Chapter Seven: Hand Of God
When Belle woke up, she was more than a little confused. The last thing she remembered was answering her phone and now she found herself lying on a rather plush couch, her brother, Michelle, and Paul all hovering over her. Groaning, she slowly moved to sit up only to have push her back down saying,
"You should lay down Belle."
"You're not my mother Brian." She snapped in return, not appreciating his actions and the headache she was developing doing nothing to improve her mood. "Now will someone tell me what happened?"
"You fainted Belle." Michelle offered, speaking softly, not wanting to upset her further. Frowning, Isabelle moved to sit up slowly once again, this time without Brian forcing her back down and asked the one question no one wanted to answer, least of all Paul.
"Why'd I faint? Was there some giant, monster of a spider or something?" She was joking of course, but when no one even cracked a smile she began to grow worried. Brian at least would have told her how lame she was if everything was fine, and that was what made her realize that something was seriously wrong. "What happened?"
"See… that's the thing. We're not really sure." Brian began before looking back at Paul, wanting him to continue with the rest since he'd been the one to actually hear it.
"You were crying and you said something about Coby being gone…" Paul trailed off catching a glimpse of Belle. She'd paled considerably as soon as she'd heard Coby's name, and as she began to shake Brian became even more concerned for his sister.
Belle didn't even acknowledge him, or anyone else for that matter, as everything came rushing back to her in an instant. Try as she did she could hardly decipher all the information at once, all of it melding together. The only conscious thought she was having being that the officer that had called her had been wrong, had somehow been confused and had no idea what he was telling her. There was no way what he said could be true because she couldn't survive without Coby. The two had been inseparable since the day they'd first met, on their first day of kindergarten. She couldn't imagine her life without him in it.
By this time she was completely numb to everything around her and didn't hear Brian say he was taking her back to the hotel while asking Michelle if she could get a ride back with Paul. As soon as she'd agreed, Brian lifted his sister from the couch and into his arms heading for his rental car. Paul and Michelle weren't far behind, going and apologizing to Stephanie and Triple H for having to leave so early while ignoring the blatant stares directed towards them.
xoxox
Half an hour later they were back at the hotel and Brian was fishing his sister's room key from the small purse she'd been carrying, getting no help from her. She hadn't spoken once the entire car ride back, causing Brian to go from concerned to downright panicked. He concealed it well though, knowing it was more important for him to take care of his sister right then. It wasn't like her to be so quiet and all he wanted was for her to say something, but as he pushed the door to her room open and sat her on her bed she only rolled over onto her side, hugging one of the pillows to her as tightly as she could, tears starting to fall silently. Brian couldn't stand seeing her so upset and sat beside her, placing his hand on her arm near her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her before saying hesitantly,
"Belle… are you alright?" He already knew the answer to his question, and that was that she wasn't okay, but at the same time he couldn't think of anything else to say. Shaking her head, she whimpered softly, it being the first sound she'd made since going into the catatonic state she was in at the moment. Finding this to be a little encouraging, he decided to press his luck, and asked, "What happened Belle?"
"I just want to be alone." Isabelle said simply, her tone not above a whisper and her voice cracking as she spoke. Sighing softly, Brian only nodded, bending down to kiss her forehead and say,
"Call me if you need me. We'll talk when you're ready." When he didn't get a response from her he sighed again, leaving her hotel room and heading for his own.
xoxox
Sliding his key card into the slot, Brian waited for the little green light to blink before attempting to turn the handle. Walking into the room he caught sight of Michelle and Paul almost instantly. It was obvious that they'd been sitting there, waiting for him to come back as they both looked up at him anxiously. Michelle was the one to ask the question that both were dying to know the answer to.
"Did she tell you anything else?" Shaking his head, he sat on the bed beside his fiancée and ran a hand through his hair, saying,
"No, I'm worried about her though. She's said a total of six words since we left the party. Whatever happened… it's bad."
"She's just in shock Brian. I'm sure she'll tell you what's wrong in the morning." Michelle said, trying to comfort and calm her obviously distraught fiancé. Paul on the other hand, was sitting there, trying to piece together the broken sentence Belle had stuttered out before she'd fainted. Each time he came back to the same answer, and as he tried to come up with another scenario, he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. Finally it got to be too much for him to ignore and he decided to put his idea out there. Taking a deep breath, he looked from his best friend to Michelle and then back before saying,
"Guys… what if Belle meant Coby was dead when she said he was gone?"
"Oh god…" Brian muttered after staring at his friend for a few seconds, allowing the words that he'd just spoken to actually sink in. Jumping to his feet from the bed before anyone even had the chance to blink, he was out of his hotel room and running towards the stairwell, Michelle and Paul right behind him. None of them were willing to wait for the elevator to carry them to the floor Belle's hotel room was on.
xoxox
As soon as Brian had left, Isabelle's silent tears became sobs which wracked her small frame. Stifling the heaving, gasping breaths she was taking with the pillow to which she was still clinging, she didn't care about anything going on around her, the only thing that consumed her thoughts was Coby. Immediately she began to blame herself. It was her fault that he was dead. If she hadn't come to Connecticut, then he wouldn't have been in the apartment when it caught fire. And if he had been, then at least she would have been with him. When she realized this, the tears fell even faster and the sobs became even louder.
