The shards of sunshine slashed across her exposed leg, her toes twitching unconsciously as she escaped through the endless forest, twigs and rocks slicing through her delicate skin as she desperately tried to outrun his encroaching steps. A sharp beep shattered the images and as her toes stilled, her fingers gripped down on the familiar blankets, reassuring her that it had all been a dream, nothing but a dark and twisted dream.
Opening her chocolate eyes, she flinched back from the harsh light, blinking furiously until she became accustomed to the invasive brilliance. Flicking off her alarm clock, she listened out intently, looking for any echoes of life in the small house. Pleased with the results, she threw back her blankets and shuddered in the frigid air. Charlie's insistence on keeping the bills to a minimum, combined with the bitter outside air, were something that took a little getting used to.
Jolting to the door, she snatched her thick robe from the hook and wrapped it around her body in rapid movements, her fingers working nimbly to tie the cord in a hard knot around her middle.
Feeling a little of her usual warmth return, she opened her door and her senses, seeking any signs of life. Standing prone at the top of the stairs, she finally concluded that she was alone. Knowing she wouldn't have to tiptoe around Charlie after their volatile week was a relief, so much so that her fingers stopped worrying the cord around her waist and the tight tension in her lips released. Mornings weren't exactly her thing and with an alarm set down to the last possible millisecond, there just wasn't time for another conversation about how she needed to 'come right home'.
Flowing through her morning routine, Bella didn't allow herself to linger on anything negative and so even though her heart should have been troubled, she pulled up to school singing along melodically to the Country radio station, the only station her truck would allow her to play. Sometimes she imagined it had been previously owned by a cowboy, a strong silent type with an accent that could make her blush, but today wasn't one of those days.
No one stopped to stare anymore as her truck back-fired; no one paid her any mind at all. Like the leaves that had fallen to cover the land, or the rain which until recently had perpetually tumbled from the sky, Bella simply blended into the background. Sometimes the way her peers casually dismissed her existence hurt in a way she couldn't explain, but today wasn't one of those days either.
She shrugged her book-bag over her shoulder and like the other three thousand plus other inhabitants of the small town had done already today, she looked up to the barren sky with a perplexed expectation. Without knowing she was doing it, her tongue slid out, straggling across the edge of her broken lip. She didn't know she was being watched, didn't notice when across the parking lot a pair of ochre eyes flicked along, watching that tongue as it left behind a glistening trail. The obvious attention he was paying her did catch the attention of someone else and when he caught a deep warning from somewhere to his right, Edward whipped around, his survival instincts destroying years of trained patience in seconds.
Seeing his error, a symphony of chimes called out his name, and a raised eyebrow was all the reprimand he needed to resurrect his usually faultless facade. Looking over for the source of the venom pooling in his mouth, he fell into the darkness, looking for a mind that was hidden from his acute vision. Finding nothing but frustration for his efforts, he focused back on the girl, following her delicate frame as she weaved through the bodies in her path.
Bella slammed her locker shut, and then turned into the passing throng, following the languid pairs of white sneakers in front of her as she ambled to her first class.
The day seemed to muddle along endlessly and though she tried her best to maintain a certain pretence, she couldn't help but feel the drone of her teachers voices and the monotony of topics, all seemed to mesh into one long extended period of hell.
Her distraction was largely ignored, but occasionally someone brazen would step her way and ask if her father had any leads on the case of Emily Young, any suspects in mind for her now infamous demise. The factual details she'd heard had been sparse, but the town had managed to fill in the blanks nevertheless. A girl who had been a stranger on their lips had suddenly become a friend of a friend, a close relative, a regular at the local store. Everyone had something to contribute, but with each passing rumble that Bella heard, the more she felt she was actually hearing nothing at all.
Sitting down silently at the end of an occupied lunch table, Bella felt eyes raise in her direction, a question of sorts spoken only in silence. She knew them all by name, shared pleasantries when it was necessarily, but her own mental insistence that 'ties could bind' had kept everyone at an unnecessary distance.
When the eyes averted and no one made a move to approach, she exhaled out her satisfaction. Pulling out a bag of carrots and the poptart she'd hastily grabbed that morning, she thumbed through to the turned down page in her book, content to find some solace for a while.
