Next chapter—excited much? No? Well you will be…maybe.
Chapter 8
Regardless of my dreariness that eventually built up over time, I refused to go back to sleep; I had only a limited amount of time before I had to go back to that hell called the basement. I would stay here until I absolutely had to go back.
Carlisle returned not too long ago, clearly dead tired from being up almost twenty-four straight hours; he threw me an absent 'hello' before residing to his room. I'd felt a pang of an unknown emotion at the sheer casualness and ease of his greeting, it made me feel strange. Like I had always been a part of his day, as if it were completely natural for me to be here.
Moving past that, as soon as Carlisle came in, Edward had gone stiff. I could tell he'd been warring with himself whether or not to take his shift or stay here; I decided I was a big girl, so I shoved him along. He had protested feebly, but I wasn't going to let him miss another shift on account of me. Plus other men would grow suspicious if he suddenly stopped going to the hospital, and we didn't want any unnecessary attention.
I took Edward's advice he'd given me earlier on and I just picked up a book.
The story was like no other; it was so eerie. The main character was a teenage boy; I had to flip back to the previous pages, to be sure this character was indeed not a woman. The mannerisms of him were so different, yet so much the same as us. It showed new insight to the mind of a man. His thoughts intrigued me, and raised emotions I didn't completely even understand.
What truly shocked me was how unceremoniously he spoke of women in this world, the stories the Crazies told were nothing compared to this intense cornucopia of disarray. How well both of our races were so blended together, opened up my mind to new possibilities, and new questions.
Although the problems in this story arose because of girls, they seemed to fit in there perfectly. The characters were so much more passionate than anyone I'd known; the deep love is what drove these characters to do what they do—so much more wild than this world.
Which is why I felt something big shifting. Or at least I had a theory.
Through reading the book, it gave me insight, just like a science experiment.
My side was boring; utterly tedious. Now for me, a great change shifted and broke the chain of monotony, and it didn't just result from a change of scenery. In this book, what drove the men to attack were women, and extreme jealousy. Were the two races not together, the problems would not have risen. Then again, these characters would not have gone anywhere, and the story wouldn't exist.
I thought that maybe it was a chemical thing. Now, humiliating science lessons with Miss Newton had put this fact formally onto paper; this was the same thing except it held a greater impact with real world experience.
That's why, I felt and acted differently here. Being here alone wasn't the cause; it was Edward.
Our races are opposite—yet the same; this was something I'd never heard of in school. This realization was like dunking my head in a bucket of ice water (or the equivalent of taking a shower on this side).
We weren't so different. Yet the contrast between these two worlds was mind boggling.
We were like one color, yellow; these men were another color, blue; the colors stay the same, not coming in contact with one another, resulting in a complete standstill in the human anatomy. When these two colors mix, they made green. Just like in the book.
I was left with one question. One I'd never considered.
Why did they put The Wall up?
What could have happened between our races to cause the Volturi to put up such an obstacle and separate us? What good would that do? All that did was take away passion, and I didn't see how that was beneficial to anyone.
What could have caused this?
So many questions, so little answers, and these raging theories and dead end assumptions effectively drove me into near madness.
After an eternity of thinking, I decided that was more than enough brain power anyone should have to use for one day; so I set aside the book of childlike fantasies, and closed my eyes.
I sighed in impatience. It felt like mere minutes had passed, reading that book; though checking the clock, it indicated it'd been a good five hours. I brought the heels of my hands up to rub my poor eyes, for they stung like they'd been taped open for a thousand years. It was amazing how time could fly so quickly when you're learning about an impossible world. Or at least, attempting to comprehend it. It had felt less like reading a novel and more like a history textbook.
Resting the back of my head against the couch, the longer my eyes stayed closed, the more reality blended into non-reality; I smiled to myself, welcoming the sleep. My muscles relaxed and just as I was about to float away into nothingness.
I suddenly felt the presence of the strange voice. Groaning internally, I waited for what it would say. I just wished it would disappear. On top of being completely out of my element, I didn't need something else to have to deal with; with all my emotions built up, I felt this could be the straw that broke the horse's back. The voice wasn't clear, it didn't talk directly to me— a good thing. But what made me purely worry, was it didn't have to talk to me, it made me feel— a very disturbing thing.
