All an Illusion

Emma woke to the dreamy sound of heavenly classical music being played from a piano. It was definitely a song she knew, something that she might have heard from her piano lessons back at home. It was one of those times when you just can’t quite put your finger on it and Emma enjoyed reveling in her confusion while she lay in bed.

“Ha!” she said sitting up in surprise as the name of the song hit her like a bullet, “Claire de Lune by Debussy!” the triumphant smile slowly slid off her face as did the crumpled covers from the King sized bed. Emma nervously looked around herself, taking in the immaculate bedroom, ensuite bathroom, the folded pile of clean clothes on the bedside table and the equisivite matching lace curtains and duvet. Where one earth was she? And more importantly how did she get here? Emma didn’t even want to think about what had happened last night. The feeling of amnesia was all too familiar. How many times had she woken up at a trashed warehouse amongst complete strangers or in empty houses miles away from home, after one of her wild nights out? It was a cold and empty feeling waking up and not remembering a thing. Emma gave a huge sigh and then walked with as much dignity as she could to the bathroom to take a shower.

After her shower, Emma felt much better but still pretty hungry and she planned to raid the owner’s fridge before she made her way outside. She opened the door and was creeping silently down the hallway (something she had managed to perfect over time) when the most adorable little girl she had even seen walked around the corridor. Emma’s frown immediately turned into a smile. Emma was easily won over and she smiled at the beautiful little girl who was straining up by her arms to be held. Before she could reach her, the girl was quickly snatched up by an older but pretty attractive looking man. She screamed in surprise and instantly dropped the moisturizer and soap she had taken from the bathroom.

“Renesmee,” he scolded playfully. “How many times have your mummy and daddy told you? Emma doesn’t really know you yet. You have to be careful with strangers remember?” he said ambiguously. Gathering up her stolen items, Emma silently cursed under her breath. They knew her name!

“I know,” Renesmee pouted putting on her puppy eyes, “but Emmy wanted to play!”

And even the child knew her name! What exactly had she been doing last night? “Now I’m sure you’re really hungry and maybe after breakfast you can play with Emma. Will you be joining us for breakfast too Emma?” Emma whipped around, annoyed that her hasty escape hadn’t worked out. “You did eat quite a lot last night… actually all of our supplies, so we made sure to go shopping just for you.”

“I was at this house, eating?” Emma frowned even more puzzled than before.

“Yes… don’t you remember? The doughnuts, the spaghetti Bolognese and chocolate cake…” Carlisle saw the look of confusion on her face and quickly took control of the situation as a doctor. He took a step towards Emma, to which she quickly took a step back, baby or no baby she was not about to be made a fool of. But Carlisle only wanted to feel her forehead. “I see, I’m guessing you don’t remember anything from last night… You were pretty mal nourished and dehydrated when we found you. Exactly how long were you out on your own on the streets Emma?”

“Streets, doughnuts? You’re not making any sense doc,” Emma retaliated folding her arms defiantly across her chest.

Carlisle only laughed, “Hmm... not responding well to authority, yes you must be Jade’s cousin.”

“Jade!” Emma gasped as her memory slowly came back. “We have to go now! We have to find her!”

“Calm down Emma. Don’t worry we’ll find her, but even though you’ve had your shower and a good long night’s sleep, I don’t think you can go anywhere until you’ve had some more food in you,” and with that he turned on his heel and walked down the corridor.

Emma quickly checked over her options. One; she quickly ran away and went to find Jade herself, but with no real clue of where she was, or two; she stayed had breakfast and took help from some complete strangers risking her safety… There was one only real option. Picking up her goods, Emma quickly ran after Carlisle and Renesmee.

*

Twenty minutes and three bread rolls later Emma was full, had all of her questions answered and about double the amount of new questions raised.

“Okay so I understand, but the truth is my Grandma has already told me most of this before. I know Jade is my cousin and that my mother went looking for hers because she felt guilty about her cut off after all these years from the family. I know that Jade fled after my witch of a Grandma confronted her. But what I don’t know is who murdered my mother and what happened to Jade’s. That’s why I need to find her, and because she’s the only family I got left. She was with me in one of the hardest moments of my life and I need her to know that I have nothing to do with my Grandma…” Emma’s voice had risen slightly more than she meant it to and to her surprise and annoyance, tears were even threatening to spill.

She took a deep breath and surveyed the curious expressions of the eight people watching her. Carlisle, Esme, Renesmee, Bella, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett… they were all strangers as far as Emma was concerned and could turn out to be complete psycho serial killers for all she knew. But thinking back, Emma had put her complete trust in them, eating their food, sleeping in their bed, listening and staying with them when she could have disappeared and already been on her way to find Jade right now. There were definitely bigger forces at play here, just the way they were all looking at her with the identical pitiful and sympathetic stares as if they just knew… something… What was it? It was killing her to be left in the dark.

“Emma you can trust us. You know that don’t you?” Edward said simply as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Jade meant a lot to us when she stayed here, and we feel guilty for letting her slip through our fingers. You’re just as welcome here as she was.”

From their downcast expressions Emma knew that wasn’t the only thing they felt guilty about. They were holding something back again. “Oh really? And does everyone here agree with you?” Emma said narrowing her eyes, particularly at Rosalie the one who she secretly envied the most with her designer Gucci heels and perfect shiny blonde hair.

“Don’t look at me. Us Cullens seem to pick up so many strays these days, I’m past caring,” she smiled sarcastically and held out her arms, immediately ushering Renesmee to run to her too deflect the attention away from herself.

“See nothing to hide Emma. The important thing is we find Jade…” Jasper stepped in.

Sighing heavily, Emma collapsed back into her chair, ready to admit defeat and co operate. But Renesmee had cunningly made as if she was about to run into her Aunt’s arms, and then had deviated underneath the table to slide right up into Emma’s laps and place her small hand lovingly against Emma’s cheek. Oblivious to the horrified expressions on the eight vampire’s faces as they all lunged towards her screaming ‘no,’ Emma was forced into the memories of Renesmee, none of which were human censored.

Within a second Bella had her daughter out of Emma’s arms and safely far away. But it was too late, Emma found herself stunned and slowly backing up against the wall. Drunk at a party – amnesia – hangover… how wrong had she been? How had she managed to find herself in a house alone with eight vampires!