She couldn't be sure how much time had passed before she slowly sat up, removing the pins holding her hair back and out of her face, and ran a shaky hand through the white-blonde locks before sliding off her shoes. Eventually she moved to stand, nearly collapsing to the floor as soon as she had, and moved towards the door, throwing the security lock which was placed at the top of it. The last thing she wanted was to be disturbed, and she knew Michelle had her extra key. From there she moved into the bathroom fully intent on peeling off her dress and laying back down on her bed until she cried herself to sleep. But as she tugged the zipper down and the dress fell to the floor, pooling around her now bare feet, the large bottle of extra strength Tylenol she'd brought with her for headaches caught her eye. 'It would be so easy' she thought to herself, to take them and stop the aching she was feeling inside. To make the need to have her best friend back disappear once and for all. All it would take is a handful of pills and a short walk to the mini-bar that was located in her room.
She didn't have time to continue with these thoughts as she heard her phone ringing. She froze in place as she heard the ringtone. There was only one person in her contacts with that ringtone. The initial shock wore off almost instantly and she scrambled from the bathroom, searching frantically for her cell phone. Finally she found the phone, fumbling to flip it open and let the call connect. Breathlessly, she rasped,
"Hello?'
"Belle? Belle… please don't freak out." The voice on the other end of the line said with an almost pleading tone. They needn't have worried though, because Isabelle was too stunned to say anything. She had hoped it would happen but she knew the likelihood was probably in the range of a billion to one. This time she'd managed to be that one.
"Coby… I… how… they said you were…" she stuttered, her mind racing and leaving her unable to complete a full sentence without beginning another.
"I know Belle, I know. I can't fucking believe they called you and my parents based off what a neighbor said. Apparently DNA and dental matches mean nothing these days." Coby ranted his tone soothing at first, but quickly growing annoyed as he went on. With a watery smile, the tears falling now ones of happiness, she laughed though it came out as a sob.
"Don't cry Belle, I'm fine."
"I know… it's just that I thought you were…" here she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Then another thought occurred to her. "Coby… who was in the apartment?"
There was short pause on the line and then she heard her best friend take a deep breath,
"It was Josh Belle. He asked if he could stay with us for a while because his girlfriend kicked him out." To say she was shocked would have been an understatement. It wasn't as devastating if it had been Coby, but it was still upsetting. She and Josh had been fairly close friends, even dating for a while in her sophomore year of college. Looking around the room she moved quickly to her suitcase and grabbed the clothes she'd gone shopping in earlier that day, throwing them on.
"I'm coming home Coby… I'm trading in my ticket for an earlier flight and coming home. I love you and I'll call you when I have all my information."
"Alright Belle, I love you and I'll talk to you soon." Hanging up, she quickly ran into the bathroom and threw everything that belonged to her in the bag she had in there. Walking back into the bedroom she opened the suitcase long enough to throw the smaller bag in it along with the heels she'd worn to the party before zipping it back up. Pulling on her skimmers, she grabbed her tote bag and room key and left the room. Walking to the elevator, she waited for the little ding, signaling that it had arrived and just as she'd stepped inside and the doors had slid closed Brian and the other two came rushing out of the stairwell heading straight for her hotel room.
Checking out of the hotel was easy enough, the receptionist very understanding about her not getting the other room key from Michelle when she'd said there'd been a family emergency and allowing her to leave a note for her brother at the desk. Walking out into the cool night air, she hailed a cab and was on her way to the airport without a second thought as to her brother or anyone else for that matter, ready to get back home and back to her best friend.
xoxox
Knocking on his sister's door incessantly for a few minutes, Brian was steadily growing more and more worried as he got no response from his sister. Suddenly he heard a small gasp from Michelle and watched as she pulled a room key from a small hidden pocket in her dress. Handing it to him, she said,
"I forgot I had that…" Brian didn't respond thought, only slid the card into the slot and pushed the door open in a hurry. What he saw shocked him. He hadn't known what to expect, but finding a completely empty room with no sign that his sister had ever been there other than the unmade bed definitely was it. Looking around in surprise, he shook his head and left the room quickly, heading for the elevator.
As he got to the lobby, silently cursing the elevator for being so slow, he looked around frantically for any sign of his sister. When he didn't find her he walked to the front desk and asked the woman standing behind it,
"Can you tell me if Isabelle Kendrick checked out?"
"Actually… you just missed her. Are you Brian Kendrick?" The woman said, looking up at him curiously when he nodded, she turned around and grabbed a small slip of paper before handing it to the clearly upset man standing in front of her. As his eyes scanned it quickly he shook his head, not believing what he was reading,
Brian-
I'm sorry I'm leaving like this. Coby's fine… but I just had to come home. I'll call you soon.
-Belle
A week later, Brian still hadn't gotten the phone call that she'd promised. Becoming fed up with waiting around for her, he decided to take the initiative and call her instead. Dialing her cell phone number, he listened to it ring before it finally kicked over to voicemail and he was greeted with this message,
'Hey it's Belle and I'm not answering this phone right now. Won't be for a while in fact. After a really big scare, my best friend and I are taking a road trip for an indefinite amount of time… no interruptions. Leave a message or don't, I will be checking this voicemail periodically and if it's an emergency my parents know how to reach me. Bye for now…'
A/N: Well that was chapter seven… and how's that for a cliffy? Hope you all enjoyed it… cause I loved writing it. Title credit for this chapter goes to Fall Out Boy. Don't forget to read and review! 3 Jess C