Chapter 8 – The Theater

"Uh…" I was aghast, flummoxed, discombobulated, flabbergasted, and about a dozen other weird words that you usually only find in dictionaries, but all the definitions were so painfully true for this scenario. What the hell was I supposed to say to that? It wasn't every day that you walked into your parent's house to find your lover's altered child-like personality making fucking pancakes with your mother. It honestly gave me the willies.

"I hope you're hungry," my mother said sweetly, but with a sour aftertaste, and I knew by her tone that I was in deep shit. Just fucking perfect.

"I-um… I'm on a low carb diet," I lied like the idiot I was.

"We aren't making carbs, we're making pancakes, silly," Bree responded with a huge smile on her face. Then she looked at my mother. "I told you boys were weird."

"Yes, you did," my mother replied. "Several times, actually." She raised a brow to emphasize that 'what the fuck' look she was so good at, and a small immature part of me wanted to smirk defiantly, knowing just how disapproving she actually was. I suppose my long history of purposely disturbing my parents for attention wasn't quite over just yet.

Of course, even without the smirk, I knew I'd still have her ever-so-thrilling lecture to look forward to – and she certainly didn't disappoint.

"Bree, sweetheart, why don't you go into the bathroom and get washed up for breakfast," Mother said in a gentle voice, but she kept her icy glare on me as she spoke.

"Okay, but what if I get lost?" Bree asked innocently.

"You won't, dear, it's just at the end of the hall there," she replied encouragingly.

"What about monsters? This is a really big place."

My mom finally broke her glare on me to turn to the adult-child next to her. "Don't worry about anything like that. Dr. Cullen always sprays the house for monsters."

"He can do that?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Of course. Dr. Cullen can do anything," my mom assured her, so Bree smiled and then skipped off to find the bathroom.

Since kids usually only took two point five seconds to wash their hands, my mom didn't waste any time laying into me.

"What the hell are you doing with Bella Swan? Do you have any idea the kind of issues that girl has?"

"Uh…do you?" I asked, slightly confused. She almost seemed to know her, but how the hell could that be?

"Officer Swan brought Bella into the hospital when your father first started there," she explained. "He wanted him to understand his daughter's condition just in case she were to ever be brought in for whatever reason when he wasn't around. I just happened to be there at the time and got to meet them as well."

"Bella said no one knows about her disorder except a couple people," I said, feeling a little stupid. It made complete sense that my Chief of Staff overachiever father would know about Bella, and if he knew, of course my mom would know. Even if she wasn't there at the time to meet her herself, my father didn't seem to understand patient-doctor confidentiality. He blabbed his mouth to my mom about most of his patients.

"Bella may not be aware that we've met," my mom told me. "She was Bree at the time, which I suppose is a blessing since Bree is the one who I found wandering around the property a bit ago. What the hell were you thinking messing around with a mentally ill woman? I'm assuming you knew she was unstable prior to last night."

I considered my answer and tried to come up with a good spin, but I figured – fuck it!

"I don't know, mom, all her personalities keep it interesting. I kind of like the thrill of it all. There is one that honestly wants to destroy me. It's like playing Russian Roulette."

She stared at me for a moment in disbelief, and when she finally spoke, she kept her voice even and steady. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I shrugged. "I wish I knew."

She opened her mouth to make some sort of reply, but that was when we heard the front door open and then slam shut.

Crap.

No one else was home, so I knew it was Bella. Without even giving my mother a second thought, I ran after her, but it was too late. By the time I got there, she was already backing out of the driveway.

Damn it!

I rushed to grab my keys from the apartment, but by the time I got to my car she was long gone. I knew for a fact that Bree couldn't and wouldn't drive, and had it been Bella, she likely would have spoken to me before she left – that is, unless she was upset about the situation or pissed from possibly overhearing the conversation I had with my mom.

