Mute girl

Chapter fifteen - It's No-good talk.

A/N As will be true forever, I own nothing but my own plot and characters and British swear words. Stephanie Meyer owns the rest. Not me. Definitely not me.

I woke up on the bed in my room, absolutely smothered in blankets and still completely exhausted. "Bella?" Esme whispered. She was sitting at the end of the bed, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth turned down. I wondered vaguely why she was worrying, no one that beautiful should ever frown.

She reached out to tuck a hair behind my ear, making me flinch back in apprehension. She withdrew at once, mumbling an apology, but I shook my head with resign. It wasn't her fault. I pushed myself up further and winced in pain, finally noticing the bandages around my foot. When had that gotten there? I couldn't remember anything at all, but Esme must have noticed my surprise, her maternal eyes missing nothing.

"You sprained your ankle," she said. "When you ran out. We would have followed you, but you ran over our territory and we couldn't get to you..." I flinched, the memories rushing back all at once. "Oh," I breathed, barely making a sound. Of course Esme heard it, her eyes opening wide as she leaned in, hoping I would continue. My mouth kept clamped shut.

"Oh Bella," she sighed, her brow furrowing up yet again. "I'm so sorry. We had no idea you would react like that. Alice should never have showed you your things, and Edward shouldn't have tried to touch you." I gazed up at her, not sure what she wanted me to do. "Please don't be scared of us though. We would never try to hurt you, you're family. Promise you won't run out again, please?" I watched her suspiciously from under my hair. Charlie was family, but he didn't care at all. I looked into her pitch black eyes — she was hungry. I figured that I didn't have much of a choice, so I nodded my head lightly.

"Oh thank goodness!" Her already breathtaking face broke into a wonderful, relieved sort of smile. "Now, would you like some breakfast?" I shook my head timidly, the thought of food making me want to puke. "You've got to eat something dear, you're all skin and bones!" She insisted, her face growing concerned once more. Pointing to her coal coloured eyes, I shook my head again, trying to remind her that she hadn't eaten either.

She frowned and hesitated for a second, thinking things over for a minute before she came to a decision. "How about we make a deal," she bargained. "If you eat breakfast then I'll go hunting as soon as I'm sure you're okay." I raised my eyebrow up high, but agreed to her terms anyway. I'm sure I could force something down if I tried.

She stood up and made towards the door, slow enough to throw another question over her shoulder. "Would you like porridge? I heard that it's good for humans when they're sick..." and then she was gone. I sighed and rolled over, trying not to move my aching leg. How long would I have to be stuck like this? Anything could happen while I was unable to move.

Just then I heard a timid little knock on the door, before another blonde beauty stuck her head into the room. "Hey Bella," Rosalie smiled as she walked over, a nervous kind of look about her. I smiled back in hello, wondering what she wanted. She was holding a bundle of things, clothes by the looks of it, which she put on the table next to my bed. "I just came to give you these," she said, motioning to the pile. I looked over and realised that it wasn't just clothes. "...and I also wanted to say that... that if you ever need anyone to talk to about what happened, then I probably understand best."

She seemed earnest, her hand resting just above the top of the pile, where a fresh looking notebook and pen sat. She caught where I was looking and understood, passing the notebook over to me. "I brought you your clothes — they needed washing — a notebook to write in and some pads and stuff."

I stopped dead in my tracks, blushing so hard I was practically bleeding. I didn't want to think about it, but I knew I'd have to tell someone eventually — why not Rosalie? I crossed out what I'd already written in three neat black lines, instead I wrote this.

I don't think I'll need any pads.

Rosalie stopped breathing for a split second before she could regain her composure. "What do you mean Bella? Of course you do." Her voice was slow and deliberate, her words sure and certain about what she knew of humans. I tried to string together a sentence, to open my mouth and explain, but of course the grating block of ice was still stuck there, so I wrote it out.

I haven't had my period in three months.

"But Bella, that's impossible! How? Please don't tell me you're...you can't be..." for once her voice betrayed her surprise, with an obvious edge of panic hiding behind her words as she grasped my hand tight between her's. "...do you — do you think you're pregnant?" her voice dropped low, into a whisper so quiet I could barely hear her. I doubted even Esme could.

I don't know, I wrote. I don't know what to do! I can't have his baby, not after everything. I feel so disgusting, filthy. Rosalie, what do I do?

She stared back at me, her eyes wide open as burning hot tears streamed down my face. "Well, first we've got to tell Esme. Everyone else is out hunting, but as soon as they're back we have to talk to Carlisle. He can find out if you actually are pregnant, or if it's something else. Don't worry Bella. We can fix this." She pulled her long cold arms around me, bringing me in for a hug.

For once I forgot about my fear and clung to her for all I was worth, sobbing bitterly into her shoulder. "Shh..."she comforted me, mothering me in a way I never thought she could. "...it's going to be okay." My head throbbed painfully and my face was all red and puffy from crying, but I couldn't stop the tears. "...It's okay." She whispered one last time, before Esme burst into the room with a plate full of food and a very confused look on her face.