AN: This is it people. I'm cryin like a baby cause it's freaking over! I just want to thank all of you who have sat in front of your computers, and quite a few cell phones from what I've heard, devotedly to keep up with this story. It's been one hell of a ride and you all have been amazing with the support of this story. When I first started this, I highly doubted I'd ever be able to see it through to the end, but you all have pushed me to keep going, and for that...I bow to your awesomeness. Thanks so much! Don't forget to check out Tides of Fate. It's already almost 50,000 words in and moving along nicely!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. SM owns them all.

Epilogue 2

Hello...Let me just start out by saying that this has been an amazing journey. I'd like to give a personal thank you to any person who has purchased this book, and even had enough curiosity to listen to this enclosed message. There's a reason I chose to make an oral epilogue to this story, and that reason is simply proof. My voice on this CD, is living...well not living...but at least vocal proof that anyone, when they put their mind to something, can achieve their dreams. My dreams were simple...to be able to speak again, and to be normal. Simple enough right?

The original entry for this book, the prologue if you will, was actually a journal entry from when I was sixteen. It was written shortly after I began to use my voice again. It was when my life finally started coming together.

In that entry, I asked what you would be willing to sacrifice, or what you would be willing to lose, if in the end you found profound happiness. My answer then was everything. Since that entry, I have learned an incredible amount of life's lessons.

First, just because you cannot accept the truth, it doesn't mean that it's not, in fact, the truth. Second, even though people pass on, as long as you remember them, they stay with you forever. Third, sometimes people, although their intentions are good, make mistakes, but that doesn't mean that they don't care for us, it just means that they made a mistake. Fourth, when feeling tremendous guilt, it is often only ourselves that are pointing the finger of blame in our own direction. Finally, I've learned that sometimes when you want to achieve something, you must rely on those who love you to help you. Some roads are just not meant to walk alone, and when you attempt to do so, you often only end up hurting yourself.

It's been a little over four years since that entry. I'm currently in my senior year of college, and will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature in just two short months. Edward and I plan on heading back home to Forks for the summer, before he starts medical school, and before I start my Master's degree in Journalism. Edward's spent the last two years working as an ER technician while attending school, and using his charming personality to woo the doctors he works with into writing him recommendation letters. Unfortunately he hasn't seen a penny from any of his paychecks as they've all been going to his parents in repayment for the loan they gave him for my engagement and wedding rings.

His hard work, however, paid off when he got an early response acceptance letter from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland. I'll be attending Maryland State University and we already have plans to buy a small starter home somewhere in between campuses with my inheritance. We're currently looking forward to seeing everyone back home and being able to spend the entire summer with them before moving away.

I'm going to give you an update on everyone from the story, as I'm sure you are all curious as to what's happened with them.

Jasper finished with his four year Army enlistment last September and was discharged in November. He decided against re-enlisting, as he couldn't bear to be away from Alice for such extended lengths of time. Alice transferred to California State University in Los Angeles sophomore year and will be graduating with a degree in fashion design in June. She plans on creating her own line of clothing, which I have no doubt will be a huge success. They just got engaged over Christmas. They're planning on getting married next summer during Jasper's summer break at WSU. He's going for a degree in graphic design.

Emmett received a scholarship to Seattle University, where Rosalie was attending at the time, and he graduated last May with a degree in general education specializing in athletics. He plans on being a high school athletics coach. I like to burn his buns by calling him a glorified gym teacher...he doesn't find it funny. Rosalie graduated from Seattle University two years ago with a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. She works for BMW as some kind of performance design specialist or something. I couldn't tell you what she actually does because I know absolute squat about cars, but her job is pretty awesome. She gets to work from home and only has to make trips up to Seattle once a month for meetings or to pitch design ideas.

Rose and Emmett actually got married last April, on his spring break vacation in Cancun. I still swear those two are the most impulsive pair I've ever met. As a wedding gift, I gave them my grandmother's house as a starter home. Last month, Emmett was hired at our old alma mater, good old Forks High, as Coach Clapp's replacement when he retired. Rosalie is currently seven months pregnant. It's a girl, and they plan on naming her Jocelyn Isabella McCarty. I cried hysterically when they told me her middle name was based on the strongest person they know.

