A/N - This is my first Fanfic so bare with me. This is eventually going to be a story but right now I just really wanted to publish this chapter which has been bugging me for ages. I've had this story in my head for a while and it comes in bits. I will order it when I start writing properly.
Anyway, Bella doesn't exist and our main character here is Alex, who starts out as a 4 year old girl in the beginning. Alex comes from a rich family who seem to have the perfect life, houses, holidays, clothes, everything anyone could ever want. But behind closed doors that is a different story. Alex suffers horrible abuse from both her Mother and Father and has made the best and worst of it. When she meets the Cullen's after wandering around in the forest (all will be explained later) an unexpected bond between the family and the little girl is formed. This is about how Alex affects the Cullen's and how they in turn save her.
This chapter is by no means the end of the fanfic, I would place it somewhere closer to the beginning. Enjoy
CPOV
Rosalie and Esme had stayed at home but the rest of my family were with me. I slowed down as I approached the back door of the large house. All around us was open ground; we would have been easily visible to anyone watching had we not been under the cover of darkness. I reached out to twist the handle and to my surprise it was open. I glanced over my shoulder at my family, all crouched behind me, bar Jasper who was further back, restraining himself against the smell of spilt blood.
I pushed the door fully open on its hinges. Here the scent hit me far more strongly. Blood mixed with alcohol fumes. But not just blood. Alex's blood. I moved forward with most of my family on my heels. We walked in a dark, long corridor and for a millisecond we all froze as we heard a tiny whimper that any normal human couldn't have heard. I continued to walk at a pace slightly faster then a human jog cautious of what we might find.
Light shone out of an open doorway and as I passed I glanced inside. The room was grand, high ceilings and antique furniture but in the middle was a table covered in bottles in various states of empty. On one of the sofas was a middle aged woman, passed out but for the moment I didn't stop to see if she was ok. Her heart beat was strong enough. We continued on to the front of the house as the scent of blood and sound of whimpering got louder.
Here we were at the front of the house which opened out into a large area at the foot of a sweeping stair case. The only real light came from the moon through the large windows and its glow reflected off the shattered glass spread across the floor. On the wall opposite from where we were standing was a wide glass cabinet now without a front door and empty of most of the glasses and crystal. The wooden frame was slightly splinted and there were tiny droplets of blood spattered on the floor in front of it.
I turned to my family and looked at Emmett and Jasper, the two who were least comfortable with the smell of blood. 'Go and sort out the situation in there', I said to them nodding in the direction of the unconscious woman. Next to the cabinet there was a door, where it seemed the whimpering sound was coming from. Alice, Edward and I approached it, once inside looking around for the little girl. I couldn't see her but now I didn't need to. I could hear and smell here under the desk at the far end of the room, on which a small lamp had been turned on that emitted a dim glow.
As she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her heartbeat increased rapidly and the whimpering grew to tiny sobs. Alice remained by the door and Edward followed me a little way behind. I went behind the back of the desk and pulled out the large desk chair. I crouched down and looked in the space underneath where a tiny little girl hid, pushing herself up against the wooden back of the desk. Her eyes were squeezed shut and tears leaked out of them.
Her hands were help protectively up to her body and her hair was matted and knotty. She clearly needed minor medical attention. I reached under the desk and grabbed her carefully underneath her arms, trying not to cause anymore pain or damage to her frail form. Sobs wracked her body as I lifted her out and she remained in a partially foetal position. Once I had stood up I swept my eyes over her body inspecting any damage done. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and looked at me.
Behind the glistening tears there was a fear and slight confusion. As she slowly realised who it was she relaxed minutely and I pulled her closer towards me, cradling her carefully, avoiding any obvious injuries. I looked up at Edward and Alice addressing both of them. 'She can't stay here. We'll take her back to our house. I can see what's wrong there. Alice, go and get necessities. A change of clothes, pyjamas, wash things.'
