SM owns it.
Ham and Satan own me.
All mistakes are mine.
Asylum
Chapter 7
"No." The word tastes funny as it leaves my mouth. Too sweet as it lacerates my tongue and burns my throat.
"Bella, wait." Angela calls, but it's too late.
The blood that covers my hands coats the stairs as I run, taking two steps at a time. I smear it along the stair rail, and leave prints along the wall, pushing myself. Demanding my feet to move faster.
I run into Charlie's room and slip on something wet. I slip and slide and I scream. My body collides with the edge of his bed, catching me in the ribs, and I cry out just as Angela flips on the light.
"Oh god." She flips it off and I scream for her to turn it on again.
"Call the cops," I yell and hold onto my aching side.
"But, Bella…" I know what she's thinking.
"Just call them." I grab the mattress, lifting myself onto the bed, and Angela runs out of the room.
I narrow my eyes and shut out the noises around me.
His blood is everywhere. Dripping down the bed, the nightstand. It runs along the walls and it dots the headboard above him.
"Please be breathing," I whisper and inch closer to him. "Just be breathing."
Blood soaks the bed, squishing beneath my fingers as I move.
I check his neck but I can't see where the blood is coming from. The sheet around him is soaked. His pillow, his shirt. Everything is red and sticky.
Tears fall down my face as I lay my head on his chest, holding my breath as I search for his. Too afraid to lift the sheet. To find the source.
"You won't find it."
I lift my head at the sound of his voice and the smell of honey. I'm not surprised to see Masen step away from the shadows, a finger on his lips and mischief in his eyes.
I stare at him as I hold onto Charlie, bringing his head into my lap.
"I did this," I choke.
Masen just stares at me, his arms flexing as the green of his eyes turns to an icy white.
"Why did I do this?" I rock Charlie, running my fingers through his hair and whispering how sorry I am into his ear.
Masen doesn't answer me, only turns his head and smiles.
"Bella, we don't know that you did this." Angela stands at the door watching me.
"His blood is on me, Angela," I spit, looking at her as if she's the crazy one.
"It could have been anyone." She grips the side of the door, and looks down at Charlie.
"Like him?" I laugh and nod toward Masen whose eyes turn cruel as he watches her.
"Yes, him." She takes a tentative step toward me and turns to him. "You need to leave."
"You see him." I blink, my hands holding tight onto Charlie. "You lied to me. You have seen him."
"It wasn't like that, Bella." She moves closer and I pull Charlie closer to me. Not trusting her.
"Would you like to tell her the truth about who you are?" Masen moves away from the wall, the floorboards below him creaking with each slow step he takes.
"If you don't leave, I'll make you." Her teeth grit and Masen laughs.
"Your wings are cut, little bird. You could try, but I'd hate to cut you open just so Bella could see what you really are." He leans in close. "Would you really want her to see that?"
"You wouldn't so that to her." Angela smiles.
"I said I hate to." He pulls out a cigarette, lighting it and inhaling deeply. "Not that I wouldn't do it."
"Bella, I need you to let go of Charlie." She moves to the front of the bed, blocking my view of Masen.
"What? No." I grip him tighter, pulling him closer.
"Please, Bella."
"Show her the real you, little bird. Go ahead." He laughs and his eyes begin to glow a bright white. "I dare you."
Angela's hands ball into tight fists and her back begins to move.
"Dirty work was never your forte." He laughs and Angela is lifted into the air. Her back arches and her head falls back, but she doesn't scream. Doesn't fight it.
"You should really be more careful who you pick a fight with." A few more inches and her chest will hit the ceiling. "Did you really think I'd play nice?"
I hear the thump before I see her body thrown against the wall.
My stomach rolls at the thud and crunch as she crumples to the floor.
"Stop!" I shout but he has her in the air again. Her feet barely touch the floor.
"She's tougher than you think," he winks, and twists his wrist. I can see the indentations of his fingers in her neck and she gasps for air.
"Run, Bella!" She screams, but he squeezes tighter, cutting her off.
