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I can feel the weight of his head resting on my thigh as he lies and dozes. When I look at him usually, he seems rather rigid and stilted, as though holding his breath or waiting with anxiety for something very bad and very unavoidable to happen. But tonight, it’s as though the taut strings that always hold him have been released and he is finally allowed to slow down, to slip free from the tension and simply lie still and almost serene. His cheek presses against the flannel of my pajama pants and his hand touches lightly the bare skin of my knee in a curiously platonic way. It isn’t the caress of a lover or some gesture of lust or even affection; more so, it reminds me of how sleeping child instinctively reaches to their mother. His slender body is so at peace, so cocooned around me, and I’m puzzled by this uncharacteristic closeness.

            “Edward,” I say from behind my book, and I feel a bit of his old tension return to him.

            “Yes?”

            “Why…why are you lying like that?”

            “Oh! God I’m sorry, I…”

    He begins to pull away, and I stop him. “No, no—don’t get up, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…well, I’ve never seen you like this.”

            Slowly, he returns to his former position, and he seems bewildered. “This?”

            “You’re so…” I feel his hand on my knee again, and then it strikes me, “so warm. Edward, you—you feel like a human being!” I put down my book just in time to see a small smile spread across his lips.

    “I am warm, aren’t I?”

            “Yes! And you’re…well, you’re not properly alive, are you? At least not like me. You’re usually a bit colder. But you’re not right now.”

            He rolls over in my bed and props himself up on his elbow. “That’s true. But you know…” he pauses, trying to get out a proper explanation, “you know, if you hold a stone in your hand, it will eventually grow warmer, right? It can’t regulate its own temperature, and if you put it down, it will eventually go back to the way it was before. We’re the same way.” Cautiously, he reaches out and takes my hand in his, and to my surprise, it isn’t cold anymore—not at all! There’s no human clamminess, no heat emanating from it like from the hands of my mother or father, but the heat is still there. Slowly, I can feel him grow warmer in my grasp, and he’s still smiling.

            “You look so happy!” I exclaim, and he shrugs.

            “This is the only way I can feel…this kind of warmth anymore.”

    “The only way?”

    “Well, yes. A furnace or a fireplace isn’t the same. I can’t feel it inside my bones.” The smile is still there, but the edges have turned down and the old melancholy is seeping back into his features. “I could stick my hand in your oven’s pilot light, but that wouldn’t make me feel anything. It would just char up my fingers. The…the prolonged touch of another living thing is the only thing that can warm me up again. Or at least make me feel it. Does that make any sense at all?”

            I nod, and our fingers interlace.

            “It’s brilliant.”

            “What, holding hands?”

            “Yes. God, it’s wonderful! You’re so…I’m not sure, you’re just so alive.”

            I smile, too, at the absurdity of this description. “Alive?”

            “Yes, you’re alive. Thank you.”

            This time, I almost laugh. “You're welcome?”

            “I mean it. Thank you so much.”

            “For what?”
“For making me feel human again.”

So! As I explained in an earlier deviation, I've started a little side-project of re-writing parts of Twilight, re-inventing concepts and salvaging the characters. Here, I tried to explore one of the bigger parts of vampirism: their body temperature, or lack thereof. As Vampires are not technically "alive", I would think their skin would feel like the skin of a corpse. While it would not be the human temperature (approx. 98 degrees Fahrenheit), it wouldn't be described as "freezing" either: no more than a few degrees colder than the room temperature, surely. And then there's the idea that technically, if you were to hold hands or embrace a corpse long enough, your body warmth would eventually warm it up, as well, albeit temporarily. I think that would be an interesting reason for Edward being so drawn to Bella and so determined to keep her human: her warmth. Human contact is something that he lacks, and being able to touch something and feel its heat and life would surely be an amazing sensation for something that no longer regulates its own body temperature. Another point that would explain Edward's attraction to her would be the fact that he can't read her mind. The "gift" floods his head with the idle chatter and whitenoise of the people around him and he constantly struggles to block it out, and it sets him apart from even his own kind. However, when he is with her, he can't hear a thing, and it makes him feel normal. So adding that to the warmth she gives him, the social stimulation she provides and her "blocked" mind, when he is with her, he can, for just a moment, go back to being a human being again, which is what he wishes to do so much.
OTHER "Twilight Re-Imagined" ART

