First, HAPPY MIDNIGHT SUN RELEASE DAY! After all that waiting we're finally blessed with Edward's side of things from Twilight. I can't wait to read it!
So this is definitely something new for me…and I know what you're thinking, you have two other fics that need finishing and here you are starting another one! I know, I know but I've been itching to start something new that can get my creative juices flowing.
This story is inspired by a show I started watching about two years ago that instantly had me hooked and this plot has been sitting on my computer forever. I will not reveal the show right now, as to save the element of surprise, but it will become prevalent as the story progresses if not by the end of the first chapter. I am only two seasons in this particular show so this story will be written as I revisit the show and become inspired by certain events.
This is ultimately a canon BxE fic, but I cannot say the same for other characters and their pairings. Disclaimer there WILL be Character DEATHS and mentions of sexual assault and drug use, if this is something that bothers you, this may not be the story for you.
Summary:
Bella Swan has always felt alone. With no real family or friends to call her own, she does whatever to get by. Constantly on the move, scamming, and meeting some seedy characters along the way, she can't catch a break. When dealt with a familiar face and a pair of green eyes, Bella may just realize that she isn't as alone as she thought she was. Angst/Suspense/Romance. Pseudo-Sci-Fi. Eventual ExB. Multiple POVS.
Chapter ONE
Isabella "Bella" Swan was on the run.
Well, at least she was about to be.
Grabbing her dingy and sparse belongings, she gave one final farewell glance over her shoulder at the slumped form of her ex-boyfriend Paul. He lay prone on the floor of their ratty apartment, a small trickle of blood trailing at the corner of his mouth.
The junky bastard was still alive much to her dismay, which was more than he deserved, given the hell he'd put her through the past several months. Using the heel of her boot, she kicked Paul over onto his side so he didn't choke on the eventual vomit that would no doubt occur when he awoke from his drunken bender. Bella eyed the glass bottle she'd use to hit him with and fought the urge not to get one final jab in.
Paul had taunted her all night.
She had barely entered the shithole they called an apartment when he was in her face, the alcohol thick on his breath. Bella could smell it on his skin; practically oozing from his pores. Paul's eyes were wild and red; a sure sign he was also high as a kite on god knows what.
Bella let out a disgruntled sigh. She was used to this routine by now.
"Where the hell have you been?" He asked, raising the dark liquor bottle up to his mouth. The answer was obvious, as she gestured to her stained waitress uniform from the local diner. Bella ignored Paul, and headed towards the small closet they called a bathroom to change and take a shower. She locked the door behind her, briefly listening to Paul stumble around, his curses loud through the door.
Taking the longest shower she could possibly have to pass time, Bella pressed her ear against the door and listened for any indication of movement.
Thankfully it was silent.
Hopefully, Paul had drunken himself into a stupor and would leave her alone for the rest of the night. She was wrapped in nothing but a towel and dreaded making the short walk towards their bedroom. Slowly opening the door, she attempted to walk as quietly as possible. Bella had barely made it a few steps before he suddenly appeared in front of her with an irate expression on his face.
"You're a worthless piece of shit!" he slurred. "Nothing but a nuisance with an accessible pussy. Nope scratch that, a closed pussy since I'm not getting any!" He thundered, grabbing her arm.
"Paul let me go!" Bella growled; holding her towel closed with one hand while trying to fend him off with the other.
"No! You're going to give me some." He continued, trying to open her towel. Bella fought the urge not to vomit. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd taken her without her consent. She would just lay there, silent tears streaming down her face as he took her; his climax usually resulting less than a few minutes later.
Bella would lay there afterward, feeling like a "dirty slut" as Paul usually referred to her. She'd cry herself to sleep, waking up with sticky eyes as he apologized and promised never to hurt her again.
Like the weak-minded person she was, she'd stupidly take it and all would be well once again in the destructive relationship that was Isabella Swan and Paul Uley.
But that was then, and now, she was tired of being his doormat.
