K*H*W* (go to my profile :)

Chapter Twenty Six

My entire body went numb as Charlie's words entered my mind. The numbing sensation spread rapidly through me, like morphine in the bloodstream. My eyes blinked rapidly and I stammered.

"D-Dad, w-what are you t-talk. . .?" I couldn't finish my question, too frozen to speak, and I heard Charlie speak to someone else again. The call was ended with a click that wasn't mine. Charlie had hung up on me.

Feeling oddly detached from my body, I handed the waiting waiter the phone. He eyed me warily. "Are you okay?"

I looked over at him, feeling and somehow not feeling the absence of heat in my face. "I-I'm fine." My lungs disappeared from my chest and the holes took their place.

"No, you're not." The waiter said, and then he moved at human speed, somehow blurring. He pulled up a chair but I was already wobbling away back to Emily, back to where moments ago I had felt normal. I staggered forward as I hurried, my heart craving the feeling of normalcy.

Some days, I had felt more alone than I could stand, but this was entirely different.

I felt like I was standing in the eye of a storm, a hurricane, while surrounded by a crowd of people. I was standing in the middle of a storm, cut off from the crowd standing around me. The loneliness was maddening and it made my lips burn as I tried not to cry. I screamed while no one heard me.

"What's. . .?" Lizzie asked through the fog. "Emily?"

It was like someone had pushed me off a cliff, and I was falling forever. I was never going to touch the dark, icy waters that awaited me.

Logan, who had been watching me and the waiter, said something I didn't hear, and Emily turned. She spotted me and her almond brown eyes darkened. Emily turned back to the table, murmuring something, and Lizzie and Logan scooted out of the booth, getting up.

My thoughts became fuzzy, gibberish, as I moved robotically. I thought of what Jacob had told me after I had abandoned the cliff all those weeks ago.

"I'm glad you didn't jump. There's a hurricane out there."

Maybe I had jumped. Maybe someone had pushed me.

Emily grabbed my wrist and Logan rushed ahead of the three of us. He handed something to the waiter and Emily pushed me to the front.

Jacob's words in my mind: "You're waiting to catch yourself."

I was forced into the passenger seat and somehow my hands were gripping Emily's shirt. I couldn't see when Logan caught up to us, climbing in the back with Lizzie.

"Shush. . ." Emily's words faded in and out. "It's. . . Bella."

I made a strange noise and then there was a hand pulling mine gently away from fabric. Emily held one of my hands and murmured words I didn't hear.

"Sam." I mumbled, feeling lighter than air. "Sam." I chanted his name as I tried to refocus my thoughts. "Sam. Sam. Sam." It was hard. I had never felt so far away from everyone else. I had never felt so close to a storm.

"What's wrong with Sam?" Emily asked, and the lack of alarm in her voice made me realize dimly that she somehow knew that it wasn't about her Sam. Or maybe she thought it was about the Pack's Sam and she was reacting calmly.

"Sam told." I murmured, my hand leaving hers and going to my face. I couldn't think straight and only stammered my explanation, leaving out the important chunks. "Vampires."

"Sam told Charlie?" Emily guessed, her copper face dark in the gloom. "About the vampires coming?"

"Victoria." I couldn't feel anything. My hands felt numb, like I was awaking from sort of deep sleep. "Fire for hair, Sam said."

Lizzie and Logan who had been silent the entire time groaned. Logan put his head in his hands and muttered. "Werewolves and now vampires. What kind of place is this?"

"How did he know?" Emily asked the important question. Her words shook me out of the fog, disrupting the mist that made me mumble. My mind cleared, though I could sense the fog waiting to catch me at a weak moment, and I spoke clearly.

"I don't know." I confessed and took several deep breaths, trying to gather my bearings. "He. . . He was at the police station."

"You heard him?" Lizzie asked, sounding curious and mutinous.

"Charlie was talking to him." I said, and then horror filled me, making the mist attempt to surround me. How did Sam know? Did Victoria talk to him? How did she talk to him and not kill him?

"I'm taking you home." Emily said tersely, her voice grave. "Sam and Leah want to talk to you."

"I can't." I groaned. My mind was too full. I could feel a break down coming. The holes laughed at my distress, throbbing in tune with my pounding heart and aching head. "I can't talk to anyone right now."

"Don't talk." Emily pulled onto the dirt driveway. "Just listen."

She led Lizzie and Logan out of the car, but before she shut the car door so the dome light would go out, she gazed at me very intently.

"Be careful, Bella." Emily said, and the kindness in her eyes was very sweet. I instantly thought to Renee, and I missed her.

"Thanks, Em," I murmured and Emily smiled.

I turned my head to the window as the car door shut, announcing Emily's departure, and thought to Mom.

What would my life have been like if I hadn't moved to Forks?

"Sam told Charlie about the vampires?" Leah was scowling beside me in the back of Emily's car. "That is not good."

"We'll figure something out." Sam said in the front, his voice dark. "Whatever it is, Sam will not be harmed. He isn't aware of the rules."

Leah nodded seriously and then she mumbled. "What can be done? It's too late to tell him to keep his mouth shut."

