A/N – So sorry for the cliffy I had to do it in the last chapter lol. I love keeping people on edge. Makes me giddy ahah. Well hello to my new readers! Here is the next chapter!
Secluded
Chapter 11
Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight, or its characters.
Bella's POV
I had to act fast. Edward left from the window once again, and the girls were approaching the room quickly as I heard the clicking of heels meeting the floor coming towards the room. I needed to close the window, and unlock the room door so that they can finally go to sleep.
After I unlocked the door quietly I dashed to my bed. Stumbling on the way there, I hopped into my sleeping bag, and prenteded to be asleep. That is, until Alice woke me up. "Wake up Bella!" She nudged me with her arm, and I made a noise as if I was startled, and rubbed my eyes to make it look like I was asleep for a long time.
She bought my performance, and sat down beside me as she kept glancing at Rose, Angela and back to me. She had a serious look on her face, and it made me tremble in my sleeping bag. "Bella I don't know if you have any idea about what happened. We shouldn't have left you alone here tonight."
I shivered in my own embrace as I held myself tighter. "Wh-what are you talking about?" Her hands were shaking, and her form appeared as if she were on the verge of hyperventilation. I grabbed her hands, and she began speaking, stuttering at some of her own words. "There is a rapist in the surrounding camp area. He attacked one of the students in another camp resort not too far from here. They called the bus company, and they are coming right now to take us home.
She didn't know that I wasn't alone tonight, and that I was with Edward. But I had to act as if I were afraid for my life to make it seem as if I were alone. "Oh my God!" I left out a gasp, and we all began to gather up all our belongings so that we would be ready to leave when the buses arrive.
Rosalie looked the most shook up, and I went over to her, and helped her sit down because she became so rigid, and statue-like. I locked my arm with hers, and at first she recoiled from my touch. But then I tried again, and she slowly let me take her to my bed. I didn't know what to say to her. She hadn't said one word since she came to the cabin which Alice told me privately. "Ar-Are you alright, Rosalie?" I was gentle with her.
"I-I'm so scared." She collapsed into my body, and started to whimper. My mind wondered to an unforgivable situation. I put everything together, and figured out that something horribly wrong happened to Rose some time ago. She didn't have to say it in so many words but she appeared as if she wanted to let it out, so that the grasp in her chest would be lifted.
She lifted her head off of my lap, and started speaking slowly, pausing, and stuttering in some places of her story. "I was walking home one day from school when I was a freshman at Port Angeles High. A car drove up beside me, and he was one of my father's friends. He offered me a ride to my house, and I thought nothing of it at that time.
Instead of taken the route that I took home, he took me further into an unfamiliar territory. He locked the doors, and I tried to find the button on my side to unlock them but it was disabled. He pushed his car seat back, and proceeded to do the same thing to my seat. All the while brushing his hands up me, and he undid my seatbelt.
I tried my hardest to fight him off but he was just too big for me to handle, in such an enclosed space." She let out a breath, and began to sob into my arms again. I saw her hesitant stance as she pulled herself off of me again to begin the rest of the story. I stopped her fearing that she would burst out in hysterics, because she had a hard enough time telling the beginning of the story. She simply nodded, and I told her to lay down on my bed, as I packed her belongings in her bags.
Alice, and Angela were ready as well as they started to place our duffel bags in the living area outside of our rooms. The male workers from the station were called to be on guard around the girls', and boys' cabins. I gently rubbed Rosalie's back in circles, and I began to wonder if Alice knew about her attack three years ago.
The buses arrived after about an hour of waiting around. Alice, Angela, and I escorted Rosalie down from the cabin because she was obviously traumatized. Alice stayed with her in the bus, as Angela, and I carried all of the duffel bags into the compartment of the bus.
Just then the boys started to come out of their cabin holding tightly onto their bags. The buses were arranged just like the cabins were. Girls in one bus, and boys in the other. I didn't see Edward walking out of the cabin, and I just thought that maybe he was taking longer to gather up his things.
The teacher wouldn't let me idle outside anymore, and ordered me into the bus. I just really needed to see a glimpse of Edward to know that he was alright. I sat in the aisle seat beside Angela, as I gave worried glances over to Alice, and Rosalie. Poor girl. I thought about all the times I saw Rose, and she was usually quiet, until she met Emmett. I bet he made her feel safe because he looked at her with so much love even though they had only been dating for a week.
