PROLOGUE - Roads

"Bella, hurry!" my mother called to me from the bottom of the stairs. I scowled in her general direction as I stuffed some clothes into my duffel bag. "Your flight is going to leave without you."

Good," I huffed under my breath as I picked up my iPod and stared at it. I should have known this was coming four months ago when Renee surprised me with the iPod. She knew how much I loved music, knew how important, how necessary it was to me. I shoved the device into the pocket of my jeans, draping the ear plugs over my neck and sticking the right one in my ear. The soft sound of a drumbeat soothed me a little.

"There you are!" Renee grabbed a piece of luggage that was resting against the hallway. "Come on now, Phil's outside waiting."

"I can't believe you're doing this to me," I mumbled to her, letting the duffel bag fall to the floor with a thud.

"It's only for a few months," she replied, her voice taking on a tone that was meant to be comforting, yet wasn't...

Yeah, right. She's said that before. It was a scene we had played out more times than I would prefer to remember. I heaved my duffel bag over my shoulder and cranked up the music, watching her lips twist, the movement discordant with the pounding beats in my ears. I stared at her numbly until Renee finally frowned and plucked an ear plug from my ear.

"Must you always have those darn things in?" she groused, "I'm trying to talk to you."

And I'm trying to ignore you. I sighed and gave her my bored 'I'm listening' look.

"You liked Forks," she told me as she ushered me out of the door and into the dry sweltering heat.

"I don't remember Forks," I replied bluntly, "we left when I was four."

"Well, you did." Phil came over and relieved Renee of my suitcase, grinning at me as if I was about to embark on some exciting adventure. I wanted to punch him right in his face. It must have showed on my face because the grin slide off his. "And you liked Charlie, too."

"Uh huh."

Renee looked askance at my lack of enthusiasm. "It'll only be until Phil and I get settled." She turned her back to open the car door. "Just a few months."

I slumped into the back seat of the car, the air conditioning blasting frigid around me and I shivered. A few months. The woman must think I'm stupid not to see the pattern emerging. Every time she got a new man, she got a new life - one that didn't include me. I flipped the iPod back on. I wanna live in a city with no friends or family/ I'm gonna look out the window of my color TV/ I wanna remember to remember to forget you forgot me...

Renee twisted in her seat to say something to me but I closed my eyes and let the music take over.