To me, Sam asked, "How does he know about Victoria?"

I reached out for the answer to Sam's question, trying to keep the mist at bay. "I don't think he knows who she is, but he knows what she is."

Sam grunted in the front and stopped at a red light.

"This isn't easy," Sam spoke and we both looked at Sam in confusion. "But. . . We have to talk about Jacob."

Leah's face darkened with sadness and she glanced at me, sympathy in her feathery gray eyes. She looked back at Sam when he spoke.

"Jacob didn't mean it, you know that." Sam said and started driving again when the light changed to green. Rain hit the car with little thuds. "Everything's been out of order. We've had to adjust to the Cullens' arrival and Victoria's. We've lost sleep, sanity, futures. . ."

"Futures?" I gaped in distress.

Leah chided Sam. "Sam, come on. I told you Seth would bring his grades up."

"He's not the only one flunking." Sam said absently and Leah grew warmer beside me, blushing.

"I told you I'd work on it." Leah mumbled. "Bella's safety is important to Jacob, and important to me."

Leah's words made me feel touched, but before I could thank her, Sam spoke. "Jacob was stressed when he went over, and was miserable when he came back. Nearly phasing with you so close was hard on him. He sleeps even less now."

I cringed at Sam's words, and Sam backtracked, somehow hearing my wince. "We run longer now." Was that another way of saying Jacob took a longer shift? "One day we'll get her, but not anytime soon."

"I understand." I said, and then sighed when I said. "So, Jacob? What about him?"

"Avoid, what Emily and I call them, trigger topics." Sam advised darkly. "Don't talk about the Cullens if you can. Don't talk about Victoria." Everything he said made sense until he said, "Don't talk about college."

"College?" I echoed in confusion.

Sam chuckled in the dark, pushing the mist back further. "Jacob doesn't want you to go."

I tried to avoid cringing when I thought to how a few hours ago, I had allowed myself to think of losing Jacob and Edward. I chastised myself in my head and pushed the saddening thoughts in the back of my mind.

"Sam, can we stop?" Leah asked when Sam passed a gas station. "I've got to add more water to the toilet bowl if you know what I'm saying."

Sam surprised me by laughing and pulled into a Quik Trip. Leah hopped out of the car and closed the door behind her before taking off the entrance. The silence was almost uncomfortable, but I leaned against the seat and closed my eyes.

"Bella." Sam asked, and I blinked an eye open to see Sam peering at me in the rearview mirror.

"Hm?" I asked sleepily. The mist turned into warm sleep, calling me.

"You know what I'm really trying to tell you?"

I shook my head and listened as he spoke.

"Jacob didn't imprint on you. After this is over, if you can, you should leave."

I sat up and gasped. "W-What? Sam!" I blushed furiously, upset at Sam's words and how they mirrored my darkest thoughts.

"You've thought of this already." Sam noted, his deep voice unsurprised. "I'd want Emily to leave, if she had gone through what you had."

I bit my lip and looked away. "It'd hurt him."

"But it's not Lizzie leaving Seth." Sam's comparison made me feel sorrowful. "Lizzie doesn't want Seth, not like this. Vampires and werewolves don't exist in her world, Bella. She runs from monsters, and you. . ."

"Run with them." I thought to what Jared had said: "I bet she's tougher than that. She runs with vampires."

Sam nodded, somber. "You might hear this from everyone, but Bella, you know if Lizzie and Logan could leave, they would."

I stiffened in surprise. "They can't leave?"

"Seth and Leah imprinted on them." Sam said, emphasizing 'imprinted'. "They can leave, but Seth and Leah will just follow them around like I did Emily. The two of them are trapped. Hopefully, they won't accept Leah and Seth after a bad phasing." His eyes darkened at the memory.

I flinched at Sam's words, only to make myself relax when Leah climbed back into the car. "I'm good now."

"How's the bowl?" Sam joked, easily pretending like nothing had happened.

"Overflowing." Leah smiled boyishly; the gas station was soon behind us.

"Thanks for the ride." I said weakly as I climbed out of Emily's car. I was suddenly having trouble thinking. The mist waited on the edges of my mind and the holes tried to ignite themselves.

"See you later, Bella!" Leah waved from the front. She smiled brightly, a flash of pearly white teeth in the dark, but I could see the worry in her eyes.

I waved back and walked to the porch, letting myself in.

Charlie and Alice sat at the kitchen table. They both looked up at me, gold eyes and brown eyes relieved.

Alice spoke first, sounding almost strained. "I told Charlie here that Sam is crazy. Vampires!" She scoffed and I nearly fainted when I mentally relived the conversation on the diner's phone in one second.

"Right." I said breathlessly, my lungs shrinking. I went to the sink and got a glass from the cabinet. "You believe him, Dad?" I arched both eyebrows in fake curiosity.

Charlie rolled his eyes, turning to me in the chair. He looked exhausted, and his brown eyes were somehow anxious. "Nah. He's on too many pills."

"For a good reason." Alice chirped and I could suddenly see why she was so tense.