I was concerned that Rosalie may have reemerged since she was the one who came out immediately following Bree the last time, but I drove to her house anyway, needing to make sure she was okay.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, her car wasn't there, so I drove to the bookstore. When I realized she wasn't there either, I didn't know what to do, so I just drove around aimlessly for a while. Without even realizing it, I had made a big loop around town and ended up back at the bookstore again. This time, however, Bella's car was in the lot, so I hesitantly parked my car and headed into the building.

I figured the chances of Bella being in control was only one in five, but even with the threat of Rosalie, I had to check in on her. It had been awhile since an alter was out, so I needed to try to figure out what caused it.

Like any other day, she was sitting at the counter, reading something. As I timidly approached, I noticed it was a teen fashion magazine. She didn't look up at me initially; she was fully engrossed in her magazine and whatever she was listening to through her earbuds. I must have crept into her peripheral vision, because suddenly she looked up at me and became momentarily startled.

"Sorry… it's just me," I said, trying to calm her.

She seemed to relax and tense up at the same time. "You shouldn't sneak up on people. What if you were an axe murderer?"

"Perhaps you should keep the doors locked during off hours then," I suggested.

I grabbed my usual chair, and then sat in front of her and attempted to analyze her for clues on her identity. She almost seemed to sense my scrutiny, and she lowered her eyes while visibly bracing herself for my inevitable questioning.

"What's your name?" I asked her, knowing without a doubt that she wasn't Bella.

"Alice," she replied automatically.

"Bullshit," I retorted assuredly.

Her face scrunched into bitter offense. "That's harsh! I'm Alice. Why would you think…"

"I know Alice," I cut her off. "I've met Alice, Bree, and Rosalie, and I'm pretty sure you're none of them. So, who are you?"

There was something in her eyes – a look that was completely unique and new to me. I didn't know any of her alters well enough to be certain, but I was fairly confident in my assessment.

She fixed her features and stubbornly crossed her arms making me think she wasn't going to be honest, but when I mimicked her actions and stood my ground, she sighed and finally confessed…

"My name is Tanya, but we actually have met before; here at the bookstore, when you left your things on the counter. I may have threatened to call the cops on you," she said sheepishly.

At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, but then it occurred to me. "You were listening to the Spice Girls on your speaker."

"Yes!" she practically shouted with much more excitement than I was anticipating. "I love that band. Why did they stop making music?"

"They broke up," I replied absently as I recalled our previous interaction. "I actually thought you were Bree when we met before."

"As if! Bree is a child," she snapped.

"As if?" I questioned. "Let me guess, Clueless? You even kind of sound like Cher."

"I have no idea who Cher is, but calling someone clueless is just mean…and stupid. I'm not solving a crime, so why would I need clues anyway?"

I laughed once. I couldn't help it.

"Don't laugh at me!" she screeched. "They are always laughing at me and I hate that."

"Okay, okay, I apologize. I'm just trying to get to know you a little. Why don't you tell me how old you are?"

"I… I'm actually not supposed to be talking to you," she replied unexpectedly.

I scrunched my brows. "Says who?"

"Rosalie. You should be grateful it was me and Bree that got through the door, and not her. She wants to demolish you."

"Don't I know it," I said with a sigh. "Wait, you got through a door? What does that mean?"

"Well…" She looked up at the ceiling as she considered how to explain, and then she began playing with her gum by wrapping it around her finger. "It's like we are all in a movie theater, and on the screen is Bella's life. If she gets in trouble, the door to the theater opens and one of us can get out and take control."

"Where does Bella go when one of you are in control?" I asked concerned.

"I don't know. She stays somewhere else. In another room, I think. She is kept in the dark because we don't want her to see what is happening when we are out."

"I see," I responded, thinking I understood, but knowing there was so much I probably would never fully comprehend. "So, how is it Bree came out before, and now you're here? Doesn't Rosalie have to allow you guys out? She's the boss, right?"

"She thinks she is, but she can't keep us all locked up all the time. Bella is the one who kept us locked up for a while this time. She had that door in the theater shut tight, and we couldn't get through no matter how loud Rosalie and Alice were screaming."