Description

I can feel the weight of his head resting on my thigh as he lies and dozes. When I look at him usually, he seems rather rigid and stilted, as though holding his breath or waiting with anxiety for something very bad and very unavoidable to happen. But tonight, it’s as though the taut strings that always hold him have been released and he is finally allowed to slow down, to slip free from the tension and simply lie still and almost serene. His cheek presses against the flannel of my pajama pants and his hand touches lightly the bare skin of my knee in a curiously platonic way. It isn’t the caress of a lover or some gesture of lust or even affection; more so, it reminds me of how sleeping child instinctively reaches to their mother. His slender body is so at peace, so cocooned around me, and I’m puzzled by this uncharacteristic closeness.

            “Edward,” I say from behind my book, and I feel a bit of his old tension return to him.

            “Yes?”

            “Why…why are you lying like that?”

            “Oh! God I’m sorry, I…”

    He begins to pull away, and I stop him. “No, no—don’t get up, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…well, I’ve never seen you like this.”

            Slowly, he returns to his former position, and he seems bewildered. “This?”

            “You’re so…” I feel his hand on my knee again, and then it strikes me, “so warm. Edward, you—you feel like a human being!” I put down my book just in time to see a small smile spread across his lips.

    “I am warm, aren’t I?”

            “Yes! And you’re…well, you’re not properly alive, are you? At least not like me. You’re usually a bit colder. But you’re not right now.”

            He rolls over in my bed and props himself up on his elbow. “That’s true. But you know…” he pauses, trying to get out a proper explanation, “you know, if you hold a stone in your hand, it will eventually grow warmer, right? It can’t regulate its own temperature, and if you put it down, it will eventually go back to the way it was before. We’re the same way.” Cautiously, he reaches out and takes my hand in his, and to my surprise, it isn’t cold anymore—not at all! There’s no human clamminess, no heat emanating from it like from the hands of my mother or father, but the heat is still there. Slowly, I can feel him grow warmer in my grasp, and he’s still smiling.

            “You look so happy!” I exclaim, and he shrugs.

            “This is the only way I can feel…this kind of warmth anymore.”

    “The only way?”

    “Well, yes. A furnace or a fireplace isn’t the same. I can’t feel it inside my bones.” The smile is still there, but the edges have turned down and the old melancholy is seeping back into his features. “I could stick my hand in your oven’s pilot light, but that wouldn’t make me feel anything. It would just char up my fingers. The…the prolonged touch of another living thing is the only thing that can warm me up again. Or at least make me feel it. Does that make any sense at all?”

            I nod, and our fingers interlace.

            “It’s brilliant.”

            “What, holding hands?”

            “Yes. God, it’s wonderful! You’re so…I’m not sure, you’re just so alive.”

            I smile, too, at the absurdity of this description. “Alive?”

            “Yes, you’re alive. Thank you.”

            This time, I almost laugh. “You're welcome?”

            “I mean it. Thank you so much.”

            “For what?”
“For making me feel human again.”

So! As I explained in an earlier deviation, I've started a little side-project of re-writing parts of Twilight, re-inventing concepts and salvaging the characters. Here, I tried to explore one of the bigger parts of vampirism: their body temperature, or lack thereof. As Vampires are not technically "alive", I would think their skin would feel like the skin of a corpse. While it would not be the human temperature (approx. 98 degrees Fahrenheit), it wouldn't be described as "freezing" either: no more than a few degrees colder than the room temperature, surely. And then there's the idea that technically, if you were to hold hands or embrace a corpse long enough, your body warmth would eventually warm it up, as well, albeit temporarily. I think that would be an interesting reason for Edward being so drawn to Bella and so determined to keep her human: her warmth. Human contact is something that he lacks, and being able to touch something and feel its heat and life would surely be an amazing sensation for something that no longer regulates its own body temperature. Another point that would explain Edward's attraction to her would be the fact that he can't read her mind. The "gift" floods his head with the idle chatter and whitenoise of the people around him and he constantly struggles to block it out, and it sets him apart from even his own kind. However, when he is with her, he can't hear a thing, and it makes him feel normal. So adding that to the warmth she gives him, the social stimulation she provides and her "blocked" mind, when he is with her, he can, for just a moment, go back to being a human being again, which is what he wishes to do so much.
OTHER "Twilight Re-Imagined" ART