Chapter 2

I wasn't quite sure how long I had been on this road. I knew that it had been quite a while already and me being me, I forgot that it was in the middle of winter. I was shivering and had lost feeling in my nose and fingers. Part of me wanted to just turn myself around and start to head back however far it was I had walked and return to Phil but the majority of me was screaming to go on. I knew that this journey was going to be tough but I figured it would be worth it. As if things could not be bad enough as they were, a steady stream of rain began to fall.

"What have I done God? Why must you hate me like this?" I had never been a big believer in God, at least not since Phil started his abuse. I've always heard this crap of how we are never given more than we can handle but I feel like the situation I've been put in is definitely more than I can handle. I continued to walk shivering even more because of the drenched state I had become.
It took a few more minutes but I finally crossed into the town of Forks. I felt my tears mix with the steady rain as I continued to walk down the all too familiar roads. My body had a mind of it's own as it started walking down one street before turning onto another. It wasn't long before I was staring up at the tiny white house where mom and me used to reside. I felt as if not one thing was out of place but I couldn't be sure. I only recognized what I saw because of the pictures that mom had given me several years ago. My shivering body brought me out of my trance and I made my way to the front.

"What if they don't want me? What am I doing here? Of course they're not going to want me, I'd just be a burden to them." I was muttering to myself as my hand poised itself in front of the doorframe. My tears were mixing with the freezing water dripping down my head. I lightly knocked on the front door but no response came. "Of course you idiot, it's like 9 in the morning no one's home probably." I sat down on the porch stoop and continued to let the rain soak through my clothes. I felt absolutely exhausted and there was no way I was going to make it any farther than here. Before long I felt myself curl up into a ball as the rain continued to drench me and drift off into a very restless sleep.

I awoke to someone shaking me harshly. Startled at the contact I flew up from my position on the ground and backed into the corner by the door. It was dark and I could not make out more than the shadow of the person standing in front of me. The way my luck had been going I was probably about to be kidnapped by some sick psycho.

"Who are you?" The deep voice called out to me as he took a step closer. If it was even possible, I backed further into the corner and felt the tears begin to make their way down my cheeks again. I felt my stomach revolt against me before I was suddenly bent over dry heaving in fear. The strange man stumbled back at my sudden reaction. "Miss, are you okay? How long have you been outside?" I couldn't understand why this strange man was asking me questions as I continued to dry heave on the ground. My stomach felt like it was on fire and it wasn't too long that I found myself crumbling too the ground in front of the stranger.

"Edward!" He called. I heard another set of footsteps come up the stairs. "I don't know what's wrong with her. She just collapsed…what do we do?" I whimpered in even more pain and I felt myself begin to shiver even more.

"We need to get her to Carlisle. She doesn't look good at all." I heard the most beautiful voice I had ever heard in my life. It was so soft and silky. I felt like I was being laced in satiny sheets when he spoke. Suddenly, two arms gently picked me up and that set me over the edge.

"Please don't hurt me. Please, I beg you don't hurt me. I can't take it anymore." My voice suddenly came back as it pleaded with the two strangers.

"Bella?" How did this man know my name? I cowered in fear again and weakly struggled to get on my own two feet but my captor held me tightly to his chest. "Bella is that you?"

"How do you know my name?" I asked him quietly barely above a whisper. The strange man placed me into the back seat of a car as the other man got into the drivers seat and took off down the road.

"Is that really you Bella?" It sounded like this stranger was crying or at least wanting to cry. I couldn't put my finger on it but this voice sounded oddly familiar. "Bella, it's me, Emmett; you're big brother." He turned around and grasped my tiny frail hand in his own giving it a gentle squeeze. "We're going to get you help Bella, just hang in there okay." I could only nod my head. The strange man who had rescued me was Emmett? My big brother? He remembered me! I felt partially elated as the realization hit me.

"Emmett, it hurts so much." My whole body was in so much pain. I felt myself shaking hard against Emmett's rock solid form. I wasn't sure what was wrong but I knew something was definitely not right.

"Emmett we're here. You get her out of the car and I'll have the nurses page Carlisle to meet us." The other man quickly ran from the car and into the sliding doors. Emmett opened my door and delicately scooped me out of the car.

