Humans, Are Such Nasty Things

Author's Note
Hey my lovely readers, I know this isn't something to say in the body of the story but oh well. I just want you guys to know that this ( ~ ) represents a flashback

KTHNXBAI!
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"It all burned down, it all burned down," I muttered staring blankly at the ceiling.
"What all burned down?" Carlisle walked in.
"Everything," I turned to him, "Nandaleah?"
"She's fine," he smiled sadly at me.
"Everything burned down in the past," I said again, "And I was the one who did it."

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"Mommy, where's Daddy?" I asked.
"I told you already," she smiled at me, "He's gone to a place that's more more more happier than this!"
"Mommy, is this place sad?" I asked.
"Sometimes. But in this place Mommy can make you cake!"
"Mommy I love you!" I ran into her arms and laughed as she spun me around.

"Gwen," she put me down, "You want to help Mommy make the cake right?"
"Yeah," I nodded touching her jet black hair, staring in her deep purple eyes.
"But Mommy is so stupid, she forgot the eggs," she smiled.
"Mommy you're not stupid," I stroked her hair.
"Well I'm glad you think so," she chuckled. She went to get her purse. She was going to the super-market.

"Hey Mommy, can I come too?" As I moved my long dark brown hair jumped with me.
"Mommy will be back soon, kitty. But before I leave," she knelt down and gave me a necklace from a velvet case. It was a golden chain with a heart pendant. It was so beautiful. I loved it because it was Mommy who gave me.

"This will protect you from all types of bad things, and all types of evil," she fastened the clapse.
"Mommy what's evil?" I played with the pendant.
"Evil, is something that is not good," she bit her lip, "Just promise me you won't ever ever ever take it off."
"I promise," I nodded, "Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"Are you sad?"
"No," she shook her head after a moment. Even as a child, I knew she was lying. In retrospect, I suppose this would be what they called foreshadowing.
"Liar,"
"Noooo," she lift me up and span me around, "Mommy will always be happy! Mommy can't ever be sad!"
"Okay!" I laughed as she put me down.
"Stay inside the house okay? Mommy will be back in a bit. I love you, my little Amunet," she called me by my middle name and kissed my forehead, "Happy Birthday my child. Remember that I will always love you."
"I remember Mommy! Bye bye!" I waved as she left the house.

It was only a few moments later I head the unmistakable 'mew mew' of a kitten. A silver cat found its way to the window sill. As I child, I ran over to it. I opened the window and the cat fell in my lap. I stroked its fur and hummed as it purred in satisfaction.

"You're a good cat, aren't you?" It's gem like eyes glisten at me as if trying o say something. The cat jumped off me and flew out the window.
"Wait!" I ran out side after it. I looked around and the cat was not there anymore.
"Kitty?" I checked in the garden. I went around the entire perimeter of the house.

"Hey little girl?" a man at the gate said, "Looking for that?" He pointed across the road at the cat licking her paws.
"Thanks old guy!" I ran through the gate.
"My my what pretty eyes you have!" he grabbed my hand, "Let me help you cross the road."
"Thanks old guy," I looked him up and down.
"My name is Josef," he smiled big at me, "I don't think I'm old. I'm only 36."
"That's old. My name's Gwendelyn."
"So can I call you Wendy?"
"No," I narrowed my eyes at him, "The name my mother gave me is Gwendelyn Amunet. The name my father gave me is Hotep. Don't smear my pride with your childish nick-name."
"Sorry Gwendelyn, I made you mad didn't I? Your so scary when your mad," he chuckled, "Oh look my friend has the cat!"

"And then?" Edward interrupted my reverie.
"We ran ever there, to the other side of the street," I continued, "Then they took me. It was a really nice car. Said that they were friends and that they wanted to play. when we got to where we were going, they blind-folded me, led me into a room and said that it was all apart of the game."

I paused for a while in recollection of it all. Of all the things I was forced to do. Of all the pain I felt.

"They threw me on the floor, took of my clothes, I screamed and the said, 'Don't worry princess, it'll all be over soon," I turned my back to the Cullens, and let the sleeves fall down my shoulders "They branded me. Those bastards branded me with this - this - thing!"

I dug my nails in my back where the branding was. I felt my heart accelerate and my breathing was choppy. "And no matter how much I try!" I dug my nails in harder and I started bleeding, "No matter how much I rip the skin apart, it just keeps coming back!"

Carlisle gently took my hands from my back. His hand, though cold, felt extremely warm and extremely comforting. "You don't have to -"
"No," I shook my head, "This is something I really need to get off my chest."
Carlisle bit his lip and let me continue.

"After the branded me, they began chanting in some language, threw some incense on me. After they left, some women came," I continued, "gave me an ice-bath, dressed me in white, did my hair with little white and yellow flowers. They said that I was a blessing, said that everything would be fine, said that they've been waiting for me, said that after tonight everything would be happy again, called me princess, called me a god, they kissed my feet, then left."