Suddenly mustering all the strength she could, Bella shoved him away from her and in his drunken stupor, Paul clumsily fell to the ground; his bottle of beer rolling across the floor.
"You fucking bitch!" Paul bellowed as he stumbled to get up. She tried to run past him towards the bedroom, but he was faster and grabbed her foot, causing her to fall to the ground hard on her side. Pain radiated up from her thighbone to the underside of her ribs as Paul flipped her over onto her back and straddled her.
" You think you're going to get away from me Bella, huh? You're mine." Paul's eyes were wild with hunger and rage as Bella struggled beneath him. He placed a heavy calloused hand against her neck. She felt like she was suffocating.
"Let me go!" She gasped, trying to get from his grasp. It was futile.
It was like watching a Chihuahua battle against a Great Dane. Paul had over a hundred pounds of pure muscle on him compared to her barely 105 soaking wet. Paul released one of her hands and tried to unbuckle his pants, giving Bella all the leverage she needed.
Grasping with her fingertips to the lone bottle near her head, she grasped it and swung as hard as she could. The sound of hard glass against his solid skull was deafening. The pressure on her chest was suddenly gone, as Paul fell to the floor with a hard thump. Bella struggled to take a breath as air flooded her lungs. Taking a few breaths, she slowly sat up, gasping at the small pool of blood that lay beneath his head.
Bella covered her mouth in an attempt to hold back her screams.
She had killed him!
Scrambling to her feet, Bella began to panic. While she indeed hated Paul with every fiber of her being, she hadn't meant to kill him.
What was she supposed to do? She couldn't go to jail; she knew she wouldn't last a day. Hell, she wouldn't last ten minutes. Not to mention, Paul had half of the cops in his pocket. They would lock her up and throw away the key.
With a sudden realization, Bella knew she only had one choice. She had to go.
Now.
Running to the bedroom and grabbing the first clothes she could get her hands on, Bella hastily dressed in a short dress, tights, and sneakers. It wasn't the most ideal attire, but she didn't have the time to be picky.
Throwing on one of Paul's old leather jackets, she grabbed a lone duffle bag from the closet and began grabbing what few belongings she had in possession: a few clothes, a tattered copy of Wuthering Heights, and a small locket that had been left with her as an infant with her name inside.
Bella was about to leave when she realized she didn't have the funds to successfully leave.
Her minute paycheck wouldn't be deposited until the following week and she only had a solid $20 bill to her name. She wouldn't make it far with just that.
Bella froze as she remembered the stash of cash Paul had hidden somewhere in the apartment. She scrambled around the apartment looking for it, a light bulb suddenly going off in her head, as she noticed the loose floor panel near the couch. The small rug nearby nearly completely hiding it if Paul hadn't knocked it away when he fell.
Bella had nearly pried it completely up when a phone suddenly went off, followed by a soft groan that nearly gave her a heart attack.
Paul was alive.
Maybe she hadn't killed him.
But he was going to kill her…well as soon as he woke he would. His phone continued to ring, the ID showing that it was one of his dealers. Blindly grabbing what she could, she shoved several bands of cash in her bag and got up. Paul let out another groan.
Quickly realizing she was running out of time before Paul's little "pack of wolves" came in to check in on him, Bella swung the now heavy bag over her shoulder and ran.
Slamming the door of the roach-infested apartment, filled with ex-cons, drunkards, and god knows what else, Bella shivered as the cold air hit her heated skin.
It was a cool night; as common as anything for a fall night in Forks. Bella brushed her tangled and poorly dyed black locks from her face and contemplated her next steps as she walked towards the end of the street. It was a little after eleven and the faint chatter from the nearby bars could still be heard in the distance.
Bella thought about calling a cab but remembered that Paul in one of his drug-fueled rages had destroyed her cheap little flip phone. Besides, the small town of Forks only had two or three drivers who only worked on the weekends. They knew her and they knew Paul. She couldn't risk being caught.
