First Twilight Story!! I've been lurking around other stories and finally decided to take a stab. Thanks for checking it out. Just a little idea I had. I know Phil isn't supposed to be so horrible, but in this story, he's just a little more than horrible. Hope you like it. Reviews please!!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I think you already guessed that one. :P
Fifteen really was a bad year for her. Braces, gangly limbs, protruding ribs and the slight curve of feminism didn't work so well for Bella Swan. She was right smack dab in the middle of puberty-neither childlike or womanly. The definition of awkward, and oh how it bothered her. Her long legs looked out of proportion compared to her short torso, her breasts obvious in comparison to her tight stomach. She wore pants too short, shirts too baggy, and makeup too clown like. Bella Swan was an awkward teenager, but that didn't stop her mother's newest husband.
She remembered the times she'd leave the house, feeling utterly ridiculous, just to find her stepdad awaiting her at the foot of the stairs, complementing her on her beauty. He'd smile a wide-toothy grin, practically drooling at the sides. She'd politely excuse herself; she really couldn't be late for school. Since her mom had started travelling on her book tour, it had been her and Phil, home alone, and she didn't know if she quite liked it. Phil would cook dinner, which was nice for a change, but he always insisted on a 'romantic father-daughter' setting with dimmed lights, candles, and presents that slowly grew to be more inappropriate. It started with nice perfume, candles, a pretty dress, and later grew to be lingerie sets he said were to make her feel 'pretty' underneath it all. She knew it was weird, but she didn't get this attention anywhere else. Bella liked being loved for once, taken care of, looked at like there was no one else around. Soon enough, she'd learn that trusting Phil would be her biggest mistake.
Mike Newton was a boy at school that Bella talked to often. They were good friends, and had been in the same class since preschool. He was kind, always saying the right things at the right times. She had a hunch that he liked her, and for once she didn't mind. The day Mike asked her out, Bella happily agreed. She rushed home, eager to prepare herself for her first date ever. They were going to dinner in Port Angeles, his mom was dropping them off as they were still fifteen, and Mike told her to dress up a bit. She found this as the perfect opportunity to wear that cute red dress Phil got her a month ago, because lets face it, who really has a place to wear such a thing in Forks? When Bella ran in the house, Phil was waiting at the door for her like normal,
"Hey! Bad news! Well it's kind of good and bad! This boy at school asked me out to dinner today and I said yes, so we won't be able to have our normal routine. I hope that's okay! I really like him Phil! You know Mike Newton? His parents own that outdoor sports store!" Bella awaited a response as she hung up her coat and took off her shoes. Phil was being awfully quite, and the house seemed pretty eerie. She turned to see him staring at her blankly. The weight of his gaze made her uncomfortable, she started fidgeting awkwardly with her backpack.
"Phil?" she apprehensively took a step back, Phil made his first step towards her. Bella stepped back. He took another step closer. Their dance played out until Bella was backed up against the front door. The only thing that separated her from Phil's menacing glare was her backpack, and she wasn't planning on dropping it anytime soon.
"Bella, you shouldn't have said yes to that little boy." He finally spoke up.
Bella's voice had become squeaky and nervous in her fear, "B-b-but I really like him, and it's not polite to decline someone for no apparent reason."
"It doesn't matter honey, Teenage boys don't know how to treat a woman like a woman. You'll call that boy and tell him you can't go, tell him you don't like him. Tell him there's someone else." With that he got up in her face. If it weren't for her backpack he'd be right up against her.
"Phil, you're a little close" His eyes turned a shade darker, he knocked the backpack out of her hands, and pinned them against the door. "Phil, let go." His grip only tightened. "Please stop it." He looked into her pleading eyes, and she no longer saw the compassionate man her mom was deeply in love with, she saw a stranger. "Phil, my mom…"
That was the last thing Bella remembered of the first time her step-dad sexually assaulted her, molested her, and raped her. She blacked out, partly because he hit her, partly because of shock. She was scarred, scarred for life. And there was nothing she could do about it.
Her mother's book tour got extended, turns out she had true words of wisdom and her book skyrocketed to the top of the best-sellers list in its first week. She was gone almost a year. She visited once or twice, and the minute she was over the threshold, her and Phil went back to being the normal stepdad-stepdaughter duo they were. When her mom was there, Phil's love for her was apparent, and one from the outside would never second-guess it. They could never tell this happy family had deep dark secrets, her mom would never be able to tell what Phil did while she was gone. Bella was good at hiding bruises-inside and out.
She told Mike that she wasn't allowed to date, and he understood. That relationship ended as soon as it started. There wasn't much to grieve, as nothing much had been started, but Bella still found it a trigger to the never-ending tears that graced her pillows at night. She'd lay there, bruised and tattered, tired but awake, naked and lonely, as Phil would leave her bedroom after his fun. She'd cry-cursing god for giving her this life, this family, this stepdad. She wanted to be a normal teenager, having fun with her normal boyfriend, hanging out with her normal friends. While people at school were sneaking alcohol behind their parents' backs and throwing secret parties, she was on house arrest. Phil almost never let her out of his sight, only allowing her to school and back. Otherwise, she'd find herself delving into the words of Shakespeare, Whitman, and Emily Bronte. Wuthering Heights was her favorite book. Her torn copy was always on her bedside table, its comforting words awaiting her for solace. It was comfort, the only sort she found in this house.
Her sixteenth birthday was nearing, and she had it all worked out. She applied for an exchange student program where a family in Alaska would take her in for half of the school year. Her mom happily agreed, and as Phil was her stepdad, he had no say in the matter. The family sounded nice enough from what her guidance counselor told her. A doctor and his wife, with five adopted kids, two were her age, and three were a year older. They saved them all from desperate situations, and Bella hoped that she could find the courage to tell them her story, and allow them to help her too.
September 15th came sooner than she expected. School started on the first, and she had endured another fifteen days at Forks High living a lie. Her mom had finally told Phil about Bella's plans, and well, he didn't take the news so well. His nighttime visits became longer and more frequent. He told her he would 'miss her' and he gave her a 'proper goodbye' the night before the fifteenth. The prospect of her new life helped her through the night. Tomorrow, she would arrive in Alaska. Tomorrow, Bella Swan met the Cullen family- her only hope.
…It's not my best work, but yet again my best work is in that little red journal on my bedside table. It's so much easier to write when your on your own, in your own little haven, iPod and a pencil, endless stretches of paper to form your stories on. But I hope you liked this one!! More to come, I promise. Review!!