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A few minutes after the women left, a girl came to me. She was dressed in a gown the same shade of blue as her eyes, which was the shade of blue on my back. She was about eighteen maybe.

"My goddess?" she looked on me as I laid on the cold concrete floor of the dark room I was thrown in. When she saw I wasn't answering, she tried again, "Princess?" she walked over and tried to touch me, I shrunk away.

"My goddess, little Wendy," she sighed.
"That's not my name," I croaked.
"Then, what is it?"
"I am Gwendelyn Amunet Hotep,"
"My goddess," she embraced me, "such a name does not befit the small frame you possess now."
"Let go of me lady,"
"My name is Greta, I am your maid, the ninth child of the High Priest. Please use me as you like."
"You'll do what I tell you?"
"Yes goddess," she kissed my forehead.
"Take me home."
"You are home."
"I am not."
"Then shall I take you somewhere more pleasant?"
"Yes,"

She carried me through a narrow corridor an up some wooden stairs. When we got to the room, it was all pink. Heavy pink sheets with frills, and white teddy-bears with red bows, a soft light pink paint and porcelain doll with hats and parasols and ribbons, a dainty tea set with small rose decor and paintings of flowers and cats, the faint scent of lavender, I hated it.

Greta laid me on the bed. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Princess Wendy?"
"Yes,"
"My goddess?"
"Die," I glared at her.
"Don't worry," she smiled sweetly at me, "After tonight, you'll behave yourself." She left the room.

"Gwen?" Alice said gently, "You're blanking out on us."
"Oh I am," I said coming back down to earth, "She didn't die, yet."
"But even back then, you were a little bundle of evil, huh?" Edward said lightly, "The second thing you tell the girl to do is die."
"Yeah," I said spaced out, "That night, a old guy, like 80, dressed in these gaudy red robes came in the room. The first thing he does is say that he's the High Priest, Leader, Great Elder, doesn't even tell me his name. Then he starts spouting this story about his grandfather's grandfather who rescued this woman who's all bloody on the road-side. He was taken by her beauty and was prepared to betray his wife for her. he didn't have any money so instead of taking her to a doctor, he rather watch her in her final moments. the only flaw in that plan was that she didn't die. So he stayed there half the night watching her limp, unconscious, bloody body as her wounds healed.

Almost a whole day now, when he about to faint, she starts muttering. 'Evil ones, life drainers, night dwellers, demons.' At this point he's already convinced that she's a witch. Her wounds were gone and all that was left was the bloody gown she was in. He stroked her face and then she woke up. Then he saw her eyes, which were a deep, royal purple. She grabs his hands and calls him a human. Says she tired, but unless she wants a peaceful life she has to go on. He offers to take her as his wife. She accept but tells him that she can never have a child with him."

Forty years after that they lived together for all that time. He grew older, but she was at a stand-still, perpetually young. One day she tells him she has to leave for a while. He waited and waited until one day he gets a letter from her. Just a few words, 'Sorry, find another wife.' He wept, but did as he was told. He married again to a girl young enough to be his daughter and she bore him four sons and a daughter."

All the time while the purple eyed woman was absent, he still spoke to his sons of her. Called her a pure creature. Said that even time and swords could not taint her. Said she was an angel and anyone like her should be worshiped because they are sure to provide protection and luck."

One day while the man was in his house alone, at this time his oldest son was thirteen, he stared at the night sky. He saw a figure silhouetted against the moon, then another punching that figure towards the earth. The second figure had such long hair. Suddenly, he was being looked at with red eyes, then just as sudden, the head that housed the red eyes was ripped in two. The man was then looked at with the kind purple eyes of the woman who still had not yet aged. She smiled, then disappeared."

Almost ten years after that, the man is on his death-bed. His sons are by his side and his daughter and wife weep at his feet. A priest is muttering in Latin and the air is still. The door opens and the woman walks in. 'Do you remember me?' 'Just by voice, my eyesight is failing me.' She goes up to his ear, ignoring the stares she receives. She whispers, 'I am free.' He asks her to stay with him in his final moments. She agrees and holds his hands for an hour before he asks her, 'What is your name?' she replies by saying that should have been the first thing he asked when they met over sixty years ago. He laughs, before he died."

All eyes were on me intently. "That night, after that story, the High Priest takes me to the room full of men in red robes. I was in the center of them. Some woman came. Painted my face white, and my lips and eyes red. They took off my clothes and striped me naked and bathed me with rags drenched in red white and vodka. The High Priest called to the men as the women left me standing naked in the middle of all of them," I felt myself shaking, "He said that my body and was closer to the purity of my soul, he said that all of their sins could be forgiven if they sent it to my body, said they they could be forgiven, said that, said that." I broke down crying. In an instant, Rosalie had me cradled, I cried in her chest without trying to stop myself. "They raped me! All of them! I was so bruised afterwards, I was so bloody and battered!"