A vampire was being interrogated by a police officer about the existence of vampires. It was like Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire.

I nearly spat out my water at the thought. Anne Rice writing about Charlie interviewing Alice. . . I nearly burst into giggles at the thought and I sighed.

"I'm going to crash." I mumbled, putting the glass upside down in the sink.

Charlie hummed in agreement, looking back at Alice apologetically. "Me too, sorry, Alice."

"No problems." Alice's gold eyes were filled with anxiety. "I'll see you on Monday, Bella."

I waved to her, walking her to the front, while I was suddenly confused. I was back in the eye of the storm again, tormented by my screams that I heard but no one else didn't. How was there still school with all of this going on?

"Bella," Alice said to me out on the porch. "Bella?"

I looked at her, the mist beginning to cloud my mind. The mist was odd, tasting of sleep and panic. "Yes, Alice?"

"Don't tell Charlie anything."

"Don't you know me, Alice?" My retort was ruined by a yawn.

Alice tipped her head to the side as her eyes stared at me. In the gloom, I could barely see her face. "Just in case. Humans are fickle."

"Me, fickle? I didn't leave Bella to fend for herself." I retorted, going back to the porch. I heard Alice hiss, hurt, but I was too tired, too stubborn, and too hurt to take the words back.

I was reaching my limits with both the vampires and the wolves.

I wanted to be around humans, not supernatural boys.

I had to worry about what I said to Jacob, and I had to worry about bleeding around Edward.

Around human boys, I had to worry about a low cut blouse.

I slammed the door on my way back inside and locked the house.

On my bed, the mist stained every thought except for this one: Why was I ignoring gravity?

I closed my eyes and prayed for a restful sleep.

I woke up to find myself running through the woods, rushing past howling wolves and vampires trapped in stillness.

"Bella!" Sam called to me in the daylight. The woods were filled with sunlight and not shadows. "Bella, run!"

I found myself running to Sam, another human.

Nothing made sense when I broke through the trees.

I was in a meadow, the same meadow Edward had taken me to.

Jessica, Angela, Mike, Tyler, Ben, Eric, and Lauren all stood in a semi circle with smiling Charlie and Renee on the ends. A blue-eyed Alice and a hazel-eyed Jasper sat next to a sitting Emily and Sam on a bed of bright wildflowers.

Rosalie, whose face was still very beautiful and glowing with pretty dark green eyes, and Emmet, who had warm brown eyes, sat nearby. Carlisle and Emse, whose faces were similar to those of the middle aged, lounged on the grass; Esme's eyes were light hazel and Carlisle's eyes were blue. Everyone looked peaceful in the warm meadow, and a sleepy content made me feel very happy on the inside. The woods all around the meadow were bright with glowing sunlight.

Sam, the surfer Sam, stood in the middle of the semi-circle composed of my friends.

Jacob –my Jacob, the one with long black hair tied in a pony tail with glowing russet skin- and Edward –bronze haired with freckles shining in the sun and green eyes glowing- stood on either side of surfer Sam.

I looked at my friends and family standing in the glowing meadow and I took a step forward, a smile on my face. Sam's blue eyes glowed when he saw me walk toward them.

I opened my mouth to call a greeting to all of them –everyone looked up when I had arrived- only to feel a cold wind blow my hair forward and see the sunlight darken. Mist crept out of the dark woods beside us.

I turned around to see Victoria, blood dripping from her mouth and eyes pitch-black, and a herd of pale, lightning fast, bloody figures standing behind her.

Everyone fled in terror, running in the same direction: away from the danger.

Esme and Carlisle lurched from their places and ran down the meadow, following Jessica and Lauren. Rosalie was yanked to her feet by Emmet and carried away. Alice and Jasper tugged Emily and Sam to their feet, screaming for them to run.

Eric yelled for Mike to move and they both disappeared with the others into a mist that crept toward me. Renee and Charlie raced away, Charlie carrying an unconscious Angela with Ben right behind them.

I watched as wolves raced from the woods surrounding the meadow, chasing after the vampires who chased after the humans. The werewolves would try to save as many as my friends as they could but. . .

Jacob and Edward turned to me, yelling for me to follow my fleeing family and friends. I was frozen as Victoria snarled an order and the vampires descended onto my friends. I screamed in my mind as I saw the vampires race past me toward everyone I held dear.

Only Sam, surfer Sam, had stayed put, and he walked to me, his blue eyes dark.

I was filled with tears when Sam reached me.

"They killed them." I sobbed, hearing the last of the screams quiet. "They killed all of them."

Sam nodded very slowly, and the strangest thing happened. Everything moved backwards, time reversing, though Sam still stayed beside me. I watched as my friends ran for their lives, and then somehow time froze.

I moved from vampire to vampire with Sam by my side. My eyes went to their frenzied, dark faces.

"Don't look at them, Bella." Sam cooed to me when the sobs overwhelmed me.

I closed my eyes as Sam said,

"Don't look at the monsters."

Time must have started again because the screams started again where they left off and the howls grew ragged.

I sat up screaming in Charlie's arms.