Gentle Touches

Bella's POV

The cabin was silent, the air musty with the scent of old mould and dry rot. The wood had been left uncared for a long time ago; no one ever came here. So I was safe, for now at least. My bindings had been removed and my wrists were free as I clutched them tightly to myself. The skin where I had been bound more than numerous times was aching and raw, but I held the very, very small hope in my head that I was safe and maybe even...free.

Free from them—all of them—as long as I stayed quiet and moved only at night, I should be safe. I would have to try and sleep during the day, to keep my strength up so I could continue to run at night. I was so weak. Though they didn't want me to die—so they say—they only ever gave me small sips of water every now and then, I had never eaten food before. They never wanted me to have the energy to fight back or try and run away.

Tears threatened to spill over the rims of my eyes, but now was not the time to cry. It would only exhaust me more and make it harder for my next journey. Taking a deep shuddering breath to try and block out all of my overwhelming emotions threatening to burst out of me in a torrent of tears. I silently wondered what my parents would think if they saw me now, cowering in the corner like a scared animal. I guess that was what I was now, though. A scared, mistreated animal, left alone in the darkness to fend for herself or to curl up and die.

It was then that slow and cautious footsteps broke through the thoughts of my parents. I started to panic. Had they found me? Had I left a trail behind me? Did they follow my scent? I thought I would have made it at least a little difficult to find me. The foot steps continued to approach with the same slow and cautious movement, until they came to stop in the main part of the dilapidated wood cabin.

I kept silent. Barely breathing, hoping that they would just leave and never come back. I didn't want to go back with them! I didn't want to be a small abused, wild animal to them anymore! Hopelessness and defeat washed over me, like a thick blanket, threatening to smother me. My heart was pounding against my ribcage, as they foot steps started towards me in what I thought I could make out in my direction.

I tensed for the worst, suppressing the urge to growl at them.

"Whoa, this place is a mess," a deep, rumbling voice observed. A new voice, not one I recognised, but still I did not relax.

I nearly sobbed with relief that these were not the people looking for me...or were they? The thought had me even more on edge than before. I tensed, trying to make myself as small as possible. Maybe if I made myself small enough, they would over look me and leave. They didn't seem to be moving any place near where I was hiding.

Maybe it was a lost hope?

"Nicely observed, Emmett," a dry voice answered.

I had not given thought to how run down this cabin been, only that it was dry shelter that gave me a chance at hiding until nightfall. How wrong I was!

"What brought you here, Edward?" The same voice asked another person. "This place is empty."

Yes! My mind screamed back, agreeing with the unknown voice. This cabin is empty, now go away and leave me alone. Please leave me be, don't find me...please just leave! The sound of the very same door that was hiding me creaked open and I curled up tighter into my little protective cage. Why couldn't they leave me alone? I thought miserably.

"I'm not so sure about that," the deep voice, known as Emmett, whispered. He had seen me, I despaired. What would they do to me now? I was terrified, my body trembling in the dust that had gathered over the years. Please, just leave me alone! My thoughts shrieked inside my head. I had o bite my lip to keep from growling or sobbing or maybe even both.

I heard the shuffling of feet and felt the gaze of the other two on my pitiful, shaking form. They both let out breaths of surprise, I guessed at the state I was in, or the shock of seeing me. Clearly, they had not been expecting to find a malnourished, tortured girl in the middle of the woods in a run down and rotting wood cabin. I didn't dare open my eyes to look at them, so I stayed where I was, trying to quell my automatic fear, praying that they did not come any closer to me.

"What do we do with her?" Emmett asked in a hushed voice.

You do nothing with me! Just walk away and leave me here, I don't want to go anyplace with any of you. I pleaded with them in my thoughts, knowing it was all in vain, no one could read minds! And I would never dare to speak aloud to any of them. I tried to make myself smaller by curling into myself to the point where my knees were buried in my eye sockets and was causing it to become painful.

"We can't leave her here," a new voice stated sternly. Yes, you can, I wanted to shout. But I could make any noise as I listened to them. I tried to move further away from them, but the corner met me with resistance.

"What do we do then?" The nameless voice questioned quietly.

"We take her to Carlisle," the new voice decided. No, I whimpered in my head. I don't want to, please leave me alone. But it was out of my hands. They would take me. I could only hope that they had good intentions, but I didn't think I could ever properly trust them. All anyone ever did was hurt me.

GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT GT

It took everything in me not to whimper as the quiet one spoke again. "You'll have to carry her," he said, his voice sending a calming sensation over me that I fought off. I didn't want to be calm, not with them here. "Careful though, she's very afraid, I think she's aware we're here," he continued.

I heard one of them step forward, closer to me. I nearly growled, but I forced myself not to react, keeping my body still as he came over to me. He crouched next to me and I cringed back automatically, fearing his presence near me.