The bus started moving after Mrs. Manning took double checked that every female student, teacher, and supervisor was inside. The bus drove down the same scenic roadway, and I admired the scenery once again. I knew Edward wouldn't have let anything happen to me if there was a chance that this sick fuck found our camp, and wanted to rape another girl for his own twisted pleasure.
The bus had been on the road for twenty minutes, and I became fidgety not knowing if the boys' bus was behind ours. I excused myself to go to the washroom which had a window to look outside. I was relieved, and let out a breath as I saw the boys' bus. I went back to my seat, and saw that Rosalie had cried herself to sleep. Hopefully she wasn't having any nightmares.
Alice was quietly reading one of her magazines, and would point out some really pretty designer dresses. Angela, and I would talk somewhat about our one week trip, and how she became to know Ben better. After reading some of my book I saw that we had stopped, and Mrs. Manning did another head count when we were outside the bus. Rain started drizzling right when I exited the bus, and it really did dampen my mood greatly.
The team leaders, and supervisors had all called our parents from Forks, and Port Angeles. Charlie had been waiting, leaning on his Police cruiser by a deserted parking lot. He came over quickly to where I was standing, and enveloped me into a hug. "Thank God you're alright. How was half the trip?" He asked in wonder.
"It was great, until this whole debacle happened." I said bummed out kicking the pebbles underneath my feet "Just be grateful that you, and everyone are fine. That's all that matters in the end." He said, as he hugged me again tighter. I really wanted to spend more time with Edward alone. Now it's going to be too difficult to see him because he's my fucking teacher, and Charlie would freak the fuck out if he were to find out about Edward and I almost being sexually together.
Mrs. Manning said it would be alright for me to go home with Charlie now since he was here, and she marked me off as that I had gone home. I quickly asked for Rosalie's, and Alice's cell phone numbers to keep in touch. I hugged them, and brushed away Rosalie's tears, as she tried to give me a half-smile of reassurance. Basically telling me in no words, but her own actions that she would be okay.
As I walked with Charlie back to the cruiser I saw the next bus pull into the parking lot. Edward was the first to come out, but then closely behind him was Mr. Williams. I strained my head to see over the tall students in front of me, and it looked liked he is holding Edward in what seem to be a citizen's arrest.
The only person I could think of who would put him under a citizen's arrest was Mr. William, and I swear I would knock his teeth out! I scanned Edwards hands, and they were behind him tied with what seemed to be white plastic police cuffs. His hands appeared white from the loss of blood flowing to his fingers. He also seemed to be limping from the distance I was at.
Where the hell did they find those, and why was my Edward restrained with them? I panicked, and started to run back to where they were taken him, as the duffel bag around my shoulder bounced up, and down with each movement I made. All the students were gasping, and wide eyed as I made it to the second Police cruiser. Officer Hamilton took over the situation, and held onto Edwards arm with his strength. He told Edward to duck down his head not to hit the top of the car while entering the vehicle.
He was scanning his head out the window in the backseat. Our eyes locked, and I saw the immediate release of frustration from Edward. He started thrashing in the cruiser, and they told him to settle down or else they'd have to use extra force on him. My tears escaped my eyes with fear, confusion, pain, and my heartache increased with the passing of each kilometer, leaving me lifeless as I became a mannequin, frozen in the middle of the parking lot.
Charlie immediately came beside me, and asked me why I was so enthralled with Mr. Cullen's arrest. Which just made it even more evident to my eyes that he was under arrest, and being transported to the police department. I wiped away my tears before he came in front of me, and I said, "Why?"
He looked at me as I stood there trying to still see the car that took my love away proceed further, and further down the road until it became almost a dot, and I let my head go down. "You know I can't tell you that honey. It's confidential." He took my duffel bag off my gimping shoulder, and wrapped his arm protectively around my waist to hold my body up.
"Come on now, we need to get you home." As he opened up my door, and put my bag in the backseat. The students were talking with their parents about what just happened as Charlie exited the parking lot. We were home in five minutes, and my phone started ringing off the hook.
My house phone, and my cell phone simutaneously were ringing, and it made my head hurt. I let Charlie answer the house phone, as I answered my own cell. "Bella! What the hell was that?" Alice shocked tone was too loud for my ears, and I had to extend the phone away from my head.
Even then I could still hear her loud, and clear as if she were right in front of me. "I have no idea." I said in a detached voice. "Well I think I might have an hunch." I walked upstairs while she kept speaking. She totally changed her mind from in a minute flat. First she didn't know, and now she "had a hunch?"
