Chapter One

 

A/N: All things Twilight related are not mine.

So here we go on another adventure. I only have five chapters of this pre-written so as of now I am planning on updating this on Saturdays. If I get more written I will post more often.

I am beta-less, so if you see any errors, please don't hate me. I try my hardest to fix any problems, but there are always a few that slip by.

Dalloway5906, my best bud, has started a new fic called "Mirror." It is a Carlisle/Esme tale and I am in love with it so far. Just one chapter in but you can feel the new love bubbling through. Plus I love the back story she is spinning. Check it out.

"Never forget the things I have told you Isabella. It is vital that you do as I say." The woman whispered as she felt her body weakening. She never thought that this would happen. When she disappeared into the night with her newborn daughter ten years earlier she pictured a perfect life in her fairy tale-like cottage hidden deep in the woods of Washington. She never imagined that she would end up leaving her ten year old daughter to fend for herself.

She knew something was wrong when the pain started. She used her meager knowledge of medicinal herbs to try and delay the inevitable, but as the months passed her condition worsened. She made certain that every day she imparted more knowledge onto Isabella, showing her how to gather and plant different seeds to be sure she would have a variety of foods to eat. She showed her how to read with the few books she had brought with them and made sure that Isabella knew how to keep up the cottage and prepare for winter. Although she hesitated to show Isabella, she taught her how to set the traps that would ensure she would have rabbit and fox meat to sustain her. She even took her down to the stream to show her how to use the old fashioned straight razor she had brought with them and told her that one day she could use it to shave the hair off of her legs and armpits. Finally she explained how important it was to stay hidden. And with only hours left, she told her daughter to start digging.

In her last few hours, Renee Swan wrote a letter to her young daughter. She watched Isabella digging the grave through the window and put pen to paper, trying to explain the best she could, why she had started a new life for them in the wild.

Isabella,

I never imagined I would be writing this letter, at least not for another few decades. You were born on a chilly September evening. When the nurses handed you to me, it felt like the earth stopped spinning. I had been living for myself for so many years, but now I was responsible for another life.

I wish I could explain why we had to leave, but you would not understand. I have tried so hard to teach you only the important lessons in life, and not the hardships and horrors that I had lived through before we left. I knew I would have to bring you out here the moment you were born, and to this day I don't regret it. 

You have an uncle out in the world somewhere. He helped me gather the things I needed for us to live out here. The books and clothes, extra fabric and enough blankets to warm us through the harshest winters-they were all purchased by your Uncle Billy. He was a kind man and knew the reason I needed to leave. As much as he disagreed with my decision, he helped me, and for that I am eternally grateful.

There is a dresser of clothes in the bedroom that should get you by. I kept all of the clothes that I had for you since you were born, again something that your Uncle Billy thought of. If it had been me planning our new life, you would have had your newborn clothes and nothing else. 

My biggest regret was not telling him where I was going. He packed up the truck for me and waved as we drove away. If you walk two miles into the woods heading west, you will find that old truck, but I am sure it is rusted through by now. 

From the day you were born you have been my entire life. I know you don't understand most of what is in this letter, but I needed to at least tell you. I am dreading leaving you alone out here. I worry you will not be able to survive and that I am guaranteeing your death, but I can't hold out any longer. I love you more than anything in this world. Please stay hidden and safe. 

Love always,

Mom 

Isabella was only ten years old when she dragged her mother's body out of the only home she had ever known and laid her to rest in the shallow grave she had dug. With tears running down her cheeks, she covered her mother with dark damp soil and patted it flat. She piled stones at the head of the meager grave so she would always know where to find it. After rinsing her hands in the freezing cold creek, Isabella wandered back to the cottage and, after reading her mother's last words, collapsed onto the floor. She was truly alone now.

**()*()**

The first winter was the hardest. She had not gathered enough wood by the time the first snow came and she had been forced to go out in the knee deep snow and take down the low branches of the trees around the cottage in order to survive. Her body was so cold, she felt like she would never be warm again. Every night she would lay with her cheek on the freezing pillow and pray for the comfort of death. She knew her mother would be disappointed to see her give up, but she was young and afraid. It had been months since she had last spoken, since there was no one but the trees to talk to. The emptiness inside of her grew by the day and she selfishly just wanted someone to take care of her. Finally, as it always did, the weather turned and the snow stopped. The sun streamed through the windows and warmed Isabella's face. The robin hopped along the railing and the first shoots of plants burst through the still frozen ground. She had survived her first winter.

**()*()**

There were many things that Isabella's mother had forgotten to tell her about. One of which was the natural cycle of the female body. When she started bleeding halfway through her thirteenth year she feared the worst and started digging her own grave. When it stopped a few days later, she filled it back in only to do it again the following month. After six months of the same thing happening, she finally left the grave open, figuring she was better safe than sorry.

**()*()**

The sun was hot on her back as she pulled weeds in her impressive garden. The calendar that had always hung on the cottage wall said it was August. Isabella had taken over her mother's careful markings of the passing day, although the tiny hash marks on each block of the calendar were getting harder to read. If she were to sit and count each mark, she would find that it had been nearly fourteen years that her mother had spirited her away from their home. Her mother never explained what happened to cause them to leave, only that they must never be discovered. The cryptic letter she left her only brought her more questions. There were hiding spots all over the place. If she were tending the garden and heard something, she was to climb the tall maple tree to the third branch and stay there. If she were in the house, there was a trap door in the kitchen and one near the bedroom to hide in. The one thing her mother made sure she understood was that she was never to be found. So when Isabella heard the birds stop their singing that bright August afternoon, she did not hesitate to throw down her rake and shimmy up the maple tree. Her eyes scanned the woods and it did not take long for the rustling sound of footsteps to catch her ear. She watched as the two strangers appeared through the thick brush.

"Edward, you're right we really do need to find Emmett. He is going to be in so much trouble when Mom finds out we got lost." Alice said as she pulled on her brother's arm. He was too busy looking around the clearing to acknowledge her. The cottage stood in the middle of the small meadow with the well tended garden nestled in the back, a bubbling stream flowing near by. It looked to him like what the dwarfs lived in when he was forced to watch Snow White with Alice over and over. Even with his annoying sister tugging on his arm, he could not pull his eyes from the building. Isabella stopped breathing as he pushed her tiny hand off of his arm and started walking towards her home. She saw the intensity in his green eyes and knew he understood the importance of what he had found.

"ALICE! EDWARD?" Boomed a voice from deep within the forest and the girl once again stared to tug relentlessly on the taller one's arm.

"That's Emmett. Come on Edward, if we make it back to him before Mom finds out maybe we can still stop for ice cream before we have to head back." She implored, finally giving up and turning towards the woods on her own. Edward cast his eyes around the area, settling once on the tree where Isabella hid, before turning to follow his sister. Isabella finally found she was able to breathe again as she watched the reddish glint of his hair disappear into the trees, and her sigh of relief was audible. It was that noise that brought his moss green eyes up to her hiding place. For an eternity they stared at each other, his eyes full of wonder and hers full of terror. The call of his brother was the only thing that made him turn, but he would have left anyway. Something changed deep inside of the 16 year old as his eyes met the deep brown of the girl who was hanging in the tree. He felt the need to protect her, and in order to do that he needed to stay quiet about what they had discovered. So with that in mind, he lied to his brother and their parents about what he found in the woods, laughing at Alice when she described the fairy-tale cottage and keeping the vision of the terrified young girl to himself. She would haunt his dreams for the next seven years.

A/N: So…What do ya think?