7 pages on WinWord and 2023 words :) the longest chapter yet.

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"Are you ready to die, Bella?" Jacob asked again.

I found my throat unable to transport any oxygen to my lungs, once more. My eyeballs felt like they would pop out of my head at any moment. My feet were dangling in the air, as I terrifyingly looked down at Jacob, who was grinning with a menacing smile that I had never seen on his face before. His left hand, or paw, had a strong grasp of my neck while the other was holding something that I wasn't able to make out.

"Ja…cob," I rasped.

I felt my hand unconsciously lift to touch his cheek, shaking along the way. Tears were falling from my face as I struggled to communicate.

This isn't who you are. I thought. Please Jacob…please just stop this. Stop this madness.

His long black hair, untied, blew freely in the nonexistent wind as his grip around my neck became a little bit looser.

Just a little bit.

I noticed I was able to breathe…barely.

"Please…"I begged.

He stared at me intently with his wild, bloodshot eyes, seeming to search for something within mine. Abruptly, he let go of my neck and left me to collapse onto the ground. Too weak to pull myself up, I didn't budge. Instead, I closed my eyes and cried.

Why? I thought as large pools of tears were forming on the ground below, in the space of my arms my head was buried in.

Almost instantly, the air around me seemed to stop moving. The feeling of Jacob's presence was no longer accountable. Large amounts of light start to fade into my vision.

I held back my tears, as well as my breath, as I waited for what came next.

A cold hand burned on my cheek as the other stroked my tangled tear-drenched web of hair.

Slowly, my eyelids opened as the blurry silhouette of Edward's body came into view. His thumbs ran over my eyes, ridding them of the wet painful dreams.

"Glad to see you're awake, Bella." I heard Carlisle say somewhere in the room.

I started to turn my head to the other side to face him but was stopped.

"No, love," I heard Edward say. "Don't move so much or you'll get a headache."

I obliged by staring up at his bedroom ceiling, my head clearly not going anywhere. He smirked.

"Good girl."

I smiled back as I reached for his hand. Soon, he held mine, tracing the spaces between my fingers up and down.

"Well since you don't have any trouble hearing me," Carlisle started again, his voice distant. "I'd just like to say that you're lucky Alice called me soon enough for you to get some proper medical care."

I grimaced at the memory.

"The stitches on your head will heal soon after a couple weeks. I suggest taking pain reliever medication to ease the occasional headaches you may get."

"How is Alice doing?" I found myself asking him, my voice a bit hoarse. I cleared my throat.

"She's doing fine," Edward replied instead, frowning. "It's you we are all worried about."

I restrained the urge to roll my eyes and sighed.

"There is nothing you should be worried about."

I heard Carlisle loudly leave the room on purpose, slamming the door a bit too suddenly, causing me to jump.

Edward's solemn expression instantly melted away as he laughed at my deranged reaction. I shifted uncomfortably on Edward's sofa as I felt my face burn up.

"Shut up," I muttered as I hoisted myself up to sit straight. I got a tiny bit dizzy from the sudden movement.

He grinned as he sat next to me and pulled me to his icy chest. I closed my eyes and sighed dreamily, taking in the essence of the moment.

"You miss him don't you?" he asked, no hint of remorse in his questioning voice.

My eyes flew open as I thought about his question.

"A little." I admitted. "Why?"

"Well," he hesitantly answered. "While you were resting after getting the stitches, you were crying and calling out his name--"

"What were you doing in LaPush?"

He blinked at me speechlessly, somewhat startled by the sudden change of discussion.

"You know it's against the treaty!" I continued. "You could've gotten killed!"

He put his hands on either side of my face, putting a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

"It's alright Bella," he smiled. "I was just talking to Sam."

"Talking?" I asked, doubtful.

He nodded.

"Then why did Alice see something bad happen to you?"

A corner of his mouth pulled up, radiating his irresistible crooked smile.

"She's probably confusing her imagination for visions."

I stared at him, not sure if I believed his story. I shook my head for no apparent reason and stood up to walk to the door.

"I'm going to talk to her." I said solemnly.

His face tightened as I turned to walk out of the door but within a millisecond, he stood in my line of vision, just inches in front of me at the door frame, demanding my attention.

I took a step back, disoriented by his swiftly abrupt transition. I crossed my arms and glared at him. He was keeping something from me. I just knew it.

And I was determined to find out what it was.

"Edward." I said narrowing my eyes, tapping my foot impatiently.

"Bella." he said, imitating me in the oddest way. He scrunched up his face, hunched his shoulders with his arms crossed, tapping his foot obnoxiously loud.

I giggled as he picked me up, sweeping me off my feet, and carrying me to Alice's room. He knocked on the door.

"Hey Alice," he said, his mood less intense. "Bella here just wants to see proof of you still being alive."

