I don't own Twilight

The atmosphere in the bank was different now that George died. Everyone nibbled on the left over pizza that the robbers gave us.

It seems that Ed has fallen out of James' good graves. James was talking more with Laurent and Vic. Ed was standing off to the side glaring moodily around the room.

I hardly ate any of the pizza that was given. I was too stressed to eat. James on the other hand seemed thrilled. I guess everything was going according to his plan.

None of the hostages has spoken to each other. The bank tellers seemed at a total loss at what to do. I mean, it's their bank, they should be prepared for stuff like this!

So everything was calm, I mean, nobody was getting yelled or shot at. Does that count as being calm?

James was laughing and he swung his arm around the woman named Vic's shoulders. She seemed to be whining, "James, when can we take off these masks, I'm getting hot in it."

"You can take it off when we leave. No sooner." James informed her.

"But it's so hot!" She complained.

James removed his hand from her shoulders and stormed across the bank. Geez, how moody can a guy get? This guy was seriously unstable. What kind of guy gets pissed from that? And he was all happy like five seconds ago. I was paying close attention to everyone. I wanted to remember everything clearly so that I could recount everything to the police accurately. I owed that much to George, and his niece, whoever she was.

Just then, there was a humming noise and a slight boom as if something was turning off. After a few more moments I realized that the air conditioning had turned off. It was a pretty warm day too!

James and the rest of the robbers looked up at the vents, "What the hell is going on?" James demanded. Too be honest, I was wondering why the air conditioning was turned off also.

To my utter surprise, Ed began laughing. James turned and glared at him, "What the hell is your problem? What is really so funny?"

Ed didn't seem intimidated, "Geez, I don't even know why I decided to do this with you guys. You're obviously too stupid to function!"

James raised his gun and pointed it at Ed, "Shut up!"

Ed held his hands up in surrender, but he was still chuckling, "Did it occur to you that maybe they shut the air conditioning off because of Vic's bitching?" He asked.

James looked confused, until it dawned on him. Vic was complaining about how she wanted to take her mask off because of the heat. The police must've shut the air conditioning off trying to make them take off their masks.

James swung his gun and pointed it at a surprised Vic. "Jamie, baby, I didn't know they were going to shut it off!"

"I've put up with your complaining and whining, but you just have to go and mess fuck up, don't you?" James demanded.

"Jamie . . ." Vic trailed off as James fired the gun. The bullet hit right in the center of her chest and she crumpled to the ground.

Ed stopped laughing but a small smirk graved his full lips. "It's about time we got rid of her." James said, sounding slightly satisfied.

Ed was standing quite close to me so I heard him mumble, "About time before we start turning on each other. These dumb fucks." I don't know what Ed was complaining about. He was part of the "dumb fucks" little group.

It was maybe about an hour or so later when it started getting really hot. And when I mean really hot I mean sauna hot. All the windows and the doors were shut causing the bank to become stuffy. And we 30 or so people in here, the heat was just building.

The robbers were sweating through their masks. Vic was lying in a puddle of blood. I was numb by now. At first I stared at horror at the body, but eventually, my emotions just stopped and I was now staring blankly at the wall.

I guess the smell became too much for James because he ordered two of the men in my group to drag George and Vic outside. He told them that if they tried to make a run for it, he was going to shoot five of the hostages. Both the men had their wives with them. They dropped the bodies off outside and came back in willingly, joining their loved ones.

Ed disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back, he had the mask up on his head like a hat, covering his hair and a scarf loosely tired around his nose and mouth. He looked to be a lot cooler than the other robbers. He also shed his black jacket to reveal a black t-shirt. He tied his jacket around his waist.

James was sitting down on a chair, sticking his hand up his mask. His hand came down wet. He let out a frustrated growl. He stood up and stormed over to me hauling me up by the arm.

He stalked over to the phone and said, "We're going to get them to turn on the freaking air conditioning if it's the last thing I do!" He growled.

He picked up the phone. I could hear it ringing before Jacob's voice greeted James pleasantly. "What the fuck happened to the air conditioning?"

I was standing so close to James that I heard Jacob's response, "Now you know that I'll turn on the air conditioning once you take those masks off."

"Fuck that!" James growled, "I'm the one with the hostages, and I'm the one calling the shots." James twisted my arm painfully, "You don't want anything to happen to her, do you?"

I heard Jacob's voice on the other line. He sounded a bit frantic, "Don't hurt Bella." As soon as he said it, all three of us knew that he screwed up.

James smiled in a deranged way, "Bella you say? Is she your girlfriend? So you do care then if she gets hurt." He enunciated this by pulling my arm further. I gasped.

Jacob was making strangled noises on the other line. "You might want to turn the air conditioning on." James warned, "Cause I've got something you want." He then slammed the phone back down.

Now that the phone was down, James stopped the charade. I was spun to face James, "How do you know him?"

I shook my head and stuttered, "I – I don't know him."

"Don't lie to me!" James roared slapping me. Tears sprung to my eyes.

"H – he must've heard me talking with George." I choked out.

"Who the hell is George?" James demanded. He was getting angry and restless.

"The man you killed." I whispered.

"That old fool?" He demanded.

"He wasn't a fool!" I said boldly shoving my palm into James' nose. He swore and released me. Blood gushed from his nose.

"You bitch!" He said. He curled his hand into a fist and punched me square in the cheek. I could feel it swell instantly.

James raised his hand to hit me again when someone jerked me sharply away and said, "I'll take her to the back again."

James shook with rage, "Go right ahead, do whatever you want to her."

James then stalked over to where Laurent was sitting and sat down in a chair.

Ed dragged me to the back. I fought the whole way. I thought that maybe he would finish what he actually started last time. The other hostages gave me sad and sympathetic looks. I ignored all of them. Sympathy wouldn't help me.

Ed shoved me into the bathroom this time and locked the door behind him. I stood in the middle of the small bathroom shaking like a leaf. As much as I wished I were brave, I knew that I wasn't. I was just as scared as everybody else, maybe more since I always seemed to be singled out. Maybe it was just my horrible luck.

Ed grabbed a paper towel and wetted it at the sink. When he came towards me I shrank back, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." His voice was still muffled.

I stood still and he gently pressed the wet cloth to my face, "You really shouldn't hit bank robbers." Ed scolded, but it didn't sound like he meant it.

I just shrugged, "George wasn't a fool."

Ed nodded, "That he wasn't."

I was seriously confused. I eyed Ed warily. What was he doing with James and Laurent? He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. "Why are you robbing this bank?" I asked.

"Um, to get money?" Ed replied like a question.

"No, I mean you personally. Why are you a robber? You seem nice." I said.

Ed choked out a laugh, "Nice? What is wrong with you? I killed that man and you think I'm nice?"

"You didn't kill George. James killed George. All you've tried to do was help me. Every time James got out of control you would make him calm down. You're helping me." I said.

Ed just shrugged, "It's what I was taught to do my whole life."

I waited a minute for Ed to speak. When he didn't I said, "Care to elaborate?"

Ed shook his head. We both went silent as Ed continued to dab my cheek.

So that is the end of the chapter. I thought that it was a fitting ending. It makes you think a bit.

Anyways, the whole bank segment of this story is almost over. In the next chapter or two, James will take the whole hostage situation out of the bank. So keep reading!

Please review! It doesn't take long and I always like hearing from people.

~greeneyes-99 (Nat)