I knew that Aro would probably be using Demetri to track the Cullen's, so Rosalie and Emmett "continued" their vacation, and headed back out to Africa. I wanted to go with them since I couldn't go anywhere while I was in Forks, but Edward convinced me to stay. It really didn't take much convincing, but still, I was on house arrest without the gaudy anklet. Rose was especially upset that we sent her away because she felt as though she was just gaining me as a sister, and now she had to leave me again. Emmett was mad because he wasn't able to stay for any of the preparations. They eased up a bit when I told them that they had their own mission, and just needed to remain away until everything was to be made known. Today.
The last day in the meadow seemed like days ago, when in fact it was five months ago. I remember the moment I had decided that the dream I had would work, Alice called Edward's phone and said that I was brilliant. Considering that I was glittering at the time, calling me brilliant was an understatement. The way Alice was shrieking, I could tell she was jumping up and down.
Now five months later, I wanted some interaction with the outside world, so we started my brilliant plan ahead of schedule. Alice was able to see that the next three days were going to be overcast, but little to no rain, so this was going to be the best that we could hope for. I was sitting in the stupid chair that Alice forced me into. Alice kept grumbling about this being "my idea" as she applied the makeup all over my anxious body. I didn't want to wait any longer, but before my impatience got the best of me, "Masterpiece," was all I heard from Alice's lips as she stepped back to admire her work.
It was decided that I was to run down to Port Angeles. Crime was especially high in this particular city, so it seemed particularly plausible for my plan to begin. And now that I was there, there was no turning back.
I emerged out of the woods, trying my best to look dazed. I made sure I didn't make direct eye contact with anyone, and I kept walking down the road.
A few cars passed me by and I could see s few even look back at me in their rearview mirror. Don't people offer help anymore? Just as I mentally cursed the human population for becoming so indifferent with each other that they don't help strangers who are in obvious need, a red pick-up truck pulled over and the hazard lights came on. "Excuse me? Miss, do you need help with something?" An elderly woman called out from the passenger seat. Her husband climbed out of the cab and walked around back towards me and I fell onto my knees in front of him.
"Geraldine! Quick call the police! I think this is that bird girl from Forks." I struggled to keep a straight face when he called me "the bird girl." It was quite comical.
The man reached out to touch me and I flinched under his touch. "I want to go home! I want to go home!" I screamed over and over. I saw a crowd, forming across the street at the country store, some of the men were now running across the traffic to help the old man. I backed myself against a tree and kept repeating, "I want to go home" over again, only now I was whispering.
"I think it's that girl. You know, the one that went missing out in Forks?" I heard the man repeating to the men that came over.
"Floyd?" I heard Geraldine's voice again, "I called 911, the police are on their way. Is she okay?"
"What should we do with her?"
"Wow, she looks messed up. Whatdoya think happened to her?"
The voices and questions kept piling up and I covered my ears as if the noise was causing me pain, though with my hearing I could still hear every word of it. Every time someone made a move to come near me, I would edge closer and closer into the woods before they gave up.
The police got there, along with an ambulance. They too tried to get near me so that they could examine me. I started thrashing my arms around, careful not to hit anyone hard. I didn't want to break anybody's arms in the process. One of the paramedics reached into her bag and pulled a syringe and a bottle of clear liquid. The way she was holding the bottle I couldn't read the label, not that it mattered, whatever it was, I knew the needle would never penetrate my skin.
Just before she plunged the needle into the bottle, I let out a scream, hoping that it would distract her long enough not to waste the medicine. Someone down the line would need it. "Please no needles. Please." I looked directly in the eyes of the officer that strangely resembled Billie Black.
"Will you calm down miss?" I nodded my head as sheepily as I could, and he waved his arms to have everyone to ease back. "Now first let's start with your name. Are you Bella Swan?" I nodded my head, and I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of whispers of speculation. "Okay, we're going to take you to the hospital so we can have you checked out okay? And then we can try to help figure out what happened to you. We'll call your next of kin so they can come get you. Alright?"
"NO!" I shook my head adamantly. "No, take me home now. I don't trust doctors."
"Well honey that's gonna be a problem. We have to make sure you're okay."
"Then find Dr. Cullen. He's the only one I'll trust right now. Please?" I looked into his eyes, this time deliberately trying to dazzle him. As soon as I saw him nodding, I heard the other officer get on his radio and tell the dispatcher that they were driving me over to Forks. I successfully dazzled the paramedics and told them I didn't want to be hooked up to any machines and to let me just sit on the gurney. At first the female paramedic argued that it was against policy but her partner convinced her that I'd already been through enough trauma.
With the sirens blaring on both the ambulance and the police cruiser, we made it into Forks in forty-five minutes. The ambulance entered the town and drove past the high school. 'I'm here now.' I warned to both Alice and Edward. News traveled so fast in Forks, they probably heard that Bella Swan was found before we entered the city limits.
We finally made it to the hospital, and I could hear the nurses paging Dr. Cullen to the emergency bay. And there I saw one of my personal angels standing with his arms open ready to receive me. "Dr. Carlisle? She requested you personally."
