The Shadows Creep

Chapter 2

She crept closer to the shadow, wanting to lunge at it, to grasp it to her because she knew, knew deep inside her aching heart that Edward was there.

He had come back to her. She reached her hand out, her fingers trembling as it neared the shadow. Her heart pumped frantically, her body almost vibrating with excitement and longing and need yet some part of her was afraid. What if it wasn't him? What if she was imagining him?

That smooth, velvet chuckle reached her ears and a smile stretched across her face and she moved faster, her fingers almost reaching the shadow as a joyful cry of, "Edward!" left her lips.

Her bedroom door opened and light poured into her room. Her head shot around to stare at Charlie as he peered in at her. "Bella?" he asked in concern.

She jerked her head back to see that the shadow was gone. She stared for a long, uncomprehending moment as Charlie's hand settled onto her shoulder, shaking her lightly. "Bella? Are you alright?"

"He was here," she whispered, her eyes still focusing on the spot where she knew Edward had been standing. "He was standing right here. He talked to me…"

Charlie flinched, swallowing roughly as he tried to turn her to face him but she refused to budge, stubbornly keeping her head focused on the area. "Bella, he's not here. I'm sorry… but…"God he was so bad at this.

"No!" she screamed finally looking at him, her bloodshot eyes glaring

at him with such a look of hatred that he recoiled. "He was here! He was standing right here until you came!" Her voice rose until she was shrieking at the top of her lungs. "You took him away from me! Bring him back! Bring him back!" She lunged at him, clawing at his face, wanting to scar him like she was inside. She wanted to ruin him, to make him bleed and scream and hurt just like she was.

Charlie wrapped his arms around her, restraining her the best he could as she screamed and failed around, trying to get at him. He could feel the painful ache of the scratches on his face, but that was nothing compared to the agony of seeing his daughter's eyes, swollen and bloodshot, full of hatred and pain and longing, and he knew then that he had lost her.

He had lost her the moment her eyes had met Edward Cullen's and a part of him cursed the day that boy ever arrived in Forks.

...

The bed buckled slightly beneath her weight. She buried her nose against the golden comforter, breathing in Edward's scent. A small, fragile smile lifted the corner of her mouth as she remembered how said bed had come to be.

"What… is that?" Edward asked through gritted teeth at the huge mattress his brothers were trying to get in through the doorway.

"It's your new bed silly," Alice chirped.

Edward stared at her. "What?"

"It's your instrument of carnal enlightenment," Emmett said, laughing as Edward's eyes popped open into wide topaz circles. His mouth dropped as he struggled to find something to say to that.

"Edward's speechless…" Jasper nudged Emmett's shoulder. "Hell yeah man, you've done the impossible!"

Esme and Carlisle glanced up from where they were cuddling on the couch, smiling secretly in amusement at their children's antics.

Rose snorted, examining her nails from where she leaned on the wall.

"You think way too highly of him. No way is Emoward going to give up his precious virtue!"

"Ah come on Rosie," Emmett whined. "This is the best of the best. A good mattress for supporting fragile humans, doesn't squeak much…and it's huge! Plenty of rolling around to be done!"

Edward finally found his voice as his eyes turned pitch black. "There isn't going to be any… rolling around!" he shouted, his voice filled with embarrassment and rage as they laughed. "Are you all out of your minds! My sex life is none of your business!"

"You'd actually have to have a sex life for it to be your business,"

Alice quipped dryly, yelping as he lunged at her. She ducked out of his way, laughing as they chased each other around the room in a high-speed vampire chase.

"Children! Don't break anything!" Esme called, but the laughter could be heard in her voice, even as she scolded Edward at the curses he spat at his tiny sister.

Edward stopped abruptly, a chilling smirk crossing his lips as he stared at Alice.

"No!" she screeched as she looked at him in horror. "Not my credit cards!" She jumped onto his back, sending them both to the floor.

"1,ooo bucks says Alice wins," Jasper said as they rolled around on the floor trying to get the upperhand. Emmett scoffed. "You and your godamn cheating… fine… 1,000 for Edward."

Alice threw her arm around Edward's neck as she pinned him to the floor, sprawled out over his back. She leant down to his ear. "Bella will probably like it," she sing-songed, knowing that mentioning

Bella's happiness would guarantee her win.

Just as she predicted Edward stopped struggling, seeming to think about it before he sighed, a small smile appearing on his face. "Alright

Alice, you win. Thank you for thinking of Bella."

