CHAPTER SEVEN

The first thing that occurred to Edward as sleep left him was that his thoughts were his own. For over ninety years he had been living with the thoughts of

others swirling around his head. It had become normal to him. Now that his mind was empty of everything but his own thoughts he felt hollow somehow. Like

he was missing an important piece of his psyche.

Then it occurred to him that he was waking up.

His lungs burned like the fire of hell, begging him to breathe. He gasped and shot up coughing and spluttering as he breathed in the dank and damp air. Urine

and mould stung at his nostrils and stuck at the back of his throat, making him cough harder.

"Edward?"Someone said from beside him. His head spun. He couldn't see anything in the darkened room. He should be able to see fine. Darkness hadn't been

an issue for him for years, but now he was left without that comfort. The complete blackness made him feel as if he was floating for a moment before a cold

hand clasped his shoulder.

"Edward."

Edward frowned, gasping. "Carlisle?" he asked, reaching out into the blackness.

"You're awake." Carlisle breathed out. "That's good. We feared you wouldn't wake up."

Edward opened his mouth to say something intelligent but couldn't find the right words straight away. He wasn't used to dealing with waking up. Everything was moving too fast. This wasn't right.

"We?" he asked when the words finally sunk in.

"We're all here." Esme called from the other side of the room.

All thoughts left him as he tried to understand what Esme was saying. Everyone was there?

Finally words returned to him. "H-how?"

"Your guess is as good as ours." Emmett said. "Alice didn't even see it coming. She's been silent ever since she woke up." He could hear to strain in Emmett's

voice from across the room, and the soft pat of footsteps as he paced. "Can someone turn on the fucking lights?"

"I haven't found the switch yet." Carlisle said from somewhere beside him. "Wait. It think I've got it."

Fluorescent lights burst to life above them and Edward flinched, covering his eyes with his arm. He opened his eyes slowly, white spots flickering in his vision

and his eyes burning at the sudden light.

The wall tiles were covered in mud and grime as if they hadn't been cleaned in years or left to rot. Edward wrinkled his nose at the soiled toilets and bathtubs

and realised with disgust that the floor he had woken up on was worse than the walls. Not one inch of that room had been clean in years, making him feel dirty

just looking at it.

"What the fuck?" Emmett whispered, vocalising what they were all thinking. Written on the wall in red paint were the words, "FACE YOUR MISTAKES."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We face our mistakes?" Jasper offered from his spot beside Alice. She was curled up in a corner, holding her knees up to her chest and rocking backwards and

forwards as she stared into space.

Emmett snorted. "No shit Sherlock."

"Emmett." Esme scolded. "Language."

He stared Esme down for a moment then turned away, kicking a stone into the corner.

Rosalie stirred before she sat up without warning, gasping for air.

"Rose!" Emmett exclaimed. He collapsed to his knees and grabbed his waking wife who glanced around the room like a trapped animal.

"What's going on?" she gasped.

Carlisle ran his hand through his hair. "We're still trying to figure that part out."

"Some one discovered us." Alice said softly. Everyone looked to her, unsure what to say.

Carlisle spoke up first. "Alice? What do you mean?"

Alice choked, trying to hold back desperate tears. "They know about us and found a way to change us. Make us...human." She started shaking, her eyes

welling up with tears. "We can't do anything anymore...I can't see..." with that she broke down with heavy sobs. Jasper moved to comfort her.

"She's right." Jasper said. "I can't do anything either."

All eyes turned on Edward. "Me neither."

Silence filled the large bathroom.

Esme bit her lip and buried her head into Carlisle's shoulder but didn't make a sound.

Rose wasn't so calm.

"We're trapped!" she screamed. "And we can't do anything! How the fuck are we supposed to get out like this!"

"Rose," Carlisle warned, using his best doctor voice. "we have to relax. Panicking will only make it worse." Rosalie didn't listen, covering her mouth as

desperate heavy sobs shook her body.

Emmett sat down beside her, holding her in his arms.

"This is bullshit."

"In ancient Egypt, when someone committed a crime, the entire family was held responsible. People were forced to face the consequences of their actions on

others and not just themselves."

"No." Edward said, realisation hitting him like a tonne of bricks. "It's a punishment." All eyes turned to him.

"What?" asked Carlisle.

Edward swallowed and looked down.

"We're here to be...punished for our crimes."

"What crimes?" Emmett demanded.

"I-" Edward trailed off, unwilling to tell them the truth. It was his crimes they were paying for. His own mistakes. "I don't know."

A ringing echoed through the large bathroom.

"What. The. Fuck?"

Alice pointed over to the door. "Its opened."

They all looked to each other, wary of how to proceed.

"I'll go first." said Edward, stumbling to his feet. His family crowded behind him, hunched as if it would save them from what was ever outside the door.

It was a large metal contraption on a slider. Rust and paint flaked off as he grabbed the small metal handle. Bracing himself, he pulled it open.

"Oh thank god." Rose breathed out.

It lead out into a corridor, the only light coming from the far end, revealing different turns and directions. Water poured from the ceiling and down the walls,

tricking around their bare feet. But none of that caught their attention, not at first.

A hand held recorder hung before them on a piece of string, a post-it note with the words PLAY ME on it stuck on the side.

"Well." Jasper nudged him. "Play it."

Glaring at his adoptive brother he yanked the recorder off the string.

"You sure about this?" he asked, turning to the group.

