CHAPTER NINE

As the days went by, Bella dedicated majority of her free time to making arrangements in case she, her father, and her friends had to disappear. She felt silly for even thinking about it, as it sounded more like a movie plot than real life, but this was her reality now.

The money she'd taken from the Cullen house was still in the bags in her closet. She'd arranged a pile of clothes over it. Charlie had no reason to go through her closet, so she didn't think she needed to be too worried about him stumbling across the stash.

Bella was glad she had taken the money, as that made the entire process a lot easier. New identification papers wouldn't be cheap, especially not if she wanted them to be well done. At the moment, she didn't know anyone who could do such a thing. Forks was a small town, and in small towns, word gets around fast. So, whoever did make some extra cash out of making illegal documents, they had to do a damn good job of keeping it hidden.

Aside from the identification papers and other documents, Bella was also looking into apartments. Her first choice was the east coast, somewhere in the mid-south. However, she was also considering places out of the country. Somewhere sunny, where vampires wouldn't be too likely to follow. With the piles of money she had in her possession, it wouldn't be too difficult to get abroad and build a life elsewhere.

Her head spun as she thought about how much was involved in disappearing and creating a new life. New papers, a new place to live. Hell, she and the others would probably have to change how they looked. Bella's lips quirked up as she thought about her as a blonde.

Eyes hurting from looking at her computer for too long, Bella saved her work and shut the computer down. She huffed and slumped over on her desk, resting her head on her arms. Making plans to uproot the life of herself, her father, and her friends was exhausting. She briefly wondered how the Cullens could do this shit on repeat until she remembered, with a dry chuckle, that they were immortal beings with an extensive amount of resources. And, if she went with the speed by which they abandoned her after her birthday, she'd say it probably took them less than a week on average to pack up and move.

The sudden vibration of the desk jolted Bella out of her thoughts, and she jerked upright in alarm. Her phone tittered back and forth across the wood surface, Jacob's name lighting up the screen.

"It's about time you called!" Bella said when she answered. "Don't think you can get out of telling me how your date went!"

"Maybe I didn't go on a date!" Jacob said. "Maybe I just called to ask about your day!"

There was a moment of silence, and Jacob quietly asked, "You're not buying it, are you?"

"Of course not! Now, tell me how it went! Were you able to carry on a conversation? Did you compliment her outfit? You made sure not to bring up Sam and Emily, right?"

"Ye of so little faith! I'll have you know that I was actually quite smooth!"

"Well, don't leave me in suspense, Casanova! Tell me everything."

Bella talked to Jacob for almost an hour, patting herself on the back for managing to get those two to finally admit their feelings for each other. Jacob sounded absolutely smitten, and Bella knew that if she were to call Leah, she'd sound the same. Bella was in the middle of pestering Jake about whether he and Leah kissed when she heard Jacob curse.

"You okay?" Bella asked.

"I'm fine, my dad is just calling me. Apparently we're needed over at Quil's house. I have to go, but we'll talk later, okay?"

The two said their goodbyes and hung up, and for a bit, Bella stared at the phone. She was happy for Jacob and Leah, so happy, but...there was a little pang in her heart. Hearing the way Jacob talked about Leah...she wished she had someone who admired her that much. She was working on getting over Edward, accepting that he'd hurt her and wasn't good for her, but she still craved that romantic love. Logically, she knew that she wasn't in the right headspace for a relationship like that right now. She already had a lot on her plate with trying to protect her father and friends from Victoria, wherever she may be, and was already trying to juggle a social life and plan a potential get away.

None of it would be so bad, she imagined, if she was able to tell someone about what was going on. However, for now, she was on her own. And a relationship would only make things more complicated. Besides, Bella wasn't sure that she could handle telling anymore lies.

With a heavy sigh, Bella shoved away from her desk and got to her feet. It was her turn to cook dinner, and with the only other option being to sit in her room alone with her thoughts - or alone with the contents under the floor, the voice in her head added helpfully - she headed downstairs to get an early start.

Bella took a deep breath, and slowly relaxed her arms from where they were wound tight around her knees. She let her head lean back and rest against the door.

