BPOV
I woke up early and saw a watery sun shining through the curtains. It may have been a sad excuse for sun, but there were definitely some brave rays of sunlight peeking through an abnormally small amount of clouds. And considering actual sun was pretty rare in Forks, I decided to take it as a sign that my plan was going to work out.
I stayed still in my bed for a moment, pondering and thinking over my course of action. It had been so long since there was room for tangible thoughts in the misty mess that made up my brain. I was glad to feel the fog clear up. First item on the agenda: Charlie. I had to tell him I would be leaving this week or next week, as soon as possible anyway. During my sleep, somewhere in my subconscious I ended up deciding I would use the 'change of scenery'-excuse. I still had to decide whether I would play the 'broken girl in desperate need of change and a better environment to heal', or the 'girl that was over it and ready to move on with her life in another place'. Given the way I had been for the past weeks/ months, (how long had I been so absent anyway?) I decided the first option was the more plausible one; a drastic change in behavior might come across as odd. On the other hand, option two would make them more trusting in my mental state. This clearly needed more thought going in to it.
Second agenda item: Renée. I had to call her with the 'good' news and probably ask for money- something old Bella would hate, but Isabella would have little trouble with- money Renée would send me without a doubt. After all I needed funds for my flight and also for new clothes, I couldn't possibly go there in wool sweaters and ribbed flannel pants. (Actually, how horrific were those articles of clothing?!)
The third and last, biggest and most vague agenda item: execute part two of The Plan. I still wasn't quite sure how to handle it, as I had no experience in that area what so ever, but I could work up to it and see how it would go.
I decided to get up and take a shower, starting the day and slowly taking a step in the right direction of my long (?) forgotten morning routine. As I pulled open the doors to my wardrobe I wondered how long it had been since I had made a conscious decision on what to wear. Lately I wore old sweats and over-sized holey tees. I couldn't even remember whether I wore bras or not. That was dreadful, even for Boring Bella. She'd never been a fashionable person, but she did care about decent clothes. After staring into my wardrobe, seeing nothing, I decided a more pulled together persona would work best on Charlie so I opted for a simple, but relatively nice outfit. I grabbed at a random pair of pants, my fingers touching loose fitting jeans first; I chose a dark brown, long sleeved t-shirt and a thick cream cardigan with it. The outfit was bland, but it would come across less disturbed than the attire that had become the norm.
Clothes and toiletry in hand, I headed for the shower. I turned the faucet and let the water heat for a moment. I undressed, avoiding looking in the mirror still, and stepped in the shower. I grabbed at the shampoo bottle and was glad to notice it was still a neutral scent. Since Bella disappeared from the world of the living, Charlie was in charge of groceries and shopping, a task that wasn't one of his talents. Eventually he called in the help of Sue Clearwater, who had lost her husband a while ago due to a heart attack. It was weird knowing he had still been there when they looked for me in the forest. Anyway, since Sue took care of buying supplies, I had a different shampoo. She refrained from buying anything strawberry-scented, since The Big Break Down. The first time they got relatively through to me and had a bit of response, they decided it was shower time. The whole 'getting Pathetic Apathetic Bella into the shower- ordeal', had been a catastrophe; I had opened the shampoo and lost it. As the scent wafted out of the bottle, it reminded me of how much he loved it when my hair smelled of strawberries. After a while they had called Sue over, since I was sitting in the shower naked, screaming and trashing. Not a sight a father wants to see. I remembered vaguely that she tried for quite a long time to get me to wash up and when that didn't work she coed me out of the shower and into some clothes. Afterwards they were right back where they started with me. In bed, apathetic again and refusing to come out. Anyway, that was how I came to have neutral-scented shampoo.
Once I was freshly washed and shaven, I turned the water off. Shaving had been quite the task, as I had neglected all but the absolute most basic hygiene. My legs looked as if I had some serious fur, so I was glad to find a pack of pink razors Sue must have bought for me a while ago. I was very much ashamed of how many of them I had to use to get the job done. They clogged up in no time, honestly, it was scandalous. I quickly toweled myself off and dressed. With the more pulled together persona, came the task of combing my hair. Another task I had avoided during my stay in the nothingness. Somehow my hair didn't look as awful as one would expect after such a long time of neglect, and I was oh so thankful for it. Getting al the snarls out of it was another story all together. I must have been at it for almost half an hour before deciding enough was enough and waving the blow dryer through it, getting it partly dry. Dealing with ponytail bumps and semi-dry hair wasn't high on my list right now, so a low braid it was. Deciding I looked sane enough, I made my way downstairs.
