I awake at 5:30, to the smell of smoke. It surrounds my head, while blurring my vision. FIRE!!! I bolt out of my room, only to see my mother and new boyfriend making out while their friends do the same. Bottles of whiskey were completely empty, covering the table. I follow the stinking smoke to find a frying pan with what seem to be eggs burning into a crisp. After I douse the pan into a sink full of water, I head back to my room.

"HEY!!! WHAT ARE DOING OUT OF YOUR ROOM!" my mom shouts at me. I never really intended on her spotting me. I thought she was too drunk to see me. I try my best not to cross her. I know she hates me. I remind her of my father. I mutter a sorry and slowly back away to my room. Shutting the door softly, I think about how close a call that was. I was just sitting on my bed, when the door swings open roughly and slams against the wall.

"YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE UP!!! YOU ALWAYS DISOBEY ME!!!YOU'RE NO GOOD, JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER!!!! YOU CROOKED PIECE OF SHIT!!!!"

She runs over to me and begins to punch me in the face. I start to feel something warm and wet run out my nose. Winding my hair in her hand, she pulls up my head and slams my head against the wall. Over and over and over again. Finally, she lets me go.

"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!!!! IF YOU HAD LISTENED TO ME, THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!!!"

With that note, she stormed out of the room. I sit there paralyzed, my head throbbing in pain. Everything I have been through replays through my head. I begin to cry silently, thinking of myself as pathetic. Seventeen years old, fatherless, living with my mother that has hated me all my life, and scared to tell the story. I crawl into the bed, in too much pain to do anything else and cry myself to sleep.

Beeeeep, beeeep, beeeep. I wake up with a pounding headache. I look at the clock and groan. Four thirty in the morning. I start to get up, but my arms give out. Everything hurts, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I sit up in bed with a hiss of pain. I notice that the clock is still beeping and hit the snooze button. I hold my arm for a few minutes. I inspect my arm for any bruises or cuts. From my elbow down to my wrist, there is a huge, swollen bruise.

Attentively, I poke it, regretting it instantly. I feel tears prickling at my eyes. Taking deep breaths to calm myself, I think about someone coming to free me from my torment. Slowly I move off of the bed and limp to the bathroom. After every piece of clothing I take off, I see a huge bruise or cut, contrasting against my skin. I'm of the black persuasion, if you just glimpsed, you'd think I was mixed.

I have long black hair that reaches down to my back. I'm 5"6 with light brown skin, brown eyes that have dark or light blue rings around the irises. I look in the mirror to look: dark blue. I turn on the shower, adjust the water to my liking, and step in. Letting the hot water soak and soothe my muscles and their wounds. Last night plays in my head over and over again, reminding me what I screw-up I am. When I felt all my hurts fade, I scrubbed on some soap, rinsed, and got out. I dry myself as carefully as I can. It occurs to me that have to go to school today.

The first schools, the first beating of the school year.I nearly laugh at the irony. I put my hair in a ponytail and head to my room to get dressed. Looking through my closet, I choose a black long-sleeved shirt (with the thumbs cut out), baggy black cargo pants and my black combat boots that come up to my calves. I grab my watch, my keys, my wallet (I only had seven dollars and thirty cents), and head out. I don't have a car, so I walk.

I don't mind much, it isn't a very long walk. In fact it is one of the few ways I get some peace. I look at my watch and see that I have some spare time. So I decide to take a shortcut through the woods. Halfway through it, I see a little meadow, filled with flowers. I walk towards it. I never saw anything that beautiful and I don't use that word often. I stopped walking when I saw someone sitting in middle of it.

A part of me wants to run, but another part of me wants to know who he is. Curiosity won over me, as I slowly begin to make my way towards him. A twig snaps under my foot. He tenses, as if he were getting ready to run. He cautiously begins to stand with a frightening grace. His head turns sharply. I look at his face. What I saw there scared me.

A mix of shock, anger, determination, sorrow, regret, and curiosity burned from the intensity of his onyx glare. I tried to stare at the ground, but the force of his stare was to strong. We stood there, completely silent, staring. Finally he broke the silence.

"Do you always stalk people?"1I felt my mouth fall open in shock. How dare he accuse me?!

"I wasn't stalking you, I was taking a shortcut.

"And you got lost, right?

"No, I saw the flowers, and I wanted to see the rest of the meadow.

"Then you decided to spy on me."

"I was not spying on you." By this time, I was speaking through clenched teeth and could feel my hands balling up into fists.

"Whatever"

"You know what, I don't even know you and you're being rude. I don't have to put up with this." I started to walk away, when I heard him mumble something. I turned around and faced him.

"What" I asked him tersely. It may sound overactive, but I was pissed.

"I'm sorry." I wasn't expecting that, not in the least. So, I tried to be civil.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I took my anger out on you, an innocent person, and for that I am sorry. Very sorry."

"It's okay. I understand." And I did. There has been a bunch of times when I took my anger out on innocent people. I still regret it.

"What's your name?"

"Rain. Rain Phillips."

"Alexander Cullen. But you can call me Alex."

We stood there, immersed in an awkward silence. It was then that I was able to look away from his eyes. His lips were slightly curved in a smile, as his long black hair flew in the breeze. I found myself walking towards him against my will. When I finally stood in front of him, I noticed how tall he was. Looking up, I smiled and stuck out my hand. Understanding my gesture, He took my hand and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you." He grinned and let out a musical chuckle. I was momentarily dazed by his smile. I shook my head to clear it.

"Likewise"

He turned my hand over gently and kissed it. Blushing, I tried to pull my hand away, but he wouldn't let me. Once again, I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. I started to realize how handsome he was. Angular features, yet somewhat rounded, showing the last years of his youth. Long jet black hair falling into his eyes that were the same color. Finally he spoke interrupting my ogling.

"Well, what brought you out to the meadow?"

I was still in shock that he kissed my hand. I saw his lips moving but I didn't hear anything.

"What did you say?" He gave me a polite smirk and spoke a little louder.

"I asked you what brought you out to meadow." I wasn't quite sure if I should answer that question truthfully or tell a lie, although I had the feeling that he would be able to see through my lie, no matter how convincing it was.

"I have some family issues, and I was heading late to school, so I took a shortcut." It was the truth, just not the whole gruesome truth. But a part of me wanted to tell someone, but it told me that he would not be the one to tell.

"Oh, I am sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" Once again, I was momentarily shocked at his actions. I knew I shouldn't be, but I haven't known this guy for more than an hour and he is already willing to listen to my problems. But no matter how much I want to tell him, I know I can't. Strange. Maybe I am going insane………..

"No, I, I really don't. No offense, but I don't, not right now anyway."

"That's quite alright. I can understand that completely. Just know that I am always here if you need a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen"

"Thank you, Alex" I felt a thrill run through me as I said his name. I really need to get a hold on myself.

"Well, what is the name of the high school that you are to be attending?"

"Forks High School"

"That just happens to be the same school I am going to." I didn't say anything. I just stood there and blushed. Wait, since when do I blush?! I was the only one to notice it either.

"You are very pretty when you blush."

"Thank you." Nobody had ever called me pretty before. I have been called many crude names, but never pretty. It's is funny that I have gotten many insults, but have rarely gotten a compliment.

"Well if we don't leave now, we will be late for school" He grabbed my hand and I felt my sleeve roll up. He looked down and his eyes seemed to turn a deep black. Sadness, confusion, concern and a hint of anger showed in his eyes

I looked down and found what he what he was staring at. My wrist was still swollen and bruises and cuts covered my arms. The cuts were straight and self-inflicted. I felt somewhat ashamed.

"Did...who...why???? Are things that bad at home that you have to do this???"

"I didn't do the bruises." I couldn't find my voice, so it came out no louder than a murmur. I pulled my hand away and he let me. I started to walk towards the school. I honestly couldn't deal with this right now. I hear him call my name and I started to run.

When I got there, I was right on time. I think about how my life turned into the hell it is now. I thought about my only friends, Rosemary, Wind and Sunny and how I had to move away form them. All because my "mother" wanted to move as far away as she could from my birthplace. Just because she loathes my "father", a womanizing bastard that knocked her up. Hey, it sounds mean, but I just got the shit kicked of me.

I go to my first period and take a seat to the back and put my head down. All of my aches are coming back to me. I find it odd that when I was around Alex, I didn't even notice them, now they slam into me like a brick wall. I thick of happy thoughts: Me moving out, finding a great job, and getting out of this hellhole.

"Class, we have a new student. Rosemary Chamberland." Despite my pain, my head snaps up and a wide grin spreads across my face. She walks to the seat beside me and everyone in the room stares at her in shock. I guess they are wondering why she is sitting by "the freak". I stare at her in shock.

"What are you doing here? Not that I am not glad, but... "I trail off, wondering where the others are. She gives me a bright smile and gives me a breathtaking hug. I lose my breath as she does this, but not because of the strength of the hug. She takes notice of this and loosens up. She seems to know I am in pain and gives me a look as if to say "not again".

"Rose...What is going on?" She lets me go and looks at me slightly hurt. She looks down and begins to speak.

"We missed you so much. We worried about you. We have been searching for you for the past 5 months. At first, we thought you were dead, because we could not find a record of you for a long time, and if we did, you had moved from that area already. Finally, we found your mother and moved down here to find you."

"You did all that just to find me?"

"You're our friend. Believe it or not, we do care." I couldn't say anything. I was too amazed to say or do anything.

"So how have you been?" I felt my smile go down to a frown when she asked me that question. I didn't have enough strength to lie, so I told her I would tell her during study hall. She didn't seem too pleased with that answer but she nodded her head and set it aside. She told me everything she went through over the past months and how the others were doing, and that I would see them during lunch.

The day passed by quickly and the next thing I know, it is the lunch hour. I hurry to the table and give Wind and Sunny a hug. We sat there and talked. Well, I sat there while they talked and told me about everything.

I was laughing at something Wind said, when I felt someone watching me. I turned my head and saw six people staring at me. All of them beautiful, but only one girl looked human. The others looked surreal. Inhumanly beautiful. And Alex was among them, looking at me with a smile. I smiled back and waved at him shyly. I thought he was mad at me. But I was wrong apparently. He said something to his family, got up and began to walk towards my table.

