Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Author's Note: THIS IS ONLY A EXPERIMENTAL CHAPTER.

Bella's POV:

I watched, my mind blank, too numb to think, as Isa and Adam disappeared into the trees. Jacob Black was . . . dead? I frowned, the surprise that had held me in check slowly whittled away. I had not known Jacob well, but I knew that we could have been friends if I had spent more time with him. It was a shock. I hadn't known that anyone from my human life was alive. And yet, Jake had survived, until now.

I stood, still as death. Day became night. My thoughts raced. How could Jake be alive after so, so many years? I closed my eyes as the answer appeared suddenly to me. I found myself returning to a cloudy day, many, many years ago.

Tenth Anniversary of Charlie's Death

A calm breeze blew through the trees. My hair flew around my face. My arms wrapped around my stomach instinctively as my eyes found the grave. Charlie's grave. Pain ripped through my body. My knees could not bear the weight of shame and sadness. I fell to the ground.

"Hello, Dad," I said, my voice hoarse. "I'm so sorry that I haven't been here more often to visit. It's been ten long years. I came to tell you that this is the last time I will be here, in Forks. I hope you understand. I'm not strong enough to be in the place where the happiest and the more horrible things have happened. I came to say good bye. I hope you forgive me."

A sob escaped my throat. My arms strained to keep the pieces of my broken heart together. Tears were impossible. I hated myself.

Suddenly, a strange, horrible scent quieted me. Instinctively, I ran into the nearby forest and looked at Charlie's grave and the people that suddenly appeared in the distance. The men quickly reached Charlie's grave. Their backs were turned toward me, so I could see none of their faces. They were all very tall and muscular. Who were these people?

"Something smells wrong," a deep voice said softly. I could not tell which of the men was speaking.

"Blood suckers?" another deep voice asked, anticipation and excitement apparent.

"Maybe," said the first voice.

"We should probably search the area," said a different voice, deeper still than the two before.

"Go back to Sam's and tell him what's going on," said the first deep voice. "I'll stay here in case anything happens."

There was a nodding of heads, and then all of the men, except one, left the area. Slowly, the man turned around.

I gasped softly, then quickly covered my mouth with my pale hand.

Jacob Black.

I hadn't expected to see anyone I had known in my human life. Reeling, I took several, silent, deep breaths to calm myself. More than anything, I wished that I could talk to Jacob, to ask what had happened in the last ten years, to ask what had become of my friends and acquaintances from Forks High School, to ask why he looked so young.

"Come out, blood sucker. I know you're there," Jacob yelled.

Blood sucker? Did he mean a vampire? How did he know of us? Why was he taunting a "blood sucker", when, as a human, he would be unable to defend himself from attacks? Or did he have some sort of vampire-killing weapon? What kind of game was he playing?

But this was Jacob. We had been friends, though not close friends, in my human life. If he did have a weapon, he probably wouldn't hurt me. Probably.

Hesitating, I stepped out of the cover of the trees.

"Jacob Black," I said softly.

Jacob's enormous body whirled around quickly. His hair was cropped short, and his gaze was hostile and defensive. Then, seeming to recognize me, his eyes widened.

"Bella Swan?" Jacob said, his voice clouded with confusion.

"Yes," I replied simply.

"B-but you died!" Jacob's voice grew louder. "You disappeared years ago! You c-can't be real! You can't be a-"

"Blood sucker?" I finished his sentence. "How do you know about vampires?"

Jacob said nothing. Instead, he stared at the ground in a stony silence, his body trembling.

"Jake?" I said gently, concerned for my former friend.

"It was them wasn't it? The Cullens? Damn it! We had a treaty!" Jake yelled angrily.

"It wasn't the Cu-" my voice choked as I attempted to say their name. "It wasn't the family you're thinking of, Jacob. It was an accident."

"Shit!" Jacob cursed. "Shit. Shit. Shit. I had been looking for an excuse to ri-"

"What happened to you, Jacob? Why are you like this?" I gestured at his humongous body. "How do you know about vampires?"

Jacob groaned in frustration, and began to pace. His trembling had turned into a more violent shaking.

"I'm a werewolf, Bella. A freakin' werewolf, all right? We're both monsters. Ha, isn't that funny?" Jake said finally. "Me and practically all of my friends. Quil, Paul, Embry, Sam. All of us. Freaks."

Werewolves? I didn't know what this meant for me. For Jake. I would have to ask Tomas or Elizabeth later.

"Jake, I'm your friend. If there's anything I can do to help-"

"Go, Bella," Jacob said, his voice eerily calm. "You've done more than enough."

I took a hesitant step backwards. What could he mean?

"But, Jacob-"

"Go!" Jake yelled.

Eyes wide, I ran, and never once looked back.

Present

While I was lost in my memories, my legs had brought me to stand in front of Jacob's grave. I sank down to the ground beside the mound of dirt, then bent over and rested my forehead on the cool grass. Closing my eyes, I willed everything to simply disappear. Darkness came and went. The first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon. Taking a deep breath, I rose slowly to my feet.

"Are you happy, you bitch?"

I spun around in surprise.

"Isa, what are you doing here?" I asked, my voice calm, not betraying the emotions I felt so deeply.

"Don't play innocent with me." Isa's voice rose. "How dare you come back here after everything you've done?" Isa flung a ratty notebook on the ground in front of my feet. "I know everything! I know about you and the rest of the damn blood suckers! I know that you're the reason that my family is dead! I know that you are the reason for every fucking thing around here!"

