EPILOGUE

Edward. The only thing that came into my mind today was Edward. Edward was the only thing that came into my mind everyday, and it drove me insane. I paced through the kitchen, up the stairs of my home in Forks, and into my room. I sped over to the computer, checked my e-mail, and maneuvered myself back down the stairs. Life like this was getting old. But this was the only life I knew as long as Edward was gone. Without Edward, well, let's just say I'm no longer Bella. Bella was complete when Edward was here. Now he is gone, and I am merely a body with a mind that only works if it is consumed by thoughts of Edward Anthony Mason Cullen. Edward. The rush of pain came stronger this time, and I ran back upstairs and into the bathroom. Frantically, I opened up the sliding glass doors of the shower, stripped, and jumped in. Turning the faucet all the way to cold, I stood. Letting the icy cool daggers of H2O pierce through my skin, I vomited. Edward. Edward. Edward. This was the last of my thoughts before turning of the water and getting out of the shower. There I lay, on the cool tile floor of my bathroom. It was as though nothing could ease the burn. Nothing would cool down my heart. For every time I thought of the name, I was on fire. Oh please, let this stop. Let it come to and end. If this pain didn't stop, I was sure that my life WOULD.

Chapter 1

I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain pounding on the roof. This was nothing new to me, seeing as how Forks, Washington was known for its rainy days. Making my way to the bathroom, I yawned, and shivered. Everything in my world was so cold now. Quickly I finished up my shower, dried my hair, dressed, and applied a small amount of make-up. I didn't see the point in trying to look good anymore. There was only one person in the world that would make me want to look good. But right then, I could not think of the name. Looks did not matter to me anymore. I was not looking for another boy. I had found the one I wanted, except the scary thing was, he didn't want me. Pushing these awful thoughts from my mind, I walked down my stairs, took a deep breath, and entered the world of my father, Charlie.

"Good morning, Bells", he welcomed.

"Morning, Charlie. What would you like for breakfast?" Charlie was not much of a cook and I felt that it was my responsibility to make sure he got the proper nutrition he needed. His idea of McDonald's for breakfast every morning was not exactly healthy. Seeing as how I had only been living with my father for a little over a year, I had quickly adapted to a life like this.

"Bells, you know that no matter what you make, I'll love it." At least I wasn't getting a request for some sort of difficult dish this morning. Finally deciding on traditional scrambled eggs, I took out a pan and lit the burner on our old stove.

"So, what's on your agenda for today after school?" Charlie questioned me. I hated this part of my morning. Everyday since the disappearance of (name I could not mention) Charlie would ask me what my plans were. Unfortunately, I never had any, but I liked it that way. I guess you could say that I liked to keep myself busy independently. I would study a little too much; I'd clean every room in the house twice, and maybe even work back-to-back double shifts at the camping store that employed me this past summer. What Charlie didn't like about this, was that I was not associating with people. He knew very well that I was upset about this boy, but he did not understand my mental hang-up with not getting over it. It had been months since he left me, and yet, I was not able to let go. Scooping up a fork-full of eggs, I quickly optioned my answers.

"Well, I figured I'd come home, study, do some homework, and maybe clean up around the house. Maybe cut the grass or something like that. Is there anything you need me to do?" That was safe – I was offering to help Charlie. Being the chief of police here in Forks, he never had much time to do anything productive around the house.

"Bells, I just want to see you smile and truly mean it… I haven't seen you smile in months. You're putting on this act and I want it to end. Edward Cullen is an ass. He left you alone, with no contact since, and never even gave a care about your feelings. Isabella Swan, you better start getting over this, or I'm going to have to send you back to your mother."

I froze there at the table, not knowing what to say next. The way he spoke about Edwa… The way he spoke about THAT BOY infuriated me. Through a rush of pain, I stood up, not even thinking about the dirty dishes from my un-eaten breakfast, and stormed out of the house. Charlie was not worth my time this morning. He knew he had touched a nerve and I did not want to go back into that house if it was the last thing I'd do. Because it was raining so heavily, I decided that my best bet was to drive to school. So what if I got there early; anything was better than Charlie's house right now.

Arriving at Forks High School, I parked my truck and started on the journey in. I waved to everyone as I passed them, doing my best to look happy. Mike, an old friend of mine, stopped me when I entered the main half of the building.

"Bella, you look wonderful this morning" Mike complimented. I did everything in my power to look friendly. Was he insane? I didn't give two shits about my appearance this morning. I think I was wearing sweats, and had my hair tied up and was wearing maybe an ounce of make-up.

"Thanks bud", I answered, "But I really don't look that fabulous".

"Oh Bella, come on, take a compliment and smile for once."

