Let Me In-Chapter Five
Black and White…that's what things were like for Isabella before the phenomenon that is Edward Cullen…now like an angry toddler on a beach he's come in to stomp on those two extremes, muddying the colors and smearing them into shades of grey.
As she flees from the humans like a coward to rethink her approach, she recognizes that she likes the boy. Let's not be prudish about this, she has had lovers in the past but like a black widow she simply drank them once she was done. She would lie next to her dead lover and feel no remorse.
It was simple.
She wanted to have sex, so she slept with them and usually she was thirsty after sex so she drank them.
Yes, but simplicity is overrated.
She gets back to the house easily through the forest and upon entry she searches for Charlie; he stumbles out of his bedroom when he hears the door open. She is in front of him in an instant.
"We need to set up permanent residence here as quickly as possible."
It is a simple statement yet it holds so much power. Charlie knows she found something to interest her. And after living for as long as Isabella has, it is hard to find anything to perk her interest. He warily discuses the next step to making their new home acceptable. Tomorrow the wheels will be set in motion; they will find an interior design firm and set up an inspection. In the meantime, Charlie steps out to contact a motel for their extended stay during the remodeling.
Isabella retires to her room to keep her dark vigil over the Cullen home. She wants to see the fall out from the youngest Cullen's injuries. Edward pulls into the driveway and he is visibly upset. Alice rushes out to inform them that their parents are on their way home. Carlie is troubled too but it appears that she is screaming at the three men in front of her. She accuses them of scaring her friend away.
They are incredulous at the child's reaction. Edward is use to Carlie's strange behavior and is aware that his sister has attachment issues but he doesn't understand how she could like this unknown girl. Carlie can't even tell them the girl's name but most disturbingly she isn't telling them who hurt her. The only information she gives up is that the girl wasn't the one who hurt her.
Edward wants to know more about this stranger, he wants to demand her reason for having Carlie pressed into the snow…at least that's what he tells himself. Because Edward had to admit that she was eerily stunning. Jasper and Emmett agree with him, Emmett's compliment was more on the lines of that if a woman could pull off a drowned rat look, then she was a ten in his book.
His thoughts are interrupted when his mother all but flies out of the car and takes her child into her arms hugging her. Esme pulls back with tears in her eyes as she sees the bruises, swelling and dried blood. "Carlisle! We need to take her to the hospital. She might need stitches."
Esme's voice is trembling and Carlisle gently pries his wife's hands from Carlie. He hugs his daughter gently before giving her the same penetrating look. He asks if anything hurts before deciding that Carlie may need a few stitches and a CAT-scan, just as a precaution.
"Who did this?"
Esme's voice is measured but Edward takes a step back because the murderous look in his mother's eyes is unwavering.
"She won't tell me who did it." His response is pathetic and unfulfilling for Esme but she nods curtly. She needs to get her daughter to the hospital first, and then she can deal with the individual who attacked her child.
Carlie sends Edward a silent plea. It is one asking him to keep his encounter with the girl near the lake a secret from their parents. He nods as Carlisle instructs Esme on how to hold his youngest child in the backseat. He turns to Edward and swallows trying to contain his anger.
"I want to know everything when we get back."
Edward nods and sighs as he watches his father leave.
"I don't think you should tell him about the girl." It was Jasper who spoke.
Edward is silent as they all walk into the house. Tanya and Rosalie are already there and the boys recount the entire story to the girls. The teenagers all agree that it's best to keep the girl a secret from Carlisle and Esme.
Why? Isabella thinks.
Why are they protecting her?
::::
The next day, she accompanies Charlie to the design firm in Port Angeles. They rent a car and arrive to find that the firm has a consultant working in Forks. In fact, it is Isabella's luck that this consultant lives across the street from the address they have listed on the application.
Luck has no hand in this, it is fate.
The firm contacts Esme Cullen that very morning to inform her that she has a new client…Charlie Swan. He will be arriving in the afternoon with his daughter to meet the inspector. Since the home she will be working on is across the street, they will stop by to introduce themselves and set up times to meet with her.
Although Esme is a little distracted with the excitement over Carlie, she agrees. Throwing herself into her work may ease the frustration she feels at not getting her daughter to confide in her.
