Familiar Strangers (A Twilight Fanfic)

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Bella

Images of a dead carcass came to mind as my body was pulled against my will through the forest. I could feel the bruises pounding with their own heartbeat as Felix tightened his grip. I couldn’t keep up with their pace so he resorted to pulling me, dragging me through the brush, in the mud. The exterior of me felt the pain of the bruises and the scratches, the interior felt nothing. The light scratches began to deepen the further we went and they both made sure they let me know how easy it would be to just tell Aro that an accident happened with me when I fought against them and I died during the struggle. I knew then that I was no longer a human being, I was- an animal to them…Game.

Who I was inside my soul had vanished with no hope of life. The essence of me - Bella - was now scattered about in different directions like that of an urn being opened up to allow the remains of a loved one to flow breezily in the wind. Although I felt that way, I was still intact and wondered when these inhuman parasites would just let me die. I wanted so much for that to come to pass, but something inside me fought against it. It was my inner strength, something that would have come in handy if I had known that it existed before. In this moment, I had to prove to myself that I could and would go down with pride.

Edward

Obsolete, that is what I had become. I was nothing without Bella. I never thought I would become a coward, but that is exactly what I was. I ran back to Bella’s house one last time and knew I had little time to depart before my family arrived looking for the both of us. I had to be in her room one more time. To remember the person that I loved that would soon be no more. Crawling through the window as I once did, I briefly scoured the room. It used to be so vibrant with Bella’s existence firmly planted, but now I could only hear the echo of a life that I wished still lingered.

I left Bella the first time with a few things that she thought I took. Tickets, photos… I pulled them out of their hidden place and sat them on the bed. Hesitation tampered my nerves. Looking at her beautiful face now would only deepen the hatred I had for myself, but I had no strength to fight against it, so I knelt on the side of the bed and reached for the photos.

Tracing my thumb across her cheek bone brought so many pleasant memories back to me and before I realized it, I began weeping tearlessly. “Please Bella; please forgive me for what I have done. Your death has brought my own and I deserve nothing less in your eyes, but someday I hope you can forgive me. I had no choice.” I kissed the photo with shaken lips, knowing full well that she would never forgive me for this. First the window, and then the bedroom door slammed behind me before I could say anything else. I stood in a panic. At first thought it was my family, but I smelled no familiar scents.

“Who’s there…?”

I heard nothing, smelled nothing but Bella’s scent permeating the room, and I choked up with the thought, but nothing prepared me to fight a monster that I couldn’t see. Bella’s bed frame began to pound against the wooden floor, her framed art flew off the wall in my direction, and her drawers from her dresser pulled out and flew at me. Swiveling and dodging pieces of flying furniture with no one behind them to throw, had me lost until I remembered Bella screaming for her father to help her. Frozen as a statue I whispered in disbelief, “Charlie…?” Still I heard nothing but more furniture coming at me.

“Answer me? What have you done with my baby? Where is she, where is Bells? Tell me where she is…”

I tried to open the window, but it wouldn’t release enough for me to get through. All kinds of things were hitting my back as I tried and I finally realized that this must be Charlie. Had I believed in this before? No, I did not. I’ve never witnessed anything like this myself, but with what Bella said earlier and what was happening right now; I had no choice but to believe. So I stood tall and yelled out to Charlie to stop so I could speak and against all the hatred he had for me before this and now, I was shocked that he did just that.