Chapter 1 Prologue

BPOV

DISCLAIMER: Twilight, and all of its characters belong to the awesome Stephenie Meyer. I just get to have my way with them…especially Edward. No copyright infringement intended.

Ever since I was a little girl I just knew that I was destined for great things. I knew exactly what I wanted out of life, a stay at home career in writing, the perfect home with a husband to come home to me in the evening and two kids that I absolutely adored. I always thought that those hand full of things were part of the basic checklist for every woman who envisioned that for herself. Little did I know that when I obtained my checklist I would find out that all that glitters isn't gold, and that life comes with a harsh reality. I stood in my bathroom looking into the mirror thinking about that evening just two years ago.

*Flashback two years earlier….*

I saw him standing there in the book store, looking at the spine of two different books. Looking completely lost trying to decide which one was the better of the two to get. Since books were my forte, and it was basically what my life revolved around since I was a little girl I thought that it would be okay for me to intervene into his inner ramblings. I started towards him, his face deep in thought, I didn't want to startle him so I made sure to try and make myself seen. I ambled up closer towards him.

"Hello," He looked up at me with icy blue eyes that were hard at first but slightly softened when he came into focus and realized that I was standing there.

"Yes?" he asked in a deep and rough manly voice, looking from afar you'd think that a guy with baby like face with average height and build would have a much softer voice. But then again what do I know about men and the voices that should go with their looks.

"Um, I don't mean to bother you, but if you were having a hard time choosing which book to get I'd go with the one by Steinbeck, he's the ultimate classic author." He stood there and stared at me for a minute, it began to get very hot and shuffled around looking at my feet, the other books sitting on the shelves, anything to try and get rid of the awkward tension.

"Thanks for the suggestion, this was the one I was leaning towards," he held up a copy of Of Mice and Men, "I'm Mike." He held his hand out towards me. His slightly shaggy blonde hair hanging in his eyes, you could tell he was definitely overdue for a haircut.

I reached my hand towards his outstretched hand, "No problem, I'm Bella." He held on a little bit longer than usually customary and then let go.

"Well once again, thanks for the suggestion." He gave me a weird looking smirk, and walked away towards the checkout counter.

I made my way to the front of the store and to make my own purchase so I could get home in time to fix myself a decent meal, I was absolutely sick of having to settle for fast food because I was too tired to cook by the time I got home. When I walk to the register I noticed that the guy named Mike was still there lingering around. I thought that he had left a long time ago, but perhaps not. I made my purchase and was on my way out to my car when I heard heavy panting and footsteps coming towards me. I turned to look and see what was coming my way. It was Mike jogging towards me.

"Hey!" he came to stop a few feet in front of me, resting his hands on his needs trying to catch his breath. "Wait a minute."

"Can I help you with something else?" I asked.

"Yeah," he paused and swallowed really hard, then stood up straight to look down at me dead in my eyes in the damp parking lot. "You can accept my invitation to coffee and possibly even dinner?" he said, which was more like a question.

"Um…yeah, sure, I guess." I hesitated.

He had the smile of achievement and confidence splattered across his face, like he'd just won the lottery or something. We exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up for coffee later that week to talk about who knows what. He walked across the lot to his own car with a certain bounce in his step. That was one of the most random moments I've ever experienced with a stranger, one minute I'm throwing out a book suggestion and the next minute I'm agreeing to a coffee date with said book stranger.

*End of Flashback…*

Hovering over the sink looking into the mirror at my cut lip, partially swollen eye lined with purple bruises, and wiping off the caked up dried blood from around the bottom of my nose. Who knew that those two words, yeah and sure, would lead me down such a dark and lonely narrow path? No one did not even me, it's a path that I have no idea how to return from. But after two years, it has become the everyday normal for me. You tend to lose count of the cuts, the bruises, and beatings, it's basically another day another bruise now time to go fix dinner and take care of the kids. That's my normal. Every day I wonder if I'll ever get out of the situation that I'm in, if my children will ever have a normal childhood with a normal home and family. My mother used to always talk about how everyone was appointed a savior or a guardian angel of some form. Where has mine been the last two years? There's an old saying Grandma Swan would say all the time, "When it looks like things are getting worse, that's when it's getting a whole lot better." I wonder when that is going to happen, I guess only time will tell.

Author's Note: Hey everyone I know that it has been a VERY VERY long time since you've all heard from me story wise, but I did tell you all not long ago that I would be back soon. This is a new story that I'm writing based on the poll that some of you took not long ago that I posted. This is just a very rough edit of Bitter and I wanted to get a feel of what everyone is going to think of it so far to see if I should continue on with the story or throw it out and try to start off with a new story. You all know the drill just like on every other story on this site, I want reviews. Until next time!