And like switching a light on, my senses were as sharp as a jungle cats'. I shot up, ready for an attack, but not knowing why. Why were my senses heightened like this? It wasn't normal. In an instant, I was split away from everyone else in the world, except the people who went crazy in jail. I was going insane!
What? I snarled in my mind. Again, it remained silent; but suddenly, I had the intense sensation to hide.
Hide! It yelled at me, breaking the quiet. My legs jerked forward, reflexively, but I stopped them, still confused and not knowing why I had to run.
Just as I was about to start an internal war with myself, I heard voices. Real voices. Coming from outside, two of them. Male voices. What was worse was, along with their voice was, the sound of the door opening.
Oh, I thought cynically, maybe the voice in my head has some brains. I growled a profanity under my breath and whirled around, searching for a hiding place.
My heart raced and beat erratically against my chest, and my blood pulsed, boiling in my veins with red, hot adrenaline. I was losing time, with each passing second I was getting closer to being hog tied and carried away.
And like an idiot, I ran.
I flew to the basement door. Looking back on it, I probably should have woken Carlisle up, but that never crossed my puny mind. Panic held me in its grip like a master to its puppet.
Flinging open the basement door, I all but tumbled down the rickety old steps, and fell onto the floor, while hearing the male voices again. They were in the living room now, where I had been mere seconds ago. The thought sent a new shot of energy through me, pushing me up and off the dusty floor and into a pile of flour bags by the staircase.
My body fell on top of the dense, hard bags with all the strength and weight of my body; I stifled a groan as I buried myself deeper into the (what appeared to be) flour. As soon as I could no longer see any light peeking through the bags, I sighed. I struggled to hear any sign of their arrival.
Could those be Edward's brothers? I thought they weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow (or later today according to the clock in the living room). What were they doing home so early? This was bad, this was very bad!
And without thinking, I whimpered, "Please hurry, Edward." I then internally pinched myself, with a wince. I shouldn't have to rely on him; I'm a strong independent—
"The supplies are down here!" The male voice was terrifying close, and the sound of feet coming down the steps to where I was, made me start shaking.
Strong woman speech later, cower in fear now, I decided formally.
My hands brushed over the rough fabric of the flour bags, clenched and unclenching, as my eyes darted back and forth, looking for any pinnacle of light. But alas, I received no way to indicate where the men were. I struggled to keep my ragged breath quiet.
The voices drew terrifyingly closer. "I think the extra sacks are over here." One of the men said, thankfully, from across the room.
"That revelation would have been a lot more useful if it had come before we'd hiked ten miles already." The other one said with a hint of superiority in his tone, and cynicism. I grew still and froze my muscles, making sure not even a stray hair moved.
"I was distracted. I've been thinking a lot lately—." The first one, said absently.
"Let's cherish this moment because, we'll be in the same house with a woman the next time that happens." The other said, cutting him off scorn tainting his voice, and I smirked a little bit. Dark irony filled the room, invisible to the men.
The terrifying footsteps continued to search and scour for their supplies; I held my breath inside me for as long my body possibly could. However, I had to release shaky breathes every endless minute or so. I prayed that the sound wouldn't carry past my secret fortress.
They kept on looking through random crates and bags for a few moments, to a point where I thought I'd combust from the torturous suspense. They would mumble to each other sometimes, but would soon go back to their scavenging; my arms and limbs ached from being stuck in one position for such a long time.
Why won't they leave? My sub-conscience shrieked, with a fury and desperation of a criminal. A criminal. Was that what I was now? It was true I had broken the law by coming here. But did it count if I didn't know how? I supposed that was what I had become, nothing more than a criminal; I passively wondered what Mother would say if she knew where I was right now. I flinched at the image. I found myself missing her, just a bit. But, that didn't feel right. Maybe it was the security I missed; that seemed more valid.
Finally—finally, they found whatever insignificant thing they were looking for and started up the old, creaky, rotting steps. It seemed as if I was really, in the clear.