Alice left the room instantly while Edward remained, I walked towards the doorway as he met me at my side. 'I don't think its anything too serious although I hate to think what happened in this house tonight.' We exchanged worried glances and I returned my attention to the small girl in my arms. She was close to hysterics and was sobbing into my chest although she was more quiet then I would have expected. She grasped desperately at my sweater as tight as she dared without hurting her already damaged hand.
We met the boys who were looking anxiously at my arms and Alice quickly joined us. Without anyone saying anything, we exited via the front door which was also unlocked and ran back to our own house which was under two minutes away. I would under any other circumstances have been worried about the child's reaction but at this moment I doubted she either realised or cared. I reached the house with the others ahead of me and walked though the already open door.
Esme and Rosalie were now stood with my other children, deeply concerned looks on their faces. I looked at each person in turn and then back down at the fragile mass in my arms. 'I'll go and treat her in my office', was all I said before I half walked half ran up the stairs, leaving the others to discuss the situation amongst themselves. Once in my office I sat her on my desk, making sure she remained up right and went to get out my medical equipment I kept at the house.
She looked at me with her large watery eyes, a sad expression on her face although at least she had stopped crying. I gave her a reassuring smile and went into doctor mode. I needed to make sure she did not have any serious injury. That was my main concern. From what I could see her hands and forearms, as well as her knees had glass embedded in them. Nothing was seriously deep, but it had cut the skin and all the tiny shards of glass would need to be taken out with tweezers.
On closer inspection the back of her head was also cut up rather badly but again nothing deep. Head wounds always bled more I told myself. All the while the little girls big eyes followed every move I made and I continued to look calm, telling her exactly what I was going to do. 'Now we have to get all this glass out of your hands and knees don't we' I said looking up at her. She gave a tiny nod, but maintained the scared look on her face. I put a metal dish beside where she sat on my desk and took out my surgical tweezers.
Then, I looked at her to make sure she was out and took her hand gently. I brought it closer towards me and reached to take out one of the bigger pieces. At this she whimpered and pulled her hand slightly but I kept it still and took out the second piece, concentrating carefully and listening to the tiny plink sound it made as it ht the bottom of the dish. I looked up at her and silent tears were flowing. I smiled tightly, I hated making people cry even though it was necessary, especially when they were children.
I returned to her hand and took out a third piece and this time she cried out more loudly and pulled with much more force so that I let go in shock I looked at her face and she looked at me in an accusing way. Her hand was help protectively to her body and I sighed silently. 'Honey, I have to get all the glass out of your hand. I know it hurts, but it'll hurt even more later if you don't let me get it all out.' She shook her head the smallest bit and even more tears escaped over her hot cheeks.
I stroked her face gently before moving my hand down to take her wrist and bring it back towards me. I felt her struggle and I felt awful for doing it but knew it was necessary. 'Tell me something' I said, smiling at her. Alex's was a tiny pot of endless facts, often sprouting them out at any moment she chose. But right now she said nothing, just staring at me with her big eyes. I turned my attention back to taking another piece out and she began crying noisily twisting her hand and bending her fingers although I did not release my grip on her wrist.
'No…' she whimpered beneath her tears, and if I could of I felt like I might of cried too. This little girl whom I loved so much and I was the one that was making her feel like this. But I know it had to be done. Knowing this could take hours I called quietly for my youngest son, knowing he would be able to stand the scent of blood in such close proximity the best out of all my children. 'Edward' I called and a second later he was in the room. 'She's not responding too well. She's in a very sensitive state.' I said in my head.
He nodded and moved forward. I turned back to the little girl. 'Alex, Edward is going to help. You have to trust us.' I don't know if she heard she was too agitated with the situation to care much beyond self preservation. I turned back to my son, 'If you would just hold her still I will try to do this as quickly as possible. There is a lot of glass.' He nodded without saying anything and pursed his lips as he looked at the little girl. He reached over to her and lifted her up.
