Disclaimer: I don't own anything. No money is being made. Satisfied?
I know... I've been gone a while... Sorry, I've been sick. I'm an ill person. This isn't quite up to par, but, eh..
Thanks to Priya, God bless her soul, and to all of those who reviewed- and pardon my grammar, I'm young, and my Language teachers suck.
-Claps hands- Chapter commence...
Bella Swan
"Isabella? Isabella? When was the last time you have eaten?"
"What drug are you on?"
"Is there more than one?"
"Do you hurt anywhere?"
I was bombarded with questions as I was dragged from the room, and doctors were surrounding me.
"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together!"
Suddenly it was my favorite Beatles line, I heard, screamed. It wasn't until a good five minutes later I realized it was me screaming it. I couldn't feel my mouth moving, but I could hear me. Was I muttering in desperately under my breath?
Hands were all over me, touching me. I didn't care, much. I could hardly feel it anyway.
"I am he as you are she and we are the... wait- that's wrong..." The light that was all around me was fading, but I didn't care. Even if my eyes closed- I could still see the colors, as if my hallucinations were coming from directly behind my eyelids, projecting into my high mind.
"I am so deep," I muttered, and then I was unconscious.
X
When I awoke, some girl was singing, over me.
"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are... Up above the world so high- you're awake!" It was the dark skinned girl I had seen from earlier. She had long black hair that was pinned back away from her face in an elegant, foreign clip. Her eyes were a dark, dark brown.
"What are you doing?" I asked, hitching up a blanket around me protectively.
"Oh- well, I thought you were on a bad trip. I had a bad trip once, and when I came out of it, there were stars all over the place, and ever since then, if I think of stars before I do my drugs, I don't have bad trips. I just tried to counter your... badness. No offense- I wasn't calling you bad, no. Sorry, sometimes I say things and they just come out wrong, you know?"
"Yes- I do, it's fine. I understand."
The poor thing had rambled on for nearly thirty-seconds without even taking a breath... That was talent. I guess.
"I wasn't seeing bad things, honestly," I wiped a line of dried drool away from the corners of my lips. I found whenever I did LSD I drooled- and it was a little embarrassing sometimes.
"You're all sweaty. No offense. Do you need a rag, or something? I'm sure I can.."
"That be nice, thanks," I mumbled before she could continue. I was afraid the girl would ramble on and on, and we would die in this room.
Speaking of room, I wasn't in the hospital, but a normal looking bedroom. Much cleaner than my one at home- which had gone straight to hell after my drugs picked up, but perfectly clean- eerily so. I could smell harsh cleaning chemicals, and it was making my sensitive stomach churn.
Emily was dead asleep on the bed next to me, her mouth wide open, and those perfect teeth exposed. Her mouth looked dry. I was afraid if I poured water down her mouth she would choke on it, or her tongue. She'd simply have to suffer. I wondered what she was on, absentmindedly.
I felt a little angry that I had been the only one caught, on drugs. And on national television... I blamed it on my hallucinations.
The dark skinned girl was back, and she wiped down my face. I closed my eyes and scrunched my nose at her mother-ness.
"Uh- thanks, but I can do that."
"Sorry, I tend to be a little... overbearing." The girl chuckled, nervously. As if I made her nervous.
"It's fine. Bella," I stuck out a hand- which I promptly cleaned off on the rag, before sticking out again, grinning. The girl smiled, and stuck her hand out as well.
"I'm Priyanka. You can call me Pinky if you like- most people do." (Her name is Pree-yonk-ah)
I chuckled. "You're name isn't that hard to pronounce- but don't tell me how to spell it, please."
Priyanka gave a loud laugh, and threw herself down on the last bed in the room. Emily occupied the one closest to the window- maybe after my lethargy wore off, I could drag her to the middle bed, so I could have the window...
The room was decorated souly in Purples. Not my favorite color- but it didn't drag up any bad memories, so I wouldn't protest it. Honestly, as long as I had an occupied (and preferably high) mind, life would be okay.
There was a television on the dresser that was in front of my bed, so that it was centered in the room, and all the beds could see it, if the people laying in them wanted to watch the television at the same time.
I looked around, and when I saw no remote, I crawled onto my stomach, and made my way to the television, turning it on with a sharp jab from my finger. It was cruel to make us have to get up, so. I flicked through the channels until I got to a local news channel, and turned it on as low as I could. I didn't like silence. I wanted some background noise.
"So, would you fill me in on everything?" I asked Priyanka, collapsing on my back and staring at the ceiling. My entire body ached and twitched, but it didn't faze me.
"Sure. Okay.. Um- well, we're here with seven other people, minus you and Em, don't worry, I'll introduce you to them later. Mainly, we're going to have therapy sessions- group therapy is on Sundays, that's aired on the TV, but we have are own little sessions that are private- well, I mean, it's filmed, but none of us are there. But get this- if I turn on the TV when the show is on, we can watch what everyone else is saying. Isn't that crazy? Oh- and wave to the camera!"
Priyanka turned towards a corner at the far edge of the room, where I could see what looked like a little security camera. I grinned at it- then flipped it off. Priyanka gasped and giggled, like a child.
"Anyways- you caused a big hype. It was all over the news, for a long time. Did you really see butterflies?" Priyanka asked, grinning.
I nodded, smiling fondly at the memory myself. Lots of butterflies- all over the place. They had crawled out of a crack in the wall and spread their wings until they were everywhere. It had been beautiful, and yet strangely hilarious...
"That's cool. Butterflies... whoa... Once, on LSD, I thought the moon was a cookie."
