𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 ➻ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧

𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻

"SHE MUST'VE RAN AWAY SOMEWHERE." Charlie summed up as he ran out the front door, followed by Bella, both looking for any signs of footsteps in the snow, although deep down they knew that by now any footsteps would've been covered by more of the white powder.

"Look for anything that could tell us where she went. I mean anything, Bella." he inspected the ground, hoping for even a faintest dent made in the snowy land.

Bella suddenly charged towards a spot near the woodland area, beginning to examine a tree branch. "Look, dad! Look at what's on the branch." she tried to get him to look at the glittering silver object that hung off of the wood that had caught her attention as the light reflected off of it.

"Ain't this the necklace that Doctor Cullen bought her?" Bella nodded eagerly, glad that he remembered. "Good eyes, Bells." he praised her as they continued through the collection of trees.

Again, it was painfully obvious that the snow had covered any tracks she might've left, Bella felt her teeth beginning to chatter, and she was in a thick winter coat. "Charlie, her coat was in her bedroom." she felt the need to say, Bella felt bad for not even trying to get better to see how Anastasia was holding up.

Charlie cursed beneath his breath. He hated this part of his job, continuing on a case even when there's the largest chance that there's no point anymore, that what they're searching for is pointless.

"We'll find her." Bella stubbornly said, she wasn't giving up yet. The Chief only swallowed and furrowed his eyebrows as they trekked on. "We just need to keep an eye out for the small things, maybe some of her hair caught in a branch, yeah- Keep an eye out for that."

Obviously that would be insanely difficult, looking for strands of hair in trees, but as they passed a branch, Bella noticed a colour on the tree bark, an unnatural colour  amongst the sea of white and brown that was the woodland.

Red.

Then, as Bella looked further, there was also the same shade of red splattered upon nearby rocks. "Dad!" Bella called out hoarsely, her throat burning from inhaling so much of the cold air, he quickly jogged toward where he heard her call, his eyes preparing themselves for something, though he audibly sighed in half relief and half confusion when he didn't see the dead body he thought he would.

"Look, she must've cut herself on something, her blood is on the trees and the rocks, if we follow this, maybe we can find her." Bella explained, obviously now extremely determined as they had a clearer thing to look for than strands of her hair.

"Good thinking, c'mon." Charlie charged forward, his spirits a little higher now that they had a more obvious path, but if she was bleeding it wasn't exactly the best sign.

They had seemingly followed the trail of blood upon the trees and rocks for hours on end, their hope grew thinner and thinner the longer it went on.

That was until Bella saw an unusually shaped pile of snow, she felt her heart jump into her throat as she pawed the white crisp out of the way until she found a familiar human, buried deep beneath the snow.

"Anastasia." Bella breathed out, completely shocked by the condition of the girl. Charlie came running out of absolutely nowhere as he saw Bella digging something out of the corner of his eye.

"Bella? What have you-" His eyes the caught sight of her,  he paused for a moment as he wondered what the hell to say, how to react even.

Profanities spun out of his mouth as he shrugged off his coat and jackets, placing them over Anastasia's body, before swiftly pulling her up into his arms as his legs carried him back down the path they'd come up, more adrenaline pumping through his veins more than blood.

Bella was close behind him, though she knew that they were a long while away from Forks now, they still kept going, though both found it extremely difficult the further they went on, Bella especially, she hated running. A trait she did probably get somewhat mostly from her Dad, who obviously didn't mind it as much, as his job required it most of the time, but still preferred not to do so.

And when they did arrive back at Anastasia's grandmother's house, it was swarmed by emergency services, doctors, police etc. They immediately caught their attention when they came pegging it out of the woods like madmen, a body in one of their arms.

Immediately after handing the girl to a doctor, Charlie almost fell over from exhaustion, Bella too. "She needs medical attention right now. I dunno how know she's been out there, but it's probably been a while." he told them between pants, trying to regain any sense of energy.

"Of course, Chief." the doctor nodded as they loaded her into the ambulance, speeding down the roads.

"What er- What's happening with her grandma?" Charlie asked one of his co-workers who looked quite queasy when he brought it up.

"We're going to have a burial organised once Miss Von Blyssen is better, for now, we're just going to keep the body in a coffin for a little bit, nobody really knows, Chief." she grimaced, the police officer was quite new to the team and she wasn't expecting a case like this in the small town.

"Right, of course." Charlie nodded as he directed Bella back towards the police car, but she shook her head.

"I wanna get some of her stuff for her, Dad."

"She'll be able to do that when she wakes up, honey." the female officer from before told her. "You go home and rest for a bit, try not to think about it all, okay?"

"Alright." Bella grumbled, obviously peeved off that she couldn't do as she wanted, and she jumped into her dad's car which was much warmer than the surrounding area, she gratefully accepted the warmth as they drove back to her house.