Shadows danced demonically across the walls, the sharp edges twisting back and forth like mangled fingers reaching for her again and again. The screech of branches scraping over old glass made her fingers clamp down on the lumpy blankets, seeking comfort in something that had previously made her feel a ripple of revulsion.
"There's nothing out there to be afraid of." A deep voice growled from the corners of the darkness. Straining her eyes, Bella skimmed over every surface, searching for the source. At first she could only see bare feet, but as she adjusted to the dim light she could finally make out the silhouette of a man, a huge, imposing man.
"Sam?" The word slipped out and she wanted to pull it back out of the air, but it just hung there between them as he refused to respond, and she knew intrinsically that it was him.
"Where's Leah?" Bella asked as she sat up slightly, trying to focus beyond the fuzzy residue left behind by the painkillers.
"Emergency at the hospital." Sam's voice echoed from the corner and against her will Bella found her eyes roaming over his hunched frame, his fingers rolling something back and forth in the shadows.
"I think maybe I should go now. I mean… thank you, for letting me rest here and everything, but I really think I should go." Bella grimaced when she heard the clear desperation in her voice.
"I don't think that's a good idea Isabella. After all Billy has already called your father and told him the Doctor thought it was best you remain here. You'll stay tonight; we have a few things we need to discuss regarding what happened." Sam's eyes were still obsessing over whatever was in his fingers, but no matter how hard she tried to see what had him so mesmerized, it was just too dark and his body was simply too far away.
"What do you mean? What happened when? Tonight?" She asked, her speech a little slurry as she tried to figure out what he wanted from her. "Nothing happened. Jake and Paul fought over something and then I hit my head. I'm not even sure how."
Sam nodded his head slowly and she felt like she'd pleased him somehow. She just didn't know how and whether she actually wanted to do it again.
"What did you see before you hit your head?" He asked slowly, his voice hard and demanding, a sound that made her cower slightly. She hated to admit that he scared her, but with his size and his unending temper, how could he not?
"I don't know, Paul was telling Jake to back off, telling him he didn't know what he was getting himself into, but Paul was standing too close and he was just too big, I couldn't really see anything but him." Just thinking of Paul and the way he'd pressed her against that tree sent a course of tingles all over her skin. She wondered if he really knew that she was here, feeling trapped in a room with a man who made a point to intimidate her at every turn. Something hopeful inside her wondered if he did know would he come to her rescue?
"What happened? Where's Jacob?" Bella asked with a timid voice, knowing already that the answer wouldn't be forthcoming.
"Just like you said: they fought, you hit your head. Jacob's back home with Billy by now, I'm sure." She didn't know why, but Bella knew he was lying, something in the ease with which he'd offered the information perhaps.
"Where's Paul?" Bella persisted and for the first time Sam raised his head, his eyes slowly taking in every inch of her. She couldn't help her fingers as they drew the blankets higher, trying to hide from his penetrating stare.
"It took you a long time to ask that question. For all you know Jacob could have killed him. He's capable, you know." Sam said with a wry smile and Bella thought for a second it was some form of wit that she wasn't familiar with, but neither of them were laughing.
She didn't feel like Jacob had it in him to kill Paul. The difference in their size cast aside, he just didn't have that kind of malevolent streak. Then a flash of him crossed her memories and she remembered the way he'd vibrated with hatred. The thought had her on her feet in seconds.
"Where is he?" She demanded, finding an inner strength that she didn't know she possessed.
"Sit down little girl." He hissed, drawing himself up to his full height, towering over her in the tiny box of a room. Her strength vanished and her knees buckled, her instincts warning her that this was a fight she couldn't possibly win.
"Please, just tell me they're both okay?" Bella pleaded, hating her weakness but revelling in it at the same moment as she drew her knees to her chest on the rickety single bed.
Instead of answering her, his whole body began to vibrate with laughter. The angry fire in his eyes making what should be such an open, friendly action, something sinister and hard.
