Chapter one

Trees whizzed past her eyesight, whilst she was listening to the music playing in the background. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, whilst her thing fingers pulled out a cigarette and stuck it between her lips, lighting it with her lighters. Ignoring the obvious groan that came from the front of the car, she opened the window, before leaning her hand that held onto the cigarette out, just very slightly.

She wrapped her lips around the stick, inhaling and eventually exhaling the smoke, sometimes trough her mouth, the others trough her nose. She was taking in the scenery and the town view as they stopped at a red light and she noticed a group of rather impressing looking people in the car besides them.

She continued inhaling and exhaling the smoke, noticing a girl with dark and short hair, looking trough the other cars window at her with a small frown. She couldn't stop herself from giving the girl a small sad smile before turning her eyes away and putting out the last of the cigarette in a small ashtray that was in the back seat.

The car finally stopped and pulled up in front of a house. It was a dark wooden house, with stone and brick accents, 3 large chimneys rising towards the sky as if seeking out God himself. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either, it looked like it could fit a large family, consisting of five people quite easily. The front porch garden had a small bird pond, several chairs, and a small table, on which a closed umbrella laid. It was shame that she herself knew that there would only be two of them living there.

She heard a rough manly voice usher her to get out of the car, her attention now settled onto him, as the man stepped out after she did.

He quietly said, his voice sounding whiskey raspy, "Tanya, I trust you understand why I'm doing this. If you change your ways, we might take you back home, but until then, you're staying here."

Tanya simply shrugged her shoulders while pulling out a tote bag from the cars backseat, which had all of her belongings.

She afterwards turned to him and sweetly said, "Of course daddy, you don't want to take care of your own fuck up, so you're letting your sister do that, I understand".

Her father shook his head, before getting into the car without a word. He left her standing on the road. She looked around and saw that no one seemed to be home or at least there were no lights on.

Tanya slowly pulled out another cigarette from the pack and stuck it between her lips before lighting it. She swung the tote bag onto her shoulder as she saw the same black jeep drive by and turn left, onto a forest road and the car was gone. She quickly finished the cigarette, before dropping it on the ground and stomping her foot onto it to put it out, although it was raining, she felt this was much safer.

She curiously looked around and walked towards the entrance of the house. She knocked on the door, and then rang the bell. Several minutes passed, before she sat down on the rocking chair by the door, waiting for someone to show up. Several hours had passed now and she was getting sleepy, up until the moment, the same black jeep pulled up and stopped in front of the house. She saw a tall woman, with the dark hair walk out of it, while at the steer sat a bulky looking man, she couldn't make out the other people that were in the car, but she noticed there were a few.

Tanya waited until the girl approached her, she certainly looked like a pixie, this time she was smiling mildly too much for her own liking.

The girl suddenly spoke, "Hello! I'm Alice, what are you doing here?"

Tanya stared the girl down, her expression remained blank. It took her several minutes before she spoke, but she finally said, "Hello, Alice. I'm waiting for someone to show up finally, so I can get inside and rot away."

When she had said that, Alice's' face suddenly turned sad, a frown forming onto her lips as she quietly spoke, "Oh.. You're Samantha's relative?"

She was getting slightly irritated as she quietly said, "Yes, I'm her niece. Is there anything wrong with Samantha?"

Tanya stared Alice down as she heard someone else approach, it was a man, blonde hair, his pale skin made him seem as if he was shining in the dark. He looked to be in his early 30's perhaps, she quietly thought as her attention was drawn to him.

He finally introduced himself to her, "Hello, I'm Carlisle Cullen, Alice is my daughter. I'm guessing you're Tanya? Samantha spoke a lot about you whilst in the hospital."

Tanya looked puzzled, thoughts running through her head in a frenzy, "Is she dead?"

Tanya looked at both of them and saw that Alice was looking down and Carlisle had a clear guilty look on his face.

Another short while passed before he spoke to her again. "She was excited about you last night and she was getting much better after the stroke, but this morning she didn't wake up.. She died, her heart stopped in her sleep."

