The Painter

Chapter 20

"You have to be unique, and different, and shine in your own way."~ Lady Gaga

~O~

"This one is different," Edward said, his eyes landing over the blur of green leaves and angry black. But there was something off putting in the painting. There was an abyss of black smudge from fingers touching the wet paint.

"Mmm," Bella hummed, remembering.

"You touched it… on purpose?" He was confused but intrigued with the bit of missing paint.

"I did." She turned, shielding herself behind her hair, but Edward wanted- no, needed to see her eyes. What she never said was always in her eyes.

"Sounds like there's a story behind it." He pushed as Alice made her way closer to the painting to look for herself.

Edward noticed that Bella's heart beat picked up as her anxiety grew.

"Maybe someday you'll tell me," he sighed as if he was already bored of the topic. He touched the bit of paint, but it was dry and cold.

"It's just," Bella took a deep breath in, trying to calm her. "It's just that it's an odd thing and I don't know if I was over tired or if I was just seeing things."

"Well, I see things all the time," Alice giggled. The sound of her laughter was musical, but not as appealing as Edward's voice. "I see you and Edward… I even see that ragged doll." The teasing tone made Bella smile.

"That's not what I mean," Bella moved toward the painting. "It's never happened to me. But I was painting this after a night at the bonfire in La Push and I was painting what I saw in the forest there."

"What did you see?" Edward asked, trying to keep his tone monotone, but failing. He knew it couldn't have been him or his family since there was no way he'd be allowed on or even close by the reservation.

"They just finished the bonfire Pow Wow." She said as she sat on her bed, fumbling with her fingers that lay in her lap. "It was intense. The music, the drums; it would usually upset me but it didn't. It was all so beautiful. But then I got up to sit on the beach, alone. I just needed a moment for myself.

"I saw a bit of darkness within the trees, but didn't think much of it."

Edward shifted, sitting at Bella's desk so he could look out the window. He could see his brothers outside and his parents standing close by. He looked to Alice who just winked at him and continued to fiddle with her phone.

"I thought they would want to know," Alice thought.

"What was it?" Edward asked gently. "Can you describe it?"

Bella shrugged. "It was dark and smoky but the moonlight afforded some visual. But it just looked like a black mass. I went home and painted it." She lifted her head then and stared at the painting. "I've tried touching it again and again but it hasn't happened since.

"What hasn't happened?" He pushed, again.

"You're hand. That one." She pointed to the one they were talking about earlier; the one when she woke up with a start and had to paint it. It was Edward's hand, according to Alice, but Bella had no idea if that was true.

"The male shaped hand came out of the black figure in this painting. Like, his actual hand? " Alice asked, wishing she could see something- anything about any of this but there was nothing.

Bella nodded.

"I was happy, smiling, painting the green," She blushed, now knowing that figment was Edward. "I always went back to the green. There are never enough shades of green." She whispered, blushing pink.

Edward grinned widely. He couldn't help it.

"So the blackness or darkness wasn't Edward, but it was there in real life, too." Alice mused to herself, only Edward could hear her thought as she stood up to pace through the room.

"But there was a human shape existing in the darkness of my painting. It just... was there. And all the sudden I felt such despair. I cried. I don't even know why. Everything, all the green ebbed and flowed around the black figure in the middle."

"I wonder who that could be." Alice mused as Edward stared out the window.

"I asked," Bella scoffed. "I remember saying, 'Who are you?' But there wasn't any answer. So when I lifted my hand to the paint once I got home to try to get closer as if I was still there like before…" Bella seemed to lose herself in her thoughts. " I dreamt it."

"You dreamt of Edward or the void?" Alice asked, looking up from her phone.

"Both," She whispered, flushing crimson. "But I saw a pale, pained hand curl and reach out at me from within the dark pigment when I touched it."

Edward frowned, wondering if it could have really been him, or if it was someone or something else.

Vampires and werewolves couldn't be the only supernatural things in the world. Maybe it was something else.

Edward looked at Alice who shared his worried glare.

"My fingertips touched the void and the cool paint marked me, but we touched." Her eyes instantly found Edward's and they both stared at each other. "I didn't want to move my fingers for fear of losing any semblance of contact with you."

.

They left Bella to her painting, not wanting to overstay their welcome.

"I am just so confused," Edward ranted as he walked into the Cullen house. He had been going over everything over and over again in his head and nothing seemed to make sense.

Alice flitted around him, constantly questioning the words all the while trying to search out the future. She even went as far as looking into the void from the werewolves land or perhaps a wolf- though it wouldn't explain anything.

Bella clearly thought it was Edward there and his hand reaching for her.

But that would be impossible! His family had a treaty with the wolves and that wasn't something they would break by going on their land. That only left the option of an unknown vampire or worse, the Volturi.

But then how would any vampire get onto their land without notice?

That would be impossible.

"They would want to know," Alice said, hand on her hip and eyes drilling straight into Edward's glare.

But would they?

"How would that meeting go?" Edward scoffed. "Hey, just wanted you to know that there was a big mass of darkness on the edge of the beach and trees standing over Bella? They would think us insane."

"You're probably right." Alice frowned.

"We should just wait and see and not fret about things." Alice said fleetingly as she paced the branch that reached over their patio deck. Everyone else sat in the kitchen listening.

"Perhaps this in in her head and there were shadows within the trees and her eyes could be playing tricks on her. It's easy to do that on such an intense, smoky night. " Esme gave a slight smile, hoping it was the best scenario possible. She didn't want to consider the danger Bella would be in if it was a shadow of a vampire tracker.

"Esme's right," Carlisle added. "All of this contemplation could be for naught. Bella has a vivid imagination as you can tell by her art."

"So just do an internet search on shadows or shadow people or dark masses or whatever. Standing here pulling your hair out isn't solving anything." Rosalie sighed, already annoyed with the topic. She smirked as Edward removed his hand from clutching his brassy hair.

"That's a great idea!" Alice beamed. "And shadow people are also a great idea to look into, too. I have seen such things on ghost shows."

"We're going off to hunt," Emmett grinned, giving a small fist bump to his brother before he grabbed Rosalie up bridal style and bounded off the back deck. They disappeared into the forest within seconds.

"He's going to check for scents." Allice supplied with boredom to Esme and Carlisle.

"Figured." Carlisle said, lifting the newspaper up to shield his face, effectively dismissing his children.

Jasper drawled. "Can't be too careful."

Edward moved out of the room silently and made his way up the stairs. He was pleased to have something to look into and preoccupy the time until Bella would be asleep and he could try to see her again.

He wondered if his Bella could be haunted or if it was all just a personified dream and he powered up the laptop and typed in the buzzwords to begin his search.

.

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read and review! I love each one. I know this is a repost and there's a bit of changes here and there. It's complete, but adding 2-4 chapters until it's done. This fic was originally written in 2014- 2015 and I tend to like to delve into the supernatural. :D