4Gracie04 Charlie is still learning and very frazzled himself, give him time he will get there. Thank you for your review.

Chapter 42

Walking Bella out the doctor called, "Charlie, it's your turn." her father uttered something unintelligible as they passed each other.

Settling herself into a chair Bella wished she had something to do. She was still not comfortable with the idea of coming here but the anxiety she felt this morning was much more bearable.

Curling up into a tight ball Bella did her best to lay in the chair, she put her head down on the armrest and closed her eyes. It wasn't the most comfortable position to be in but she was exhausted. Letting her mind drift she soon found the heaviness of sleep taking her away.

She was in a clearing. The land beneath her feet was barren and cold. Nothing but dirt spanned between her and the trees. The tree trunks were so thick and close together they seemed to form an impenetrable wall. Looking around her she couldn't find a way out. The sounds beyond that grove frightened her more than being stuck in this circle of nothingness.

The painful moans, grunts and screams, sounded as if millions of people were being tortured.

She wanted out, but was not willing to go through the forest to get there, even if she could find an opening.

Looking around her again she could see the clearing looked smaller. She started turning in a circle watching as the trees came closer and closer. The clearing was shrinking, fast. Her dizzying spin came to an end when she could reach out and touch the trees surrounding her.

Just as she thought there would be no hope, an opening appeared. The question was, was she brave enough to go through it? Feeling she had no choice she held her breath and took a step forward.

Once she was past the wall she turned back to look at the prison that held her. She was surprised to find it wasn't a wall. It was just a tree. One among millions. The horrifying sounds were louder now. Each tree had a person trying to push themselves out of it. Many were strangers, but there were also many familiar faces. In fact she could see every one she knew. Agonizing sounds came from each person struggling to break free from their tree, except for him. He was laughing as he pushed against the tree trying to free himself.

He stopped Laughing and gave her a crooked smile, as if he knew something she didn't. Feeling a tug on her ankle she looked down. A root from her tree had wrapped itself around her and was slowly pulling her back.

"No." she murmured.

Looking back up at him she could see his full on smile. His normally melodic voice sounded crazed. "We're all going to hell now." his manic laughter echoing through the trees once more.

Just then the root gave a greater tug pulling her to the ground and quickly back into the tree's prison.

Bella screamed as she came awake. The secretary, Sadie, was kneeling by her side.

"I'm sorry Miss Swan. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Coming to her senses, she tucked her shaking hands under her arms trying to stop the tremors. "It's okay." She reassured the woman, "What's going on?"

"The doctor said to send you back into the office."

"Why?"

Sadie shrugged her shoulders "I don't know."

"Right… yeah, okay… thanks."

Bella took a moment to completely wake up before going over to the door. Unsure if she should just walk in she knocked.

"Come in." The doctor called.

Charlie was sitting on the opposite side of the couch that she had been sitting on.

"Have a seat." The doctor gestured to the couch.

Sitting down Bella could feel her slowing heart start to speed up again. She tried to keep her breathing under control but there was nothing she could do about the perspiration she could feel starting to prickel her skin.

"There is something your father would like to ask you." Dr. Scott said.

Charlie cleared his throat. "I think it's best if-"

"Charlie." the doctor interrupted. "Listen to your words. Remember you are asking Bella what she wants, not telling her what you think."

Charlie tried again. "I was wondering if maybe you would want to go back to living with your mother."

"No!" Bella stood as she yelled. She had no idea why her reaction was so strong but she felt embarrassed by it.

"It's alright Bella. No-one is going to force you to go anywhere. It was just an option." The doctor told her.

Bella sank back down onto the couch. "You want me gone." she started to cry.

"No! No, not at all. I love you being here with me. I just thought…" He looked over to the doctor. She nodded her head. "I just thought it would be easier on you if you got away from where all this happened. I don't want you to be reminded about that horrible day, every time you walk into the kitchen. And I thought your mom would be better at taking care of you. I seem to have failed at everything when it comes to you."

"No," Bella disagreed. "You're a great dad."

Charlie shook his head. "If I was a great dad, none of this would have happened."

"Charlie, What do you think you could have done to prevent what happened?"

"I don't know, something."

"You have to realize there are some things that you can't control. You have dealt with domestic situations before. Have you ever thought that you should have been able to do something to stop them from happening?"

"No."

"Then why do you feel that way now?"

"Because she's my daughter."

"And?"

"It's different."

"I'm glad you are finally able to admit that. Now I want you to tell me, in those other cases. Did you blame the parents of the couples?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it wasn't something they could control." Charlie grumbled. "Alright doc you made your point."

The doctor's watch beeped. "Well that's it for the day. Before you go I have something to give you." She went to her desk and pulled two small notebooks out. "These will be your journals. I want you to write in it tonight. It could be anything you like."

"Uh, Live, this is perfect for Bella, but I wouldn't be any good at this."

Bella cringed, she hoped no one saw.

"Why do you say that?"

"She writes these amazing stories." Charlie announced with obvious pride in his voice. "Jake and I found a box filled with them when we were cleaning up the basement." He smiled brightly, then wrinkled his brow. "But she gets that talent from her mother. I have no creativity at all."

"You write?" Bella shrugged then nodded her head. "That's great. I would love to see some of your work. Getting what you're feeling out in your writing can also help you start to heal." turning her attention back to Charlie she said, "You don't have to be creative. It could be a feeling that you're having and what made you feel that way. Or something that you want to do or change. It could be a random thought you have or a quote you heard that stuck with you. It doesn't even have to make sense, just put something down on the paper."

"Alright doc, you asked for it."

On the way home they stopped at the diner and picked up burgers and fries.

Charlie was barely parked when Bella jumped out of the car. She was half way up the stairs by the time he got inside.

"Wait a minute now." Charlie stopped her. "I understand if you don't want to sit in the kitchen, but you still need to eat. We can sit in the dining room or the living room."

"I'm not hungry." she tried.

"Have you eaten today."

"No' but…"

"Dining room, or living room?"

"I just want to go to my room."

"Fine, we'll eat in your room."

"What, why?"

"Because you need to eat. I would like to eat with you… Please."

The last thing Bella wanted to do was eat. She just wanted to go to bed. But if she sat with Charlie for a little while, maybe he would be less worried about her staying here and not try to send her away to live with her mom.

Her mom! "Char- dad, does mom know?"

She didn't have to clarify he knew what she meant. "Not yet, but we do have to tell her, soon."

"Not today... Please."

He gave her a tight understanding smile. "Where do you want to eat?"

Giving in, Bella asked, "Can we watch tv.?"

Charlie nodded. They settled on some random sports show. For a half an hour Bella sat and picked at her fries.

"Okay," Her father said. "If you eat two more of those fries, and take at least one bite of that burger, You can go upstairs."

She shoved two fries in her mouth practically swallowing them whole and took a bite of her burger.

"Allright, go ahead."

Bella was up the stairs before she was finished chewing.

She took off her shoes and sweatpants and climbed into bed. All she wanted to do was sleep. She closed her eyes and hoped she did not have another nightmare.

When Bella opened her eyes again it was dark. There was a small flashing light on her side table. She turned on her lamp to see what it was.

It was her phone. She picked it up to find a bunch of text messages. Most of them were from Alice. But one was from Jake. She opened that one up.

Jake: Hi Bells, Charlie sent me up to your room when I came over, but you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you. This is my number. You can call or text me at any time.

Putting her phone back down, her hand hit something knocking it off her nightstand. She was able to grab it before it hit the floor. The shiny chain hung from her fingers, the swan charm dangled from the secure loop. It was fixed. A feeling of gratitude filled her.

She picked her phone back up and without looking at the time, sent out a text.

Bella: Hi, thanks for getting my phone and fixing my necklace.

Jake: Hay, np. How was your day?"

Bella: I slept through most of it.

Jake: How did your session go?

Bella: Not as bad as I thought it would.

Jake: That's good.

Bella: Yeah... I saw the painting you did. It's very interesting, what made you paint it?

Jake: Identity crisis.

Jake: School sucked without you.

Bella: It did, what happened?

Jake: The rumor mill has a lot of new things to talk about. I missed you being around, but I was also kind of glad you weren't there. Fielding all their questions would have been a nightmare. After lunch a few brave souls asked me a few questions.

Bella: What did you do, and what happened at lunch that suddenly made them so brave?

Jake: I walked away, or just stared at them like they were stupid. At lunch, blondie; What's her name? Rose? Asked if she could sit with us. She was alone today. Your little pixie friend was at the hospital with her boyfriend. I gestured to the vast amount of chairs around the table.

Jake: I guess seeing her sit with me somehow made me more approachable.

Squeezing her eyes tight she pushed away the vision of Jasper bleeding out on the floor.

Bella: What is the rumor mill saying?

…

…

Jake: I'll come over tomorrow and tell you all about it.

Bella: ok

Jake: How are you doing? Are you ok?

Bella: Yeah, just tired. I'm going to go take a shower then go back to bed. I'll see you tomorrow.

Jake: Ok, Remember you can call or text me at any time.

Bella: ok :-) thanks.

Jake: I'm sorry if I said anything to upset you.

Bella: You didn't. I'm fine.

Jake: Alright, goodnight.

Bella: Goodnight.

She really was going to take a shower, but she couldn't find the energy to get up so she just rolled over and went back to sleep.

Thank you for reading.