Jake graduated from high school a year after we did, and attended community college for a while as an automotive major. His hobby for restoring cars paid off for him quicker than college did and he now owns his own automotive restoration company just outside of Olympia. Rosalie has paired up with him on a few of his most recent restoration projects. He and Leah got married on the rez the summer after he graduated. They have a son named Harry, after Leah's father. He's adorable, and Edward likes to call him Chunk because he's a chubby little thing. Jake hates it but he laughs anyway.

Angela and Ben got engaged the first New Years Eve after graduation. They were in New York at Times Square watching the ball drop when Ben dropped down on one knee. They're both scheduled to graduate at the same time as Edward and I at the end of this May. She's already got a job lined up at Forks High as well as a math teacher...God bless her. I still hate math. Ben will be attending UW School of Law in Seattle come this fall. They're planning on getting married when he's done with school, much the same as Edward and I.

All of our parents are alive, happy, and healthy, and that's the most we could ever ask for. We all try to make it out to the camping grounds for a week each summer, and for two out of the last three years we have been successful. It was only the second year that Jasper couldn't make it.

Now that that's out of the way...back to the original point of this message.

As you may have noticed throughout this story, there have been quite a few songs that have been mentioned that depicted how I was feeling at certain times, or even ones that just reminded me of certain people. After careful deliberation...hold that thought...Edward's home.

E- "Hey, love. Mmm I missed you. What are you doing?"

B- "I missed you too, handsome. I'm making an oral epilogue for my book."

E- "What book? You've never mentioned a book before."

B- "Oops..it was supposed to be a surprise."

E- "Can I read it?"

B- (laughs) "No, not until it's published...if it ever gets published."

E- "Pretty please? With sugar and cherries and whip cream on top? Hm..I'm kind of liking the idea of whipped cream right now."

B- (laughing) "Edward! Stop! I have to finish this!....Edward! Gross...you smell like funky patients!"

E- (laughs) "I know love, I know...I'm heading to the shower now. Care to join me?"

B- "Mmmm...can I take a rain check? I really want to get all of my current thoughts out."

E- (chuckles) "Anytime, love. You name the date, and I'll be there...with whipped cream."

B- (laughing) "Doctor Masen! You, dear sir, have a filthy, filthy, mind."

E- (chuckles) "I love it when you call me that...I suddenly don't feel like taking a shower."

B- (laughing) "Edward, come on, you really do stink, honey. Go take a shower. Please? I want my delicious smelling fiance back."

E- "I smell delicious huh?"

B- (giggling) "Only when you're clean...I sincerely dislike that hospital funk you have marring your scent right now."

E- (chuckles) "Alright, alright, I'm going. I'll be back in under twenty. I love you more than anything life can offer, Bella."

B- "I love you too, Edward. More than what should be considered legally sane."

Damn! I thought I turned this thing off! Oh well...I'll just have to edit that part out somehow. Okay, where was I? Oh...right.

After careful deliberation, I've decided that I now have a personal anthem. The song I chose is called "Rise Above This" by Seether. Now, many people listening to this may think I'm crazy if they know the song. If you don't happen to know the song, I encourage you to listen to it. It's about reaching out to others in your time of need. If it hadn't of been for my friends, and my new family, I would have been lost. By calling on them and allowing them to help me in ways that I couldn't help myself, I was able to rise above this.

My name is Isabella Marie Swan Cullen...soon to be Masen. I'm twenty-one years old. I speak, and I am the epitome of normal. My answer to my original question of what I would sacrifice, or what I would be willing to lose, to be where I am today still remains....everything.

AN: Much love to you all! I will seriously miss hearing from all of you that have steadily reviewed throughout this story. Some of the things you all have said in reviews or PMs have literally caused me to fall out of my chair laughing, and I've loved every minute of it. Sadly, this the last hurrah..and to that, and my dear fan yellowipod to you I do say...HUZZAH!!! LOL I'm out! C yas on the flipside! ~Jersey~