What was she talking about? How could I possibly be the reason her family was dead? I hadn't known any of her close relatives. How could she blame her family's misfortunes on me?

"Isa, what-"

"I have nothing to say to you." Isa's voice was now eerily calm. So much like Jacob's had been on that day. "But I will say this. The next time I see you, I will tear you limb from limb. Stay away from my friends. Stay away from La Push. If you hurt anyone I care about ever again, I will hunt you down."

I stared in a stunned silence as Isa ran away, her glossy black hair trailing behind her. Numb, I bent down and picked up the notebook Isa had left behind. It was open to a page entitled, "Isabella Swan, read this". Taking a deep, shaky breath, I flipped open to the next page.

Bella, it read, by this time, I have most likely been in my grave for a very long time. I don't expect Isa to find you easily, knowing that you obviously won't be nearby. Getting to the point, many things have happened in your absence, and many of the horrible events I am about to tell you of happened as a result of things you did. I don't mean to blame you entirely. The blood sucker family, the Cullens, is much to blame as well.

In March, six months after you "died" or "disappeared", hikers began to go missing. Around that same time, some of the teenagers in La Push, my friends in particular, began to become werewolves. Later, we learned that the transformation had been triggered by the appearance of a blood sucker, or vampire, named Victoria. To make a long story short, we had several, well, battles, I suppose you could say. During those, we learned that Victoria was there to hunt down you. Though we told her several times that you had left, she refused to believe us, insisting that we were harboring you.

After a few months of the battling, the attacks suddenly stopped for no reason. You can imagine our surprise. The standstill lasted for a month. Then, Victoria began her underhanded attacks, killing those close to us in an attempt to get us to tell us where you were. Quil Ateara Sr., Sue Clearwater, Emily Young, and my dad, Billy Black, were all dead after four weeks.

Years and years went by. All of us that remained were relived and thrilled, though still grieving from the fresh wounds. But life went on. I got married and had a son, Billy. My wife and I were blissfully happy. I thought that maybe, just maybe, things were going to stay the way they were. Of course I was wrong.

When Billy was ten, Victoria came back, and she had an army of bloodsuckers. The things that happened are too horrible to describe. They tried to massacre everyone in La Push, whether they were werewolves or not. So many people died, including my wife. Eventually, though, we cornered Victoria, I was the one allowed to kill the thing that had caused so much misery in my life. So much despair. So much anguish.

We killed the rest of the blood suckers. All except for one, which escaped by some miracle. At the time, we survivors shrugged it off, exhausted, thinking what harm could one lone vampire really do? That was one of the biggest mistakes we ever made.

But life, once again, went on. I raised my son alone and watched him grow into a man. He found a beautiful wife and had a beautiful little girl. Everything was going well. It was as if a beautiful rose somehow emerged from the wreckage that was La Push. One night, after Billy and his wife had enjoyed a private dinner and were walking down the beach, they were attacked. It was the lone vampire, the one that had survived. The vampire was found and killed, but even revenge didn't lessen my sadness.

So I was left alone again, with only my granddaughter. It pained me so much to watch her grow up without parents. I had told her that her parents died in a car crash to spare her the horrible truth. She, too, grew up, a ray of sunlight in my dark world. Like her father, she found love and had a child. I named the child Isabella. It was as if fate was playing an ironic joke on me when my granddaughter and her husband were both killed in a car crash. Now I was left alone with my great-granddaughter.

And that, Bella, is where the story ends. I wish I could say there was a happy ending. The truth is I grew old, and now I'm dying. I can take time to question things, ask, "What if?". What if you had never come to Forks? What if you had never met the Cullens? What if Victoria had never had an excuse to kill everyone I cared about? What if?

Goodbye, Bella.

I was sobbing, dry, body-shaking sobs. Why hadn't Jacob told me any of this when we met again ten years after I had left? I could have helped him. So many people didn't have to have died. If I had just known. . .

Day turned into night as I sat there sobbing. Jacob and Isa and all the people in La Push had every right to blame me. It was entirely my fault. If I hadn't let myself get caught by James, or if I had never been in that baseball field, or if I had never fallen in love with him, so many people would be alive. So many people would have lived their lives as they were meant to be lived.

What had I done?

Author's Note Revised:

THIS IS ONLY A EXPERIMENTAL CHAPTER. Let me explain. What I'm saying is that this story can go one of two ways.

Option One: I could keep going with this story line. It's a bit darker than I would have thought it'd be. If I keep going this way, just some quick plot give-aways, Bella would spiral into a depression; Edward would still have to find her, then (if he finds her), help her deal with before-mentioned depression while someone is after them. . .

Option Two: I could delete this chapter completely and go with a lighter story line. The plot would probably be something like Annabel would try to keep Edward and Bella apart. . . ect.

I, personally, can't make up my mind. This is a bit darker than I thought it would be and there may be errors in my reasoning when I tried to explain about Victoria and the werewolves. (If there are, please review and tell me so!) Anyway, it's up to you guys. I'll go with which ever you want, so please review and tell me which one you'd prefer. If you have any questions at all, feel free to PM me or leave a review.

P.S.

About the chapter. . . I feel the need to explain some things so no one gets confused. Bella wasn't as distraught over Jake's death because, since she had been changed on the day Edward left, she never got to really know him. The part of Jake's notebook that Bella read was obviously a quick summary. The part that Isa read was in full detail, so she knew the entirety of what happened.

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Thanks!

R.o.L.