"No problem," she said, wrapping her other arm around his neck for more of a hug than a strangling hold.

"Fucking Alice," Emmett grumbled, roughly slapping down the money into Jasper's hands.

"Idiot," Rose sighed as Esme appeared beside Emmett to smack him over the head.

"Ow! It's not my fault that Eddie's such a loser!"

Jasper whistled softly as Emmett was thrown clear out of the house by Edward's kick. He looked down at the mattress. "Now how am I going to get this into the house? You kicked my mule across the yard!"

Edward smiled angelically. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

The memory brought fresh, painful tears that would never fall and she curled into herself as she sobbed dryly. She felt the bed dip and she almost rolled off of it when strong arms wrapped around her. The rest of the Cullens had squeezed themselves on the bed, wrapping their arms around each other as their agony rolled through the room, making

Jasper's eyes roll back at the force of it but he only laid there, his arms wrapped around his Alice and let it.

Low, keening wails echoed eerily throughout the room as they remembered and grieved.

...

Charlie was tired himself when Bella finally passed out, exhausted from her constant failing and screaming. Grunting with effort, he hefted her into his arms and carried her up to her room, gently settling her onto her bed and tucking her underneath the covers.

He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her pale, tear-stained face and running a hand through her tangled hair.

Charlie was far from an arrogant man but he was proud to have stood on his own two feet for most of his life. Even after he had fallen apart when Renee left him, dragging his daughter along, he forced himself to stand tall in face of the overwhelming hurt and depression, the side looks and the whispered gossip of the townsfolk and moved on with his life though he never forgot, and he certainly never stopped loving his ex-wife and daughter.

But in light of the last few nights and this one in particular he finally admitted it to himself. He needed help.

...

Laughter surrounded her as she became aware. She didn't recognize the room but it was huge with high sweeping ceilings, various paintings decorating the walls and antique furniture and yet the room gave off a foreboding aura that sent chills down her back and made her heart race with fear.

She looked around, looking for the source of the laughter and saw a crowd of faceless people, laughing hysterically as if something extremely amusing had occurred but for the life of her she couldn't recall what.

But there was one round of laughter, a single voice out of the crowd's that she recognized and her eyes shot around the room, frantically searching until she found him, standing to the far left of the crowd, laughing merrily, his eyes scrunched closed. He was the most beautiful thing in the room, the most beautiful thing in her world.

"Edward!" she gasped, scrambling to her feet as she raced towards him. He opened his eyes, topaz orbs glittering brightly as he gazed upon her. She flew into his arms, sobbing with relief as she felt his cold embrace close in around her, his cool touch soothing her soul.

"Oh Edward… you're here… God I can't… I'm so glad you're here! I miss you so much…"

She felt his body shake as he laughed again and she looked up, hurt that he was laughing at her pain. Razor sharp white teeth flashed at her.

"Oh love, of course you miss me! You killed me remember? You were to late…" He laughed again, long and deep as she tried to pull away from him, here eyes wide with horror and her mouth trembling as she started to sob. "TOO LATE! TOO LATE! TOO LATE! I'M GONE! ALL GONE!" he screamed as he laughed and soon, she was screaming with him as laughter surrounded them.

...

She woke up with a long, shrill scream, her body heaving as it tried to draw in air. Vaguely she heard a voice speaking to her, a hand stroking through her hair and gradually she calmed, falling back into a deep but restless sleep.

She blinked open her eyes, staring at the ceiling of her room, her thoughts muddled and confused. Her vision was blurry at first but soon it cleared. She caught a motion from the corner of her eye and jerked up, turning her head to look.

Edward sat in a chair pulled up next to her bed, his hands clasped and lying peacefully in his lap as he gazed at her with a serene look on his angelic face.

"Edward?" she breathed, moving forward, the blankets falling to her heels as she reached her trembling hand up to gently cup his face.

A crooked smile came across his lips as he leaned into her hand. A small sob left her mouth as she threw herself into his arms. He held her to him, gently stroking her hair as he brushed his lips against her forehead.

"Please… please don't leave me!" she cried.

"Oh love, I'm here," he whispered, nuzzling against her face. "I'm here. You just have to open your eyes… open your eyes and I'll be here... just look at me love…"

...

Her eyes snapped open and she looked up into the bright topaz jewels of his eyes.