“How much farther?”
Demitri moaned. We had switched places after we passed Seattle an
hour earlier, so I was now leading him. It didn’t feel right,
showing him where I lived, but I couldn’t avoid it; he had been
ordered never to let me out of his sight except for when I was in the
house.
“Not much farther.”
I sniffed, and the myriad of scents hit me like a bulldozer. I
focused on the trail I was following; all our family, mixed together,
but with Edward, Nessie, Jacob and I strongest and most prominent.
“Can you smell that?” I called to him, “We’re almost there.”
He just huffed and
continued to follow me.
About five minutes
later, we reached the little clearing of the cottage. I could see the
confusion on Demitri’s face.
“What is it?” I
asked.
“I thought you all
lived together closer to town. This place looks like it could barley
hold one person, let alone nine, and we’re miles from the trails.”
I sighed and jumped
down from the trees. There was no sound of movement inside; no one
was in.
“We don’t all live
here,” I corrected him. “This is just for our little family; just
me and Renesmee and Edward.”
“Oh.” he seemed
startled. I sighed again and went to the door. It was unlocked.
“Wait here,” I told
him sternly, “I won’t be long.”
Once inside I took a
moment to breath in the scents, committing them to memory. Then I
hurried down the corridor to our bedroom. I pulled the smallest of
the four suitcases off of the top shelf in the closet and began to
pack some of the more sensible things in my clothing collection. I
skipped over most of the white garment bags and their various silk
and satin occupants, opting instead for jeans and plain cotton
shirts. I was sure Aro would decide to treat me to some new clothes
anyway, so what was the point in packing tons of stuff I wouldn’t
wear.
I took only one bag
down. Slightly greyer than the others, and still smelling faintly of
Charlie’s house, the bag containing my wedding dress stood out from
the others, largely because it had a rack all to itself and a big
white ribbon tied round the hanger. I folded it carefully into the
case, and then moved on to the living room.
I took all my books off
the shelf, leaving only a much abused Romeo and Juliet behind. Going
to the bottom shelf, I took out three books from the stack of photo
albums.
One was my old
scrapbook, finished off with graduation photos alongside the
snapshots from September. I had of course replaced all the pictures
Edward had taken out once he returned them to me.
The second was a small,
one picture per page album of wedding photos.
Last was Nessie’s
baby book. It was stuffed with three years worth of photos, which had
actually been taken over six months. Every phase of her childhood was
in there, along with lots of pictures of the rest of the family,
including me. My favourite page was one titled ‘The First Time I
Met Daddy’, which had four pictures of Edward holding Nessie when
she was only a day old.
I slipped the photos
into the top flap of the case and zipped it shut. Now came the hard
part.
Aro had sent me back to
my room to wait for Demitri, and I had used the time to write a short
letter. I took it out of my pocket and read it over one last time.
Edward,
I am so, so sorry. I
will never forgive myself for what I am doing, but I don’t have a
choice.
It’s the Volturi.
They found out about Charlie. Jane caught me leaving Tanya’s, and
she says that just showing myself to him is breaking the rules. They
were going to kill him, unless I joined them. I don’t want to, but
I can’t let him be hurt because of me.
I wish there was
another way, but I can’t see it. We can’t protect him without
really revealing ourselves, and we can’t fight them alone. There is
no choice, no alternative.
I will miss you, all
of you, with all my heart. I will be thinking of you every second.
Look after yourself.
For Nessie; she needs you. And for me.
I love you. Forever.
Never forget that.
Goodbye my love.
Bella
I sealed the letter
into its envelope, along with a short note for Nessie.
Renesmee,
I am very sorry that
I have to go away. I don’t know when I will come back, or if I will
come back at all, but I don’t want you to be unhappy. You have to
be strong.
Look after Daddy for
me. You are all he has left now.
Never forget;
wherever I am, however long we are apart, we will always be together
in our hearts.
I love you, my
little nudger.
Mommy
I propped the envelope
up on the fire place, then heaved the suitcase off the floor and took
one last look around my home. Then I walked out, closed the door, and
turned my back on Bella Cullen.
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