"Paul's fine. Which you should already know, by the way. I think you can find out for yourself how Jacob fared." Sam seemed to be enjoying his twisted little game and Bella spiralled in self-loathing to feel the fear she'd felt float away. She didn't know Paul. It was true that he'd kissed her and admittedly she'd kissed him back, but she didn't know anything about him other than the feel of his lips on her skin, his body pressing her into woodland forestry. However, she did know Jacob and would even go so far as to count him as one of her best friends. She couldn't make sense of her own emotions, because though she felt uneasy to know that Jacob might be hurt, she didn't experience the level of panic she had with Paul. Just recognizing how fucked up that was, how very wrong, made her head hurt all over again.
He took a thick step towards her and her etiquette rushed out into the arid night air as she scooted back, pushing her body so hard into the metal bars of the clinical headboard that it actually hurt. She didn't know if she should shout out, or if anyone would come if she did, but she could already feel her heart drilling an escape hole through the woven pieces of her flesh.
The bed creaked and shook slightly as he lowered his weight, and she curled her toes tight into her body when she imagined his hand reaching down and tearing them off.
It wasn't just his body that was imposing, and for a moment, as she considered just how powerful his presence was, he reminded her just marginally of Paul. Just as quickly as it came, the thought left, tearing at her spirits with its departure.
He was watching her, even with her eyes averted, she knew. The remnants of his poisoned stare trembled all over her body. Her fear peaked and she chanced a glance over to the doorway, knowing it would be her only hope. It seemed like miles away, but as she lost her internal battle, she noticed him playing with that unknown object again.
Up close she could make out the form but not the color, and sadly it was enough. Bella didn't want to fathom what Sam was doing holding on to Emily's pill bottle. Let alone consider why he was clutching to it reverentially. It had been hard enough to ignore when it was just Leah, but with Sam, with his sinister attitude, his bizarre disappearance and now his all-encompassing presence, it was just too much.
Darting forward, she caught him off guard, but she'd only managed to wrap her palm around the tarnished door knob when she felt his callous hands around her waist, pulling her back with little care. She didn't understand that he could crush her between his fingers, that the force he was using was actually highly controlled, but she had no reason to either. All she knew was that his fingers hurt as they bore down into her flesh and the scream that fell from her lips and pitched out all over the house, was something that tore from her throat with abandon.
"You need to calm down." Sam advised in a loud cruel malevolence as he ripped her away from the door and while it was enough to silence her voice, it wasn't enough to stop her whole body from wriggling against him, telling him over and over again that this was wrong.
The door snapped open, banging aggressively against the wall as it swung back and forth.
"What the fuck?" Came the voice from the doorway, and though her senses were overloading with the bright light streaming in from the hall, she knew it was Paul.
Sam loosened his grip and Bella fell to the floor, her limbs landing in an uncoordinated jumble. Scrambling herself together, she fled back to the corner of the room, panting uncontrollably as she tried to figure out how and when this had become her life.
"What the fuck's going on Sam?" Paul asked again, something melancholy and slow finding its way into his question.
Bella's body began to tremble violently and she wondered if this could be the after effects of adrenaline leaving her system and not simply the desperate need to cross the distance between Paul and her as she feared.
Paul took a step into the room, his dark eyes flashing over everything, lingering on her body for just a second. She didn't know if it was his intention, but he stood directly between her and Sam, and once again the only clear sight she had was of the wide strength of his shoulders.
"What're you doing up here Sam? You promised me it would just be Leah." Paul said quietly and Bella felt like he was coaxing his friend, asking him to produce a reason that would appease the anger she could feel rolling from him.
"She had to go to the hospital. I just wanted to see if she was the same…" Sam's voice trailed away and Bella almost felt sorry for him, because there was something so alone, so far adrift in his voice that it spoke to her soul.
"Get out." Paul hissed and stepped forward, opening up her vision. Even though she expected Sam to reluctantly stand and leave, he didn't even twitch. She watched as a macabre smile drew up his lips, his white teeth bared, a warning flash of white in the gloom.
"I don't think she's even yours, you know. She doesn't react the way she should, at least she's nothing like…" Paul cut him off with a stern; "Enough." The bellowed word made Bella jump slightly.
"She scares easily, doesn't she?" Sam guffawed and didn't seem to mind when no one else found his humourless joke funny.
