"What a ridiculous name," Bella said. "Forks."

"Come on Bell," her mom said. "Don't be like that. You're the one who wanted to go."

That was technically true, sort off.

"Look," her mother continued. "Why don't we just cancel this? You can stay here, it's really no-"

"It's okay, mom." You deserve to be happy with Phil. The rest of the sentence was implied, but not spoken out loud, as if saying the truth they both knew would make it worse somehow.

"I want to go," Bella said. She was a terrible liar. But if you repeated a lie long enough, it became...actually, it just stayed a lie.

Bella Swan sighed inwardly.

She would miss Phoenix. The scorching heat that tried its best to give her a tan, the city alive every night, her high school friends. Phoenix had a very fitting name, it burned brightly and never died. Forks on the other hand sounded like the most boring place on this god-forsaken continent and, not surprisingly, held the national record for most rainfall. The closest attempt at city was Seattle, with not even half the population of-

"Give my regards to Charlie." The words of her mother snapped her out of the daydream.

"Yeah, sure mom."

"Don't forget that you can come home at any moment. I'll be here for you."

"Don't worry about it, mom," her daughter insisted.

Her mother parked the car at the airport.

She took a deep breath. This was it. The final moments.

"Shall I walk you-"

"It's okay mom," Bella cut her off. She didn't want to draw this out any longer.

"Call me tonight," her mom said.

"Of course." Bella clicked her seatbelt loose. "I love you mom."

"I love you too sweetie." They hugged. Hugging in a car was quite awkward which was very suitable for their situation. Too much had been left unspoken.

Maybe if Bella had offered up a reasonable explanation as to why she wanted to leave, but…

Maybe, she just felt like a bother. Mom had a new life now, and there was no place for her in it. Renée would definitely deny this, but, as she had realised before, repeating a lie does not make it true.

Bella got out and took her bag out of the trunk. She dragged it behind her and walked to the airport. With her trademark clumsiness, she managed to get it stuck in a gutter only five steps away.

Please, she pleaded. Let me leave with some dignity.

She pulled hard on the handle and the wheels slid out of the ditch.

Bad omen?

She shrugged and walked on. The glass doors slid open to welcome her to the Phoenix Airport.

Despite the enormous amount of people here, she felt completely alone.

The girl blinked several times and then clutched her plane ticket harder in her hand and made for the gates.

She basically breezed through security. After all, who would bother with a plain looking teenager? By far the most suspicious thing about her was her fair white skin which seemed to defy the burning sun of Phoenix.

First a four-hour plane to Seattle - the last beacon of civilisation - and then, an hour in a small plane that was remarkably full (about ten people) to finally land in Port Angeles. Her book was finished by the time they landed.

Needless to say, it was raining when she arrived.

The arrival hall was almost deserted. She immediately spotted a middle-aged man with black messy hair, a mustache and three day stubbles on his chin. His dark eyes locked with hers for a moment.

"Bells," he said. She was immediately pulled into an awkward one-armed hug, which almost caused her to tip over since she was still holding her bag. However, Charlie's strong hands automatically steadied her. He was used to her clumsiness by now.

"Hey dad," she said.

Her dad was, how else could it be, the Chief of Police. She briefly wondered what exactly his tasks entailed. Like, how many things happened in a town with a only a few thousand people?

Charlie was wearing his uniform, which looked very suitable for the weather here.

Bella on the other hand didn't have much clothes adapted to Forks, since no one in their right mind would wear winter-clothes in Phoenix.

"How's Renée?" Charlie asked.

"She's fine."

And that about exhausted their conversational topics.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Let me help you with that."

She had only one bag and it really wasn't that big of a deal, but Charlie's help wasn't optional.

He guided her to his car: a grey cruiser with the words 'police' printed on the side. This was exactly why she was determined on buying her own car.

He put her only bag in the trunk and got in the driver's seat.

They drove in awkward silence for several minutes. Only the radio provided some distraction as the rural life unfolded in front of her.

Was that a truck carrying trees?

"Your hair is longer," Charlie pointed out.

"I cut it since last time I saw you."

Awkward silence.

"Uhum. Must have grown again."

Another awkward silence.

"I found you a car," Charlie said, hoping to get the atmosphere above freezing point.

"What kind of car?" She asked, wary.

"A truck. A Chevy."

"Where did you find it?" Actually, she shouldn't be surprised. This was Forks, all these people drove trucks. How else were they supposed to carry around the weight of living in the middle of nowhere?

"You remember old Billie? Billie Black from La Push?"

"Dad, really?"

"We always went fishing together. He's in a wheelchair now so…" Charlie sensed the conversation was getting boring. "Uhum, in any case, I got you a car." He focused back on his achievement.

"And how old is this car exactly?" His daughter asked, still sceptical.

"Well uhm, a few years."

"A few?"

He looked away. "1984."

"Is that when it was build or when he bought it?"

Charlie turned slightly red. "Bought it. Look Bella, they don't build them like that anymore."

For good reasons. "Was it expensive?"

"It's a homecoming gift from me, I already bought it."

"I was gonna buy my own car you know?"

"Oh," he smiled. "Please tell me, seventeen-year-old daughter of mine, with what money?"

She rolled her eyes. He did have a point there, and… It was the first time she had seen him smile.

Bella smiled softly as well. "Thanks, dad."

He cleared his throat "You're welcome." He looked slightly embarrassed.

They went back to silence, only this time, it wasn't an awkward silence. It was as if they had silently agreed that there was nothing wrong with silence.

"Oh." She turned up the radio when she recognised one of her favorite songs.

To her surprise, Charlie mumbled the words along as the radio played it.

She started to see the beauty of her surroundings. Even though she was determined to hate this place to her very core, she couldn't help but notice how peaceful it was. The trees were everywhere, going back in forth in the wind that slammed raindrops against the windshield before the wipers brushed them away.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all, she decided. Maybe-

Their journey came to an end when Charlie parked on the driveway.

Waiting there was a truck that had probably been bright red once, but had since faded to a dusty metallic burgundy. It looked very solid for sure. She could probably drive straight through his two-story house without so much as scratching the hood.

She studied it for a moment, but then the rain made her decide to go inside.

Her room smelled of pines and childhood memories.

Charlie hadn't changed anything, save for the ethernet cable that was taped to the floor. Renée had insisted on that. Cell phones did have normal reception here, this was the middle of nowhere, but it was still the United States, although they were pretty close to the Canadian border. But of course, you could as well argue with the trees. Charlie had simply agreed with his ex-wife, as he usually did. Maybe this is what had led to their divorce in the first place.

Her father left her alone so she could unpack. Not that there was much to unpack, but still.

In the bathroom, she found he had cleared some shelves for her, or maybe he just never used them. The latter seemed more likely.

When she was done, she went down to the living room and found him there.

"I need to get back to work," he explained. "Call me in case you need anything."

"Okay dad."

"The keys of your truck are on the kitchen table. See you tonight, Bells."

And with that, she was alone.

A thought hit her.

With a frown, she went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

How on Earth had he survived all these years?

Clearly, Charlie hardly ever cooked and if he did, it looked to be mostly bacon and eggs.

The kitchen was moderately clean though, for a man alone who never used it that is.

She resolved herself to do all the cooking from now on. There was no way she would survive on bacon and eggs.

There had to be a shop out here.

She went back up and booted up the second-hand pc. It took a while, but eventually, her dear friend Google Maps told her all she needed to know.

Time to test out that truck.

It started. Well, it made a sound as if it would die any moment, and the smoke that came out of it couldn't be good for the environment, but it started with very little trouble given its age.

Welcome to Forks, she thought. Welcome to nowhere.