His hand touched my face lightly, moving my hair away and I flinched away in surprise; I hadn't expected him to touch me. I heard his gasp and I wondered what caused it but then decided it didn't matter.

Again, I sensed his hand stretch out and brush my cheek. I jerked away and this time couldn't manage to suppress my growl and it resounded sharply in the small room. "She's wild that one," Emmett joked, laughing.

I wanted to sob, I knew he was talking about me, but I didn't care. He was right, really. After everything I had been through, I was essentially wild. Or at least that was how I would appear to most people and I could only imagine what these three thought of me.

The one next to me turned, his clothes rustling, giving away his movement. Curious, I opened my eyes warily to see what was going on. The first thing I saw was the beautiful boy crouched next to me. His hair was bronze and I could see from how close I was how his muscles rippled slightly as he twisted to glare at the big burly one. I assumed this was Emmett who had made the comment.

When the boy turned back to me, he seemed surprised to see me staring back at him. I wonder what he saw in my face, but his tone turned soothing as he spoke to me. "It's okay," he whispered, "We don't want to hurt you."

I almost believed him but once he'd said the words his hand reached out to take my arm. Glaring, I pulled it away from him and cradled it behind the barrier of my legs. Persistently, though, he moved his hand further up my arm and let it rest there. I flinched, trying to get him away, and when he didn't move I let out a whimper mixed with a deep sob tightening in my chest, my eyes pleading with him to leave me be and just go away. It was pathetic, but I just wanted him to leave me alone. Ignoring my silent pleas, he crept closer to me, his hand still on my arm.

Desperately, I began growling, hoping to warn him away since I didn't have the strength to move myself. He wanted to take me away—to where I did not know, but I didn't trust him not to hurt me, I didn't want to go with him. Clearly, he wasn't bothered by my threat, probably seeing that I couldn't really do anything about it, and he slipped an arm underneath me to support my weight.

Unable to help myself, I tensed as I waited to see what he would do now that he had me where he wanted me. He seemed to wait as well for a moment before gently lifting me up into his arms. I whimpered and growled, feeling more vulnerable now that he held me to his chest.

He may not be meaning to, but it felt like he was restraining me like this and I didn't like it. I struggled against his grip, trying to get away, but he kept a firm hold on my damaged body. Eventually, I was forced to stop, collapsing weakly in his arms as I ran out of energy and my sore body protesting the violent movements.

It was hopeless. I went from one trying to escape from my first set of abusers, only to find myself in another. My eyes remained clenched tight as he shifted my weight. One of his hands softly touched my fist, but when I tugged that away he moved to rest it on my cheek instead.

"I'm not going to hurt you," his soft, velvet voice crooned softly to me. I wanted to believe him, I wanted to feel connected with him, but I couldn't trust him. He could hurt me. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes to look up at him. His golden eyes were open and trustworthy, showing only concern and worry for me, a small crease on his forehead showing the same.

I sighed slightly as I let my eyes close. It wasn't as if I could stop him anyway, but I hoped that he did want to take care of me. My fate easily rested in his hands, down to his decision. I wouldn't be able to stop him if he decided to hurt me, or worse. His scent clouded my head being this close to his body and I turned into him, just barely, to inhale it more. It was heavenly and I allowed myself to drift with it, letting it wash my senses away and make me forget. I wanted to forget.

A sudden burst of light made me realised that we had started moving and had left the cabin. I felt the one who held me arms tighten around me, holding me still, and I panicked slightly. What was I doing? I couldn't relax around these strangers, couldn't let my guard down.

The fear was suddenly all consuming. I knew the others were talking but I couldn't comprehend the words and that made me panic more. They could have talking about anything and I needed to know what was going on. But the more I panicked, the harder it was to focus, which in turn brought on more panic.

I didn't realise I had made a noise until all of a sudden, the talking stopped and I could feel their gazes on me. No one spoke, but by some signal I didn't notice they all began running, causing me to yelp at the sudden change.

We were on our way now, and I didn't know what to expect when we got to wherever we were going. I didn't know if I even wanted to know what could await me.

A/N: So...what did you think of the first Bella Chapter? I know a few of you have been asking when I was going to posting a Bella chapter and I wasn't planning on doing it yet, but I thought it would give poor Edward a break.

I am so grateful to Animal8 for letting me adopt this amazing story. And I am even more grateful that I have gained so many more readers and fans of Gentle Touches. Without all of you, I wouldn't be here making these chapters into a wonderful and tragic story. My hope is that I can keep making each chapter with as much emotion and heart ache and love as the last ones.

Thank you all for all of your kind words and never ending support.

Hope to see you all at the next chapter. Please Review!

LouLouCullen