"It's time for you to shut up." Her neck snaps at the same time Charlie coughs.
I hear Angela's whimpers, but I ignore it as Charlie's fingers jump and grip the bed.
"You should really be more careful who you let in." His smile is vicious and he nudges Angela's body with his boot.
I ignore him. I ignore her.
"Save him." I swipe at the tears on my face, feeling Charlie's warm blood smear on my cheek. "Please, Masen."
"I can't, Bella." He sits on the edge of the bed, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. I lose myself in his touch. The feeling of his skin on mine.
Fire and ice.
Heaven and Hell.
"Don't lie to me!" I scream, pushing away from him and snapping myself out of his hold. "You can save him. You have to."
"You don't understand." He straightens his shirt and his eyes fade to a dark green.
"You said you make deals." I look down at Charlie and I silence the little voice inside of me. The one that pleads with me. That begs me not to do this. "I want to make one. A deal."
"No," he stands, shaking his head. "You really don't."
"Name it. Anything."
"Don't do this, Bella. Not with him," Angela whispers and Masen lifts his hand, pulling her back up the wall.
"What you're asking me to do… You can't take that back. I can't promise he'll be the Charlie you know either." I can see the storm in his eyes and the smile on his lips.
He may say no, but he wants me to make the deal. I can see written all over his face.
"I do." He says, answering my thoughts. "But you may not like the consequences."
"I don't care." I brush the hair off Charlie's forehead, kissing the spot between his eyes. "Please don't take him from me, too."
Masen sighs, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
"Don't do this." Angela struggles against his bindings and he snaps his teeth.
"That's enough out of you." With a flick of his wrist Angela flies out of the room, the door slamming behind her.
"You'll save him?" I watch as the lock turns and look back up at him.
"For a price," he tells me. The black ink of wings slowly disappear from his arms as he looks me in the eyes. "Turn his face toward me."
"I'm right here, Daddy. We're gonna fix you. I promise." I kiss him once more before turning his face toward the ceiling.
Wings, dark as night, spread wide, enveloping the room. I watch him take a blade from his belt. I see a glimpse of engravings, like the wound on my palm, before he flips it. He whispers words, his lips against the steel, before bringing it to his arm.
"Your turn." The blade is covered in blood so dark it's black.
"What?"
"I need your arm. His blood runs through you. You're making a sacrifice for him." I shove my arm at him wincing as the blade slides across it. "It'll heal."
He kisses the spot on my arm before his lips touch mine. The feeling is electric. Like he lit me on fire and burned my soul.
"Masen." I want to ask him why, but I feel Charlie's body convulse in my arms. "What's happening?"
"Shh." His body is still, but his wings move, and the noise they make hurts my ears. As if each feather is screaming, pleading for something.
"No." He snaps just as my fingers move to touch them. "Take his hands."
I take my other hand off Charlie's face and bring his hands into mine.
Masen relaxes and kneels beside us. He touches Charlie's face and whispers into his ear before his lips hover above my father's.
I watch in awe with tears in my eyes.
The man that terrifies me is breathing life into the man I murdered. I forget to breathe as a dark smoke leaves Charlie's mouth and escapes into Masen's, replaced with an almost grey. It creeps slowly, wrapping itself around my father, never touching me.
Masen grabs my hand, pulling it away from Charlie's and lacing his fingers with mine.
"Don't let go," he whispers, but his lips don't move and I can feel him inside of me.
I can feel the death. The life. A hollow feeling that creeps up my spine, piercing my bones and marking my soul. Every stab into Charlie's chest rips into mine making me jump and scream out. I feel the blood dripping down my chest, but when I try to touch it Masen stops me.
"What are you doing to me?" I stare at him wide eyed.
"You have to die for him," he says, looking up at me. His eyes are possessive, black mixed with a dusting of grey as his wings surround us. They block out everything. The world, the blood, my screams when I feel the knife enter my chest.
Again and again. Pain so terrifying, so intense. It slices through me, burning everything. Consuming me.