She'd come into the supply closet for a breather, having gotten overwhelmed in the middle of English. The teacher had introduced the book they'd be reading for the next couple of weeks. Dracula. Bella had almost lost her breakfast in Lauren's hair, and quickly asked to be excused to the bathroom.

It was almost funny. She used to spend every second of the day thinking of ways to convince Edward to turn her so they could spend forever together, and now the very mention of a vampire, even in literary form, was enough to make her stomach churn. Before the Cullens, she would've been able to read Dracula, and perhaps even enjoy it. But, armed with actual knowledge on vampires, she just couldn't appreciate the story the same way everyone else would be able to.

It was such a surreal experience, to have so much in depth knowledge of the supernatural and to know that everyone else around you was blissfully unaware of what lurked in the dark, of the dangers that walked past them everyday. Bella can hardly remember a time before vampires, her every thought now consumed with worry that Victoria or some other vampire was lurking in the shadows.

Glancing down at her watch, Bella sighed. Ten minutes had already passed. As much as she wanted to stay in the supply closet for the rest of the period, she couldn't. Her father was already worried about her, and if she started making a habit of skipping class, he'd be even more persistent on talking about what had transpired in her room last week.

Bella placed her hands on the floor, and pushed herself to her feet. Just as she grabbed the doorknob, she heard voices approaching.

"You're sure this guy is trustworthy?" a girl hissed. Her platinum blonde hair was like a halo around her head, reaching down her back and partially covering the dark blue sweater she was wearing.

Bella slowly cracked open the door, just an inch, and peeked out. Standing right next to the supply closet were two girls, neither of them looking in her direction, thankfully.

"I don't want to get caught sneaking into nightclubs in Seattle," the same girl muttered, eyes narrowing. "I am not losing my scholarship."

"Relax," the other girl assured her in a low voice. "Jenks is totally trustworthy. He does this shit all the time! Rodney got a fake ID from him last year, and he hasn't been caught yet! The trick is to just stay out of Forks and Port Angeles, because there's a higher chance you'll get recognized."

There was a moment of silence, and the first girl sighed, resigned.

"Fine. Where's can I find him?"

"Downtown Seattle. It's the law firm across the street from the Seattle Central Public Library. There's gonna be a guy named Max, he's the contact. He'll get you to Jenks. Tell them Tori Marsh sent you."

"Tori Marsh?" the first girl grinned.

"Tori" rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to use my real name for a fake ID. Come on, we need to get back to class before someone notices that we're gone."

The two girls scurried off, and Bella was left gaping at where they previously stood.

Did...did the answer to one of her problems just fall into her lap? Bella wasn't particularly religious, but she glanced upward and sent a quick thank you to the heavens before going back to class.

Charlie peered at Bella from behind today's newspaper, flicking back down to stare blankly at the words when Bella glanced up.

It was a quiet Tuesday morning. Charlie had woken up and managed to make a slightly burnt, but edible, nutritious breakfast for the two of them, and it pleased him to see Bella eating more and more as the weeks went by. However, even though she looked better physically, something was still...off.

Charlie hadn't forgotten about the chaos of last week, where Bella had managed to somehow channel the power of what he could only describe as a tornado and tear her room apart. Bella had explained a bit, although even the little bit of answers he'd gotten still left him flying blind.

"It's, like, a shield or something, I don't know," Bella had whispered, pushing away the tray of food he'd carried up for her. "I don't know how I did it the first time, but it protected me against -"

"Against? Were you in danger?! Bella!"

"I'm fine!" she insisted. Charlie's deadpan stare made it very clear that he was not going to accept that as a valid answer. She sighed. "When I had that sleepover with Angela and Jessica, we went to Port Angeles to see a movie. Well, when we were leaving, we got cornered by these guys, they gave chase, I got separated from Ang and Jess, but...I...this shield I have protected me. I was standing right in front of them, and it was like I had made myself invisible or something."

"Jesus Christ," Charlie pulled Bella into his arms, not sure if it was more for her comfort or his. "Why didn't you tell me, Bells?"

