Author's Note: I am so complete fail. I'm sorry! I've been concentrating on my other story, Imprinted, and have neglected Becoming Bella Swan. I promise more regular updates.

Hi, you've reached Edward Cullen. I am unable to take your call. I'm sorry, however it couldn't be helped. I'm on my way to Italy to beg the Volturi to kill me. Depending on the date and time of your call and with a little luck, I may already be dead. Don't bother leaving me a message, there's really no point.

Hmph. That was not a good sign. "Hi, um, Edward. So, yeah, please don't kill yourself for me? Look, I'm just at this motel taking care of some unfinished business and I was going to come back and find you. I really hope that you're not dead. Don't die, okay?"

I tiptoed outside of the motel and lit a cigarette. I exhaled into the direction of a buzzing yellow light and watched the smoke tumble and twirl, dissipate and disappear. I felt like that puff of smoke.

My mind was numb, but again I was struggling to escape a memory that threatened to drown me; swimming against a strong undertow of despair. I couldn't draw the right amount of air into my lungs.

I took another lazy drag and pursed the smoke between my lips so that I could text Alice: Come get me. We need to save Edward bec-

Alice grabbed the phone out of my hand. "Shit and fuck and stuff," I managed with a yawn. I was still pretty stoned.

"I don't approve of the company you are keeping, Isabella. The dog renders me blind." Alice pivoted in her ballet flats. "You should never stand beneath a fluorescent light. It does terrible things to the complexion." She frowned and looked at my eyes. "Chasing the dragon?"

"Don't you breathe?"

"No." She lifted me onto her back and started running.

"Shit and fuck and stuff!"

-({})-

"Alice," I yelled, my voice stunned. We were flying through the woods and she felt so unsubstantial beneath me. I squeezed my thighs like a vice around her ribs. "I can't hold on."

"I have you, Bella. We need to get to the airport before he leaves." She ducked a branch, dropping me with her and knocking the wind out of me. I was a half-second shy of a decapitation.

"I- I need to speak with Edward," I choked. The wind made it difficult to speak but somehow, I had to be heard. "Alice, I can fix this."

She stopped running. "So you're back." She dropped me carefully to the ground and whipped out my phone, dialling Edward before I could take a breath to speak. "He's not going to believe it's you."

"I'm not sure if I know who I am," I admitted. "I do know that I love your brother more than anything else in the universe and I need him to understand that."

"What about the bitch who is inhabiting your body?" Alice snapped my phone and hit redial. "He's there. He's frightened to speak with you," she explained and listened for his voice while glaring at me with unconcealed hostility. Again, she snapped the phone and redialled. "Everyone has choices, Bella. The future is always changing based on our decisions. You fucked-up. We're on the wrong path."

A sob ripped through me. "He left me," I said pitifully. "I had no choice. How could I possibly survive without him after knowing his love? I was torn apart."

Before I could say another word, Alice shoved the phone to my ear. "Edward," I breathed. "Please?"

"Please what?" His voice was cold and empty. "Make this quick, I have a plane to catch."

"Edward, it's me! You have to believe me. I'll do anything you want. Just...please!" The gravity of the situation struck me like a bolt of lightning. My own self-pity would be the death of him. "I love you, Edward Cullen and I will not let you die. If you step foot on that plane, understand that I will follow you. I will follow you to the edge of the earth and if you throw yourself off, I will follow still. You left me before and I accepted it. I won't this time. If you die, I die. Do you understand me, Edward?"

I heard a sharp intake of breath and nothing else.

"I- I can't promise to be sane or rational. Hell, I can't even promise that she won't be the next Bella you see. But when you do see her, kiss her, Edward. Kiss her because I'll still feel it."

"I need you, Bella," he said softly. "I thought that I could be noble and step aside. Certainly I would if that's what you truly wanted."

"Is that what you're doing, Edward; Giving up your life to step aside? Neither of us would want that, how could you even consider doing such a horrible thing to me?"

"I'm sorry, love. The loathing in your eyes destroys me. I...I always told you that I couldn't live in a world where you don't exist. Well, it seems I also cannot live in a world where you don't love me. You're my universe."

"Edward," I pleaded. "I need you. Don't give up on me? I'm still here. There is no such thing as a world where you aren't loved by me."

He expelled air into the phone like a shaky breath. "Bella," he whispered fervently. "I'm coming home. Meet me at my house."

-({})-

"I will Edward, I-"

I choked as a tube was shoved down my throat, churning up the contents of my stomach. The pain was vile and I had vertigo. No longer on my feet, the moon transformed into an overhead light and I was on my back, tied to a stretcher. My eyes rolled back into my head.

"Stay awake, Bella!"

I couldn't. My eyes would not open.

"How much did she have?" a male voice inquired blandly.

"60 mg, at least. It shouldn't be lethal. What concerns me is how did she access an entire bottle?"

The tube was retracted in the same moment I was pushed forward towards a bed pan. My lips parted and vomit spewed from me. I didn't even feel it.

"Who gave it to you honey?"

"I fucked a White Coat for it," I confessed, my voice all gravel.

"Do you know where you are?"

"No. I've got no fucking clue. Don't tell me."

-({})-

"Bella?" I forced my lids apart and was back with Alice. "Where did you go? You were gone."

"I- I was somewhere else."

"That concerns me. If you disappear then...perhaps we're all wrong."

I nodded. "I know." I touched her face. "You don't exist, Alice. I'm so sorry."

She scowled at me. "Don't be an idiot! Of course I do. It's you, Bella. You don't exist."

Author's Note: Bella Swan just confessed that she is present and aware when Bella Flanagan takes over. Review me and I'll send part of the Jacob lemon from Bella Swan's perspective. This is a difficult writing exercise so please allow a day for delivery! Also, Edward fans...if you're still with me, Edward is making a comeback in the next chapter.