CHAPTER 1
"We're really doing it, Em. We're going away." I smiled up at my big brother. He smiled down at me. We're moving to Washington- that's where our new dad was. His name was Charlie, and he was the Chief of Police for a microscopic town named Forks. This is the place where we would start over and try to finish high school with flying colors.
Me and Em were born in Phoenix by my mom and step-dad Phil. Em was four and I was three when he adopted us; we started calling him dad after that. For the next two years, everything was great. He kept her grounded, and he made sure me and Em could be kids for a while. He acted like a dad and she acted like a mom. It was all good, and we loved each other. A few years later, he reached his dream of being a Arizona Diamondback, and was well-respected on the team. The public sees him as great, stable family man with a beautiful wife and loving children. We were the typical all American family. We grew up on baseball fields everywhere, going to practices, and games with Phil. The team was one gigantic family and the other children would run around the stadium's with Emmett and I, laughing and screaming with immense glee and happiness. I had good friend's and bad friend's but all in all we had a good childhood.
Things changed as I turned fourteen and he turned fifteen. I had gotten a curvy figure, you know, large boobs, big butt, slim waist. Emmett had gotten really muscular in a disturbing amount of time. He played football, and was an offensive quarterback. I started to notice fairly suspicious things about Emmett. I noticed that he had a severe case of acne on his back and neck. I noticed that his pectoral muscles started to round slightly, making it look like he had a small set of boobies. But what I noticed the most, was that his aggression levels were out of this world. He snapped at everybody, and got pretty physical with whoever argued with him. I was really upset at the fact that Emmett had stopped being my brother and started being a monster. That's when I started to pop antidepressants and pain-killers.
It started out small. Only two or three a day, depending on how I was feeling with myself and everyone around me. Then I started to take more and more, almost to the point of taking a whole bottle. Emmett was just getting worse and worse. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't have anybody at this point. My mom and dad were always out and about. Phil wasn't doing his job of keeping my mom a parent. They went to parties almost every night and Emmett went with them. I didn't have anyone to confide in. Pills, pills, pills. So many pills. Then I started accompanying my parent's to parties. My mom took this as a change of heart in social means, so she put me on birth control and bought me a completely new wardrobe. She got me clothes that I wasn't very comfortable wearing. Tight dresses, short skirts, And shirts that showed lots of cleavage. I didn't like the clothes, but I thought that if I told her, she would tell everybody to ignore me again. I began to drink a lot of alcohol and smoked marijuana because she told me it was the grown up thing to do. She told me that I needed to loosen up and live a little. She had always given me a hard time about being quiet and shy. She didn't like the face I was book crazy instead of boy crazy. She wanted me to be like her. Out-going and ambitious. More like indignant and flighty.
Then, on my 15th birthday, I got totally wasted. It was some of the harsher drugs and stronger alcohol. I was glassy-eyed and I was stumbling all over the place. Then two guys, James Good and Andy Griffis, started hitting on me and making passes at me. I laughed, thinking that they were only being humorous. Then, suddenly, I was in a janitor's closet, my clothes being torn and shredded. I was raped 6 times by those boys. They left me in the closet, all bloody and violated. A maid had found me, and rushed me to the clinic. There was no one there, but I begged for her not to tell anyone. It took a while, but she reluctantly agreed not to say anything. She gave me some clothes, and asked me if I needed a ride. I agreed. When I got home I fled to my room, and cried my heart out. Those boys took my innocence. Something I hadn't had much of. My mom had come to my room to ask what was wrong. "They raped me! Those boys, James and Andy! They raped me!" I stared at me, malevolence filling her eyes. "God, Bella! You're such a fucking drama queen! Those boys didn't rape you! They fucked you! God, you're the one who made the mistake of having sex with those guys! Jesus Christ!" she stormed out as I began to cry even harder. I wasn't invited to another party.
That's when I was taking more pills than ever before. I started chasing everything with alcohol and tried to be high every second of everyday.
Then, one morning, I was getting ready to take my daily dose of fifteen pills when Emmett came into my room. He hadn't been in there for a while, I still don't know why he went in that day, but he did. "What are you doing?" he had said in a deathly quiet voice. I remember the fear I felt when he looked at me with total horror and anger. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" he had screamed loudly.
That night, Emmett beat me. He beat the shit out of me. He broke three of my ribs, fractured my sternum, broke my collarbone, broke my arm, shattered my wrist, broke my leg, and crushed my ankle. I was in the hospital for seven months and I still have to do physical therapy on Mondays and Thursdays. Emmett went to Juvy for 6 months and went on probation for 6 months. Mom and dad were furious. They wouldn't even look at me.
When Em came back, he immediately apologized. He couldn't stop saying sorry, and he gave me the reason for his actions. Roid-rage. Dad had pressured Emmett into using steroids for football. So far, Emmett was clean, and he would be damned to get back on it. We are slowly, but steadily building back our relationship.
Neither of us went to the parties anymore, and I told him about what had happened with James and Andy. He was livid and he threatened to kill the both of them, but calmed down guiltily as he realized how seriously I took the statement.
Emmett and I promised each other to try to get off drugs and alcohol; to get me on the straight and narrow, and get him off steroids and get him some real muscle.
It's been working so far. I've been sober for 2 months, and Emmett hasn't touched any drugs since he's got back. Soon enough, my mother and father were arrested for DUI, but soon charged for furnishing illegal drugs and alcohol to minors. They were fined $5,000 and were sent to prison for 2 years. Me and Emmett have lived with a friend until our social worker, Maria, found us a place to stay out in Forks.
So we're getting on the plane now. I couldn't stop bouncing up and down, excited that we were finally going somewhere different. Somewhere fresh. It feels nice to be new for once.
"You ready?!" grinned Emmett goofily. "Yeah," I smiled sweetly, "I'm ready."