"You're going to be okay Bella, just please hang on." Emmet whispered into my hair as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. The blinding lights from the hospital caused me to turn and bury my head into Emmett's massive chest. I was laid onto a gurney and wheeled into a room where nurses began cutting off various parts of my clothing. A blonde haired doctor came into the room holding what looked to be very minimal paperwork.

"Bella? Can you hear me?" He picked up my tiny wrist and held two fingers feeling for the pulse. I nodded my head to acknowledge that I could in fact hear him. "What happened to you? Can you remember?" I opened my mouth to speak but Carlisle held up his hand. I immediately shut my mouth and braced myself for the incoming pain but it never came. Carlisle had a very pensive look marring his beautiful features. "Actually, let's just get you fixed up here and we can talk later." He flashed me a rather beautiful smile as he began to stitch me back up. The doctors and nurses continued to work around me but nothing registered in my brain. I slowly felt my consciousness leaving me and I fell into the darkness.


When I awoke later that night, I was alone in a room. I heard a faint beeping noise and all of the memories had come back. Just as I realized where I was, a young looking nurse walked into my room and began checking different monitors and the IV bag that was hanging by my bedside. Just as she was finishing up Dr. Cullen entered my room.

"Could you please give Bella and I a moment to speak in private? If I need any assistance I will be sure to call you. Thank you." The nurse that had previously been checking my monitor quickly made her way from the room. I felt the panic set in at what this man could do to me. The tears began to pour out of my eyes and I felt my body begin to convulse in sobs. "Bella, I'm not going to hurt you. Would you like me to get Emmett, he is dying to know what happened to you." I nodded my head shakily at him. He returned just as quickly as he left with a nail biting Emmett in tow.
"Bella, are you okay? Carlisle is she going to be okay?" Emmett was panicking as he sat down beside me and grasped my frail hand in his large one.

"She's going to tell us what happened to her and I figured it'd be easier for her to get out all at once. He pulled a couple more blankets down from the cabinet above my bed and tightly wrapped them around my form. "Go ahead Bella, we're listening. Everything is going to be alright, you are safe here." I nodded my head and looked up at Emmett.

"I…I ran away from my stepfather Phil because he's been abusing me ever since our mom died. I just couldn't take it anymore. I know it was wrong of me to run away like that but I don't know how much longer I would've lasted if I had stayed. I'm so sorry Emmett, I didn't know where else to go and I just figured that maybe you and dad might want me. I'm so sorry." I felt myself lose it as the dam of tears broke and I sobbed even more.

"That bastard. How could he do that to you!?" Emmett abruptly stood up from the chair releasing his hold on my hand. He began pacing around the room while running his hands through his very short hair. "Why didn't you tell us Bella? We could've gotten you out of there years ago. Dad and I thought that you were so happy there. You never called. We never heard from you." Emmett had tears streaming down his face as he sat back down next to me.

"Bella, I'm going to need to do an exam on you just to see how badly you are hurt. Is that okay with you?" I simply nodded my head at him too afraid of talking. "Emmett you should call your father. He'll want to be here." Emmett too nodded before whipping out his cell phone and quickly dialing a number.

"Dad…you need to get to the hospital right away." Emmet told him. "It's not me dad, I'm fine, it's…it's Bella. I would've called you sooner but I was too worried to think about it. Please just come down here. I'll explain everything when you get here. Just hurry." Emmett quickly hung up the phone and sat down next to me.

"Bella, do you want Emmett to stay? He doesn't have to be in the room if you don't want him." I shook my head fiercely despite the protests my body was sending me.
"I want him to stay. Please, I need you." My voice sounded so quiet, so pitiful. He just smiled at me and nodded.

"Okay Bella, I'm just going to visually inspect your body, just tell me if anything hurts or feels at all uncomfortable." He began inspecting my arms and my neck discovering the numerous bruises that Phil had littered over my body. He made his way to my legs and made note of the handprints on my inner thighs. "Bella, I know this is hard but did Phil ever sexually abuse you?" I looked to Emmett whose face was one of pure rage.

