Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does

OCTOBER

Please Zoltan! Talk to me! I said I was sorry!

I'm not gonna stop calling or texting! Can't we talk about this?

Renee...

"You're sending her to Jacksonville?" I asked hollowly as I came downstairs to find my mother in the kitchen sitting at the table with my father one morning a few weeks later. I didn't need to hear anything to know what was going on.

"She's not getting better here honey," Charlie sighed, looking defeated as he always did lately.

"Maybe she'll perk up in someplace sunny," Renee pointed out and I couldn't find it in my heart to disagree. Bella was an empty shell here, she wasn't getting better. They were right.

"Be careful what you say mom," I murmured in warning as Charlie led Renee up the stairs to Bella's bedroom. I stood by myself, alone in the room for a moment before I heard a scream from upstairs. It jolted me out of my reverie and I sprinted up the stairs only to come skidding to a halt outside Bella's bedroom, her door wide open to reveal absolute bedlam.

"I'M NOT GOING! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO! I'M NOT MOVING DAMN IT! I'M STAYING HERE!" I'd never heard Bella scream before, but she sure as hell was now. A half packed suitcase lay open on her bed and Bella was taking the clothes out and throwing them all over the place. Charlie was trying to get close enough to soothe her while Renee just stood back in total shock.

"Bella honey, we think it's what's best –" Charlie tried, but she wasn't having any of that.

"NO! I REFUSE! I'M STAYING HERE! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO ANYWHERE! I'M NOT LEAVING FORKS!"

"Bells -"

"GO AWAY! I'M STAYING! I'M STAYING! I'm staying," she started sobbing and collapsed against the nearest wall, sliding down until she hit the floor and curled up into a sobbing ball. Charlie and Renee looked at each other, appalled but I ignored them. I sat down next to my sister, ignoring her when she tried to flinch away and held her tighter. Eventually she relaxed and began sobbing into my shoulder. I didn't even notice when Charlie and Renee left.

Charlie...

"She has to go back to school dad," I murmured at breakfast one morning.

"Are you sure that's what's best for her?" he asked quietly.

"Maybe not now. But since mom came, she's been a bit more responsive. Maybe school will help. This is her senior year dad, she hasn't been for a month. I can help her catch up but if she misses any more, there'll be no hope."

"Maybe you're right," he agreed, rubbing his eyes in a tired way. I wasn't the only one being kept up by Bella's screaming every night.

"I hope I'm right dad," I sighed, "I hope I'm right."

Lauren...

Bella trudged along by my side as we walked through the crowded halls of Forks High. She was as lifeless as she'd been since Renee came, which was a bit of an improvement honestly. But she kept her eyes on the floor, she ignored people that bumped into her, she didn't blush when people started whispering as she walked by. Her eyes showed nothing but emptiness and a pain so deep I don't think I'd ever be able to understand it. I'd convinced Ms Cope to change my timetable to match Bella's and since we were doing pretty much the exact same subjects, it wasn't that hard.

"Oh my God, can't she like, get over it already?" A nasally voice, one louder than the others, distracted me from my task of making sure Bella didn't walk into anyone. I didn't need to look to see who the speaker was. Only Lauren Mallory could be so ... unsubtle. And she was also the one who didn't know when to shut up. "I mean, couldn't she predict that he was gonna break up with her soon? I mean hello, she's so boring and plain. It's disgusting the way she clung to him anyway. And now she's gone and chased them all out of town and lost the rest of us our chances! Urgh, I hate that bitch!" Now I knew Bella was listening, because she was shaking like a leaf. Thanking God that we were passing the bathrooms, I shoved her inside the girl's one so Lauren wouldn't have the pleasure of watching my sister cry. Then, I tracked me down some road kill.

It wasn't that hard really, she was standing with her crowd of little followers by the lockers, and many of them – to my great anger – were nodding in agreement. But I had my eyes on the annoying bitch that started it all. I stalked up to Lauren and when she noticed me coming, she tried to keep her sneer and make a run for it at the same time. Neither attempt worked. I grabbed her and shoved her against the lockers, my arm pressing down on her throat as she grabbed at it, trying to move it but I was angry, and when I was angry, that really wasn't gonna work, especially since she had no actual muscle to speak of.

"Listen up bitch," I hissed, "I don't give a shit what you think, but if you value your life, I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself! Dr Cullen got a new job, Bella didn't drive them out. The two of them broke up because they couldn't keep up a long distance relationship but it doesn't mean that either of them has to like it. This has hurt Bella bad, and she's just coming out of it, but if you do anything, anything, to send her back to where she was, I swear to God you'll wish you'd never been born bitch." She was actually looking at me with real, genuine fear in her eyes and it sent a surge of savage satisfaction through me. However I did notice her face was turning red so I reluctantly dropped my arm from her throat before turning to the rest of the students that had gathered around us. "And listen up you gossip hungry vultures, that goes the same for all of you. You bad-mouth my sister, I will kill you. And just remember, I have access to a gun."

Nobody bothered us again after that.

Cullens...

I was plotting. I said I was going to find the leeches so I was. I hadn't told Charlie, I hadn't told Bella. But I'd told Edan and Lee. They thought it was a great idea. I couldn't let those blood-suckers get away with what they'd done to my sister. And that's why every day when I got home from school, I'd head straight to my computer and try and compile a list of the cloudiest places in America and hope to God they'd actually stayed in the country and not fled further like the cowards they were.

I started with Alaska, the most obvious place merely because Tanya and the others were there. So I made a list of all the hospitals in the state. And then I called. "Hello you've reached Alaska Regional Hospital, how can I help you?"

I sighed into the phone. Let the search begin.

Bella...

I was in my room searching through my many pairs of jeans that had fallen to the bottom of my wardrobe when my hand brushed against something dusty and cool. My guitar. That was the only thing that I couldn't fit in a box with the rest of the gifts the leeches had given me. I'd figured out soon after Bella had started moving around by herself again – which was a result of Renee's visit – that she avoided my room like the plague. And I had a pretty good guess why. My birthday gifts were still scattered around the room. I'd watched her claw her radio from her truck not long after ... that night. So all my gifts were now stuffed in a box and it made me happy that I didn't have to look at them.

When they were gone, Bella had started sitting in my room and listening to me play guitar, my old guitar. That was the only form of music she'd listen to and it made me grateful I could help somewhat. It reminded me of the times when I learnt to play my first song on it and she'd sit and listen to me play for hours, encouraging me as I went. There was no encouragement now. Just an eerie silence.