I Write Sins, Not Tragedies [An Emmett Cullen Love Story]

I Write Sins, Not Tragedies 

Chapter One: A Long, Winding Road

Portland, Oregon never has been a particularly bright, sunny place; at least not in the eighteen years that I have seen it. Typically the city is overcast and dreary, giving it a somewhat boring day to day monotony. That is why I was so glad to hear that my mother and I were going on vacation to Los Angeles this summer, and what a vacation it truly was. I turned my attention to the sloppily written checklist on my old desk and slowly allow my mind to go over it one last time. Shorts? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Tank tops, bathing suit, sunblock? Check. 

"Mary?" My mother knocked at my opened door politely before entering. "Are you about ready to leave? We have a long drive ahead; you may have to take the wheel for a few hours along the way." 

"That's fine." I told her, "And yes, I am nearly ready. I was just making sure I have everything." Just then it hit me what I was forgetting, so I scrambled clumsily to my top drawer in my dresser across the small room. "Underwear!" 

"Well, let's not forget that." My mother mumbled sarcastically with a little chuckle. 

Instead of picking out a few pair, I just grabbed all that I could in my hands and managed to just barely cram it into an already stuffed suitcase. Who knows, maybe I'll need a few dozen clean pair. After all, I am a neat freak like that. I took a deep breath and hoisted my bags off the bed, "Alright. Ready." 

Neither my mother nor I had packed many bags, so loading the car only took a few seconds. We gathered the wrinkled old road map and a few of our favorite CD's for the trip. On my way out of the house, I grabbed two bottles of water for us to share on the road. I was eager to head off and hit the road. 

Just like any other normal day in the Pacific Northwest, it was raining. It is something you grow accustomed to when you don't know any different. I had offered to drive first, at least until nightfall because that was when my mother started to get nervous about my driving skills; even if it was an unwarranted fret. 

We hadn't been driving for more than two minutes when my mom asked me a question. "So what do you think about Ben?" Benjamin Fredrick Elliot was my mother's boyfriend of only three weeks. I didn't care much for him because I didn't think he treated her the way she deserved. I tried to keep myself from making a face, I didn't want to argue with her again about it. 

"He is alright. It's only been three weeks, Mom, I can't really say." I really wanted that to be the end of it, I had thought this was going to be a drama free trip between me and my mother. I knew my mom better than anyone else, she was my closest companion; naturally I knew the silence that followed was her way of begging me to keep going. "Why do you ask?" 

My mother waited for a second, gathering her words in her mind before answering. "Well, Mary, your father has been dead for six years now..." 

"Mom.." 

"Let me finish," My mom kept on, "I just think you need a man in your life, Mary; a father figure." There was a long silence after she had finished her statement. My dad's death was a very touchy topic with me and it took a while for me to answer, even when I did my voice had a little more attitude than I had wanted it to. 

"Where are you going with this, Mom?" 

My mom waited, and with each passing second the air got heavier. "Ben has asked me to marry him, Mary. And I've said yes." 

My foot slammed onto the break before I could stop it. "Holy Crow, Mom!" We had both bolted forwards out of our seats from the force of the stop. I was shouting at her now, all restraint had been slammed shut. "What are you thinking?! You don't know anything about this man!" 

"Mary, I'm thirty-seven years old," 

"I don't give a damn how old you are, mom." I yelled right over her, "Perhaps you would think that you could act like it once and a blue moon! You met this man three weeks ago! I can't believe you! What about dad, huh?! What would dad think?!" 

"Your dad is dead, Mary!" 

"I don't need you to remind me, thanks." I spat. We were still stopped right in the middle of the road; cars were passing around us now, but not without shooting us stares as they drove by. I took my foot off the break and slowly edged forward, tears forming in my eyes. Every time my mom mentioned him, it brought his image back to my mind and reminded me of how much I missed him. 

A few minutes passed of the tears slowly falling down my face, but only when my mother wasn't looking at me. Finally she spoke as she stared out the opposite window. "I'm sorry, Mary. I didn't mean to upset you." 

I ignored her apology. "He isn't right for you, Mom. When are you ever going to listen to me? You've been married four times since dad died, and every one of those guys were losers." 

"Ben is different." 

"And so were Henry, and John, and Mike, and Ted." I retorted. "They were all the same; here for a few months, a year if you were lucky, and then gone out the door." She was quiet and so was I for a moment as my words sank in. "I know what you are doing, Mom; no matter how hard you look, you aren't going to find Dad again." 

The silence told me I was right even though she answered, "I know that."  

I was too angry to answer her any further, and at this point I was sure that she wasn't going to press the matter anymore with me; at least not at this point. I was focusing hard outside the windshield reading unnecessarily deep into each passing road sign. 

My mother flipped on the radio, and I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding. At least the music provided me with a welcome distraction from the news. It wasn't my favorite station and I didn't recognize the tune, but it didn't matter. 

I let another song or two pass with silence between the two of us, and once the station had cut to commercials, I broke. "Do you want to listen to a CD?" 

"Sure." My mother agreed, reaching to the back seat and pulling up our black CD booklet, placing it into my lap. "Your choice." She was purposely trying to be nice to me after our little bout. 

I opened the thick booklet that was already unzipped and tried to manage the wheel meanwhile flipping through the many albums it contained. After a few pages, I settled on my favorite Muse album and pulled it from its pocket. My hands, however, weren't exactly ready to hold onto the album and it fell out of my grasp. 

"Crap." The CD had fallen down next to my left leg and I had bent down to reach for it. I was fumbling a little bit because it had fallen more towards the underside of the seat. I was unable to see the road, much less keep control over the car. I heard a loud horn going off, sounding like that of a sixteen wheeler. The hair on the back of my neck rose up, but my reaction was not fast enough. There was a screeching of rubber and a smashing of glass. 

I felt the dashboard smash into the back of my neck, I felt my nose snapping against the bones in my leg. There was a sharp pain everywhere. There was not one place on my body that didn't feel ripped apart. This was the worst pain I had ever felt, I was sure that I was going to die right then and there; just before reaching my dreams of those bright California beaches that I was never going to see. 

"If you've been in an accident and the insurance company denied your claim, give us a call." The radio advertisement was the last thing that rang eerily in my ears just before everything went cold, black, and empty.