Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 16 (New Moon 5/30)

Bells' truck was in her spot when I got home, which was a pleasant surprise; she'd usually be off somewhere with Edward on the days she didn't have a shift at Newton's. 

She'd been spending more time at home over the past few days since her birthday. Maybe my little chat with Edward and Carlisle had actually made the kid ease off from spending every possible waking moment with my daughter, or maybe Bells was just missing time with her dad.

I still hadn't talked to her straight out about whether or not her boyfriend had been hitting her, and with a heavy sigh I realized that today would be as good a day as any to finally open up that particularly nasty can of worms.

As usual, I placed a hand on the hood of her truck as I walked by to get an idea of how long she'd been home. It was cold to the touch, meaning she likely headed straight to the house after getting out of school. One thing was odd, however; her bookbag, which usually would be slung lazily on the banister as soon as she walked in the door, was sitting on the driver's seat.

I tried the door handle; unlocked. Now, Forks is a pretty safe place, all things considered, but as someone who sees the worst of people on the daily, I made sure to instill in Bella the necessity for always shutting doors and sliding locks, just in case.

"Bells?" I called as I entered the house. The echoes of my voice mocked me as they bounced around the chill air, off the faded walls, and into the settled silence that said There's no one here, Charlie. You're all alone, again.

I quickly checked all the rooms. Nothing. 

Well, Edward must've picked her up from here or something. It was no use getting my knickers in a knot – I'd come home to an empty house for the past 17 years, and more than a few evenings even after Bells had moved back.

But still... something felt off. Trying not to let my worries get the best of me, I picked up the phone off the wall and, for the second time that week, called the Cullens.

The line didn't even ring.

"Well shit," I whispered to myself, realizing that the situation called for more action than a simple phone call. I tried Bella's cell, anxiously telling her to "pickuppickuppickup" with every ring. I was eventually greeted by only her voicemail.

"Hey Bells, It's dad. Noticed your car home. Just trying to get an idea of where you're at. The Cullen's weren't answering. Gimme a call when you get this. Thanks. Love you." I hung up the phone with a thud, put my back to the wall, and let gravity pull me down to the cold linoleum.

Don't you freak out, Charlie. Teenage girls don't always tell their parents where they are. Hell, Bells usually doesn't. But still, the bookbag, the unlocked truck door, the mysterious injuries, the dead line at the Cullens. Something was up. I hauled myself to my feet, retracing my steps back out the door and up to Bella's truck. The light was fading fast, so I unclipped my flashlight and checked the area around the vehicle for any signs of struggle.

We'd just had some rain (as is usually the case in Forks) so the gravelly dirt around the old Chevy was still soft. Other than my own prints, I could make out the smaller, lighter indents from shoes I'd assumed to be Bella's. It was hard to track, and I couldn't tell where they went, but I didn't find any fresh prints of her's heading towards the house.

So she might've gotten into a friend's car or something. She could be on her way to Port Angeles with Jess, or Edward, or even Mike Newton right now. Newton. Shit. Maybe she picked up a shift, and he came by to give her a ride? That didn't make a lick of sense, seeing as the store was right by the school, but I pulled out my cell and gave Dan a ring, just in case.

"Newton's sports," a familiar voice answered after a single ring.

"Dan, hey, it's Charlie. Swan. Bella wouldn't happen to be working right now, would she?" Try though I might, I couldn't keep the worry off of my usually steady voice.

"Nope, she's not scheduled today. Haven't seen her. She say she was picking up a shift?"

"Not that I know of," I answered, scanning the muddy ground for any more clues. "Look, could you let me know if you see her? Or would you ask Mike if he might know where she could be? I just got home and her truck's here and all, but there's no sign of her and she's not picking up." And neither are the Cullens, I thought, but didn't speak. It was too early to vocalize suspicions. Too soon to start casting blame.

"Yeah, of course Charlie. Your cell same the same 822 number?"

"That's the one. Thanks Dan," I said, hanging up abruptly as I noticed something about my parking spot. There were fresh tire tracks, as though a car had been pulled in sometime after yesterday's rain. A car that wasn't the old cruiser. From the look of the grooves I could tell it was a sedan, and something much newer. Something much sleeker.

Bells had probably gotten into Edward's silver car right after she got home. But why?

I hopped into the cruiser, turned on the sirens, and drove like hell northward; to the woods, to the Cullens' place, and, hopefully, towards my daughter.

—

"Harry. Get the guys together. We're gonna need to do a full sweep of the woods." It still didn't feel real to say the words. I was standing beside my cruiser, phone in hand, looking up at the dark and empty mansion that the Cullen's had called a home. There was no SOLD sign in the front lawn, no note on the door, but it was clear that the place had been abandoned.

Looking into the garage windows showed that the cars were all gone. A walk around the house proved that the water had been turned off. Even the electronics in the kitchen, which I could just barely see through the front windows, were dead. No stovetop clock keeping time. The electricity was off.

Dan Newton had called me on the drive up, saying how Mike had no idea where Bella could be. Calls to Bella's cell now went straight to voicemail. The sun had completely set beneath the frigid waves of the Pacific.

"What's happened Charlie? Another hiker missing?" Harry asked, his voice riddled with worry. He had been one of my bestfriends since I was a kid – of course he could tell there was something bugging me from one sentence alone.

"No, Harry. It's Bella. My Bella's missing."

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