would walk.

Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and those months became years.

She walked with time by her side.

And it was only once, almost three decades after the attack as Isabella sat by the shore when she wondered, just for a fleeting second, what if?

What if she gave in? Turned herself in to the Vulturi? Would that be better than her reality? At least with the Vulturi, she wouldn't be alone. At least there she could find a semblance of a purpose. Maybe? Just maybe.

But then, the image of her father shooting at the black cloak flashed in her mind. The image of her mother's blood spurting out as the vampire tore into her neck. The image of him lying dead on the cool ground.

She remembered Tia's words then.

Do not give in.

And she wouldn't. Isabella decided, no matter how hopeless she felt, how much pain she was in, she decided she wouldn't give in.

She. Would. Not. Go.

She would live on the run for the rest of her existence, she would never let herself be caught until the earth was swallowed up by the sun.

She would not go.

The years passed, humans evolved, fought wars, built and demolished, lived and Isabella watched all from the shadows.

Until one day, when Isabella found herself in the Northwest while the world was occupied fighting their second world war, she came across an abandoned manor hidden deep in the woods. The closest town - barely considered a town - was miles away and had less than six hundred inhabitants at the time.

The manor had been worn down over the years, the gates keeping it secluded had long rusted and the floors creaked with every step she took. Isabella considered the possibility of staying there, at least for a little while. She'd long grown tired of sleeping in caves and in the woods, in abandoned warehouses and other places alike, but there was a charm to the manor that drew her in. Perhaps it was the oil paintings hanging on the walls, of the parents and their two beautiful daughters. Perhaps it was the history she could learn while she tucked herself into the darkness. Perhaps this could be a home for her, even for a little while. She could test her luck.

Isabella sat in what was once the drawing room of the lonely manor and if she was quiet enough she could hear the ghosts hiding in the corners. The ghosts were not welcoming to Isabella the first few months of her stay, they were unnerved by this strange new presence in their home. The energy of the manor felt heavy, unwelcoming, but Isabella paid little mind to it. She'd hoped that in time they'd grow used to each other, that was if circumstances allowed and she wasn't forced to leave before that happened.

Walk and feed, sleep and wake.

Her fate, she concluded, was a nightmare.

But it was hers. It was the only thing she had that still belonged to her.

So, she would sleep, she would wake and she would walk. And she'd repeat the same pattern every day until one day, the manor and all its' lonely ghosts saw her as one of their own.

This is my favorite chapter so far and obviously inspiration was taken from The Haunting of Bly Manor, more specifically Viola's character.

Let me know what you guys think! Next chapter, we are time skipping to the present hehe