Starting Anew
A/N: I am so sorry that this is so much later than I promised you all, but I have exams now because of my school is being a pain in the butt because it was on strike for 3 months and then trying to catch up with the work missed and reviewing what we learned three months earlier and now the exams. And I tried to sign in the past couple of days and it wouldn't let me so this is much later than I expected but I hope you all enjoy it all the same and don't hate me too much.
Chapter 7: Revelations
"So Bella, why did you move to Forks?" Alice asked. The movie ended and Alice had sent the boys upstairs for blankets for everyone to sleep in the living room.
"Uh…well, you see…"I bit my lip anxiously and curled myself further into the couch, "Uhm…" I realized that I was starting to hyperventilate, but I was such a terrible liar and I couldn't figure out a way of not answering her question.
Thankfully, the guys came back downstairs and dropped all the blankets in a pile on the floor and sat back down in their vacated seats. Edward must have seen how worked up I had gotten myself because he brought me closer to his side and rubbed soothing circles on my back, which were slightly helping but I couldn't stop myself from grabbing onto his shirt tightly with both hands.
"Bella? Are you okay? If you don't want to answer it's alright, I'm so sorry," I could faintly hear Alice's voice from somewhere behind Edward, but I was once again caught up in the reason why I was here to begin with, Phil.
"Shh…it's okay Bella. You're okay," I could hear the words Edward was whispering in my ear, but I couldn't bring myself to react to it, "Guys I'm going to bring Bella upstairs for a bit."
Edward picked me up and I distantly felt him carry me through the house, up the stairs, and to I assumed his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and kept me sitting sideways on his lap, letting me stay with my head tucked up against his chest. Again I got the feeling that I shouldn't be this comfortable around a guy I had just met, but I decided to ignore it and place that thought aside to think about later. I felt myself relaxing as Edward continued to whisper to me softly and run his fingers through my hair.
"Are you okay Bella?" He asked, and I pulled away just enough to nod my head before putting it back down, "Do you want to talk about it? I mean, I know we just met, but if there's anything I can help with, just let me know."
I bit my lip and nodded hesitantly against his chest, "I think so, I just don't know if I can yet," I looked up at him and blushed as I saw him looking back at me with a small smile that just barely reached his eyes.
"We can talk about it whenever you're ready to, it doesn't have to be now if you don't think you can now," he whispered, brushing a loose piece of hair away from my face.
"I want to though…but it might take a while. I don't want you to feel like you have to put up with how pathetic I am," I let got of his shirt with one hand so I could wipe the tears that I felt pooling in my eyes.
He pushed away my hand and wiped my tears with the hand that wasn't running through my hair, "Bella, of course I want you to tell me…but only if you want to. We can sit here for as long as it takes if you like. I know we've only known each other for a day, but for some reason I feel very protective of you, like I've known you for much longer."
I blushed, "Thank you, that means a lot, especially since I feel like I can really trust you…I feel safe when I'm with you."
Edward wrapped both arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head, "I promise to do my best to ensure that you are safe."
I tried to pull away but he only held on tighter, but I managed to pull away far enough to see his face, "I can't let you do that, then if he decides to come here, he'll get you too."
"Who will get me Bella?" he asked, looking down at me, concern shining brightly in his eyes, "Who is it that you're so afraid of?"
I closed my eyes and rested my head against Edward's chest, and again he rested his head on top of my own, "Phil, my mom's boyfriend back in Phoenix. He gave me the creeps when my mom first started going out with him…but he never actually did anything. Then he moved in and that's when he started to actually hit me."
Edward didn't say anything, just pulled me closer, and I was thankful for the silence because I wasn't sure that if I stopped I would be able to keep talking. I was trying my best to not thing about what it was I was saying and just letting my mouth run on auto-pilot, being as disconnected from the words as entirely possible.
"It scared me, I mean my own dad doesn't even hit me if I do something wrong, and here was this guy I had practically just met and he was shoving me around. I tried to talk to my mom about it but she didn't believe me and then she did what I guess I should have seen her doing, but I just didn't. I thought she would be on my side and do something about it…" I let out a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah, right, what was I thinking. No, instead she went right to Phil and told him everything I said to her, and of course he denied all of it, but that night…" I had to stop…this wasn't the worst of it, but I couldn't make the words come out, the only other person I had told was my dad and that was only a couple of days ago, and now here I was trying to tell a person who was practically a stranger to me.
