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͞Hey Bella, do you want to do something with me today?͟ Sam asked me as we walked away from
the school in the cool January sun. The snow that had been falling down from the sky since last
November was still covering our streets and provided us with lots of ͞fun͟ in the free time. I had
been involved in more snowball fights than I could count (unwillingly every time). The absolutely
beautiful necklace I had received from Edward was something I wore every day, even for school. The
blue gemstone shone in the sun, and no matter how much I stared at it, its beauty never seemed to
falter.

I smiled at him, which for some odd reason made him blush, and I was just about to answer him
when a cold, wet substance hit me in the neck. I yelped in surprise and discomfort, and after I had
removed the snow from my neck, I looked over my shoulder to see who my attacker was. It wasn͛t
that hard to find out, since the parking lot was practically empty of people except the 3, grinning
boys whose faces I knew all too well. A few meters away, Edward, Emmet and Jasper stood all
together, and in their hands were perfectly shaped snowballs that were ready to be thrown at any
seconds.

͞Oh Bella͙͟Emmet said in a singsong voice, and I immediately knew I was in trouble. 6
trouble.

͞Come on!͟ I yelled to Sam and took his hand, dragging him with me as I ran away from the three
troublemakers. I heard how they screamed after us, and every now and then, snowballs hit the
ground just right next to us. I yelped, and tried to pick up my phase but just as we almost had arrived
to the bus stop, my feet slipped on an icy spot on the ground and made me fall. And no, that wasn͛t
apparently bad enough. In the fall, I managed to take Sam with me.

I heard how the others screamed at us in the background, some of them laughing, some of them in a
more serious tone, but I didn͛t really notice that, because at the moment, Sam was lying 
 . My cheeks reddened, and his as well, and as the seconds passed, his face still lingered inches
from mine, not moving. His brown eyes stared into mine, and for a minute, it felt like the world had
stopped. It was just me and Sam, staring at each other. Suddenly, he seemed to realize that he still
was on top of me, and hurriedly got off me.

͞I͛m-I͛m so sorry for-͞he began, rambling in embarrassment when I interrupted him.

͞No, it was my fault, I was the one who-͞I said, sitting up when suddenly, a pair of hands heaved me
up from the ground and hung me over his shoulder, like I was a schoolbag or something. I
immediately recognized Emmet, since no one else on earth will ever have such large feet at his age.

͞Emmet, what are you doing? Let me go!͟ I said as fiercely as I could, hanging upside down.

͞No Bella.͟ He said, and then began to walk. As we passed the others, I could see their confused and
amused faces from where I hang, I when I met Edward͛s eyes, he stared back with an apologetic
expression that told me that there was nothing he could do.

͞Why can͛t you let me go? Just do it!͟ I yelled angrily, not precisely thrilled about the idea hanging
upside down whilst rocking back and forth.
͞Bella, this last month you͛ve fallen seven times. À
; I counted it myself. And since you just take a
tumble walking by yourself, I͛ll carry you for the rest of the day.͟ He said, and the most horrifying
thing about this was that I heard that he was serious.

͞Emmet!͟ I screamed, not liking his statement at all. ͞I promise I͛ll be more careful walking, just
please let me down. I͛m getting nauseous͙͟ I said truthfully, trying to ignore the hideous feeling in
my stomach that was spreading towards my throat.

͞On a second thought, maybe that͛s a better idea.͟ He then said quickly in a nervous tone, and gently
let me down on the ground. He wasn͛t as keen of the idea anymore when he realized his clothes
might͛ve become the price of it all. My head spun as I tried to orient myself, and it didn͛t take long
until the others caught up with us.

͞Are you okay?͟ Edward asked, already familiar with my ability to easily get nauseous.

I took a deep breath, trying to make the unsettling feeling go away, and then answered him. ͞Yeah,
it͛s okay. I just need a minute to breathe.͟ I said, and sat down on the bench just next to the bus sign.

͞I͛m really sorry, again.͟ Sam apologized yet another time.

͞I͛ve told you already, it͛s  .͟ I said, hoping to get the message through this time. He looked at me
nervously, and I gave him one, reassuring smile to tell him it was okay. ͞Stop worrying Sam, its okay.͟
I said, and this time, he smiled back.

͞Where͛s Pal? Shouldn͛t he be here by now??͟ Jasper asked and then, rounding the corner of the
desolate street, the small, white and blue bus appeared, racing forwards in a speed you should rather
have on a highway instead of a corner of a small road. Pal honked the horn, and then skidded to a
stop right before our eyes, opening the doors to the bus.

͞Hey kids, get in! Sorry I͛m late, a lot of traffic today.͟ He said, his 80͛s music pumping in his stereo.

͞It͛s okay Pal.͟ Emmet said, and then we all got in to the bus.

