Chapter Fifteen: Our Lifetime
"Hello?" Esme asked as she opened the door to a stranger.
"Yes, is Emmett here?" James asked, even though he already knew the answer. Esme suddenly felt threatened, and tried to slam the door in the mans face, but he was quick, and put out his foot to stop it from closing. "Is. Emmett. Here?"
"No." She lied, hoping Emmett wouldn't come downstairs.
"You're lying." James accused. "I see his car in the driveway."
"It's not his."
"Plus, I can see your breathing is becoming heavy and labored, and you are avoiding looking into my eyes when you speak." James observed. "Where is he?"
Emmett stood behind Bella, his hand up against her mouth, desperately hoping she wouldn't try to run away from him. But, she seemed just as scarred as he was and didn't try to move as they listened to the conversation downstairs. Emmett just listened as Esme lied to him, trying to protect him. He removed his hand from Bella's mouth, and grabbed her hand.
"What are you doing?" Bella asked as she resisted his pulling.
"Come on." He urged. "We gotta get out of here."
"What?" She asked, completely appalled. "And leave Esme with this creep?"
"That creep is going to kill both of us when he sees us."
"And he's going to kill Esme if we don't do something." She pointed out as she moved out of the room and to the corner of the hallway to listen better. Emmett again came up from behind her and clasped his hand to her mouth, this time she tried fighting him, but he was much stronger than she was and she knew it.
"Now, I'm going to ask one more time." James said darkly. "Where is Emmett?"
"Not. Here." Esme lied once again. Emmett could feel the tears filling his eyes, but he had to be strong. He hoped she would be persistent enough and James would eventually get board and leave. But, Emmett knew both of them and he knew Esme was going to lose this battle.
"Let me inside to check then." James said. "If you're telling the truth, you shouldn't mind me coming inside."
"Over my dead body." Esme said and both Bella and Emmett closed their eyes, hoping it was all a bad dream that they'd wake up from.
"That, dear, can be arranged." He said darkly and pulled out his semi-automatic pistol-the same one he'd used to kill Edward five years ago-and pulled the trigger, shooting her in the chest. She fell down immediately and Emmett had to hold Bella back and keep his hand firmly on her mouth so she wouldn't scream.
"I know you're here!" James called out. "I TOLD YOU I'D KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE!" He said and then the door slammed shut and they both heard a car start. Bella ripped herself out of Emmett's grip to run down to where Esme laid. But, Emmettt grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving.
"Bella, no. We gotta get out of here." He said, trying to resist the urge to burst into tears.
"This is Esme!" She argued, freeing herself from his grip and running down the stairs. Bella burst into tears when she saw Esme by the door, blood gushing from her body. She rushed over and knelt by her side, and hope formed inside of her when she saw Esme's open eyes and slight movement of her chest. "She's still alive. Call 911."
"Bella, we have to go." Emmett urged as Bella took the dishrag from Esme's hand and put pressure on the wound. "Come on. Please."
"I'm not leaving her here to die, Emmett!" Bella yelled, as she tried to stop the bleeding. "You're going to be okay, Esme."
"Go." Esme whispered, bringing her hand up to where Bella was applying the pressure, and held it tightly. "Go. I'll...I'll...be fine."
"Esme, we're not leaving you here." Bella protested. "We'll call 911 for you, get you to Carlisle."
"No." Esme whispered. "Go. Save...save you...yourselves. Or...or...this...will...have...been a...waste."
"Esme." Bella cried, bowing her head as she let her tears fall. "We...can't."
"Come on, Bella." Emmett urged, picking her up off of the ground. He pulled her away from Esme's body and out the backdoor. He looked back one last time and saw her smile, giving him the courage he needed to get him and Bella out of the house, and away from Forks. He and Bella ran out to his car, started it, and sped out of the driveway and towards the town line.
"This is your fault!" Bella cried as she wiped the blood from her hands with sanitizer. "You did this!"
"I KNOW THAT, BELLA!" He shouted at her, causing her to jump. "I know this is my fault? You honestly think I don't fucking know that?"
"Why wouldn't you let me call 911?" She demanded to know. "Why couldn't we have stayed with her!"
