twiligth

TWILIGHT
By
Stephenie Meyer

Summary: When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in
Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels
an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.


For my big sister, Emily,
without whose enthusiasm this story might still be unfinished.


But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 2:17

PREFACE

I'd never given much thought to how I would die — though I'd had reason enough in the
last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.
I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he
looked pleasantly back at me.

Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble,
even. That ought to count for something.
I knew that if I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death now. But, terrified as I
was, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far
beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.
The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.

1. FIRST SIGHT


My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five
degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt —
sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was
a parka.
In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks
exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more
than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its
gloomy, omnipresent shade that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few
months old. It was in this town that I'd been compelled to spend a month every summer
until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three
summers, my dad, Charlie, vacat ioned with me in California for two weeks instead.
It was to Forks that I now exiled myself— an action that I took with great horror. I
detested Forks.
I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling
city.
"Be lla," my mo m sa id t o me — t he la st o f a t ho usand t ime s — be fo re I got o n t he pla ne.
"You don't have to do this."
My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I
stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained
mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get
paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she
got lost, but still…
"I want to go," I lied. I'd always been a bad liar, but I'd been saying this lie so frequently
lately that it sounded almost convincing now.
"Tell Charlie I said hi."
"I will."

"I'll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want — I'll come
right back as soon as you need me."
But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.
"Don't worry about me," I urged. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom."
She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.
It's a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port
Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying doesn't bother me; the hour
in the car with Charlie, though, I was a little worried about.
Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased
that I was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd
already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.
But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyone would call
verbose, and I didn't know what there was to say regardless. I knew he was more than a
little confused by my decision — like my