Chapter 1: Wakeup call

She had thought her tantrum had scared the doctors away in September. How foolish of her to think Charlie wasn't every little bit as stubborn as she was. He had merely been giving her some time to improve on her own, but as January 1st peaked through the clouds of Forks, her dad woke her up with the -thump- of a heavy suitcase being thrown on her bed at her feet.

"It has been 4 months, Bella. You have lost 20 pounds; you wake up every night screaming in pain and misery and you've isolated yourself from all of your friends at school."

"Charl-" she grumbled, trying to wake up

"No, Bella, I will not hear of it." He continued, opening the nearest drawer and throwing random clothes into the suitcase "I will not have my daughter waste away and die in her bed because some unloving, selfish, irresponsible -"

"Charlie please" she said, straightening up with a sudden understanding of the situation.

"- young man who didn't even have the decency to walk you home after breaking your heart." He finally looked at her, and she was stunned by the emotion in his eyes. "You know I do not talk much Bella, but-" his mustache trembled for a second "-but that doesn't mean I don't think, or feel and I will not…" He had to look up at the ceiling and blink a few times before continuing "I will not be the one to find you cold and dead one morning. You need help, and I will get you help whether you like it or not."

The hole in her chest screamed in a hungry panic. He was really doing it. He was sending her away. She jumped out of bed and was about to snap some convincing protest though the flashing stars in her eyes, when her knees gave up and Charlie caught her arms in a firm hold.

"You see what I mean, Bella? You can't even stand up without fainting. This isn't normal."

She was chocking, incapable of formulating a decent come back. She felt dizzy and held her head with both hands as Charlie sat her back down on the bed. She needed to come up with a response, and fast before he could show an even stronger resolve. He took her silence as encouragement to continue his sermon, and went on.

"I know how horrible a break up can be. When Renée left with you...I thought I would never recover. I swore I would never love again, and well" he trailed off "...but with time -"

Time. No, she couldn't bear to hear about this Time Heals All Wounds mantra that obviously didn't apply to her. She turned her head away from Charlie's face, incapable of hearing any more of his sermon. But he kept his firm grip on her arms and continued

"with time it got better, life carried on, even as my own daughter was living hundreds of miles away from me. You... It is like you're a dead person walking. I'm worried Bella, I really am worried."

"I'm fine Charlie-" she trailed off as she couldn't even muster up the energy to lie. Why was he doing this to her?

"Like hell you are. Do you think I'm blind Bella? This...this grief, it's like it's eating you up from the inside. It's literally devouring you; I mean look at you! You're sick Bella, you need help."

Gosh, she really hadn't been fooling him at all. And she thought that she had done a pretty good job at and staying on Autopilot Mode and pretending that her life wasn't over. Turns out that she was still an open book. she didn't even make a sound as tears flowed down my cheeks.

"Please…" a mere whimper. "Please don't do this to me dad…"

His hands were shaking, but they kept holding her firmly. His voice was hoarse when he said "I'm doing this for you, Bells."

"I will get better, I will do better, please, I'm sorry" she managed to say

He sighed "Bella look at yourself. You're apologizing to me for being miserable. This is not your fault, none of this is your fault" his eyes briefly flashed with anger as he continued "It's all because of this Cul-"

"Please, dad. Don't say that. It's not his fault…" she still couldn't bear to hear his name.

He stood up quickly, a look of consternation on his face "You see, that is exactly why you need to leave this place. After everything, eveything, you keep defending him! You don't take care of yourself, you don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't see your friends, but you are guarding his reputation as if this was your sole purpose in life! You think I don't know why you're so adamant on staying here Bells? Do you think I'm so stupid? He's not coming back!" This was probably the longest speech Charlie Swan had ever performed, but he's had four months to prepare it and rehearse it and he had enough anger to fuel his tongue for hours. "So, you are going to Jacksonville, and you are getting the help that you need! If my daughter breaks her legs, she going to get surgery, and if some narcissist breaks her spirit, she's going to get therapy!"

Don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments.

I have two questions for you:

1 – do you personally prefer extensive TW at the beginning of each chapter, or do you prefer immersion and surprise, no matter the risk, with only very few TW to warn you?

2 – do you prefer long chapter once every week, or short chapters once every few days?