Chapter 9: Revelations

Bella looked as Alice took a step inside and drew her gaze around the place. Incredibly, Bella was not uncomfortable seeing Alice's tiny figure standing in there, her sacred place, the one no one had ever laid eyes on. Alice just seemed to fit the scene. And Bella felt happy and complete to be able to share this with her.

Alice took a deep breath and looked around curiously. At first sight, Bella's office was no different from any other office, if not by the mess and the tons of papers spread on every surface. Even the walls were covered.

But it truly only took Alice a couple of seconds to find out the mystery that was consuming her. For as she looked to the poster hanging behind the desk, she knew it.

"Oh, my God" Alice almost yelled. "You are the vampire woman!".

Bella looked down to the floor as blood turned her cheeks red.

"Great Lord Bella! You are not only famous, you are huge!" Alice was extremely overwhelmed by the discovery.

She turned around and stared at her friend. "Your face is a worldwide mystery. I can't believe you managed to keep it a secret for so long".

Alice looked at Bella's embarrass face and soon she calmed herself down. She took both of Bella's hands into hers. "I feel honoured that you chose me to confess your secret, for I know you have never told this to anyone voluntarily. Nor have you ever shown this sacred place to anyone but me" Alice eyes were glowing when Bella met her gaze. "And I want you to know how much I admire you. Not now that I know who you are, but ever since I met you".

"Admire me? Why?" Bella was confused.

"Because you were able to get over the tragedy in your life and became what you are now" Alice simply said.

"You have a tragic story too, Alice" Bella reminded her.

"Yes, but I found Jasper. And I also found Carlisle, and Esme, and my siblings" Alice stated. "You, on the other hand, did everything alone. You grow up by yourself and became a successful, independent and smart woman. That's why I admire you so much". And then she got her little body up and hugged Bella tightly.

They remained like that for a moment, until Bella broke the embrace and asked, looking into Alice's eyes: "Want to take a look around?"

Alice stepped out of Bella's arm and took a look into the office. She started walking by the wall, contemplating the hanging paintings and pictures. She stood in front of a photograph. "Your parents?" She asked. Bella nodded. "You look a lot like your mother, only with you father's hair" Alice said and Bella smiled.

Alice kept walking until she found a large drawing in a frame hanging next to Bella's parents' picture. By its size and location, it was surely of great importance. It was the image of the back of a man, standing into a meadow, looking ahead into the woods.

"Who is he?" Alice asked and turned to Bella.

"Since I already started confessing, I guess I could go all the way" Bella said. "Although I warn you: it's long and complicated".

Alice smiled and replied: "We have all night".

Bella laughed nervously and began hesitantly. "Remember how I told you about my nightmares, my restless nights and how they went away one day?". Alice nodded. "Well, they just didn't go away. They were kind of replaced". Alice looked confused, so Bella decided to get to the point. "The truth is that I stopped having nightmares because I started dreaming about him" she completed the idea as she pointed to the drawing Alice was looking at.

"He visited me one night and he just stayed there, standing in front of me, staring deeply into my eyes. Nothing else. But when I finally woke up, I knew I had had a good night of rest for the first time in months" Bella took a gasp of air and continued.

"He came to me every single night since then" Alice eyes were wide now. "Every night for the last seven years. At first we would just stare at each other. But then we started walking in the forest, sometimes holding hands, sometimes not, but always keeping our eyes together"

Bella breathed dreamily at the memory and carried on. "One night I had a different dream. I was walking alone through the forest. It may sound creepy, but I was sure it was not a nightmare. I kept on walking until I reached a meadow. And there he was. Standing with his back at me, looking away to the woods ahead" Bella placed her hand on the drawing and caressed the image of the man with her finger. It was an unconscious gesture, yet Alice did not miss it.

"I didn't want to disturb him. He looked so focused. Until he finally turned around, looked at me and said my name. Oh Alice! I can't even begin to describe how amazing and sexy the sound of my name was in his mouth! His voice was like a chorus of violins singing in harmony. The most perfect thing I ever heard" Bella's eyes were now glowing in a way Alice had thought it was impossible.

"From then, we started to hang on the meadow, sitting next to each other. He sometimes whispers my name, but that's all he ever says. He holds my hands sometimes and we drew small patterns in each other skin. Sometimes he touches my face. I do not dare touching his, you know. I'm scared he would brake and disappear, just like the dream he is. And he surely is a vision Alice. Never in my life I could have thought that my imagination would be so creative to be able to figure out someone like him" There was only adoration in Bella's voice.

Alice jaw had dropped almost to the floor, so Bella smiled and closed her mouth with one finger. Alice gave her an embarrass laugh and made a movement with her hand indicating Bella to continue with the story.

"Most of the nights we only look into each other's eyes. Deeply, almost in a painful way. His green eyes are everything to me Alice. My world spins around them. Anything that matters is held in his glaze. I have a feeling that I do not need air when he looks at me. All I need to survive is written in those eyes" Bella stared dreamily into the void.

"Sometimes he would show things to me…" She said.

Alice found her voice to ask then. "What things?"

"Places, scenes, people. Mostly people. I don't know who they are. He never speaks of them. But they keep appearing. And as months went on after I started dreaming of him, these people became more and more present. Almost as if they were real. I began to discover that I knew them too well, even though he never talked about them and they didn't talk to me" Bella glanced back at Alice.

"You know how incoherent and illogical the mechanic of dreams is. I just know them. I know how they think, what they would say, how they would react to certain situations. I even know how they sound and how they smell. And as months went by I knew so much about them, they were so present in my life, that they became like family to me. The only family I got".

Bella looked back at Alice, hoping that she would not find this too creepy. But seeing nothing but interest in her friend's eyes, she continued. "After a while I started taking notes and drawing everything he would show me. A couple of months later, there was so many papers with information going around that I decided I should do something about that. I decided I wanted to give a story to my imaginary family"

Bella walked over to some other pictures hanging from the wall as she kept on going. "So I wrote the book. I created a love story for him and for me, and included all these people, places and scenes that populate my dreams. And, of course, I added a fantasy twist. But I never expected the reaction" She turned around and looked to Alice again.

"The success was unbelievable. Mi fans were filling the publishing company with letters and emails. Internet was full of fan webs and blogs commenting my book. It was crazy!" Bella smiled.

"They all seemed to have fallen in love with my characters. They say my characters can almost pop out of the pages. I guess that's because they are so real to me and I care so much for them, that I let that show in my writing" Bella smiled.

"But mostly the fans adore the love story between the main characters. They found it very touching. And I also have a theory about that. I think they can read in my words how deeply I love him, how important he is for me, how my world seems to spin around his figure".

Bella turn away from Alice, scared of what she could be thinking. She didn't want to see disbelief in Alice's eyes, and she still wanted to continue, to let everything out of her system. So Bella carried on, without looking at her friend.

"I know how it sounds. I fell in love with a dream. But what can I say? He is perfect, Alice. Not only physically. And he has been my only friend and confidant, the only one who understood me, until you came. And that's why I told you and Rosalie that he ruined love for me forever. Because I know I will never be able to love anyone else".

Finally Bella turned around and Alice saw a profound pain in her eyes. Bella was opening her heart to her, telling her the deepest secrets and feelings. And there was this pinch of hope in her glaze for Alice to understand.

So Alice did then what she did best: she smiled a giant and honest smile. "You are truly the most amazing woman I had ever known. Just when I think that I know you, you came up with a surprising revelation. You are fascinating".

Bella laughed relieved and Alice joined her. Soon the tension in the air was gone, and Bella took her friend hand and led her to the desk. "There's something I want to show you".