-The Human Girl-

Chapter ten - Inappropriate relations.

Isabella POV:
(Age fourteen)

The next day it was tipping it down with rain, the little drops of water drumming against the castle walls. I was sitting on the floor by the fireplace in Alice's room, trying to write a letter to my father.

Dear Father, I began, before hitting a serious mental block. What else could I say? I certainly couldn't mention the Princesses, or what had happened with their brother, so what was there to tell him?

Dear Father,

I can't believe how long I've already been here,

Yes, that was a good start. Alice was pacing the room, restless from being stuck inside so long, and her eyes were a dangerous onyx black. "What are you writing?" she asked, peering over my shoulder to see what I'd done. "A letter to my Father, but I can't decide what to write," I replied absentmindedly, scrunching up my eyebrows in frustration.

"Tell him about the food," Rose suggested from the window seat she sat on. "Humans pay a lot of attention to those sorts of things. Maybe you could mention the weather as well, since it seems to be taking up the most time." I sniggered in agreement, turning back towards the fire for warmth.

"Why do you keep the fire burning, even when you don't need it?" I asked. Since I'd become friends with Rose and Alice I'd started to be very interested in vampires, trying to find out everything I could about the species that ruled over us. Alice paused for a second, considering her answer, but Rose got there first, her black eyes boring into mine. "I would say that it gives us light, but you know as well as I do that we can see perfectly fine without it. I suppose that it makes us feel human, and we try to keep the room warm for when you get here anyway."

I nodded thoughtfully, a brief smile flickering across my face. "Why do you want to feel human?" I asked quietly, my gaze still stuck on the fireplace. There was a pause as they both thought it over, the only sound in the room was my breathing. "My experience as a human was wonderful, but it didn't end well." Rose was speaking out loud now, her voice a gentle musing against the backdrop of rain. "I miss the warmth, the freedom. I know that you can't see it, but when you're human you have so many more options about your future. You're not stuck in one place, like us. You can marry, have children, and you'll grow old in this world before you grow tired of it."

I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. They had no idea of the limitations of being human. We were the livestock, animals, no better than cows to most of them. True, we were treated better here, treated as slaves instead of cattle, but being human was still terrifying. I was fourteen, and the daughter of a squire — I'd be married to a man I'd hate by my next birthday, then a mother before the next. Sure, I didn't have time to grow tired of this world, but that's only because I'd be dead forty.

"I like to feel human for another reason entirely," added Alice, her face taking a far off expression. I knew that look from countless anxious moments — that was the face she made when she was scrying the future, looking for what was going to happen because it kept changing. I wanted to ask her what the uncertainty was, what part of the future was shifting, but I could tell that she wanted to distract me, so I let her.

"I like to feel human because you're all so much kinder than the rest of us. I suppose that not a lot of people can stay warm and happy and kind when you're responsible for so many deaths, like vampires are. Still, there's a simplicity to being human that we don't have — it's quite infectious really, I always feel so much better after seeing you," she smiled happily, the future obviously having settled down for the moment, her coal coloured eyes back on me.

Suddenly her expression changed, her mouth opening slightly and her eyes going wide with worry. She glanced at Rose, whose face equally as grave. Alice stepped towards the fireplace, kneeling down next to me and taking my hands in her's. I focused entirely on her; only just then realising that she and Rose were actually talking to each other, their lips moving so quickly and so quietly that I couldn't hear it at all. "Alice, Rose, what's wrong? What are you talking about?
Why don't you want me to hear?" I rattled off at a hundred words a minute, my voice high and desperate with worry.

Alice nudged herself nearer to me, pulling me into a tight hug. "You know that, no matter what happens, we'll always try to do the best for you," she promised, her every word dripping with severity. "I know, but why do I need to know that?" I was startled, anxious, my heartbeat a lot higher than could be healthy. "We love you Bella, but I think you need to concentrate very hard on what's in your best interests, okay? Concentrate very hard on that, because I was wrong about how I thought this would actually turn out. We'll do our best, I promise. Goodbye Be—"

The door was flung open, the wood banging hard against the stone wall and splintering slightly. I cowered in fear, my ears aching from the loud noise of the vampire in the room, the banging and shouting far too much for me. "I can't believe it, Alice! That filthy human — her scent reeks from corridors away —"

I shook in fear, my eyes closed shut against the terror of the cold Prince. Alice still had her arms wrapped around me, no longer a hug but a protection against her brother. "Edward!" Rose started. "Enough — she's just a baby!" She stood from the window seat, her face stormy with pure rage. Alice was glaring too, joining the standoff of gods, their chiselled faces perfect in their terrible anger.

I quailed at the sight of it, and I realised that — to them — I was indeed a baby, nothing more than a petty child. The Prince was only getting angrier, and I had no doubt now that he was going to kill me, for sure this time. I took another breath, preparing myself for either a tough sprint or a quick death. I can do this, I told myself. If I can just get away quick enough, he won't come after me. He won't risk his respectability. Alice dropped me from her arms, standing up in a flash to join the fight properly.

She must of seen what I was going to do, because her head tilted ever so slightly to the left, a silent signal to say that she approved. I shifted my weight back onto my feet, crouching in anticipation. The immortals were still fighting, but I'd lost track of what they were saying. Was my being here really worth all this fuss? I didn't know the answer, but I couldn't stop to think about it, so as soon as the Prince was turned away from me I bolted.

Run, run, run. I chanted in my head, little bunny rabbit feet going full pelt. I leapt like a hare out of the room, the soles of my shoes barely making a sound as I prayed for my chances of getting it of there. Somehow I managed to reach the door, throwing my head round just as I passed through so that I could get one last look at Alice and Rose.

They were both looking at me; Alice's face betraying only the slightest hint of a smirk as she turned towards the door, ready to shut it fast. Alice's face I could live with, I knew, but it was Rose's that bothered me. Still standing by the window seat, I could tell that she was shocked I'd moved so fast, her hand reaching out for me already. She didn't say anything but her eyes were wide open and her mouth was hanging slightly parted; a terrible look of pain sewn into place on her porcelain features.

And that was how I knew I wouldn't see them again.