A/N: Happy Birthday Courtney!!
Chapter 11
The Fued
"Bella are you Okay?" Someone said. I blinked wearily. Charlie's face formed hovering over mine. "Oh thank goodness!" He said. "Bella! You're as cold as ice, and when I felt your neck you had no pulse!! And you wouldn't answer me!!" Alarm rose in his voice as he spoke, "Are you alright Bella?! You don't look like you're bleeding, What happened?!" He was now shouting. "Dad calm down." I told him. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it again when I sat up. "I'm fine." I reassured him. "You most certainly are not!! Bella you don't have a pulse, and your temperature is way below normal! You need to see a doctor!" "No!" I shouted. Confused he stared at me and said, "Bella, there is something very wrong with you that needs medical attention." I held up one hand to stop him. "That's the last thing I need right now Dad." I told him. I stood up and looked around the room. "Bella, as your father I demand you lay down and wait while I get a doctor." I sighed I did not want to have to do this. "Dad, listen to me, there is nothing wrong, I can explain, but not right now. A doctor is not going to help, I'm fine. Relax. Just lie down and go to sleep, this is all just a bad dream." Unconvinced he sat down on the edge of his bed. "Thank you" I whispered as I kissed the top of his head. Then I rushed out the door.
When I was in the hallway I teleported back to my house, and began walking up the path to the front door. I opened it slowly. Before I had even opened the door all the way I was enclosed in a set of arms. I couldn't quite tell if it was Alice or Edward, then a voice confirmed it. "Where have you been?" It said sternly. Edward was definitely angry. I avoided his question by saying, "Where's Carlisle." He released me and stared into my face. It was very hard to look at him, and think of all the ways I had deceived him. I was filled with guilt, I almost told him everything, but I stopped when I looked around. The whole family was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. All their eyes were coal black. "Hi" I said sheepishly. Even Alice was glaring at me; it was very difficult to look at any of their faces. But I forced myself to look at Carlisle. "Carlisle we need to talk." I told him. He didn't say anything, he didn't even move. I was pretty sure no one in the room was breathing. "Alone." I added. I knew no matter how far away from anyone in this house I was, they would still be able to hear me, but I still wanted to speak to him alone. Without a word Carlisle walked up the stairs and into his office. I quickly followed, afraid to face the others.
Carlisle was sitting in a big chair behind his desk, arms folded, staring at me intently. "Carlisle, something very strange happened to me yesterday," I began, carefully thinking about every word before I said it. "I passed out, and I can't remember much, but I had a very strange dream." I waited for him to scold me but instead curiosity filled his eyes. "A dream?" He asked, the edginess still apparent in his voice. "Yes." I replied. He looked out the window. "Tell me about it." He prompted. I rethought everything I had seen. "Well, it started out just me, but then there were two other people. I couldn't tell who they were, but they seemed familiar somehow. Then I was outside." I paused as I watched his reaction. His eyebrows raised and he turned to face me again. "Continue." He said. "Actually when I was outside there were two of me, well three really because I was watching two me's." Carlisle kept a straight face, so I continued.
"The three of us were walking somewhere. I suppose we were going toward a town because..." I remembered what happened next, and I didn't like it. "Yes?" He asked. "Ummm...errr...well, I sort of, attacked people." I looked at my feet embarrassed. So far I had not attacked anyone since becoming a vampire. No one else in the family had accomplished that. I skipped over the part with the man, and continued, "The rest was not as clear, it was just bits and pieces. I couldn't really see much clearly. But there was a lake, and I went into it to get away from something."
Silence seemed to stretch on forever until Carlisle finally said, "Is that all?" I nodded. "Do you know what it might mean?" He contemplated and said, "Well I don't know if it means anything. If it was foretelling it might not come true. It's like Alice's visions, there's a possibility that it might come true, but it's not certain." He looked at me again and said, "Are you sure there wasn't anything else?" guilt began bubbling inside me again. "Definitely." I said, maybe too quickly. "Well Carlisle..." I began. He looked at me expectantly. "Umm...well, you see, I passed out in the hospital, and Charlie tried to wake me up. He checked my pulse and didn't feel a heartbeat, and he said my body temperature was below normal." Alarm grew in Carlisle's face. "What did he do?" Carlisle asked. "He wanted to call a doctor, but I told him everything was fine. But I don't think I was very convincing." Carlisle stood up and paced back and forth in front of the large window. "This is not good." He said. "Esme." He said in a barely audible whisper, but Esme walked through the office door as if he had called her name across the house. "Yes?" she said innocently. "I assume you heard our conversation?" he asked. "Yes." she said softly. I could tell she was looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I pretended to be very interested in a book on one of the shelves, while they whispered to each other.
Finally, Carlisle sat down in his chair. I knew this wasn't good, If Charlie really was suspicious then we might have to leave. And not only did that mean leaving him forever, it also meant leaving Jacob. "Well," Carlisle said, "For the moment I think we should wait it out a little bit. But if anything else happens we will be forced to leave. Alright Bella?" I nodded, and walked out of the room.
I walked past the people who were in the hallway and walked straight to my room. I didn't stop walking when I got there; I just opened my window and climbed the wall up to the roof. I tried to sit down, but I was too antsy. I began pacing back and forth, running all my options through my mind. Unfortunately, I could only see two. Run away and never come back, or sit here and wait for something to happen. I could never live with myself for abandoning the Cullens, but sitting still doing nothing was stressing me out.
