A Year and A Month After They Left

Bella Swan turned the key in the crisp ignition slot, cutting the ignition and letting go of the gearshift. She inhaled sharply through her nose as she scanned the street with a couple houses down the street of her father's small house. The boat was in the small position, the backyard was tamed and light of forest with dead foliage in the fledgling autumn season. On this day a year ago, even though the date was different but this day a year ago in the third week of October she left with her mother to Jacksonville, Florida. Initially, she wanted to throw a tantrum, but there was nothing in Forks for her, and seeing her mother, the decision was as reasonable as her actions had been. She couldn't remember that feeling of pain of his absence anymore, she couldn't fully reminisce and dwell on the difference of this arrival back to Forks because that pain was gone. It took some time after the change of scenery and the natural stages of a breakup with all of the great negatives until the positives started to bloom.

Her brown eyes flickered over to the house once again, her head fell back against the headrest as she thought over her current circumstances. This return wasn't one that she would have wanted to happen this way; she wanted to go to college, have that experience, and then build her career here in Forks or somewhere close. She missed her father, Charlie Swan, the Chief of Police, and she wanted to prove to him that she wasn't that girl that fell apart over her first ex-boyfriend, but what could she do about her mother and her husband disappearing and then reappearing dead in the only way she knew was possible? She had initially planned to go looking for Alice for help, she knew for certain if they cared for her in any way, they wouldn't just let her die to Victoria.

It was the only explanation that Victoria would be looking for her if she couldn't find the Cullens if she knew she was no longer with them. She had an initiative twist in her stomach she was right about her current thought train when she weighed the options, it was the only disappearance and murder that matched the ones in her past. But she didn't just think about Alice; she thought about Jacob and his tribe, their walk along the beach a couple weeks after she first moved here and he told her about their legends, they had a treaty with the Cullen's. Maybe if she could locate the wolves, then maybe she would have another shot. The unfolding of these memories flashed before her eyes in an unwanted moment, leaving her gasping in pain for a moment, the moment she learned of her mother's and Phil's death. She moved on, but Victoria didn't move on, and Bella knew that she was coming for her. Bella packed up a bag when the police left. She had about nine hours before the sun set in Florida, and that was more than a headstart for safety.

She didn't stop the car until she got to the airport, pulled out money at the ATM in one of the Dunkin Donuts, and got on the next flight to Seattle. When she got to Seattle, she called her father and relayed the news to him. Charlie Swan asked a lot of questions, but Bella had answered them all with I'm in Seattle, she was still shaken though; she was already across the country, and it still brought her no comfort. When Charlie registered her announcement of her presence in Seattle, he wasted no time to make noise of rummaging around the house with the sound of clearing items off shelves with the echo of the running faucet of the bathroom. She didn't relax until now but she was rigid in her seat, she rubbed her face clear of impending sleep and then ran her slim hands through her thick hair. Bella glanced over to her right hearing a muffled shriek of joy from kids riding bikes and skateboards down the street past her rental car from Port Angeles. She relaxed back into the seat and looked down at her fingers picking at her fingernails, she inhaled sharply again and put her hands on the steering wheel and squeezed her eyes shut. She mustered up all of her courage and exited her vehicle with keys in hand and her free backpack full of random items of clothes, she had tried to stuff most of her fresh from dryer laundry into the bag.

Her old key still unlocked the front door when she approached, she used the same lanyard and keyring and added the keys from Jacksonville and her new vehicle when the truck died. She took her time going upstairs to her room, she couldn't feel any lingering memory of Edward in the house and this gave her more peace than she had expected. She unpacked her bag, she grabbed mostly shirts that wouldn't accommodate the weather here but once she peaked into her old dresser, a lot of her old clothes were still here. She tried a few things on before indulging in her hope of clothes in case nothing fit, a few pairs of the jeans were fit and her shirts fit nicely.

The warm shower calmed Bella's nerves, she was able to process the new thoughts trails when she exited the heated embrace of the bathroom and into her room to tidy up her small mess.

Mom's dead. Her mind murmured in a quiet tone of despair.

Her throat clamped and her hand flew to mouth and her fingers enclosed around her towel she was going to hang up to air out and dry, her eyes squeezed shut as the grief finally settled in as the adrenaline wore off and she crumbled to the floor and allowed the spell of grief to follow. If she learned anything from her mother over this past year was that she had to feel the pain, endure it until she had the strength to learn and get herself back on her feet. More than several minutes later, Bella collected herself and cleaned herself up before heading out the door to talk to Billy Black after paying a quick visit to her father. She squared her shoulders as she walked to her black rental car, she twirled her keys in her hand and adjusted her purse to sling over her abdomen and zipped up her parka. She came here because she knew she was being hunted, she was willing to dive head first into the decision on coming back here, she had to hold that bravery to make sure her mother's murderer saw justice. Edward was right, he shouldn't have let her into his life, she didn't deserve to go through that trauma of James if she had taken his first red flags from the beginning, maybe things were different but they weren't. She fell in love with him and she didn't know why she had been, certainly not in this moment of searching for legends for protection against a being she couldn't fight herself.

She inhaled deeply through her nose mustering up all her courage as she shoved the keys back into the ignition slot and turned it over with a determined and brave glare in her eyes.