"I didn't know how to. I feel like such a freak," she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks and onto her father's shoulder.

They hadn't talked much about it since, although Charlie was dying to figure out what was going on with his daughter and how to help her through this. He didn't want to make Bella feel cornered, but not knowing was driving the detective in him insane. When he was at work, he often spent his lunch break searching for anything that could explain why his teenage daughter suddenly had superpowers. He felt silly doing it, and always cleared the search history afterwards, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing.

"You're driving me insane, Dad," Bella sighed, placing her forkful of scrambled eggs back on her plate.

"What, I can't look at you? You look at me all the time."

"I do not stare at you!"

"You're doing it right now!"

"Dad!"

Charlie pursed his lips. "I'm just...just wondering if we're ever going to talk about what happened last week."

Bella's eyes moved away from his face, focusing on something behind him. Charlie sighed.

"I don't want to push, Bells, but I'm concerned."

"I know you are," Bella assured him. "I'm just not ready to talk about it yet. Can we wait a bit more?"

Charlie absolutely did not want to wait, but he was unwilling to force Bella to speak, afraid of ruining the relationship he had with her now. He resigned himself to more internet searches during his lunch break for the foreseeable future.

"Sure, Bells. Just a bit longer."

Aside from the impending conversation she and her father were going to have regarding her powers, Bella was surprised to say that things were going quite well. She had a lead on where to get fake papers from, which helped her sleep better.

The days went by as they do, Tuesday turning into Wednesday, Wednesday into Thursday, and so forth. Every day was spent doing homework, hanging out with her friends, and making plans to swing by Jenk's office as soon as possible. She and Angela had been spending time encouraging Jessica to go to trade school and not follow her mom's script. Leah gushed to Bella about Jacob, so much so that there was no doubt in Bella's mind that some lip action had happened between the two. And her father, despite fretting over her, was still seeing Olivia, the relationship blossoming.

All in all...things were going well.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that things that a turn for the worse.

"Why them, Riley?" the girl asked from her perch in the tree, awaiting for the signal.

Riley shrugged. "Don't know, but Victoria said we had to make sure those four died for sure. Don't mess this up, Bree. You know Victoria doesn't like mistakes."

Both of them locked their eyes on the small family below, a man, woman, and two little boys, setting up camp a little bit aways from the other people. Around a fire a few yards away sat a few people on logs, taking turns reciting their favorite Psalms.

Riley heaved a sigh and slumped against the tree, wishing the sun would hurry up and set already. Across from him, Bree was getting antsy, digging her nails into the tree as the thirst began to get stronger. The humans milled about, setting up camp, playing, and eventually gathering around the fire to eat and sing together. Riley's mouth pooled with venom, the hunger growing as he sat and listened to the incessant chattering of the humans below.

"No, you're singing it in the wrong pitch!"

"Mr. Weber, is Angela coming this year?"

"Mommy, look, I found a beetle!"

"That drink is for adults only!"

The sun got lower, lower, until finally, the woods were submerged in darkness. Riley and Bree dropped from the trees and landed lightly on their feet, blending in with the shadows as they prowled closer and closer to the fire.

A human turned, the one that Riley had been told to keep his eye on, and the woman screamed, nearly dropping the two boys in her arms, as he and Bree sprang out from the shadows and began to feast.

Angela jerked awake, her mother's terrified face in the center of her mind. She kicked the covers off of her, her body drenched in sweat. Her heart pounded, and she placed a shaking hand on her bedside table to steady herself. It took a few minutes, but her breathing slowed, and the rush of fear she'd felt upon waking was dwindling.

Angela sighed and pushed her hair out of her face, flopping onto her back in bed and placing her hands on her face. This was the sixth time this week she'd had nightmares, and all of them involved some variation of her family's terrified fate. Aside from the horrifying experience of watching her parents die a few times a week, Angela was also terribly confused.

The boy and girl she'd seen in her dreams, Riley and Bree, are two people who she's never met before. She'd never seen them at school, they didn't go to her church, they were complete strangers. Although...Riley did look familiar.