"Is anyone sitting here?" A sweet voice asked, and the sight of the ethereal girl stopped the carrot in mid-air, poised to enter her mouth. When Bella still couldn't find the words to answer, the girl trilled out a happy little laugh and then took the seat anyway, her eyes wide and intelligent as she scanned Bella's face.
Pushing the carrot slowly into her mouth, Bella took the time to assess the situation, looking over the girl's shoulder to see the other Cullens watching on, but they weren't the only ones. As her eyes drew back in she saw they had the attention of the majority of the lunchroom too.
"I'm Alice Cullen." She said, her sparkling white teeth showing for just a fraction of a moment as her pink lips curved around her own name.
"I know who you are." Bella replied, still unsure what she had done to deserve an audience with this stranger.
"You're in some of my classes." Alice continued brightly, untroubled by the way the entire room had suddenly silenced, dozens of ears straining to each syllable as they fell from her tongue.
Bella diffidently looked at the girl, took another carrot from her dwindling supply and then slowly brought it to her mouth, chopping it in half with a resolute crunch. Knowing it required no words to do so and would possibly make up for the manner in which she was reacting, she pushed the bag towards the girl and smiled lightly.
"Oh, no thank you, but it's so very sweet of you to offer." Alice gushed, and Bella thought she couldn't have been more effusive had she planted, nurtured and then toiled to bring the vegetables to this very table herself.
"It's nothing." Bella murmured, hoping people would soon tire of their scrutiny and turn away.
"I was wondering if you were doing anything after school. My family just moved here, well, we just moved back over the summer, and I thought maybe we could go shopping or get some coffee or something." The rambling seemed to be out of character and although Bella felt bad for the girl, she didn't really have anything to offer her. Bella could remember them vividly from her first day at Forks High, mainly because Edward, the one with the oddly colored hair, had glared at her with such a venomous hatred she'd wondered if perhaps they'd met before. She'd hadn't even had the chance to figure it out, because the next day they'd been gone and now that a chance to solve the puzzle was presenting itself, she had far more pressing things to contend with than a sullen teenage boy.
"Sorry, but I have to go home right away. With everything that's been going on, Charlie… my dad, is feeling a little over protective." Bella tried to give the impression she understood his dilemma, and after her actions the previous week, she thought perhaps her performance could do with some work.
"Oh, well do you think he'd mind if I stopped by? We could just watch a movie or do each other's nails or something."
Bella's eyes immediately flashed down to her own gnawed stubs and then over to Alice's already perfectly manicured talons, even if the idea hadn't sounded so unappealing before, it definitely did when faced with her own meagre reality.
"I guess he wouldn't mind if we watched a movie. I mean, I know he doesn't exactly like me being alone." Bella said, trying to convince herself she wasn't agreeing purely because she was actually still quite nervous to be alone with Charlie. Alice didn't ask or care for the reason; she simply clapped her hands in delight and then began rattling off all the reasons why they were going to have an amazing time.
Bella listened to her waffle on all the way through the rest of lunch, and then through the last two periods of the day, after Alice happened to convince the watery eyed blonde who normally sat on her right to vacate her seat.
By the time they hopped up into her truck and Alice scrunched up her delicate little nose, Bella couldn't figure out whether she loathed the girl or really liked her. There was no space for anything in-between she concluded, but there was certainly potential for the balance to slip either way.
"Is your Dad home?" Alice asked as they walked up to the doorstep, Bella jiggling the rusty lock back and forth as she was always required in order to gain access. Alice tapped her little foot and Bella figured it was probably out of frustration, because the day was hardly warm and with a strong bluster just beginning to rock the nearby trees, it was guaranteed to be a frigid night.
"Sorry, I keep meaning to ask Charlie to oil the lock, but somehow it always slips my mind." Bella proffered and she couldn't help noticing that Alice was staring back over her own shoulder, her fists tightly clenched. Upping the intensity of her actions, the lock finally gave and Bella rushed Alice into the house knowing it was hardly the best first impression ever made.