I cracked up, snorting and laughing, as though this was the most hilarious thing I had ever heard, but Priyanka laughed with me.
Emily groaned in her sleep, and rolled over on her side, towards us, her eyes cracking open, they were bloodshot, but still a pretty green. I found myself a little envious. I had grown an extreme dislike for my ordinary brown eyes- the ones he had found so extraordinary, my mind noted. I tried to focus on what Priyanka was going on about.
"-so then, what do you think about that?"
I tilted my head, sheepish. I had only spaced out for thirty seconds, and already had no idea what this girl was going on about. This girl would keep me on my toes, I guessed.
"I don't know." It was simply a classic response. She would probably try to plead the case for- whatever she was talking about, thus telling me what she had been talking about, while I was pitying myself. It was brilliant and devious.
"You don't know? He won't eat you, honestly. Unless you- no, he won't eat you."
I stared at her, wide eyed, feeling more confused now than before. Maybe my little plan had not been as clever as I had hoped.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Robert. He's invited us to lay around the pool for a while." She leaned in, and for a minute I thought she was going to lick my ear or something. She merely whispered in it.
"I think he smuggled drugs in."
My outlook brightened slightly, but I felt wary and pessimistic. We would get caught, no doubt. Did they give us regular drugs tests in this place, or did it operate on the honesty policy?
Would it matter if I was caught? There was little they people here could do to me that would keep me from the only thing that was acting like a glass wall between myself and insanity.
A picture of Edward was burned behind my eyes, and with the drugs, it was hazier. Never gone, but covered up a little.
That ache I had grown to hate sense he had left filled the space between my ribs, making me lonely, and sad.
"Hey- no sadness. I'm a sucker for tears. Come on, lets go. Em, you too. Get your lazy ass up."
Emily groaned, but was smiling a little. She drug herself into a sitting position, and stretched her limbs, wincing in pain, but her eyes bright with mischief. She turned to me, as Priyanka left the room.
"Are you coming?" Her voice was soft, and persuasive.
I nodded.
Edward Cullen
We waited for the entire family, having called Rosalie and Emmett (Who were spending their fourth honeymoon in Paris, the city of love) and while we waited, me and Alice watched the entire world rant about the newest reality television show, and mostly, about the girl who was my entire existence.
"It's obvious that it is people like Isabella Swan who are tainting the minds of our youth," said a blond woman with conviction. I flipped the channel, thankful that Alice had went out and bought another remote to replace the one I had pulverized.
The channel went to a group of dazed looking, disheveled people, varying in ages. There was a dark haired boy, with vacant brown eyes mumbling about how "That Swan chick was showing people how the drugs really effected people, making them happy, ya know?".
"Yeah," I snapped at him, completely aware that he would have no idea I was cursing him, "and that's why so many people die from them every year, and ruin their lives."
Like Bella?
I ignored this thought, and flicked the television off as Alice and Jasper returned, Rose and Emmett walking behind them, a few too many suitcases in their hands than humans probably could carry. There were no humans around for miles. No one to notice.
"Paris Edward. It might mean nothing to someone who hasn't left the house in nearly a year, but it means a lot to me!" Rosalie hissed, her face contorted in rage.
"Shut up Rosalie," I sapped at both her and her viscious thoughts. "I have a good reason!"
I flipped on the television.
I had to go through a few channels before I found a news station that was still airing what happened on the newest show sweeping America.
Bella's photo was on the screen, and the three news casters were debating back and forth on whether the show was a good or bad example for America's youth- as if anyone really cared these days. No matter how many shows demonstrated the negative effects drugs had over beings, it wouldn't stop the youth for going out and doing them anyway.
"You drug me half-way across the world, in the middle of my honeymoon, so I could look at some drug addict-"
"That drug addict is Bella!" I roared, my hands clenched in fists at my side. Jasper's eyes narrowed with the concentration it was taking to keep everyone's emotions in check- and I was glad that Esme and Carlisle wouldn't there. Their hurt would only add to Jasper's struggle.
Rosalie looked shocked, and Emmett was snatching the remote from my hands to ensure I didn't change the channel.
Rose took a seat, and put her hands in her lap, quietly. I kept out of her thoughts, because I wasn't sure of what I would hear. I had listened to people all over America bashing Bella for her poor choices, and I couldn't listen to my own family do it.
Emmett's thoughts were sympathetic to Bella, so I was briefly thankful.
"Edward... There's nothing we can do," Rosalie said, very gently for her.
I glared. She glared in return.
"Don't give me that look. You know it's true. It's your fault. You were so damn set against staying, that you made us change our entire existences, to accommodate your little wishes- and you'll have to suffer the consequences. We don't have the power to go back in time, and change it. So go fix it- I don't care, but don't you dare get us in any trouble with the Volturi, or hell, endanger us in any way. I won't hesitate to... fix the problem."
She turned to Emmett.
"Come unpack with me?" Emmett nodded, and said he'd be up in a minute.
His eyes were still fixed on Bella.
"Rose is right in her own way, Edward. But it isn't just your fault, it's all of ours." He looked at me with sad eyes. "Go fix it."
Emmett didn't usually have such a way with words. He was usually very laid back, and more of someone who spoke through actions, not words.
"I don't know how to fix it."
"Go get her. Talk to Charlie."
"I already called the producers of the show- they claim that contracts were signed, and Bella will stay there for the remainder of the show, unless they refuse to let her stay."
Talking to Charlie- well, myself talking to Charlie- was out of the question. He would surely blame me (the person at fault) for driving his daughter to drugs. Or at least not being there to stop it.
"Then we'll wait. Then, you have some groveling to do."
