Changed

by BluHaze

"The disease has no cure. It's like cancer, the affected cells replicate too fast. We can detect the causative gene now but the Government won't stop the massacres. Each child is tested for the gene, but we do not need tests; you can tell the diseased, they are ethereally beautiful, too strong and too fast. I would know, my Edward is one of them." Carlisle Cullen

1. Prologue

Prologue

Bella's fingers were cold with the night as they clutched the coarse blanket closer beneath her chin. Curling on her side, she gazed out from beneath stray locks of her dingy brown hair to glance at the girl lying beside her. Their silent exchange was filled with terror and their anguish was worsened by the soft sobs and whimpers of girls in the other beds. Bella's eyes never strayed from the teary gray eyes of her friend, Alice. Slowly raising her index finger to her lips she softly ushered the girl to hush her wracking sobs with a quiet "shhh".

The heavy stomping in the corridor grew louder. The adults' voices shouting loudly down the hall suddenly silenced every sound of despair in the murky dorm-room. Aside from the occasional sniffle, silence reigned until the heavy, wooden door was thrown open. Bella flinched in her bed, her dark eyes wide and glistening with tears that threatened to spill over and fall down her grimy cheek. Never did she allow her eyes to fall away from her friend's, not even as the stomping of heavy, metal heeled shoes entered the room. The footsteps passed by every bed, pausing for a moment before moving on. They stopped at the end of Bella's and she stopped breathing, her mouth open in terror.

Each second seemed to last a lifetime and the adults relished the terrified suspense. They took their time working out which child was due to be taken and increasing the fearful tension in the room. Today though, was not Bella's turn to be taken away, but she knew it would likely never come. She was not like Alice or the others who had already been stolen away by the adults. They were different, unlike all other children and they were bwrong/b. Or at least that is what the grownups said…

There was a clicking of high heels as they too entered the room and walked to the end of Bella's bed. There was a hissed exchange, a loud whispering and then finally they moved passed her bed. Bella let a soft breath of air whoosh from between her parted lips, yet she froze, her eyes clenched shut as suddenly as shadow fell across her face. She heard Alice whimper and then scream as her blanket was ripped away.

Opening her eyes, Bella watched the same tall, brown haired man that she had seen at the Stealing before, reach down and grab Alice's wrist. Unceremoniously he dragged her from the small, rickety bed on which she lay. Her feet barely reached the floor, before Mr Banner was walking away, dragging her behind him. Her bare feet scrabbled along the splintery wooden floor. Bella winced, her mind flooded with the memories of so many nights she and Alice had spent together attempting to remove each splinter they received from the rough floorboards.

There was a thud as Alice fought, her sobs and screams breaking through the painful silence that had befallen the young girls in the dorm room. Her shortly cut, black hair made her look like a young boy as she grappled with the man, clawing and fighting. She would never have gone in silence, Bella knew this, but she could not bear to listen to her friend fight a battle she would surely lose.

A second, louder thump came just as Banner reached the door with Alice. She fell out of his grasp, her knees hitting the floor heavily and she scrambled to her feet, running to the end of Isabella's bed. She grasped the metal bedstead her desperate cries breaking Bella with every sobbed word. "Please! Bella, help me! Help me! HELP!"

Bella sat up, her body was like ice-cold stone as she wracked her brain for an escape plan. Her eyes were wide as she watched her friend plead with her. The girl's beautiful, porcelain hued face was drawn with fear as tears streaked down her pale cheeks. Alice's ruby red lips quivered with her sobs and she shimmered from Bella's view as tears filled her eyes.

Alice screamed again as Mr Banner caught up with her and behind him, the red headed woman pulled a syringe from a small leather clutch bag. Swiftly, she assembled the needle and syringe before grappling with Alice's thrashing arms and finally injecting the clear substance into the girl's arm. Alice continued to fight for a mere two seconds longer before she began to fall limp, her body slumping into the man's arms. Finally, in the deathly silence that had now fallen across the room, Banner and the auburn woman left, the heavy dorm door slamming shut. No one stirred, but the muffled sounds of sobs began to fill the room for another hour before each one faded into silence as sleep finally descended upon the room. The only one who remained awake through the night was Bella as she lay staring through tearful eyes at her friend's messy, empty bed.