The last bit of smoke leaves Masen's lips and swirls into Charlie's. It's like night and day. Purple eyelids turn pink, an empty, silent chest begins to beat. I press my face to his heart, listening and letting his blood cover me.
"You did it." I smile as tears fall rapidly down my face.
"Bella!" Angela screams, beating against the door. "Get away from him!"
"I can't undo what's about to happen." He pulls me away from Charlie and off the bed.
"Charlie's going to be okay, isn't he?" I try to shake the feeling inside of me. It's not unpleasant, just… different. Like something is taking hold of me. Burrowing it's way deeper inside.
"That's up to him." He looks down at my father and pulls me closer. It's how I know what's inside of me. His touch.
Masen.
"Your eyes." I touch his face, watching the black fade into green.
"People are going to come and take you. It's been written. Don't fight them." His wings pull in close to us and I can feel them. Like they have a pulse.
"Why do your eyes change?" I can't stop looking at them. Can't stop touching him. Even when I try it's like I'm locked in place, unable to move away.
"Remember everything I do is to protect you, okay?" His face turns tender, the hard lines from before disappearing.
"Am I going to die?"
"Not yet." He smiles and I feel it in bones.
"Are you going to kill me?" I hear him laugh, but it's inside of me. In my head.
"What I said before?" He brushes his lips against mine. "Don't forget that and don't trust Angela."
"I won't." He crushes me to him, kissing me with fire and leaving me breathless and alone.
"Move!" An EMT shoves me away, and moves to Charlie's side pulling him onto a gurney.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I tried to stop him." Angela is at my side and holding me tight.
She feels wrong.
"What?" I shake my head, trying to clear the fog left behind by Masen.
"I should have protected you better. I'm so sorry." She cries as they carry Charlie out of the room and down to the ambulance.
"Where are they taking him?"
"To Fork's General." One of Charlie's deputies interrupts us, stepping in front of me.
"What are you doing?" I eye him, anger pulsing under my skin as he puts a firm hand on my shoulder.
"We need to ask you some questions." I know the look he's giving me. The one that says I'm in trouble. That I messed up.
"I need to go with my father." I try to push past him, to go to Charlie, but he grabs me harder.
Angela screams and argues with the deputy as they place me in cuffs and into the back of his car. She promises me her father will fix this, but I can feel the air shifting, and Masen's words sting my ears once again.
I spend the night in jail. I answer questions. I talk to someone named Alice.
My court appointed psychiatrist.
She evaluates me.
They tell me Charlie's in a coma. That I'm to blame. My prints cover the knife they found in my bed.
I don't deny it.
I think of telling them about Masen, but I hear his whisperings, and I say nothing.
I let the feeling from before consume me as they talk. The crushing in my chest, the tingling of my spine. I give into it.
To Charlie's death.
Alice checks on me often, she's with me for my first appearance in court. Telling the judge she'd like to hold me in the hospital. That I'm not in my right mind.
"If you'd read over the papers I gave the court." She tells the judge, who eyes me.
He looks over the pictures, the statements.
I laugh when the judges face turns to bone and flames. It starts out as a chuckle, before I'm bent over with tears in my eyes and laugh til it hurts.
Alice says nothing. She grabs my hand, burning my skin and pulls me out of the small room and away from the judge.
I ignore her after that. I talk to no one. I eat nothing. I don't sleep.
I punish myself and I think about Charlie. About the blood.
And Masen.
It takes less than twenty-four hours after the judge sees me to admit me.
"You'll have court in a month." Alice says. "For now you'll be staying where I work."
I nod and watch the trees pass.
"You'll be a good girl won't you?" I look up from her in the backseat.
Eyes like a cat's stare back at me with a smile too wide and a face too pale.
"I'd hate for something to happen to you." I say nothing, just stare at her pale blue eyes as we drive down a dark, dirt road. "It's a big place afterall."
Her laughter fills the car, making my skin crawl.
"I'm sure you would." I whisper to myself and I close my eyes, letting the nightmares take me away.
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