Chapter Twenty-One: Stumble
Curtain's call is the last of all
When the lights fade out all the sinners crawl
So they dug your grave and the masquerade
Will come calling out at the mess you've made.
"Demons" by Imagine Dragons
"…can't move her. Too much on the floor," a voice I vaguely recognized roused me from sleep.
"Bella don't move an inch," Sam's voice ordered. I opened my eyes in disorientation. Everything was so…red. I scrubbed the sleep from my eyes. Gabriel's bed sheets were white so why did I see so much red?
"What are you doing here?" I asked sleepily. I turned my head and met Gabriel's blue eyes. "Morning," I said. When he didn't respond I opened my eyes more. And screamed until I was hoarse. Gabriel, and the bed we were both laying in, was soaked in blood. His eyes were open, not in greeting, but frozen open in death.
"Fuck this," I heard Paul say. A second later strong, hot hands lifted me from the bed. I clung to Paul even as I looked around in disorientation. Everything was red, even the plush white carpet. It made horrible, squishing noises as Paul walked me away from the bed. Did the human body even contain enough blood to cause this much damage? Not one body evidently. I screamed again when I saw Ray's crumpled body, then Claire, then Hurricane Amber and finally Ray and Gabriel's father.
I threw up over Paul's shoulder while he made shushing noises to me. I hadn't realized I was still screaming until I tried to swallow and tasted blood as my raw throat scraped together. There were voices talking, discussing how to handle this and I threw up again.
"For fuck's sake can someone give her a shirt or something?" I heard Sam hiss and I realized only then that I was still naked. Paul set me on my feet and a shirt was pulled over my head. Shaking hands steadied me.
"Leah is on her way," Paul told me quietly. "She's going to take you to her house."
"What about them?" I managed to whisper and tears sprang to my eyes once more.
"You let us worry about this," he said. "This is not your fault, do you hear me?" He asked. I ignored the question. Leah arrived and swore viciously.
"Either Swan went nuts of bitch-toria struck again," she said.
"We think she was drugged," Sam said. His fingers brushed over the crease in my elbow and I saw a large bruise and what looked like a needle mark.
"What are you guys going to do?" Leah asked.
"You're going to take Bella to her apartment to get some things and then to her house. Then we are going to make sure no one knows that Bella was here," Sam said.
Two hours later I sat at Leah's small kitchen table, an untouched mug of tea in front of me, still unsure of what they meant. Even they couldn't erase every last trace of my presence there. I had been in the living room, in his bed, there was the condom in the trash can…maybe I deserved to go to jail. It would keep everyone else safer. I could call and confess, tell them I had some sort of mental breakdown. Which could be true for all I knew. I had no idea what happened that night.
It wasn't until after 9PM that Jared, Sam, Paul, Jake and Embry stumbled into Leah's house looking tired and disheveled. The blood on their hands made me remember that I still must have blood all over me. I stood abruptly and everyone looked at me in surprise.
"I think I need a shower," I said vaguely.
"I'll show you where the bathroom is," Paul said, exchanging a look with Sam. I brushed his help off.
"I can find it myself," I said. "You all should just go. You've done enough for the day." I didn't even look in the mirror as I peeled the bloody shirt from my skin and stepped under the water. I washed my hair three times before the water finally ran clear and threw up just as many times. What had Gabriel or Ray or Amber ever done to deserve this? The only thing that ended their lives was knowing me. Paul found me twenty minutes later, huddling under the freezing water. He switched the water off and wrapped me in a huge blanket.
'I'm wet," I protested hazily trying to push his hands away. He slapped my hands away from his.
"You're going to get hypothermia or something," he snapped. "Leah left you some warm pajamas in the room you will be in. Carlisle is here to take your blood to find out what the red headed bitch drugged you with."
"What does it matter?" I asked. Dropping the blanket. His eyes widened but he turned away as I dressed.
"You will get past this," Paul said when I was dressed. "If I have to drag you kicking and screaming through it I will."
"You know what I want?" I asked belligerently. "I want you to leave me alone. You are a constant reminder of the fact that if you hadn't fucked up I never would have been there with Gabriel last night. So run along home to whatever slut is warming your bed tonight. I don't want or need you here." Hurt filled his eyes but he backed up.
"I won't bother you again," he said softly. I waited for five minutes to ensure he was gone before dragging myself listlessly into the kitchen. Carlisle had his medical bag open.
"Let's get this over with," I snapped holding out my uninjured arm.
"I'm pretty sure it was morphine," Carlisle said as he worked. "More than a clinical dose but not enough to overdose you. Just enough to make sure you wouldn't wake up until morning." He smoothed a band aid over the puncture mark.
"I don't care if I was drugged," I said. "It was my fault whether any of you want to admit it or not."