The Girl Who Was Taken (Renesme Cullens Twin Sister)

Fifteen

Sitting in a little chair in the corner of Caius's office, I squabbled around. He was doing his best to ignore me. I wobbled my chair back and forth. It creaked. I tried just staring at him for a long time. When that didn't work I tried making weird faces. He didn't look up to see, just kept doing his paper work.

"I'm bored," I told him again.

He harshly placed his pen back on his mahogany desk. Pointed his bloody eyes at me and said in a forced calm voice, "Yes, Ember, I know. Now I have to work." He picked up another stack of paper and started reading.

I huffed. He wasn't going to listen to me. I looked around at the artwork on the walls. Out the stain glass window. It was a nice day outside today. But Caius was too busy to take me on a walk, and everyone else was off doing whatever it was they did. I was the awkward child that needed supervision, left to do nothing but sit. I had been here long enough that they needed to start trusting me on my own. I already looked as old as Alec and Jane, and they were treated as proper adults. It wasn't like I needed that much supervision, I already promised I'd stop burning things when no one was looking.

Ponder, ponder. "We can't even go out for an hour?"

"No," he said gruffly.

"Can't I just go--"

"No."

"I won't--"

"No."

"But--"

"No."

"No, no, no, no, no!" I shot back at him.

He didn't acknowlege it though. He goes right back to ignoring  me, so I took the initaitive and stood up.

"Sit down," he ordered. I started walking towards the door. "Ember."

I put my hand on the silver door knob, looking back over my should at him. Daring. He sees me as an incapable child. Something that can be trained by being sprayed with a bottle. I twisted the knob, his chair scraped against the floor as he abruptly stood up.

But he doesn't reach me. I'm not there anymore. I'm thousands of miles away. I'm not in an office. I'm in a house. Standing at a door, half open, leading outside to a cloudy sky.

I turned around, looking, trying to make sense of where I was. It's a nicely furnished, neutral colored, warm, and cozy home. A hand touched my shoulder, making me jump.

"You ready to go?" There was a man behind me, his voice was husky. I'd definetly heard it before. But it wasn't until I saw his face that I recognized him, and almost blurted out the name I bestowed upon him. Mr. Smelly.

He scooped me up and over his shoulder like a sack. His smell is revolting, but his warmth draws me in. Then he dropped me on a motorcycle, and placed a helmet on my head. I couldn't find my voice to protest. It was just gone. 

He chatted away for the both of us though, laughing, then the bike rumbled to life. We took off like a rocket. I clung to his back, it was riveting. I'd driven in convertibles before, but Daddy didn't like motorcycles. Now that I think about it, he never gave me a reason why.

I closed my eyes and imagined I was flying for most of the ride, still trying to get my bearings. It was over faster than I would have liked, and my feet were on the ground. I felt my feet. They were being smothered by shoes. I bent down to fix the problem.

"Nessie, don't take your shoes off now." My foot was out of my right shoe, I almost tipped over, regaining my balance by using two feet again. The sock squished deep into a muddy part of the drive, water seeping between my toes. I looked up at him in alarm, why am I never allowed to do what I please? But instead of scolding me he called me a silly goose, and carried me to a porch.

He sat me down on a bench and peeled off my sock and removed my other shoe. He was a very chatty person, and I could hear what he was saying, but he talked really fast and it had been so long since I heard english, and the whole thing was overwhelming, and my voice was still missing.

He didn't seem to mind that I wasn't talking though. The way he was talking made it seem like I wasn't supposed to add to the conversation.

He ushered me into the house. It smelled like him, a lot more concentrated. I had to hold my breath. I was capable of holding it for a couple minutes, but I knew I did have to breath eventually. More men ran inside, jumping and bouncing, extremely rambunctious. They smelled just as bad.

"Happy birthday, old man," one of them greeted the guy the who was in a wheel chair. It was hard to tell anyone apart. Someone placed a cake on the table on front of him. Another one stole a dab of frosting with his finger. Then someone punched the thief. It was all a joke to them, even when the puncher was thrown into the table, knocking he cake right off to splatter onto the ground.

"You better buy me another cake, boy," the birthday man yelled.

It was all just a big mess. A disaster. It made me anxious to see it, and I could feel a tingling sensation in my fingers. I knew that feeling would take me away from here, and I didn't want to leave yet.

"Ah, Ness, there you are," I heard a man with a mustache call over all the commotion. I knew he meant me because he was looking right at me. I think I recognized him from the first time I met Mister Smelly. He was standing in a hallway, and gestured for me to come over. Mr. Smelly patted my head, and continued joking with everyone else. So I went toward the other man and the tingling went away.

He gave me a hug and I realized he didn't smell like the others. He was human. It was strange being surrounded by all these non-vampires. And now there's this human? "Help me with this, will you?" I didn't know this mans name either, so I decided to call him Mr. Mustache.

He walked into a kitchen. There were three women. One of them non-vampire. The other two were human, one of them had a horrid scar on her face.

"Where are you going?" The unscarred human lady asked.

"Back up cake." He gave her a peck on the cheek.

"What would we do without you," she said lovingly.

I followed him out of the house into a backyard where the muddy driveway came further back. He opened up a police cruiser. I've always wanted to drive a police car.

