Outtake Three

I bet you're surprised at this update considering it's been around two months since I last posted anything. Um…hi…I haven't died or anything, if that's what you wanted to know. People kept pushing me to post this, and since it was Edward and Bella's anniversary, I decided to hurry the hell up and update. Enjoy :)

My mind had been filled to the brim over the past few days with nothing but ample anticipation for the girl – Bella's – impending arrival. Ever since Alice had told me of her vision, of the fact that I was to meet her in little under a week, I had been unable to think of anyone, of anything but her. The morose thoughts and feelings that had accompanied for the past few decades no longer existed, banished by my perpetual hope of what her arrival would mean. I wondered insatiably about what she looked like, pondered endlessly over what her voice would sound like, contemplated over and over on how on earth she could be so compassionate and unjudging to such extents that destiny itself was certain that she was going to love me one day. I was a monster; it'd take someone incredible, no, in fact, someone not of this world, an angel from heaven above to have the benevolence to love someone like me. It was madness, insanity to believe such things but Alice was never wrong and I knew better than to question her or the mirror.

There was nothing to do but wait, stand by until she came, and when she did come, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. She was here! Here! I looked into her chocolate brown eyes and stared at her pretty face in wonder. In fact, pretty wasn't accurate enough a word, she was stunning, exquisite, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She was one hundred times better than I had imagined her to be; and I couldn't keep my entranced eyes off her soulful brown ones, off her mahogany hair, off her slightly parted mouth. I desired to take her hand, to bring her closer but the years of incessant patience that I had been forced to endure stopped the urges in their tracks.

A small shriek left her lips and she cowered back, obviously as shocked as I was. There were no words to describe how I was feeling right now; any attempt to describe it would be insufficient. The day that I'd been waiting for, for so many decades was finally here, and I had no idea what to do! I didn't want to scare her off by being too forward but the more I looked at her, the more difficult it became to overcome my urges.

She grasped at a few strands of her dark brown hair, her pale hand trembling. I had no idea why she did it. Was it because she was scared to see me, nervous? Had Alice told her anything about me yet? Had she even met Alice? I wished more than ever that Alice had told me exactly what was going to happen when she… Bella arrived. It made me feel uneasy, not knowing of what was to come.

Slowly, at a pace more sluggish than I could bear, she walked back up to me, up to the mirror, her forehead creased as if she were unable to believe that I was there. Ah, so Alice mustn't have told her about me. This was going to be more difficult than I'd envisioned. I ran my hand through my bronze hair anxiously, unsure of how to proceed. Her fingers brushed against the glass, and I longed to press my own on the reverse side of it. Then she spoke, her voice soft, and feminine.

"Who are you?"

My quiet response was automatic, and not of my own accord.

"It's you"

She frowned. "We've never met. I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else."

"I know we haven't met; that's not what I meant," I assured her.

"How did you get in there? Are you really even in there, or is this all something my imagination has conjured up?" she asked, shock still seeming to be her dominant emotion.

"Well, I've been trapped in this mirror since probably before you were born, so I don't think it's you." I tried to keep the melancholy out of my voice as I spoke, not wanting for her to pity me.

"You don't age?" Her brown eyes widened.

"You could say that."

"Look, I can't believe I'm talking to a mirror. What I'm doing is pretty much the definition of crazy. I need to go somewhere to clear my head. There is no way that someone can be stuck in a mirror. It's impossible, illogical."

Damn, how was she going to free me when she didn't even believe I was really in here? Things kept getting more and complicated with each second that passed.

"Well, I am and have been for longer than I can count, so I guess your theory is incorrect," I replied quietly.

"I'm sorry; I just don't know what to do. I need to think around this…go to the park or something."

No! She can't leave! She'll never want to come back if she leaves. No! "Wait! Please don't go. I haven't talked to anyone in so long, almost to the point where speech is foreign to me in a way. Please stay!" I begged, unable to keep the desperation out of my voice.

"Okay then, but I do have questions," she agreed.

I couldn't help but grin widely at the fact that she was staying, and sat down cross-legged so that our conversation would be more relaxed. She mirrored my actions but said nothing, staring openly at me just as I was with her.

I sighed. "I suppose I should tell you how I got in here. But you won't believe me."

