Folktale

Chapter 10

Edward's P.O.V

I'm at a complete loss of words. Something inside hoped, for just a split second, that she was just like my Izzy. An reincarnation of a person I once knew, but the moment those words fly out of her mouth, so does my hope. This is her, Muriel, alive and standing in front of me. I want to scream, I want to cry and I want to ask so many questions, but all I manage to do is throw myself at her and hug her tightly, taking her completely off guard. No matter how confused I am, I am also relieved to finally see a familiar face.

"H-h-how?" I stammer when I pull away. "How is it possible?"

"How much do you remember?" She asks.

"Barely anything," I say. "It's all confusing. How is this possible? How are you here? How am I? What happened, Muriel?"

She shakes her head. "I cannot tell you."

"Why not?"

"I can't tell you how if you can't remember, you need to know."

"I know enough."

She shakes her head. "You don't know that."

"Then what is there to know?" I snapped. "My name is Edward Anthony Masen, born on June 20th, 1819 in Chicago, Illinois. My parents are Edward and Elizabeth Masen. We moved to Forks, Washington when I was seven years old and built a life there. I fell in love with Isabella Marie Swan in 1839 and yet somehow I find myself here in 2019 with a gunshot scar on my back and the woman I love belonging to another man. So tell me, Muriel, what else is there for me to know?"

Muriel sighs. "What do you remember about that night?"

I frown. "What night?"

"April 14th, 1840. What do you remember about the night you and Isabella planned to run away together?"

What is she talking about?

"We didn't plan to run away," I tell her. No, that wasn't the plan. "We planned to come clean about our relationship to our families and the Newton's, but running away was never part of the plan."

Muriel shakes her head again. "Then you don't know enough, Edward."

"You'll regret it, boy. You'll regret it if you don't do the right thing," Muriel says, staring deep into my eyes.

"Are you threatening me?" I ask angrily.

"I'm warning you."

"You... You warned me," I say, trying to hold onto the memory for as long as I could. "You warned me that if I didn't do the right thing, I'd regret it. What did you mean by that, Muriel?"

"I meant there's a gunshot scar on your back and you're still alive, and you don't remember how you got it." Muriel runs her hands through her raven black hair and sighs. "I cannot help you if you can't remember. If you want answers just remember: Forks has a lot of buried history. You just have to dig a little." She leans in and kisses me on the cheek. "I'll see you soon, Edward." And walks away.

I stand there, dumbstruck at what just happened. What do I need to remember? What else is there? Izzy and I decided to come clean about our relationship, that I can be sure, but then how did I wound up with a bullet hole on my back? In the water? How am I still here? How is Muriel still here?

"Yo, Edward!" Emmett runs down the alley toward me. "Hey, you're okay, you came running here like a crazy person."

"It's nothing," I say, staring off into space. "I thought I saw something."

But Emmett wasn't easily fooled. "Who was that woman?"

"Nobody," I snapped. Emmett takes a step back. Fuck, I'm an ass. "She's nobody, Emmett. I thought I recognized her from somewhere, but it turns out she's just another stranger."