Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
As always thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added alerts to the story; and to all those who PM'd. Your support is amazing.
This is a mostly Bella chapter with an appearance from some guy...who's name escapes me ;o)
Please, please please review. I love the reviews; they mostly either perk me up or give me ideas for future chapters
I squished my body back against the wall as far as I could; wedging my bum between the narrow gap between the king-sized bed and the dark walnut bedside cabinet. I clawed my toes into the plush cream carpet beneath me as if it was the only thing holding me to the earth as my world continued to spin around me. Timidly I shuffled forward slightly as I reached up onto the bed, I curling my trembling fingers around the edge of an embroidered blanket which lay folded at its foot. It slid off the bed and pooled into a golden puddle on the floor, I dragged it back and wrapped it around my shaking body and shuffled back into my hiding place cubby-hole. My eyes felt heavy and swollen and for a second I contemplated allowing myself to fall asleep; but I knew that I couldn't allow myself to be so unprotected and unprepared.
My eyes darted back and forth, sweeping across the darkened room; I felt a little more protected here. Boxed in.
"Only one direction that the enemy can come from," I whispered quietly to myself.
I would see them coming. I would kick them and scratch them. I would fight them off. I wouldn't let them touch me again; I wouldn't let him touch me again, with his exploratory fingers whilst the other one stood and watch, his green eyes narrowed, his hands in his pockets whilst I begged and pleaded with him not to let this happen to me. But he did let it. The blond one, the new on, poked and prodded at me whilst he stood and watch liked I was some sort of freak show. A shudder moved the length of my entire body as I remembered the feel of his gloved hands as they swept over the swell of my bare breasts.
"No abnormalities; lumps, bumps or worrisome blemishes," he calmly informed Edward. Edward nodded once to show that he had heard. I whimpered quietly a tiny squeak escaping my parted lips. He pressed firmly on my abdomen. "Has she eaten anything?" he queried.
Edward nodded, "a little, not much though. She had a couple of bites from a burger and a few fries..." he started to explain. The new one stilled his prodding of my stomach and shot Edward a disapproving look.
"A burger and fries? I thought I told you that she would need light food until her stomach was able to adjust to a proper diet again, Edward?" Shocked, I held my breath and sneaked a glance at Edward so that I could watch his reaction; he looked embarrassed as he ducked his head and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Did she manage to keep it down?" the new one pressed.
Edward nodded, "yeah, but as I said, she didn't have much."
The new one nodded and went back to prodding me, "probably just as well; vomiting, abdominal cramps, sweats, dizziness. She was lucky; actually, you were lucky." He reprimanded him with a light scowl on his face.
He drew himself up to full height and pulled the sheet back up to cover my stomach and chest; I relaxed a little once the feeling of being so self-consciously exposed began to dissipate. That was until he slid my butt down so that I was perched right on the edge of the examination table, the realisation of what he was about to do to me didn't actually register until he had already guided my right leg up so that it was bent and spread. I yelped and tried to scoot away from him, almost managing to roll myself off of the table, his cool hand wrapped tightly around my calve and pulled me back whilst, at the same time, Edward cleared the room in two giant strides and pinned me back to the table again; his strong hand pushing firmly down on my collarbone. I stared up at him in fear.
The other one meanwhile was trying to get my leg back into position but I had already decided that I wasn't going down without a fight. I inhaled a deep lung full of air; screwing up my face I let out the loudest, longest scream that I could muster, my head flailed from side to side, my legs wriggled and kicked, my back arching up from the table.
The hand on my chest pushed harder, the fingers around my ankle and calve tightened, and a hand clamped tightly over the top of my wailing mouth. I felt something pressing against the side of my face, something weird, something that was prickly and scratchy. My eyes snapped open; his, Edward's face was pushed right up against mine. His nose pressing into my temple, his lips next to my ear, his scratchy unshaven chin forced down onto my cheek.
"Shut. Up." He hissed. But I didn't, I drew in another breath and let forth another ear shattering scream. In hindsight I don't really know why I bothered, it was blatantly obvious that nobody here would come to my aid; my screams would never get them to change their minds about what they were about to do, to reawaken their dormant senses of right and wrong. The hand over my mouth clamped tighter, the palm pushed my lips painfully against my teeth, his fingers dug deeply into one cheek whilst his thumb pressed into the other and he squeezed.
"I said, shut. Up. Isabella." He drew back and glared at me. "How's your hand doing, Isabella?" My eyes widened and my scream stopped dead as my lungs gasped for breath. "Now, I'm going to give you a choice here, Isabella. Do you understand?" I nodded, his hand still covering most of my face. "You can either work with us, or," he paused, "I can asked Emmett and Jasper to come in here and help me hold you down whilst Carlisle finished his examination. Which will it be?" He looked down at me, "the second one?" I stared back up him; my eyes flickered down warily to the man at the foot of the table, blond haired and strikingly handsome, Carlisle. I shook my head from side to side. "The first one then?" he clarified. My eyes went back up to meet Edward's, but only for a second before my vision clouded over with tears. I gave a tiny nod in defeat as I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.
Surprisingly, the hand which has been cramped tightly over my mouth gently moved to my hair and began brushing the strands of my tangled locks away from my face as my mind drifted back.
It was a cool autumn day, it was a Sunday afternoon when Charlie wasn't at work. I had been begging him for weeks about teaching me to ride my new bike without stabilisers. My friend Jake had been teasing me for ages because I still used them. We had been at this for the past hour and I was getting tired and Charlie was getting grumpy. His hand pushed tightly against the small of my back whilst his other one guided the saddle of my bike. This time, I thought to myself as I peddled faster, my teeth furiously chewing my bottom lip in concentration. I felt Charlie's hand push me off gently before it disappeared completely; and I was off. I could hear him as he let out a whoop of joy, whilst my Mom cheered and clapped from the front yard.
"Go Bells," he yelled as I peddled down the quiet tree lined street. I let out a laugh of excitement; the breeze whipped against my rosy cheeks and tousled my hair. I could barely contain my happiness and I could hardly wait to tell Jake.
It all happened so fast; one moment I was giddy with happiness and the next I was lying in a muddled heap on the ground staring up at the murky grey sky. The wet ground soaking up through my jeans.
"Bella," I heard my mother shriek; followed by two sets of pounding footsteps as they made their way towards me. Charlie's concerned face popped up in front of me, his large rough hands patting at my arms, my legs and my face.
"Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?" I looked at him in shock; I wasn't hurt but I had scared myself silly during my somersault over the handlebars of my forest green rally bike. I looked at him stunned before my lower lip began to quiver. Charlie's face quickly disappeared and replaced with a hysterical Renee.
"Bella, sweetheart, are you okay?" she placed a loving hand tenderly on my forehead as she gently brushed the strands of my tangled locks away from face.
I winced as the speculum was eased inside me; it was cold with copious amounts of lubricant, not painful, just slightly uncomfortable and very embarrassing. I was trying my hardest not to start crying hysterically but I still managed to sniffle noisily. I flinched in shock as a tissue began roughly wiping away the few tears which managed to escape and then finally rubbed at my runny noise. My chest heaved, my heart beating so loud that I could feel it pulsing through my whole body.
I have no idea how long I stayed like that; with my eyes screwed tightly shut and Edward's hand mussing my hair, but eventually after a while I felt the instrument being pulled from my body and the sheet being lower to cover me. I scoffed at the idea of it being used to try and salvage my dignity.
"Why bother?" I whispered as I rolled over onto my side, effectively turning away from both Edward and Carlisle, before I finally dissolved into tears.
I feel it now. I thought that I had felt it before, but I realise now that what I had felt before was nothing like the immense feelings of despair which now consumed me. For whatever reason I felt like a part of me had been lost completely today; that even if I was ever able to return to my home, that things would, for whatever reason, never be the same as it was before. A little piece of me had died today, but what that piece was, I just couldn't seem to put my finger on.
I realise now, as I sit here huddled in my hidey-hole between the cabinet and the bed, that I truly am fighting a losing battle. Nothing that I have done since my abduction has even brought me slightly closer to my life. A solitary tear dribbled lazily from the corner of one eye. The tension left my shoulders and I allowed them to flop heavily at my side. I concentrated on slowing my breathing, returning my heart rate to a normal speed. I didn't even look up when I heard the door open.
The footsteps paused just inside the room before the owner spotted the top of my coffee locks rising above the height of the bed; he crossed the room and squatted in front of me, his hands clasped in front of him, steadying him. The silence and the stillness of the room was deafeningly uncomfortable; slowly I raised my eyes to meet his.
"I'm never going home, am I?" I whispered.
He remained static for a moment, as though he was contemplating his answer. Eventually he shook his head, "No Bella, you're not." He paused while I nodded; while I used his answer to confirm what I already knew. He spoke again, "perhaps it would be easier for you to start thinking of here, as you home".
I shook my head silently as my eyes flittered around the room. We were silent again for a moment until hushed voices from the hallway interrupted the awkwardness. It was a female.
"But Jasper, she'll want to see me. We going to be friends," the voice protested.
"Alice. Edward will tell you when it's okay for you to visit her," was Jasper's firm response.
"That's fine then, I'll go ask Edward right now if it's okay." Both Edward and I looked up in the direction of the door. I heard an audible sigh come from the hallway before Jasper spoke again, his voice was warm and soft.
"Alice, you remember how you felt when you first came here?"
Silence.
"Bella won't be comfortable here just yet, perhaps just give her a couple days to settle in? Huh, darlin'?"
There was another moment of silence, before she spoke again; her voice sounded slightly pained. "Please ask Edward to be kind to her, Jasper." She pleaded, "I don't want...she can't...it's not nice, Jasper. I know how it feels...to be scared. But Jasper, she does need a friend. She won't speak to Edward. She won't tell him how she feels. I know how she feels Jasper; because I was a 'Bella' once too."
Congrats! You made it to the end! :o)