"Given what I'm seeing now, I might just believe in anything," she replied wryly. "How about you start with your name?"

"I would shake your hand but this mirror makes that quite difficult. I'm Edward." I smiled.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Bella."

"Bella," I repeated warmly, acting as if I didn't already know her name. Her name on my tongue felt right, as if I'd been destined to utter it.

"So, are you going to tell me how you got into this mess?" she asked.

"It has a pretty long back story."

"I have time."

"I…" I hesitated. "I can't tell you yet. It may change your opinion of me."

"It's not like I'm going to get to know you or anything," she mumbled. No! She had to! Maybe Alice was wrong after all; maybe we took the inscription's meaning the wrong way.

Maybe Bella couldn't free me.

Yet, I couldn't quash the tiny little bit of hope that still resided within me.

"Even if I wasn't stuck in this mirror, I'd like to. You seem like a pleasant person to be around. I don't know what it's like anymore, to have freedom, to be able to do whatever I want. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to."

Every word I spoke was the truth; I wasn't just exaggerating so she'd stay. I genuinely wanted to know everything about her, to know her.

She sighed. "Well, I do see your point, but this is just so hard to believe."

"And you're telling that to the person who is in the mirror," I muttered.

"Consider this, if I was in the mirror, would you believe that I was really in there?"

Hmmm, she had a point.

I thought of my reply carefully before I spoke.

"Well, I probably would have jumped to the same conclusion as you first did, but then after a while, I'd accept it as the truth when you continued to be in the mirror."

"Why couldn't I see you before?"

"I can only be seen if we touch through the mirror. Once you turn away, I'll disappear until we both touch again."

The thought depressed me.

"Well I guess I better not look away then," she replied shyly.

I grinned. "That would be preferable."

"Okay, I've decided that from this moment forward, I'm going to pretend that what's happening is real, and that I'm going to ignore what reality is telling me," she announced suddenly. I battled to hide a smile.

"It is real."

"Maybe one day I'll see that." She sounded doubtful.

"One day I'll prove it to you."

"And maybe one day I'll believe you."

She wouldn't want to come back if she didn't believe I was real, I needed to show her I was, and fast.

"How can I prove it to you? I want you to see proof now; otherwise, you might not come back."

"Give me physical evidence. Sight doesn't always prove everything," she murmured.

"Well press your hand against the glass then. Maybe touch will make you believe," I suggested.

Giddy with anticipation, I pressed my own hand eagerly against the glass and sighed at the pleasant feeling of warmth that our hands created together when she matched up hers with mine. Electricity buzzed between us, forged a bond between us that could never be broken.

I couldn't stop the massive grin that surfaced on my face when I realised what the spark meant.

Carlisle had told me of such things on a dreary afternoon a few weeks after he'd saved and changed Rosalie in New York, wanting to know if I'd felt a spark of some sort with her. Of course I hadn't, and I'd asked why he'd expected such a thing. Both his thoughts and his expression revealed his chagrin when he'd replied 'A spark between one vampire and another means that they are a mated pair. I'd rather hoped that Rosalie would be your mate, but fate works in unexpected ways.'

This was why Bella was destined to free me! She was my mate, my soul-mate! It didn't matter that she wasn't a vampire, the whole institution worked the same way, or at least I hoped it did.

"Do you believe me now?" I whispered.

She was stunned; her brown eyes were swimming with awe. "Yes."

Yes! Perhaps there was a chance after all!

"Where does that leave us?"

"Bells," I heard someone yell from the distance, a man, perhaps Bella's father or older brother. Who was I to know?

"Shoot," she muttered. "I've got to go."

Was it just me or was she as reluctant to go as I was to let her?

"Promise me you'll come back," I pleaded, wanting to make sure that she wasn't going to abandon me, wanting to see her as soon as she was able.

She smiled. "I promise."

That tiny smile of hers brightened my whole spirit, and dismissed the darkness that tainted my perception of everything. It was almost physically painfully to watch her walk away from me, but somehow I managed it. I'll see her again soon, I reassured myself. She'd promised that she would come back; I would see her again soon.

The thought brought me more happiness and hope than Alice's visions ever had.

I don't know if you people are still interested in these outtakes; so let me know :)

PS: A review is one of the best things an author (amateur or not) can receive ;)