EPILOGUE:
ONE YEAR LATER

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ONE YEAR. 365 DAYS. That was how much time had passed since Shay Chambers died at the hands of Riley Biers.

In the early days, no one knew what to do. Alice, Sebastian and everyone else who cared about Shay were at a loss for words. Alice was absolutely heartbroken; for almost a week, she refused to leave her room, not even for hunting. Nothing her family said or did could convince her to open up to them, and while they understood her need for space, they hated the thought of leaving her alone. It was only when Cora brought Sebastian to see her that she completely broke down. It took one look into Seb's eyes, an exact replica of Shay's eyes, for Alice to know that she needed to be there for him. That was what Shay would've wanted. For now that she was gone, her baby brother had no one. He'd lost both his dad and his sister to untimely death, and his mother was so distant from her kids that when she heard about Shay's passing, she gave a half-hearted apology and said she couldn't make it to the funeral. They didn't hear anything else from her after that. So even though Alice was mourning, she knew Sebastian would be struggling too.

And she was right. When Charlie Swan showed up on Cora's doorstep to deliver the news that fateful morning, Sebastian refused to believe it at first. He laughed and laughed until Charlie began to explain the details of Shay's death (Sebastian vaguely remembered hearing the words 'animal attack' but he was pretty out of it by then) and Cora broke down crying. That was when it really hit him. Shay Chambers, his big sister, was gone. Just like his father and his mother, Shay had been taken from him; the one person he thought he'd never lose. His laughter was quick to fade into sobs, then screams of anguish as Cora enveloped him in a hug, holding him tight like she was afraid he would leave her too if she let him go.

"She can't be dead," he had shouted, squirming in Cora's resisting grip as Charlie and Raymond stared down at them in sadness. "Not her, anyone but her."

The funeral followed soon afterwards, with only a few people in attendance. Most of Forks were going about their lives like nothing had happened. Everyone knew about the poor Chambers girl "who was in the wrong place at the wrong time" but they didn't care enough to pretend for the sake of her friends and family that her death mattered much to them. She was just another teenager to them, just another waitress at The Carver Cafe, nothing more and nothing less. So while most of the town went about their business as usual, only a select few gathered to say their goodbyes. At the very front was Sebastian, Cora and her husband on one side of him and Alice and the rest of the Cullens on the other. The pack showed up to pay their respects along with the elders of the Quileute tribe. They didn't know Shay well, but nevertheless, her death had an impact on them. Charlie Swan was also there, right next to Bella. The look on Sebastian's face when he had to break the news to him reminded him so much of Shay; it was like history had repeated before his eyes. So he vowed, much like with Shay, that he would be there to support Sebastian through his loss.

After the funeral, time seemed to pass by in an instant. To Sebastian, forever had come and gone since his sister's death. There were moments where he feared that he was forgetting the sound of her voice or what she looked like. He never wanted to forget a single thing about Shay. He wanted to look back in the years to come and remember every single thing he'd known and loved about her. But to Alice, barely any time had passed at all. She'd arranged Edward and Bella's wedding, supported Bella through her supernatural pregnancy with Renesmee, faced the Volturi's wrath without hesitation, but it still seemed like yesterday that Alice was crashing through the trees with her family hot on her heels to find Shay bleeding out in the snow. And while she'd slowly learned to live with the agony losing her had brought, the pain that Shay Chambers had left in her heart had never completely disappeared. Alice didn't think it ever would.

Before they knew it, one whole year had gone by. On the anniversary of Shay's death, Alice and the Cullens ventured to the local cemetery where they'd chosen to bury Shay. It was a cloudy day in Forks, meaning they didn't have to worry about the sun; they could sit with Shay's grave for as long as they wanted to, allowing Alice to have as much time as she needed.

"Is this Auntie Shay?" Renesmee asked Alice as she kneeled on the ground beside Shay's white marble headstone. Renesmee had only ever heard stories about Alice's lost love, but from the grief-stricken look on her aunt's face as they entered the cemetery, she knew without a doubt that she was going to see Shay's resting place.

"Yeah, it is," Alice sighed, moving to sit beside her niece.

The rest of the Cullens decided to give them a moment alone, wandering through the empty cemetery, their family the only ones in attendance that day. Renesmee was frowning at the sadness in her aunt's voice, tucking her tiny body into Alice's side as she read over the words on Shay's headstone.

HERE LIES SHAY CHAMBERS
14th of November, 1986 - 15th of June, 2005
Sister. Lover. Friend.
Taken too soon.

"What happened to her?" Renesmee asked her, playing with a strand of grass that poked through the dirt.

Alice paused, unsure what to say to her for a moment. She sighed again, "She died, Nessie."

"How?" Renesmee had never been told the details of Shay's death. Of course, she knew she wasn't around, but the rest of her family had only ever told her the happier memories they had of Shay. It was up to Alice to tell her the complete truth, if she ever wanted to.

And even though Renesmee was mature for her age, Alice wasn't ready just yet. Recounting the details would hurt her too much. So instead, she settled for saying, "She died protecting your mum and dad. She died doing the right thing."

"Auntie Shay saved mummy and daddy?" Renesmee gasped in awe, beaming down at Shay's grave like it was Shay herself sitting in front of her. "She must've been so brave."

"She was," Alice nodded, her heart twinging with sorrow. She missed Shay so much, missed the life they could've had together. That longing was stronger today, on the anniversary of her death, with Renesmee sitting by her side.

Speaking of Renesmee, the younger girl peered up at her aunt with curious eyes, a thought crossing her mind. "Did you love her?"

"Very much," she told her. There wasn't a single ounce of doubt in Alice's voice. She knew she loved Shay. And while they never got to say it, she was convinced that Shay loved her too.

"I wish I got to meet her."

"She would've adored you," Alice cooed. If the events that took place on the 15th of June had ended differently, Shay would've protected Bella fiercely with her decision to keep Renesmee, and she would've loved the girl in question with every spare piece of her heart. Alice just wished that Shay had gotten the chance to know her, to love her like Alice thought she would. Alice wished a lot for Shay, a lot she'd never get to see.

As morning faded into afternoon, Alice decided it was time to leave. She had a vision of Cora and Raymond bringing Sebastian to visit Shay's grave, and she didn't want to interrupt Sebastian's time with his sister.

"Come on, Nessie," Alice muttered as she helped the young girl to her feet, watching as Renesmee skipped over to where Edward and Bella were waiting for them with the rest of the family.

Before she followed her niece, Alice shot a soft smile at Shay's headstone. She pressed a kiss to her fingertips, placing them on top of the smooth stone with a wistful sigh.

"I love you, Shay."

With one last smile, she joined the rest of her family.

"How are you feeling?" Esme asked her, looping their arms together as they disappeared into the forest. While the others raced ahead of them, Alice and Esme hung back, in no rush to leave the cemetry or Shay. "I know this can't have been easy for you."

"It wasn't," Alice agreed with a nod. "But I'm okay, Esme."

And she was. She would never forget Shay Chambers, no matter how many years of her immortal life went by. But the pain wasn't so unbearable anymore, it didn't consume her like it did in the week that she locked herself away from everyone.

With a reassuring grin, Alice slipped her hand down to Esme's wrist, leading the way further into the trees. "Let's go home."

And so they did.

THE END.