Eighth Chapter.

"Jake, what happened?" asked Sam, who looked tired and subdued.

But Jake didn't answer- not really. As soon as I looked at Sam, my eyes feeling empty, Sam's eyes flashed with understanding.

"He called, didn't he?" Sam purposely stayed away from Edward's name, to keep my from further pain. But it was too late- I was already full to the brim with it. The pain was threatening to overwhelm me, and I didn't care. I felt numb, empty. It felt worse than the other pain, the pain of having no heart or lungs. It ws like a black hole was slowly taking all of me.

"Yes," Jake answered. I just clung tighter to him, trying to keep myself from losing anymore of me.

"We didn't catch her, but we've got a patrol on her house, so she shoudl be safe," said Seth, looking more subdued than I had ever seen him. Maybe it was because he could see my black hole- maybe it was because Jake looked exhausted and slightly scared- scared of Edward? It didn't make sense...

Oh- he was scared that Victoria would get me. But frankly, at this point, I couldn't care anymore about it- actually, I sort of welcomed it- a relief from the black hole.

What happened to me? Edward calls one time and suddenly I'm suicidal, a martyr.

"Come on, Bella, let's get you home," said Jake gently. He looked resigned- what had they been talking about when I was thinking? It reminded me of those four months when I was basically dormant- was I going to go back to that? Only this time was it going to be worse?

"Don't worry, Jake," said Paul. "She'll be fine there."

Shoot- I had lost more time. I was really starting to be afraid of my black hole- would it consume everything?

Next thing I knew, I was in my truck, and Jake was driving. It was silent, but it was a loaded silence. I could sense that he was worried about me- both from Victoria, and the hole where Edward used to be.

He sighed and said, "We're here."

I really was afraid of this losing-time thing; it was much worse than before, and what if something important happened during one?

"Bells? You coming?" I sighed and nodded, trying to stay at least slightly alert.

When we walked into my house, the first thing I noticed was that Charlie was nowhere in sight, and the place was immaculate- not normal.

"Sam and them cleaned up a little after themselves," Jake explained, "And Charlie's at the station- there was a bad accident on the highway, and he has paperwork."

I nodded and walked upstairs to my room. It was messy, a stark contrast to the rest of the house. Jake made a face.

"They must not have wanted to put anything in the wrong place. Sorry, Bells."

I just stared at it, and he came up behind me and whispered hesitantly in my ear, "Do you want me to help?"

I slowly nodded. I would definitely need help with this mess. Especially in the state I was in now.

He didn't say anything, just went to the nearest pile and started sorting out clothes, tufts of fur, and CDs.

I sat next to him and worked on figuring out what to save, what to throw away, and what to wash. The save pile was a good size, there was only fur tufts in the throw away pile, and all of the clothes in the wash pile when I heard the door open and slam, and Charlie yell, "Bella? Are you here?"

I threw a glance at Jake, and he stood up from the last jumbled pile in the room- which was on my bed- and walked over. I smiled at him.

It was amazing how attuned to me he was- he could tell I needed him to face Charlie.

"Yeah, Dad- I'm here," I yelled. I saw Jake wince- my voice was stratchy, as if I'd been crying for hours and hours- which I sort of had.

I heard him stomp up the stairs and enter my room. He glanced around with wide eyes, and spotted Jacob standing next to me.

"Hey, Jake," he said, an obvious question in his eyes, "What's up?"

Jake made an effort to smile, but I could tell that Charlie didn't buy it. "Nothing much- Bella needed help cleaning up her room- I offered."

"Uh-huh." Charlie nodded, though he was still suspicious. Then he saw me.

He immediately glared at Jake, and asked me, "Bella, what happened?"

I took a deep breath, and looked at Jacob. He must have known I couldn't say it, so he said, "He called."

Charlie looked shocked and angry- he obviously knew who Jake was talking about.

"Why would he call when he hurt her so badly?"

I rolled my eyes- my black hole was receding slightly with the company of Charlie and Jake. "I'm right here, Dad."

Charlie looked slightly embarrassed, but he kept on his questioning of Jake. "Why did he call?"

"We don't know," I said quietly- the black hole in my chest kept fluctuating back and forth from the mentions of Edward.

"Bella? You okay?" I blinked, and all I saw was Jake, right in front of me... and Charlie was gone. Crap, I lost more time- this was really scaring me.

"Yeah," I said, standing up shakily- when had I sat?- and looking straight at him.

"You've been sitting and staring at the same spot for three hours now," he said, staring at me as if something was wrong with me- which there was.

"Really?" I was shocked that it had lasted so long this time.

"Yeah- are you sure you're all right? Cause I don't think it's normal to become unresponsive for so long- Charlie went to get a doctor," he said.

Oh, crap- how was I supposed to explain this to a doctor?

"Yeah, I just was thinking," I said- he didn't believe me, judging by his snort of disbelief.

"Yeah, of course you're okay, Bells, since you space out and think so hard that you can't hear us yell at you."

What was wrong with me?

What is wrong with Bella? Find out soon if you review!! Hope you enjoyed!