"So, what happened?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. We were watching you guys being all cuddly…and we haven't been able to see everything because Rosalie kept getting pissed and shutting off the screen. But then suddenly the door cracked. Not sure exactly what caused it, but we were all so stir-crazy that we ran for the door like a herd of wild cats. Of course, Alice and Rose started bickering on who got to go out first, so Bree used their distraction to slip out. I followed her, but then I had to wait until she was done baking, or whatever. Children are so exhausting. You have to give them some playtime otherwise they get destructive."

She had said so much that I would need a little time to digest it all, but there was one thing in the forefront of my mind.

"How old are you?"

"Not a kid," she replied vaguely.

"But before you said you weren't allowed in the adult section," I remembered from our first meeting.

"Because those books are vile, and Rosalie says the only people who read them are perverts and psychopaths, but I'm pretty sure Rose is a hippo-crate."

"Hippo – what?"

"Hippo-crate. She does things she tells others not to do."

"Oh, you mean a hypocrite."

"That's what I said."

"Okay, I apologize again. How is Rosalie a hypocrite?"

"Well, she tells me only bad people read those books, but she's read them. She said she has to because in order to protect the rest of us, she needs to know what's out there in the world, but I think that's just a lie. She likes them. And she also doesn't want Bella making friends because she said people suck and they keep hurting us, but she has a girlfriend that she thinks we don't know about, but we all do. That's a hippo-crate."

"Rosalie has a girlfriend?" I asked in shock. "Like a real one, or just one in the theater thing?"

"Her name is Emma, and she is as real as you are. That's why Rose hates being locked inside so much. Not because she goes stir-crazy like the rest of us, but because she is in love…with another girl. She makes us turn off the screen, but we've seen glimpses. They have S.E.X. Alice thinks it's gross, but I say love is love. I wish someone would love me like that. Someday I'll even find someone to have sex with. Hey, will you have sex with me? Alice says I'm too young, but I'm seventeen. That's like, practically an adult already, so how is that too young? Hey, is your house a mall? Bree said it was a mall. I think she may have taken something from the bathroom, but she says she left money."

"Um…okay. How did Bree leave my parents' house?" I asked, choosing to focus on the only part of her long information-filled babble that I could grasp at the moment. I couldn't even begin to consider Rosalie's sex life right then, and even if I could, I certainly wouldn't be discussing it with a seventeen year old. "She doesn't drive, does she?"

"No, and I'm not supposed to either, since I never passed the driver's test. But I do have a permit, and the law states that I can drive if a licensed driver over twenty-one is in the car."

"Who was in the car with you?" I asked, not really comprehending most of what she was saying, but desperately trying my best.

"Well, Alice, Rosalie, and Bella are all over twenty-one, and technically they were in the car."

"Right."

I highly doubted she had a legit permit since she didn't have a legal identity apart from Bella, but I decided it wasn't worth the further questioning. My head was spinning with all the information she threw at me in a very short amount of time, and I wasn't sure what to think of any of it.

The "theater". The dark room Bella was kept in when she wasn't in control. Rosalie's brewing wrath and impending strike against me. Her girlfriend. It was overwhelming, and I honestly wasn't sure what the hell I was doing anymore. I needed to pack my shit and go back to Seattle. School was just around the corner and the last thing I should've been doing was getting distracted by a severely mentally ill woman. It was all too much – too much risk, too much everything.

"I should get going," I told Tanya quietly. "I'm supposed to be training a new temp at the hospital before I leave."

"Where are you leaving to?" she asked curiously.

"Med-school in Seattle. The Fall semester is starting so I need to get back in the swing of things," I explained.

"Oh, that's going to make Bella sad," she said, taking me aback. Then she leaned in like she had a secret. "I think she is in love with you."

My stomach twisted from her words, and my chest tightened, making it genuinely hard to breathe. Was Bella in love with me? We surely hadn't even known each other long enough for that sort of thing, right? Neither of us wanted anything close to love, so I refused to believe it. I refused to believe that love was some magical force that people couldn't control. You had to choose to fall in love – that is, if love even existed in the first place. No, Bella wasn't in love with me, and I was nowhere close to being in love with her… at least, that's what I had to keep telling myself.

