Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, everyone. My computer has been on the fritz. I began this chapter once before, but I liked this much better. It has a lot more action, and I'm hoping I described it well enough... LET ME KNOW! Also, a forgotten, small character's fate is revealed...
Leave reviews, please!
*I am going to finish all of the stories that I've written! I do apologize for not updating in so long and I'll try to make the wait shorter this time. I already have half of chapter 17 written of Rubberband Wars, so that will go up next, and then following will be LD&ND. I'll most likely follow this pattern.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the 'Twilight' universe.
Bella's POV
The taxi dropped Jacob and I off in front of my mother's Phoenix home. There were no cars in the driveway, but I expected this. My mother would be at work during the day and Phil was at batting practice. I remembered where she said she left me the spare key. I walked toward the door at a fast enough pace so that I didn't irritate Jacob, (his stride was much longer than mine,) but I made sure that I drank everything in as I passed it.
The sun incarcerated me in its blistering prison and the concrete underneath my thinly soled shoes threatened to melt its way through. The prickers on a cactus stuck my right leg and I had to will myself to step away from it. At first my fingers seemed to have a mind of their own and wished desperately to pull them all off for as many times as I was sure they'd pricked others, and then suddenly and unexpectedly my heart swelled with a love for the desert and all things within, and I left the cacti to soak up the sun.
The house was quaint and didn't help me discover memories until I ran my hand over the banisters that held the crookedly sheltering roof over the paint-stripped porch. I stepped into the shade, closed my eyes and smoothly remembered the day that I left. The white eyelet shirt, the carry-on parka, my beautiful mother and how much I had been dreading Forks.
I opened them and Jacob was in front of me. I awkwardly looked down. He lifted my chin and leaned in to lay his soft lips over mine for the second time today.
Before we touched, a cold, stone arm wrapped firmly around my waist and dragged me deeper and deeper into the woods before I could blink. I watched the trees spin by me faster than I thought ever possible. For a half of a second I screamed so loudly that my vocal chords were in danger of bursting, but a hand quickly and tightly covered my mouth and nose. Not only did it keep me from screaming, it kept me from breathing. I thrashed around in the effort of getting away, but the solid grip on my body refrained this almost completely. As I ran out of oxygen, darkness slowly encircled my eyes and with all of my strength I averted what was left of my vision toward my kidnapper's face. Everything went black after the sight of blood red irises.
Edward's POV
"Alice, what do you see?" I was attempting to keep my voice down, but every vision that Alice had today made me frantic. Bella being out of sight and out of reach was something I'd experienced once and never planned on experiencing again. My heart was no where near my own body now. It was solely with her- every broken piece of it.
Alice and I decided to leave school. By no means could I make it the rest of the day in that mind-obliterating, torture chamber of a high school without her beauty to guide me through the day. We were heading home on the interstate to further speak to Carlisle about the situation. I didn't want to leave without speaking with him first and getting his opinion, but I knew deep down that any small event would set me in the direction toward her.
In the middle of a vision that I was so desperately trying not to watch by her request only, Alice gasped.
She knew instantly that she should have kept her mouth closed. Automatically and without further investigation on the reasoning, I made the decision to leave Forks and find her. I choked on the suddenly thick air in the car as I removed the veil keeping Alice's thoughts away and let her vision swiftly flow into my brain. The reason that I had been searching for all day to go find her was finally in my grasp. I spun the Volvo past three lanes of oncoming traffic to get to the nearest exit for the airport. Alice ignored the hazardous maneuver and focused on her vision. I escaped the sirens behind me with a speed of one hundred and thirty miles per hour.
"Are you coming?" I briskly asked Alice.
"Yes." She answered, and there was no more conversation. We both knew what we were in store for; all hell was soon to break loose.
Bella's POV
I opened my eyes and, for a second time, had no indication of where I was. "Ugh. Not again," I whispered, whiny like a child. I attempted to sit up right so that I could officially take in my position and surroundings but my body wouldn't cooperate. The feeling conveyed a memory of being in the hospital after an attack and having strong pain killers shot through my veins. Drugs seemed like a plausible explanation after being kidnapped by a red-eyed, nameless being.
