Chapter 2

It had only been two days since I got the terrifying yet liberating letter from the Volturi. Already I was hiding from Charlie –in my room, still- and dying. I had planned to call them about coming to get me, but the stupid phone had broken. Charlie was going to get it fixed, or get a new one, but since my state was worse than ever, I was stuck in my room. I managed to pass it off as a bug, the flu or something like that, but that excuse would only work for so long. It explained the throwing up – which was now at least five times a day, the sick feeling was constant- the chill of my skin and why I'd become so weak, but I really needed the telephone, before Charlie found me dead, and pregnant with a vampire child. It was that day, two days after the letter when Charlie found some things out.

He was at work beforehand, and I was making my way downstairs – another thing the flu got me out of, school- such a difficult task, most days I wanted to fall and end it all. As usual, I quickly checked the phone, hopes already low. Then, I made my regular trip to be sick. All the human food I'd managed to eat. The baby didn't want human food. But the food it did want was impossible for me to get, without killing Charlie or hijacking a hospital or bloodbank. So naturally, I had to supply it's vampiric needs. Draining and weakening myself. Disgusting, I know, but it seemed like nothing then.

Normally, whenever I was downstairs, I would remember things. Just little things from the past, normally about the Cullens. I could always visualize them, from my memories, like when Edward or Alice were here, I could see them. It used to hurt to think of them, but not anymore, really. I was going to be a mother, or more than likely die, and I had to grow up first. Crying like they might feel sorry for me would do nothing now. Today would be the change of that. Returning from the bathroom, I looked around at all the familiar places where someone had been, now just ghosts of my memory. That was when the horrifying revelation hit me; I couldn't see them. If I was a normal person, I would be jumping for joy. The remembered phantoms had left me at last. But no, the thought made my heart sting. I panicked, and tried to remember their faces in more vivid situations. Edward and I in the meadow. Edward and the family at school. Carlisle's face as he stitched up my arm. Jasper as he lunged for me. The first time in their mansion. Nope, nothing. I could remember the situations, and everything that happened in them, but the beautiful vampire family who were with me were like empty shadows. I could remember describing their traits in my mind; Edward's ruffled, cute and messy copper-and-bronze hair and intense honeycomb golden eyes. The way he looked so much more boyish than his brothers. Alice's pretty, pixie-like features. Emmett, large and strong; just like a grizzly bear. Jasper's cautious, shy but dangerous manner. Rosalie's otherworldly –even for a vampire- statuesque beauty. I couldn't connect the features I remembered into people. I had just lost the best people in the world; somewhere in my own mind. If I ever saw them again, I knew I would recognize them. I knew that as much as I knew I never would see them again.

Before I could stop myself, I was sitting on the kitchen floor, trying hard to remember, tears pouring down my cheeks. It was like those first few days again; when I would wake up in the middle of the night, some random place in the house, knowing nothing but Edward had left me, and how much it had hurt. It hurt more now, paired with the sickness, and the child he'd left behind with me. There was a nudge of sorrow in my mind, and I realized that was my daughter, passing on her feelings. She was sad, too. And worried about me. She too, knew I would die, and she felt guilty for that. She was actually glad I had lost memories of the Cullens, that much I could tell. She didn't want to know them, perhaps? This was probably the first time I felt like I loved her, rather than just cared for her. I smiled, a sad, watery smile, and began to get up; Charlie would be home soon, and there were obvious reasons he never saw me out of my bed. I looked down at my bump, looked like it was six months along, rather than a month. Good to know you, baby. I smiled at it, when the front door opened. Charlie. I couldn't run upstairs, not without falling, or wasting what little was left of my energy. Instead, I just stood there.

Oh, it was madness. Charlie exploded into unintelligible gibbering, yelling random noises. He knew, instantly, but of course, it made no sense. I looked way further ahead than I should have been, and he should have noticed a while ago, if this was normal, anyway. Suddenly, he stopped yelling, and there was a weird, awkward silence, like the silence before a storm. He stared me down, like I was his next wrestling opponent. Then, he started hyperventilating. It would have been comical, if it wasn't so terrifying. He carried on with the frantic, too-fast breathing till he got a seat in the living room.