In the same moment she wriggled and writhed and her cries became louder. She tried to slip though his hands and she almost fell to the floor he sat himself of the desk and quickly placed her onto his lap. Stilling her body as much as he could with his arms and elbows while he held her hand out flat, unable to move under his solid grip. She went back to whimpering and her wriggling reduced although she was shaking involuntarily which concerned me quite a lot. Food and water, I thought and Edward's lips raised the tiniest amount at that.
Once I had done this to both her hands she was acting more subdued although along with the whimpering and shivering came the occasional stuttered 'oww' or a louder cry. Tears came and went and we moved to her forearms which had significantly less then her hands and her knees which had been somewhat protected by the tight she was wearing. I decided to inspect all damage after I had removed all the glass. Now Edward turned her around and held her against his body.
When he did this she started up her struggling once again and she almost slipped though his fingers. His face was one of alarm as her cries rose and shook her body and her hands pushed away at anything in front of her. He had to use more force to hold her to him although he was still careful, conscious of how easily she could break. He held her body with one arm and her face against his chest with one hand softly holding it there.
He turned so that I could have easy access to the back of her head and her loud cries continued as she uttered moans and protests of pain more frequently. Once I was done and all traces of glass were removed there was a relatively large pile of glass in the dish. Edward held her in the same position as I got a wet cloth and dabbed the spot I had just been working on. Her reaction escalated once again and it was startling to think she still had any energy to do that. I didn't try again; I could sense she was already in enough distress.
Edward, hearing my thoughts, turned her around to face me and I took her hands gently and inspected them. I looked at her and didn't bother trying to clean them. 'She can have a bath soon', I muttered to no one in particular. I then moved to her knees but I couldn't see the injury there because she was wearing tights. I removed the little buckle shoes she was wearing and she looked at me with slight confusion and alarm. I pulled at the toes of her tights and she kicked away suddenly, writhing under Edwards grip once again.
I sighed and looked at him. 'I'm exhausted' I said with a half smile although it did not reach my eyes. He returned it and replied, 'lets just hand her over to the girls'. I nodded and took her as she quietly sobbed.
The girls were already outside and Esme stepped forward to take her from me with a sad look in her eyes. She gently rocked the small girl and hushed her quietly. As I looked at my wife I felt an overpowering sense of love for her. For being so caring, so loving. Yet I know that a child was the one thing I could never give her.
APOV
The tiny child in Esme's arms looked so fragile; all I wanted to do was stop her from crying. As Edward and Carlisle returned downstairs, Esme turned to us with a sad look in her eyes before turning in the direction of her room. Once there she laid the small child onto the bed and leant over her stroking her hair. She looked up at Esme and snuffled tearfully. Esme began humming very lightly looking at the little girl. Rose went and sat on the other side of her and looked at the scene.
I remained stood in the middle of the room. A moment later Esme seemed to remember there were other people in the room; she turned to me and said, 'did you bring her bath stuff Alice?' to which I replied I had and dashed out the room and returned a moment later with a small wash bag I had made up from what I could find at her house. The scene was the same and when I returned Esme smiled at me. Then she murmured at the little girl, 'lets get you undressed huh?'
She reached up to take the sleeves of the jumper she was wearing and pulled it over her head to which she protested slightly with an agitated look on her face. She squirmed and wriggled and I got closer, not wanting her to feel that way. Underneath she was wearing a white long-sleeved top, which had blood doted vaguely along the underside of the sleeves, with a checked dress. She was still wearing her bloodied white tights, although Carlisle had removed her shoes. Next Esme tried to remove the tights and she began to squeal, jus as she had been before with Carlisle.
'I'm sorry little one' she cooed, thinking the movement was hurting her knees. She looked to Rose in need of assistance and she took over Esme's position although she still hovered. I moved around to the other side of the bed so that I was closest to her head. Rose reached up under her dress to the top of her tights so that she could roll them over the cuts rather then pull. But once Rose started to do this Alex started up fighting against it, trying to roll over in a feeble attempt to get away.
