Chapter Ten
Bella
My life soon fell into a routine although not the one I remembered from before, this time Renee was much more involved in the running of the house and both her cooking and cleaning skills had improved radically. She seemed genuinely pleased to have me back and not just because her life fell apart when I was gone. She was happy to have her daughter back and the more we spoke the more I understood. Seeing me after Edward left had been a shocking wake up call for her, she had seen just how close she came to losing me and how much I needed my parents and their strengths. As a result she had pulled herself together and with Phil's help and encouragement become the mother I had always wanted her to be. She showed an interest in my studies, encouraged me to have a social life, and when I got upset by something which was a little more often these days she was there for me. The thing that upset me most was speaking to Charlie because I could hear in his voice the hurt I'd caused him by deciding to move back here. He and I had finally made a connection and then I was gone and he knew I would never come back. I had expected Renee to crow about this but she felt for Charlie and spoke to me about inviting him down sometime, a way to keep the connection alive but for now all I could think of was starting over here and trying to forget the Cullens and all the terrible things they had brought into my life along with the wonderful ones.
For the first week after my meeting with Edward I expected him to appear round every corner or in my bedroom when I woke in the middle of the night. But when he failed to appear I thought he might just have got the message and believed my threat and in truth I wasn't sure I wouldn't have done it. The person I wanted to see about as much as Edward was Jake and every time I spoke to Charlie, which was most nights for a few minutes I asked about him, checking he was still in Forks on the reservation. Charlie was still in contact with Billy but it seemed there was something going on with the elders that had them concerned and he couldn't find out what it was. As long as it kept the pack in Forks I didn't really care. School was fine and I soon fit in although I no longer associated much my class mates, I'd grown up while I was in Forks and it seemed we didn't have that much in common. I ignored the few overtures I got from boys, they were just trying it on but once they understood I wasn't interested they gave up which was a refreshing change from Edwards persistence.
About six weeks after I moved back I got home from school to find I'd had a visitor, someone in Florida on holiday from Port Angeles.
"Who was it?"
"She said her name was Vicki."
"Vicki? It doesn't ring a bell."
"Well she said she was a friend. At first I thought she might be related to the Cullens but she never mentioned them."
I felt chills run through my body,
"Why do you say that?"
"Well she was very pale, like Edward, and she had strange coloured hair like him too although girls dye their hair all the time don't they. You know I saw one the other day with one side of her hair dyed bright green and the other side shaved. Now what was that all about?"
"Mum, what did she say?"
Sorry? Oh she left an envelope for you, I put it on your bed. A strange shade of orangey red"
I froze,
"What?"
"Her hair, it was a strange orangey red colour"
Renee was describing Victoria, James mate.
"Now I just have to pop to the store, I wont be long. Did you need anything Bella?"
I shook my head and as soon as she left I ran through to my room to find a thick envelope on my bed and tearing it open I emptied the contents onto my bed. It was a sheaf of photographs, all of people I knew, Renee, Phil, Charlie, Phil's sister and husband, Angela Webber, Mike Newton, Jessica, Eric, Tyler, Lauren. Each photograph had RIP scrawled across it in red ink and the threat was clear. Victoria was going to kill all these people unless? I looked for a message but that was it, just the collection of photographs and I felt sick. Did this mean she was going to kill all these people just to get revenge on me for James death? If so what could I do about it? I couldn't tell the police, they would want the full story and I couldn't give them that. I couldn't even tell Charlie, besides what could he do against a vampire? I couldn't call on the Cullens for help I had no idea where they were or even if they would help anyway now I'd threatened them. Could they watch over so many people if I could? Deciding I had to do something I dug out Alice's cell phone number and rang it but there was nothing, no ring tone, no message service, it had been discontinued.
I sat on the bed looking at the photographs and racking my brain for some way to alert them to their danger but then what could they do? I knew only too well if a vampire wanted to kill you they would find a way. The only course of action open to me was to come clean to Charlie and hope that Billy and Jake would back me up although that was putting him in danger from the Volturi too. But then would Charlie believe me? I hardly believed it myself when I was told. There was a knock on my door and Phil put his head round smiling,
"We're going out for a couple of hours, a friend invited us for drinks, will you be OK? You're welcome to join us."
Startled I realised I'd been sitting on my bed for over an hour thinking.
"I'll be fine, you go, enjoy yourselves"
He noticed the photographs on my bed,
"Someone send you some mementoes of life in Forks? That's nice. We'll see you later"
I was just glad he hadn't been close enough to see the writing scrawled across them, and that I had the house to myself for a few hours although maybe Victoria would visit and put me out of my misery. I made myself coffee then picked up the phone to ring Charlie although I still had no idea what I would say. The house phone just rang and rang so he must be at work but I could have sworn it was his day off. Still I could hardly drop this on him at work could I? So it would have to wait until tomorrow and I could only hope Victoria wouldn't act too quickly although if she'd been here in Jacksonville to drop the photographs off this morning then my friends in Forks would be safe at least for a while. But that meant my mother and Phil could be at risk and I felt sick. If they'd been in this evening I would have known they were safe but they were out there and even more vulnerable as a result.
I couldn't settle, neither could I think of any way of alerting my friends to their danger, and I was so relieved when Phil and Renee got back. That is until I heard their story,
"Bella I have never been so scared in my life. This SUV came swerving across the carriageway and almost broadsided us. If it hadn't been for Phil's quick reflexes I don't think we'd be here now."
"Did it stop? The SUV I mean"
She looked at me as if I were mad,
"Would you if you nearly ran another car off the road? No, it took off like a bat out of hell as other motorists stopped to make sure we were OK. The cars going to need some bodywork doing but we're both here so I'd say we got off lightly."
"I thought you said it nearly hit you"
"It did, Phil swerved and we scraped along the crash barrier for a short way before he could stop."
So it had started, Victoria had warned me and now she was ready to make good on her threat and there was nothing I could do about it. I wondered why she didn't just kill them with her bare hands but then I thought perhaps she was trying to keep them low key, after all she wouldn't want the Volturi on her trail would she?