Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ A Believer In Fiction ❯ Welcome to Forks ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
A/N: On to chapter 3! Mandy discovers Forks! Of course most of you probably knew that, huh? Lol! On with the chapter!

Welcome to Forks

I didn’t breath at all as I stepped out of the woods. I was a few feet away from the back yards of some houses, and the last thing I wanted to happen was to catch a scent of a human and go nuts. I steeled myself to the rain that pelted me as I made my way onto the main road of the town. I wasn’t in a big place, and I could clearly see that I was right at the edge of it, if the sign that said “Welcome to Forks” wasn’t an indication. I’d never heard of this town before, and I’d been to Washington twice before now. I saw little children playing on their front porches, forced to stay there because of the biting rain. It was only about eight at night on what I assumed was a weekend, so the sight of children outside wasn‘t a surprise to me.

A little girl that looked to be about twelve stared at me as I walked by, but I didn‘t pay her any mind until she bolted inside. I froze… Did she know what I was? Was she frightened of me? That was when the little girl came running out of her house and towards me. I clenched my eyes shut, keeping my breath still so I wouldn’t catch her blood scent. What if I caught a whiff and killed her? That’s when she tugged on my soaked hoodie and I opened my eyes to look down at her.

“Here,” she said as she held out a little purple umbrella, the bright pink one she held over her own head pouring rain down onto my shoes. “You’ll catch a cold if you don’t cover up. You should go home. It’s too cold out here.”

I gave her a small smile as I accepted the umbrella, and as she ran back into her house I committed what it looked like to memory so I could return it once the rain stopped. I opened the umbrella and made my way further into town. I looked for a dry place to spend the night and hoped the sun wouldn‘t be out tomorrow so I could explore some more. I didn’t like being out in the rain and after a little scenting test I realized that the humans didn’t smell as appetizing as I‘d first thought. I guess I’d been eating animals and raiding campsites long enough to get used to the smell of humans.

I still had that wad of cash my mom gave me tucked safely in my pocket, though the money was a little worn and crinkled by now. Mom gave me three thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills, which surprised me because I didn’t know she’d been saving money for me. I was very thankful to her for it.

Maybe I could rent a house here and get a job… Maybe there’s a school around here that I can enroll in… I don’t care if it’s a high school or whatever, just as long as I can keep up a little bit of a normal life despite my… condition… I laughed bitterly to myself as I looked around, trying to find a sign indicating a place for rent.

I found one, a little white house sitting in between two populated ones. One house had a little blue Buick parked in front of it, while the other had a huge, red Chevy truck that looked to be an older model. I envied the person who owned that truck. I loved older model vehicles… I shook my head to get myself back to planning. I needed to find a library so I could forge high school transcripts and make a new name for myself. I decided I’d keep it simple, and use my little sister’s name and Kaley’s maiden name to make a new life for myself. I couldn’t be found by anyone who was looking for Mandy Frost. I didn’t want to explain why I looked so different, or why I shined in the sunlight like faceted jewels. I memorized the number on the sign and found a pay phone.

I said my name was Aimee Smith and I was looking for a place. They were thrilled at a newcomer to their town, and we set up a meeting for the next morning. Now, to break into a library.

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The next morning found me in the house I was looking at the night before, being shown around by the landlady. It was furnished, which surprised me, and the landlady was a nice old lady who said the house used to be her son’s before he moved upstate, and he left the furniture because he wanted to start over with new things. I couldn’t believe my luck, and it was starting to freak me out. If it was this easy to find a place, forge some old high school transcripts and an I.D., and make an assumed identity, I would have done it a month before when I was getting used to the smell of human blood.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to be related to Carlisle Cullen, would you?”

I was bounced out of my reverie at the question. Cullen? “No, why do you ask?”

“You look like you might be family. I’ve only seen pretty eyes like that from them.”

“Oh?” I asked as I ran my finger over the back of the sofa. “That’s odd. I got these eyes from my grandmother. Nice lady. You remind me a lot of her.”

The lady smiled brightly at me, “Listen. Since you’re new to town, how about a discount? 60 dollar security deposit and 120 a month, not counting bills of course.”

“It’s a deal!” I said with a smile. How much electricity would I use when I could see just fine in the dark, and I don’t eat, so there wouldn’t be garbage disposal or anything? I don’t sleep, so I wouldn’t need a bed. Pretty much the only thing I’d have to use is water to keep myself clean, and that shouldn’t be too expensive. “Do you know where I can find a clothing store?”

“There’s a few stores in downtown Forks, or you could go to Seattle-”

“No, I’d rather stay in Forks. Seattle’s gone bad these past few months.”

“I know, another girl went missing a couple months ago,” the old lady said as she shook her head. “Cute little red-head.” She looked over at me and her eyes crinkled at the corners. “She looks a little like you, but her eyes were a different color and she was a little bit bigger than you.”

I gave a nervous laugh, “No, I just moved here from Ohio. I was going to live in Seattle, but after a little research I changed my mind. I like small towns anyway.”

She seemed to accept my answer, and we quickly finished paperwork after I said I would be looking for work in the next few days.

“Welcome to Forks,” she said with a huge smile and a handshake. I accepted her greeting with a small smile of my own.

Again, the name Cullen popped up. I was curious to meet them, considering that they were like me for the fact that they didn’t drink human blood. That’s what I gathered from Victoria’s ranting, anyway. I broke into the library again that night to investigate. Carlisle Cullen was a doctor at the local hospital, and had a wife and five adopted children, all of them in high school.

I guess I’ll meet them soon enough. I thought as I headed home for the night.