Precious Time; Chapter Three
You were on a liquid diet, you were sure you had to try it
And you lost all your pounds.
The doctor's on vacation, so you took the medication
And wound up in lost and found.
So we took a trip to Paris
Cause you swore that it would scare us out of our swift decline.
All that I remember bout those days in that September
Is the
"merci" and the wine.
"That didn't take long?" her voice slipped out of her, not nearly as sweet or velvety as I was used to, "Did you just give up on Eddy?"
"He left me. He didn't want me."
"Oh, that's what you think. He really just wanted to keep you safe, I can't wait to see his face when finds out you were dating a werewolf-" she sniffed the air "-a young werewolf at that. I knew I could count on you to find the most dangerous alternative to Edward," sarcasm dripped from her voice. But I couldn't focus on her sarcastic comments, she was talking about me in the past tense, "I just don't know how I'll tell him."
"Bella, go home," the velvet voice was there again in my head, drawing me back to a darker time.
"Oh God," I turned to Jake and he was already shaking from his concentration to not change.
He turned to me and mimicked his words, "Bells, go home."
"No, I'm staying here," he fell to the ground and clutched his stomach, a roar escaped him and I jumped back.
"Go home, Isabella, now," his hand was reaching out to me pointing towards the trail we had left behind.
"This is just precious," Victoria was now leaning against a tree, watching our scene with as much ease as someone would watch an afternoon soap opera.
"I'm not leaving you here, you aren't even part of this," I didn't need Jake getting hurt because of me.
"Don't be irrational, Isabella, I can handle this," I was being irrational, "You need to leave now, I don't want you getting hurt."
"Oh, but by who?" Victoria's voice was dripping with amusement. Jacob snarled, I had seen this before but I was paralyzed by fear, "That would be wonderful to tell Edward, that you were the one who killed poor little Bella… of course, I would like the pleasure of killing her myself. But, whatever is more brutal to Edward is fine with me."
"Leave-" he had already taken werewolf form, his arms were stretched out to me trying to push me aside. He hadn't meant to change so quickly. His claws ripped through my stomach and I passed out onto the forest floor.
&
When I first woke up all I could sense was the intense pain running through my side, there was no night or day, silence or noise, only the incredible pain searing through my side. "Jake?" My voice was hoarse from not being used. A sigh came from across the room and I assumed it was Jacob, "Jake? What happened?"
"She's gone, Bells," it took my brain awhile to commute the meaning of his words. Victoria. He had killed her.
"Good job," I laughed and it hurt. Jacob, a new werewolf had killed a vampire that had evaded the Cullens, "Why does my side hurt so much?"
"I told you to leave," my eyes adjusted to the half-light of his room, the bed still taking up most of it. Jacob was sitting in a corner against the wall, his knees pulled to his chest, as if protecting him. His face was so dark.
"What happened, Jake?"
"You didn't listen."
"Yeah, I tend not to. What-" I touched my stomach, the shirt was sticky and warm. My senses slowly came back, "Oh, god. Jake, what's going to happen?"
"I don't know, you didn't listen to me."
"Yes, we've been through this," why wasn't I in pain? "Did you tell someone?"
"No, who am I going to tell? I can't tell anyone."
"Jacob, if I die because of this how are you going to feel than," I felt pathetic yelling from my horizontal position, but I continued, "You need to get someone over here… I don't want to die."
The silence was broken with the door slamming open, at least as far as it could before it hit the door, "What the hell did you do, Jacob?"
I turned my head, dizzy from the smell of blood, it was Sam and Emily trailing close behind with a soft black bag. I willed it to be medical supplies.
"It was an accident, she didn't listen to me," he was falling apart; I couldn't believe this. He had always been so strong. Light was falling through the window now and it hit Emily's face at an angle, her scar was illuminated and I remembered how it happened.
That's how I was going to look, it was unfortunate I would have a scar, but it meant I would live. My muscles relaxed with relief, I hadn't even realized I had been so tense.
Sam grabbed Jacob by the arm and nearly ripped him out of the room, I was angry with Jacob for losing control and falling apart but I still hoped that Sam didn't do anything drastic to him. I needed my boyfriend in one piece… was he still my boyfriend? Was he ever my boyfriend? We hadn't had time to clarify anything, thing's were moving so fast.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I survived," Emily smiled at me, well at least half of her did. I smiled at her, grinding my teeth against the pain that was now showing itself, "The werewolf's bite has a natural anesthetic; so their victims don't feel the pain. When wild they can be brutal, killing humans and such, but even still they are kind, deep down inside. It's just the confused ones that kill humans."
"Jacob didn't attack me, Victoria showed up and he told me to leave, but I didn't listen. He didn't mean to morph," I pushed my feet against the bed, failing to ease the pain, "He didn't mean to hurt me."
"Sam didn't mean to hurt me either, but it happens when your in love with a werewolf," she sat down next to me on the large bed and began cleaning the scrapes, I couldn't see them but I could tell she was cleaning a large area of my stomach and side. I thought that by giving in to Jacob pursuing me I would stop trying deadly stunts- but it only hurt me more. In typical Bella fashion, of course.