I turned on speaker, and I asked her what she thinks he was arrested for. "Well duh, Bella. He's the one, the rapist! That sick pig." She muttered under her breath. My eyes almost escaped my sockets, as she said those words. N-no he can't be that person. It's not him! "Alice, that's crazy he is not that type of person.
I yelled into the phone with so much fervor, that Charlie came upstairs, and opened my bedroom door. "Why are you screaming?" He said in and out of breath tone. "Sorry dad. I-it's nothing." After a minute of looking at me suspiciously, he closed my door, and went back downstairs as I heard the creaking of the stairs becoming lower in sound. Which told me he made it all the way down to the living room.
"You can't be serious Alice. You don't know that. It's a lie." I said as I became angrier with the passing seconds of being away from him. "It's just not possible." I said without thinking. "Why isn't it Possible, Bella?" She said in a questionable tone. I contemplated telling her, and I know she is my friend.
So I made the decision. "Because Edward was with me." I said without any trouble. "Who the hell is Edward?" She said slowly. "Mr. Cullen's first name is Edward." She gasped into the phone, and I swear I heard her jumping on a bed or something. "How do you know that Bella?"
I wish the answer 'I just do' would suffice, but she would just keep asking questions, until she beat the real answers out of me. "Because when you left with Rosalie, and Angela, Edward came to my room through the bedroom window. We stayed together for two hours while all of the students, and teachers were at the station." I said with a single breath.
Alice went silent for a few minutes. I knew she didn't disconnect the call because my phone didn't say she hung up. "Bella do you know what you're doing? He is your teacher!" She silently said that as if someone else was in the room with her. "I know that Alice. You can't help who you like." I carefully chose my words so that no more questions were asked by the ever presistent pixie.
"Bella I'm sure I'm the first person you've told. I will keep your secret. It's not my place to tell anyone." She said reassuringly. "Thank you Alice. I wouldn't have said anything, if I didn't trust you." We said goodnight to each other, and I lazily became ready for bed. Just as sleep was going to overcome me, my phone buzzed near my bedside table.
"Hello?" I asked confused because my caller ID showed private number. "Bella. It's me." Edward said quietly, and he sounded torn. "Edward, oh my God. What happened?" I pleaded, as I sat up, and leaned my back on the headboard of my bed. "Bella I don't have much time. This is my one, and only call from the Police station." He said in a hurry.
"Okay." I said signifying for him to go on. "Bella they think that I-I'm the rapist. They don't believe my story, and they say they have witnesses to argue the fact that I wasn't at the station when I supposed to be. For all the different occasions I was with you, people saw me with you, Bella." He said with a single breath.
"Edward we have to tell them." I made sure to say that low so that Charlie wouldn't hear me, but loud enough so that Edward could. "No! You can't do that!" Intensity washed over me, as he became enraged. "I'm sorry I made you mad." I let out slowly. "Oh shit! Bella no baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell." His velvety voice melted into the receiver, and I thought I felt my ears tingle with sensation.
Well he has a right to. I mean he's being falsely accused. "Edward you have to let me help you. It's the only way." He let out a sigh. "But you're only seventeen!" Why was he talking about my age, which was a year ago? "Edward no I'm not. I'm eighteen." I said convincingly.
"What the fuck? I thought you were seventeen?" He said as if he was scratching his head in thought. "Edward, I turned eighteen last September. I'm an adult." I said with a smile on my face. "Well that changes things." He let out a chuckle. He still tried to find humor even while in jail. I felt so guilty.
"Edward listen to me. You have to stay in there for a couple of days so that when the rapist strikes again, they will know they have the wrong person. They can't keep you there. They have no evidence. The evidence they supposedly have against you is only circumstantial. The have locked you up based solely on a theory."
I tried to tell him everything I learned in Law class. "Bella you're teaching me about Law? I already know that." We both laughed. "Time is up." I heard a guard yell close to the receiver. "Bella I have to go. I miss you." He sighed longer this time. "Edward, I'm sorry, and I miss you to. I'll get you out of this." We both shut our phones, and I collapsed onto my bed. My eyes drooped until I was met with blackness.
Edward's POV
"Edward." Mr. Williams let out in a hiss. He encoded venom the way he said my name, as if he had this new found form of disdain towards me. The boys were not inside the cabin which I thought was weird for this time of night. "What's wrong, James?" I said using his first name for the first time. It felt sort of creepy.
