Twilight and associated characters are all property of Stephenie Meyer. I do not take credit or make profit from her creation.

Bella POV

It had been months since he had left me. Months of an unfeeling existence that had left me teetering over an all consuming void. At some point, I guess, I had come to an awareness of my surroundings. I could only assume that it was because of Charlie's agonizing sobs that I finally realized the pain I had been causing him in my vacant state. I knew I would never be happy again. How could I be when my very reason for living had decided that I wasn't even worth the effort? I thought I could even hear someone laughing, mocking my futile attempts to breathe again. But I knew that Charlie needed me, that he needed me to be okay so that he could go on living. So I awoke from my own induced slumber and decided that if I couldn't be happy then at least I could do that for Charlie...

It was a Sunday and I decided that today was a good a day as any to start my lifeless existence. I trudged my way to the bathroom and started to take my clothes off. I wondered briefly if I had been wearing the same clothes the entire time. My actions the past couple of months were a bit hazy at best and I was not really able to recall much except for the pain that had constantly threatened to suffocate me. At times I wished that it had. I looked for the first time, for what seemed an eternity, into the mirror and saw my reflection. The girl that stared back at me was hardly recognizable. I still had my long chocolate, brown hair but it just seemed to hang down lifeless around the heart-shaped face that now seemed more pale and translucent.

I could be a ghost.

My eyes were dead enough and I was sure that I could pass for one. I climbed into the shower and blasted on the cold water. For a brief moment I was instantly shocked into a present that was rapidly being consumed by my past. I had thought that the cold water would somehow revive me, I mean isn't that what one normally does to come back to their senses? Instead the cold feel of it against my skin only reminded me of Him. Suddenly, all of the memories that I been repressing came flooding into the forefront of my memory.

"My world is not for you."

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me."

"You're not good for me, Bella."

"…as if I never existed."

I felt like I was being unwillingly dragged down by my own conscience and I couldn't bear it any more. I fell out of the bathtub and started to sob uncontrollably. I felt myself start to go into hysterics and I curled up into a ball on the bathroom floor letting the current take me.

Charlie POV

I was downstairs reading the paper when I heard a crash in the upstairs bathroom.

What the... Oh no, Bella!

Next thing I knew I was running up the stairs and throwing open the bathroom door. I found her there curled up in the fetal position, bare-naked on the wooden floor. Her eyes wide and her chest heaving as her sobs raked through her tiny frame. My initial embarrassment was immediately overcome by my need to comfort her. I grabbed her bathrobe and threw it around her pulling her into my arms. I just embraced her, rocking her back and forth all the while whispering into her ear,

"It's going to be okay baby. Don't worry. I promise it's going to be okay."

"I'm so sorry dad. I don't want you to be sad. I'm so sorry." Her words just tumbled out in a blur.

"Don't apologize Bells. It's okay to cry. Just let it all out."

She did cry and it felt like all of the pent up sadness flowed out of her like a restless torrent that had been raging to break free. I knew that it wouldn't erase the pain but that it would release some of the pressure that she had been harboring.

This is almost like her mother leaving me all over again…

She finally calmed down a bit and looked into my eyes. There was a deep and penetrating sadness there that I didn't want to see and I knew that I had to do better for her. She didn't deserve to go through this. She was much too young.

"I love you Bells. I hope you know that. I will never leave you. I'll be here whenever you need me. I need you to know that."

"I know dad. I really do and I love you too, very much."

She gave me the most heartfelt hug that she could muster and suddenly I felt the tears fall down my face.

"I'll let you get dressed and then you can come down for breakfast."

I gave her one last reassuring squeeze and got up to go downstairs. I had never been good with the emotional part of our relationship but it didn't take a genius to realize the pain that she had been suffering. Dear God it hurt me to see her that way.

That Edward Cullen better hope that I never run into him because he is going to be in a world of pain. I will never forgive him for what he did to Isabella, never.

You would have thought that he had died the way she was taking things. God knows I was happy that she had finally started to cry. They always say that acceptance is the first step to recovery.

When we first found her in the woods I was so worried that she had gotten hurt but in the following months that ensued I realized that it was worse, much worse, than any physical injury that she could have acquired. She was broken. I could see it in her lifeless eyes whenever she would look at me, like she had lost the will to live. It killed me to have to look at her because she never really looked at me. Her expression was always vacant and I feared that nothing would be able to save her. I felt so utterly helpless. There was nothing that I could do to for her except stay by her bed and cry. All the while I begged God to please save her from herself. It seemed like He had finally heard my prayers. Today was the first day that she had gotten up on her own and maybe she would even venture to come down for breakfast as well.

She just needs some distractions. Yeah, something to keep her occupied and keep her mind off things. Maybe I'll ask her if she wants to go fishing with me. It's been such a long time since we've gone together. Maybe she'll like it now.

Suddenly, I heard something outside on the porch.

What was that?

I walked to the front door and opened it. I briefly saw a flash of red but then nothing. I walked around outside but there wasn't anything to be found.

Hmm, now I'm losing it.

I turned around and walked back inside.

Victoria POV

This couldn't have worked out better than if I had planned it myself! Hahahahaha, stupid boy.

I knew there was something wrong with those damn Cullens when they started going on about their "different" way of life. Ranting about how we could co-exist and didn't need to be the monsters that people believed us to be.

What a bunch of pussies. How they caught my James was beyond me. We are the top of the food chain and everything else is just dinner. What do I care what those weak humans think of me? Of course they should be scared! I'm superior to them in every way!