Mr. Mustache brought out another cake. "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" He looked down at my mud splattered feet.

"I don't like shoes," I said. My voice came out of nowhere. It sounded the same as always.

He looked amused, "Just make sure to hose your feet off before we go back inside."

He takes the cake inside and I find the hose, and twist it on. It splashes out and the water was cold. But I feel it. I accidentally soak the bottom of my pants. I'm not floating. I'm anchored down. Like a ship. I'm here. It doesn't feel like a dream. I'm really here.

"Renesme!" someone calls from inside. "Get in here so we can light the candles!"

Renesme. Nessie. Ness. That was what Edward called me when I made him forget. Putting two and two together, I deduced that she must the sister that Aro had mentioned. She must be my sister. But why am I here instead of her? Was she in my place right now? Denial would be ridiculous right now. There was no question about it. We had swapped bodies.

I had hijacked her life.

I turned the nozzle the wrong way when I tried to turn it off, getting my clothes even wetter. I twisted it the other way, and then quickly ran back inside.

Everyone was in the living room, it was darker now and candle light flickered against everyones face. Mr. Smelly found me and sat me on his lap on the couch. Everyone started singing. All out of key, some a few seconds behind. It was hard to figure out what they were singing.

But the I could make it out, "Happy birthday to you," over and over again. It was hard not to smile. Then Mr. Smelly said, "Dear, dad," and the other men said, "Billy," or "Black." And one guy said "old geezer," But I couldn't see who.

Billy blew out the candles.

Then there was food. Not blood or humans that were meant for eating. Actual food. Like hamburgers and hot dogs and lasagna. They tasted so good, the smell of it overwhelmed the stench of the house. I couldn't get enough. I was stuffing potato chips into my mouth full of cake when Mr. Smelly told me to slow down.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, quietly.

I nodded my head. I hoped he wasn't catching on. I wanted to see more of what my sisters' life was like before I had to go. He felt my forehead with the back of his hand. I knew he knew something was off, but he didn't pursue anything further. Thank goodness. The last thing I needed was to be tested or asked a question that only my sister would know the answer to.

I couldn't stop eating though, it was all too delicious.

When the feast was over, all of the guys were going to go out for a run. It seemed like a silly idea to me, but I went along anyways. My tummy was stuffed, and sitting around wouldn't help.

We walked out to the woods. "Okay, first one to the ocean wins!" I think the one called Quill exclaimed. I payed close attention when we were eating, so I could match a few of there faces up to names. Mr. Mustach was actually named Charlie and that woman he kissed was Sue.

I wasn't ready for what came next. All at once they jumped into the air, and burst into giant wolves, taking off and running.

The wolf that used to be Jacob trotted back up to me and bowed down. I think he was trying to let me know that he wasn't going to hurt me. I felt his fur, a deep red, and soft. I pulled myself on top of him, and he started running.

It was even better than his motorcycle. I didn't have a helmet on so my hair was free to whip in the wind. We were going so fast.

I let go of his fur and held my hands high like people do on roller coasters. He automatically slowed down, but we were still going pretty fast. I didn't want to get in the way of him winning the race though. Actually, I kinda wanted to win the race myself. We weren't that far behind everyone else yet.

I took hold of his fur again to balance myself as I stood up. I was surfing on his back. We were dodging back and forth between the trees. He took a sharp left, and I jumped up off his back and grabbed a branch.

That was close.

I climbed up the tree, all the way to the top. I could hear the wolves' every footfall. Leah was the furthest away, her steps lighter than the bigger wolves. She was going to win.

I hopped to the next tree. I could balance on my tippy toes. Dancing like a ballerina. I swung down into the branches, the leaves were just starting to sprout. Rain drops sprung up and flew away every time I landed and jumped. But it was old water, the clouds were very dry today.

I was a little ways away when I saw most of them jump. I ran onto the ground to see where they went and then stopped dead in my tracks. The drop was far. The water black as pitch beneath. I stumbled back. Falling down, grabbing my heart, trying to breath.

"Ocean." I murmured. How could I not have realized. I almost jumped without looking.

A wolf came loping past, turning right at the edge of the cliff, sending a collage of dirt off into the air. His back foot slipped off, but he got it together and slowly walked towards me.

His fur was silver, so he wasn't Jacob. There were so many wolves, I hadn't been able to see who everyone was, and I wasn't sure I even got everyone's names down at the party.

The wolf looked in my eyes though and it was like the world crumbled away. Because seeing that wolf made me question everything, and I didn't know why. Looking into his brown eyes shook my bones and made me think that maybe I shouldn't ever go back to my own body, that maybe I belonged here, on this seaside town, in that house full of smelly men. So it felt like the world crumbling.

And then the world did crumble because I wasn't there anymore. I ran away. Again. Because that's what I was taught to do. "Never stay if it feels right," Daddy used to say. "That's when they catch you." But I was starting to realize that maybe running away wasn't a great way to deal with life. Maybe Daddy was wrong.

A/N

The wolf is Paul Lahote btw. And I know, Paul imprinted on Jacob's sister in the books, blah blah blah. I don't care.

He's perfect to Stormy and this story.

Love, Lily.

-Oppinions, critism, whatever, I really do wanna hear it<3