By this time, I should have already known that things just didn't like to work out for me.
And in an instant, the situation, which had shown with a tiny, sliver of hope, had crashed down upon me. Literally.
As their heavy footfall sounded above me, on the ancient steps, one careless slip of the foot had caused the thin beams to buckle and make a horrendous crunching and snapping sound that could slice through the thickest fog. And in one immense motion, the staircase broke and came tumbling down on top of the sacks. With me in them.
Getting into a ball, I heard the men's deep voices went from bass to soprano when they screamed as the floor beneath them collapsed; luckily they hadn't gotten far enough to be angled over me, for I would have surely been crushed. Biting my lip, I persisted in stifling a horrible cry as the panic of the position settled in.
I could feel the vibrations the wood fell on top of the sacks directly above me; I was expecting an intense pain as the stairs would crush me. But, it never came. Why wasn't I screaming in agony? The impact was hard, but it would only cause a few bad bruises.
I was probably buried so deep into the flour; the sacks above me absorbed the blow. I let out a shrill, hysterical laugh, not loud for the men who were currently shaking off the fall; I wasn't dead, but now, instead of being able to lift up the bags in order to let myself out, my skinny arms did no good against the sheer weight of the fallen stairs.
I shoved again, searching for any kind leeway, and receiving none; much to my frustration.
A series of groans of recovery snapped out of my reverie. I was now stuck here, until Edward would happen to come back; panic gripped my mind as I scolded to myself to be silent.
"How're we gonna get back up there?" The first one asked, not very worriedly, as if he'd dealt with worse and this was mere child's play.
"Alright, let's just move this debris off the flour sacks, I can stand on them, and give you a boost up."
As soon as he mentioned that standing on top of me would be involved, I wriggled, struggling to move. I felt the wood being plucked off the pile, one by one, and the load getting lighter. He was so dangerously close, all he had to do was move a few bags and find me; my limbs were stiff and a chill ran down my back in fear.
In my fear, I found my desire to be a million miles away from this purgatory, on my own side. I swallowed the bile that rose to my throat.
And like a powerful switch, my fear was added on with a want to defend myself; a need to fight back. A conflagration that burned white hot in my stomach.
My legs started kicking, hard and fast, making the flour fly off; in my desperation, I didn't even register the men's existence for a split second. For in the time it would take to really see them, my high would have evaporated. Feeling as if I were flying, my legs carried me to a weapon I hadn't even thought of; in a moment of intense desperation, I was able to think on my feet for once.
My hands clasped around the wide, rusting metal pipe that lay on the floor, and with all the strength I could muster, I yanked up.
I supposed there was pain along with the awkward popping sound in my shoulder, but I was too far gone to even address it; I swayed a bit as I held the heavy as lead, crude weapon.
My eyes flickered to the men's faces. Incomprehension and another foreign emotion dominated their frozen faces.
The tendons in my hand stretched and strained as I gripped it tighter; my senses were so heightened, I could see the colors of their eyes without losing focus. One of them had icy blue eyes and the other had chocolate brown eyes.
Three seconds passed of utter stillness, three meager seconds; I then sprang behind a nearby pile of boxes, holding the weapon out at point. They remained unmoving, bamboozled.
"Don't come near me." I growled lowly, trying to hide my absolute crippling fear that rocked me. They still stayed quiet. "Well," I said shakily. "Say something."
After a moment, one of them— the lankier one— closed his hard, cold sapphire eyes. "Who are you—?"
"What are you?" The other cut in; quite rudely if I might add, but the other made no motion to stop him. That was obviously the real question.
"What do you think I am?" I asked, not wanting to give up information; albeit, incredibly basic information, but information all the same.
"A… You're a…" The slightly bigger one said; I guessed that was Emmett.
"A woman." The other (who I supposed was Jasper) finished with a hint of superiority. Emmett looked at me with a curious gaze, a large contrast from his brothers' spiteful glare.
"What he said." I told him, while pointing to Jasper with the pipe.
Emmett nodded and started stupidly pinching his arm vehemently. I tilted my head in confusion.