As my eyes adjusted to the almost complete darkness, broken only by the trim light of the moon slipping in through the diminutive window, I could see and slightly feel that my limbs were pretzeled around each other as if I had been thrown on the ground and forgotten about completely. I focused all of my brain power in order to little by little move one leg from the top of the other, and then have my other limbs follow. After successfully getting into a position where I was simply laying on my back, yet still feeling incredibly vulnerable to whomever, I made an effort to sit up and the room instantly begun to spin. Whatever they had given me was a stronger dose than anyone should ever take. I laid back down and set my palms face down on the ground, trying to figure out where I could possibly be. I moved my hands back and forth as if they were creating their own small snow angels on the barren floor with the thought that maybe the texture might bring back a memory, but my mind was bare. The floor was cold, damp and moss-covered in certain areas and was made up of large pieces of stone.
Every few seconds a small bug would crawl across my hand; the barrier that was suddenly created between it's position and final destination. Much like the loss of my memories is a barrier to the life I once led.
I ignored the dizziness and pushed myself into a sitting position. Reaching in different directions, I searched for a stable wall that I could lean against and hopefully pull myself up to stand so that I could escape… Although I doubted that anyone would go to this much trouble kidnapping me to simply leave me unguarded.
Moving my hand slowly around in my vicinity, I touched something smooth. I ran my hand upward and realized that it was none other than a leg. Or at least, that's what it felt like for the nanosecond that my hand was placed in that position. I couldn't even bring myself to a screech, I was so terrified. I sounded more like a fish out of water, crab walking away backwards into a wall and gulping for air. A person was the last thing I expected to find, and I had no idea whether they were dead or alive.
"Please," the voice, very alive, horrific and pleading began, "quiet. They'll come," she finished in a whisper. I couldn't bring myself to answer her plea in any way. I sat speechless against the wall that I had so diligently searched for and willed myself not to scream. After what seemed to be hours, but I knew was probably only minutes, I overlooked the pounding in my chest and spoke in a normal toned voice.
"Who-"
"Shh! They are able to hear either way, but if you whisper it will help me keep my peace of mind," her anonymous voice interrupted me. I obeyed out of respect for her and fear of whoever our keeper might be.
"Who are you?" I finished.
"Well, I suppose it does not matter whether I tell you or not," she replied in a monotonous voice that already seemed dead. "We're going to die anyway. My name is Gianna." Her name brought back memories of a clean cut, beautiful receptionist with the hopes of one day becoming one of the undead. Her heavy accent brought memories of a foreign country, clock towers, the blaring sun and menacing black robes.
"You have been sleeping for hours."
"I feel like it. I have no idea what's going on. One minute I'm at my mother's house in Phoenix, and the next I'm being carried off by some red-eyed kidnapper who almost certainly wants to cut me to pieces and eat me for dinner." Although I had been very right with my extreme daydreams recently, I still couldn't help poking fun of myself inside my way too impressionable and idealistic mind. And they're off! I tell you, Tom, it's a hot day, but with the way Bella's putting them out, these ideas are really gaining speed. As of right now, it's a tie between Monster and Cannibal … and Tom, here it is, Cannibal wins by a nose! Gianna snickered at my original comment and pulled me from my delusion. "What's funny about that?" I replied to her laugh.
"It's just ludicrous how close to the truth you really are." Uh oh. Although I was right about the monsters when I first awoke to this forgotten life, they still ended up being on my side. Now we come to the climax of the plot: where the antagonist abducts the main character and the knight in shining armor valiantly rescues his lady from the depths of the clammy dungeon. I couldn't help but to recognize that I was secretly hoping my gallant knight in his shining, silver Volvo would save me. I snorted out loud at my own thought. After leaving him, I couldn't, and wouldn't dare blame him if he knew that I was in danger and just sat and let me die. Maybe a knight in shining fur…?
"What is your name, girl?" Gianna asked curtly, interrupting my terrifying thoughts.
"Bella." There was no answer from her for some time.
"Bella Swan?" My heartbeat spiked.
"Yes. You know who I am?"
"Oh my darling," she said with a maniacal laugh, "You don't know who your captor is?"
"No, I have no idea. I told you what happened. I'm completely uninformed." She didn't laugh again.
"The Volturi," she revealed, completely serious and not even bothering to whisper. The name brought almost the same memories that her accent did. That, a view of a castle that I assumed was above us, and screaming tourists locked unwillingly in a room who would have gladly given their designer shoes, Italian souvenirs and six-hundred dollar tourists cameras up in trade for what they cherished and wished for most in those last few moments: their lives.
I knew I might regret asking, but I really saw no other way. "The Volturi?" She laughed again, sounding even wilder than before.
"No one ever forgets the Volturi, my dear, and the Volturi certainly did not forget you, Isabella Swan."