Familiar Strangers (A Twilight Fanfic)

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

Charlie’s form became a mass that hovered over the center of the room. I wasn’t much of a specialist when it came to ghosts, but I was sure this meant he wasn’t happy at all. The fear of my failing mother was my first priority, but I had to mollify Charlie.

“Charlie, mind telling me what has you so upset?”

A feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that I may be the reason for his anger. I left his daughter after all, but although I had an idea that this is what caused his behavior, I couldn’t help but feel the urgency that lingered in the air. I had to find out what had him so agitated.

“Gabriel, is everything alright?” My mother asked, worried by my sudden apprehension.

I looked down at my old friend, my…mother, my incredibly strong mother, and winced internally as her condition became worse just in the moments that it took to handle Charlie. The love I felt for her was immeasurable and it pained me to see her this way after all the years we spent together. I bent down, forgetting Charlie altogether, and held her skeletal hand in mine. “Don’t worry about Charlie, mother, please let me help you…” I wasn’t surprised by any means when her head motioned back and forth in a manner that meant no.

“My son, you have to let me go. There is nothing that you can do to help me. I would hold only days if that if you tried, and the agony of a slow death just doesn’t sound too appealing. Now tell me, what is wrong with Charlie?”

Again, my mother’s strength was to be commended. With death encompassing the air that surrounded her, she was worried about Charlie. Charlie’s mood tapered enough to begin a conversation, so I gave my mother an encouraging smile and kissed her hand and said,

“I love you, mother. Give me a moment?”

She nodded, letting me know to go ahead, but my concern rested with her and she knew it. “Gabriel, you have so much to be thankful for my son. I lived much longer than most parents could possibly fathom and…”

My body quailed when Charlie began to scream behind me. My mother took notice when my face furrowed from the sound emanating from Charlie and my mother paused in the middle of her previous sentence only to begin another one, “What is it Gabriel? What is wrong with him?”

“Give me a moment to find out, mother. Forgive me for the interruption…” I stood again and hoped whatever it was that had him upset would come out already. Every second mattered to me at this point. “Please Charlie, whatever it is, please get it out already. I’m losing precious time with…”

“Bella, my Bella is gone…”

I looked down at my mother with dismay spilling over my features, my body rigid. What did he mean she was gone? The statement had to of meant that she was gone with Edward. I could see that he would be upset over…

“Edward did something to her. I don’t know what, but she’s gone. She fought him while he took her out of the house and I…I couldn’t do anything to stop him. My baby is gone…” he cried.

The ache in my chest deepened and pounded to a degree that not even the nineteen bells in the bell tower at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin could possibly compare. It was a dangerous echo that filtered through me and I could hardly hear Charlie over the clapper inside of me swaying back and forth, vibrating my very core. I had a brief period of insufferable clarity. Is that what happened in the car? Was it her death that brought my own? Before I knew I had reacted, I had already dispensed anger towards Charlie.

“Where is…Bella?”

“I already tried to tell you that I don’t know. All I know is that he took her into the woods behind the house and he came back without her, and then the rest of the Cullen’s showed up and they all went back behind the house into the woods too. I want to know if my daughter is okay. If Edward…”

My hand stopped midway in the air between Charlie and I, bearing the rest of his sentence verbally was not needed. I felt it in the car, my life had been drained out of me, and I knew it had something to do with the only person that gave me rapture, but I never thought that it could be…this. Charlie’s human form framed itself solidly and then something extraordinary happened as I stood there. Charlie was holding my shoulders. Undeniably, I felt his hands dig into my skin. This was something I would have to query later. Right now I needed to know what took place between Bella and Edward, and the chattering between Charlie and my mother was enough to bring me to the brink of exhaustion and it had to end. I raised my hands to pause them both.

“Charlie, what exactly did Edward say to her? Anything at all will help me figure out what to do next.”

“He just kept saying that he had no choice and that he was sorry, but I’m no fool, Gabriel. That boy has never been sorry for…”

“He had no choice…?” a guilty whisper of an unfinished question left me as I realized that I should have never placed my confidence in Edward, whether Bella did or not.

“Gabriel…?” My mother said in a panic-stricken tone.

I couldn’t think straight. What had Edward meant by that? Why would he put Bella in harm’s way? I trusted him to look after her because Bella trusted him in every way except when it came to her heart. That should have been a tell-tale sign that I shouldn’t have left her. The virulent heat that burst through my veins, pulling at every nerve, became so intense that I could no longer recognize myself. Charlie ensued with his own anger, the house shook and everything inside was being strewn about, but when I looked over at Charlie, he looked bewildered. I looked down at my mother, and she also had the same look on her face. Her lips were moving, but no sound came from them. All I could think about was Bella. For a split second, I heard my mother’s plea.

“Gabriel, listen to me. Remember what I said about your abilities that you are not aware of? It is happening, son, remember who you are inside. Don’t allow the devil to linger too long in your veins…”

I heard enough, I was going to find Bella. The door opened before I reached it. I took the path in the woods and the wind blew viciously. Distinctively, I could hear the trees crackle as I ran. In what direction should I have gone? It wasn’t clear to me at first, but then a particular pungency caught my attention; Edward and the rest of the Cullen’s. The clarity of my intentions couldn’t have been clearer. If Bella had perished because of Edward, he and the Cullen’s would also seek out their god. I would make it my duty to deliver their fate.

“Remember who you are inside…” I heard the mirrored words of my mother permeating through the bearer that was quickly rising, conducting its own orchestra, but I was now descending at a speed that I wasn’t sure I could stop.

A/N:

I know this is very short, but I wanted to get something to all of you and this part is complete. I am working on the next installment and with some hope, I should have it out no later then Friday. I do hope you'll enjoy this chapter even though it is short.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks.