A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I finished this chapter pretty fast because of the positive reviews, though I couldn't update as early as I wanted, since my Internet has been down.

I think this chapter is pretty dramatic for Bella – she's very melancholic. Let's pick up where we left off; I've got nothing more to say… Except the thing I say every time I publish a new chapter: REVIEW!!! Haha… This chapter isn't as long as the previous ones, but I hope you'll still survive. Enjoy!

Time was standing still, nothing moved – the entire world was immobilized. I was in shock, and not able to move, nor speak or even blink. My mind had stopped working; only two names were circling around faster and faster inside my head. Six syllables altogether; Victoria, Charlie. Only the names said together made me shudder.

How could everything have turned out like this? Everything had been so perfect, so utterly perfect. I was engaged with Edward, the Cullens were back and my miserable period had disappeared forever. And yet, it had all been ruined. Of course it all had been ruined, who could be so lucky that nothing else would come and spoil the perfect life? I wasn't lucky, how could I imagine something else? I didn't deserve any of it. It had been a dream while it had lasted, but sometime, you have to wake up. No dream could last forever, and I think I knew that, deep down. Personally, I would have preferred a less brusque awakening, but I didn't matter, now that I had woken up.

I still couldn't believe how perfect everything had actually been before this, now happiness was no longer something that I understood; I would never be happy again, how much I even tried. Charlie was lost, and I was the one to blame. I had been so blinded by my love for Edward, that everything else had been forced to step aside. How could I have been so stupid? It was a mystery.

Nothing else mattered anymore, nothing. I didn't care anymore, I could die, and I wouldn't notice. All I knew was that I wanted to get away, from everything.

Memories, it was all I was able to take with me. And memories fade, slowly and barely noticeable, but they do. One day, they'll be gone, forever. And there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that you could do about it. I wanted to cry; everything would be gone one day.

I was in trance, lying completely still on the same spot I had fallen on before. It was all so silly. Why had I fallen? Why couldn't I be strong, brave, unafraid, and stand up? Why? Why was I so weak, so scared, so inhumanly stupid, and dumb? I wanted to fade away, turn into a million pieces of dust flying away gently together with the wind. My last wish, why couldn't it fulfill? To be a part of the nature seemed like such an easy thing to be.

"Bella!"

I was vaguely aware of that someone was calling my name, holding me, embracing me. Impossible, I was alone. There was nothing but emptiness around me; all was dark, velvet black nothingness.

"Bella!"

But there it was again; the proof of that someone was present too. Wasn't I alone? The gentle voice slowly faded away, and I became convinced again that I was alone. It was reasonable, who else could be here with me? I almost laughed at the silly assumption.

"Bella, wake up! Bella, please. Don't do this, not you too."

Save me. I don't care how, just do it, take me away from here. I'm waiting, don't leave me. Take me away from here. Just do it, save me from this terrible place. Wake me up, from this nightmare, from everything. Let me disappear. Let me spread my wings and fly away. Save me.

And it was as if someone had listened to my prayer, an angel. Maybe the same who had saved me from drowning a year ago. I would be forever grateful to him, twice had he helped me, and I would help him too, if I could. Help.

"Bella, I love you. Wake up, please."

I'm almost there, wait for me, save me.

"Wake up, please…"

Yes, yes, I'm almost there, just wait. I'm coming, soon.

"I love you."

I'm coming, I promise.

"Please…" The voice was barely a whisper.

Save me, I'm coming. I'm almost there, so close. Just please wait for me.

"Bella…" Such a beautiful voice, but who did it belong to? Who wanted to save me? Who listened to my silent prayers? "Bella…" And then it faded away. That was all I needed to hear, all I needed to wake up. My antidote. All was well.

My eyes opened, slowly and gradually my sight came back. Two people with anxious expressions were bent over me, Alice and Edward. I was lying on the ground, my back against the wooden floor. Edward was stroking my cheek, and it looked as if both of them were crying without any tears.

So it hadn't all been a nightmare, too bad. I wasn't looking forward to deal with what was going to come.

"Bella!" Edward cried as he saw how I came to life. "Bella, Bella," he continued to repeat my name several time, the worried expression not leaving his face. Alice was sitting next to him on the floor, her face hard. She was upset too, but didn't utter a word. I guessed that she was too shocked to say or do anything.

"Bella," Edward said one last time and slowly bent down his head to press his lips to mine gently.

I looked at Edward, then Alice, and then Edward again. What had happened to me? Had I collapsed? It would have been so typically me, to faint. What a weak gesture, why did I always have to be the one who seemed weak? I didn't want to be weak; I wanted to be strong, brave, like Edward and Alice. I didn't want to be a weak, fragile human.

"What happened to me?" I tried to ask, but the words came out in a huge disarray, and none of them could make out my words. Edward smiled weakly as I tried to speak again, but the smile was sad; it didn't reach his eye, they were just as unhappy as before.

After many desperate attempts of trying to speak clearly, I managed to say two words. "What happened?"

"You fainted, Bella," Alice answered. It was the first time she had spoken since we had come home from our search after Charlie.

"For how long?" I asked again, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Five minutes," Edward answered as I tried to stand up, it didn't work.

I was standing on two wobbly, unsteady legs, and I felt how they instantly folded under me. Luckily, Edward caught me before I had a chance to come dangerously close to the ground.