Carlie is tight-lipped about what happened. Luckily nothing was broken, she needed very few stitches and is swollen and bruised but that was it. When they spoke to the investigator, he took pictures and informed them that it was probably a child or children. Had it been anyone older, Carlie would have sustained greater damage.
That was what bothered Esme. She knows the children in his town. None seemed violent. This was the reason she chose to raise all three of her children here, it was suppose to be safe.
Let's enlighten Esme…nowhere is safe.
Isabella is distracted as the inspector walks around the house with Charlie. She wants to know what Edward is thinking since their encounter. She had never been interested in human thoughts but she wants to get into his head. He's touched her once and the feeling jolted her dark heart.
The inspector finds no significant structural damage, which means the renovations will be completed very quickly. Isabella strides across the street as Charlie says goodbye to the inspector. She impatiently waits for Charlie to walk over.
She wants to see Edward again. She knocks and she prepares her senses for the aromatic assault that's about to come.
Esme smiles, genuinely pleased at meeting her new clients. As she invites them in, Isabella takes a deep breath because she can smell Edward. Her hair isn't covering her face this time; it falls in soft brown layers around her face because she knew he would be present.
Esme is chatting animatedly with Charlie as she leads them both through the house to her office. They walk by the kitchen and Isabella sees Carlie eating a sandwich. There are bruises all over the child's face. But that's not what makes Isabella smile. It the way Carlie's mouth is hanging open at the sight of her friend walking into her home.
Isabella winks and purses her lips as she used her index finger to indicate that Carlie should keep quiet. Esme briefly stops to introduce Charlie and Isabella when she realizes that Charlie never told her his daughter's name.
"Isabella."
Isabella extends her hands to Carlie and shakes the child's hand as if meeting her for the first time. Esme tries to explain Carlie's appearance but Charlie brushes it off to indicate that she doesn't have to go through the uncomfortable explanation. He's a 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of man…always has been.
They continue their walk through the house and meet Alice, Rosalie and Tanya watching a movie in the family room. As they pass the stairway that Isabella ascended the last time she was in this house alone, Edward bounds down. He's not really looking ahead since he's yelling for Jasper and Emmett to pause the video game before he beats their heads in. He only wanted to get something to drink before he beats Emmett the second time in a row.
Instead he gets full frontal body contact with Isabella.
We have to wonder if Isabella timed it so that she is at the foot of the stairs as Edward is about to jump the last stair, because he crashes into her.
Again it is not the force of this six-foot-three teenage boy meeting the body of a five-foot-four teenage girl; it's the electrical jolt that forces her body to succumb under his body.
A loud groan escapes her lips and Edward all but cums inside his pants because he feels that jolt as it travels through him.
Charlie is stunned, staring at Isabella beneath this boy's body. Tanya, Rosalie and Alice are the first to arrive as they take in the scene. Alice and Rosalie clap their hands over their mouths in an attempt to stop their laughter. Tanya is more annoyed than amused that her boyfriend is lying on top of a woman that rivals Rosalie Hale's beauty.
Emmett and Jasper run down to see what commotion occurred when they stop half way down the stairs. Carlie steps around Rosalie to look and she's the one who first breaks.
She squeals in laughter. Her light soprano childish laughter is joined by the deep booming laughter from Emmett. Jasper, Alice and Rosalie can't hold back anymore so they join the choir as their laughter combines into a symphony.
Esme steps forward and starts to tug on Edward's arm as he disentangles himself from Isabella. Esme turns her attention to Isabella to see if there was any damage. Edward tries to shift his erection but to no avail. Rosalie is quick thinking and covers Carlie's eyes while Esme turns red and Tanya's face turns purple with fury.
Once Isabella sits up and sees Edwards condition, she throws her head back and laughs.
Is there a way to describe euphoria? Well if euphoria could be captured in a sound, then Isabella's laughter is the representative sound that would accompany that description. The beauty and joy in her laughter stun every human in the room, even Charlie because he has never had the privilege of hearing such a joyous sound.
Yes, it was that wonderful that it was a privilege to listen to this creature laugh.
However it was in this rare moment of happiness that the boys get a look at the girl that Edward practically defiled on his parents' floor.
Edward, Jasper and Emmett share the same thought; it's the girl from the lake.