(Edward POV)
"We have to get in the car." Bella says suddenly.
"What?" I ask and swat a mosquito away. She shakes her head but runs around to get into the passenger side all while yelling at me to join her.
"Come on, come on, come on." She recites again and again. When I finally get into the car she locks the doors and tells me to hit the gas. "Hurry, hurry."
"Bella?" I ask, but press down on the gas.
"I'll explain later, right now just get the fuck away from here!" She says and pulls her knees to her chest. She fixes her seatbelt as I continue to drive the twists and bends on these old dirt roads.
"You're alive." I mutter more to myself than her.
"Yeah." She says in a hushed tone. "For now."
That's all we say for another hour.
"Okay, I don't know where I am." I yawn after I speak and pull over on a dirt road. We passed through two towns, but are back in the country.
"We're far enough now." Bella nods to herself and turns to face me, undoing her seatbelt. "I don't know where we are either."
"Can you… tell me what happened?" I ask her softly and reach forward to cup her cheek. I need contact; I need to touch her, to feel her, to know this is real and not some sick joke. She's alive and she's here with me.
"I went to that party, Edward." She leans into my touch. "I shouldn't have. We should have had a movie night."
"We can when we get back." I promise her.
"No, no, no!" Bella suddenly shouts and sits upright. "I can't go back, Edward." Tears are forming in her eyes.
"Why not?" I ask carefully. My hand fell from her face when she sat upright and is now resting on her knee. I squeeze it trying to comfort her. "Bella?"
"He said… when I ran off he yelled after me when he knew he couldn't keep up."
"Who? What did he say?" I hate dropping all these questions on her, but I must know to understand.
"I don't know who. He had a mask on. But he said to me that if I go back he'll find me or his buddies will. He said he'd hurt me. I just don't know-"
"Nobody will hurt you." I tell her with force. She quivers into the seat and it breaks me just to see her looking so desperate.
"Can't you see? He knows where I live. He threatened my family too. He has friends. I don't even know him. The police wouldn't catch him. And if I went back-" She breaks off to sob.
"It's okay, it's okay. We won't go back until we know it's safe." I assure her.
"You can't do this, Edward." Bella whispers there tears and lets out a hiccup.
"Do what?"
"You're safe. You can't leave behind everything. Edward, I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back." I think she repeats my name in each sentence to realize I'm here, just like what I'm doing by touching her. I softly stroke her kneecap.
"Bella, I lost everything when you were taken." I tell her honestly and I am surprised by the intensity of my emotions and words. "I'm staying with you whether you like it or not."
"Oh Edward!" She starts to cry. She climbs over to me and hugs herself to me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight to me. I press my face into her hair and breathe in deeply.
I don't know how long we stay in this position, but she eventually stops sobbing and I hear her soft breaths telling me that she's asleep. I don't dare let go; instead, I get comfortable in the drivers seat, turn the car off and reach behind me for the old afghan in the back seat.