Author's Note

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive and haven't deserted my stories. A lot has just happened in my life and I will explain more fully in an author's note in chapter 8 of Leave Out All The Rest. I should hopefully have that chapter worked up and posted soon.

Chapter 8 Sneak Peek!

Bella's P.O.V.

The whole house was dark but a soft orange glow emanated from the living room. I took a soft breath and slowly yet quietly descended the staircase counting the steps as I went. It was one of my oldest habits, one I couldn’t allow myself to break. So down I went, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and on the last step I closed my eyes and smiled. It’s amazing how the familiarity of something so simple could bring a person such unimaginable peace.

Willing my eyes open I looked towards the living room. Any other night I would be afraid, terrified even. Living alone in this house for so long there were no more doors being opened and closed in the middle of the night. There were no conversations being had in another room. The sound of Sunday night football was no longer heard on the television. There was no comfort in the feeling that someone else was just down the hall. There was no closeness. No warmth. No love. No life. There was certainly no orange glow emanating from the living room at midnight.

So any other night I would be scared out of my mind knowing that someone else was in the house, but not tonight. Tonight I knew. Tonight I felt it. I couldn’t hear the person in the other room. There was no sound, no indication of life other than the faint orange glow of light but I knew that someone was there. For the first time in a long time, the house came alive, I felt comfort, warmth. I felt at home.

Stepping towards the light I could feel that familiar pull again, the one that I felt every time we were close. That’s how I knew that someone was there. No sound was needed.

As quietly as I could I turned the corner in the living room and for a moment, all I could do was stand still, leaning again the post.

Under the faint orange glow of the old lamp that stood proud in the corner of the room Edward looked almost ethereal. His pale skin reflected the orange glow and shimmered like diamonds under the sun. He looked like a man out of time, like the world could start and stop at any minute if he simply willed it to. His mere presence was, as always, demanding. He sat on the small loveseat as if it were his throne, his naked back strong and coiled with muscles that appeared far more pronounced as it ever so slightly slouched giving way to his bowed head. Yet it was his face that nearly made my heart stop. For once he didn’t seem like a predator. He didn’t seem like a man made of stone. He didn’t look complicated. He didn’t look like he was keeping secrets. He looked almost serene.

He was in the deepest space of concentration. His eyes were hard, focused. His brow was arched and his lips were slightly parted, taking in small sips of air. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, yet he looked completely and totally at peace.

For a moment I allowed myself to imagine that he too was feeling the house come alive. A silly thought I know. How could he, this wasn’t home to him.

What amazed me though, was his center of focus. He was looking through my family photo album and for a moment I could have sworn I’d seen him smile. The current page held a picture of me when I was probably about five. In the picture, I’m sitting with my arms crossed and the most ridiculous pout has made its way onto my face. Peter’s standing next to me with his hand pressed to my back. He’s trying to cheer me up but I’m far too miserable. The reason behind my mood was the pink dress that I’m wearing that had large pink bow. I laughed at the memory without thinking.

Edward slowly turned his head to look at me. He didn’t seem surprised, nor did he seem caught off guard. It was like he had felt that I was there too. His previous expression faded ever so slightly but he didn’t seem to lose it and his eyes almost seemed to look through me, searching. They held question.

“That picture was taken on Easter,” I started slowly making my way further into the living room. I approached him slowly as his eyes never seemed to leave mine. I gave him a small smile as I seated myself next to him on the couch. The closeness allowed me to feel the warmth of his body and the feeling almost drove me crazy. “It was sunny outside for a change, had been for days. So the great people of Forks decided to have a massive town picnic which everyone was of course invited to and since my dad was the police chief he felt obligated to go.”

“You didn’t want to?” He asked in that smooth musical voice.

I shrugged, “I was five, I guess it didn’t really matter either which way to me. Peter was excited though. He and his friends were planning this major baseball game.”

“Did you play?” He asked genuinely.

“I wanted to but didn’t,” I laughed at the memory, “Dad put me in this horrible dress. I hated it, dresses in general really but dad didn’t know any better. It was the first year we’d spent Easter without my mother and I guess he just thought he’d make up for it by making it as festive as possible. Unfortunately that meant…”

“Putting you in a dress,” Edward finished.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s stupid now but I remember being so mad at him for putting me in that thing. I was, of course, a very mature and developed five year old and putting me in a dress completely robbed me of my identity.”

He looked at me skeptically as he pointed to the picture where I was very clearly pouting, “Yes, you look very mature.”

I nudged him lightly with my elbow without thinking but fortunately he didn’t seem to mind. “We’re all prone to overreacting every once in a while right? That’s one of the many things that makes us human. Haven’t you ever overreacted?”