Rose held her gently but firmly by the top of her tights, and looked slightly hurt by Alex's efforts. 'Stop that', she murmured, and began to roll down Alex's tights, ignoring her attempts to stop what she was doing. A troubled, puzzled look appeared on Rosalie's face, then on Esme's and as I looked down at what she was doing onto mine. Rose rolled the tights over the cuts carefully although a loud whimper escaped her mouth.
Finally the tights were off, and Alex had stopped struggling as she saw exactly what I suppose she didn't want us to see. Her legs were covered in bruises, more on her thighs then her lower legs. Some were newer, still dark, but some were yellow and faded, they had obviously been there for a long time. Most were just splotches but a few could be made out as finger shaped, a bit of a hand perhaps.
'Come on' said Esme as she reached to the zip on Alex's dress, clearly thinking the same thing as I was-what else was there-but she quickly sat up and scrambled backwards, tears once again filling her eyes. Esme looked at her sadly and reached towards her, picking her up and hugging her closely despite her struggles. Alex sobbed, and collapsed into Esme who cradled her and rocked her, humming and hushing for over ten minutes before she began to quieten and still.
'Now Alex,' said Esme, 'we need to give you a bath because you got all dirty.' She pointed out her hands and knees to the small child. 'You need to get undressed now, will you let us help you?' she asked. We waited for a reply which for several seconds didn't seem like it was going to come. The small child looked into her eyes and eventually nodded. Esme lay her back down on the bed and reached for the zip.
This time there was no resistance, just a sense of defeat about the small child. I wondered how much she had had to put up with. How this had happened to her. Who had done this to her. I felt sorry for Jasper right now, having to deal with all of the emotions in the house. If I felt, angry, upset, vindictive, helpless-I had no idea how Rosalie and Esme would be feeling right now.
They were far more empathetic towards children then I was so this, what ever this was, would be affecting them so much more. As Esme removed Alex's dress and then her top she gasped as the full extent of Alex's injuries were revealed, which went beyond the grazes she had obtained tonight. 'Carlisle', she called softly and a moment later he was by her side. When he look at the child lying still and vacant it seemed, his face contorted in an array of emotion before he put on the calm mask he had learnt from years of hospital work.
He went and sat at her feet, studying her body. He lifted her up, to which she now made no attempts to resist, and checked her back. It was, perhaps, even sadder to see her in this desolate state then when she struggled, she looked truly defeated, beaten. 'I don't think there is anything I can do. She is in no danger. Her physical wounds will heal in time…' He left his words hanging at the end. He leaned over and kissed the child on the forehead before doing the same to his wife and exited the room.
EPOV
Through the eyes of everyone upstairs I could see the true extent of Alex's injuries. Carlisle came back downstairs and could clearly see I was agitated. Jasper's nerves had gone haywire and even Emmett could detect something was wrong. Upstairs the sound of running water began and the occasional soft murmurs of the girls upstairs floated through the floorboards. Emmett was the only one sat down while Jasper stood by the front door, as though he was ready to make a run for it and I was stood at the other end of the room near my piano.
Carlisle sighed and went to sit in his armchair, resting his head on an arm. We were all silent for a while, listening as the girls bathed the young child we had all come to love, even me, who had been apprehensive about allowing a human into our lives on such close proximity. Eventually, I couldn't stand it any longer. 'How could someone do that to a child?' I said in a raised tone, directed at Carlisle. He looked at me with sad eyes and replied, 'I don't know'.
'How could we not have known Carlisle? We've known her what, four, five months and yet we never noticed. If she managed to hide it from us who knows how long she has been hiding it.' I was nearly shouting now, letting all my frustration and anger flow out in the direction of Carlisle who in all honestly didn't need this right now. He just looked at me for a moment and then raised his eyes towards the ceiling. 'Tell me something', said Alice but no reply came.