This was becoming ridiculous. If one more person told me to smile…

It was the beginning of my senior year in High School and I was miserable. I could not go on like this, but as long as Edward was not here, I had to. I could tell it was the beginning of a nightmare.

Chapter 2

After work that night, I arrived home to an empty house. There was a note left on the front door from Charlie. There had been an emergency down at the station and they needed his help. Well, that was fine by me. I was still furious with Charlie because of what he had done this morning. I dropped my bags by the stairs and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. In an instant, I felt something cold on my shoulder. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I snapped my head backwards and looked into the face of an angel.

Grave and cold, the eyes of this angel stared me down and I froze instantly in fear. This was definitely the face of an angel, but not the angel that I wanted to see. It was the face of a vampire; but one I did not know. For you see, Edward and the rest of the Cullen family were vampires. They did not prey on people, but there were others in the world that did. This particular angel that was in my home right now was the perfect example of one. Grasping down hard on my arm, he lifted me up and dragged me out the front door. Placing me on his back in haste, he ran. Unconsciously I could feel my head turning numb. I tried to recognize the face of my kidnapper, but he was moving too fast. Paralyzed with fear, I shut my eyes and tried to imagine what on earth was going on. The last thing I remember seeing of that journey was a blur of color. The next thing I saw was the inside of a room, much like the inside of a regular house.

I turned my head and realized that I was lying sideways on a bed. The comforter was red and there was a burgundy canopy above my head. Quickly I moved, and to my left, the monster that kidnapped my put up a finger to his lips to silence me. Instantly I turned to my other side and saw … would you believe it, Edward. This was not the Edward that I remembered, for this Edward looked harsh and angry. When my eyes locked with his, the expression on his cherubic face lightened and he made a gesture to silence me as well.

What on earth was this? To my right I heard voices, and noticed that they were coming from the opposite side of a door. My kidnapper stood up and left, keeping the same finger on his lips to keep me quiet. As soon as he left, I ran to Edward. He pushed me away with force, and I fell, slamming my elbow down hard on the tile floor. I looked up and Edward looked back at me and once again locked his eyes with mine. He turned away and left the room as well. Everything went black. What was going on? My heart began to race and I was falling, falling, falling.

"Bella!" Charlie's voice came through me like a needle.

It was only a dream. But what a dream it was – Edward, another vampire? Did this mean something?

"I'm in the living room Charlie" I yelled back.

Charlie came in, looking exhausted. I explained to him that I was tired as well and needed sleep. We said our good nights, and I did my best to walk calmly up the stairs. As soon as I hit the top, I ran into the bathroom and hit the floor, sobbing. Seeing Edward had taken its toll on me. It hit through my mind, my body, and my soul. I could not handle it. Again I vomited. Uncontrollably this time. Over and over and over again until I passed out. Thankfully Charlie had decided not to come upstairs in the interim of my passing out, and then regaining consciousness. I moved to my side and realized that I had a mind-splitting headache. Too much; this was just too much to handle. I couldn't move. Again I was paralyzed but pain. But this was a different kind. The kind that is incessant and causes bleeding where there is no blood. Collapsing once more, I lay, sobbing on the bathroom floor.

The sun was shining brightly the next day. Once again, it was unusual in Forks to see the sun shine. It reminded me of my home, back in Phoenix. Though I missed it, and my mother, Forks was where I needed to stay. Forks is where Edward was, and Phoenix was not vampire-esque territory. You see, Vampires are not supposed to come out in the sun. Their skin glows and crystallizes at the contact of the rays of the sun. There was a time when Edward showed me his appearance in the sunlight. It was amazing. He looked more beautiful than ever – with the crystal structure in his skin, reflecting light like a rainbow. In any event, I needed to get ready for school. It was Friday. Ugh, I hated Fridays. Friday meant that there were two whole days coming in which I had to find something to do to occupy my time. This weekend I wasn't sure about my plans. I wasn't scheduled to work on Saturday, so I needed to make something up to tell Charlie. Oh, no. Charlie. Another wonderful breakfast discussion was coming its way again. I could feel it. The routine continued. Shower, dress, teeth, make-up were part of this routine. Of course, the make-up was only a small amount again. Nothing too drastic, for fear of a break-down during school. I didn't want black lines running down my face for the whole day. School was hard enough right now; I didn't need to look like a raccoon while I was there. I was lazy that morning. It took me forever to get ready, and most likely because of my fear of a conversation with Charlie. Deep down inside me, I knew that it would hurt again if Charlie talked about Edward. I couldn't have that. I couldn't take it again. Not another day full of misery, please.