"You really need to leave, Sam. You know you have no authority when it comes to her." Paul said slowly, as though he might be reasoning with a child.
"While that might be true, you forget that I still have authority over you. Don't make me send you away." Sam lifted his hulking body up to its full height, standing over Paul by a few inches. The room didn't feel big enough for the two of them and when a feminine lilt called out from somewhere in the house, Bella wondered whether she could run now and escape this place.
"Sam, are you up there?"
Both men looked unwilling to stand down from their impasse and Bella exhaled in relief when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Sam? What're you doing…." The question dropped from Leah's tongue when she spied Sam and Paul standing chest to chest, the air of animosity and defiance strong enough that she stepped back into the hallway.
"Sam honey, why don't you come with me?" Her voice lowered and Bella wondered if Leah just might be crazy. Sam's shoulders seemed to drop just slightly under her focused stare. When Leah waltzed into the room and pushed herself between the warring giants, Bella felt her own body twist in fear.
"Sammy…" Leah's voice sung as she trailed her fingers up his arms, pressing herself into him in a very obvious way.
Bella felt uncomfortable watching the intimacy of their relationship unfold in front of her, and just as she was considering looking away, Leah began leading Sam from the room. The cold nothingness in her eyes rippled all over Bella's skin as his hand roamed unimpeded over Leah's body.
The room, if possible, felt even smaller with them gone and while she didn't really want to look his way, her eyes moved to him of their own accord.
He had only moved to bow his head, his whole body still wound, ready for battle.
"Please tell me he didn't touch you?" Paul's voice escaped, blending in with the thick tension.
Scrambling, she wondered what she was doing, but something stronger than her rational brain pushed her forward, rising to her knees.
"He stopped me from leaving; that's all." She replied, aware that the feel of Sam's grip on her skin had faded in her memory to something manageable.
"Show me." He demanded and without need for another word, she stood, lifting her top slightly to reveal the creamy plains of her stomach and sides. Gasping, she couldn't hold back her surprise when he fell to his knees in front of her, his strong fingers gently caressing the red blushes on her skin.
He lifted her top a little further, checking her over for any further signs of misuse, and then he began to tug at the edges of her jeans, searching her obsessively. She could hear him muttering, but she couldn't make out the words.
"No one touches you but me." He finally said aloud, and she almost reeled back from the dark force he held over her as she nodded, promising him something that would almost be impossible to uphold. He seemed to find some peace in her acceptance, as his fingers and eyes stopped their fastidious search.
"Let's get out of here." Paul said while rising to his feet, grabbing her hand a little crudely. She trailed behind him silently, dismissing all the questions which began pummelling against the perimeters of her mind. The whole night had been terribly confusing and while she tried to piece together what she knew, she found so little that she almost instantly gave up.
"Where are we going?" She asked, sticking with questions where the answers wouldn't amount to more confusion.
"I'm taking you home. You dad knows you're here, but he's not exactly going to mind if I bring you back early. You can tell him you woke up and wanted to be back in your own bed. It's hardly an unreasonable request." He concluded and she found his logical lie strangely acceptable.
"Is that the only thing you want to ask me?" He queried as he tucked her inside his ominous black truck, headlights beaming on the broken down shack Sam called his home.
"Will you answer if I ask?" She retorted, a deep fatigue settling over her now that strangely enough she found herself feeling at peace.
"No." He answered honestly, his eyes heavy as they tracked the beam lit night.
"Well then, I think I'll save my breath." She deduced with a wide yawn.
The calm of night rolled by and Bella struggled to keep her eyes open. Just five more minutes she pleaded with herself, but when she felt her body being lightly jostled she knew the battle had been lost. Instead of pulling herself out of the abyss, she snuggled down in the arms that were enveloped protectively around her fragile bones. Even when she could hear her father's irate voice, she only pressed herself tighter against him, but eventually he would leave, she knew he would, and she would be forced to actually admit that she was lost in her own life. But until then, she wasn't going to miss a moment of the calm that seemed to pour over her body, simply by having him near.
a/n: As usual a wonderful thanks to my lovely beta Twiticulate and all you fantabulous readers. I'll see you all again on Wednesday for Chapter 8. xxx