"We had to get out! He's going to come back, Bella!"
"STOP RUNNING!" She yelled. "OWN UP TO WHAT YOU'RE DONE AND TAKE IT LIKE A MAN! STOP LETTING EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU TAKE THE FALL! ROSALIE'S FAMILY! JASPER'S MOM AND STEP-DAD! MARIAH! ESME! THEY ALL DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"I KNOW! I FUCKING KNOW THAT!" He shouted as he pulled onto the highway, leading them out of Forks.
"Where are we going?"
"Away form here."
"We have to warn Carlisle!"
"We can't!"
"EMMETT!" She shouted. "His wife is laying dead on the floor! We have to tell him!"
"NO!" He refused, and pressed on the gas harder, speeding the car up. He heard his phone ringing it in his pocket, and pulled it out, handing it to Bella. "Who is it?"
"Rosalie." She whispered, unlocking it.
"Don't answer it." He ordered, and took it out of her hands, throwing it in the backseat.
'Hey, it's Emmett. Leave a message.'
"Hey, Em. Where are you?" Rosalie asked as she pulled into the driveway. "I've been trying to get ahold of everyone, but no one's answering. Anyway, I just pulled into Esme and Carlisle's house. See you soon." She said, hanging up the phone and grabbing the bowel of fruit from the passenger seat. She walked up to the front door, but when she tried to open it, it stayed shut.
"This thing is never locked on barbecue day." She mused as she made her way to the back, where no one was. As she walked in through the sliding doors, she got an eery feeling as she walked into the kitchen, and there was no sign of anybody anywhere.
"Hello?" She called through the house as she moved to the hallway. "Emmett?" She called as she walked into the foyer, and saw Esme's lifeless body in front of the door. "Esme!" She called, running towards her. She knelt down beside her, and began to cry at the sight of her lifeless body, laying in her own blood. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, but the voice that came from behind her stopped her.
"Where is he?" James asked, pointing the gun at Rosalie.
"Who?" She asked without turning to see who it was.
"Emmett." James demanded, walking closer to Rosalie. She took a deep breath and turned towards the man, and began shaking in fear when she saw the gun in his hands.
"I don't know." She answered honestly, but he'd already made up his mind and pulled the trigger, hitting Rosalie in her right shoulder. She let out a scream of pain and grabbed the doorknob and tried standing up.
"Where. Is. He?"
"I don't know." She cried, hoping he'd spare his life.
"Wrong answer." He sighed, pulling the trigger and hitting her in the head. Her body went limp immediately as she fell dead on top of the brunette he'd killed earlier. "Too bad. She was real pretty."
"Well, now what are you going to do?" Felix asked as he walked into the house.
"I always get what I want." James whispered, pulling the phone from the dead girls hand. "Don't worry. Speak of the devil." He said, pressing Emmett's name and hitting call.
Bella heard his phone ringing from the backseat, and decided she was done listening to him. She reached back around her and found the phone on the ground.
"It's Rosalie again." She sighed, pressing send and putting the phone up to her ear. "Rosalie, whatever you do...don't go to the house. Stay where you are."
"Rosalie won't be going anywhere ever again." The deep voice said on the other line. Bella's breathing became labored with fear as and dropped the phone in the cupholder.
"Bella?" Emmett asked as he reached for the phone, putting it on speaker. "Rose?"
"Nope." Jame's voice said. "James again."
"What have you done to Rosalie?" Emmett demanded to know as Bella cried into her hands. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
"What I always do." James answered. "You just won't learn your lesson, will you?"
"You...you killed her too?" Emmett sobbed into the phone as he pulled over to the side of the road.
"Of course." James answered. "How else am I supposed to get my way?"
"You win." Emmett whispered, causing Bella to perk up and look at him. "I give in."
"Excellent." James smiled as he got into his car. "Where shall we do this?"
"Seattle." Emmett answered. "Outside of the 5th Avenue Theatre."
"Saturday night." James answered back. "Bring the girl."
"Hell no."
"Bring the girl, or I kill your precious uncle." He threatened, and Emmett knew he lost. "Good boy." He said and hung up the phone, throwing it out of the car window.
