Chapter 10

Two years later

Bella- 15

Emmett-20

BPOV

"So how was your day?"

"It was fine, and yours?" I asked, trying to hide the impatience in my voice.

"It was good."

"That's nice...Can I go now?"

"NO! You know you used to love our nightly conversations, now you just go through the pleasantries and immediately leave! May I remind you that I could've tried killing you when you were younger, but no I kept you around because I thought it would be cool to have a lil sis. A person I would be able to protect and care about, a person who would want to hang out with me and just do…siblingy things with, a pe-"

"Calm down Emmett! First, you are watching too much Adam's Family movies, which I don't get at all, those have to be the most boring movies in the world (In one of the movies the two older kids try to kill their younger brother, multiple times.) Second, I am not your girlfriend; I am your sister, we don't have to talk all the time. And lastly I have a lot of work to do! Good gracious, you don't have to go all Drama King on me. Do you want me to flunk out of school?!"

"For your information, I am in college and I am doing fine. You little girl are still in high school. It's not that hard to get As."

"I am hanging up now, and you are a liar. You complained to me every night throughout your sophomore year about how hard it was to get A's, so don't even use that line on me mister." I said, while tapping a finger on my comforter, I really wanted to hang up.

"NOOOO!!!!! Don't leave me!!! I wuv you, Bwells," My older, mature, brother said, using a baby voice.

"Emmett! I am hanging up now and there is nothing you can do to stop it, good night." I said hanging up immediately after that.

Once my brother was taken care of I quickly dialed the number I knew by heart.

"Got rid of Emmett so quickly?" Edward said, half teasingly, half in awe.

"I think I am getting good at this," I said, getting comfortable. We usually talked until one of us fell asleep on the phone and I didn't want to wake up with a stiff neck.

"You are my hero."

"Bella the hero, I could get uses to that," I teased, going along with our usual banter.

"I'm sure you can. So how was your day?"

"Actually it was v-"

"Bella is there something wrong?" he questioned.

"Hold on the monster's back, can I call you back?"

"Sure, love, talk to you soon, and talk to Emmett. I feel like I am taking up all you time, Emmett deserves some Bella time too, he's your brother and I know you love each other."

"Sure sure, bye," I replied, smiling, Edward had taken to calling me love a few months ago, and since then he had said it at least once during our conversations, usually when saying bye, I guess it was his way of making sure that I knew he loved me.

I quickly answered the phone, knowing that if I didn't Emmett would continue to harass me and Edward was kind of right, I shouldn't forget about my brother just because I liked talking to Edward.

"Bella, Have I done something wrong?" Emmett said, skipping formalities. His voice was surprising somber, compared to his usually buoyant humor. It was then that I actually realized how rude I was being, Emmett and I had talked basically every night since I was 8. We were really close and now I was causing us to drift apart.

"I'm sorry Emmett, I just…it's just been kind of crazy, but I can talk now."

"Are you sure?" He said, some of his usual cheerfulness entering his voice once again.

"Yea I am, so how's the college football team? Are you getting into loads of trouble?"

And just like that we started talking, our conversations had always had a natural flow to them, and it was like nothing changed from when I was 12 and had called him because I was scared of a spider on my bedroom wall. I didn't notice how late it was until Emmett commented that he didn't want me falling asleep during class. We quickly said good-bye and hung up the phone.

When I looked at the time I was surprised to see that it was already 11 o'clock. I was hesitant to call Edward, I didn't want to wake him up if he was sleeping, but then again the next time we talked I was sure he would give me a lecture on how I should've called anyway, no matter how late it was.

I eventually decided to call and was happy when Edward immediately responded on the first ring; I knew I wouldn't have slept as soundly as I usually did without hearing Edward's voice right before I fell asleep.

"Hello there, I guess you took my advice?"

"Yea, Emmett and I talked for a while. It was actually really nice; I hadn't noticed how much I missed talking to him."

"I told you so," he teased, "Seriously though, I am glad, I don't want to come between you two. Emmett is a great brother and you shouldn't devote all your time to me, I'm not that important."

"Edward Mason, you are that important, and I cannot argue with you about how absolutely amazing you are, I am too tired. I'll call you tomorrow?" I questioned, already knowing his answer.

"Of course, sweet dreams, love" He said before hanging up.

I smiled while drifting off to sleep.

Bella- 17 (just turned)

Emmett- 22

BPOV

I looked down at my phone, to scared to dial Edward's number. I had called him every night for the past week, only getting his answering machine. There was something wrong, that's the only thing I was sure of. Edward would've told me if he was going on vacation or if something was wrong...I didn't want to think about what happened to him for him to not even be able to call me.

I finally got enough courage to call his cell. I was about to hang up when on the last ring I heard his voice.

"Hello?"

I couldn't even answer, it was very odd, we talked to each other all the time and yet I couldn't even say hello? But there was something different…I couldn't place my finger on it…but for some reason I couldn't respond.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

When I realized that he was going to hang up I finally said something, "Edward?"