At this point Tanya bit down onto her lower lip bitterly, she was beyond furious. She finally stood up and banged on the door, thinking this was some sort of an evil joke. She jerked when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she violently pulled away, her eyes slightly changing color, Carlisle who had put his hand onto her shoulder took note of this and pulled back quickly, before handing her the key to the doors.

She made quick work of unlocking them and running inside as she left the doors open, behind her. Tanya circled around the room, her hands going through her dirty bleached blonde hair, pulling at it; it wasn't until moments later that she broke down into tears, as she finally understood what this meant.

A, either her father knew this and just left her here to finally rot away.

B, she'll go back to the hell hole and he'll send her to a mental health care institution.

She grabbed onto the small glass table in her anger, and flipped it over, shattering the glass as she stopped in her tracks, her breathing heavy, whilst her hands found their way back to her hair and clamped into it, her nails digging into her scalp.

Tanya heard people move in, this time even more people were there, standing and watching. She didn't take in all of their appearances, but she noticed that the one who introduced herself as Alice wore the most worried look she had ever seen and Carlisle was simply taken back by the mess she had managed to make in short 5 minutes. She saw that this time the bulky male had a blonde model type of woman clinging to him, her expression wasn't as worried, but she certainly seemed to care. She also took note of another couple standing behind them; both with brown hair, the females seemed rustier than the males.

Tanya quietly spoke, "Please leave". She turned her back on them and rummaged through her bag, she pulled out a laptop and moved it further to the other side on the couch, before emptying all of its contents on the couch, until she found her medicine. She heard Carlisle speak up in a gentle voice, "Please, let us help you, we can offer you to come live with us..."

Tanya bit down onto her lower lip and shook her head slightly towards the male as she spoke again, "Please, I need time, leave". Her voice cracked again and she headed to the kitchen and set the small orange bottle down, before grabbing a glass cup and filling it with water to the top, her hands were shaking at this point, causing some of the water to spill. She set the cup down and opened the medicine bottle before downing the last remaining four pills in the small bottle and downing the entire cup of water over them. She set the cup down once again, before she turned around and slid down to the floor.

Tanya noticed that the doors closed and people were walking around as if looking for her, she remained there, she didn't want to see anyone, it wasn't until minutes later the girl with the rusty brown hair, who seemed Tanya's age, walked in and sat down next to her. She didn't speak, she just sat there with her, this somehow put Tanya at ease as her face had blanked out, while she had been staring in one spot, at the door frame. They stayed like this for what seemed to be an hour, until the male who was accompanying her before, sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her neckline and pulling her into him.

Tanya ignored both of them as she just continued to stare off into nothing. She knew that her medicine had kicked in, as she felt less angry, but nonetheless she was still furious.
She slowly picked herself up and opened the kitchen window, she noticed that the two on the ground looked up at her curiously; she gave them no emotion in return.

Her mind was completely blank; she didn't know what to do. She pulled out the cigarette pack from her pocket once more and put the cigarette between her lips, lighting it. She inhaled and exhaled the smoke in a slow pace, up until her phone rang. She pulled it out of her jackets pocket as she looked at the caller ID, it said "dad".

Tanya cautiously picked up and waited for something to be said, but he didn't say anything, so she finally spoke. "So this is it? You both are trough with me?"

She waited for a reply, it took several minutes before she heard his voice, it seemed happy, "Yes, we know that your aunt is dead, however she left the house and her money for you, I'm sure you won't die, just yet. You're welcome home, if only you fix—".

She didn't let him finish, instead she hung up on him, placing the phone onto countertop, before turning to look out the window again, once more inhaling and exhaling the smoke from the cigarette.

She finally looked down at the two of them as her eyebrow slightly raised, until a small and quiet yawn escaped her lips, seemingly reassuring them both, before they got up and the girl answered.

"I'm Bella, this is my boyfriend Edward. We just wanted to make sure you didn't want our company or help".

Tanya watched her expression as she saw Bella bite her lip once she finished speaking.
She turned away to the window, before inhaling one last time. She put the cigarette out and finally exhaled the smoke.

Tanya spoke quietly, "I'll be fine, I always am..."