Then that stupid son of theirs had to go all self-sacrificing and leave his stupid mortal behind. Any idiot could have predicted what this would lead to and there she was wallowing in her own pain. I'll admit that she was taking it harder than I would have expected from a human but she deserved to suffer after what her precious family did to me. When I knew that they were leaving and that they were leaving their precious Bella behind I knew I would have my revenge, even if it wasn't the revenge that I had originally planned on.

Up until now I had contented myself sneaking into her room and laughing at the obvious pain she was in. There had been no reason for me to do anything because Edward had taken care of that. So, every day I came and I watched the show and at night I would listen to her scream from the nightmares that would overcome her.

Hmmm, music to my ears.

I wasn't always this sadistic. For a long time I had been traveling with James and Laurent trying to find places to live from and content with the life I was living. James had been an excellent tracker and we never ran into any trouble. That is until we met the Cullens. I never understood why James was so bent on killing Bella. I just assumed that he wanted the challenge and seeing how everything usually proved ridiculously easy for him I didn't blame him. But everyone's luck runs out sometime and this proved true that fateful day in Phoenix. I knew, even before I knew, what had happened. Being mates for as long as I could remember we had established a bond that forever tied us together and as he died I died as well. Now the only thing that mattered was dealing that pain to the ones that had caused it.

I watched her now through her window as she finished getting ready. For some reason she had decided to snap out of her comatose state but that didn't matter. If she thought the worst was over she was wrong, dead wrong. What I had planned for her wasn't going to be pretty.

Bella POV

What do I do now?

I sat there on my bed staring out of my window into the cloudy sky. The weather at least reflected my mood and for once I was glad that the sun wasn't shining down on Forks. I didn't want to have to pretend to be happy about the weather and I counted it as a blessing. I decided that I should probably make my way downstairs. I felt horrible for what I had put Charlie through this morning and decided that I would make an extra effort to be normal.

I walked into the kitchen and found Charlie reading the newspaper.

"Good morning."

I reached over and kissed him on the cheek. I decided that maybe if I pretended like nothing had happened we could just put it all behind us. He gave me a quizzical look and then decided to play along.

"Good morning Bells." He smiled.

I got out a bowl and cereal and sat down across from him.

"You know Bells; I was thinking that maybe you'd like to come out fishing with me today. It's been such a long time since we've gone out together and the weather is pretty ideal at the moment. What do you think?"

I thought about it for a moment. There was nothing wrong with it. I had never particularly enjoyed fishing but then there wouldn't be anything to remind me of anything I didn't want to be reminded of…it had been a long time since we had been out together.

"Sure dad. I would love to. When do you want to leave?"

The look of relief that spread across his face was obvious and I felt a slight twinge of guilt because of it.

"We could leave right now if that's okay? They usually bite earlier in the day."

"That sounds great. Just let me finish eating and then I'll go change."

"Fine, you do that and I'll go get everything else ready."

With that he got up and headed out to pack the fishing gear and I was left alone. For some reason I wasn't completely happy with my decision to go but I brushed it aside as a desire to continue to hide in my room and I couldn't do that anymore.

Fake it 'til you make it.

I was going to change no matter how much I was hurting inside and with that I got up to go change in to something more appropriate. By the time I came downstairs Charlie was already rearing to go. Apparently the prospect of going out with me after so long was making him really happy and for a brief moment I wasn't as sad. Since my truck was the most ideal to lug his boat and the fishing gear I told him that he could drive. I had no idea where we were going and I didn't really feel like being behind the wheel anyway. We drove in silence the majority of the way with Charlie occasionally going on about previous fishing trips with Billy and Harry and the going-on around town. I was grateful that he didn't really expect me to keep on with the conversation and I just sat there listening to his voice. I finally began to appreciate how much he cared for me and the love that somehow I had always known existed between us. I leaned over and hugged him and then stared into his eyes, wide with surprise.

"I love you Dad."

He smiled. "I love you too Bells. We should be coming up on the trail now any minute."

We were going up this small vaguely familiar back road when all of a sudden, it all happened so quickly, I saw this huge tree falling down onto the road ahead of us. Charlie swerved right and the glass of the front windshield shattered everywhere. I threw up my arms to protect my face and a scream escaped my lips. Then everything went black.

I didn't know how long I had blacked out but it couldn't have been long. The engine was still steaming from the impact and I was aware of a sharp pain above my chest. The seat belt had broken my clavicle during the collision. I looked over to the driver side and gasped in horror.

No, no, no! This can't be happening!

"Dad?! Dad?! Charlie, wake up!"

His head was resting in an awkward position and I knew then what must have happened. He had swerved the truck around so that he would take most of the impact and in doing so had snapped his neck and saved my life.

This can't be happening. This can't be happening. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!

Just like that the only reason for me to go on living was gone. Taken and I would never see my father again. I lost it. I started to pound on his chest with my fists, willing him to wake up.

"Please Daddy, please. Don't leave me. You promised! You said you wouldn't leave me. Please not you too! I'll be better I promise. I won't ever hurt you again, I swear!"

I knew it was pointless, knew that nothing I could say or do would ever bring him back. Just like I knew that nothing I ever did would ever bring Edward back. I was alone, completely and utterly alone. I sat back with my eyes closed and cried, wishing that I had been lucky enough to have shared the same fate and cursing the fact that I was still alive.

Why am I still alive?!

Then, almost in answer I heard the laughing again, the same laughter that had mocked me the past few months. But this laughter wasn't in my head…it was too real and with that I opened my eyes and looked into two bitter, crimson eyes.

Okay, so that's it for now. Please review and let me know if it's any good and if I should continue it...or not.