I replayed Emily's words in my head, was I in love with Jacob? Certainly I cared for him and he had a place in my heart, but did I love him love him? Did I love him like I loved- him? I could never care or love for someone as I cared for- Edward. But, maybe Jake was as good as I would be able to get. And I was okay with that.
"You should stay off your feet for awhile," she paused and I opened my eyes to meet hers, "I'd take you to the hospital expect your father would find out… and I don't know how happy Chief Swan would be if he found out you were attacked by a bear on our property. We probably wouldn't see you again," her disposition was almost disgusting, but I couldn't hate her. I admired Emily really; she conquered everything to be with her true love, where mine had never loved me at all.
I smiled and held back a laugh, I knew it would hurt, "Do you know where Sam took Jake?"
"They're just off in the woods, I think. Sam thought that Jake just needed a good scolding, he doesn't see that he was in the same position only a little while ago. Some male ego thing," Emily smiled and continued to clean at my wound, being around Emily was calming; I didn't have to worry about supplying my side of the conversation.
I had become very good at just sitting and listening to someone.
"They should be back soon, once Sam realizes how dense he's being," she pulled gauze out of her bag and helped me stand up in the hallway, "Hold your shirt," I did as I was told, the pressure from the gauze felt nice against the open wound but the stretching of my arms hurt my torso. I wasn't sure how I was going to drive home or more importantly get to the car.
"I can come over to your house and change your bandages and help you out, if that's all right with you. I don't know how handy Jake is with bandages," she tucked the end of the gauze underneath the layers. Smiling the whole time.
Jake and Sam walked back into the hallway; Jake was holding his head like a shamed puppy. I felt bad for him, he wasn't the one in the wrong. He had told me to leave and I hadn't.
"It's okay, Jake, I'll survive," I took a deep breath and cringed, "Really, I've had worse," the hallway became crowded with people and with emotions. Jake's endless guilt, Sam's anger, my hopelessness and Emily's cheerfulness already knowing how things would end up with Jake and me.
Or at least how they should end up. It didn't look like I was ever going to have a normal relationship.
"Um, maybe Jake should take me home now," I crossed my arms over my stomach which was only slightly uncomfortable, "It's kinda late and Charlie's going to worry where I've been. I'm gonna have a hard enough time trying to come up with a reason why I can barely walk."
"I don't think Jake should be around you right now, Bella," Sam decided.
"It wasn't his fault, he told me to leave. Did you listen to what happened?"
Sam stood in front of Jake and looked directly at me, "It doesn't matter, he knows he shouldn't be around you. He knew what the consequences were and he still continued to see you."
"He killed Victoria! Isn't that enough of a reason?" Sam looked taken aback, I had burst out, but apparently he didn't know what Jake had accomplished.
Emily smiled, "You never listen, do you?" obviously referring to a time from before.
"We all have our faults," Sam was still obviously startled from the news.
"I think we can go now," Emily grabbed Sam's hand and led him out the door, "I'll stop by your house tomorrow to help you out," once they were out the door I could hear Emily chide Sam for not listening to people and for making assumptions too quickly and to remember that he had been in Jake's place before.
"Jake, I should have listened to you," I wanted him to say something, anything. I wanted him to go back to the old Jake.
"Let's get you home," he took my hand gently, "Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'll just need help getting in," we walked slowly to the car, his hand was warm in mine and quivering slightly, not from a prospective change but from shock and fear. We reached the car and he put his hands on my waist, wanting to lift me into the car, my breath was pushed out of me due to the pain.
His breath caught as well, anger towards himself, he still thought he was the cause of this, "I'm so sorry, Bells," I wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault but I knew that it wouldn't help. His hands went to my hips and he lifted me from there, it still hurt but not as much.
"Do you know how long this will take to heal?" I asked once he buckled me in, I couldn't reach over to grab the belt the twisting hurting me.
"I don't know, I'll ask Emily tonight and tell you tomorrow. Or you can ask her tomorrow when she comes over. It shouldn't take too long, we aren't meant to harm," he left out the word 'humans.'
"Jake, you know your not the one who did it, right," turned towards him, at least my face did, "It's not like your thinking to coherently when you're a werewolf, right?"
"That's the thing, my head is clear, it's just like I'm not there to control my actions. The only thing I feel when I'm in that form is hatred. We were created to be animals; we were created to be hunters. To be hunters of the leeches," I drew my breath in, there was that word.
The word I hated so much, not only because it was rude but also because of the memories it brought up. And it wasn't the bad memories I hated so much, it was the good memories that were so hard to bear. All the good memories that were all lies. No matter what Alice said.
"I don't blame you, Jake, please keep that in mind."
The drive back home was silent. It was the loudest silence I had ever been in and I didn't like it one bit, there was no comfort to be found in it like some say. Jake slowed down in front of my house and helped me to the front door, "Bells, um, maybe I shouldn't come around for a few days."
I grasped the doorknob for the support as my knees quivered, "Jake, you know that's not necessary. I told you-"
"I just need to sort a few things out, I'll call before I come over, Bella."
