She was beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off of her face, which was slightly elongated and rather perfectly sculpted. The girl was so still, however, I could have been looking upon a marble Venus. Her eyes, an unearthly mixture of topaz and onyx, drew me in for a closer look.


"Uh, hello," I said with a bit of caution.


I stared while I waited for her to reply in kind. She didn't respond. Her utter lack of response puzzled me. I was sure I spoke the correct greeting. I recalled that people in this sort of town enjoyed a sense of familiarity, so I introduced myself.


"I'm Max Storm. You are?" I questioned rather dazedly. She was very compelling, this girl, whose skin was as a pale as the snow.


"Uh, I'm new here," I added as an afterthought.


All I received in reply was more silence.


"I thought I didn't talk much," I mumbled under my breath. Her behavior completely went against the norm. I wanted to create friendships with the people in this town and everyone back home told me it would be easy. If the others were all like this girl I won’t accomplish that goal.


As I wrestled with thoughts of failure the clouds shifted suddenly and the rest of her frame was no longer hidden in the shadows. Blinking wasn’t necessary for my eyes to adjust to the light. My vision automatically corrected itself to the new conditions. I knew then that I had never seen her equal. This girl was one of a kind.


"You're very beautiful," I breathed.


Something in her expression changed as the wind kicked up around us.
Several emotions flitted across her face in the span of just a few seconds: shock; pain, or was it desire; anger; sadness; and finally, determination.


She held her hands in tight fists next to her body.


I felt only one thing, confusion. Had I offended her somehow? Was she waiting for an apology? If she is, she’ll be waiting a long time because I won’t offer her one as I meant what I said. She was beautiful and I could see in her eyes that it wasn’t just skin deep, which is a rarity back home.


Abruptly she turned her back to me and began walking stiffly, but yet somehow rather gracefully back the way she had first appeared.


"Wait! I don't even know your name. Please?" I called to her. Something inside told me that I had to find out her name.


She didn't turn towards me or even stop in acknowledgement of my desperate plea.


"Summer," she said with a voice that sounded like bells and wind chimes just as my shoulders started to slump in defeat.


The next thing I knew she had disappeared into the cover of the trees and was gone.



I stood rooted to the same spot for a long time. There were so many questions bouncing around inside my head. What had she been doing here, alone, so late at night? Why hadn't she spoken to me? Did she notice anything? Had I forgotten myself and let something slip? I clutched at thin air, but answers eluded me.


It was my responsibility to keep my true identity a secret from the people in this town. It's absolutely crucial no one finds out who I am or discovers my purpose for being in this place called Forks, Washington. I would be terminated
--- no questions asked --- if I were to expose or compromise my position.


I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing terminations before and I shivered involuntarily at the awful memories.


No, I didn't want to die. So I needed to find out if she knew anything, anything at all. If she did, well, I would just have to take care of things.


I cringed at the thought.


I saw her image in my mind as if she were still standing in front of me. In no way did my vision do Summer’s beauty justice. My greatest wish at the moment was for her to be safely in the dark about my mission.


Gradually, the night stars gave way to the rising sun, or at least the part that was visible through the overcast clouds.


I headed back to my ship, which I had stashed in a cavern close by the beach.


Home sweet home, at least, for the next six months anyway.


I crawled into my cocoon and zipped myself in for the night. I instantly received a mind relaxing tranquilizer from the cocoon’s equilibrium balancer, or healer. I’d had a long first day with many more still to come.


Thoughts slowly dissipated as my eyes grew heavy. Exhausted, I let the “healer” do its work and slowly drifted off to sleep.


All I had to do was find out where they existed; or if they even existed at all. Then I could go back home, or I guess I should say forward, since home was in the year 2090…