"What happened that day?" Alice asked.
Marie froze, unsure of how to respond. She hugged herself tight, trying to make herself smaller. Marie didn't want to say the wrong thing or else Alice would know. She would know that she's not Isabella and report her to the police. Marie would have nowhere to go.
She gazed out at the beautiful forest. Light shined through the trees and Marie could see birds flying up above and deer running down below. It was so peaceful, so big. Marie felt a sense of calm that she had never felt before. She didn't want to deal with Alice's intrusive questions.
Marie doesn't respond.
"My parents said that you don't remember and that we shouldn't bug you about it," she says, "but I think you remember everything. You remember everything but it hurts to much to talk about"
Marie forces herself not to run. Ever since she woke up, Alice has never been more than a few feet away. Doing the simplest things were hard because Alice was always right there and Marie was very aware of her presence.
"I don't want to talk about this," Marie whispered.
"You never used to be like this," Alice whispered. "We told each other everything. What are you so afraid of?"
Tears were running down her face. She just wanted her sister, Bella to remember her. She wanted it to be like they used to be. Alice had watched her the entire morning. She saw how she fidgeted at breakfast this morning; how she was nervous around her father; how she wouldn't even take a look at her; and it didn't help that Edward refused to acknowledge her existence.
And it was all that god- awful man's fault: James. If he hadn't come into their lives, Bella would have been safe all these years. Who knows how life could have been? Alice is about to speak when Esme comes around the corner.
"Is everything alright here girls?" She asks, looking at their disheveled states. Alice and Marie both nod their heads.
Alice drops the subject for the sake of her mother. Her parents warned her and her brothers the day Bella was found, that if they even brought up the subject of her kidnapping, they would be in deep trouble. Everything was now all about Bella healing but how could she get better if she never talked about what happened?
"Bella?" Worry coats Esme's voice.
Marie shrugs and whispers, "we're fine."
Marie fidgeted in her seat. She waited for Esme and Carlisle to say something. Their silence was making her uncomfortable. What had they called her in here for? The look in Esme's eyes made Marie uneasy. She thought the worst and prepared herself for what would happen.
Her hands trembled and her entire body tingled. She felt the hot breath from James breathing down on her neck.
Don't say a fucking word. Act natural. You know what they'll do to you if they take you away.
Marie listened to his voice. The invisible slap to her face made her cheek throb. Marie gently rubbed it, hoping to make the imaginary sting go away. Tears stung in her eyes and she vowed herself not to cry. James hated tears.
She wanted to plead to the Cullens for their forgiveness. She wanted to make up to them, whatever she did wrong. But the fear of punishment kept her silent. She didn't want to make matters worse.
Marie let her tense shoulders drop and tried to calm her breathing. She dug her nails into her wrist and met Carlisle's eyes. In her experience, it was always the man who administered the punishment. The man was always in charge. Marie didn't want to anger Carlisle. He had been incredibly kind to her so far. She didn't want to spoil that.
Her heart skipped a beat when Carlisle spoke. "Bella, I'm sure that you are wondering where your parents are." Marie nodded her head. Sweat was starting to form on the back of her neck. She fidgeted in her seat, staying silent. His piercing blue eyes captured her attention. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
Marie remembered what the doctors said in the hospital. She heard Carlisle and Esme last night. Renee and Charlie Swan were dead and she was expected to grieve. She was expected to grieve over her parents. She was Isabella Swan now and it would be the only normal reaction.
"Where are they?" She softly asked, fully knowing the answer. Carlisle and Esme exchanged a look. It was the same look, the psychologist had given Officer Graham at the police station. It was the same look the doctor had given her. Everyone seemed to be hiding things from her.
"Isabella," Carlisle sighed. "I'm sorry, but four years ago your parents were in a car accident. They both died at the scene. There was nothing we could do to save them."
Marie gasped. Anxiety unexpectedly started to well up inside of her. She didn't know why but she couldn't keep her tears at bay. "Esme and I were given full custody of you, if you were to ever be found alive."
Esme rubbed her shoulders soothingly as the young girl broke down. Marie was going against everything she'd been taught. She surely would have been punished by now if she were with James. But she didn't want to think about him right now. She didn't want to think about his damn rules and punishments. She just wanted to be free. Marie wanted to stay in Esme's warm embrace. She wanted to feel loved.
"Shhh," Esme hushed. "Your parents loved you so much. They never gave up searching for you. You were their entire lives." Her voice cracked.
Carlisle couldn't contain himself and knelt down right in front of Marie. Startled, she curls into Esme's side and wearily stares at him.
"I'm s-sorry," she stuttered. Marie quickly tried to wipe away the tears and clean herself up. She was acting ridiculous. She didn't know what Carlisle was going to do to her. Why didn't she stick to the damn rules?
