Mackenzie Cullen

Chapter 2

Mackenzie's POV

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I wake up on something soft, like a bed, with a quilt thrown across my legs. I open my eyes slowly, squinting in the bright light. Where am I? What's happening?

"She's awake!" Some one says, in a high pitched voice. The blond man comes into the room, followed by the dark haired woman. The woman was holding a mug of what smelt like orange juice, and put it down on the table in front of me. Not sure of what to do next, I ask a simple question.

"Where am I?" I ask, my voice barely audible. The man and woman exchange a worried look, and then turn their attention back to me.

"Have a drink" the woman says, handing me the cup. I finish the juice in a few large gulps, grateful, as it eased the dryness of my throat.

"Thank you" I say, handing the cup back to the woman.

"What's your name?" the man asks.

"Mackenzie" I say. My sister had given me that name when I was born, minutes after Mom had died giving birth to me.

"Do you have a last name?" I shake my head in reply; Harriett had never said anything about my last name, or her own.

"And, how old are you?" the woman asks. I knew I couldn't tell them my real age; Harriett said not to. 'If anyone asks you how old you are, make it up. No one can know what you are' she said. I was confused then, and I'm still confused now, because I am human, right?

"Six" I say, almost truthfully. I do look like a six year old, although my mental abilities are a little advanced, but I still appear to be six. The woman looked like she didn't believe it, but didn't press on the subject.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asks, changing the subject and reminding me of the hollow feeling inside my stomach. I nod my head, causing my long, knotted black hair to fall in front of my face.

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"Thank you" I say again, handing her the plate that I had licked clean. That had to have been the best meal I'd ever had; with roast potatoes, carrots, steak and gravy. The only things Harriett had ever brought home were items like bars of chocolate, biscuits and sometimes, if I was lucky, fruit. I was always grateful that she returned home, even those times when she didn't bring back anything; as I'm pretty sure stealing is illegal.

The woman, who I'd learnt was called Esme, smiled at me, before walking out of the room. I hear fast footsteps on the stairs, and turn around just in time to see a little girl, no older that eleven or twelve years old run into the room. She was followed by a boy, with tanned skin and short, ruffled black hair. 

The little girl looked curiously at me, before running over to the blond woman. She puts her small hand on the woman's cheek, before turning to me.

"Maybe not, Ness. She's had quite a shock already" she replies, the tone of her voice was soft, as though she was trying to keep the girl from getting upset.

"Please" the girl asks, 

"Fine, but ask her first" she replies, her golden eyes flickering over to me for the tiniest fraction of a second. The little girl runs to the seat in front of the sofa I was sitting on, with her hand outstretched in front of her. She looks at me expectantly, her eyes flickering between her hand and my face.

"What?" I ask, my voice full of curiosity, and, strangley, a little more high pitched than normal. She takes two steps forward, so that now she was right in front of me, and places her hand on my cheek. She stands there for a moment, her eyes closed tight, like she was concentrating hard. After a few moments, I gasp. She had just shown me her life's story. But there was something else; something I'd been missing all along. That boy she'd come in with, was one of the wolves that had attacked me!

I jump up, adrenalin kicking in. Lucky I heal quickly, because now I need to run. He was going to kill me, and they're letting him into their house? He was a mutt, a dog. And they were letting him in here? I hiss, not caring about all the eyes that are on me, and sprint for the door. I hear footsteps behind me, but I don't care; I need to get away.

As soon as I was outside of the house, my pace speeds up.

"Mackenzie wait!" Esme shouts, her voice distant. I feel guilty, running away after all they had done for me. I sigh, and turn around, to find that only Esme had been following me.

"Where are the others?" I ask suspiciously, sniffing the air in case there was that awful wet dog smell again.

"They're back at the house" she answers, taking a step forward, "Why did you run?" 

"Because that dog tried to kill me!" I spit, my voice harsher that I had intended.

"I'm sure it wasn't Jacob that had tried to kill you" she says, ignoring my snide remark and walking closer to me.

"No, but he still chased me" I say defensively, "Anyway, it was his mutt of a friend, Leah"

I hear a deep growl from behind me, turning slowly I see the white wolf who had attacked me; Leah! I swallow hard, my eyes searching for a way out.

"It's ok, she won't hurt you" Esme says, stepping in front of me, "I won't let her". Leah growls, but turns and runs in the opposite direction. I sigh with relief; I don't have enough energy to try and defend myself now.

"Come on" Esme says wearily, as though she knew Leah was watching us from a distance, and led me back to the house.

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After I'd explained why I'd ran to the others, the tense atmosphere seemed to relax a bit. The dog kept away from me, and I kept away from him, fair enough. The little girl, who's name I'd learnt was Renesmee, stayed with him most of the time, but at random times through out the days she's come and sit next to me for a while. Most of the time she'd just sit there, watching TV with me. When she did talk, she mainly used her gift.

"What's it like? Living here, I mean. With food and water when ever you like?" I ask, turning around to face her.

"Alright, although I wouldn't call the food edible. I prefer blood myself" she replies. I chuckle, 

"Ha, good one... Blood!" I laugh, flattening down my now clean and smooth hair.

"They haven't told you?" she asks, her tone serious for the first time since we'd met.

"Told me what?" I ask, suspicion eating away at my mind. Renesmee clears her throat, and stays silent.

I hear low whispers from the floor below.

"Ness' just slipped up..." the dog begins,

"She musn't believe it, I mean, how's she to know?" a feminine voice, probably the blond, Rosalie, says.

"...if she suspects..." the copper haired boy, Edward, interjects. I couldn't quite hear the whole conversation, so I didn't know what they were on about. But, from what I could hear, it sounded as though they were talking about me.

"...she need's to know what she is... and what we are..." Esme counters, her voice low as though she knew I was listening. 

I was concentrating too hard on the conversation going on downstairs to notice when Renesmee crept up behind me.

"What 'cha you doin' ?'" she asks loudly. I jump, startled, and spin around to face her.

"Nothing" I say, and sit down on plush, white sofa. I ignoring the footsteps coming up the stairs, and continue to watch the movie Renesmee had turned on, and try to tune everything else out whilst I think.