"Em, " Jasper started; I noted in my head that I had been right about the names. "What are you doing?" I brought my gaze to him, searching for an answer as well. I was happy I wasn't the only one confused.
"Trying to wake myself up; I must have fallen asleep in the front room, because everything was normal before coming down here." He continued to concentrate on his delusion.
"Tried that. Didn't work." I murmured vengefully, they looked at me strangely. "Oh, by the way, you really shouldn't do that," Jasper continued to look at me with the same peculiar gaze. "It unnecessarily destroys cells."
Jasper threw up his hands snootily. "Thank you O' Queen of Wisdom; you have answered our haunting question." I felt my mouth drop and my eyebrows come down from the blow of his venomous sarcasm.
"How dare you talk to me like that? I am a lady—"
"Yeah that much is clear." He raised his eyebrows at me in a way that said 'do you really want to play this game?' I sighed in a huff; he was really going to be a problem.
"What did you mean by 'tried that. Didn't work?'." Emmett asked, acting as if Jasper and my exchange had never existed; already in a bad mood I answered.
"It means, I already 'tried that', and it 'didn't work'." I explained slowly, and then exhaled, letting the negativity flow out. "I woke up here and I've been confused ever since."
"How long?" Jasper asked suspiciously.
"A few days." After the words left my mouth, I knew I'd let something important slip; I slapped my hand over my mouth. Jasper stepped forward, prepared to interrogate me. I held the weapon forward and pressed it to his throat. "I'm not afraid to use this." A look a smug composure shone on his face.
"You won't do it, you don't have the guts." He nudged the jagged end of the pipe with his finger. I didn't move it back. "If you've been here so long," He looked up and down my body. "Where'd you get the clothes?" He asked as if he were a man on a mission.
"Well," I stammered. "I—"
"And how did you get in here?" He stepped toward me, boring his eyes into mine, trying to break my mask.
"Yeah and why are all the windows covered with blankets?" Emmett took a big step forward, but his advance was not a menacing one, but an inquisitive one.
"How have you stayed hidden for so long?" Jasper and my faces were inches apart now, my blood raced. This was not good. I backed away against the wall, discarding the weapon for I knew it would be of no help.
In that moment, Jasper grabbed my forearm and gripped strongly; sending pain up my arm. I let out a cry and whipped my head back.
"Hey!" An amazingly familiar voice boomed through the basement, I sighed in relief; Jasper released my arm, and along with his brother, looked at me weirdly. They obviously didn't miss that trip up. "What are you guys doing?" He boomed again, seeing the unprecedented position of them ganging up on me and I pressed against the wall.
"Edward, look!" Emmett shouted up and pointed at me as Edward leapt skillfully down from the doorway.
"First of all, what happened to the stairs?" He inquired angrily at them both.
"'First of all?'" Jasper yelled in disbelief and pointing rudely at me. "Do you not see who I am pointing at?"
"It's not polite to point." I said quietly yet smugly, hoping to agitate him.
"You know what? Shut up." He said dismissively to me.
"Hey man, don't be rude like that." Edward told him disappointedly, like he'd expected differently.
"Thank you!" I exclaimed to Edward, throwing my hands up like Jasper had, but resting them on my hips. His head whipped between us in utter disbelief at our relationship, whatever it was.
"What? You knew?" He howled at Edward while Emmett stayed quietly to the side, slowly shuffling his way to me.
"Okay, Jas, let me explain—" Edward started, with his palms out, defensively.
"Let you explain? Why I ought to…" Their conversation turned into a muffled buzzing in the background as Emmett came to stand close to me and turn to me with a smile.
"Hi My name is—" He started, his warm, chocolaty eyes.
"Emmett, I know." I stopped him, trying to be friendly, knowing it was safe now that I had someone else in the room on my side.
"Weird; anyway I go by just Em." He bounced back jovially.
"I prefer Emmett." I replied sternly. I only referred to my closest friends with shorter nicknames.
"Well alrighty then." An uncomfortable silence fell upon us. "What's your name?" He looked down at me. "Only seems fair since you know mine."
"Bella." I told him, truly it wasn't fair how I made them refer to me by a nickname and I couldn't use his, but I had to take this one step at a time.
