Let's Play a Game

How far would you go to save a stranger?
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Chapter Eight — Needle In A Needle Stack – Edward Anthony Cullen's POV
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Hearing that man's voice is like listening to your doctor as he tells you that you have cancer. His voice is like the news broadcaster saying we are under attack or about to get hit by a category five hurricane. It's like a death wish just hearing his voice on that recorder. Everyone in this room could feel the same as I do.

When the first sentence came out of that fucker's mouth, Jasper instantaneously froze. All eyes were on him waiting to see what he'd have to do.

"The game I want to play is very similar to the one that you've been playing. It's a drug deal." Jasper blanched. "The game of offering hope to the desperate...for a price. I think we can agree that your situation is desperate. So I offer you hope. The price you pay is that you must crawl into the same pit of squalor you force your customers into. By entering this room, the timer has been started."

At the end of that sentence, Emmett walked over to the bed and ripped the comforter off. There wasn't even a mattress on the bed. "Oh, shit. Guys," he mumbled and pointed down.

Rosalie and I both walked over to the bed while the recorder was still playing. Emmett and I lifted up the bed and easily pushed it against the way. We looked at each other before glancing back down at what the bed was hiding.

"When the timer expires, the door in front of you will be locked forever. Only you finding the key before the timer runs out can you unlock it. After putting the antidote in the lock, I will give you just one hint as to where that key is."

There was a pit in the ground that looked to be twelve feel deep. About eight of those twelve feet was filled with syringes. There was probably more that 100,000 syringes in this pit. Some were clean, but most of them, from what I could tell, were used. The red needles proved that. There was blood all over them with who knows what kind of diseases.

"It will be like finding a needle in a haystack," the voice said and then laughed quietly. "Let the game begin."

"Fuck," Jasper growled. He threw the recorder on the ground and paced back and forth.

"What?" Bella shrieked and clamped a hand over her mouth. She walked over towards where we were. I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the pit, but she already saw it. "Oh God," she gasped out and clutched at her chest.

I felt Bella let go of my arm and begin to breathe heavily. She was hyperventilating right behind me. She backed up a little and cupped her throat. I watched in horror as her chest heaved up and down at an alarming rate. I quickly ran in front of her and grabbed her face in my hands.

"Bella, just breathe with me, only me," I spoke in a soft, comforting voice. She was having a panic attack by just looking down at a pile of needles. "Just look at me and breathe, okay?" I demanded roughly. I picked up her hand and placed it on my chest. I breathed evenly, hoping she would copy my actions. "Come on, Bella."

Isabella Marie Swan's POV

I couldn't breathe. No matter how hard I tried to settle down, my breath would come short again. I felt like my lungs were collapsing. I felt like I was going to die. I was having another panic attack.

With just one look at a needle, I'm set. You could say I'm deathly afraid of needles. My doctor told me I was belonephobic. Every time I get an IV or a shot, I end up having a panic attack, putting me in the hospital longer.

"Bella, breathe with me," Edward demanded more sternly this time. I tried to do what he was asking me, and eventually I did. My breathing finally slowed. I could still hear my hear pounding in my ears.

"I'm not going in there," Jasper announced loudly. He looked completely deranged. His eyes were wild as he pulled on his own hair. I was kind of scared.

Edward let go of me and stepped away. "See? All better."

I smiled thankfully at him and let out a few deep breaths. I purposely averted my eyes from the pit. There was no way in hell I could go through that again.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I let out a loud scream and thrashed around in the person's arms. I could feel myself get dragged backwards. It was like déjà vu.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Rosalie yelled, sounding completely disgusted.

I saw Alice still standing by the door, looking at nothing and not moving one inch. Emmett was watching with wide eyes by the window and Edward was standing in front of me, horrified.

That only left one person.

"Dude, put her down," Emmett shouted frantically.

"I can't go in there. I c-can't," Jasper stuttered. I could feel him trembling against body. He was having some kind of psychological breakdown or something.

Edward stepped forward slowly, but Jasper pulled me painfully against him and shifted back. I whimpered and stared into Edward's eyes. It looked like he was struggling to fathom a complex math problem.

"Make me go in. Not Bella."

Jasper didn't respond to Edward's request. He just jerked my arm and pushed me forward while still holding onto my arm. I came face to face with my worst nightmare. His grip on me loosened and I began to stumble forward.

"No!" I screamed and clasped onto his forearm with both of my hands. The perimeter of the pit was so weak that it was starting to disintegrate. The more weight I left on it, the more pieces that fell off.

Edward took one step forward and that was all it took for to push Jasper over the edge.

Suddenly, I was falling.

It took a minute before I felt it. One second after I stopped falling, razor sharp stabbing pains went through my whole body. I let out a deafening scream and cried loudly. I landed on my back and I couldn't move for what seemed like an eternity. It felt like I was being sawed in half and burned to pieces.

"Ahh!" I screamed shrilly as I got up off of my back. I could feel needles sticking out of me from every inch of my body. I didn't even have the time to have another panic attack. I had a task to do right now, so I put my pain behind me so I could save us all.

Edward Anthony Cullen's POV

I was completely and utterly horrified by what I was seeing and what I was hearing. Her screams echoed off the walls loudly, my ears felt like they were bleeding.