"Hey," Esme took her hands before she could pull away. "Shhh, it's alright. Just breathe, sweetie. Just breathe. No one is going to hurt you." Marie was grateful the directions. She tried to listen to Esme's voice.
"That's right," Carlisle spoke up. Marie hesitantly turned her attention to him. She didn't know what to believe.
"Your parents would be so proud if they could see you today. They never gave up hope that you were alive. You are a survivor."
His words resonate in her mind. She didn't know what to call herself but it was certainly wasn't a survivor.
Marie was curled up on the couch. She nursed a mug of hot tea in her hands and flipped through an old photo album. Esme thought that looking at pictures would help jog her memory. After learning about Isabella's mother and father, she avoided Esme and Carlisle like the plague. They assumed that she just needed time to process everything. It was Marie's role to play the sad orphan and in a way she was.
Her family gave her to James and that's all that she needed to know. To Marie, her parents were dead to her. They lost the privilege of calling her their daughter when they abandoned her. They could be dead for all she knew and that didn't even matter to her.
A noise from behind startles Marie and she quickly whips her head around to see who entered the room. It was Emmett.
His facial expression remained neutral but she couldn't ignore the look of sadness she saw in his eyes. However as quick as it came it went away. His eyes drifted to the photo she was holding in her hand.
It was of him and her. Bella and Edward must of been seven or eight years old. They were in their bathing suits, swimming at a pond. The two of them looked so happy. Bella didn't know everything was about to change. Marie wanted to warn the little girl. She wanted to warn her of the impending danger. She didn't want that little girl to feel any pain.
But there was nothing she could do.
"Oh," Emmett awkwardly shifted side to side. "Hey."
She grips onto the picture and gives a tight lipped smile. She doesn't know how to talk to him. Emmett's the only one who hasn't made any effort to even talk to her. Was he and Isabella even close? He didn't seem thrilled nor angry have to her here. Emmett just wasn't sure what to make of this girl. His huge size was the thing that scared her most. He was larger than James. The thought of Emmett getting his hands on her sent shivers down her spine. She didn't want to get on the wrong side of him.
"I didn't realize that, uh, anyone was down here. I was just going to watch the football game," he said. "But I guess that can wait…" he muttered.
Marie speaks up with a shaky voice. "You, can uh, stay. I was, uhm, just going to le-leave."
She places the photo album on the table and is about to stand up.
"No, no, you don't have to go," he rushes to say. "What are you looking at?"
Marie tenses as Emmett sits down next to her on the couch. The cushion dips down and he reaches for the photo album. He flips back to the photo she was looking at. Marie freezes when his hand brushes against her knee. Emmett doesn't notice.
A chuckle resonates from his chest when he sees the photo and a large grin spreads across his face. "This was at my ninth birthday party. I had a pool party but you, Alice, and Edward decided to crash it. God, I was about to kill you three." Marie flinches when she hears the word "kill."
"Metaphorically," he adds.
Emmett flips through a few of the other photos, explaining each one to her. He shows her each family member, every friend, down to every teacher Bella had. Marie listens quietly gathering up all of the information.
"Do you remember any of it?" He asks suddenly. His mood turned somber as Marie shook her head side to side. A look of disappointment flashed across his face until it turned back into his original smile.
"I'm sorry," she murmurs.
"You don't have to be sorry," he sighed. "We can always make new memories."
Marie nodded her head, his words ringing in her head.
To her surprise, Emmett was much easier to be around than Alice or even Esme. He treated her like she wasn't some breakable object and wasn't afraid to be himself. Although he did startle Marie sometimes, he continued acting in his goofy manner. Marie came to the conclusion that Emmett was more like a big teddy bear than the big bad wolf she imagined him to be.
An hour passed by before Emmett turned on the tv. He and Marie had gotten used to each other's presence and it was a little less awkward than it had been in the beginning. Marie was comfortable enough to be alone in the room with him but that didn't mean she could let her guard down. It was always up.
He laid down in the recliner and Marie eyed him from the couch. She wondered if he cared that she was here. He wasn't like the other's crying over her presence or angry at her existence. He just seemed to be… content, if that was the right word to use.
However, Marie quickly learned that his true passion was football and food. He jumped up in joy every time his team got another point and growled every time they lost. Marie was coming quite use to his mood swings and could almost find them comical if she wasn't so on edge.
She was curled up into a ball on the couch and with the blanket wrapped around herself. The entire day had passed and she had done nothing but sit around.
Marie kept expecting James to pop out and beat her for her laziness. She kept expecting Carlisle and Esme to tell her that they no longer wanted her.
It was true though. They didn't want Marie. They wanted Isabella Swan and Marie could never truly be her.