"Shhh," Rosalie comforted me, "Don't talk anymore."
"And afterward, you know they thanked me! They said that I was their little goddess, their secret princess, Wendy!" I cried, "Then they dressed me up, bathed me, did my hair, gave me all the sweets I wanted, all the books I wanted and did everything I asked, except let me go! They abuse me then they put me on some fucking pedestal! Those cultist bastards!"

My chest shook as I tried to hold in all my tears and emotion. I failed horribly and bawled like a baby. I clutched tighter to Rosalie who seemed to be crying soft tearless sobs. I feel someone stroke my hair and I calm down with a shaky sigh. I knew that tonight I would be plagued by awful nightmares and scenes of the past. Even now I could feel the sweaty hands of multiple men held me down as I screamed. How they invaded me as I struggled. How they all kissed my feet as they left. How numb a felt after months of this. How empty. Dead. Non-existent. Detached.

No don't force yourself to think like that, Gwen. If anything, try to live a happy dream for as long as you can. I forced myself to sit up. I wiped my eyes and grit my teeth. I wasn't going to cry. I was going to hold it all in and pray that the next catharsis was more private.

"You should see your eyes," Emmet chuckles, somewhat calming the tense air, "Red and purple, freeaaky!"
I half chuckled.

********EDWARD'S P.O.V********

It was bout two hours since Gwen fell asleep. Her 'barrier' was weaker than when she was usually asleep. I barely had to try as I accessed her dreams. Most of them were incoherent, but they all had a central idea, her past.

I was still trying to figure out what she said before. 'It all burned down, it all burned down. Everything burned down. And I was the one who did it.' In the next dream, things were a bit more clear. Gwen was about twelve or so. Her hair was long and thick. It was in an up-do with many decorative hair pins with amethysts and rubies. Her naked body had a golden shimmer under the large scarlet robe that was worn loosely. Her eyes and eyebrows were defined with eyeliner and her lips were blood red.

There were low, golden bowls than formed a small circle around her, each of which had a small fire in them which provided the only light. Along the sides of the windowless, concrete room were women in white hooded cloaks kneeling in prayer in a language that was not loud enough for me to decipher.

Even through her dream, I could feel her numbness, her unfeelingness, her sorrow. The High Priest walked in wearing the robes of the same scarlet and a strange headdress with stiff peacock feathers and purple and red gemstones. Behind him were men dressed in black robes with the hoods covering the top half of their faces. In their fingers were prayers beads.

The High Priest walked over to Gwen and almost by instinct, she lifted her leg numbly and allowed him to kiss her feet. She stood up and the High Priest slid the robe down her body showing her nakedness. He announced to her that he had found new followers to worship her and increase her power. He turned to the men and told them to release their sin unto her.

As he spoke, one of the little flames had caught on the tail of his robes. When he realized it, the room went into a slight up-stir. He tried to stamp it out some of the women got up to get water. Then it was as if something snapped in Gwen.

"Leave it," she said.
"But goddess - !" one of the women said.
"Leave it," she said calmly smiling at the robes on the old man that would not die out. Gwen chuckled silently as some of the women still tried to go to the door.
"Are you defying me?!" she laughed, half-mad, "Your goddess?" As she spoke the flames seemed to resonate to the tone of her voice and the blaze got higher and the old man rolled on the ground.
"My goddess please!" the women pleaded more, "We are human, we can not withstand the pain that you can, we cannot perform the miracles that you can! We are weaker than you, more pathetic than you! Please spare our priest! Please save your follower!"

"Think of this as purification through fire," Gwen said smiling softly at the burning body at her feet, "This earth has no more need for him. This is my blessing."
"Father!" Greta screamed out as the scent of her father's burnt body filled the air.
"You musn't interrupt!" Two women held her by the arms as she tried to get to where her father was, "This is his blessing, he has died. This was our goddess will."
"Bull!" she screamed, teas running down her face. Her father a black mound at Gwen's feet.
"He really is dead!" Gwen snickered.
"How could you do that?! Why?! He was your faithful disciple!" Greta shrieked, "The High Priest was - Father was - he was our leader! He was so devoted to you!"
"Sure he was!" Gwen laughed, "And as a reward I'll meet him in Hell as soon as I die!"

"You brat!" Greta broke free and ran after Gwen. Almost as if by command, the fires around her rose and formed a wall.
"Child of Man, you dare try to touch me? Your goddess?" Gwen laughed so hard, she was doubled over in laughter, "All of you, die! Acknowledge your sin! Burn now and burn in Hell forever! It's fine, I'll join you soon enough!"

And she laughed until tears streamed down her face and the fire did not touch her but it burned everything else. And there was all types of screaming and wailing under the sound of her endless laughter. And the sound of pain and joy of pain and the sound of madness and the of the flames and the sound of feet trying to escape. And the din was something so frightening and abnormal. and the din was what brought joy to her. And she kept laughing with her eyes closed. Unable to see all the horrible things of which she was the cause of. She kept laughing until she choked and she coughed. Then she chuckled for that was all that she could do. The screaming had stopped and the fire had died with it's victims.

And she laid in the ashes, because she was tired.