“No,” He smirked, “I’m mature and developed”

I smiled at that, while rolling my eyes of course, “Yeah, whatever… It was a good day though. Easter I mean, after the picture. Dad ultimately drove me home and let me change into something more comfortable. I played baseball with Peter and his friends, which really means I fell down a lot and got scrapped up pretty badly but it was so much fun. I think that was the first day we truly felt normal without my mother. We were surrounded by our friends and it didn’t seem like dad had to overcompensate for her not being there. He did that a lot.”

“How so,” Edward asked, his brow arching again.

I looked down to the photo album and the tapped my pointer finger to it. “It looks like you’ve gotten pretty far in, so I’m sure you’ve noticed the drastic change in artistry from the beginning until now. Mom started this when she and dad first got together and she used to work on it all of the time, putting pictures in all the way up til the day she left. Peter and I always loved to just sit here and look through it and dad knew that so he started to put pictures in himself. For her it was an art, a craft. Dad just put the pictures in and made it look the best he could. It made him happy though… doing the things she used to do. He never stopped loving her and so Peter and I just let him. We let him throw pictures into this album. We let him take Christmas pictures of us in front of the tree and although he couldn’t bake, he made cookies for Santa, every year. We let him tuck us into bed until we were too old to be. We let him decorate for every holiday and birthday, no matter how small a day it was. We let him sing us to sleep when we had nightmare, even though he was completely tone death. We let him be are dad… and are mom. We let him love us and he did, more than anything else in the world.”

I hadn’t even realized that I was crying up until that point but once I did I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. I turned my head away from Edward in embarrassment. The last thing this guy needed was for me to be crying all over him. I made an attempt to stand and leave to salvage what was left of my pride but then I found myself stopped. Edward wrapped his hand around my arm and gently yet forcefully pulled me back to my spot on the couch. I looked up at him through tear streaked eyes trying to understand his actions. He didn’t speak but he looked so conflicted, unsure, it was as if he was having some internal battle with himself.

“It’s okay,” He said slowly drawing me closer to him. He pulled me close enough to the point that I was almost seated in his lap. Then he gently cradled me in his arms, one hand resting on my back and the other gliding through my hair. “It’s okay.”

That was when I broke. I buried my face in his chest and cried. Never in my life had I felt so safe. Sitting there in his arms I felt as if nothing in the world could harm me. I had never felt so warm. In his arms, I allowed myself to let go.

Alright ya'll, stay on the look out for the rest of this chapter.

Much Luv!

Daba91

CH. 7 Posted!

So sorry for the wait, but Chapter 7 is now posted. YAY! I am really trying to get everything in order to make sure that I have the time to write more frequently but real life is just so unpredictable sometimes... a lot of the time. "Laughs" The good news is that I have already finished most of my assignments for the upcoming school week, which consited of 3 essays, 2 online exams, 6 handout packets, not to mention the 3 major exams I had in class last week. CRAZY! So this means that I will be working on the Sneak Peek for chapter eight either tonight or tomorrow, along with the rest of the chapter, which I have to finish outlining. But I will also be working on getting the outlines for chapter's nine and ten done as well so that way writing the chapter's will only be a matter of having the time to sit down at my laptop. I am also working on outlining several new stories. Some of which I started writing a while back but to avoid making readers wait so long for each chapter, I figured it would be best to get those stories done before I even post them. Okay, i'm going to stop rambling now... Thank you for reading. I will keep you posted on any information regarding my stories here on this Blog.

Much Luv!

Daba91

CH. 7 Update!

Hello lovely readers. I am so sorry for the slight delay, my life is, as always, crazy... My weird, psycho, douche of an uncle is staying at my house, and not only has he made it his mission to irritate the hell out of me, but he screwed up my house computor which is where I usually try to get my writing done, and is also where I save most of my files 'cause it has more memory space. So I was forced to start over with chapter 7. Fortunately, I had the sneak preview posted on here, and I have already gotten most of it re-written, so I will be working on trying to finish that after class today, and with any luck I will have it posted either before or by the weekend. Especially since, lucky me, my four hour Friday class has been shortened to a ten minute conference with my proffessor, so I will have more time to get a jump start on chapter 8. YAY!

CH. 7 "Leave Out All The Rest" Sneak Peek!

Edward's P.O.V.

I push through my bedroom door and head straight for my closet. In there I have two bags. One of which I use to pack clothing, and the other is loaded with guns. One must always be prepared, right? The difference between the two bags is that the only one that stays packed is the gun bag. The clothing bag is empty. So I have to pack that one, but fortunately I’m already in my closet. I pack a few pairs of jeans, boxers, and some sweats, as well as two pairs of dress pants and a pair of dress shoes, in addition to my sneakers, since this is a ‘business’ trip. Although my business will be a bit different than what Garret will tell my family it is, I still intend to dress nicely. I also pack a few T-shirts, some button ups, two sweaters, and my second favorite jacket. It wasn’t as nice as my first favorite, but hey, sacrifice.