She rolled over onto her side and stares at her window, tracing the thin lines of light from the moon that managed to slip through the blinds.

She didn't know anyone named Victoria, either, but her name held power in her dream world.

Angela was exhausted.

The nightmares had only started this week, but these weren't the first weird dreams that she'd had. She dreamt about Jessica showing her a binder full of trade school information, she dreamt about Leah calling Bella to talk about her date with Jacob, about the dark alley that she and Jessica had found refuge in that night, and she dreamt about the pop quiz that happened on Monday. Angela didn't know what to make of any of those, confused as to why her brain seemed to be running on a different wavelength.

Huffing, Angela rolled out of bed and made her bed, pushing the dreams to the back of her mind. She couldn't dwell on them, she had too much to get done today.

She went about her usual Friday morning routine, grabbing a shower and brushing her teeth before waking up her brothers. Usually, she'd be waking them so that her mother could get them to school. Today, however, was the first night of the annual retreat that the members of the church went on. Her brothers weren't going to school today, and would instead spend the first half of the day running errands with her mother, who was picking up some last minute camping supplies.

Her family and dozens of others would be out camping in the woods of northern Washington. Angela was supposed to go on this trip, but instead had saved by an exam. Angela usually liked going on the retreat, but ever since the nightmares started earlier on in the week, the mere thought of going to the woods on Friday night made her stomach hurt. Angela reasoned that she'd just meet her family at the campsite bright and early Saturday morning, and let her anxiety pass.

"Hi, Angie," Joshua giggled, snuggled into her side as she wrestled him and Isaac out of bed.

"Hi, Joshie," Angela smiled back. "Go brush your teeth, okay? I'll be back in a second to help you wash your face."

The two toddle off and Angela takes a few precious seconds to decompress in her room. Part of her was still shaken by the horrifying dream she'd woken up from. She had no idea how her brain her decided to concoct a scenario in which her family was killed by vampires, and she kind of wanted to laugh at herself.

"Angie, come help us!" Isaacs little voice came muffled through the door.

Angela took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders before striding out of the room.

The rest of the morning passed by in a blur of motion, every member of the household scuttling about to get ready for their respective days out. As Angela helped her mother load the boys into the car, they waved Mr. Weber, who promised he'd be only working half the day, off to work.

With thirty minutes left before the bus was due to arrive at the bus stop down the street, Angela saw her mother and brothers off, smiling as Joshua and Isaac waved enthusiastically until they were out of sight. The car out of sight, she grabbed her backpack, locked the door, and quickly made her way to the nearest coffee shop.

The line wasn't too bad, and Angela occupied herself with bobbing her head to the upbeat jazz playing from the speakers while she waited for her turn to order.

"Next in line please!" a voice called, and Angela stepped forward.

Within five minutes, her simple order of coffee with soy milk and caramel syrup was complete, and she bustled out of the shop, slipping her wallet back into her bag. As she raised her hand to take a sip of her drink, her keys slipped from her fingers.

Angela quickly crouched to pick them up.

When she stood, she paused, frowning.

Why was she on this street?

She turned around, looking at the coffee shop in the distance.

Why had she gone this way?

Angela moved to go back the right way, to get to the bus stop before the bus pulled off without her, but her feet wouldn't move, not in that direction. Angela wanted to go in that direction, but she felt like she needed to keep going straight, further and further away from her house and the bus stop.

She could have ignored it, could have pushed the feeling aside and pondered on it later. But Angela found herself following a weird sensation in her gut, weaving through people on the street and pressing onwards.

She jerked to a halt as the sensation in her stomach eased. Somehow, she knew that she was exactly where she needed to be.

Angela looked around, trying to determine what led her here, what drew her here. What her eyes landed on shook her to her core.

Just a few yards away from her, on a telephone pole, was a missing person's poster. The face on the poster was a dead ringer for the man she saw in her dream.

Within seconds she was in front of the poster, carefully easing the staple out and taking the poster off to hold it in her hands.

Riley Biers.

Angela gaped, heart racing.

"It's a coincidence," she murmured. Only...it couldn't be. She had never seen this poster before, had never seen this man before in her life, so how had she dreamed of him with such clarity? Her fingers traced the paper. Riley's face stared back at her.

According to the paper, Riley had gone missing a few months ago in Seattle, which would explain why Angela hadn't heard too much about it. Forks was a small town, and if he'd gone missing in Forks, everyone would've known within seconds. She's guessing that the Seattle PD was requesting for the Forks PD to keep things calm.

Angela exhaled shakily, fingers clutched tightly around her coffee cup, threatening to puncture the styrofoam container. She wish she knew why she'd dreamed of him. Now that she was looking at this poster, she felt awful for dreaming him up to be some bloodthirsty monster when his poor parents were grappling with the idea that he might be dead.

Angela folded the paper and stuffed it in her bag. Glancing at her watch, she gasped and started to run back the way she'd come.

"You're sure you don't want us to wait for you?"

Angela shook her head at her father's question, helping her little brothers carry their bags out to the car. "Really, it's okay if you guys go to the retreat without me. I'm gonna get a good night's sleep tonight, and then meet you at the campsite bright and early Saturday morning."

Angela loaded her little brother's bags into the truck, ignoring the nauseating feeling of foreboding that was churning in her gut. Her little brothers ran circles around her legs as she herded them back to the house and into the front hallway. Her mother was hunched over the table, hastily writing directions out for Angela to follow when she left.

"We're leaving you my car, sweetie," her mother reminded her. "The keys are on the hook in the kitchen. And I left some lasagna for you in the fridge, you remember how to heat it up."

Pressure began to build in Angela's chest. She ignored her. She was overreacting! Nothing was going to happen on this trip, she was sure of it. Her brain had just been stressed about the exam, that was all. Angela repeated the thought over and over in her head, determined to make herself believe it.

To be quite honest, she was a bit disgusted with herself. She honestly can't believe that she's created a fictional world in her mind where a poor, missing boy was a sadistic killer that was planning on killing her family and dozens of others. And perhaps that's why her stomach was in knots, because she knew that she was a crappy person. It nearly brought tears to her eyes when she thought of Riley's parents, still searching for their son, and here she was, viewing him as a nightmarish fiend.

"Be safe, alright?" her mother smiled, the touch to her cheek drawing Angela out of her thoughts. "And call us when you leave Saturday."

Angela walked her mother out the house, grabbing hold of her two little brothers and showering them both with kisses. "You guys be good, okay? No funny business. At least not until I get there."

The boys nodded solemnly, and didn't put up a fuss as they were buckled into their carseats. She hugged them both, and then her parents.

The setting sun cast a pale orange glow over her family's faces as they clambered into the car. She waved at her brothers until they were out of sight.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Angela's bag was packed and resting by the front door.

She washed her breakfast dishes and set them carefully in the dish dryer, drying her hands on the towel hanging from the stove's handle. She took a deep breath, leaning against the the kitchen counter for a bit.

Another nightmare had wreaked havoc on her last night, full of traumatizing imagery of her family being torn apart. Riley, the young man from the missing poster, was still present in the dream, still with the same girl, Bree. Angela had tossed and turned all night, and wasn't too sure if she should even be behind the wheel of a car right now. However, she was determined to meet her family at the campsite to reassure her runaway subconscious that nothing had happened to them, and that she was simply under a lot of stress over the past few weeks and that said stress was manifesting in very strange ways.

Blowing out a breath, Angela straightened from her hunched position over the counter and went to the front hall to grab her hiking shoes, a necessary accessory for the trip. Just as she'd tied them securely on her feet, there was frantic knocking at the door.

Startled, Angela flew to the door and yanked it open, relaxing when she saw it was only Mrs. Orden, her next door neighbor. She smiled, preparing to open her mouth to ask the woman if her mother had asked her to check in before she left. It was something her mother often did whenever they left, always asking one of their neighbors to make sure she was alright. No matter how old Angela got, and no matter how many times she insisted that she'd be fine, her mother continued the same predictable pattern.