She'd only had the money she stolen off Paul but, she dare not spend that now. It would look suspicious, given how well known she was around here. Not to mention, she didn't want to leave a paper trail that would lead her demons to her.
Walking seemed to be her best option. The closest bus station was several miles outside the town. She looked down the long dark road.
Hmm… nothing a three/four-hour walk couldn't kill.
Bella let out a dark chuckle. Who was she kidding? A young woman walking alone on a dark road was not a smart choice at all, but what else did she have to lose? Anything was better than staying here.
With a defeated sigh, Bella kept her head down and took fast steps down the long stretching road that would lead her out of the small town.
Hopefully to her freedom.
…...
A few hours had passed.
As her dinky wristwatch beeped, Bella looked down to check the time. It was a little after two. A sense of dread and anticipation filled her stomach. She had officially been walking for a little more than two and a half hours and hadn't made any progress at all. To make matters worse, Bella was sure Paul had awakened by now and no doubt had sent his wolves to come find her. If he caught her, she knew she would never make it out of this town. She was sure of it.
A sudden gush of cold air whirled past her, chilling her to the bone. Bella shivered and cursed as the wind picked up, bringing on a slight trickle of rain. The dense green foliage surrounding her on either side didn't seem to help at all, making it groggier than normal.
Walking at a brisk pace, it hadn't taken her long before she had finally gotten out of the suffocating town; the "Welcome to Forks" sign a sad reminder of the place she'd spent her last twenty-six years of existence. Forks was one of the poorer cities in the state of Washington; a testament to the power of those with substantial wealth who looked down on those with very little.
To be rich was a blessing and poor a curse; left with nothing but the fragments of what could have been instead of what was left in the past. The world continued to advance but Forks was stagnant, unchanging, and almost a separate entity from everything else.
It wasn't like anyone cared about her well being anyway.
Bella had no parents or real friends to speak of. Orphaned at birth and found behind a seedy motel with a stuffed Swan toy (in which she would later adopt as a surname), Bella grew up in the foster care system until the age of sixteen; running away shortly afterward, when her handsy foster father the "acclaimed and pious" Reverend Weber decided to enter her room one night for a "private praying session".
She'd ran from him in nothing but her undergarments and attempted to call the cops, but all that got her was a slap to the face by the Reverend's wife who screamed and marked her as a " promiscuous jezebel" who was going to bring hell down upon them all. Bella had left that same night, never saying goodbye, not even to the Weber's daughter Angela, who had been the closest thing she'd ever had to a real friend.
Bella never seemed to fit in anywhere after that. Running off to a small subset of the town known as La Push, she hopped from couch to couch, barely managing to pass her GED before getting caught up in the wrong crowd and a shit load of drugs and alcohol.
That's how she met Paul. Intoxicated by his sweet promises of redemption and love, she followed him aimlessly through drug deals, beatings, and ecstasy when he would ravish her body.
Bella thought she was in love. But love wasn't supposed to feel like this. Bella realized this the night Paul beat her so bad that she could barely stand straight. It was another of his speedball-fueled beatings, where he struggled to distinguish fantasy from reality, a time where Bella was the cause of all his problems and why he couldn't be truly happy.
Bella would forgive him.
She always did. It was all she ever known and she thought that this was what love was supposed to be. Paul would sober up and whisper hurt apologies and sweet nothings until all was forgiven.
And like any other night, she would. But that night changed everything. A night where that fateful beating solidified something in Bella. A spark emerged inside her, signaling that she deserved better than the life she had grown accustomed to. Something way bigger than this town could give her.
It was also the same night she unknowingly miscarried the little life inside her.
Blood pouring down her legs and a trip to the free clinic had proven that.
Bella hadn't thought much about being a mother given her previous and less than an ideal maternal figure, but having something so sweet and innocent taken away from her, left a longing that she knew would never fill.
She sobered up quickly after that.
