Disclaimer: I do not own twilight or any of its characters.

Chapter 21: Petty

"You check the bed and I'll start looking in the bathroom." I suggested as she made her way over to the bed and started sorting through sheets and blankets.

I searched through the bathroom with no luck. "Not in there." I announced as I walked back into the room and started helping Bree with the bed.

"So… have you heard anything from the police? Has James said anything yet?" she asked.

"Not yet. Em's down there now trying to get the DA to give some sort of deal."

"Deal?" she asked.

"Yeah, a deal for James to give up the identity of the woman he was working with."

"Oh… it must be scary…being stalked like that. Were you scared, Bella?" she asked.

She sure is acting strange today I thought as I started remaking the bed, having not found the earring in there.

"Sure, I guess. There were moments when I was scared." I replied.

She made her side of the bed and started looking around the nightstand. I mimicked her movements on my own side of the bed.

"I suppose I could understand why someone might stalk you." She said nonchalantly, "I mean the woman, not James. He was obviously after revenge after what happened in London."

"What?" I asked, confused by her statement. "You could understand?"

"Sure, there are a few reasons, I suppose." I arched a brow at her, silently asking her to continue. "I mean you're gorgeous, rich, you have a dream job and you're winning Oscars now. Someone could be simply jealous…" she trailed off before completely changing the subject, "Actually, I remember I was sitting at the sofa last night, listening to my voice mails. Would you mind having a look over there?"

I stared at her incredulously, unable to follow her train of thought. "You think it's understandable for someone to make my life hell because they are jealous?" I asked.

"Hmmm, I suppose it's not to you. You wouldn't understand jealousy, never having felt it." Bree said, her head disappearing down beside the bed, I assumed to look under it for the earring.

I started feeling a little uneasy, something was off here, but I couldn't put a finger on it. I tried to sort out my thoughts logically. Bree understands why someone could be jealous of me, she thinks I've never felt jealous, she understands my stalkers motives, she sympathises with my stalker. Oh my God…

I came to the logical conclusion just as Bree started talking again, from down beside the bed. "Hmmm, yes jealousy would be the perfect motive… it's not the whole reason why I did it, though."

My head snapped up and around to look at her. She had come out from beside the bed and was now standing only about five feet away from me, holding a large knife at her side. She had a maniacal smile on her face and as she continued speaking, my knees gave out from beneath me and I sank down onto the sofa.

"Would you like to know why I did it, Bella?"

Though terror was starting to take hold, I managed to think somewhat clearly and realised the longer I kept her talking, the longer I would have to come up with an escape plan before she used that knife.

"Okay." I replied shakily, and mentally chastised myself for showing her how scared I was.

She chuckled as she replied. "I couldn't believe you didn't recognise me at my interview. I know Angela did all the preliminary stuff, but you walked into that room and started asking me questions and the whole time I thought; any minute now, any minute and she'll realise she knows me from somewhere. But you never did, even to this day; you don't recognise me, do you?"

I furrowed my brow, trying to place her. Had I met her before, or was she simply nuts? "I don't know…" I managed to stutter out.

She chuckled again, "Of course you don't… but then, I did look a lot different back then." She looked far away for a minute, before her eyes snapped back to mine. "Awwww, you look confused, perhaps I should start from the beginning."

I nodded, trying to buy myself some time to think. She was standing directly between me and the only door to the room, and she was too close to get around. I could maybe get to the bathroom and lock myself in until Jacob came to investigate, surely he could overpower her and get the knife away.

She started moving the knife from hand to hand, keeping her eyes trained on the movement as she spoke. "We were in drama school together, you and I." I opened my mouth to question that statement, but she just kept talking, "I looked a little different then, younger, blonder… we actually performed in our first year play together. Of course, you got the lead, but I was your understudy. I watched you intently, knowing I would never be lucky enough to actually get to play that part on stage and when I said 'break a leg' as you went on stage opening night, I prayed that you actually would." She let out a little chuckle and I intervened.

"My understudy that year was a girl named Lauren." I knew I was right. I still had the program from that play in a chest in my closet.

"Wow… you actually remember. Well, that was me I go by Bree now, it's actually my middle name, Lauren Bree Mallory. Anyway, do you remember what happened to Lauren?" she asked.

I wracked my brain trying to remember, Lauren wasn't really in my circle of friends, so while I vaguely remembered she didn't graduate with us, I couldn't remember why.

"Ummm," I stalled, trying to buy some more time. I was praying Jacob would come in at any moment, but I also knew he didn't have any reason to check on us. "Well, she… I mean you? You were still there when I took some time off, but I don't remember seeing you after I returned. Did you leave while I was away?"

"Yep, right after your mother died." I winced at the harshness of her answer, wondering what she was gaining by bringing Renee into the conversation. "Oh yes, I know all about it. Poor Bella Swan, her mother was killed by a crazy pap… blah, blah, blah. There's another side to this story, though."

She was looking at me expectantly, but I wasn't sure what she wanted form me, so I just tried to keep her talking. "Okay?"

"That pap… do you know his name, Bella?" she asked.

"Marcus Knight." I responded immediately. I could never forget the name of the man who killed my mother.

"Marcus Knight is my father. He was only 'papping' to pay for drama school for me. He knew it was my dream, that I'd never be happy doing anything else. So, he did whatever he could to help pay the tuition. Being a pap paid the best money, so that's what he did… for me."

"I didn't know…I" I began, not really knowing what I was going to say.

"Of course you didn't!" She suddenly snapped. "I didn't go to the trial because I knew he would be sent to jail and I would have to drop out of school! I was so furious at you, how dare you send my father to prison… I needed him to pay the bills. I needed him to support me, that's what father's are supposed to do. So then I started temping, taking whatever jobs the agency gave me, which is where I heard about you needing an assistant…"

She started walking toward me and I knew I was going to have to fight her to get out of this situation, so I stood up and braced myself. She stopped about a foot away from me.

"You ruined my life and now I'm going to ruin yours." She said menacingly.

"Wh…wh…wh…what are you going to do to me?" I stuttered out.

"Well, I think I'll cut up that pretty face of yours. You won't get much work looking like you ran through a window, will you?" she cackled, launching herself at me.

I wasn't ready for the stack and stumbled back a little, the sofa tipping form our joined weight, we both rolled onto the floor and I tried to run for the door, but she grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked, so I fell right back to the floor. She slashed the knife in my direction and I rolled out of the way just in time. We both scrambled to our knees, but Bree was faster and she lunged at me, just as I was about to jump to my feet.

There was a sudden searing pain that ripped through my shoulder and I knew immediately that I had been stabbed. Bree stabbed me, I thought as I felt my shirt getting wet. I looked down and saw the blood swelling from my shoulder to my chest and down my arm.

I heard a bang and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Jacob, pulling the knife out of Bree's hand.

It was covered in my blood.

A/N: FFn wouldn't let me reply to reviews this week :-(

Next chapter should post soon…

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