"Oh, Angie," Mrs. Orden whispers, eyes filled with tears. Her hand cupped Angela's cheek, a forlorn expression on her face. "Oh, you poor girl!"

Angela stared at the older woman blankly, only able to ask, "What?"

Mrs. Orden opened her mouth, and Angela leaned forward to hear the explanation. Before Mrs. Orden could get the words out, the loud wail of police sirens echoed through the neighborhood, and within seconds a cruiser appeared, steering frantically into her driveway.

The man that gets out is Officer Dale. He ambles up to the house quickly, and Angela feels her lips twitch, wondering just how much of a fuss her mother had made of having to leave her daughter to catch up for a single trip.

"Really, guys, I'm fine," Angela insists, easing out from Mrs. Orden's hold to bend down and pick up her bag. "I know my mom can be a bit -"

Mrs. Orden sobs, then, the tears from her eyes finally cascading down her cheeks.

Officer Dale steps closer, face ashen, and asks if Angela would please go inside so they could sit down.

"Why?" Angela said, cold to her very core. "Why would I need to sit down?"

Mrs. Orden rushes forward to take hold of Angela's arms, and Officer Dale slowly takes off his hat.

"Ms. Weber," Officer Dale says solemnly. "I'm so sorry."

Angela's world caves in, and she's instantly grateful to Mrs. Orden's arms around her, because she's the only thing that keeps Angela's body from hitting the floor.

"Did they have her identify the bodies yet?" Jessica murmured, tugging her coat closed tighter around her body as she and Bella huddled together in her backyard, the crisp autumn leaves crunching her their feet.

"No," Bella whispered back, turning to throw a forlorn look towards her house, where Angela lay despondent in her bed.

"Jesus, this is so fucked," Jessica said wetly.

Bella had to agree. They'd both found out about Angela's family mere minutes after her, Charlie calling to let Bella know that she'd better get to Angela as quick as possible. Angela had been a bundle of agony and despair for the past day, so out of it that she wouldn't eat and only drank water when Jessica and Bella managed to wrestle her into a sitting position so that she could swallow.

Bella hadn't wanted the newly orphaned girl to stay in her house by herself, and Charlie had no issue with letting Angela stay. Jessica had been coming by so often that she might as well have moved in, too.

"Did your Dad say anything about the case?" Jessica asked, her dark brown hair blowing about her face as the wind picked up. She batted away a leaf that almost collided with her eye.

"He can't go into too much detail, it's classified." Bella huffed, wiping away a stray tear. "All he said was that they're still recovering bodies from the campsite and getting relatives to identify them."

The two stood in silence for a moment, the gravity of the situation casting a shadow over them.

"What's going to happen to Angela?" Jessica asked, voice cracking. "I'm not just talking about mentally or emotionally. She's an orphan now. Where is she supposed to go? She hasn't turned eighteen yet."

"I don't know, Jess." Bella sighed heavily, closing her eyes against the sharp bite of the autumn wind. "There's so much that's unknown. I don't know what's going to happen to Angela. I guess for right now, we make sure she's okay enough to identify the bodies, maybe plan the funeral. But I don't want to force her into that if she's not ready."

Jessica began to cry, sniffling. "Joshua and Isaac were so young, Bells."

Bella drew her friend into a tight hug.

"We should go back in," Bella said. "See if Angela's ready to eat something or drink some more water. You're staying tonight?"

"Of course."

The two girls went back inside, wondering what else they could do for their friend.

Angela was curled up on Bella's bed, sobbing quietly into the duvet. Bella gazed sadly at the girl from her position on the floor. It was just the two of them now, Jessica having gone out to get some soup for Angela to hopefully eat.

Although it was Sunday, Charlie was out, still helping with the investigation. Although FPD didn't have jurisdiction over the case, as it hadn't happened in their county, they were still being called in to help, as many of the people who were killed were Forks residents. He'd called her a few minutes ago to briefly update her, sounding as though he'd aged ten years in less than forty-eight hours.