Drugs and alcohol couldn't fix the ache inside her heart at the thought that she had killed a part of herself, a part of him even if she did hate him. Even if Paul hadn't nearly beaten her to death, the depressants would have.
Either way, she blamed herself.
And like always, she feigned forgiveness; spreading her legs for Paul like the "harlot" she was until she could get away.
She hadn't planned her escape like this, but she refused to be a target of Paul's aggression anymore.
She had to go.
She had to be free.
Bella continued walking and fought the urge to jump every time a stray car passed her by. She was sure Paul had woken up by now and was sending his goons after her making her sick with anxiety.
Another car passed. Bella had already fought off a few advances from passing cars, filled with leering men who eyed her long pale legs in the sparse dress and tights she was wearing. She knew how she appeared to them.
Fortunately, she clutched the lone and half-empty canister of pepper spray in her hand that seemed to fight them off. Lucky for her, they were strangers; a stray soul passing through the small town. No one that would recognize her and drag her back kicking and screaming.
The rain continued to fall and Bella continued walking.
Another car passed, flying past her with a steady speed until it suddenly stopped, slowly reversing back and stopping in front of her. Bella grabbed the canister tightly in her hands ready to fend off another attack but was surprised to see it was a woman with a sleeping toddler in the backseat.
Bella froze. She couldn't see much of the woman's face, hidden by a large hoodie but she seemed friendly enough and her soft voice was oddly familiar and comforting.
"Need a ride?"
Throwing self-preservation out the window, Bella momentarily spoke a quick prayer to whoever was up there and hopped in.
…...
Marie Higginbotham was having a bad day.
It all started with news of the promotion she worked so hard to get nominated for, only for it to be given to that rat-faced bitch Leah Clearwater who slept with any and everything.
She was also under investigation. A mishap of evidence that had gotten her and her partner in deep trouble. A mysterious death that seemed to have no clear explanation. Her partner had been enraged at her, his angry eyes livid at her own oversight.
But it wasn't.
Marie had wanted to tell him so badly what she had found, but she knew she couldn't. As soon as she would have spoken the words he would have ran off to Chief Meyers and he would have locked her up and placed in an interrogation room before she could even blink.
Hell, she still ended up there anyway, albeit for a different reason. The things she had done; the nightmares plaguing her every time she shut her eyes; those things constantly tormented Marie but she dare not say a word. She wasn't sure whom she could trust, not even her partner of several years.
In fact, he had requested a transfer and she was soon to be reassigned to another.
That's if she wasn't fired first…or thrown in prison.
Marie was in deep shit and she knew it was only a matter of time until it all caught up with her.
The cherry on top of her already craptastic day had been the text she'd gotten only minutes earlier.
Marie looked briefly at her phone as the screen lit up, illuminating the screen saver of her 14-month-old baby girl Vanessa. "Ness" as she liked to be called, smiled back at her with a slightly dimpled grin, big brown eyes that mirrored her own, and jet-black ringlets framing her olive-toned cherub face.
Vanessa was the best part of Marie, a permanent reminder that maybe she wasn't as lost as she'd thought she was. Vanessa was also a reminder of her tumultuous relationship with her on/off-again boyfriend of six years and Ness' father Jacob Black. It was an off-stage for the couple, Jacob having flaked shortly after Ness' first birthday. He would pop in and out of their lives, using Marie for an occasional lay until she couldn't take it anymore and ended things.
Jacob had been angry and put up a fight that made her momentarily fearful of him until he had disappeared; calling every few months or so to visit Ness. It was supposed to be his chance to come to get her for the weekend; giving Marie a momentarily reprieve from the shit that was going on in her.
Marie's favorite role was being a mother and she didn't regret it for one moment, but even she needed a break some times.
She had driven nearly 60 miles to some dinky little town in Washington where he'd claimed to be visiting only to get there and find out he wasn't where he was supposed to be. A simple text stating he'd get Ness another time, had Marie beating her hands against the steering wheel in anger, luckily not waking her sleeping baby girl in the backseat.