"Do you want anything to drink? We have soda, but I can make tea or something if you want to warm up." But Alice simply shook her head while peering around the room in fascination, Bella wasn't sure what was so great about the place, especially since nothing had changed in the decor since she'd invaded Charlie's life. With almost fifteen years as an indifferent bachelor under his belt, that meant there was a hell of a lot of plaid and not much else.
"The movies are in that cabinet down there." She pointed and then headed to the kitchen to make a warm mug of tea for herself.
When she returned Alice was sitting on the edge of the sofa, her back so rigid and still that Bella felt in pain just looking at her.
"Did you pick something?" Bella asked, anxious for something to the fill the space between them, even though she knew, and therefore hated, nearly all their paltry movie collection by heart.
"I sure did." Alice grinned and as the trailers faded away, Bella smiled over at her unusual companion, relieved that at least they shared something of the same taste in films.
Sitting back into the folds of the sofa that was older than she was, Bella tucked her knees up and then watched comically as Alice mimicked her attempt at something like relaxation. It was the first time she wondered if maybe this was a new experience for Alice too, because from what she'd seen, the Cullens were hardly prioritizing their need to make external friends. The movie flowed on and though Bella kept her eye on the clock, she did find herself drifting into the lives of others.
She was just about to stand and turn the oven on ready for Charlie's impending arrival when the phone rang, shrilling through the house. Jumping at the noise, she quickly ran to grasp the receiver, pulling it to her ear.
"Hello?" She asked, expecting Charlie's gruff voice to sound back, telling her he was going to be late, when really all he wanted to know was whether she was obeying his order to come straight home.
However, what she heard stilled her heart. A voice was keening into her ear, sounding so far in the distance that she could make out neither the speaker nor the words. Pressing the receiver a little firmer, she held her hand over her other ear, desperate to make sense of the unsettling sound. The sharp noise morphed in to a low guttural wail and though she wanted to hang up, she found that she just couldn't.
"Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?" She plead desperately and then waited, the crackling silence on the other end letting her know the connection was still there. She didn't notice Alice coming to her side, but she did feel the cold of the girl's skin as she pried her fingers back from the phone, placing it gently against her own ear.
"Hello?" She said sweetly, as though she might be addressing a dear old friend. Bella narrowed her eyes and watched as Alice betrayed nothing, not a movement or flicker, until she steadily replaced the receiver in its cradle.
"What was that?" Bella asked, sounding far more shaken than she thought she was. Alice thought for a second and Bella wondered if the answer that was waiting for might actually be a lie.
"I don't know, but it sounded like an animal that was hurt. Maybe someone out hunting dialled you up by mistake." The answer was weak and really rather implausible, but Bella had nothing else and so she nodded her head thoughtfully.
"Listen Bella, I think I should go. I just remembered I told Esme I would help her with something this evening." Alice said as she hurried to the door.
Bella immediately speculated whether the phone call and her departure were connected, but when she prepared the question in her mind it sounded cynical and silly. Keeping her errant thoughts to herself, she bid her strange companion goodbye and then stepped back into the house, dead-bolting the door behind her.
Staring across the room to the phone, she found herself unable to look away, unable to forget that horrible wail she'd heard. It certainly sounded animalistic, but it was also unlike anything she'd ever known. Walking over to the opposite wall, she tentatively lifted the receiver again and when she heard the casual buzz of an open line, she smiled at her own foolishness.
Hitting a few familiar buttons she wound the cord casually around her fingers, waiting for Embry to pick up his cell. But when the line finally clicked through and her ears recognised what they were hearing, she was struck dumb. It could be a coincidence, she tried to convince herself, a crossed line, but when the wail screeched down the phone line into her ear, her hands began to shake violently. Not thinking about anything other than him, she raced out of the house, her hair whipping wildly in the growing winds. It didn't matter that the front door was left swinging back and forth on its hinges or that she was pushing her truck to nearly double the speed limit, the only thing that mattered was Embry and that she needed to find him… before it was too late.
a/n: A big gushing thanks to my beta Twiticulate, who is simply amazing.
The next chapter will be up on Sunday, as will the epilogue of What About Love? (hopefully!).
Thank you to all you lovely readers, alerters and reviewers... hopefully I'll see you all again for chapter five. x