"Water!" He gasped angrily at me, and I stumbled away to get it for him, terrified of what was to come. I got back as quickly as I could, managing not to trip. I handed it to him from a distance with a quivering hand. He took it quickly, and I noticed his breathing had slowed down slightly. He took a tiny sip, I could imagine him choking on it, and I began panicking too. What if Charlie had a heart attack? What if something happened to him, because of me? As soon as he had taken that tiny sip, he threw the rest at me; or should I say over me. "Not thirsty." He mumbled, his voice still sounded guttural. I briefly wondered if it was really my fault, or if he'd actually just caught rabies at work. Slowly, I reached for the phone. Damn, it was broken. The tears that had been stuck in my eyes started to escape. Charlie was going to have a heart attack. And he was angry – furious- at me.I had possibly condemned the vampire world –if Charlie survived. All these things, I was thinking about, till Charlie seemed to manage to say something that made sense. "Cullen..." The name was a hiss. I couldn't respond in any way, the tears were streaming so thickly now; I was losing my ability to make sense. "When did this happen?! It couldn't have, can't have been going on for seven odd months behind my back! You can't be this- this- In what has been a month! I saw you before, and you were- you were-!" He spluttered. "Who did- why didn't- how come- how come?!" He stared at me, as though expecting me to answer one of his 'questions'.

"I-I...I can't...I don't...-" I couldn't finish what I was going to say, either. Though I wasn't lost for words, I just burst into tears; so many you would think I was hiding the river Nile behind my eyes. What would it be? My father, or the vampire world? My father; the one who had been looking after me – vice versa, really- the man who had never managed to let go, even if my mother, and me, had stopped caring as much as we used to, or vampires; the family that had deserted me, made up lies and used me as a distraction in their endless, pitiless lives, my only love, my own daughter, and myself, too, sort of. I couldn't choose. My head hurt, worse than ever. Light-headed. Blood loss. My daughter was 'feeding'. It was a surprise not to pass out.

I could faintly hear the telephone ringing, through the sound of my own pulse in my ears. I reached over to answer. Wait; phone? The broken one? Yes, oddly enough. Number Withheld, was the caller ID. "Don't you dare answer that phone, Isabella. I'm talking to you." Charlie said, though I didn't think guttural half-snarls was 'talking'. Plus, I was too light-headed to pay attention. I answered, and before I got a chance to ask who the caller was, a smooth, silky voice at the other end of the line spoke.

"Grab your father's hand, and hold it to his forehead." It commanded. I don't know why I did, but I did as the voice asked. He looked up at me in confused fury, and tried to pull away when I grabbed his hand. Somehow, I didn't fall over when he resisted. In fact, his resistance meant nothing; I managed to raise his hand like I would a feather. As soon as his palm touched his head, he slumped back, into some kind of sleep. I didn't have the vocal strength to scream. "Good." The voice said a second later. "Bella, dear. Do you have any idea who this is?" It asked. I shook my head slowly, until I remembered they couldn't see me. I was trembling, and still crying, but I managed to shakily answer.

"No."

"Oh dear. It's Aro, from the Volturi. I-"

"What on earth did I just do to my father?" I realized I didn't care who he was, though I knew it meant something.

"Ah, Bella, don't you worry. It wasn't even you, it was Malcolm. You know that some vampires have 'powers'? Yes, of course you do. Alice and Edward were naturals. Well, Malcolm… it doesn't really matter who he is, but he has a story-like power. Imaginative violence, and it comes true. And of course Caius, my dear brother has the power of knowing things. Like Alice, almost. Your father is merely in a deep, 'forget-everything-I-saw' sleep. No worries." I just sat there, eyes wide. I couldn't speak; there was nothing I could think of to say. "Now… Caius says you were going to request a ride to Volterra?" Just as he spoke, a shining, Mafia-style black car pulled up outside the house. A second later, three people were inside my house. There was a soft, jingling laugh, both on the phone and in my house. Aro, on the phone spoke again, as did the person laughing in the halls. I was frozen with fear. "Are you ready to leave, dear Bella?"

Aro.

AN: Woot! 2 reviews! Thanks guys, you truly are the best. Sorry I didn't do an AN on the last chapter, I forgot... :P

Just in case,, my spacebar doesn't work very well atm, so I'm sorry if there are words smooshed together. Spell check helped that not happen, hopefully (yn).

I know, there are a few differences. Malcolm isn't really that important, tbh. And Caius has a power? I know, but I just thought it was odd that he was like a prince, or a king or whatever when he's a useless jerk. No offence, Caius admirers. And...it was kinda useful. He knows things, like Alice, but in the present. If you dnt get it, PM or review :D

Thankyou for reeeeeading (:

Rachee (: x