Song I used and highly recommend you listen to while reading,
The Rest of My Life by Hans Zimmer
~Chapter Twenty Seven~
A Second Chance
~Bella~
"Jasper! No!" I yelled as he slammed the door, leaving me all alone in the darkness of my home. I flinch away as I hear horrible, savage noises commence. Vicious growls and howls echoed all around me, shaking me to my very core. I stood up as quickly as I could, hearing the way the wolves chased after something with a speed I couldn't keep up without seeing. No, not something...
Jasper.
I run down the hallway, listening for where they could be until I stand in the living room turning my head every which way. The silence was deafening, my ears began ringing and I could hear my heart pounding in my chest like it never has before. I stood in between the couch and the coffee table, then I heard it. A heavy breathing to my left, a large shadow loomed over the curtains that were drawn over the window. With no warning, the window breaks - shards of glass shooting towards me. I scream and stumble back, cutting my hand on a thick shard of glass. When I opened my eyes, there it was. There He was. In his true form.
This black monstrous being, his fur looked dry with dirt and blood. Who's blood is that? Panic flooded my entire body. His fangs weren't white but a light shade of faded yellow and his eyes...they almost looked red in the dimly lit room.
He broke both windows clean off with his body, as if it were nothing at all, destroying the furniture that had been close by. As he stood up, he towered over me just like that day in Alaska. Before I could scream again, Sam gets dragged back by his hind legs, his claws destroying the carpet and I hear something crack. In the blink of an eye, he's thrown into the air and standing there on the front lawn is Emmett.
"Em!" I nearly sob in relief and fear. He turns around and gives me a tender smile before it disappears completely the moment Sam starts charging for him.
"Go hide Bells!" He said before taking off and colliding head on with Sam. The crashing of their bodies roared loudly like thunder, it made me wince at the sound.
I could see Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie fending off two wolves who continuously tried to get to Sam but it was useless. None of them would let that happen as they shoved and yanked the wolves, twisting their bodies as they avoided their attacks. Emmett was dodging Sam's attacks just as Jasper knocks him over and into a ditch behind the tree line. I barely registered that Alice and Edward were chasing after another wolf that tried to sneak up on Carlisle, all with their incredible speed.
They were all here!
Protecting me.
I take a step back feeling overwhelmed by everything and forced myself to focus, deciding to do as Emmett said. Turning around I gasp when I see an extremely thin, tall woman in front of me. Her hand shoots up to grab onto my neck, immediately cutting out all the air from my lungs. My hands fly to hers to get her to release me just as she lifts me up, her eyes were lifeless and haunting but there was something else in them.
A familiarity in the features of her face, as malnourished as she was. Her tan skin, the short black hair and bridge of her thin nose. Her pure brown eyes.
Seth...
"L-Le...Leah." I barely managed to say the woman's name, the pressure she applied to my throat nearly crushed my windpipe. Recognition showed in her eyes for a split second. She shoved me against the bookshelves on the wall and I tumble to the floor. Gasping desperately for air before she decided to continue.
"Where..did...you hear that?"
I looked up at her, she was trembling but her gaze didn't look any different now.
"I know your brother," I clarified through my dry coughs, "I know Seth."
"Seth..."
Her words betrayed her cold demeanor. The pain in Leah's voice when she said Seth's name was gut wrenching. Wanting to make her realize what she's doing is wrong I push myself up from the hardwood floor unsteadily, "You can still be with him, you know. You don't have to do this, Leah. You can still go back to your family." My eyes pleaded with her to do the right thing, to stop Sam from controlling our lives any longer.
Please...
For a moment, I can see the hesitation in her eyes. As if whatever control Sam had on her was crumbling away. She slowly raised her trembling hand towards me, holding it out in the form of a handshake between two friends. But something stopped her, Leah's gaze shifts to look over her shoulders for a split second.
"Not yet..." Her voice is distant along with her hand grabbing my arm in a vice grip, yanking me close behind her. No matter how much I struggled it was useless, I had no choice but to let Leah drag me towards the back porch where I could see the wolves viciously attacking Carlisle and Emmett. Leah tears the door off its hinges with one hand, sending it tumbling down the steps with her incredible strength. This makes Jasper and the others turn to look at us, frozen in their fight against the wolves.
My heart sped up as one of the wolves tried to attack him while he was distracted, "J-Jasper!"
Without taking his eyes off of me, he manages punches it so hard that the wolf yelps and scurries to run off. He ran to get me away from Leah but this time he's knocked down by two wolves, desperately trying to bite his head off. I watched in horror even as Leah shoved me down the steps. I stumble and land on my knees hard, my hands scraping the gravel underneath the mud. In that moment, while I struggled to catch my breath I felt the ground pulse underneath my skin.
I shivered when voices began circling around me again, chanting.
He's here...he's here, run, run!
Slowly looking up, I see Sam in the midst of the chaos around us slowly making his away towards me. I tried to drag myself up but Leah holds me down. I kicked and whimpered the closer he got, the voices - there were too many for me to focus on just one until one shook all the others away into a muffled silence.
You've become such a problem for me little girl.