"…Bella?" He asked after a brief pause.

"Yea, is there something wrong? I tried calling you before…"

"uhm..Listen Bella…I'm going through some stuff right now…and you wouldn't understand…and if you think about it, it's not like what we were doing could be considered healthy. Seriously, calling each other every night? And it's not like what we were doing could go anywhere…"

"So...we shouldn't call each other?" I said, trying to grasp what he was saying.

"We shouldn't call, e-mail, text..everything, I'm having a hard time right now. I just can't do this…"

"Edward, please, you can tell me, I can try to understand…just talk to me. I can be a good listener." I said, finally understanding what he was saying.

"No, not this time Bella. Good-bye" He said before hanging up.

I listened to the dial tone, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

I broke down crying after a while, realizing that for the first time in over two years he hadn't called my "love" before hanging up.

EPOV

I stared at the phone after hanging up.

I can't believe I just did that.

I had told the only person I loved that was left on this Earth that I didn't want to talk to her.

What's wrong with me?

Nothing is, I thought, answering my own thoughts. What I had done was for the best.

"Have you gotten everything you wanted Edward?" Carlisle said from the doorway. I turned to see him and Esme watching me with sad expressions; clearly they had heard my conversation.

"Yes, everything is fine." I said quickly passing them and walking down the steps of my old house.

Half year later

Bella- 17 and 1/2

Emmett- 23

BPOV

"I'm home." I said while dropping my bag on the floor.

I walked towards the kitchen wondering if there was something wrong, usually Renee would bombard me with questions about how my school was right when I entered the door, she was probably scared I would try to kill myself in school, I had been acting a bit depressed since he ha-

No, I scolded myself. I could think of him only in my own room, where it would be okay for me to be as depressed as I wanted, but only then. If I thought about him anywhere it was unbearable to try and act normal.

"Mom?" I questioned, finally reaching the kitchen.

When I saw my mom, my blood instantly went cold. She was hunched over a chair, and sobs were racking her entire body frame. I just watched her, not able to move or say anything. She finally seemed to notice I was there because she lifter her head and tried to stop crying.

"Mom, What's wrong? Is it Phil? Has something happened?" I asked somehow remembering my ability to speak and move. I quickly rushed over to her and threw my arms around her. What could've happened that would cause my mom to be so distraught? Maybe there was a car accident, was Phil in the hospital? How ba-

"Bella, sweetie, I think you should sit down." My mom gently said, stopping me from imaging the worst case scenarios in my head.

"Mom, you can tell me what's wrong. I'll be okay."

"It's not Phil…please Bella, just sit down." My mom said while getting up and pouring herself a glass of water. While she was up she splashed her face with some water, trying to make it seem as though she wasn't crying a few minutes ago.

I quickly sat down across from the chair my mom had occupied a moment before.

"Bella, I want you to listen to me. Please stay calm okay?"

I quickly nodded my head trying to get my mom to get to the point.

"Emmett and Charlie were on a hunting trip…you know how they are. They try to be all masculine but they rarely ever kill any animals. Well apparently they were hunting with some of Charlie's friends and something must have happened...Bella, Emmett's missing. Your dad said there were some bears in the region…it's possible that Emmett got attacked by one."

"No." I said, denying whatever she had just said. All I had heard was Emmett and missing. I wouldn't allow my brain to accept anything else my mom had said, because if it did I wouldn't be able to handle it.

It's funny in a way I guess. Last year I was completely happy, I would have never traded my life for anything, and yet here I wanted to end it, because if I did, I wouldn't have to feel anything.

I had been to a couple of funerals throughout my life. My great aunt, my grandmother, and a distant uncle, but I had never felt 1/100th of the pain I felt when I went up to my older brothers casket that wasn't open. There was no reason for it to be, the police had never found Emmett's body; they had given up a couple of weeks ago.

I quickly blinked my eyes, trying to will the tears away, but they inevitably fell, cascading down my eyes, not showing any sign of stopping.

"Why?" I pitifully whimpered out, wondering what I had done to make my life take such a drastic turn.

EPOV

"How was she?" Emmett asked opening the door to my bedroom. I knew without reading his mind who he was talking about. I was the only one that had attended his fake funeral, it had been an overcast day, and I had to see her…I had to see how she was doing.

"Horrible, she probably lost 10 or more pounds since I have last seen her and she was crying nonstop." I said in a monotone voice.

"God dammit Edward! You don't have to say it like that!"

"What do you expect me to do Emmett? For me to say it happily? What do you want from me?"

"I want you to bring my little sister to me," he whispered.

That makes two of us.

Review! I don't know if I got the emotion across that well, I have been working on this most of today and part of yesterday so I hope it's good.

On a side note my birthdays on Wednesday, it would be a wonderful Birthday gift to get reviews. :D

Btw- Is there anyone from a country besides the United Stated that is reading this? I was just wondering because the stats showed that people from other countries had hits on this story, but I was wondering if anyone was actually reading it.