I don't own the characters, no copyright infringement intended
The world of imagination is a wondrous thing, and more often than not the perfect escape from reality.
Bella slid under her bed, with the ease of someone performing an act they'd done a hundred times before. She curled up into a ball facing away from her room so all she could see was the peeling yellow wall paper of her bedroom wall. Dust had been collecting on the skirting boards again so she balled up her long sleeve top and tried her best to bring back cleanliness to her favourite spot. The familiar trampling up the thirteen steps of the staircase meant she hadn't escaped, Phil appeared at the door of Bella's room with the unwelcome stench of smoke and alcohol, accompanied by the nose creasing reek of his unwashed clothes.
"BELLA, WHERE'S MY FUCKING MONEY?"
Of course he was referring to Bella's monthly inheritance cheque, so not strictly his; Bella's step Dad had the view that anything that came into his house was his, which included Bella and her mother.
"BELLA GET OUT FROM UNDER THERE RIGHT NOW YOU FILTHY BRAT AND GIVE ME THAT FUCKING MONEY YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!"
Bella took in a silent breath, closed her eyes, then opened them again as she breathed out; 'well done butter fingers' she thought to herself. Scrambling from under the bed with the upmost of ungracefullness, Bella bowed her head in shame as she rose from the floor in front of Phil. Phil grabbed the envelope that was scrunched in Bella's hand and grasped Bella's chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Try something like that again and I'll take my belt to your Mum" Phil smirked with a wicked sparkle in his eye. He loved instilling fear into Bella, it was his favourite hobby. He turned to leave her room, but a new idea washed over him; Phil grabbed both of Bella's wrists and pushed her onto the bed. She was battling with her eyes to keep the tears at bay as she knew deep down what Phil might do, after all, Phil had been abusing her Mum ever since he moved in two years ago. He kneeled on both of her legs and spat in her face. 'It will be over soon, just hold on' Bella kept chanting to herself, things hadn't gone this way before, normally Phil just shoved Bella or punched her in the ribs. He raised his left fist, rather shakily from the whiskey he'd been guzzling in front of the TV earlier, and brought it down onto Bella's face. The pain made Bella scream out in fright and shock, her nose burst open with blood and she could feel warm trails gliding down her face. All too soon another fist landed on her right eye, temporarily blinded Bella didn't scream this time, her eye was painfully numb and adrenaline spiked through her body. The torment was over by another bout of spit landing on her jaw line, and the weight of Phil on her vanished.
Bella lay, motionless for what seemed like hours, though it must have only been minutes as the next thing she heard was the door banging shut. He was most likely going to the pub to relax into even more of a drunken stupor.
An hour later, Bella's Mum, Renée, returned home from working at a grocery store. Renée worked hard and hated herself for letting Bella be in the position she was, but being in an abusive relationship changed her, and she wasn't the strong-willed person she used to be. Bella was still upstairs, trying desperately to wash away the blood that had seeped onto the sheets of her bed so that her Mum wouldn't see what Phil had done to her. This distracted her from Renée's tender walking up the stairs.
"Oh God Bella, what has he done to you?" Tears brimmed at Renée's eyes seeing Bella, her eye was shiny black from Phil and her nose had swelled. Bella stopped her scrubbing and looked over to her mum, frozen in the doorway.
"Mum, it was my fault, I took my inheritance-" Renée marched forward and enclosed Bella into her warm embrace, both of them sat quietly for ten minutes; Renée crying quietly and Bella trying her best to soothe her. Bella knew Renée felt horrible for ever letting Phil into their house, there was nothing they could do to get rid of him.
"This was never your fault honey, it was mine, should never have let that bastard into our lives. I think…I think we can't do this anymore. This is the last straw." Renée's uncertainty quickly cleared out of her mind; she knew what she had to do. She could handle the beatings, the verbal abuse, the slaps, but not on Bella. "Bels honey, we have to leave, I won't have him touch you again."
Bella just hugged her Mum tighter; the maternal instinct in Renée finally took over.
"Mum we don't have anywhere to go, what if he finds us?"
"Bella… you'll have to trust me with this, I think it would be best if you went and lived with your Dad for a while, you still have to go to school and I need to sort my life out. I'm married to Phil after all and I need to sort out divorce and find my own place away from him. Honey I'm so sorry"
"No Mum, it's okay. Charlie will be thrilled that I'm finally gunna visit him again. I bet he wouldn't mind if you stayed with us" Bella asked more than stated the last bit. Renée and Charlie divorced years ago and she had never forgiven herself for how she treated him by leaving him one night. But they didn't love each other and Renée didn't want to be reminded of all the memories of Forks.
"We both know that won't work Bella, listen, you go pack all your clothes and stuff, I'm gunna make a few calls and sort you out a ticket. Gosh this is happening so fast, I guess I've been waiting for a while now. Oh honey I'm so sorry" Renée was about to cry again but stopped herself, Bella had been the strong one all her life and it was time she stepped up. Seventeen years and Bella was twice the woman Renée had ever hoped she'd be.
A total of eight bags packed and four phone calls later, Bella and her Mum were ready to leave their shabby shack of a house, and all the memories that came with it that included Phil. Bella was waiting in the car after packing everything in, she was more than ready to leave the dry heat of Las Vegas for good. Forks wasn't a hot place, she liked that, but she didn't appreciate how it rained almost every time she had gone to visit her Dad when she was younger. Constant cloud cover and rain didn't sound too appealing but then again, anything away from her life now would be fine. She felt bad; Charlie hadn't seen her in a year and hadn't spent more than a few days with her since she was 10. He was a quiet man, like Bella in a lot of ways, and neither were the most sociable of characters.
Renée came out of the house with another few carrier bags and a knitting set. Bella couldn't help but roll her eyes inwardly; she was always of on a new scheme or hobby, this month was knitting, last month was horse riding. Bella's nerves were at an all time high with the horse riding one; neither her or her Mum were that graceful or coordinated and feared for her mums safety. On the Road, Renée parked up at a motel, she had explained along the way she'd be staying at the motel a while till she could sort out a place to live; she'd booked Bella a plane ticket, it was first class as Renée had won a voucher on some internet competition site. Bella asked to have a coach one in stead as the first class was too much, but Renée was having none of it.
"Bella I've already booked it dear, seriously honey it's fine, you know I'd never use it anyway, when do I ever fly!?"
Secretly Bella was a little excited, she'd hardly ever flown, and it had never been out of the US, plus it was her first time in first class.
The next day, Bella was ready to move forward in her life; a new start in Forks, how she would hate being new, but escaping her past is all she wanted. But something, deep inside her, was telling Bella that she wouldn't be able to escape her reality anymore. She wouldn't be able to run to her imagination, it was already running for her.
AN: I'm sorry if it's not too great so far, I just wanted to speed up to where it gets interesting, never been too good at intros