☄︎ ⋆·˚ ⋆ *. ⇒ 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞
𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓
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"What did you see?"
"I'm not sure" Alice replied, "do you know anyone called Bella?"
"Bella?"
"Yeah.... Bella Swan"
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Once the Cullens move to Forks they assume that...
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VICTORIA HAD BEEN A BURDEN on the lives of the Cullen's for a while now. Ever since the fatal baseball game and the terror of the storm, she'd been on their minds ever since.
Of course initially Victoria had just been a side show. James was the main act and all concentration had been thrown towards ensuring that he couldn't hurt Bella no matter how hard he tried. All the Cullens efforts had gone into stopping James from taking what he believed was rightfully his.
The hunt for James was easily one of the worst times of Este's life. She didn't like to say this mainly because what haunted her most was the way she hadn't even felt like herself. She wanted to separate the idea of that creature with who she was. Este didn't feel like the vampire who had attacked Bella just as sometimes she didn't feel like the mother that the Cullens deserved. Identity was a hard thing to feel secure in.
Yet they had succeeded in destroying James. It had ended in fire, blood and rage but Este recalled the feeling of his head cracking clean off like a stone into her waiting hands. She'd remembered the scent of coiling smoke and the lightweight of the car as she had flown down the highway in a desperate attempt to save the mistakes she believed she had made.
After that, everything had calmed down and the next whirlwind had left Victoria clean out of the way. Yet she'd been lingering on the backs of all their minds. Of course if they'd known her true path in killing Bella they wouldn't have left Forks Washington so open, free of protection.
Este often wondered what would have happened if their awareness had been stronger. Edward would have realised that the danger would never vanish with him, Este and her family wouldn't have needed to flee to Ithaca. Bella wouldn't have been so keen in being turned quickly as the Volturi wouldn't know of her existence. The vote would be easier to sway. Este and Carlisle wouldn't be at a breaking point of stress and although in her life at the current time this didn't seem to plague her as much but the idea of Laurent's survival lingered in her mind like a drug.
Everything would have been better if only they'd considered that Victoria wouldn't take her revenge out on Edward. An eye for an eye. A mate for a mate. It all seemed so obvious when Bella had spoken the truth of the problems she'd faced when left in Forks under the isolation of the Cullens.
With Victoria on her tail it was a wonder that Bella had survived so easily but of course she hadn't really been on her own. Este knew the weight of feeling as though you were the only person in the entire world. The shadows constricting the mind. Sometimes it never went away. Sometimes it takes one person to leave out of a dozen to make it seem as though the only person left in a life is the one living it.
Yet despite Bella's heartbreak and the idea that she'd been abandoned by the people she loved most, or more accurately the person, she wasn't alone. Not only did she have her parents and the friends she'd made at Forks high school but she also had the confidence of the wolves.