When Tanya had said that, they both seemed to have a hurt expression, before they quickly left. She heard people leave, Carlisle walked into the kitchen and once more spoke to her, "Tanya… Your aunt wouldn't want you to do this, She loved you like you were her own daughter, please consider my offer, however if you still believe that you do not want any part with me or my family, I'll leave the keys to this house here".

Tanya thanked the man with a small sad smile before he returned the same smile back to her, as if understanding that her reply would've been no either way, he then left. She heard the door close and soon enough a car engine started up and soon she only heard the sound of the rain, hitting the windows and the rooftop.

Tanya walked to living room and looked at the mess, shrugging it off silently; she pushed her items off the couch, only gently placing her laptop on the ground before she laid down onto the couch and stared off into the ceiling.

Hours had passed and she was still pondering about what had happened, if it all is a joke and she'll return. Tanya was still in denial about what had happened, however she hadn't gotten a single minute of sleep either. Her phone finally rang from somewhere in the house, it meant that it's 5.40am and that she should be getting ready for school.

Tanya got up and stripped her clothes off, before she headed to the upstairs bathroom, she took a long look at her body in the mirror, eyeing every corner. Her skin was covered in bruises, some old, some new. Faint scars could be made out onto her stomach, as it seemed that her skin barely hung to her small frame. Her hair roots had started growing out again, showing the dark brown, almost back, color that she found extremely disgusting, she took a mental note to bleach her hair again. She finally got into the shower, after having stripped completely naked, letting the hot water droplets hit her skin. It soothed her anger, which she still felt towards her aunt's death. She was disappointed, alone, she had finally hit rock bottom and had no one left to go too.

She soon enough got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself and her hair, she quickly dried her hair out with the towel and a blow dryer, before she walked to her aunt's bedroom, and she saw the vanity table that she used to play dress up at, with her aunt. It didn't take her long to walk up to her aunts closet doors and walk in there, picking out a pair of black jeans that were too long for her and a simple, flannel button up shirt.

She walked downstairs to where she had discarded her tote bags contents and picked out a much simpler bag that held her underwear for now, she quickly walked back upstairs and put on a the simple black underwear set. Soon enough she got herself into the jeans, afterwards she put on the button up shirt, it was a checkered flannel shirt, she wasn't quite fond of the color, however she took what she could get. She grabbed a pair of clean socks from one of the drawers and put them on as well. She walked in front of the mirror and looked at her outfit; she still seemed so skinny, no matter how baggy the clothes were. She leaned down and rolled up the ends of her pants past her ankles as she pushed her feet into her boots once more and picked up her jacket and put it on.

Tanya picked up her lighters from the kitchen as well as her cigarettes; she took the keys that Carlisle had left on the kitchen table and walked out of the house, locking the door.

Tanya was quick to pull out another cigarette from the pack, before throwing the pack into her bag and she lit it with her lighters, while inhaling deeply and exhaling. She walked down the road smoking and humming quietly to herself as she saw a Porsche whiz past her, soon enough followed by a silver Volvo, the silver Volvo stopped a little ahead of her and waited until she walked right besides them. She realized it was Edward and Bella, if she remembered correctly. She gave them a small smile, before she continued to walk forward, only to be stopped by Edwards shout, "We can give you a lift, it's a little far to walk to school."

Tanya thought about it for a minute, it was raining and she'd be wet as a rat, however she preferred to be left alone to which she had mixed feelings. She shrugged as she turned around and opened to back door only to be greeted by a charming blonde man. She took one last drag from her cigarette before she threw it down, stomped down onto it, and got into the car.

She quietly said, "Thanks, I appreciate it".

The girl she recalled as Bella quickly said, "It's no problem, if you need us to pick you up every morning let us know". Bella gave Tanya a small smile, which she returned and laid her head back a little.

She didn't pay much attention, but she felt the guy next to her look mildly surprised at her. She looked back at him and raised an eyebrow at him, when the guy spoke, "Hello, I'm Jasper. I take that you're Tanya?".