"You disgust me." What the hell did I do? Kill his dog or something? "Hey, what are you talking about?" I muttered in a confused state running one of my hands through my now wild hair thanks to the wind outside.
"You are not to speak!" He yelled at me, as he paced back, and forth. Who was he to talk to me that way? But I did what he asked. "You know I shouldn't have never left you by yourself all those times. I could've saved some of those girls from you." He crouched down so that he could be eye-level with me.
What in the holy grail did he say? Does he know about Bella? Shit. I began to feel very confined. When I went to stand up he pushed me down onto the couch I had slept on for a week solid. "You raped those girls, stripping away their innocence, and here you are playing the victim. Fuck this shit. I had a right to defend myself.
"What are you talking about? I didn't do what you just spat from your mouth. I would never do that to a human being." I sat up, and fury overcame me as I was forced to defend myself from unwarranted judgments. Before I knew it I was gasping on the floor not knowing what hit me, but feeling the pain on my leg.
He took it out probably with his own so that I would lose my balance, and fall. He is such a coward. Needing to resort to violence like this without any proof. He let me pick myself up, and I threw my body onto the couch to elevate my leg onto the table in front of me.
"I'll tell you this, only because I feel in a giving mood tonight." God, this guy is sick. "Some people saw you attacking some girl." He stopped there, and I saw fear glaze over his eyes, as if he only cut himself off at that point to not give away anything. This guy is fucking acting. This piece of shit also had help.
"So then why the fuck didn't 'these guys' help out the girl?" I said smugly, and his face contorted into a confused state. "Because, w-they," he obviously messed up his prepared crock of bullshit fake speech. "They didn't want to be enthralled into the media circus of a trial."
He brushed off his leather jacket, as if he had won. "Oh is that right? So then what are YOU," I pointed at him "going to do for witnesses at the trial if they didn't even want to get involved with helping that girl out?" He scratched his head, and balls simultaneously. This guy is a fucking piece of work.
He can't even lie to save himself. "Shut up!" He said, and then forcefully grabbed my hands, and pushed them behind me. He kneed me to the floor once more, and pushed my head into the woodwork of the paneled flooring. It felt wet as if someone else was in here.
I eyed James' shoes, and they looked dry. Just then I heard two doors open, and I tried to thrash my body to see if I could view their faces. I couldn't achieve a good look at them. They were hooded, but their shoes were wet. The held me down, and felt a tight clasp on my wrists. After they lifted me up I tried to free my hands but it was impossible.
The two others who I suspected to be men because they were very muscular, and strong retreated back into the separate rooms. James locked both of his arms on both my upper arms, securing me from running away. Which I wouldn't do because to some people that signifies guilt. He opened the front cabin door, and said, "Keep walking."
Every single boy, and the other team leads looked at me as I was escorted to the bus, my one leg limping behind me. "No need to worry anymore. We have him, over." He said into the walkie-talkie. Which they had for emergencies. There was a static, muffled sound that received his message, and called back. "Good work, over." I wondered if that was a cop, or just an ordinary person.
He then took me up the few steps of the bus, and told me to sit by the window at the very front seat. I never made any trouble, and I wasn't about to start now. So I did everything I was told. He still seemed pissed off at me, as I stole his woman. I could see that the first bus had already driven off, and I cursed myself that I didn't get to see Bella.
From what I gathered there is a rapist on the loose, and traumatizing females around camp areas. I let myself relax at the fact that Mrs. Manning loves doing her head counts. So I prayed for the fact that Bella is on that bus. They wouldn't leave until every single being was on that bus.
The boys entered cautiously after me, and some of them stared, while others seemed fearful of me. Ah I let out a sigh of bewilderment, and embarrassment. These students looked up to me, and now they think I'm some monster.
James sat beside me then, and throughout the trip all I kept thinking about was Bella. The hours went by with me thinking about her smile, picturing her long wavy mahogany hair, the her carefree personality, and the aura of her body left my body stiff in its cramped position on the bus. The position of my arms behind me made my hands go tingly, then they gave out, and fell asleep at their own accord.
I had dozed off a couple of times before they told us we arrived in Forks. James sat me up, and we were out of the bus first. I saw that Bella's bus was in front of us, and that made me happy. But my mood changed greatly as the faces of students, and parents bored into my being. They all gasped in surprise, and fear. Uncalled for I though immensely. James handed me off to a real police officer. His tag said Hamilton, and I knew that he was the one who spoke to James over the walkie-talkie.
