I walked down the hallway. I could hear the cries coming from Charlie.
"Run Bella!" he shouted. "Get out of here before it's too late!"
I could hear her voice taunting him back. It had a sickly sweetness to it. It reminded me
of his voice.
"Foolish man," she taunted. "Your daughter can run all she wants, but she won't escape me."
I opened the door to his room. I could feel the fear rushing through my body, but I had no choice. He was my father. I had to try and save him somehow.
I opened the door to Charlie's room, but it was as if I was suddenly standing in the alternate reality. Charlie and Victoria weren't in the room. In fact the room was no longer a room, but instead it had transformed into a meadow- our meadow.
"Bella," a sweet voice muttered, "My sweet Isabella."
I walked towards the center of the meadow in hopes that I would be able to locate the source of the voice.
"Bella," it called again, and I felt two cold arms encompass my body. I twisted my body around excited that after all this time I would finally be able to see his face- to see the perfect features that I had missed for so long.
"Edward," I muttered, and I went to gaze into his eyes only to have my own eyes open.
I looked at the room around me. There was no meadow. There was no Edward. Once again, it had all been a figment of my dreams. I could feel the sobs beginning to shake through my body.
"Breathe Bella. Just Breathe," I muttered to myself as I sat up in bed.
"Are you okay, love?" Jacob asked. I glanced at the man who had been sleeping next to me- the man who was not Edward.
"I just had another dream last night," I responded. There was no need to tell him what the dream was exactly. He already knew.
"But you didn't wake up screaming," Jacob stated.
For a brief moment, I debated telling him the other half of the dream. All Jake knew was that I had dreamed about Charlie dying. Did I really want to tell him that I didn't scream because this one ended with me being reunited with Edward? A part of me was tempted to end the charade we had started long ago, but I realized that I couldn't. After all, it would hardly be fair of me to make us both miserable because I could not let go of the past.
"I woke up before I saw him die," I lied.
Jacob wrapped his arms around me.
"It's okay Bells," he muttered soothingly. "I'm here with you. Nothing will ever happen to you again. I promise. I'll protect both you and our future family. No bloodsucker will ever hurt you again."
I laid my head against his chest sobbing until I fell back to sleep. All I could think of while I was there was how wrong Jacob was. It was too late. A vampire had already hurt me beyond repair and no matter how much I tried to pretend otherwise, no soothing words from Jake could ever change that.
In my life there were three things I was absolutely positive. First, Jacob loved me. Second, there was a small part of me that loved him too. And third, that despite that love I was already unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen.