CHAPTER TWELVE

Three Weeks Later…

I woke up this morning with an uneasy feeling that I couldn't place. I felt like something in the air was different, but maybe it was something in my head. I turned my head to see Alice sleeping. I continued lying in bed, and vacantly stared up at the ceiling. I just counted the time as it ticked by, as my whole body felt too tired to get out of bed. Before I knew it, I had fallen back asleep. It was Alice getting out of the shower that reawakens me. I didn't even realize that I had passed out until Alice said something, but I quickly brushed it off and gave her a small smile. She walked out and headed towards the common area where our medication awaited us.

I glanced over at the calendar on my desk and saw that over a month has passed since Edward's disappearance. I still miss him and our time spent together, but I just gave up on the motion of Edward ever returning. It seemed as though he never existed, and his time here was all but a dream. A lot has changed over the course of a month. I went from social outcast to miss popular, and that still boggled me. It seemed like the planets aligned, and all of a sudden, everyone wanted my advice. Alice took her new popularity in stride. It seemed as though she had her "minions" that followed us around, awaiting any task that Alice delegated. Of course, they tried to do that to me, and I quickly made the notion that I would not have it. Alice, on the other hand, well, let's just say, she loved being Queen B.

However, with this new popularity came some extra issues with Jasper and her, but they were stronger than ever, in all honesty. Of course, no one knew about them except for myself and Emmett. Alice loved the secrecy aspect of it, stating that it felt like a Romance movie and kept the passion alive. On the other hand, Jasper did not like the whole hidden part of the relationship, and it was hard for him to live that lie. I could understand. Jasper hated the fact that he couldn't be as open as he wanted to be as he was falling more in love with Alice each day.

Emmett has really grown and has become a wonderful friend and a part of our growing group. Where Alice was my sister, Jasper was my good friend, Emmett has become my protective older brother. Throughout those following weeks, Emmett had taken on the protective role over me. Emmett grew up with 2 older brothers, so he found the sister in me that he never had. Where Alice was girly, and Jasper was serious, Emmett was fun. He brought out the simple part of me, where we enjoyed picking on each other and acting goofy. When Emmett started to hang out with us more, many had assumed it was due to some sort of romantic vibes between us. However, in all actuality, the thought of us doing anything romantic was gag-worthy, which he shared the same feeling. The funny part was, I had become his "wingman" since I was good at hyping him up to others. Though, I did have to draw a line if it would lead to anything that would affect the other person negatively.

After another newbie left our group sessions, we welcomed the newest member Eric. Eric was extremely introverted due to his multi-personality disorder. Despite all of us trying to connect with him, on a one-on-one level and as a group. He had yet to open up or at least try to. So I took it upon myself to help Eric throughout his first week and his current stay here. No one knows what it's like to have this disorder unless they have been through it. Of course, he barely spoke, and anytime I would begin a conversation, he would start to mutter to himself and talk to me in these different voices. Alice and Emmett clocked out when they saw Eric's depth and his intense personalities and interaction with others. They pushed me to avoid him, but I denied that request since I did not want to leave Eric abandoned. However, I found it a bit uneasy that he was brought to this level with his intensity and aggression. Even though he made everyone uncomfortable, he was a scared person alone to fight this. He reminded me of myself when I first entered, and I knew the hardships that came with being labeled as such.

Despite Eric's presence, our group still continues to make strides in our issues. Everything was turning out to be better than good. I still found myself really pushing to keep my emotions in check. I knew Alice was soon to be released at the back of my mind, followed by Emmett and then Jasper. I wanted to be with them on the outside and couldn't imagine being in here without them. So I pushed myself and went to all of them individually to help me grow and learn new things about the outside. This way, I could prep myself the best I could before my potential release.

Overall, everything has been striving to the positive. My personalities still popped up, but it was few and far between. The whole floor threw a mini-party when I went one week of no transitions, in which Alice ate a cupcake and kept it down. The only thing that happened that I could not figure out was when E. & Isabella popped out at Mr. Brunner's office a couple of days ago. In Mr. Brunner's office, I was doing our usual one-on-one when our discussion of the opposite sex was brought up. Of course, I was never comfortable with this topic with him, but he kept on pushing. Anyways, I guess he pushed too hard because my last memory was of him walking over to me, and I blacked out. I just remembered waking up in the hospital, restrained to the bed. Thankfully, Isabella had no harmful items to hurt me with, but I did wake up with some minor bruises lined over my body. Everyone acted normal and never brought up the incident again.

I finally pulled myself out of bed and stretched out my stiff legs. I headed over to the shower as I welcomed the scalding hot water that creased my body. As I finished up my hair, I sang some Taylor Swift song to help get me out of my morning funk. Thankfully, her soundtrack helped along and gave me the revised energy that I needed. I finished up getting dressed and headed out the bathroom door. As I hummed out to the door, a loud cough caught my attention. I quickly turned my head, expecting to see either Jasper or Alice but stopped when I saw him. Edward...

It was as though he was a ghost, and I closed my eyes to make myself snap back into this reality. This wouldn't be the first time I would have seen this phantom figure. I took a deep, steady breath, and to my sheer amazement or lack of sanity, he was still here. His body leaned against the wall like the poster from Rebel Without a Cause. His face looked sunken, and his bone structure was more prominent than usual. His natural piercing eyes are now dull, and his skin had more of a pale tone. However, despite everything, he was still gorgeous and would put anyone to shame.

Not a word was spoken as we just stared at each other, afraid of what the other person had to say. My feet began to move before my mind could tell it to do so. I soon reached him and stood face to face, merely inches apart. I could feel his breath on me as I smelled his soft sweet peppermint scent. His haunting eyes told me without any words what he had been through something, nothing good, of course. Finally, after what felt like hours, I found my voice to say something. "Hi," I said meekly. I wanted to hit myself on my forehead for the lack of response. After everything he has been through and myself, the best thing I could come up with, "Hi?!" I bite down on my lower lip, nervous about the outcome too soon to follow.

His lips turned upwards as if he was trying to smile but no longer had the energy to do so. I looked down at his hands that rested in his pocket. My hand grabbed onto his as my smooth skin soon met his rough, cracked hands. I guided him over to my bed as my thumbs rubbed small circular motions on his palm. We sat on my unmade bed, and I pushed aside the blankets and pillows that provided more comfort.

Edward released one of my hands and brought his fingers to my loose bangs. He pushed the lone strand to behind my ear. I was still unsure how to react around him. I had changed so much since he had last left. Despite him being a stranger, he was familiar to me, but at the same time, he looked beaten. Of course, not physically but mentally gone. "I'm sorry." His voice said barely above a whisper. I stared at him blankly. He shook his head, "I-I" I could see him try and verbalize something but nothing could come out. His mind searched for the words, and I could see him becoming more frustrated by his lack of verbiage.

I put my hands up to stop him from rambling. "It's okay," I said to him softly. I repeated those words over and over again until they finally absorbed into his head. He was gone and now replaced with a frightened child. I don't know what happened to him, but it seemed as though he was in isolation or worse by its looks. His skin looked like it hadn't received proper sun and his sunken eyes looked as though he was deprived of food and/or sleep. This place isn't a jail, and an abundance of food was provided to all the patients, so it was interesting to see why he looked so peckish. Also, why did he seem like a shell of a man?

He nodded his head. I know, one day, I would ask about what happened, but today was not that day. After spending most of my life here, I knew when it was best to let things go and not push someone into telling you what you wanted to hear. I tried to come up with something witty or anything to bring him out of his zombified state. My mind drew a blank, as all I could think about were questions to ask him. Of course, my mind took over, and my mouth did the usual word vomit that I do when I become uncomfortable. "You know, when I was younger, I always wanted to live in Bikini Bottom." I cringed a bit as I realized what I just said.

Edward was shocked by my admission and shook his head out of confusion. "What?" He chuckled at the last part. His forehead crinkled as a mixture of excitement, laughter, and stupidity ran across him. I squirmed on the bed as I tried to think of something else to say…anything else. My body began to fidget as I had no clue how to continue on with this topic or why I started it.

I bit down on my lower lip, "The Nickelodeon show." I looked down at my hands. I snapped my hair tie to help ease my growing anxiety, which did little to help. If Alice were here, she would have a fit about the conversation that was now taking place. This was cringe-worthy, and I felt myself digging deeper into this abyss. The most annoying part was that I have no real interest in cartoons, so why was my go-to topic mind-boggling.

The awkward silence was finally broken by Edward's booming laughter. His loud voice helped cut the tension and became infectious. We both fall into a fit of laughter at my revelation. His laughter would come due to my sheer randomness, and I just based it on my own stupidity. "That has to be the most random thing a person has ever said to me." His voice said in-between chuckles. We both smiled at one another. "I mean, who didn't when they were younger" Edward pointed out as he wiped the fallen tear from his eye.

"Yes, we don't really have the premium channels here in this luxury state." My tone was playful and has a fake aristocratic manner to it. The awkward exchange between us soon faded as we became more comfortable around one another. I couldn't help but wipe the growing smile that creased my face. Edward's energy shifted, as well. He seemed more at ease and comfortable around me.

Edward smirked at my playful side and soon followed suit, "You are deprived. What type of facility does not offer premium channels?" Edward heightens his voice in a fake aristocratic tone, "The sheer lock of equestrian recreation is beyond shocking." I do a loud cackle and become immediately embarrassed by him hearing that hideous laugh. "You are so beautiful." His tone went back to normal and softer. The mood does change after he said those words to me. My back feels as if it was on fire as my ears went to a bright rouge tint to them. I am entirely silenced by his confession but not in a wrong way, just not knowing what to say next. As I felt the familiar vibration that came on strong whenever he was near, the air between us became.

I was conflicted with the hurricane of emotions that now stormed in. For one thing, I had to let Edward go, and that alone took some time. I had to get used to the idea of never seeing Edward again come, and it was painful for me to finally accept the fact that he may never return. However, with him being back and sitting right in front of me, all those boxed up emotions were now sending me into overdrive. "Thanks." Which was all I could think of? I resorted back to nervousness around him and snapped my hair tie against my wrist once more.

Edward chooses to lean in at that moment and kiss me lightly on my lips. I closed my eyes as I wrapped my brain around the fact that Edward and I were kissing. I had concluded that I would never experience this feeling again, but here I was, proving myself wrong. I no longer cared if it was real or fake but wanted to allow myself to feel this way once more. To feel alive. He moaned into me and began to bite down a bit harder on my lower lip, "God, I missed you so much." He said in between our hot kisses. He grabbed onto my hair and tugs me closer in a dominant sexual way. My juices soon go into overdrive as I become more in need of his touch. I didn't know what possessed me. Part of my brain was screaming for me to stop. What I was doing was dangerous, which I think edged the other side of me on.

I never knew I could be this dominant or confident. I had listened to my instants, and I found myself nipping at Edward's bare skin on his upper back. His muscles were tightening against my touch as he matched my hunger as well. In a blink of an eye, he pressed me up against the wall and raised my arms up with his hands fisting mines. It felt as though I had turned on a switch, and the sweet innocent Bella had left and was replaced with someone who was confident with themselves. I wanted him more so than ever, as if my body craved his touch and could not survive without it. We matched each other's aggression and pushed each other to our limits.

I attacked his throat and brought my lips down to suck onto his warm flesh. My tongue ran in a circular motion as my teeth bit down to mark him as my own. He grunted hard into me, which caused me to apply additional pressure. I soon felt his hand move down to my throat. His rough hand grabbed hold of my neck to bring my head back up to his. He ravished my mouth once more as I couldn't get enough of his taste. He pushed me up higher onto the bed. He spread my legs so that he could be in-between them. He pressed hard against me as I felt his manhood crease against my core. I could feel him pound against my clothed flesh as my back arched to apply more pressure onto my swollen bud. I never wished for our thin clothing material to disappear from down there so I could feel his erect manhood in me. I soon felt my top being peeled away from my body. A soft thud was heard as the fallen material hit the ground, leaving me in my white bra and bottoms.

His lips moved down my chin to my lower throat to the middle of my breast. His hands came back and pinned my arms against the wall leaving me to his mercy. I arched my back to allow him better access to my breast as his lips pushed aside my bra, leaving myself fully exposed. I leaned my head back and pressed down onto my own lips as he tugs on my nipples. His tongue and teeth each played with my breast, soft at first, then more ferocious as time progressed. "What are you doing to me, Bella?" Edward whispered to my stomach.

I felt Edward's tongue lick the side of my belly button. His hands started to move down as I soon followed. He looked up from his kneeled position. His eyes were on fire, dripping with lust. "Don't move." His tone was forceful and demanding. My head nodded in agreement, loving the confidence he was showing. His hands moved slowly down my sides. He soon reached my unknown region as my heat was throbbing with anticipation. He moves one of my crouched legs over his shoulders for support. His hands grazed over my butt before turning towards my front. My chest was beating fiercely with anticipation. "You are going to be the death of me." He whispered more towards himself. Just as his hands were about to work on my pants, the doors busted open. Frozen with fear, we both stayed in our current layout, unsure of what to do next. Standing at the door was a shocked Alice and Jasper.

Busted.