Edward hugged me tighter to himself, "If you want to stop you can, I won't force you to tell me something you don't want to."
Immediately I shook my head, but my voice came out as barely a whisper, "I want to, but it's just so hard because the only other person I've ever told is my dad, and that was only a couple of days ago," we sat in silence for I don't know how long before I managed to build up the courage to continue, "…That night is when he started the actual beatings. It just…it just kept getting worse and worse. I couldn't bring myself to tell my dad, I didn't want to ruin his life and some part of me also thought that he would just dismiss it like my mom did."
Edward just nodded, and looking up I saw so many emotions swirling through his bright green eyes, but I couldn't define one of them even if I had to. I knew that he wouldn't hate me for what I was going to say next, that he wouldn't mock me, and if anything this could be a sign that my bad luck was changing.
"A couple of nights ago, Phil took my mom out for a big celebratory dinner after he got signed for this minor league baseball team and I decided to turn in early…" I turned my head but Edward pulled my face back toward him, so I took a deep breath and continued, "When he came home that night…I don't think I've ever been so scared, and I don't think it's possible to ever be that scared again. He had this dangerous look in his eye, and he just kept stalking towards my bed. He had climbed on top of me and pulled my nightgown over my head. He just kept touching me and I know that he would have…he would have…" I just couldn't finish and buried my face against Edward's shoulder and let his shirt hide my tears.
"And that's why you ran away from Phoenix?" Edward asked, pulling me closer as I nodded, "You're perfectly safe here, I'll do everything I can to ensure that. Phil would have to go through not only your father and me, but also everyone downstairs who would help you even without knowing why, don't worry I won't say anything if you don't want me to."
"Thank you, I don't think I want anyone else to know," I hesitantly looked up at him, "I just felt like I could trust you for some reason."
"I promise to do all I can to be sure that I don't break that trust," he ran his fingers through my hair and I instantly found myself relaxing under his touch, "Did you want to go back downstairs or stay up here? Or if you want we can call your dad or I can drive you home if you feel uncomfortable."
"Downstairs is fine, I feel much better now, but if I have a nightmare can you wake me up?" I stood up off of Edward's lap, biting back a smile as Edward kept my hand in his as he stood up beside me, "I didn't have one last night but…"
"Of course," He grabbed my bag and led the way to the bathroom, "Why don't you get cleaned up and changed before we head downstairs? I'll meet you right here after you're done."
I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I quickly washed off my face to get rid of any traces of tears I could before pulling my toothbrush out of my bag that Edward left sitting by the door for me. I brushed my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair to straighten it up after the mess it had become and I quickly changed into my pink and grey Tinkerbell pjs before walking out of the bathroom. I was surprised to see Edward already standing against the wall, changed in a pair of dark green sleep pants and a black T-shirt.
"I just have to brush my teeth then we'll head down," He walked past me, leaving the door open behind him, so I leaned against the door frame, meeting his eyes through the mirror above the sink, he smirked at me as he washed his face and turned off the light as we left the bathroom.
I followed him back to the staircase where I stopped, I didn't want to go downstairs where I had made a huge fool out of myself. I looked down as I felt Edward gently grab my hand and waited for me to start walking first. I bit my lip and kept my head down as he brought me back to the loveseat where we both sat down, Edward keeping me close to his side. Looking up through my hair I saw the other four hadn't moved, but both of the girls looked like they had tears in their eyes.
"Bella, are you OK?" Alice asked, leaning closer to me, "I'm sorry."
I took a calming breath before I looked up at them, "Yeah, I'm fine Alice, and there's nothing to apologize for," I gave her a small smile and I saw her eyes sparkle as I unconsciously started play with Edward's hand that I was still holding tightly between both of mine.
A/N: Thank You for reading, reviews would be nice, even just to let me know if there's anything I can do differently, anything that I should change, or if you have any questions. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I plan on having the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can, which hopefully will be within a week.