"Thank you," I mouthed, I was exhausted and dizzy. I felt sick. I wanted to sleep, in Edward's arms, forever.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, and I was too exhausted to break it. After a while, I got used to it. It was quite nice, actually. As if an aura had started hovering around the room, protecting us from the silence to become unpleasant.

I looked at Edward as he loosened his grip around me. It was a pleading look, begging. But it was also full of love, I wanted to reach out and touch him. I wanted to be in his arms, now that Charlie wasn't here.

Edward seemed to read my gaze perfectly, as he reached out and embraced me again. He bent down to lean his forehead against my own, and in many moments we looked each other deeply into the eyes.

His eyes had turned darker than last time I had looked into them. The usual golden color that I loved so much was gone, instead his irises were burgundy, and the purple contours under his eyes were there again. I reached out and touched the purple shades, as if I tried to remove them by only stroking my hand carefully over them.

Edward closed his eyes as I started to stroke my thumb under his eyes; his skin was cold as always. It was as if both of us had forgotten completely that Alice was standing alone beside us, or either of us just didn't care.

In that moment, I realized what a hard time it had to be for Alice at the moment, how terribly she had to miss Jasper. I didn't know if I could be away from Edward as Alice was away from Jasper, it didn't make sense for me. I knew that I could no longer survive being without Edward. The amount of time we could spend apart had all been used when he left me, the sand in the hourglass had run out, and it was impossible to turn it upside-down again.

Edward opened his eyes slowly as I removed my hand from his face, and he sighed. When our lips met again, I melted. It was as if I almost forgot about Charlie completely. The kiss could heal all the problems for a while, but the second our lips parted, they were back again. In the exact same spot in my mind as before. I never wanted to stop kissing Edward, that was why I clutched him closer to me when he started to pull away.

Usually, Edward would have chuckled at my greed, but not this time. This time, he didn't object at all. Instead, he brushed his lips gently to mine again before kissing me intensely.

I wouldn't be able to survive without his kisses, they were so addictive, like a drug, and I never wanted to stop kissing him, ever. If I were the one to decide, he would kiss me more often. If I were the one to decide, we would never be apart. And our lips would never have a far distance between them.

"Bella, you have no idea how you make me feel," he whispered as he pulled away for the second time.

"Same here," I mouthed.

Alice cleared her throat behind us, and I blushed intensely. What else?

"Edward," she whispered, pretending as if the moments before had never occurred. "Edward, you're not going to believe this."

"What?" he asked.

"Victoria's taking him to La Push."

Edward's eyes widened. "Oh no," he whispered.

"She knows that we can't come there," Alice continued in a miserable voice. "She thinks Bella will come alone to save him."

Charlie, the worries were instantly back in my head again. Edward could make me forget it for a few moments, but the problems would always come back. How come I hadn't learned that by now?

"Out of question," Edward growled.

"B – But Charlie," I whispered worriedly. "Charlie."

Edward turned around to embrace me again. "It's fine, Bella. It's alright, we'll figure out a way to save him. I promise."

Again, his words were empty. What was going to make everything alright again? None of the Cullens could come to La Push, and that was where Charlie was. I had to go there myself, just like she wanted me to. There wasn't another alternative, and Victoria knew that. Her plan was perfect.

Edward turned to Alice. "We have to break the treaty."

Alice's eyes widened. "Edward, you know perfectly well that we cannot do that, it's out of question."

"Alice, we have to, there's nothing else we can do, who else is going to help us?"

"Edward, we can't, you know it."

I tried to not listen, to not worry, to not be scared to death. Too bad, that none of it worked. Charlie was lost; there was no point in trying to realize something else. I had to go there myself – I had to save Charlie.

But then suddenly, a small light of hope lit inside me. What if? What if they could help? Would they? After all I had done to them. When I thought about it, I hadn't met the werewolf pack for a long time, and the odds were against me. But I still clung desperately to the idea, they had to help; Charlie was Billy's friend, he couldn't just let this pass by.

"Jake, how about Jake?" I asked eagerly, looking at both of them. "Jake, Jake can help us, right?"

Edward darkened. "I don't know, Bella. We shouldn't take anything for granted…"

"But come on!" I screamed furiously. "He have to help us, it's Charlie for crying out loud, it's not as she's taken Alice." Edward flinched.

Without waiting for another reaction of my idea, I picked up the phone from the floor and dialed Jacob's number quickly before they could stop me. Three signals, and then a familiar voice.

"Hello," Billy said and added a yawn to the greeting.

"Billy, it's Bella," I said quickly. "Listen, is Jake there?"

He yawned again. "Yes, but he has told me to tell you that he's not home if you would call… Don't know the reason…"

Oh, great. What was it now? Hadn't I visited him quite recently?

"Just put him on the phone," I muttered sourly, the desperate anxious tone was still there in my voice, deep down.

"Sure."

A short silence followed, and then Jacob answered.

"What?"

"Jake!" I said, not making any attempt to hide my enthusiasm.

He laughed. "What Bella?"

"What's with not letting me speak to you?"

He sighed. "Never mind."

I paused, and collected my thoughts; I didn't want it to come out wrong. "Jake, I need your help, please."

A/N: Want to read the following chapter, anyone? You'll have to wait a few days! PLEASE REVIEW! If I get many, I might finish the next chapter faster.

Also, sorry for any spelling or grammar errors.

And have you seen the two sneekpeeks from New Moon from comic con? OH MY HOLY GOD! November, please come faster!