"Jasper, how could you?" Alice shrieked and pushed him roughly. He fell onto his ass and put his head into his hands. "God, Jasper," Alice cried and put her head in her hands. I could see her flinch as Bella let out another loud scream.

Emmett jogged over to the pit and leaned down. "It's okay, Bella. You can do this. We have two minutes."

Bella completely ignored him. "Help," she cried. I walked over next to Emmett and saw that she was digging through the pile of needles. The glass of the syringes was clanking and shattering together.

"Keep looking," Jasper muttered. I turned to my right and saw him glancing at the digital countdown. I glared at him murderously. "Come on, come on," he yelled.

"Fuck you!" Bella screamed.

I heard her let out an agonized scream as she began sifting through the piles faster. She pushed needles away and I watched as she threw them all over, trying to get them out of her way.

"Faster!" Jasper yelled.

Rosalie let out a loud scream and stalked over to him. "Knock it off! I don't see you in there doing it!"

My only concern was for Bella. Her screams were getting more frustrated and disturbed by the second. That's all I heard. I couldn't hear Alice crying in the corner or Rosalie bitching Jasper out. I couldn't even hear Emmett's words of support from next to me.

"We need to help her!" I shouted hysterically. Emmett just looked at me miserably. "What the fuck? We have to do something!"

"Ugh!" Bella shrieked again. I heard her let out a choked cry.

The needles clashing and the screams were picking up pace and volume. The syringes were flying away from her faster than before. I watched as she dug a hole in front of her to try to find what we needed.

Finally, I heard her screams cease for a second. Her hand whipped up from the pit and threw something down on the ground. It was the antidote with the key attached to it.

Emmett picked it up right after she let it go. He ran over to the door, but I didn't pay attention to that.

"Alice!" I roared desperately. She automatically ran over to me and we both looked down in the pit. Bella was sitting against the wall of it crying her eyes out. I could tell that her breathing was getting weaker by the second. She could pass out at any second from all the trauma she just went through. She could be going into shock.

I got on my knees and touched her arm tenderly. "Bella," I whispered sadly.

She sobbed quietly as she got up from her sitting position. She stood up shakily and both Alice and I leaned down to help her up. I tried my best to try to not to touch the spots that were covered with needles. But they were sticking out of her skin everywhere.

"Oh my god," Alice choked out. I could tell she was crying.

I let out a big breath and grabbed onto one of the needles that was sticking out of her arm. This one was near her wrist.

She flinched away from me and let out a small cry.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered and quickly ripped one out of her skin, careful not to tear anything or leave part of it in her body.

She screamed once again and my heart broke for this girl I barely knew. She was not up and fit for that kind of task. Jasper knew she was afraid of needles. I don't know why he couldn't have thrown me in there.

"Shh. Bella, we're helping you," Alice soothed and stroked Bella's hair in a comforting manner. "You're going to be okay, you heard me?"

I used Alice's voice as a distraction for the pain. The needles on her back seemed to be the most painful ones, so I steered clear of those till last.

Finally, after the last one was out, I let out the air that I was holding in. My lungs felt like they had just collapsed and my eyes burned with unshed tears. I have no idea what was wrong with me. I never cry.

I slumped down on the ground next to Bella and grabbed onto her hand. I brought it up to my lips and let out a sob. "It should have been me."

- - - - -

The room was eerily silent, except for Bella's small whimpers, after the whole needle pit episode. I held Bella in my arms as we both sat on the ground. She was sitting in between my legs with her back against my chest. Alice was now whispering quietly to Jasper as he continued to beat himself up.

I know that he feels really bad about the whole thing, he couldn't help it. It was an involuntary reaction. He is a druggie stuck in this place. He hasn't had a hit in twenty four hours maybe. One glance down at the needles and he flipped. The closest candidate to throw in there was Bella.

Just because I understand why he did it doesn't mean I forgive him.

I was the same distance from him as Bella was. He could have easily just pushed me so I'd go flying in. I guess because Bella is way more defenseless than I am, he chose her.

I was really worried for Bella. Who knew how many diseases she picked up from those needles? I shuddered at the possibilities of all the diseases that could be transferred from sharing needles out there.

"Edward?" Bella whispered. This was the first time she's talked since she was screaming.

I rested my cheek on the top of her head and sighed. "Yeah?"

I felt her shakily grab my hand and squeeze it with as much strength as she had. "Thank you, for helping me and getting those out of me. It means a lot that you'd do that if you hardly know me."

"Of course I'd help you, Bella," I murmured softly. "I know I just met you a couple hours ago, but it feels like I've known you forever. I've never said that to anyone before. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

She was silent for a moment and I wondered if I said something that bugged her. All those thoughts vanished when I could hear her smiling. "I feel the same way."

"I promise Bella, I promise that I'll protect you from anything else that happens here," I vowed with conviction. I tightened my grip around her torso and pulled her more firmly against my chest, showing her that I wasn't lying to her.

She let out a short, airy laugh. "You can't protect me from my own instinct."


Short, I know. But it's out, right? Did you all expect the needle scene? Just so you know, I'm the same as Bella. Not good at all with needles. I had a hard time even writing this. Review, alert, favorite! Do what you guys do best! (: