Chapter 5 Full Moon

I stood in front of the white painted house. The forest surrounded it on three sides. My grandfather's police cruiser sat in the driveway just where it belonged.

Memories flooded my mind.

I had come here for Christmas the year I was born when the Volturi came for us the first time. It had just started snowing, and Jacob had given me the braided bracelet that I still wore on my wrist.

The next fall, we had celebrated Independence Day here with Charlie and Sue. My grandfather had cooked burgers and hot dogs. Even though he bought three packages of hot dogs and five pounds of ground beef, with two packs of hungry werewolves in attendance, the food didn't go very far. Charlie had proposed to Sue that day.

They had their wedding two months later in the back yard. Sue wore a long, home sewn dress, and both my mother and Leah were bridesmaids.

The last time I had seen them was Christmas of that year, where we all were able to spend time as a family, and Leah stayed off on her own, not quite ready to accept the vampires as family. Jacob had given me a gold and lavender necklace that spelled my name out in pale purple gemstones. I had assumed that he had to have it specially made for me. Since my name was so unique, it wouldn't be on the shelves of Claire's like Audrey or Megan might be.

I slowly stepped onto the porch and cautiously knocked on the door. How would they react when they saw me? How would they take finding out that the granddaughter that they had assumed dead for over half a decade was in fact alive and well, if incomplete. I would have to tell them the truth that I was just visiting, and that they may never see me again after this.

Foot steps approached the door from the inside. It opened and my grandmother stood in the entryway. "May I help you?" She asked, unsure of who I was.

"Hello Grandmother. I'm Renesmee."

"Nessie?" She exclaimed, then pulled me into a hug. "Please come in. Your grandfather and I have missed you so much."

"I've missed you too." I answered as I sat at the small table in the kitchen. My grandfather was napping on the couch while a tied game of baseball played in the background.

Sue walked over to where her husband peacefully dozed. "Charlie." She said into his ear. He snored and stood up. The second he saw me, he leaped into the air as if he had been struck with a tazer.

He couldn't comprehend quite yet that the granddaughter that he had accepted as dead was sitting at his kitchen table with a glass of water in her hands. "Renesmee? Is that really you?" He asked in astonishment.

"Yes grandpa. It's really me."

"Wha.. Where have you been and where is Bella?" He demanded harshly. Sue reprimanded him.

"I have been out of state." I answered before the tears welled and overflowed. "And I don't know where Mom is. I don't know where any of them are." I sobbed. I hadn't seen my family, apart from Jacob, since the battle all those years ago.

"Who has been taking care of you then?" Charlie demanded.

"Jake." I answered. Nothing could have prepared me for how he reacted.

He sprang out of the chair and his face grew red as a ripe summer tomato. "He hasn't taken your innocence has he? I know how teenage boys can be." He fumed.

"Charlie!" Sue scorned.

I balked. "No Grandpa. I may be fully grown, but Jake has only been my guardian and my friend for these few years."

"Are you here to stay, Renesmee?" asked my grandmother, diverting my attention and allowing Charlie to dissolve this embarrassing confrontation.

"No, I am just visiting. I don't know how long I will be here in Forks or if you will ever see me again after this."

"Renesmee." Charlie started.

"Please Grandpa; Jacob and I are not normal, so we really can't live in the normal human world and stay inconspicuous." I explained before he tried to force me to stay under his roof now that I was back.

"Will you at least stay with us while you are here?" Sue asked, flashing one of her million dollar smiles.

I smiled in reply. "Have you seen Jacob lately?" I asked hopefully, peering deeply into her eyes to try and decipher if she was going to lie to me or tell me the truth. "No, I haven't seen Jacob." She answered. My hopes as well as my heart fell. Being apart from my Jacob was becoming more excruciating by the hour.

The back door opened and the scent of resin-rain-and-dirt flooded the room in front of a tall tanned girl with bobbed black hair wearing cut-offs, a gray tank-top and a scowl when she saw me. "Oh. It's you again." Leah said sourly.

"Hey Leah." I greeted timidly.

"Ya, no thanks, and before you ask, no I have not seen Jacob." She turned and left the house.

I frowned. Sue put her hand on mine as it lay next to the warming glass. "Don't fret Nessie. Being the Alpha has been hard on her."

Charlie had gone up stairs and he came back down carrying a medium sized cardboard box labeled Clothes for Bella. I fought back tears as he set the box on the table and ripped the tape off slowly. Tears fell on the clothes as he pulled out some of what remained with him of his daughter; my dear mother.

Soon though, I had two shirts, a brown skirt, and a pair of faded blue jeans piled into my arms. I ran upstairs into my Mom's old bedroom and changed into a red shirt and the brown peasant skirt. I was barefoot but that didn't matter. I rarely wore shoes of any sort.

I threw my dirty clothes into the hamper before running out the front door after saying goodbye to my grand-parents. I had one destination in mind. I quickly took to the trees and ran along the familiar trail to the my old house.

I halted the instant I broke through the trees and collapsed onto the forest floor as I gazed at the blackened, charred heap of metal and glass that was all that remained of the century old house I was born in.

The second and third stories had fallen years ago and sunlight filled the interior of the first floor as the forest tried to desperately take it back. Give it another half decade and it would be hard to discern what was house and what was forest. The fire had also helped to speed up the growth of the ravenous woods.

What about the cottage? I sprinted back the way I had come, before veering sharply to the right. I stopped in front of the cottage. It looked none the worse for wear. The windows were dusty and grass was growing rampant in the walkway up to the house. I opened the door with ease after I remembered where the key was for when I locked myself out.

The cottage was untouched, as if frozen in time. I flipped on the light, as if everything would return to the way it was and should be. Nothing happened. Of course, the electric was off. I walked slowly through the gloomy house.

The flat-screen still rested over the fireplace and mother's bookshelf was untouched, still crammed with all of her favorite books.

I walked into the kitchen. The food had since deteriorated with time and I didn't dream of opening the long dead fridge.

The next room I walked into was my parents room. The large white bed was still made, but spider webs hung from the canopy. The french doors were dusty and a small part of a pane was missing on the bottom, as if a rock had been skipped across the weed encrusted pond and flew too far. The opening allowed mice and other small animals into what had been my home. I relived a memory from when I was very little, still a toddler, playing on my parents bed with Mom and Dad on either side. My dad was laughing as I played with a couple of my mother's beaded necklaces. My mother was helping me.

I turned and walked into my mother's closet. There was no light but my night vision was excellent. Most of my mother's dresses still hung in their bags, but one of the poles had fallen prey to termites and lay in a heap on top of the majestic dresses that it used to display. I left the depressing room and went to the final place I wanted to visit.

My bedroom door was open as it had been when we left for the last time. Muted sunlight filtered through the lavender tulle curtains that still hung valiantly on their rods. My vanity was just the same as it was, with a picture of my entire family on my first birthday still sitting in its' long silver filigree frame. I walked up to it and picked it up, soon peering into the faces of my parents, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Jacob, Seth, Charlie and Sue, the rest of both wolf packs, and me right in the middle.

I put the picture down before I cried on it, and fell on my old bed, my purple floral comforter just as it had been six years ago. I lifted up the dusty pillow and pulled my diary out from under it.

I opened it to a random entry, which turned out to be one of the last I had written in it.

December 09 2009.

Dear Diary,

Why must I be the cause of such trouble? Or, why must I be used as the cause of so much trouble? The Volturi are coming again, and I know that they just want my parents and dear Aunt Alice. I also know that they want me dead, one way or another. My mother has put things in place for me to flee with Jacob while the rest of them give us time, but I don't want to have to go at all. Why can't the Volturi just leave us alone?

Renesmee.

I looked at the next entry.

December 12 2009.

Dear Diary.

The vampires who came last year are here again. They have to fight for their lives and for the people that they love now. They know that the Volturi won't be satisfied with just the members of my family, They want just about every gifted vampire that we know. They especially want Benjamin.

Renesmee.

I closed the violet colored book before I could cry too much. I had completely forgotten about these entries and reading them made the memories flood back in gruesome detail. I slipped the book into the denim bag I had brought with me. I also took the picture. One of the things I especially wanted to take was a stuffed red wolf that Jake had given me years ago. It still rested on it's shelf. I took it down and hugged the likeness of Jacob.

For some reason, I glanced into the dusty mirror and saw a bright red muzzle reflected in it through the window. The wolf had a furious look in his eye and he bared his teeth, since he was able to see me. I gasped and turned before I saw Jacob disappear back into the trees and run as fast as he could away from me. He left me once again.