"I'm supposed to go with you now?" She asked through her tears. "Emmett. I wanna go home."
"We can't go home." He sighed. "W're going to kill him, Bella. This will be the last time we see him ever again."
The two of them continued to drive towards Seattle in silence. Bella only wanted to slug him in the face, and cause as much pain as possible to him for everything he'd done. Her fiancee was dead, and now, two of her closest friends were dead because of him. She only looked out the window, knowing if she were to look at him, she's go crazy.
"So, you and Esme having the usual 'End of summer barbecue' today?" Marcus, a coworker of Carlisle, asked that day as they walked from the hospital to the parking lot.
"You know it." Carlisle smiled. "Gonna be big this year."
"Isn't it always big?" Marcus laughed.
"Yeah, but my nephew is planning to propose to his girlfriend today." Carlisle smiled. Emmett had come a long way since he'd come to the hospital five years ago. He was sick, thin, and scarred and Carlisle feared he'd never recover form what happened in Chicago. But, he'd come a long way and so had Bella and he was almost in tears when Emmett talked about asking Bella to marry him.
"Well, good for him." Marcus smiled. "Think she'll say yes?"
"I fucking hope so." Carlisle laughed. "They've been through so much together and have overcome it all."
"Well, tell him congrats for me."
"Will do." Carlisle called out as he slipped into the front seat of the car. He tried called Esme, making sure he didn't need to pick anything up form the store, but there was no answer. He assumed they were all in the backyard and couldn't hear their phones. He smiled as he pulled into their driveway, seeing that everyone was already there. He hopped out of the car and walked through the garage, just wanting to be with his family.
"Es?" Carlisle called as he walked in from the garage into the kitchen. He looked outside to see a set picnic table and the grill going, but no one was there. Carlisle shrugged, hoping they were upstairs looking at something as he walked through the hallway, to the foyer. "Esme?" He called again before his eyes fell on the two dead bodies lying by the door.
"Oh my god!" He called, running over to Esme and Rosalie. He sat down beside them, and burst into tears. Rosalie had been shot twice, once in the head, there was no possible way she was still alive. Feeling dumb, but hopeful, he grabbed Esme's wrist...but found no pulse. Carlisle collasped into a pile of tears on his wife's chest.
After his eyes had dried completely from the crying he'd done, he managed to pull his cell phone out from his pocket, and call 911.
"911 what's your emergency?"
"There's been a murder at my house." Carlisle said, his voice lifeless and dry. "My wife and nephews friend."
"We'll send people right away. Address?" The lady asked and Carlisle gave it to her. He grabbed Esme's hand and just held it as he waited for the cops to come. Once he heard the sirens, he stood up and walked to the garage to let them inside. He watched as they investigated the crime scene and as they placed his wife...his Esme and Rosalie on gurney's.
He went upstairs to clean himself up, and he fell onto the bed they used to share and cried. Cried for his two kids who he'd have to call soon. Cried for Emmett and Bella. For himself.
Carlisle heard his phone ringing from the bedside table and answered it without looking.
"Carlisle?" Bella's voice screeched once he'd put the phone to his ears. "Carlisle, please tell me thats you!"
"It's me Bella." He sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Thank god!" She gushed as Emmett let out a sigh of relief. "How are you? Are you home?"
"I'm home." He mumbled. "Are you two okay?"
"We're on the way to Seattle." She explained. "Emmett's...Emmett's handing himself over."
"No he's not!" Carlisle shouted, sitting up in bed. "He can't!"
"He is." Bella answered solemnly as Emmett kept his eyes firmly on the road, his knuckles turning white from how hard he wa gripping the steering wheel. "He told James that he won."
"No. I can't lose him too." Carlisle cried. It then dawned on Bella that James had just taken everything away from Carlisle as well as Emmett and Bella. She felt tears welling up in her eyes once again as she cried for the wife of thirty-four years.
"I'll be fine, Uncle Carlisle." Emmett shouted. "I'm fine. You take care of yourself." He told him before taking the phone out of Bella's hand and pressing END.
This was it. This was what Emmett had been waiting for, for five years since Emmett ran away. Emmett was finally going to kill James and get the life he'd always wanted.