Part II.
Water sloshed out of the full tub as she shifted slightly. By now her relaxing, hot bath had turned cold, and her skin felt elastic and heavy. But she couldn't seem to bring herself to move. The silence of the house had lulled her into something of a trance, the gentle ticking of the clock a sort of lullaby. Bella hated to know that even more time passed and she wasn't in Edward's arms, but tonight the clock seemed to be the only thing keeping her firmly latched onto the world of sanity. She kept remembering the anchor woman saying that Edward was headed north.
She was north of the prison that Edward had just escaped from. Bella would lose herself in another vivid fantasy, letting the water overflow as she sank in deeper– only to be awakened from a half sleep by that distant ticking. Time moved forward. You should, too. That's what Jasper would say.
The clock kept ticking, and water was dripping constantly off the sides of the tub, gentle, monotonous noises with no foreseeable break in the pattern. Bella's heart had fallen into a steady rhythm. Her eyelids were closing, drooping more and more with each passing second.
The phone rang.
Bella turned her head, sluggishly, to look down the hall. She stared and with each shrill noise her heart beat another time. Tick tock, ring badunk. She heard her answering machine come on, and Alice's voice, crackly with distance and something else Bella couldn't pin, washed over her.
"Bella, hey? It's Alice, um... Pick up the phone, Bella, I know you've got to be home... Ugh, well I was gonna ask you to go shopping, I really need something to take my mind off of..."
Bella already knew what Alice was talking about.
"I mean, I just can't believe he asked me! It was such a shock!"
Ok, so maybe she didn't know.
"I just adore Jasper, but I don't know, I always thought he was exclusively into guys!"
Ah, yes.
"...Bella? Bella, I think I'm gonna say yes. If Jasper likes me enough to turn straight for me, the relationship has got to be worth it, huh?"
Bella's machine started to beep. Messages could only be so long.
"But... One more night of partying, before I leave the single life! Jeez, Bella, I wish you could come. Call me if you decide to, kay? I'll have my pho-"
The message was cut off, and Bella sank back into the tub. She reached up to push her hair out of her face, staring into the mirror across the room. She smiled, but it looked forced, even to her; there was no way Bella could go anywhere with Alice tonight. She got up slowly, walking with aching bones to pick up her towel, and shivering against the air. Cold water dripped down between her breasts, and she quickly wiped herself off with the fluffy wrap, rushing down the hall to her bedroom.
She grabbed a random set of undergarments out of her drawer, not bothering with pyjamas. She had her blankets in the dryer, not because they were wet, but just to make them warm for her. Of course, now that they'd been sitting there for so long- Bella threw a look at the clock hanging in the hallway just outside her bedroom; 11:37- they might have lost the heat. She hoped not.
Warmth, at night, reminded Bella of sleeping in Edward's arms, back when he was still sneaking in through her bedroom window at night- instead of breaking forcibly out of prison ones.
She gathered them out of the machine now, glad that they were still at least a little bit heated, and while her feet padded down the hall, the phone rang again. She stood by it in indecision. If it was Alice, she didn't want to talk. Bella sighed, and stepped softly back into the bedroom, crawling into bed and pressing her face into the pillow. She put her hand underneath her cheek, pretending the skin she felt by her face was Edward's. The phone rang, and she glared at the doorway.
"Bella?"
It wasn't Alice this time, but it was still one of them. The only people in the world who should understand, who could understand- but didn't. Why was it that his own siblings seemed to hate Bella for loving him?
"Hey, it's Emmett. Jeez, this is my unlucky night I guess. I can't talk to Jasper, Alice is out doing whatever, and you're already asleep."
Yeah right. She should be so lucky. The clock ticked. Emmett filled the house with his human megaphone voice, even over the phone.
"Ugh, whatever, I know Jasper won't be talking to me tomorrow and Alice is gonna be hungover, call me, Bella, please? I just- Rose and I got in this massive fight, she's gone to live with her dear twin brother, my best friend, and he's all angry at me even though- I think I'm safe in this- it definitely wasn't my fault this time. Bella, I'm lonely." She could picture him doing his pout on the other end, a giant teddy bear who was for once unsmiling. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."
Bella shut her eyes in relief, ready for sleep to overtake her.
The house's relative quietness after Emmett's vocal intrusion seemed ominous, though. Every click of the clock's hands was like an explosion, or like a tree falling in a silent forest.
Or maybe it was just like the clock hand it was, bringing her ever closer to the future- whatever it might hold.