The light was chipping away as Bella lay underneath Lucas in her car. Spencer and Keegan snickered as Lucas made some kind of crude joke. Her arms were concrete, weighing thousands of pounds each. Her throat was filled with dust and shards of glass. When she blinked the nile flowed from beneath her lids. She was punched in the gut, the head, then she was stripped. Acid rain hurled down from the bleeding sky, catching the car on fire. The three faces above her grew closer until she could see nothing else. For the hundredth time she tried to scream but couldn't.
A shrill, very real scream jolted her out of her sleep. Bella sat shaking in a layer of sweat, trying to assure herself that she was safe in her bed. She'd been having nightmares like this ever since the incident, but no matter how many she had, she still couldn't get used to them. Each one was as horrific and detailed as the last, if not more so. Sometimes they were very abstract, like the one she'd just been having, but the realistic ones were much worse. She swung her legs off the side of the bed, shivering as she rubbed her eyes. She couldn't find her flashlight so lit a candle instead, not desiring the harsh light from her lamps just then. Her clock told her that it was just after two in the morning. The night lay framed eerily outside her window, like a painting no one would want to buy. She got up quietly to get some water, making sure not to disturb Charlie who was snoring loudly in his room. Though she wasn't looking forward to it, Bella forced herself to go back to sleep.
It was the same nightmare as before, only with a twist. This time she was pulled out of the burning truck, though not by Emmett as it had been in the real nightmare. The pixie like vampire ran with her for miles until they were in an entirely different part of the country, possibly a different continent. They sat huddled in a red and gold room, large, unrealistically colored flowers sprouting from the crimson carpet. Alice was asking if she was okay, and Bella clung to her as if she'd fall off the planet otherwise. The petite vampire's hair was slightly longer, framing her face delicately. Does vampire hair grow? She wondered as she twirled some in her fingers.
"See for yourself," Alice told her, handing her a mirror. Bella took it and gazed at her pale reflection within it.
"I'm one too?" She brought her fingers to her face, noticing that in fact her hair was longer, and slightly darker.
"Yes," Alice whispered, pulling her into her arms. "Now we can be together, love."
"What about Rose?"
"No, Bella. You're with me now."
She leaned forward and the two locked lips passionately.
Alice stood, extending her hand. "Come," she said gently. "Get up, Bella. Be with me."
Bella couldn't focus. The flowers were slowly turning to pillars of smoke.
"Get up, Bella." Alice's voice was becoming more urgent. "Bella, get up."
Suddenly Bella's eyes flew open, realizing that she was being shaken intensely. Her room came flooding back to her, the dream forgotten.
"Bella!" Alice was yelling from above her. "Get up!" Before she could comply, she felt herself being lifted from the bed, the quilt coming with her. The air was stuffy, and though groggy, she could tell they were falling very fast. Once Bella became fully aware, she found herself laying outside of her house, next to the hose, which sputtered to life, spraying her sharply. She jolted upright, finally seeing the bright orange flames which were clawing out of the side of her window.
"No!" She yelled. Alice was beside her for an instant, but was gone with the hose the next. She ran back into the house, fighting the flames as she went. How did they spread so fast? She thought, referring to the flames. They'd nearly taken out the stairs now. She tackled them anyway, three at a time then four. She all but flew to Charlie's room, tearing open the door (which resulted in tearing it off). He lay passed out in a cloud of smoke. He was light enough, though she knew it must have looked pretty ridiculous; the tiny girl carrying the slightly overweight, full grown man. The flames were starting to get to her on her way down the stairs, feeling like lava on her skin. She panted heavily, struggling to keep Charlie away from the flames. She kept the hose on him, and at one point he almost woke up. Breaking through the front door, a rush of cold night air smacked into her lungs as she rested Charlie next to his daughter, who'd been trying to beat at some of the flames with her quilt.
"Let it go," Alice told her, reaching for the charred blanket.
"Charlie's in there!" she screamed back, coughing violently.
"Charlie's safe. Look, right here." Bella glanced down at her father, but the movement of her head sent her reeling, her lungs filling with black smoke. She felt lightheaded, and not a moment later her knees gave way.
"Bella!" Alice yelled, catching her in midair.
Alice asked if she was okay, and Bella clung to her as if she'd fall off the planet otherwise.
"I'm sorry-" a violent cough shook her. "I should have gone with you sooner-"
"It's okay, you're safe. Shh, it's okay." Alice could hear sirens in the distance. Bella was losing consciousness fast, and Alice knew she had to get them away from the smoke. She carried both her and Charlie away from the burning house, setting Bella's dad down gently. She held onto Bella, trying to keep her conscious. The girl had tears in her eyes, and Alice guessed she was becoming delirious from the way she was rambling.
"Okay, I'll be with you. I'll be yours. I'll go. Don't let them get me. Not again. No-please."
"Bella?" Alice felt now that Bella's skin was as hot as the flames she'd felt. She pressed a cool hand to her forehead, her cheek. Bella whimpered incoherently before passing out.
Alice looked up. The fire truck had arrived.
Rosalie finished talking with Carlisle before going back into see Bella. Alice had decided to stay in the waiting room, though Rosalie had made it clear that she was forgiven, especially since she'd saved her girlfriend. She caught her hand before the small vampire, dirty with soot, could turn away.
"You sure?"
But Alice nodded, and Rosalie didn't want to force her. She walked down the glossy white hall to where Bella slept. She was lucky Alice had smelled the smoke. Rosalie wouldn't allow herself to consider the other possibility. She pulled up a chair and took her hand, which was hooked up to an IV. She rubbed her knuckles, wiping away some of the soot, disappointed when she found a red sore beneath.
"You clumsy thing," she whispered. "You're supposed to blow out the match after you light the candle," she tried to smile but couldn't feel it. She'd come very close to losing the dearest thing to her for a second time in just a few short weeks.
Alice flipped through a magazine in the waiting room, trying to look as if she were reading it. A young nurse walked by, tugging Alice from her thoughts of the fire, of Bella's rambling. Alice watched as the nurse passed, feeling a slight flirtation arise when the nurse turned and gave her a smile. Alice managed a smile but grimaced when she'd turned away, mentally smacking herself. She didn't want to be this way. When exactly had she signed the contract that labeled her as bi? As much as she hated it, a part of her had known she was kissing Bella that night, and worse-she'd liked it. The horrific truth was that Alice had adored that moment when she'd realized whom she was really kissing, and just before Rosalie pulled her off. Bella's body had pressed up against hers, their curves fitting together perfectly. Their mouths had been pressed so firmly, so hungrily, their round breasts bumping. She would never have let it happen sober, but that night was the first step in realizing what she was, and she was glad for it in that sense.
She'd been happy she'd been able to save Bella, and accepted Rosalie's apology heartedly when offered. But the truth Alice carried weighed down on her. She'd told Rosalie she'd been hunting and smelled the smoke, in actuality already having been on her way to see Bella. Her initial plan had been to apologies for having kissed her. But as she traveled towards her house, that reason began to change. What she would have done if the house hadn't caught fire, she didn't know. She couldn't see herself doing anything that might hurt Bella and Rose's relationship, but then again, a few months ago she hadn't seen herself as bisexual either. She could have done anything from declaring her sexual orientation to kissing Bella all over again. She tried to focus on the magazine again, leaving the mess of tangled thoughts for later.
A/N: Thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW! :D