A car pulling into the driveway alerted Bella to Jessica's return. Bella turned to tell Angela that she was going to be right back, only to find that the girl had already cried herself asleep. Bella smiled sadly, knowing from personal experience that the torment wouldn't stop simply because she was unconscious.

Downstairs, Bella helped Jessica put the food away. Crouching down to the cabinet, she pulled out a small pot for the soup.

"How is she?" Jessica asked, frowning because she already knew the answer.

"She's sleeping now," Bella murmured. "We'll wake her up in a bit so she can try to eat. She needs something, otherwise she'll feel even worse."

"Still nothing from Leah or Jacob?"

Bella looked away and cleared her throat, trying not to let Jessica know just how much that question had impacted her.

Jacob and Leah had been radio silent for the past two and a half, almost three, days. Bella and Jessica had called, texted, and left voicemails. Nothing. The girls wanted to go down to the Rez to see what was up, but were afraid to leave Angela alone, worried that she'd hurt herself if left to her own devices.

"Maybe they're busy?" Jessica offered, looking as though she didn't believe it herself.

Bella didn't want to throw out accusations, didn't want to accuse Jacob and Leah of cutting her and the others off, but how could she not feel that way? Forks and La Push were close knit communities, and news like this spread very quickly. There was absolutely no way that the Blacks and Clearwaters hadn't heard about the massacre. If not from the news, then at least they would've heard when Charlie called them.

"Could be the honeymoon phase," Jessica continued, trying to sound upbeat.

"What if something happened to them, too?" Bella breathed.

"Impossible," Jessica immediately countered. "We would've heard about it. Quil and Embry would have called us. Speaking of, have we tried calling them to see where Leah and Jacob are? How did we not think of this before?!"

"Good idea," Bella smiled, feeling a bit better. "But later. Angela's soup is almost done, and we need to get her settled first."

The weekend passed, and the new week rolled in. Sunday became Monday, and Monday became Tuesday. Bella had gone to school Monday, leaving Jessica at home with Angela, and she'd collected all their work. On Tuesday it was Jessica's turn to go. The recent tragedy had made the teachers very understanding, and the principal had agreed to let them have scattered attendance until Angela was placed into a new home.

Jessica and Bella had attempted to get to Leah and Jacob through Quil and Embry, and were quickly disappointed. Turns out, Embry and Quil had also been trying to get in contact with the new couple, with no luck. The two had seen Jacob and Leah, in passing, as the two hurried off down the street away from them, they'd assured Jessica and Bella. However, Jacob and Leah were not in any hurry to make conversation.

With the confirmation that the two weren't gravely injured, Bella's stomach twisted violently. She'd tried so hard not to take it personal, trying to tell herself that she was the same way when she had started dating Edward; she'd ghosted her friends, too. However, there was one huge difference in the two situations that Bella couldn't ignore. Edward had been a vampire. She cut off her friends not just because she was enamored with being in a relationship, but because she was carrying a secret that she couldn't tell anyone. Jacob and Leah were human, and had no similar reason for the secrecy.

As Tuesday began to go by, the air getting cooler as night fell, Bella tried to call them again.

She called Leah first. It didn't even ring, going straight to voicemail.

Bella called Jacob.

"I'm sorry, but this number is no longer in service -"

Bella dropped the phone and dry heaved, curling in on herself from her position on the edge of the tub. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the definite answer of the automated machine drove a knife deeper and deeper into her chest, carving out a brand new hole right where the old one had been.

She inhaled sharply, forced herself to relax. That message meant nothing. Bella could recall six different instances where Billy had reprimanded Jacob for breaking yet another phone, maybe that's what was happening now. Taking a deep breath, Bella dialed Jacob's house phone.

The phone only rang once before it clicked, and Bella heard heavy breathing on the other side.

"Jake?" she asked timidly.

"Don't call me again."

Jacob's statement was swift and straight to the point, the call disconnecting the second he got the last word out.

At once, Bella is reminded of the dozen of undelivered messages to Alice's email. She is reminded very clearly of how easy it is for people to up and leave her. She wonders when Jacob got tired of her, wonders how she missed the signs again.

Bella began to cry.