'No child should have to go through what she has', I murmured. 'Well, we don't know what that is yet Edward.' Replied Carlisle finally. 'Don't know?! That woman through her child into a glass cabinet, that's what it is', now I really was yelling. 'Edward,' came the sharp response, reprimanding me for my tone. Then his eyes soften and he sank back into his chair, ' just don't jump to conclusions. I'm not saying she hasn't been…abused. I'm just saying, we don't know everything. It may not be her Mother, it could be anyone.'
I couldn't think of anything to say so I turned to my piano and sat on the stool, placing my hands on the keys but didn't actually play anything. We were all perfectly still listening as the bath emptied and Esme, Rosalie and Alice fussed over the little girl. Carlisle got up from his seat then and headed towards the stairs. Although he hadn't changed in anyway physically of course, he seemed to be year's older, stress and worry crossing his usually calm face.
RPOV
As I towel dried the little girl I couldn't avoid looking at her battered body. There were bruises everywhere. Every time I brushed against a new bruise or her cuts she winced and it broke my heart a little. Even more scarily she seemed totally absent, allowing herself to dragged around by us, now that we had found out her secret. How long had she been hiding it from us? It was even worse when Alice tried to brush her hair, as her scalp was very sensitive.
Eventually she managed although it took a lot longer then it should have. Next Esme came in with her pyjamas and handed them to he to dress her in. I noticed they were full length pants and sleeves and I tried to remember ever seeing Alex without a long sleeve top or tights, because she never wore pants in the daytime. When we went back into the bedroom, Carlisle was there with bandages in his hand. She looked scared again but made no attempt to struggle when I lifted her up to sit on my lap on the bed once more.
'We just have to put these on and it'll be all better' he said, lying through his teeth. We all knew it wasn't that easy. There was no fairy to wave her magic wand. He placed gauze on her hands and wrapped the bandages around them, making sure she still had easy function of her fingers. He then lifted her pant legs, once again revealing the horrible bruising. He did the same for her knees and inspected her head but didn't do anything for it.
He smiled at her when she was done but she didn't return it. He kissed on the top of her head once more and turned with Esme to go back downstairs. 'I'll go and get food' said Alice, before disappearing off behind them. Now I was on my own with Alex for the first time that night. She leaned back into my body, absolutely exhausted from the day's events it seemed; her body was completely limp. I leaned behind me and grabbed the thick through from off the end of Carlisle and Esme's bed and wrapped it around me before lifting her into my arms as though she were only an infant.
I looked down at her and she looked back at he although her lids were getting heavier. I walked back downstairs at a humans pace and as I reached the bottom every pair of eyes was on my bar Alice's who was in the kitchen still. I walked over to the sofa where Emmett was sat on his own, for once not looking his cheery self. It made me want to cry at the fact that this little girl who had brought so much joy into our lives had also unintentionally brought so much sorrow, none of it her fault.
I sat down in the corner and tucked her into my arm next to the sofa arm with the blanket around her. Emmett placed a hand on my knee and squeezed it slightly to show his support. I returned that with a small smile. Alice returned with a glass of water, we didn't have any cups appropriate for children of her age, and a small plate of tomato pasta. She passed me the glass of water and I propped up the little girl so she could sip from the cup as I held it.
She reached her bandaged hands up to hold on to it although she had no real grip, she would have dropped it on her own. She drank for a long time, until most of the water was gone before looking up at me with uncertain eyes. I smile reassuringly, something everyone seemed to have done a lot of in the last three hours. Then Emmett held the plate of pasta for me as I picked up the fork on it and stabbed a piece of ravioli. It smelt disgusting to me but I held it up to her mouth and she opened obediently.
It took her a long time to chew and swallow, sometimes even stopping altogether and when she finally finished she had only eaten just over half of the pasta. I held the remaining water to her lips although she was pretty much dead in my arms and almost as soon as she had finished drinking she was asleep. I adjusted her in my arms and stroked the side of her face. Everyone was seated around the coffee table, all very still, while the little girl who we had all come to love so much fell apart in my arms.
A/N – What did you think? R&R if you like and I will start writing it properly faster