Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Seven: Help Me Make It Through The Night

Summery: When Edward left, he thought that it would make her life better- instead, he left her to a world that she was not ready to face.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I'm a costumer and Halloween is always busy for me. I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday!

Take the ribbon from your hair, Shake it loose and let it fall,
Lay it soft against my skin. Like the shadows on the wall.

Come and lay down by my side till the early morning light
All I'm takin' is your time. Help me make it through the night.

I don't care what's right or wrong, I won't try to understand.
Let the devil take tomorrow Cause tonight I need a friend.

Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight
And it's sad to be alone. Help me make it through the night.
-Help Me Make it Through the Night
***

A week later, I found myself pacing my tiny apartment- my fingers itching to pick up my phone. I didn't know who to call but I still reached for it and dialed the number without knowing who I was calling.

"Hi, you've reached Emily's phone. I'm not in right now but leave a message and I'll call you back!"

Emily. Emily who hadn't been at work the last two days. No one seemed to have heard from her. Fear knotted in my stomach. That vampire- the blonde from a few months ago- the night Alice was here- had she gotten Emily?

Suddenly, my apartment seemed too small. It was too hot and the fear was clawing at my belly like a trapped animal. I grabbed my coat and headed out with no thought as to where I was going. I barely remembered to throw my cell phone in my pocket.

It looked like it would rain but my mind didn't care. I thought about calling Ian but I didn't. Ever since we had gotten back from his parent's house, something had changed. I couldn't place just what it was, but we had both changed as people in those five days. Emily and I had analyzed every angle of that night but neither of us knew what the root of the change could be.

I found my way down to the beach- my default place to go when I needed to think. The wind was picking up and the warm sea water sprayed on my face. My hand was closed tightly around my phone. I should call Ian. I could go over to his place and we could talk. I should tell him all of it- the truth this time. No, he'd think I was crazy.

I almost tripped over it which made it worse. When I regained my balance and turned to see what it was, I thought it was a prank. It didn't look real enough to be a human hand.

It had been severed at the wrist by someone without the proper tools and not a lot of time. Bits of red trailed out the end about an inch and the nails had turned slightly blue. But the thing that sent the chills racing through my body was the sand around it.

"Bella Swan." My name was carved into the sand with deep, sure strokes. It looked like someone had used a knife. Even my little stumble through it still left the words clear.

I felt a scream building up in my throat. Fear clawed at my chest. The Animal that had driven me out of my house that day was wide awake and running rampant though my body. My feet were rooted on the spot. I wanted desperately to run but my feet would not move.

I opened my mouth to scream but instead I began to cough. What? I opened my eyes and found myself sitting up in my own bed in my apartment. I blinked in the dim light of dawn as I looked around my apartment and shivered. It had gotten colder during the night and I stumbled out of bed to turn on the heater.

The dream had been so vivid that I found myself even an hour later, still shaking. I called Ian but he didn't pick up. I tried dialing Emily again but I got her answering machine again. I called Charlie but he was working. I felt very young and very alone.

Looking outside, the day looked just the same as it had in my dream. The grey skies hung over the city like a heavy, wet blanket. I felt my heart, like a stone in my chest, chug through its paces.

It jumped when my phone rang. The shrill sound cutting through the still morning like a child's cry and my heart was still racing as I breathlessly answered the phone. It was Ian. I wasn't as relived as I should have been.

He seemed nervous. "Do you want to go for a walk with me? We can get something to eat before you have to got to work."

I peered outside. I could almost smell the rain in the air. "Sure," I told him. I wanted to get out of the house.

"I'll be by in a few."

"Great," I said. I felt like I was saying that a lot. Mostly it was a lie.

I hung up the phone and quickly realized that I was still in my PJs. I scrambled to pull on jeans and a sweater. I pulled on one of Ian's baggy sweatshirts that he had left at my house one afternoon and shoved my phone and wallet into the pocket. Shoes on and I was ready right as Ian knocked on the door. I grabbed my keys and opened the door.

After the dream I'd had, I was suddenly grateful to see a friendly face. I wrapped my arms around his middle and try to absorb some of his warmth.