I stop fighting against Leah when I hear a sinister voice. Sam's voice, enter my mind. Staring at the animal that approached me with wide eyes, shock that I could hear his thoughts in my mind.
"W-what..."
You caused me so much loss. All this work for one child that is said to end me by an insane woman, a fucking myth that shouldn't even threaten me. ME, the Alpha of the Quileute tribe!
I whimpered when his voice boomed in my head.
It hurts!
His black eyes looked at Leah just as he growled at her. With hesitation, I feel her hand let me go before she sunk down to her knees, her expression was petrified as she bowed her head down. I felt tears stream down my face at the pain I could feel, hear coming from her. Or maybe it was mine?
Sam was so close I could smell his scent now, it made my stomach revolt. I inched away until my back hit the steps that led up the porch but there was no use, he was in front of me. I could hear Jasper screaming my name as he pushed past the barricade of wolves along with the others. Esme's horror-filled screams were too much to bear.
Finally...you're mine to get rid of. The myth is no more.
I shut my eyes as he opened his mouth wide and lunged.
When a blaring, banging sound reached my ears I screamed. I heard only a loud ringing noise as I clutched my head and looked up to see Sam yelp back, stumbling down to the ground. I heard the noise again behind me and look back to see Charlie standing at the top of the stairs, his shotgun in his hand with a look so fierce I've never seen on him before.
"Dad!" I sob, he looks down at me and runs down the steps, yanking me up with his hand. Sam shook his head, I could hear him cursing wildly in pain and when he looks back up I gape at his appearance. The two shots Charlie fired at him left two burning marks on his head, the fur parted enough to see blood slightly dripping down his face.
"Get up Bella! Go, inside now!" Charlie commanded as he led me up the steps, keeping me behind him.
Jasper and the others were now charging for Sam just as he lunged for us. Another shot fired at the same time Sam's claws reached for Charlie, his eyes however, looked at me with pure hatred. Every thing was happening slowly and too fast all at once, fear of Charlie being killed by Sam caused me to react as the voices began a painful chant again until they were all yelling.
"Stop!" My scream carried in echoes, a strong gust of wind pushed me up causing my hair to whip rapidly around me. Even after I couldn't scream any longer, the voices were rushing towards Sam in the form of the wind which seemed to cause him a great discomfort, as if he could hear them too. Looking around in shock I see Jasper and the rest of the Cullens holding their heads, grimacing.
That included the rest of Sam's pack too and a few other wolves I just now noticed. Before Sam got ready to charge again in his dazed state all the Cullen's managed to jump onto Sam and drag him away, taking half of the porch's railing with his body.
Vicious growls came from all of them when Charlie pushed me into the house and slammed the door behind him with his whole body.
I sat on the floor, staring at him in shock. I could hear my father panting from the fear he must have been feeling, the adrenaline was at its highest for both of us.
"Bells? Are you ok?" His hands frantically grabbed onto my face and searched for any injuries other than the superficial ones I had. I couldn't feel anything though, my whole body was numb.
I looked up at him and jumped into his arms, "Dad! Oh, dad!"
I sobbed into his jacket while he held me in a bone crushing hug.
"I'm here, your dad's got you, Bells. I got you...I..."
When I felt a wet warmth soak through my sweater, I felt Charlie's weight grow heavier on my shoulders.
"D-dad...?"
"I...got..y-you." He said weakly as he slumped down, pulling down onto the floor with him. I struggled to keep him up and whimpered as I settled him down onto his back.
"Dad! Dad, what's wrong?" I looked down at Jasper's sweater that I put on this morning, seeing a dark pool of something covering my whole stomach. Panicking, I check look at Charlie see torn up pieces of his jacket at his abdomen. "Dad?" I yanked his jacket open and cover my mouth with my hand, seeing three large slashes on his stomach, blood seeping out at an incredible speed.
"No...no, no! Dad! Stay awake ok?" I called out to him as I ran to the kitchen, yanking two of the towels I found and applying pressure to his wounds. Charlie groaned in pain but his eyes looked glassy, tired.
"Bella...get out of...here. Go to the...s-station."
"No! I'm not leaving," I said a few more words that came out incoherently, even to me before I started crying, "I'm going to get you to the hospital ok? Just hold on, you hear me?"
"Sorry...kiddo." He whispered before his eyes closed.
"Dad! St-stay awake! Please...Carlisle! Carlisle help!" I hadn't realized I was screaming hysterically until Rosalie and Carlisle were both next to me. My hands stayed applying pressure to Charlie's wounds even after the towels were covered in his blood completely.
"Bella, it's ok. Let me see," Carlisle said.
I felt Rosalie's hands holding my shoulders in some attempt to comfort me. I knew I was spewing out nonsense as I struggled to compose myself.
Carlisle told Edward to get the car before he picked Charlie up and walked out of the house quickly. All too quickly for me to comprehend, Rosalie, Alice, and Esme were all holding me in their arms as I felt a wave of dizziness hit me suddenly, my body finally giving out.
