A/N: Okay, so here's my next chapter...
Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer....
Chapter 5 Truth
I stared into his deep golden eyes. Never mind the fact that I wasn't supposed to show my face to the world again.
"Bella?" he asked again. I didn't know what to say. I could say just anything, but I didn't want to, I wanted him. I still love him.
"The wolves were about to attack you, they thought you were hunting a human. You collapsed and weren't responding. When I tried to defend you, the wolves turned on me. They thought I could be lying about the drinking animal blood part. I was so scared that they would hurt you after they killed me. I stopped time—which is another power I gained—and ran all the way here, they have no idea where I live. My scent and yours stays where it was where I stopped time. It's very convenient." I stopped speaking. I didn't think he was actually listening to me. He was just staring into my eyes.
"Bella, is it really you?" He asked. Had he heard anything that I had said?
"Edward, I think you should go back to your house. You've been in a coma-like state for a few hours now. I'm sure your family is worried."
"No." He clenched his jaw. "I won't leave, not now." He was being stubborn.
Two can play at that game.
"Okay then. I'm leaving." I saw the emotions in his eyes: pain, hatred, love, disappointment, more pain. Damnit, I'm doing the same thing I did to him before, I left.
"Never mind, I won't leave. Why do you want to stay though?" I didn't want to admit I was Bella Swan; I was too stubborn for that.
"Tell me why you're here, Bella." He snarled my name. I flinched. This was bad, really bad. He was mad. Serves me right though, I was a monster, I made the choice of leaving him and I hurt him.
"Why are you here? You needed a new place to live, so did I. We both just happened to be at the same place at the same time." I said, I didn't want to lose control over my temper that would be bad. I would hurt my love.
He looked at me blankly, as if trying to think of what to say.
"Why did you leave me? Why Bella?" He asked. His voice was covered in a thick layer of hurt and sadness.
"I can't tell you that. I won't. I didn't leave though, you saw me after your change, but it just wasn't me." I spoke the last little bit so quietly that I was sure Edward had to struggle to hear.
"What do you mean?" he asked warily.
"You can figure it out." I said. I went downstairs, sitting on the couch, letting him think it through.
My mind reading power was on again.
What does she mean 'you saw me after your change, but it just wasn't me'?
I wish I could read her mind.
I thought he was getting it. Maybe he would.
The first person I remember was seeing Carlisle, but I could read his mind once and he was going through the whole conversation in his head. I don't think I heard his thoughts before though. He didn't act like his usual self either.
Oh my God. Bella changed into Carlisle and saw me first. She was the one who gave me options; she was there the whole time.
He knew. That was good, in a way. The question was, though, did he know I still loved him?
"Bella?" he called from upstairs, I guessed this was it, no turning back from here.
I turned. I didn't want to respond to my name, it wouldn't be right. I wasn't Bella anymore; I was a monster, just like I ever was.
"Bella?" He asked even more urgent.
"Yes." I said simply. I definitely couldn't turn back now; I just admitted I was Bella.
"You were there, after my change. You changed into Carlisle. Why though? Why did you change into him? You could have just left without a second thought." His eyes were filled with pain. So, I was right, he thought I didn't love him.
"Because, I wanted to see you after the change—the first person to see you." I stated simply, that would be a good enough answer. "I can read your mind too, from the first day. I've known almost everything you've thought about." I said, I was continuing the conversation from the first day I came here and saw Edward.
His eyes widened. "So you know then?" I didn't know why this conversation was going off topic and I didn't want it to head where I thought it was heading.
I just simply nodded. "You love me; you've been thinking that the whole time. You still love me even if I left."
He nodded too. "It was stupid to think that, you don't love me, that's why you left me, isn't it?" He was glaring. I knew it was coming to this.
"What happened to your mother's ring?" I asked, maybe he would get it. He wouldn't believe me if I said I still love him, I knew that much. He was stubborn, just like me and his mother.
"All I remember is that I gave it to you, when I was in the hospital, so that I could marry you when I got better. You never gave it back." He had put his head down, probably out of sadness. Then it suddenly shot up, anger flashed all across his features. "What did you do? Did you sell it?" He spit. "Did you give it to some other person? Or did you just leave it, abandon it."
I shook my head. I put my hand underneath the hem of the top of my shirt and I pulled out the delicate, little chain I had for Edward's ring. I took it off, grabbed his hand—despite the electric current that ran through my body from that touch—and put the little necklace in his hand, then curled his fingers gently around it.
He was just staring at me in astonishment; probably because I touched his hand without any hesitation.
Edward slowly opened his hand and gasped.
"I never left it, sold it, or gave it away. It's been with me all this time, no matter what. I've never left it, even on a hunting trip. Edward, okay so I don't know if you'll believe me, but…Edward, I love you, no matter what you think. I may have left you, but I realize now that that was a really stupid choice. I shouldn't have done that."
His eyes were wide again. "Why did you leave me then, if you love me?" Okay, so maybe I don't believe her, but I'll play along with it. I need to find the truth why she left me.
That hurt me, I knew he wouldn't believe me at first; it wasn't him if he didn't.
"Edward, first of all I can hear your thoughts. Secondly I love you! Damnit, I can't believe you don't believe me!" I yelled at him. He flinched again. I calmed down a few seconds after I was finished with telling him I still loved him. "Edward," I pronounced his name slowly, clearly. "The reason why I left was that I hated myself. I believed that I would just drag you down. I thought you would hate me. Edward, I was the one who decided to change you into this—this monster. I should have left you to die, so you would rest peacefully, instead of suffering the thirst and the monstrous pull toward human blood. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I thought you would be better off, but I can see that, now, you have only been suffering. I've also noticed, because of reading Jasper's and Alice's and your minds one day that you've tried to go to the Volturi to look for me and when that wouldn't work you tried to kill yourself. Did you have any idea how hard it was on every one? I was suffering after that. Edward, I love you, and there is no other way I can describe it. I know that you still won't believe me so I'll leave so you can think this through."
I left. So leaving wasn't the best choice, he would probably just follow me.
I was right he followed me. I went to my favorite thinking spot. A spot that I hadn't been in days.
It was my meadow, one that I discovered the last time I was here, the year I left Edward. It was my meadow that I came to, to think, or cry. I would think about Edward here. It was both of ours, though he had never been here.
When I was in the center of the meadow, I noticed Edward at the edge. He was gaping at me and this magical place. So he liked it.
Why here? How did she know that I always came here to think? Even my family doesn't even know about it, and she does. She couldn't have followed my scent; the rain would've washed it away.
He's been here before? Then I noticed it, a faint trail of his scent was in the air from days ago.
So we had both claimed this meadow? Wow, fate had definitely wanted us together.
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