I could already sense Edward's presence before he stepped onto the roof. Just as before he said nothing, not even when he sat down beside me. All the sudden I broke down. I threw my arms around his neck. He didn't move, he didn't put his arms around me either. It was then, that he knew I was deceiving him. "Bella." He said sternly. "You know you can tell me anything, no matter what." I lifted my face, and loosened my grip around his neck. Guilt filled me, and made me feel like I had fallen off the roof. Could I tell him? He might have already figured it out. Did the family know? What would his reaction be? Will he be angry?
I decided to get answers from him first. "Why did you keep my past a secret from me?" He sighed. "Bella, it was for the best. We knew you regretted some decisions you made, and we didn't want you to dwell on them." Decisions? Did he mean my decision to become a vampire? Did he imply that I regretted giving up Jacob? Although this was partly true. It made me really angry. I retracted my arms quickly. And stood up, all I wanted to do was hit him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. "Why?" I asked again angrily. He didn't answer. "WHY!?" I repeated. I could feel myself trembling. "Bella, calm down." He warned. I completely ignored it, and began snarling. "It's just your new vampire instincts..." But I cut him off. "NEW VAMPIRE MY ASS!!" Now he too was angry. "Dammit Bella! You are so stupid some times!! Why won't you tell me anything! But you always run to that damn dog!!" So there it was, he knew. There was no way I could cover it up.
"Well for one thing!" I snapped. "Jacob always tells the truth." Edward tightened his fists, and I knew he was reaching his limit. Jasper walked onto the roof. "Calm down you two, I'm feeling some serious anger vibes from up here." I pounded my first into the roof and broke a hole the size of a minivan. I could see the whole family below me, listening to our conversation. So now the cat was out of the bag. They all knew, there was no way I could deny it. I had never thought of myself as a cheater, and I still didn't think of it that way. But I could tell that's what my whole family assumed.
"You know what Bella, everyone makes mistakes, and I thought I was helping you." I knew what my reply was going to be, I knew it would hurt him, and it shouldn't be said, and with that I smiled inwardly. "Well that wouldn't be the first time you 'help' made me miserable." I said with sarcasm, his face dropped in disbelief. "That's right Edward, you LEFT me, because you thought it would 'help' me, but you know what. I'm glad you did, because that's when I found my REAL love." He turned his face away. He punched the palm of his hand to keep himself from loosing all control. I could hear a crack as he broke one of his own bones; I also knew that it was probably already healing. Nobody in the whole family said anything. Jasper didn't even try to calm either of us down. I got the feeling they felt guilty for watching us argue.
"Take that back." Edward snarled through clenched teeth. I knew I had hurt him, and I hurt him hard. Any normal person would feel bad for hurting their true love, but I bet their true love didn't lie and run away. I chuckled and said. "That's right, from the looks of it; Jacob is the only one who actually loves me. And you know what? It's time you get a taste of your Own Medicine Edward Cullen. I think it will 'help' both both of us." I thought back to the words Edward had said when he left. "I'm leaving." I said. "It's time. How much longer could we stay like this after all?" I knew the next words that I had to say, and for a moment I didn't want to. But the moment passed, and the words had already come out of my mouth. "I'm no good for you. My world is not for you." and with that I sprinted toward him. I wrapped one hand around his throat and squeezed. He could have resisted, he could have easily thrown me off of him. But he didn't. He didn't do anything, he just stood there.
The whole family had now jumped onto the roof, ready to interfere at any second. "I don't want you to come with me." I whispered into his ear, and then I took my wedding ring off my left hand and slid it into the palm of his other hand. And with that I released my hand from his neck, but we still stood very close to each other, unmoving, unspeaking. My final words were, "I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without anymore interference from me. It will be as if I never existed." I paused about to say the final vow. "Goodbye Edward Cullen." I said. Then I stepped away, and didn't even look at his face. I didn't look at any of their faces. I decided to make another statement toward them. I leaned my head back and allowed myself to be taken by the white fog, and transported right in front of their eyes. I sort of wished I could have stayed to see their reactions. But then I was sucked back into reality as I arrived in front of Jacob's house.
Without even knocking I opened the front door and walked straight in to Jacob's room. Jacob was sprawled across his bed, which was much too small for him. I slammed the door and startled him out of his slumber. He rubbed his eyes, and yawned, but when he looked my face he knew something wrong. He stood up and walked on front of me. He didn't say anything, he just stood there. The silence was killing me. "Say something." I whispered. Still there was silence. And then he did what I was waiting for, he pulled me into his chest with his big arms. And there I stayed letting time flow around me, not caring what happens next. I was here, and so was Jacob, and that's all that mattered. No one could ever take him from me again.
I don't remember exactly what happened next. The sun set and we were still standing there. "It's over." I told him. "Edward and I will never be together again." I said. I knew he must be inwardly euphoric because that was what he had always wanted. But instead he pulled me closer, and said. "I'm sorry." The he put one large hand on my hair. I ignored the heat; I ignored the smell of his blood. I ignored everything; this was what I longed for, what I wanted to last forever, Jacob. Suddenly an idea popped into my head. "Jacob do you love me?" I asked. He hesitated a bit wondering what my reaction would be. "Of course." He said finally. "Then let's go somewhere, let's leave I don't care where. Anywhere. Somewhere other than here. I just want to go." Understanding, He sat me down on his bed and began packing a bag. He didn't once ask me anything.
Finally when he had a bag packed, he said, "Where to?" I pondered this for a moment. I didn't really know the answer. Suddenly a thought popped into my mind. "How about Italy?" I asked.