I felt him chuckle deep in his chest. "Not the welcome I was expecting, but it isn't unwelcome. What brought this on?"

I didn't want to tell him about the dream. In the harsh light of the hallway, it felt silly. "Just glad to see you," I said.

"I missed you," he said as he hugged me back. "Are you ready? I don't want to get caught in the rain."

"We could take my truck," I said.

"Why? It isn't raining yet." Ian loved being outside. He loved the beach and the water in ways that made me think that he was really a fish in disguise. I teased him about it but it was something that I loved about him.

So we walked- and as we walked, we talked. We talked about nothing in particular but it felt good. It felt the way we used to be before he told me he loved me. Part of my mind wanted to tell him that I loved him back, but my heart wouldn't say the words.

We made our way to the beach and I had managed to push the dream to the very back of my mind. Instead, it was just Ian and myself and the beach where we had first met. We made our way toward the lifeguard stand that he had manned all summer and we were laughing and smiling and kissing and so I wasn't too shocked to find myself flat on my rear in the sand when I tripped.

The laughing stopped immediately- like someone flipped a switch. The hand lay on the sand just like I had seen it in my dream. Every detail was the same right down to the way the sand had my name carved in it and the bluish tint to the nails.

Ian was there in a flash trying to pick me up and move me so I couldn't see it all at once. He was calling my name but I didn't answer. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth I would start screaming. It was building up inside me- bubbling in my throat. The air was too close. I opened my mouth to breath and I felt the air rush into my lungs, but it got stuck in my chest. I couldn't let it out.

But I could and I did and I screamed. I couldn't stop. I didn't stop until long after the police had come.

The hand had come from someone who had been alive. It was a woman's hand- a young woman. I kept seeing Emily's face in my mind, but the police didn't want to confirm that it was her's. They kept asking me if I had enemies- did I know anyone who would do this? I was having a hard time clinging to the lies that I had spent the last year weaving around myself.

I did know who or what could and would do this but I didn't have a name. The blonde vampire from months ago floated through my mind, but somehow I knew it wasn't her. Ian didn't bring it up. He held my hand all through it. I didn't want to let go.

They kept us for hours. At times it seemed like they thought we were pulling a prank on them. I called the restaurant to tell them I wouldn't be in. They weren't happy but I didn't care. I wanted to tell them about Emily but the officer standing over me as I talked stopped me.

By the time they decided that the threat was real, I was almost falling off my chair. I had never been so bone weary in all my life. It made the days after Jacob's death seem bright and cherry in comparison. Was I destined to lose everyone I cared about? The thought sent violent shivers through my body. I clung tighter to Ian. He never wavered. He just held me closer.

I didn't want to go home. Ian took me to his apartment and held me as I lost it. I clung to him as if I were drowning and he would save me. We were like two ropes, tied together for so long that it would be impossible t undo the knot. I twined myself around him like the contact would keep me sane. I cried long into the night until sometime around midnight when I became aware.

I was aware of how hot it had become and the way I had soaked both our clothes. I was sweating with fear and loss. I wanted a shower but I didn't want to move from the safety of Ian's arms. Looking up into his eyes, I felt like I could have loved this man deeply if it hadn't been for Edward. But I never would have met him if it weren't for Edward. My head hurt with the circular thinking.

I touched his face. He needed to shave and I suddenly longed to rub my face against the rough surface of his skin. I kissed him instead. I kissed him long and hard.

"Bella…" he whispered.

"Just kiss me," I begged. "Please."

And he did. He wrapped his arms around me and let me fall.

That was the night that I lost my heart to Ian in ways that Edward could never touch.

I lost more than my heart that night. And for a while, nothing else mattered except Ian and I and the love we escaped to even as the real world closed in around us. I knew that after that night, I would never be the same.

She kept screaming. He wanted to hit her but he needed her alive. The smell of her blood filled the room but he held his control in an iron grip. She couldn't die yet.

Her death was secondary to the real plan. She was a stepping stone on the way to his true goal. The goal was all that mattered. And he had never failed in his goals. And he never would.

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