"Bella is the one who insisted that we couldn't fall in love," I told Tanya, still trying to convince myself as much as her. "She is fine with me leaving. In fact, she will probably be grateful to be rid of me."

Tanya shook her head disapprovingly, and suddenly I couldn't look at her. Regardless of what alter was in control, I couldn't bring myself to look into Bella's face and tell her goodbye. Then again, being a coward was nothing new for me.

"Uh, it was nice meeting you, Tanya," I said as graciously as possible, and then I left the store with my tail between my legs.

I never felt worse about myself than I did as I drove away from the bookstore that day. I honestly felt sick. Tanya's words kept replaying in my head over and over and over again. The theater, Bella in the darkness, Rosalie's hatred, Rosalie's girlfriend, Bella in love… these thoughts repeated themselves relentlessly. It just wouldn't stop.

I thought about her for the rest of the day and got virtually no work done whatsoever. I didn't want to go home because I knew my mother would be waiting to lecture me the moment I crossed her path, so I did the stupid thing and went to the local bar.

I just wanted to drink my thoughts away until I was blissfully numb, but it seemed the universe wasn't done fucking with me just yet.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the square conch?" a familiar voice said, disrupting the sweet buzz I had going.

I turned to see Bella's perfect features twisted in a very Alice-like way.

"I see you finally broke out of the theater," I said, slightly slurred before taking another swig of my beer. "I kind of thought Rosalie would be fucking around with her girlfriend by now…or fucking up my life. Whichever came first."

"I'm sure she would be if we let her. The only way to control Rose is for the rest of us to gang up on her," Alice replied casually. "I held her back while Bree and Tanya had their turns in the light; it was only fair for them to return the favor."

"I have an idea, how about all four of you go back to the theater and just stay there indefinitely so Bella can have her own fucking life!" I said with way more hostility than I was intending.

"I know this may be hard for you to understand, but if we weren't here, Bella would completely fall apart," she rebutted, but made it clear that she wouldn't elaborate.

"Whatever. So, why are you wasting your precious time out talking to me? Shouldn't you be flashing people, or giving blowjobs to random strangers?"

"How do you know I haven't already?" she replied playfully with wiggling brows.

I shook my head. "Figures. Can you just leave me alone, please?"

"I could, but I thought I should probably offer you a sympathy fuck," she said unexpectedly.

"What?" I asked, trying to fight through the drunken muck in my head to hear her clearly.

"You are obviously sloshed, and I wouldn't feel right about letting you get behind the wheel, but if I leave to take you home, I would definitely be wasting my time, therefore possibly losing my chance to get laid. So I figured, might as well kill two birds with one stone. You are way more fun when you're drunk anyway."

"Didn't you say you don't drive after dark…or something?"

She giggled. "That's just a ploy I sometimes use to ensure I get guys to come home with me. I can drive. Why would the darkness change anything?"

"I have no idea," I replied, unable to even think long enough to try to fully understand what the hell we were talking about.

Without further discussion, she climbed onto my lap, and immediately began sucking on my neck while grinding her pelvis into mine.

Holy fuck!

I didn't remember much else from the evening, but as the sun crept through my bedroom blinds the following morning, I had brief flashes of some crazy shit we did. Sexual positions I never even dreamed of, hot wax, and something may or may not have gone into a place I never explored before.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

I tried to move my body, but every muscle hurt. Somehow, someway, I managed to roll over, and that's when I realized I wasn't alone. Bella's chocolate tresses tickled my nose, and for a moment I wished I could just stay in that bed with her forever.

Even though I refused to admit my true feelings for the troubled girl lying next to me, I couldn't deny the fact that I enjoyed waking up to her way more than I ever enjoyed waking up to anyone else before. Wondering who she would be when she finally awoke, however, was absolutely terrifying…