Once that’s all packed, I enter the bathroom, and grab all of the essentials, leaving only a few more things to pack, such as my phone charger, my laptop, my favorite knife, and the file I’d had Yorkie put together on Charles Swan.

The problem was that after I’d gotten my phone charger, laptop, and knife packed, I found the lock on my desk open and the file missing. I could feel the anger and frustration wash over me, as I knew that there was only one person in this house who’d be crazy enough to go through my things.

“Alice.” I bit as I slowly turned around to find my sister sitting cross legged on my bed across the room with the file lying in front of her, open.

“Damn it Alice!” I growl as I make my way across the room. I snatch up the file and shove it into a side compartment of my bag. “Why the fuck can’t you ever just mind your own damn business?”

Alice doesn’t even flinch. She’s not afraid of me; she has no reason to be. She just waits for me to finish and then speaks.

“Charles Swan wasn’t mugged was he?” She asked simply, as if she were asking me to pass the salt at the dinner table. I ignore her question by not responding and she continues, but that’s the thing about my sister. She doesn’t need you to speak to have a conversation with you. “Do you actually think that Peter and his sister are in danger?”

I fix her with a hard glare, and she sighs, before saying. “I’ll cover for you.”

“Garret already is,” I shake my head, and make my way towards the door with both bags slung over my shoulder. I truly do care about my sister, and appreciate that she’s willing to help blindly, but damn if she needs to learn to mind her own business. I stop in the doorway and turn to face her. “Lock up when you leave Oh, and Alice… this stays between us.”

Alice smiles brightly. “Oh dear brother, no one can keep a secret like I can.”

I nod, knowing full well the truth of her words. I prepare to leave, but before I can, she calls out.”

“Oh and Edward,” I suck in a breath, and turn to face her.

“Yes Alice?”

She smirks, “I’d really like to meet her sometime.”

If looks could kill, my sister would have been a corpse in that moment. I knew who she was talking about but gave no response as I turned and made my way down the hall. That’s Alice for ya’. Always up to something.

As I make my way to the garage I, once again, use the deserted halls as to avoid running into anyone who might want to talk or ask questions as I am lugging around two packed bags. It’s really only minutes though, before I’ve reached the garage and loaded them both in. Then once again, I find myself back on the road and headed in the same direction I’d been heading in two days before. Only this time, Neah Bay isn’t my destination, Forks is.

Though really it isn’t Forks that I’m headed to it’s her. Isabella. After everything my father had told me, I need to make sense of it all. I need to know what it all means, and the only way I can do that is through Isabella. There was still so much I didn’t know, so many unanswered questions, and I have this feeling that she is the key. The answers are there, locked deep somewhere inside that steel box of a mind that holds more mysteries than should be possible. And I fully intend to learn every last one of them.

I’ve only driven about two and a half hours before I reach Forks, and by the time I do it’s already dark out. There’s a feeling I can’t explain, something foreign. The second I reached the town limits I’ve felt, anxious, and expectant. I knew I was getting closer to her and my thoughts were going wild. I also felt this strange pull, like a magnet was guiding me to exactly where I needed to go. Damn I must have been driving longer than I’d thought. I’m becoming fucking delirious.

Shaking my head, as if trying to force out my thoughts, I continue on down the road that lead to Isabella’s home. I was just seconds away from being with her again. I mean, so that I can get the answers that I need, of course. This time, however would be different. This time it would just be us. I could work on getting the answers I need without worrying about anyone becoming suspicious. I could also work on getting inside that mind of hers.

Of course, all of these thoughts disappear as quickly as they came once I pull in front of her house. The lights are on and nothing looks particularly out of place from what I can see. Her truck is parked out front, just as it was yesterday morning. However there was one major thing that was out of place, which unsettled me and created this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my gut. Parked in front of me was a Police cruiser. Forks finest was at Isabella’s home.

“What the fuck?”

Chapter 7 should be posted soon! So stay tuned.

CH. 6 Leave Out All The Rest - Posted!

Okay, readers, chapter 6, has been posted, be sure to check it out. Ch.7 should hopefully be up sometime soon. I will not give an exact date in case I miss it, but it will be soon.

100 Monkeys!

So, this is a late post, but I just had to post it. As a back to school gift to myself, I went to the 100 Monkey's show at Slim's in San Francisco. The whole show was great, the band was amazing. They played most of the songs I loved, including a hilarious improve song, and they were just a lot of fun themselves. There were also some other amazing bands playing there as well, such as, The Bleeding Horses Express, & Finish Ticket. It was just an over all great night.

100 Monkeys: Ben Graupner, Jackson Rathbone, Jared Anderson, Ben Johnson, & Uncle Larry!

Finish Ticket

Really Great Night!!!!! Can't wait to see them all again!