No reply.

"Alice?" I called.

Jumping down from Edward's arms, I pushed open the door to find no sign of Alice. Instead I found Jacob sitting on the windowsill, with a grave expression on his face.

"I see you're still with him." He said, pointing his chin towards Edward.

I felt Edward grab a hold of my wrist. "Let's go Bella." He whispered in my ear.

"What are you doing here?" I asked briskly, ignoring his comment.

Edward let go of my wrist. I progressed forward towards Jacob, anger gleaming in my eyes.

"What," he smirked. "I can't say hi to my Bella anymore?"

"Get. Out." I said, my voice penetrating with hurt.

The dreams of Jacob flooded through my mind as I struggled to gain composure.

"Bella Bella Bella," he smiled, shaking his head. "You haven't changed a bit…"

He swiftly appeared behind me, his mouth next to my ear.

"…have you?" He whispered into my ear.

I shuddered slightly as he traced his finger down my arm to the charm on the bracelet he had given me. He gently ran his thumb over the wolverine charm and sighed.

All too suddenly, he ripped off the charm fiercely and appeared on the windowsill once again, charm in hand.

"It was so nice seeing you again," he said sarcastically.

The next moment he was gone.

I stood; staring aimlessly at the empty space where Jacob had sat only moments earlier. Edward's charm hung loosely alone on my bracelet. My wrist felt naked without the wolverine. I collapsed onto my knees, feeling powerless.

Jacob. Jacob was here.

My body felt numb. I saw Edward trying to tell me something out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't hear a thing.

I realized it was for the best. Jacob Black is gone. The way it should've been. In another world, we could've been. But in this world, he is nothing to me. In my heart, Jacob Black was dead.

I looked Edward and weakly smiled.

"Now let's go."

He nodded and took my hand in his and went out the room and down the stairs. He was nice enough to go the human pace with me.

"Bella, are you going to be alri—"

I held up a finger, pausing midstep.

"Don't worry about me. Let's just go somewhere. Anywhere."

We resumed walking down the stairs.

"Anywhere but here..." I muttered.

Soon we reached Edward's silver Volvo. Neither of us spoke a word for the whole ride. I did not make any comments about his insanely fast driving and he did not make any comments about my silence. This was how it remained for the whole drive.

I didn't know where we were going, but I didn't care. Just as long as we were getting out of Forks, it didn't matter at all.

"We're here," Edward said quietly.

He looked at me, worriedly. He reached for my hand and held it.

"Bella…"

I turned away and looked out the window. My eyes instantly bugged wide open as I realized where we were.

"The field?" I asked him, my eyes still on the scene outside.

There was no reply. I turned around to find him outside laying out a blanket.

The feeling of his hands was still there in mine, cold and present. I rubbed them together, creating friction to heat them up, even though it was the middle of summer.

I took a deep breath and opened the passenger door with shaking fingers. Blindly, I took myself out of the car, stumbling along the way, and onto the lain out blanket, into Edward's arms. That's when the sobs broke free.

He cradled me, soothing me with my lullaby. Every mistake I'd made and every bit of harm I'd done became upon me, pushing me to the ground; Jacob's Bella was forever gone. I knew. Our farewell before was apparently not good for either of us.

After a while, my eyes were finally dry. I looked up and met his anxious gaze.

"Why me, Bella?"

I looked down at my hands in anger. Hadn't we gone over this topic already?

"Why be with me when you could be so much safer with that cani—I mean, Jacob?"

"Because," I answered, quite frustrated. "You complete me. Without you…I'm helpless."

"But what about Jacob?"

"What about him?"

He stared at me as if my hair turned blue.

"He's a part of who you are." He rubbed my arm. "You don't have to shoo him out of your life forever."

I angrily glared at him, my hands forming into shaking fists.

"I don't need him."

"Bel—"

"No." I snapped. "This is exactly what he wants."

He stroked my cheek. "But what about what you want?"

I stared at him longingly.

"You know what I want."

"Bella we can't." he said quietly.

"Then what about what you can do?"

He looked up at my face and inched closer until his lips where touching mine. He rolled gently, pressing me to the cool grass. His hands were in my hair, his lips moving softly. He kissed his way down to my neck as I realized that this was all just a distraction.

It took a great deal of effort just to push him away. Somehow, he finally got the message and pulled back a few inches to look at me.

"Answer my question," I commanded, lightly gasping for air.

He looked at me, studying my face. Then he sighed.

"Are you sure about this, Bella?"

I nodded in reply. I was as sure as ever.

He kissed me lightly on the lips before placing his lips back on my neck.

"I love you," he murmured.

I felt around for his hand and squeezed it.

"Forever," I whispered.

He nodded lightly.

"Forever." was his last reply before he sunk his teeth into my raw skin.

All I could do now was wait for the pain.

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