"We won't get out otherwise." Alice replied, still sitting in her corner.

Pursing his lips, he pressed play.

"Greetings and welcome." Edward's blood froze in his veins. That voice. He knew that voice.

"John." he whispered, his legs becoming weak. He really was Jigsaw.

Carlisle frowned. "Edward."

"I can assume that you are all curious as to where you are. The location is unimportant but what it can offer you is. Salvation. A way to repent the sins you deny you

have."

"Bullshit!" Emmett exclaimed.

"Shut up Emmett!" Rose replied. With a grumble he looked away.

"For the past several hours a deadly gas had been pumped into the room you just vacated, leaving you as weak and defenceless as us weak mortals. Oh yes." John

chuckled. "I know what you are."

"Oh no." Rose breathed. "Oh shit. No. No."

"How is that possible?" Esme asked, looking at Carlisle. He didn't answer.

"However, in two hours time the doors to this facility will open and you will be allowed to walk free. It's a pity that the gas will kill you in less than an hour."

Alice covered her mouth and tried to hold back more tears while Edward had stayed silent.

It was all his fault. Everything was falling apart because of him.

"There are several test around that facility however none of them are labelled. In order to survive you must know your crime and judge as I judge. Which test is yours?

Fail, and the antidote to the gas is lost to you forever. Now, listen carefully."

"Stop the tape." Esme begged. "Please Edward stop the tape."

"Carlisle." He looked towards the recorder at his name. "As a doctor you are used to giving out advice to parents about troubled teens and yet fail to use this advice

yourself. You're wilful ignorance and pacifism have given you and those you care about nothing but pain."

Carlisle nodded, his brow crinkled as he went deep into thought.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Emmett asked. "How are we supposed to figure out anything if he talks in riddles like that?"

"It's how it works." Alice said, her voice hollow. "It's the rules."

"Emse." Edward's adoptive mother pursed her lips and nodded as if allow the tape to continue. "Like your husband you ignore your own 'children's' wrong doings

and allow them to destroy lives and themselves purely because of their vampiric nature. You use it as an excuse for their hatred of humanity and themselves and do

nothing to solve it."

Everyone stayed silent, holding their breath as they waited for the next name.

"Edward." The others breathed out and looked at Edward. He'd been waiting for his turn. He was the one who met John. The reason Jigsaw had come after his

family. At least now he'd have a reasoning as to why he was picked. "You have spent your life wallowing in self-pity and hatred for what you are. Time that could

have been spent helping others has been wasted away in hate and anger. That hate has lead to the death of the woman you claimed to have loved the most. Isabella

Swan."

It built up in him like boiling water. Starting off small then getting larger and larger as time past, almost engulfing him and turned the world red.

"That's your reason?" he asked. "That's your fucking reason?"

"Rosalie." She didn't say a word. Just sat staring at Edward as if trying to set him alight. "Like Edward you hate what you are and have spent every second of your

life wishing you had died the night Carlisle saved you. You do not see the gift you have been given and your bitterness has caused rifts that cannot be mended easily."

"Bella deserved it." she said, face blank. "She didn't appreciate what she had and Edward deserved to know."

"Emmett. You hide behind your strength and humour yet like the others squander your ability. Nothing has changed since the night you joined the Cullen's. Your

rashness and anger will ruin you unless you are willing to change."

Emmett growled in reply, pacing the floor.

"Alice." Alice shook her head and buried her face into her knees. "You spend your life seeing the lives of those around you and advising them on the right path yet it

is this ability that has caused them nothing but pain. By telling them their future you warn them of events that may never happen and thus cause rifts and damage to

those you claim to care about."

"Jasper." He didn't react. Simply kept to watching Alice. "You can control the feelings of those around you and yet cannot feel your own emotions. Before you can help

others you should able to accept your own feelings and instincts. The ones you have carelessly squashed and ignored for many years."

"You have been given your clues. Now understand and use them."

The sound that came from Rosalie was something no one had ever heard before, panicked and insane as her legs gave way. "No. No, this can't be happening."

"You have all been given a gift of eternal life and yet you squander it away by wallowing in self-loathing. You do not appreciate the life you have, just like Miss Swan."

The anger than had bubbled up inside Edward quickly deflated and he collapsed against the wall. He had no more energy to complain. To fight back. He just

wanted his Bella. And she was dead. Because of him.

"Miss Swan didn't appreciate the life she had. I gave her the chance to start a new. To face death and be reborn, but she failed. Now I am giving you the same gift."

"Turn the tape off Edward!" Esme shouted.

"Esme, please-"

"Will you all just shut up!"

"Rose!"

Edward ignored his families ramblings. John had warned him. He had come to him personally. To deal out his punishment face to face. He hadn't heard of one

Jigsaw victim he'd done that to.

What had he'd done that was so wrong?

"It is time for you all to face your sins and pay the price for the crimes you have committed,"

He'd fallen in love with a girl over ninety years younger than him. Led her along. Made her hate her family and love him more. Convinced her that she was the

strange one. Then he left.

But he loved her.

"but in order to survive, you'll have to play a game."

Was that so wrong?

Fitcher here: And with that. It is done. I don't intend to continue Edward's story. Just make up your own ending to his test.
Thank you to everyone who read, reviews, alerted and added this story to their favourites. It really means a lot that people enjoyed this.
Thank you again and I hope you stay with me as I add more to the site.
Fitcher.