Thankfully, when I got downstairs, there was another note from Charlie on the kitchen table. Some kind of emergency happened early this morning and he needed to go down to the station. I looked up to the ceiling and thanked God for sending Charlie away. Hopefully, this meant that my day was off to a great start. Or so, I assumed. Forks High School, Isabella Swan was happy that day.

Chapter 3

I parked my truck in the usual spot, and smoothly hopped down from the seat. Feeling overly self-confident, I said hello to about twenty different people on my way into the school. Some seemed surprised that I was talking again, and others were rude, as usual. But that didn't matter to me this morning. The sun was still shining, and I did not have to think about Edward. I made it through each class that day with a strong go-to-it attitude and kept myself moving forward. Gym, the worst class in the history of my life, managed to play nice with me today. Nothing bad happened, and I marched to my truck with a smile on my face.

When I opened the driver-side door of the truck, I noticed a small piece of paper, wrapped around the middle with a red ribbon. Cautiously, I picked up the paper, wondering who it came from. The strangest thing was that my car had been locked all day. Someone had broken into my car. I unfolded the paper and looked down at a map of sorts. The top of the map read "Believe" and there were only two colors. Most of the map was drawn with great detail in black ink. There was one small portion of the map, almost hidden through the maze of black that was red. This red section was titled "Unknown". The very idea of this map confused me. Why would I need a map? When I began to re-fold the paper, I noticed something was attached to the back of it. Flipping it over in my hands I peered on the opposite side. My mind lit on fire, and my heart jumped down into my stomach. For a second I felt like vomiting, until I read what the paper said. It was a photograph of Edward. He looked beautiful, and once again, his appearance stunned me. But what frightened me, was the text that was printed in silver across the bottom of the photograph.

His second life is in your hands, Isabella Swan. These words flashed through my brain and hit like a rock. What was this? What kind of cruel trick was someone playing on me? Edward was gone. He was off to live his life happily in a place where I could not bother him. He didn't want distractions such as me, and I certainly could not figure out where he was exactly. But this picture, this note. What was I supposed to do? I turned the paper over again so that the map was face-up. Examining it a little more closely this time, I noticed that the part detailed in red, had a small star in the center. "Unknown". I wasn't sure how to comprehend this, but something inside of me told me that this "Unknown" town was where Edward was now living. But what did it mean, the part about his life being in my hands? I was not going to be held responsible for anyone's life. I couldn't even keep myself out of trouble. But if it meant saving my Edward and seeing him again, it was worth it. The trouble was, I had no idea what I was looking for, what the danger was, or why I was going to do this.

The funny thing about love is that no matter what comes your way, you're ready to fight it. I loved Edward, and I was ready to be spiteful and go out searching for him, when very possibly, it may be a trap. There was no time to think though. The very possibility of seeing Edward again was throwing my heart ahead of my mind. I couldn't control it - I was acting purely on emotion. This may not have been the best thing to do, but it was the only thing that I could focus on. Without common sense, I drove home, and ran upstairs into my room with the map. I sat down, and examined it from top to bottom. The directions were written out clearly. They led me directly from my street in Forks, to Unknown. Though I was a bit challenged when it came to directions, I felt unstoppable, and again got into my car and started driving. Paying close attention to the map, I ventured out. It was foolish to leave on a whim like that. But my heart kept saying Edward, Edward, Edward. I could not escape this feeling. Oh, to be in his arms again! What would Charlie think when he came home and I was not there? What would happen if this was a trap and I was killed and never came home? I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. I told myself that everything would be ok once I saw Edward again.

Chapter 4

The journey was taking forever. I began to feel cold, and rolled my windows shut. I had been driving for over three hours, and I was only halfway across the map to Unknown. There area around me was a dense wood with trees taller than any I had ever seen. There were ponds, and animals, and so many delicate things around me. It was like I was in a fairytale. And I would be, as soon as I found Edward and figured out what was going on.

Two hours later, I was almost done with my journey. I just needed to make two more turns, and I would be in the capital of Unknown. There were signs of human civilization showing up now. A few drug stores, movie rental shops, and houses were popping up around me. The strangest thing about this town was the people. Like the Cullen family, they were all beautiful, and I began to get the feeling that Unknown was a Vampire society. Yes, that's exactly what it was. Funny though – you'd expect these Vampires to try and hunt me, the human. I watched as I was driving, and they kept on with their business. They seemed to lead average lives, and I wasn't in any hurry to upset the peace. Soon enough, I reached my destination. The Municipal Building of Unknown. I assumed that this was where I needed to be, and that my savior was inside. Parking the truck, I hopped down and hoped that Edward was here, and I hoped that this was not an insane trick being played on me.