"Rain, I am very sorry for interrupting, may I talk to you in private?" How many times am I going to be taken by surprise today?

"Ummmm, okay." I look to the others to see if I offended them. They looked happy but not angry. We walk outside; well I followed him outside except when he opened the door for me. When he stopped, I bounded right into his chest. He steadied me and led me to a black Cobalt SS.We got in and sat there in an awkward silence. Finally, he spoke.

"I guess you're wondering why I asked to talk to you right now."

"Yeah, kind of."

"Well I was wondering if you were doing anything this weekend." What the hell?! Is he going to ask me out?! Oh shit!!!

"No, I'm not doing anything this weekend. Why?"

"I wanted to know if you would like to go out for a coffee or something." I smiled at his weak but charming attempt.

"Sure, I'd love too."

"Really?"

"Yeah" He grinned at me and we departed to the lunchroom. As soon as I sat at the table, I was attacked with questions. As I told them about everything, I started to get an odd feeling about what I just got myself into, but I just shook it off. Something told me I should have listened though.

After I spent the rest of the week obsessing over what to wear for this special occasion, I finally got to sit down a daydream about what it would be like to fall in love. I never got a good idea of what it might be except for books and true storied of others and their paths toward finding it, but that's it. I got ready to leave when I heard a pone ring. At first I was shocked that a phone was actually ringing. We hadn't had a phone in so long because my "mother" didn't paid the bill, till I never expected to hear one ringing in the house. After searching for the phone I found it under a mattress and answered.

"Hello?" I didn't hear anything at first but heavy breathing. Then someone spoke.

"Um, er hello. May I speak to Rain? That is if I have the right number, If not then," I got tired of the rambling so I cut him off.

"This is she."

"Oh hi Rain. How are you?" I had no idea who this was. He sounded like a nervous boy in his teens. He didn't sound like Alex. No one did.

"Um, err, am sorry, but who is this?

"No one important. This was a mistake. Sorry for wasting your time, bye. Before I could say anything, he hung up. I felt bad for some reason. I kept thinking about it until I got a knock on my door.

As I went to answer the door, I noticed it was unusually quiet. It has never been this quiet, whether the A/C was on, or car tires squealing, it has never been...Silent. I answered the door only to find Alex standing there.

"Hello, Rain." At this point, I was in shock. I think it had something to do with the fact that I have never had a boy at my house, not to mention AT MY DOOR!!! And it is three days before our date?! What if he came to cancel?!

"Hi, Alex. What brings you by this side of town?" I sounded a screaming five year old, whose voice when up five octaves.

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to go for a coffee, but I can see you're not dressed." Knowing there was a confused look on my face, I look down. Sure enough, I was wearing a badly tattered t-shirt with a pair of shorts that were originally a pair of jeans.

"Well, um, err, you see, I..."I couldn't seem to make myself meet his gaze. Finally I trailed off. His hand connected to my face and caressed my cheek. Turning my face towards his, he gently kissed my cheek. And then he pulled away.

"I am sorry; it's just that I have wanted to do that for so long. I can understand if you want me to go" I was still in shock. That was one of...No, THE sweetest thing anyone, any boy has ever done to me.

"No, it's okay. I wish I could go out with you tonight, but my mother needs me to clean up tonight. I am so sorry." He looked disappointed, but he soon smiled in understanding.

"Ok. But will I see you at school tomorrow?" Why wouldn't I be at school tomorrow?

"Sure."

"Ok, bye" And he kissed my cheek again. I felt my heart jump at that single touch.

"Bye"

As I shut the door, I soon realized one important thing about all of this. I had fallen in love with Alex.

But for some reason I had this odd feeling that he wasn't safe. And that even if he did fall in love with me back, he would break my heart as soon as he got the chance. I knew that should stay away from him, but I knew I wouldn't. I was already in too deep. I limped to my room and thought about that phone call. The voice sounded very familiar but I couldn't place the person it belonged to. But I had a gut feeling that I would find out soon.

Jeeez. What is it my instincts lately? Everything that has been going has been screaming change for the past three days. I lie in my bed and think about how all of this will turn out. Will it end badly? Or will it turn out for the best? In thinking this, I slowly drifted off into sleep

I walk down the long, wide hallway of a huge, elegant mansion. Stepping into a room at the end of this hall, I shut the door and lay on the large canopy bed centered of the middle of the room. Suddenly someone comes out of the bathroom and stops to stare at me. I look up to see a tall muscular man with curly dark hair, topaz eyes, and pale skin.

His chest is bare and I am immediately attracted to his body. He looks like a bodybuilder, but his muscles are not gross, but perfect. His booming voice calls out my name in a seductive whisper. In lighting speed he is in front of me, gently cupping my cheek. Pulling my face closer to his, until our lips meet in a tender heated exchange of love and passion.

He whispers three words: I love you

I wake up with a start. I think about this dream over and over as begin to realize that the man of- I mean – in my dreams is not Alex. As this slowly sinks in, the phone begins to ring.