Marie popped a few pills from the prescribed canister in her mouth and sighed, taking a moment to let out a deep breath.
She was tired…so very tired.
Her shoulders felt heavy and darkness seemed like a welcome absolution from everything. As Marie began the drive back to the apartment a little after dusk, she hoped that things would soon be better, at least if not for her but her baby girl who deserved so much more than a distant father and despondent mother.
Marie was supposed to be happy…wasn't she?
She had everything. A high paying job with benefits, a nice apartment, even a brand new car. She lived in one of the richest parts of Seattle and was well respected by her peers albeit antisocial and yet, Marie felt like she had nothing but herself and her baby girl.
She had no other family to really speak of, having been adopted by a woman named Renee who had loved her and showed her kindness before dying in a tragic car accident shortly after her twenty-first birthday. Her only other friend (if she could even call her that) had been her neighbor Alice; a short sprite of a woman with an over the top personality and overbearing demeanor, which often led to Marie screaming at the young woman to leave her alone.
Marie knew she should have been nicer to the girl, she was really sweet if not childlike in behavior but that didn't stop Marie from acting like a complete bitch to her. Other than the occasional acquaintance or one-night stand, Marie really didn't have anyone to talk to outside of her partner and daughter.
Something deep inside of her yearned for a moment to where her own selfishness didn't threaten to overwhelm her.
This was the thought that stayed prevalent in her mind as she drove back, passing through a small town with less than 1300 people. It looked dingy and desolate and she was glad she got gas before passing through this dump before someone tried to scrap her car for parts. She knew Ness would wake up soon hungry so she hoped she was able to make it over to the next town over before she woke.
Marie could feel her body begin to go stiff as weariness began to drift in. It had just begun to drizzle and she leaned over to put her windshield wipers on when she saw a lone figure walking a little way up the street.
Marie had watched enough horror movies to know better than to pick up some strange hitchhiker on a dark and desolate night. She didn't think much of this as she drove until her headlights illuminated the lone figure, revealing a small and pale figure of a woman dressed in nothing but a leather jacket and dress.
Marie figured her to be a sex worker, not surprised as all given the town, but the illumination of the poor girl's face in her rearview mirror was enough to make her press her foot against the brake and stop. Pulling the gearshift in reverse, Marie trailed backward towards the young woman, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. She knew the young woman couldn't see her clearly, given the darkness but Marie could surely see her.
Her hands shaking slightly at another reminder of the things she learned; a tangible proof that fate had different plans and in essence, she was meant to drive alone this dark road, setting things into some unknown action.
In a surprisingly calm voice, she asked the young woman if she needed a ride. She could see the slight hesitance in her stance, her eyes briefly glancing towards her sleeping baby girl in the back seat.
For a moment Marie thought she was going to decline, a rational choice if any for a young woman and a stranger so she was surprised when the woman opened the door and got in.
Marie said nothing for a moment and pressed her foot against the gas, reaching momentarily to turn the heater on high and direct it over to the young woman. Inside the car, she couldn't see her much clearer, other than her pale skin and dark and slightly damp hair that tumbled over her shoulders. The woman still hadn't looked at her as she dug through a dark knapsack on her lap, but her words were gentle and grateful.
"Thank you so much for the ride…" she continued to dig in her bag for something.
"It's no problem," Marie replied keeping her eyes on the road.
"No seriously. It's much appreciated. I really need to get out of this stupid town. Can I turn on the light, I need to put my…" the young woman's words cut off abruptly as she turned on the visor light and looked over Marie, and Marie her.
Her eye widened greatly as words attempted to come out, but was nothing more than garbled breaths.
"Wh...what?" the young woman pressed her body against the back of the door in horror.
Marie kept driving.
She didn't blame the young woman for her reaction.
You would freak out too if you were looking at a face that was identical to yours.
Thoughts? Leave it in a REVIEW!
HAPPY MIDNIGHT SUN DAY!
xoxo-Sylvia Cullen