317Summary: Bella's world ended when Edward told her he didn't love her and left. Nine months later, three letters appear in the mail that turn Bella's world on its head once more. New Moon AU. Rated M for future lemons.
I don't own Twilight or any of the characters.
This is a fairly short chapter, just a prologue really, to get you up to date on how Bella's life has been since Edward left, so I am posting this and chapter 2 to get you guys started. After that, I am hoping to post roughly a chapter a week. I haven't quite finished writing the story but I am getting towards the end (18 chapters written so far). One chapter a week should give me enough time to finish it before I catch up with myself, but if I finish before that I may speed up the posts.
Anyway, I'll let you get on with the story now. Please follow, favourite and review if you like it. It makes my day every time one of those notifications pops up on my phone.
It had been nine months and six days since my world ended. The first four months after he left were all a blur. I can't remember anything about those days. I know I got up, went to school, done my homework, worked at Newton's and cooked dinner for Charlie, but I don't remember any of it. I was just existing.
It was only after Charlie called Renee and tried to get me to go back to live with her, that I started living again. I had refused to leave Forks with Renee, pitching a fit when she tried to pack up my things. I knew he wasn't coming back. He didn't love me any more. I was nothing but a distraction for him, but I never wanted to forget about him. I worried that if I left Forks, then I would start to forget what he looked like, sounded like, smelt like. I didn't want that. As hard as it was to remember him, forgetting him would be a millions times worse.
After that, I made a real effort to live my life again. I tried for Charlie. He had been worried, and while I don't think I was fooling him into thinking I was completely better again, he seemed happier that I was at least making an effort.
I started out small. Smiling more, asking him about his day, telling him about school and what my friends were up to. I hadn't really hung out with any of them recently, but I sat at their lunch table at school and talked to Mike in work. Angela always tried to make me feel welcome at the table, which I really appreciated since Lauren and Jessica went out of their way to make me feel the opposite.
I knew I needed to do more to ease Charlie's worry, so one day after work I decided to visit Jacob in La Push. We had gotten on well before and I had seen him a few times when he and Billy visited Charlie. We spent the day in his garage while he worked on his 1986 Rabbit. He was really nice and he made me smile, genuinely smile, which was a rarity for me these days. It was blindingly obvious though, that he had a crush on me and it made me feel a little uncomfortable. I really wasn't ready to deal with that.
He invited me to the beach that night to hang out with some of his friends and that's where I met Leah. We clicked instantly and after that, we often hung out together, either at her house in La Push or at my house. We bonded over lost loves. She and Sam had been deeply in love, high school sweethearts, when he suddenly left her for her cousin from a nearby reservation.
I hadn't spoken about him to any one else, but for some reason I felt comfortable talking to Leah and she understood. Obviously, there were some things I couldn't tell her, but just getting things off my chest helped a little. While I was nowhere near over him, I began to feel somewhat human again. I smiled more often and no longer had to expend a great deal of effort just to act normally for Charlie's sake.
The next few months passed uneventfully, and while I still often cried myself to sleep at night, wishing he was holding me like he had every night for months, and often woke screaming from the nightmares, I had to admit that I had some things in my life that really helped.
That peace was not to last, unfortunately, and things changed a few months after Leah and I had become friends. That fateful day, I had been hanging out at her house. She said she hadn't been feeling too well, so I called over after school with some chicken soup and a pile of magazines. We sat for a while, just reading magazines in silence, when the phone rang. Leah answered, listening to the person on the other end, getting visibly upset, before she began to shake. I started to move towards her, asking if she was okay when suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, she transformed into a giant gray wolf, right in front of my eyes.
I staggered back, terrified, staring into the strangely intelligent looking eyes of the wolf that had taken the place of my best friend. My heart was racing, my mind confused and just before, I could start screaming, Jacob burst through the door, pulling me outside as Sam ran into the house.
Jacob took me back to his house, before explaining what had just happened. Apparently, vampires are not the only mythical creatures out there. Apparently, werewolves also exist and my best friend was one of them. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'm not sure I would have believed it.
I was sworn to secrecy, not that I would have told anyone anyway. The only reason Jacob told me about it was because I had seen it all happen. He also told me that I would have to stay away from Leah for a few weeks at least, for my own safety, until she had learned to control herself.
Even worse than all that, was that the phone call Leah had taken was from her mother telling her that her father had had a heart attack and passed away. That's what triggered her change, though she was already on the way, which is why she had been feeling unwell.
Those few weeks passed slowly. I wanted to be there for my friend, to help her through the death of her father and the confusion she must be feeling over her change. Also, I didn't really have any other friends, so I was back to being on my own. Going to school, doing my homework, cooking for Charlie.