After Officer Hamilton told me to bend my head down, and enter the car I turned my boy around to try to find Bella. Just as I was about to turn around to stop glancing I noticed a full heaad of hair bouncing up and down, as she ran towards the car. I didn't want her to get too close in fear of exposing us, and her being to close to James. Fucking freak that guy is.
I began thrashing uncontrollably in the enclosed space. I needed to feel Bella, to see that she is real, and I wasn't just picturing her. She looked amazing, and unharmed from any evil. I thanked God for keeping her safe for me. They then opened the door, and held my body down.
They said they'd use force on me even more if I didn't substain my 'anger issues' they called it. Well let me stick my foot up your ass, and then you'll tell me about my 'anger issues.' I subdued myself down into a calm state of being. I kept gazing outside towards Bella, as the her appearance became smaller by the second passing by. The cruiser was moving away from my Bella, and I tried to savor the last time I'd see her I thought.
I placed my head on the headrest, and we made it to the Forks Police station in twenty minutes. They escorted me out, and took me towards the backside of the building, and opened up the door to the backway of the cells. They finger-printed me, took my photo, and told me to change into the dreaded orange jumpsuit.
As I was forced to walk down the crammed hallway different inmates yelled out obscenities at me for what I had been falsely accused of. I made it to my cell after walking by about five of them. The cell beside me was empty, and I mentally congratulated myself in not having a violent neighbor so close to me.
They locked me in, and I began pacing. That's all I could do as the thoughts of everything piled on top of me. I really did have this grotesque burden on me now. Everyone thinks I'm a sick pervert, and now I'm in jail for heaven's sake! The guard outside were walk up, and down the hallway whistling show tunes out of tune, and would jingle his keys animately. Just then another guard came out, and unlocked my cell. "One phone call, Cullen!" Officer Timmons said.
I called the only person who would understand. I didn't care about helping myself. I needed to hear her sweet voice I've been craving all night. I called her cell phone number that she had given me during on of our nights in our meadow. "Helllo?" She said in a sleeping tone. "Bella, it's me." I tried not to show my worry for her, but it seeped through anyway.
"Edward, oh my God what happened?" She said in a begging tone. "Bella I don't have much time. This is my one, and only call from the Police station. I said quickly, trying to spare us some time to talk to each other. "Okay." She said in acknowledgment. "Bella they think I-I'm the rapist. They don't believe my story, and they say they have witnesses to argue the fact that I wasn't at the station when I was supposed to be. For all the different ocassions I was with you Bella. People saw me with you, Bella." I said in one single breath.
"Edward we have to tell them." She said low enough for only me to hear. "No! You can't do that!" Bella became extremely silent, and I felt like such a prick for yelling at her. "I'm sorry I made you mad." She said defeated. "Oh shit! Bella no baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell." I myself was pleading to her now.
She didn't say anything, and I could feel her breathing which made my whole body instantly calm. "Edward you have to let me help you. It's the only way." I sighed as if telling her that there was nothing for her to do. "But you're only seventeen!" I said in a hushed tone. "Edward, no I'm not. I'm eighteen." She flat out said. "What the fuck? I thought you were seventeen?" I said more confused then ever before. "Edward, I turned eighteen last September. I'm an adult." She told me. "Well that changes things." I laughed a little bit.
"Edward listen to me. You have to stay in there for a couple of days so that when the rapist strikes again, they will know that they have the wrong person. They can't keep you in there. They have no evidence. The evidence they supposedly have against you is only circumstantial. They have locked you up based solely on a theory."
"Bella you're teaching me about Law? I already know that." We both laughed at our own silliness. "Time is up." Simmons said, and he began walking towards me from where he had been standing. "Bella I have to go. I miss you." I said sincerely, and sighed. "Edward I'm sorry, and I miss you to. I'll get you out of this." As she shut her phone, I felt my body fall on to the bare mattress of the cot. I felt darkness overcome me as I dreamed a peaceful vision of Bella, and I in our beautiful meadow.
A/N - Ah the twists, and turns of this fricking story. I'm beat lol. That was my longest chapter. Over 5,000 words. I feel good now. Next week my updates will be less because I'm going to Britney's concert! Woot :) Have fun reading this chapter.