 
 

͞Are you sure you can find your way?͟ I asked Edward as he dragged me through the dark woods.
The day had went absolutely perfect, and after Sam had began to walk his not so long way back
home, Edward convinced me to go to our place in the woods again. That small field was ours in a
way. None of us had told any other living person about it, and in a way, it just felt like a secret place,
just for the two of us. Whenever we just wanted to talk or hang out without the others͛ company, we
went there. During the autumn, the trees had lost all their leaves, and during the winter, snow had
decorated it beautifully with the dark trunks in the background. The small lake had frozen to ice, and
just last month, Edward had brought our ice-skates and together we͛d skated around on the frozen
ice for hours.

͞Of course, you͛re just worrying because you͛re the one without any sense of directions of the two of
us.͟ He said jokingly, and I would lie if I said I didn͛t enjoy the hit I placed on his arm, making him
groan in pain.
͞Hey!͟ he screamed in protest, which made me giggle a little. He grinned, and then ruffled my hair
with his mitten Esme had knitted for him this Christmas. Now I was the one who was complaining
and he the one who was smiling smugly.

͞That͛s enough!͟ I said, and removed me from his hold. He grinned, and then took a look at my hair-
due, which made him laugh. I sighed, and removed my mittens to get rid of the haystack he had
achieved to create on top of my head.

After another couple of minutes of joking around, we finally reached the field. It wasn͛t large, which
was the thing I probably liked with it the most, other than the beauty of it.

͞This is probably my favorite spot in the whole world.͟ Edward said, his eyes glue to the starlit sky.
He looked back at me, and gave me a grin that made my heart to beat faster. ͞Don͛t you think that
too?͟

͞Y-Yeah.͟ I stuttered, not able to say it clearly. He smiled, and then, without a warning, pushed me
back in the snow. I squealed in surprise as we fell, and landed softly on the white snow. He laughed
beside me, and then lay on his back, holding my hand tight. I don͛t know how long we laid there.
Time wasn͛t really the issue. We just lay on the snow and watched the sky, talking and laughing
together like the good friends we were.

Then, many minutes later, I swiftly sat up, shivering slightly in my cold jacket. ͞Is it okay if we go
home now? I͛m starting to feel cold.͟ I said, shaking as the cold winds blew right through me.

͞Yeah, sure. I was just about to suggest the same thing. It͛s getting late.͟ I smiled gratefully at him,
and rose from the cold, snowy ground. He followed my example and together, we began to exit the
field, entering the dark forest. Even though it was dark, it didn͛t bother us. It seemed like Edward
could find his way anywhere and never get lost, even if it was night and you saw nothing at all. Our
trip from the field wasn͛t really much of a difference from the trip back to our houses. We continued
to joke with each other, laughing as I tripped on my feet in the dark night, and talking about school
and our friends in it. After 15 minutes of stumbling in the darkness, I finally saw the wonderful light
of the streets.

͞Finally.͟ Edward sighed, and then turned to me. He took my hand in his, and squeezed it lightly.
͞Take care, I͛ll see you tomorrow.͟ He said, and I smiled.

͞Yeah, see ya.͟ We parted smiling, and walked our separate ways. The streets were empty by this
time (not that they ever were trafficked), and as I walked through alit lane, I thought about him. How
we had met, how we had spent so many wonderful, sometimes not so wonderful times (like when
Alice made us watch this chick-flick over and over again͙).

The memories of him reminded me of this Christmas (which had been the best Christmas in my
entire life) and how wonderful it had been. My hands immediately came to my neck to touch the
beautiful necklace I had worn day in and day out the last month, when I realized something; it wasn͛t
there. I removed my mittens in panic and felt again, but sure enough, the spot around my neck
where it always used to hang was empty. Thoughts ran through my head, but they all came back to
the same thing; find the jewelry. I instantly scanned my memory of the last places I͛d spent during
the day, knowing it was there, and remembered how I had fingered on it as we laid in the snow. It
must be there somewhere; I probably dropped it when I rose from the ground or something.

Snow began to fall as I immediately began to run back to the trail leading to the field. It took me a
while to find it, but after a few minutes of searching, I finally saw it. A strange feeling entered my
stomach as I stepped onto the dark trail, leaving the bright streetlights behind me. I was hardly
scared of the dark otherwise, but now͙I was anything but brave at that moment. To distract myself
from the fear I felt, I decided to look on the ground, searching the trail after the golden chain. I
might͛ve lost it on the way home.

The longer I walked, the more the fear seemed to build up. The snow fell down much more intense
now, making it almost hard to see in front of me. I tensed up in my body, and every little sound made
me turn my head. I finally decided to stop looking on the trail, figuring I could look on the way home
instead (which was a lie to myself. In reality, I just felt scared looking down all the time.) That͛s when
I realized it; I had no idea where I was.

Absolute panic and fear ran through my veins as I realized this horrifying fact. I spun around in
circles, trying to see where the trail had been, but I could see it. Then, as I spun around, I thought of
something. I could follow my footsteps in the snow back! Gosh, how could I be so stupid and forget
something like that?

I looked after the footsteps I had walked, and found them after a few seconds of looking. Strangely
enough, the steps had almost disappeared under the newly fallen snow. But that didn͛t really bother
me. Not until I had followed my tracks a bit into the woods. The further I came, the more the tracks
had faded, and after a few minutes of walking, the steps were gone all together. I froze, and watched
it in absolute dreadfulness as the only single hope I had left disappeared.

͞No͙͟ I mumbled, shivering as the wind blew through the forest. Tears began to develop in my eyes,
and then I started to run. I had no idea why I did that. It wasn͛t smart, I knew that much. The more I
ran, I thought everything got more scarier by the second. I thought demons were hiding behind every
tree I passed, and the forest just seemed to get darker and darker the more I ran.

I don͛t know long I ran. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. But all the running stopped as that one, lone,
terrible thing happened that changed everything. As I ran, I thought I heard a growling noise behind
me. I panicked (of course) and looked behind me, continuing to run forward. What was the result?
Running into a tree. And it wasn͛t just like I bumped my head into a tree; I into it, full speed. I fell
to the ground hard, and the hard impact on my skull made it seem to be impossible to get up again.
Everything spun, and the dark environment made it seem like I was sleeping. Honestly, I had no idea
if I did. All the sweat my body had developed running began to become cold, and the more I laid
there, the colder I became.

I trembled as another shiver rocked my body. I didn't know how long I had lied there. The snow was
worse now, and so was the wind. My teeth were trebling like crazy, and every part of my body was
numb. I couldn't call for help, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything͙ And I felt sleepy too͙ Now
that I thought about it, I was really sleepy. A little nap wouldn't hurt, would it?? I closed my eyes and
started to slowly slip away into a deep sleep. But something was bothering me͙ something disturbed
my sleep. I slowly tried to re-open my eyes again, but it felt like they we're glued shut. But even if I
couldn't see, I slightly felt how something happened to my body; I slightly heard how someone was
calling my name͙

Suddenly, the hollow of my knee and my back became extremely cold, colder than the ground
before. It felt like I was dreaming, and I͛m sure I dreamt it, now when I think about it. In this ͚dream͛
of mine, I dreamt a pale yet absolutely beautiful woman with strange, piercing yellow eyes carried
me. She continued to whisper soothing things to me, but I couldn͛t hear what. I fought to keep my
eyes open (which was strange, since it was a dream), but in the end, my fatigue won, and my eyes
closed shut. Opening them later seemed to be the hardest thing I ever had done. It seemed like
someone else almost made me do it by force.

Like waking up from a deep sleep, everything seemed to come back to me in slow-motion. Someone
far-away, who seemed to come closer and closer to me as the seconds passed, screamed furiously at
me, saying the same thing over and over again. And it wasn͛t just this person. I heard others as well,
but I couldn͛t make out a word of what they were saying.

Then, out of nowhere, my eyes opened and bright light flicked in. Then it closed again, and my other
eye got the same treatment. I realized after a while that it was someone who was lifting my eyelids,
and that it wasn͛t me who ruled these actions. I tried to lift them, or at least one of them, but it
seemed like they were made of lid. It took me a while to do it, and when they were finally open, my
sight was confusion. Dr. Cullen, or Carlisle like he prefers to be called, stood before me, his
expression stressed and saddened. He was talking to someone beside him in a stressed manner. I
fought to keep locking, and just as he looked my way, black spots covered my sight, and my
consciousness slipped away.

 
 

I awoke later, and it felt like I had slept for days. My limbs felt stiff and sore, and even though I had
had too much sleep than a human normal would, but I still felt tired. I looked around, confused of
where I was, until I noticed it was my own room. The sun was shining outside my window, and by the
looks of it, it looked like it was morning. I sighed, and was just about to get up when I remembered
what had happened. Images of the frightening, long night reappeared in my mind, and it took me a
few deep breaths to make me calm again. In the end, I thought I was dead for sure͙

I sighed glumly at the fact that I actually didn͛t find the necklace. That was my first Christmas gift
from Edward, and now it͛s gone forever͙ The thought just made me depressed, and as I turned
around in my bed, I noticed another human in the room. In the corner of the room, in the old chair
that I loved so much that my mom used to rock me in when I was little, Edward sat, his head resting
on his hands that were lying on the armrest. His marvelous face was relaxed in his sleep, and the
circles under his eyes made me wonder how long he had stayed awake without a good night͛s sleep.
But as I stared at his sleeping face, his lips suddenly turned into a smile and he whispered one name.

͞Bella͙͟

I smiled to myself in my quiet room, and then decided to myself that a few more hours sleep
wouldn͛t hurt.
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