Tanya's mouth formed into an 'o' shape for a second as she gave him a small nod, not saying a single word. The rest of the car ride went by uneventful, although she saw how tense Edward, and Bella was, how they'd constantly look back at Jasper who was still looking at her mildly surprised.

It wasn't long until they stopped at the school and Tanya quietly said, "Thank you again" before she left the car and walked towards the school. She saw how some girls were staring at her and heard one even loudly exclaim, "She looks anorexic, probably a slut..." She chuckled at that softly and got to the secretary's office to get her schedule. She sighed at her schedule and simply shrugged it off, before continuing on to her classes.

She had Calculus/Trigonometry first.

She managed to find her way to the class quite easily, realizing that the school set up was just like her old school, interestingly enough, even the classes were in the same places. She thought for a minute about how odd it was and eventually brushed it off.

Tanya wasn't exactly dumb, but she wasn't extremely smart either, it was a surprise she hadn't dropped out from high school yet. She quietly found the classroom, ignoring the stares and occasional catcalls from random guys, trying to be funny. She introduced herself to the class and sat down in an empty spot, by a window, up until she saw Edward, who sat down next to her. She looked at him for a moment, seeing his intrigued face, eventually brushing it off and ignoring him for the rest of the class.

Her day wasn't very eventful, it consisted of boring classes, up until lunch she managed to have herself left alone, she decided that it was time to finally have a smoke break, so she wandered out of school. Walking behind it and into the small forest that surrounded it, she pulled out her pack of cigarettes, picking out one from it and putting it between her lips whilst she toyed around in her bag, looking for her lighter, only to hear a twig break behind her. Tanya's attention turned behind her, only to see Bella, Edward, Alice, and Jasper standing behind her.

Her attention turned away from them, back to her lighter search as she finally found it, only to feel their stares, some amused, the other concerned, on her back. She finally lit the cigarette, inhaling the smoke and exhaling it, whilst eyeing the group down, who seemed to be like curious puppies.

Tanya finally spoke, her voice worn out and raspy, "Can I help you all?"

"No, can we help you?" When Tanya heard that, she raised her eyebrow slightly, trying to figure who said it, until she saw Bella eyeing her down.

She inhaled the smoke from the cigarette again, looking at them, her eyebrow still raised, until she heard someone whisper, very quietly. "She doesn't need us, let's just leave, it's a waste of time and you know it."

Tanya chuckled as she spoke up, "At least one of you realizes it, please, do leave me alone. It's better that way, no strings attached, you know." This made the guy, that she recognized as Jasper, frown, to which she raised her eyebrow, she didn't give it much thought as she finally turned away and started walking out of their view, soon merging within the woods.

She had decided to skip the rest of her classes as she wandered out to the road, finding herself walking back home, only to see a silver Volvo almost shoot by her, up until it braked almost in front of her. She raised her eyebrow slightly as she saw Edward, Bella and Jasper look terribly stressed, she decided it's best if she doesn't bother them and walked past them, knowing that she wasn't that far away from the house, at this point, since she had been on the road for an hour now. She noticed that they drove slowly next to her, whilst Jasper opened the window and spoke out,

"Get in, we'll drive you home."

"I'll be fine, I don't mind walking." Tanya responded quietly, giving him a small smile, before continuing to walk.

Jasper attempted to invite her in once more, however she stood her ground and politely refused, causing them to give up as they drove off. She spent another 30 minutes walking home, until she reached the small house. She finally took in the look of it, noticing how gloomy it looks, seeing how the trees wrap around it as if guarding it from the outside world. The chimneys didn't seem to be reaching for God anymore, however it seemed now as if they were trying to escape from the forests hard grasp onto the house. Tanya took in all of the details of the house, the small ornaments that decorated the window's, the tree roots visibly sneaking their way into the house, even the cracked tiles, that lead to the garage.

She wasn't sure what she wanted to do anymore, considering it luckily had been a Friday, she might as well get the money tomorrow that her aunt left for her. With that thought in mind she carried herself to the doors, unlocking them, before softly shutting them close behind her only to let a scream pass her lips as she stumbled to open the doors, afterwards stumbling back towards the road, not looking back at the house.