"Oh my God Bella! What happened to you?" Carlisle was a really good actor. "Yes officer, we'll take care of her. Once I get a look at her, I can give you updates on her recovery. Has her father been contacted?"
"Chief Swan should be on his way. Dispatch was able to get a hold of him while we were in transit."
I saw Carlisle nod and then he turned to my direction after I was sitting in a wheelchair. "Okay, Bella let's get a look at you. Okay?" He said this in a gentle caring voice that would make any doctor wish he had his bedside manner.
"Thank you Carlisle." He and a nurse rushed me to a closed off room, separate from the other patients and nosy nurses. At this point, I was supposed to act shy and timid around the nurse, and I hoped I was pulling it off. She tried to help me lay back into the chair and I screamed at her touch. I found that other people were scared of being screamed at.
"Janine, maybe it's best you wait outside." He was extremely calm, even though she was obvious that she wanted to stay in the room with Carlisle. She nodded and left the room though without a sound.
"Were you able to get everything?" I asked him. His task was getting my records and test results faked. I honestly don't know what there was that the Cullen's couldn't do. And apparently even faking medical records was easy, because Carlisle nodded his head as he was cleaning the makeup off of my face and arms. He left the room momentarily so that I could change into a gown on my own. This may be fake, but I was determined that he was not going to see me naked.
"Are you ready?" He asked when I was done changing, and came and put the appropriate bandages on and even added a cast for effect. Of course, because the ever so clumsy Bella Swan couldn't possibly come out of an ordeal, at least not without a broken limb. I couldn't even walk across a classroom without tripping. Well that was the human Bella. The stage was set after an hour of the fake mending. "Okay, Charlie is here waiting to see you, and so are the Port Angeles police. The story is still the same?"
The story was going to be I came home from school and had just entered the house, when I must have interrupted a robbery. There was a struggle all the way from upstairs all the way down to the door, but my attackers were just too strong. They took me with them, and were contemplating killing me or holding me for ransom. They were going to kill me until they saw the report that I was the chief's daughter, and knowing that he was so beloved, they decided to keep me alive for the time being. They were hoping that the search would get cold and then they'd figure out what to do with me. But at some point my abductors heard of a big job in Michigan and wanted to do that, so they were going to just bring me with them until when they thought I wouldn't do anything, I escaped and wandered in the woods. It took me days before I found my way out.
I could hear Carlisle telling Charlie and the cops that I was resting and only one at a time could go in. Of course they offered the right to Charlie first. He promised that he'd tried to get as much information from me as possible.
"Hey Bells? You in here?" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He used to do that at home and it always bothered me. I opened my eyes as if I was woken up.
"Dad?" I tried my best to sound groggy. If that didn't work, then I'd blame it on the drugs that Carlisle supposedly gave me to sleep.
"Oh Bella, honey I'm so glad you're alive. Renee is trying to catch the first flight out here so she can see you too." I was sad that he was crying. I knew in my heart that I did what I had to do to keep him safe, but it still hurt that I had to put him through the pain. I held out my arms so that he could give me a quick hug. He promptly backed away quick when I signaled that I was straining. Carlisle was able to sneak a hyperthermia blanket under a regular blanket to keep my surface warm
"I missed you too dad. What time is it?"
"A little after one in the afternoon, but I think the entire high school is here." He said this with a smile, knowing good and well that I didn't like the attention. "Don't worry baby, when I leave, I'll tell everyone to go home. Now Bells, I need you to tell me what happened."
With all of the questions that he asked it took an hour for Charlie to gather as much information that he could. Carlisle tried coming in to break it up, but I kept waving him off. Even though Charlie was conducting his official duties by that point, I still wanted to stay in his presence.
It wasn't until two thirty that finally Carlisle came in and reminded me that the drugs should be kicking in, and that it was best to get my rest. Sullenly I agreed and started to yawn for the benefit of Charlie. "Bella, don't forget you have to act like a person who's been through something traumatic and heavily drugged right now. I'm afraid Edward and Alice had to go hunting. They underestimated the scent in the hospital and wanted me to let you know they will be in shortly." The door opened and Nurse Janine poked her head in.
"Now get some rest, Bella." He instructed as Janine was telling him about an upcoming surgery.
I laid in bed, bored out of my mind since I didn't have the foresight to think of bringing anything to entertain me. "Thanks a lot dreams," I said internally. I decided to lay back and count the little holes in the ceiling. After I reached 312,029, I was bored with that idea and went back to just laying there.
Not long after that, did Edward and Alice come into my room. Just before the door shut all the way, I could see some for my classmates outside in the waiting area. Great.
"Alice please tell me this is worth it."
Her eyes glazed over and when she came out of her vision, she was smiling. "They will be here in three months."
"Three months?" Edward asked. "Why so long?"
"Well they're gathering the wives, guards and witnesses. They want to slaughter us all." I threw in there. I knew how Aro was thought by now.
"Well there's that, but Forks, Washington isn't necessarily international news. But they'll eventually see it, it just won't be for another few weeks before they hear of your quote, un-quote rescue." Alice was now smug. "But don't worry, they'll come. And we didn't even have to build anything either."