Twisted Twilight

chapter 1

"Will you calm down? It's just a cut," I whined to my good friend Alice while we sat in the emergency room waiting area. She was having a panic attack from seeing my head cut and bleed all over everything. I had a towel pressed up against my forehead, which was soaked in my blood. Seeing blood used to freak me out but not anymore. I'd gotten so used to seeing it pouring out of me from all the times I'd gotten hurt over the twenty-six years of my life. I guess Alice hadn't gotten used to it yet.

It's not like I intentionally set out to get hurt all the time. My parents told me I was accident prone. If there was a potential for an accident it would happen to me. When I was a toddler I was always falling or getting cut or burned. They used to joke how I was like the Martin Short character in that old movie "Pure Luck". I'd seen the movie once or twice growing up but I typically tried to avoid it to prevent the jokes. My parents loved to torture me with it.

"I've never seen that much blood come out of you before," Alice said with a worried tone. "Why did you try cleaning that mirror? You should know better."

I rolled my eyes and turned my head away. Even my best friend felt like she needed to protect me. She was right though. I should have known better. Alice and I were just finishing our shift at Rose's Diner when I stupidly decided I needed to clean the mirror tiles hanging above the fireplace. I was standing on a ladder wiping away all the smudges when suddenly one of the tiles from the top came loose and fell hitting my directly on the head, which inevitably cut my head open.

"I'll be fine," I insisted. "I've had worse injuries, you know?"

Alice sighed and shook her head like she was disappointed. "One of these days, Bella, I'm afraid you're going to get hurt so bad you won't be able to recover so easily."

"I've made it so far," I joked trying to lighten the mood. She rolled her eyes and me and clicked her tongue making me laugh.

"Bella," the nurse called from the door. I stood up and walked towards her.

"Hi, Angela," I greeted the nurse. She smiled and greeted me in the same pleasant voice as always. Not only does Angela know me well because I'm always coming to the ER but we also went to grade school, middle school, and high school together. Living in the small town of Forks, Washington you pretty much know everyone.

I followed Angela back to one of the curtained examining rooms with Alice right on my toes acting as if any minute I might fall over dead.

"So," Angela began while I sat down on the bed and she closed the curtain behind us. "What happened this time, Bella?"

"It's just a little cut," I explained. "I was cleaning some mirrors at the diner and one fell hitting me."

Angela carefully pulled the towel back from my head to have a look. She jotted a couple things down on my chart and asked a few questions about how I was feeling then took my vitals. I felt fine, but Alice insisted I go to the ER and have it looked at. I figured I'd need a few stitches and everything would be fine.

"The doctor will be right in, Bella. I'll see you later." Angela pulled the curtain back and left Alice and I alone. I took a deep breath preparing for Doctor Cullen's lecture about being more careful. I think he'd probably told me to be more careful at least a hundred times in my life. He'd taken care of all my cuts and bruises and breaks since I was just a baby.

"Are we still going into Seattle this weekend?" I asked Alice trying to start up a conversation not relating to my accident.

"Are you sure you'll be up to it?" she asked. "We can wait for another weekend."