"I haven't seen Leah around here in a while," Charlie had asked at dinner one day, "How's she coping? You haven't fallen out, have you?" He seemed wary, like he was worried I was going to revert back to my previous state without Leah. I was worried about that myself. Without her, I was lonely and thinking more about him than I should have been.
"No," I replied, "She wasn't well for a while and she's been helping her mom after Harry's death, but I'll be seeing her again soon, hopefully."
Later that night, I called Leah to see how she was doing. We talked for a while, talking about her father and how the family were coping.
"Do you think I can call up after school tomorrow?" I asked, "I really miss you."
"I know, I miss you too," she replied, "I'm going out of my mind here. This whole thing means I'm stuck with Sam now, since he's the alpha. I'm feeling much more in control now, so yeah, come over tomorrow, please."
Charlie was thrilled that I had plans with Leah again and the next day, after school, I headed straight to La Push, throwing myself into her arms as soon as she answered the door.
"Geez, Bella," she smirked, "Werewolves don't phase you at all, huh?"
"Nope," I replied, "Best friend first, werewolf second."
"That's a relief actually," she said, looking down at her hands, "I thought maybe you'd treat me differently or keep your distance."
"Well, now you know that you're not the first mythical – or not so mythical I suppose – creatures I've been... friends with," I stuttered, hating talking about them, but something about Leah just made me want to open up to her.
"Hmmm, true," she said, "We have a lot to talk about!" She raised her eyebrow at me, which made me laugh as I followed her up to her bedroom.
"You've been holding out on me," she grinned, when we were sitting crossed legged on her bed facing each other, "So, he really was a vampire?"
I nodded, taking a deep breath, readying myself to talk about him, waiting for the pain in my chest to come.
"His whole family were vampires," I admitted, "But they were the most amazing people. They hunted animals, choosing to preserve human life. Carlisle even dedicated his life to saving peoples lives."
"Hmmm, I dunno, seems a bit weird to me," she said, "He was HOT though." We laughed at that, though I knew my joy didn't really reach my eyes and she noticed.
"Sorry," she said, "We don't have to talk about him. I know it's hard."
"It's okay," I replied, "I don't mind talking about him with you. You understand. How are things with Sam anyway?"
"Uggh," she groaned, "It's unbearable. It was hard enough when I didn't have to be around him. Sometimes, I could just pretend he didn't exist. But now I have no choice but be around him. Plus, when we are in our wolf form, we can hear each others thoughts!"
"Oh no! Really?" I exclaimed, thinking about how relieved I'd been when I found out he couldn't read my mind like he could everyone else's.
"Uh huh," she said, putting her face in her hands, "So now, not only can he can hear every thought I have about him, but I also have to listen to all his thoughts about her!"
"Apparently, it's a wolf thing though," she continued, "Imprinting. It's not that he fell out of love with me, it's that he imprinted on her. It's like love at first sight, but stronger and more permanent."
She looked so sad, so heartbroken. I moved over to sit beside her, putting my arm around her shoulder. It was an awful situation. Maybe the fact that I had no idea where he was or what he was doing was a blessing. I couldn't stand the thought having to watch him move on with someone else. I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts of him and his distractions out of my head.
We talked for ages, a bit more about Sam, a little about her dad and how much she was missing him and she caught me up on the gossip from La Push that I had missed over the past few weeks. It was so nice to have my best friend back.
Later that night, as I lay in bed, my mind wouldn't stop thinking about him. I'd clearly been thinking about him too much lately and talking about him with Leah made it impossible to stop. I wondered where they had gone. I knew it wasn't California, like they had told the people in the town. That would be far too sunny for them and he wouldn't want me trying to follow and cramping his style. I wondered if they had all gone back to school, if Carlisle was working in a hospital. I finally fell asleep, but my dreams all centred around him and all of his distractions.
The next few months passed like they had before Leah's change. I went to school, went to work, kept up with all my homework, cooked for Charlie and spent most of my free time with Leah, when she wasn't patrolling with the pack. My life wasn't perfect; I doubted it ever would be again without him, but it was comfortable and that was all I could really ask for.
Then nine months and six days after my world had ended, I came home to three letters in the mail that turned everything on it's head once more.
I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to read my story. I never intended to become a fan fiction writer, until one day a story entered my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote it down. That turned into my first story 'Finding Her', which you can find on my profile. This story was inspired by an outtake for the Angel Series by drotuno (which is amazing by the way. If you haven't already, go read it!) and, as you can probably guess from the title, a little by To All The Boys I've Loved Before.
Also, shameless plug here, but my first story 'Finding Her' has been nominated in the TwiFanfictionRecs for fics completed in March 2023. If you would like to vote for it the link is www. twifanfictionrecs .com (without the spaces) and the voting closes on 28th April 2023. Votes are limited to one per person in each 24 hour period. Thank you.