Two New One-Shots

HAPPY NEW YEAR, DEAR READERS!!!

I have a little surprise for you all. Despite being a day late in posting the next Chapter 20 of Pinned but Fluttering, I've also started two one-shots. And they're both written from Edward's point-of-view.

Neither one is very cheerful; I hope that the despair I'm writing won't be an indication of the dominant tone of the new year.

One is canon, called A Long Night taken from Eclipse. It's Edward's POV of the night when Bella cries over Jacob. I've only written a couple of pages; we'll see how it goes. It's intriguing, but not quite as intriguing as the second story which is partially canon.

The second story is at about five pages and is called The Last Day, and it's partly canon, but mostly not. I'm not going to say too much about it, but my hope is to finish it by next weekend. Here's a short excerpt from the rough draft. Let me know what you think:

I had been practically catatonic for the first two years after I left her. I had fled my family immediately after leaving Bella, throwing myself into my Volvo and driving mindlessly into the wilds of Canada, stopping only to refuel the car.

I finally ended up on the shores of a gigantic stretch of water in the northeast of Canada—Hudson Bay I discovered later. There I had parked the car on a deserted dirt road and walked to the edge of the water where I sank to my knees, sobbing tearlessly.

I don't know how long I stayed there, curled up, arms wrapped around my knees, knees under my chin, rocking back and forth as the grief overtook me, my eyes remained unseeingly fixed on the calm waters. I'm sure that Alice must have seen me there, but she must have persuaded the family to let me alone. I was grateful for the solitude; it was all I asked of my empty existence.

The snows soon came, and I remained on the shores of Hudson Bay. I didn't feed—I just couldn't. I could hear the rustling of prey very near: deer, elk, moose, foxes, but I couldn't unfold my body to hunt them.

My body weakened, even the silent rocking of grief finally slowed then stopped as the effects of not feeding took its toll on my immortal body.

The cell phone in my pocket was long dead, probably ruined by the rains that beat down upon me and the snows which built up around me. The only movement I made was to higher ground once the snows arrived—to a large rock that I could easily clear to keep the snows from swallowing me. Not that I would have cared. The persistent cold matched the cold in my heart—the iced over organ that once had glowed with warmth as my lips had met hers....

But stop. I wouldn't let myself think of her; it was too painful. I was barely hanging on as it was; adding memories of my beloved at that time would have ended me.

As she told me later, it was mid-February when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Although I had not detected her thoughts—or theirs—as they approached me, I did not move when I felt her touch.

She bent down in front of me, blocking my view of the iced-over inlet of water that had been my focus for the last five months.

“Edward?” she whispered. “Edward?”

I didn't blink. She looked over her shoulder. “Jazz?” she pleaded softly. She told me later that Jasper was overwhelmed with my despair so much that he had fallen to his knees behind me. He had gathered his forces as well as he could and tried to force his calm, his peace, on me, but nothing could penetrate the silent, private hell in which I had encased myself.

So, anyway, I plan to edit Chapter 20 of Pinned but Fluttering and post it later tonight, then I'll keep working on The Last Day all week and hopefully I'll have it up by next weekend.

Happy New Year, my dear friends!!!! :)

With best wishes for a blessed 2012,
--Cassandra

PS Chapter 20 of Pinned but Fluttering is now up! Enjoy!!