Her Final Days

Chapter 1

An older woman was sitting in a huge garden at a nursing home. She smiled as she watched her great-grandchildren playing among the flowers and her husband's picture never left her side. Life was good for Rosalie Dunham.

But there was one problem, though. There was a portrait of a family that remained in the drawers of her room, hidden, never to see the light of another day. The portrait of a golden-eyed family. The family that Rosalie had left behind when she accepted an offer that had been made to her many years earlier...

*flashback*

Rosalie Hale Cullen grew jealous whenever she stared at Bella Swan Cullen. Bella, who had given birth to Renesmee despite everyone's fears and became a vampire soon after. But there soon came her adopted sister Jacquelyn Claire who (despite the fact that she was a vampire) had managed to pop out nearly 5 tiny babies in the span of 3 years, plus she had adopted her young cousins at that.

Rosalie grew jealous; she had wanted to marry, have children, and to grow old; the way life should be. Sure she had Emmett, but it wasn't enough for her at all. She wanted children and old age, but being a vampire didn't give her either things.

And when she heard that even the harpy Leah Clearwater had imprinted on a man and got married and gave birth to a son, that was that. She couldn't bring herself to hate Carlisle Cullen for changing her, but she hated him for the things that never happened in her life.

So she ran off.

A witch said to her, "What can I do for you, dear?"

"I wish to be human again," Rosalie said.

"I don't really like changing vampires into humans," said the witch. "That would infuriate the Volturi and plus, it would severely complicate things for said vampire."

"But I want to live again," said Rosalie. "What I have, it's not life. I want to be like every woman in life, getting married, and having children. Being among a circle of friends, and even being old and enjoying my grandchildren. What woman would not want that?"

"I see," said the witch. "But in order to grant you this wish, you must give up everything that meant a lot to you..."

Rosalie thought about everyone she would be leaving behind: Carlisle, the doctor, father, and leader of the clan; Esme, the mother that would put Mrs. Weasley to shame; Edward, her brother, whose decisions to marry Bella did not please her in the slightest; Jasper, whose ability to control emotions meant he controlled Rosalie's, and her happiness wasn't as real as she thought; Alice, the future-seeing psychic who Rosalie had shamefully abused for many years before Bella and Jacquelyn's parents were even born.

But then there came Emmett. Emmett, the young man with dark brown hair and a huge smile on his face, the young man she saved from a bear attack many years ago. The young man she fell in love with and married. He had made her happy in a way that no other man could.

Except that the years passed and another human girl had somehow came between Emmett and her without meaning to. Hilsa Bower honestly had no idea that Emmett was her true love, not even when she arrived in Forks with her boyfriend and pregnant. Emmett had tried to fight this attraction to Hilsa, an attraction that exposed the truth behind why Rosalie had saved him.

He reminded her of Henry. Her old friend Vera's son.

"I shall give everything up," said Rosalie.

"Very well then," said the witch as she touched Rosalie's head. "But I forewarn you...in your final days, your wish will come back to haunt you!"

*end flashback*

Rosalie left Forks without a trace and moved back to her old hometown. There, she met a man named James Durham while both were in college. They got married and had three children Randall, Vernon, and Annemarie. Rosalie smiled as she saw her children, forgetting about the ones who had caused her to flee in the first place. She relished the stressful activities of parenthood, such as schoolwork, sports, Christmas pageants, and whatnot.

She never gave much thought to her old life, nor did she think about the Cullens. To her, they were just an old memory of a fantasy dream that ended when she "woke up", so to speak.

But now, at age 96, with hair that had once been blond but now white, with wrinkles on a once spotless face, Rosalie Durham was still the image of a happy life. She knew that her time was almost up and she was waiting for the peace of death to claim her.

But one word would forever shatter the peaceful death she was wanted for so long.

"Emmett."