When I woke up, I was on Jasper's lap as Rosalie sped through the streets, passing all the other cars as she drove to the hospital. My arms instantly wrapped around Jasper's neck, holding him tightly to me while he did the same without harming me. He whispered soothing words that Carlisle had my dad already in the hospital but I couldn't stop crying. I stared at my hands that were stained red now, covered in blood.
Charlie's blood.
My eyes burned when we made it to the hospital, I sat in the hallway with Jasper and the rest of the Cullen's while Carlisle performed the surgery on Charlie. Whenever the numbness wore off, I started to panic again only for a wave of reassurance to pass over me. This time I didn't reject Jasper's help.
My skin felt hot, my hands and knees were sore from the fall I took and I could see a purple hue forming underneath my translucent skin at the heels of my palms. My head was pounding but I was glad I didn't hear any voices for a change.
"...What happened to Sam?" I asked Jasper in my exhaustion.
Jasper looked at me intently before he spoke, "Jacob and the rest of his tribe have him. We managed to subdue him while the rest of his pack ran away. Leah surrendered and is with Seth now though she also has to ask for permission from the elders in order to stay."
As horrible as everything has turned out today, I was glad that Leah finally went back home. She didn't want any of this, I could tell by the way she looked at me with hidden sadness in her dark eyes.
It made me think that if Leah felt this way then maybe...the rest of the wolves in Sam's pack also wanted to be freed from him.
I hoped now that Jake had Sam, that would become a reality not just for the wolves but for us too.
Hours passed and when Carlisle finally walked through the sliding doors I shot up quickly.
"H-how...is he?" My anxiety spiked while I held my hands together to keep them from trembling.
Carlisle's black eyes looked at me with great sorrow and it almost broke me before he told me, "...He's alive. I did everything I could to help him but Charlie lost a lot of blood, Bella."
"B-but he's alive!" I sounded all too relieved compared to the look Jasper and the others were giving Carlisle, "What? What is it?"
Carlisle's cold hands grab mine gently before he speaks again, "Due to the loss of blood and oxygen his brain was receiving...Charlie went into a state of shock which left him in a comatose state."
I stared at him with my mouth slightly open.
"It's not permanent but if your father doesn't wake up soon then his body will start to shut down and he will need to be put on life support."
"Life support? For how long?"
Giving me an empathetic look he answers in a low voice, "I'm sorry Bella."
I immediately take my hands away from his, feeling my breathing grow heavier and heavier. I could feel Jasper's hands on my shoulders and Esme's sweet voce trying to calm me but I couldn't do it. I shrugged their all too loving, marble hands and backed away from them.
"Bella..." Jasper says my name. Before today I loved hearing him say my name with that southern drawl of his. The love he had for me poured out of every letter that rolled off his tongue. Now it felt like it was dragging down into a dark part of my mind that I didn't want to see. "Bella, let me calm you down or you're going to hyperventilate. Can you let me do that?"
I shook my head, trying to wrap my head around what the hell just happened. How so many things could have gone wrong so damn quickly.
The words made their way out before I could process them, "Save him..."
All the Cullens looked up at me except for Rosalie and Edward. Jasper's deep frown was ignored while I looked at Carlisle over his shoulder, I avoided his touch as I walked over to the man I knew could do it.
"Carlisle, please...y-you're the one that can do it right? You can save him and he'll wake up."
"Bella-" Jasper's interrupting was immediately stopped by Carlisle's hand coming up. His serious gaze was enough to tell him to not break the fragile trust I still had in him...in all of them. His eyes grew kinder when he looked at me, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear like a father would he thought about my suggestion, my begging, and then answered.
"I'm sorry Bella. I can't do that."
"Why not? You did it for Edward and the others when they were about to die! This is the same thing! Charlie's going to die if he doesn't wake up," I could feel myself going into a desperate frenzy as I grabbed his hands in mine. Tears started dripping down my chin but I didn't care, "Please!"
"I understand why you want to do this for your father, Isabella however this isn't a temporary change. Charlie will become one of us which means he will have to forget about the life he once knew - about you."
"Can you imagine how painful it is to have such a decision made for you?" Rosalie asked softly, a strange kindness from her. I stared at her as she placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. Her eyes were the same though, grave and intense. "If your father can't handle being a vampire he will hate himself for eternity and you for the rest of your life. That I know for a fact."
"But...he's all I have." I sobbed as she pulled me into her arms, knowing I couldn't force Charlie into a life so cruel and endless. "I can't lose him!"
"I'm sorry, Bella." Carlisle whispered with his head down low.
"This can't be happening. I...I...can't do this." I breathed out before running down the hallway, ignoring all of them as I ran as fast as I could until I was outside in the cold night air. I slid down the wall and rested my head on my knees for the longest time but no one came for me. I knew they were nearby, watching out for me but the fact that none of them came for me told me just how guilty they felt.
All that guilt weighing down on all of them for what they should have done...and what they can't fix now.
A/N :
Ok...don't try to kill me for what just happened. I kept Charlie in my heart this chapter, I even cried a little for Bella. Poor girl can't catch a break.
Let me know what you thought by leaving a review but don't be too harsh please haha.
All I can say is I'm sorry and I'll just have to see you all next week!