"Cool, so Edward knew about you? When did he find you?" Emmett looked down with his, curious, happy eyes.
"He's been very kind." I wanted to laugh at the near lie. "And about three days ago."
"I would expect so, and that's kinda funny."
"Why was it funny?" I answered in a puzzled way.
"More ironic than funny really, that's the day after his birthday." I barely registered the trivial fact. It frankly wasn't even that ironic. He nodded, glancing over to the bickering brothers. "So you're a woman, right?" His voice came out with a tone of seriousness, like I was going to deny it. Like it was possible to deny it.
"Yes."
"Well what's it like?"He blurted, I internally groaned having to tell this story so much.
"I told Edward everything, he knows, you should probably ask him." I dismissed, not wanting to explain yet again.
"Yeah, but you're a primary source, you know more." He propped himself on his elbows on the bows, his face lit up with childlike wonder. It was so comical to see such a grown man with the look of a small child, I couldn't say no.
So while Edward and Jasper bickered, I retold the story of my side. Emmett just sat there, his eyes glazed over as he imagined. I contrasted the good, with the bad, he took it all in like he were starving and knowledge was his food.
"Whoa, that's…"
"Amazing? Incredible? Magnificent?" I smiled self-righteously.
"Cool." He grinned staring at the ceiling unseeingly.
"Okay guys, and girl." Edward started, taking control of the feud. "You and Em, just go to bed. No need for another scavenge—"
"We know that now."Jasper spat like an extinguished fire.
"And Bella, you can go to…cot, I guess." He finished gracelessly.
"Oh, oh, she's Bella now." Jasper threw his hands across his chest while chuckling hysterically.
"Yeah," Edward stood in front of him, glaring. "Now go to bed, you look exhausted."
He glared back for a second before waving to Emmett. "C'mon Em." He turned to the nonexistent staircase. "Oh look, no way up!" He shouted with a sardonic laugh, glaring at me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, now that was your fault." I pointed back at him, he glowered at me.
"'It's not polite to point.'" He mocked, putting his hands on his hips to add to the effect.
We spent the next two minutes pushing both Jasper and Emmett up until they disappeared into their rooms and it was just Edward I left in the basement.
"So," He exhaled, staring up at the doorway. "Since the cat is out of the bag, you can sleep on the couch, I'm sure it's okay. No need to go to cot."
I nodded tiredly; gathering the pillow and blanket as he helped lift me up. Gripping the bottom of the doorframe, I struggled to pull my body up over it, it wasn't impossible though. Once I was over, he threw up the pillow and blanket; he stepped back and leapt up, with amazing agility, and grabbed onto the doorframe.
Once we were both up, he pointed to the couch exhaustedly and murmured a 'goodnight' before going through a door. Bringing my things over to the couch and resting them down, I lifted up the curtains to have the bright sunlight pierce through the fabric. I closed it quickly before rubbing my eyes. Eagerly, yet tiredly, I threw my body onto the couch.
Yet another day on this side, and the more my tension was eased, not by much, but by a small fraction. So many questions, so few answers; but that was how the world worked right? Well, my world anyway.
You guys know I had to make her meet Jasper and Emmett. It just wouldn't be a proper story without them; and I apologize in advance if you think Jasper's character is harsh, but you will learn all in good time my kittens. All in good time.
Review for the rest of the teaser:
When I came back to the room, Edward was back, relaxing on my bed…well couch. I stomped over to him; he didn't even look at me as he read.
"Hey, move." I swatted his shoulder; he looked up at me innocently.
"Nope." He popped his lips on the 'p'.
I shoved at his shoulder and squeezed into the seat on the couch, he shoved against me, and I shoved back; soon we were both situated, quite closely, on the couch.
"I'm hungry." He stated bluntly, pushing me slightly to get up and going into the kitchen, I sighed, lying down across the whole length of the couch.
What was going on? He was acting very peculiarly.
As the clatter of metal echoed throughout the house, I played absently with the heart pendant, watching the candlelight bounce off the jewel in the center.
"Hey," He started carefully, hesitantly. "You want to see your father— right?"