"Yes." I whispered not daring to say anything else. Carlisle nodded and jotted another note down on the chart.

"I'm going to have to do a rape examination kit. How old are you Bella?" Carlisle asked looking at me inquisitively.

"She's almost 18, just a few months short." I looked at Emmett shocked. He actually remembered my birthday? How could he, we were so young. He noticed my baffled expression and quickly answered my mental question. "I told you Bella, Dad and I have been so worried about you. Every moment we could, we were thinking about you." I just nodded my head and looked to Carlisle. As he was about to say something, a very worried and flustered Charlie burst through the door startling me.

"Bella!" He exclaimed rather loudly and ran over to the other side of the bed before grasping me in a much too tight hug. "I… why haven't you called? You're all grown up!" Amidst his appraisal of my grown up form, he noticed the striking blue and black that covered my body as well as the dried tears that lurked on my face. "Who did this to you sweetie?" He gasped in shocked as he ran his hand delicately along my split lip and swollen cheek. "Give me a name and I'll kill them." His eyes had gone almost black with rage and I felt myself cower away from him in fear.

"Please don't hurt me…please." I managed to whimper out. I saw tears collect in his eyes as he brought me into a delicate hug.

"Oh I've missed my baby girl so much. I'm so elated to have you back here with me; you really have no idea. I've been so worried about you." He embraced me once more before turning to Carlisle. "How bad is she Dr. Cullen? She's going to recover from everything right?"

"Charlie, calm down, it'll be alright. Bella was just telling us how she got all of her injuries before she walked in." He looked down at my broken form in front of him "Do you want to tell him or would you rather I explain it to him?" He asked me.

"I think I can tell him Dr. Cullen." I got that nervous feeling back in the pit of my stomach. I looked over at my worried father and took a deep breath wincing as the pain in my ribs increased. "Dad…please don't be mad at me. Phil…he's been…abusing me and I had to get away. I didn't know where else to go but I was afraid to stay there. Please don't send me back there, he'll kill me, he will." I was full out begging him to let me stay here with him. I noticed his face darken even more if it were possible. "I'm so sorry daddy, I didn't mean to make you upset." I turned my head into the pillow and began to sob quietly to myself. I felt fingers gently lift my chin from its position on the pillow.

"Bella, honey, never in a million years would I send you away. I love you so much and I wish I knew about this sooner. I could've helped you. I'm just so glad that you're safe now." Charlie looked at me with shiny eyes. He was going to cry; I had never seen my dad cry. That wasn't counting the fact that I hadn't seen my dad in a few years but still, dads didn't cry. "We're going to get that sick bastard. I promise you that."

"Daddy…he didn't just hit me…he…he…he raped me too dad." I mumbled out and I immediately saw Charlie's face fall.

"It's going to be okay sweetie, we're going to get through this, I promise you that. You don't have to worry about a thing." He hugged me to himself again as he looked at Carlisle.

"Charlie, I'm going to need your signature to perform a rape kit on Bella." Charlie nodded his head against my hair and moved to sign the paperwork Carlisle was holding out for him. "Okay Bella, we're going to get this started so you can rest. I'll try to make this as painless as possible."

Carlisle had finally finished up his exam and after a painful hour of poking and prodding I was finally able to just sit back and relax in bed for once in my life. I was enjoying the quiet that had fallen in my room when Emmett decided to speak up.

"Bella, I know that now might not be the best time, but there is someone who is really wanting to meet you. He's been texting me non-stop since we've gotten here. Would you mind? He was with me when we found you earlier on the porch." I suddenly remember that beautiful silky voice I had heard when we were outside back at the house and I nodded my head a little too eagerly.

"Edward, you can come in." Emmett spoke in the phone he had near his ear. About a minute later, the door creaked open and in walked in the most beautiful looking man I had ever seen in my life.


A/N: Thanks to those of you who have already read through the first chapter. I am debating rewriting this chapter partly because it did not quite turn out how I had planned it too but if you guys like the way it's going I'll keep it. Please review the story and let me know what you think. I don't know how many of you write but hearing the feedback whether good or bad can really influence the creative juices. Thanks again to all the readers and I will be sure to update soon if you guys want me to continue.

~Jess