Chapter 21: Childlike
I woke up all snuggly and warm. The sun is shining outside and I can feel my bunny-boo in my arms. I sigh and open my eyes. I'm kind of a morning person. I sit up and look around. There's my princess alarm clock, my dress up box in the corner, my backpack with BELLA written on the front sitting on my desk, and my picture of my mom and dad smiling at each other. That was rare nowadays since I lived in Arizona with my mother. My dad, Charlie, lived in Washington.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and looked out my window at the shining sun. There was a tugging sensation in my chest, like I needed to be near someone... like there was something I was forgetting... Probably nothing. I get my favorite jean shorts on and a blue short-sleeved top with Cinderella on it. I make my bed and climb down the stairs, ready to greet the day.
It was hard to though. That pull in my chest was starting to get painful. There was something very important I was missing. I go the bathroom to brush my hair when I see my reflection. I have chocolate brown hair that I've tied up into pig-tails, brown eyes that my mother swears sparkle when I smile, and two rows of pearly-white baby teeth surrounded by my pink cheeks. The realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I touch my face and look at my hands, small and dainty with this child's body.
My name is Isabella Marie Sawn. And I am eight years old.
But then why am I not? Why am I and eighteen-year-old Bella Swan stuck in my old body? I was a child. But mainly, I was away from my Jacob.
"Mom! MOM!" I shout, running to my mother's room where she's slumbering in her bed.
"Huh? What is it sweetie?" a very young looking Renee says, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
"I need to go home," I state, crossing my arms.
"You are home," she says softly, worry in her eyes.
"No. I need to go home. To Washington to live with Charlie. I want to live with him." My mother looks like I just swore at her. Her mouth agape, no words able to form.
"But honey-"
"No. I need a plane ticket to Washington, and I have to leave by this week. I miss it there." With that, I turn on my heel and leave, getting my suitcases, ready to start packing.
While I'm packing, it amazes me how much princess stuff I used to have. I guess they were the only ones there for me, here. I had no friends anyways. I was the shy girl who sits in the back of the class and doesn't speak. If only they could see me now (Well... later...). A half hour later, I'm still in the process of packing, trying to get everything I own in just four suitcases and a carry-on. I hear a soft knock on my door.
"Honey, what was with- Oh my gosh what happened in here!?" My mother comes in, startled by the state of my room. Everything was sprawled out on the floor and bed, looking like a tornado had just come through.
"I'm packing," I say, turning back to my work.
She sits down next to me and puts an arm on my shoulder."You were serious? Sweetie, I don't think you want to do this."
"Of course I do. Mom, I know what's best for me, and I have to leave. Trust me." We stare at each other for a few seconds before the sincerity in my face must've been enough for her.
She sighs. "Oh honey, ok. You know what you need to do. I'll go call Charlie." She turns and walks out of my room, and I resume packing. I went over to my dresser to get some clothes out, but a picture caught my eye. The only friend I've ever really had was smiling next to me on the beach wearing swim trunks. I made sure to have a special place in my bag for that picture.
Four days later I was on an airplane home, leaving behind a very tearful Renee (but I was able to find Phil early, so she'll be ok soon). I took this time to think about what had just happened. Last thing I remember Charlie had caught Jake in my room and we were running away from him. I think the last things I said was, "I'm so unhappy, Jacob," and that's all I can remember. I feel that there's more to this story than from what I recall. Thinking back to then with Jacob made me miss him so much. My heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest all the way to La Push to see him. But once the plane took off, the closer I got to home, the lighter my chest felt.
"Daddy!" I shout, taking off in the direction where my father was standing, waiting for me to land.
"Hey, Bells! What's up, babycakes?" He bends down to hug me in a tight embrace, clearly glad to see me. "Well, come on, we should go get your stuff quickly, or else Billy will beat me for not getting to his house in time to watch the game." We start walking towards luggage claim.
"You're gonna go see Billy? Can I come too?" I ask, hoping that Jacob would be there.
"Well, of course! He's been dying to see you, Bells! We all have. Especially Jacob. I think him, his sisters, and his friends Quil and Embry, from the reservation, will be there tonight too." We grab my pink bag, along with my snow white one, and still wait for my Little Mermaid and Jasmine one to arrive. When they finally do, we walk out of the airport and to my dad's cop car. The ride was quiet, and I was fine with that. I was just waiting for the moment when we would be at the Black's house.
Charlie helps me unpack, and we go right from there to Billy's. I walk with him to the door and Charlie just walks right in like it's his own home. Which it probably feels like that to him considering all of the time he spends here.
We're greeted by Billy's voice coming from the TV room."Hey, old man. You're late. Now, where's that girl of yours? I need to give her a hug."
I tentatively step around the corner and blush - Was I always like this as a kid? - "Hi, Billy," I say softly, coming up next to his wheelchair and hugging him around his neck. His arms come around my tiny body and squeezes me tight. It reminded me of one of Jacobs bear-hugs...
"What's up, Bella?" he asks, finally letting me go and smiling at me.
"Nothing..." I answer, looking at the ground (it's like I can't help myself. Even though I know Billy like a father in my mind, my body still acts like my child-self).
"We'll talk later. Charlie here needs to get caught up on the game. The kids are out back, and the pizza should be here in a little while," he says, patting my back.
"Ok," I almost whisper, walking to the back door. I walk out the sliding back door to see two girls older than me, and three six-year-old boys running around and 'tagging' each other. "Hi," I say, coming out into the yard to where they are. The boy in the middle stops what he's doing and looks at me, giving me a toothy grin.
"Hi, Bella!" one of the girls shouts, coming up and hugging me. It was Rachel. We always got along as kids.
"Bella! We missed you so much!" Now Rebecca joined onto me. Not long after I felt three other little arms wrap around all of us.
"HI, BELLA!" Oh, Jacob. Such a loud and proud child. Still loud and proud as I know him today, but more embarrassingly loud as a kid.
"Hi everyone," I murmur back, barely able to breathe with all of the bodies around me.
"Bella, this is Quil and Embry, two of Jacob's friends," Two of the dimply boys that I easily recognized as Quil and Embry smiled at me, waving their arms. "They'll be staying over at our house tonight. Our dad said we could all sleep in tents in the yard!" Rachel exclaims, incredibly happy for this news.
"Cool," I say, hoping for an invite.
"Oh my gosh! We should ask your dad if you can stay over with us! Do you want to?" Rebecca asks.
"Sure, that would be fun," I say with only ten percent of the enthusiasm I'm really feeling.
Rachel started jumping up and down with glee."Yay! Ok, what do you guys want to do? Jake?"
"Umm... Can we go to the beach?" he asks. I don't know how anyone can say no to that face. He's got the big eyes, his lower lip slightly out, bringing a pout to his look, and also just his face in general is all boyish, innocent and pudgy. I don't know how he's not been able to get everything he wants.
"Sorry bud, but dad said that the pizza will be here soon so we don't want to be far away when it arrives. Do you wanna have a water gun fight instead?"Rebecca's always taking charge. Getting the situation handled and everybody happy. Jacobs face lights up like the sun, his few pearly white teeth sparkling.
"Alright then! Rachel, go get the water guns, and Jacob, go get the score board, while I explain the rules to Quil, Embry, and Bella." She brings the three of us in close and explains. "So, we each get a gun. This will be a free for all match for right now, but we might do teams later. Once you're shot, you lie down on the ground for 5 seconds, then you're allowed to get back up. If you shoot someone, you go put down a point under your name, and put an X under your victims name. The area around the score board is off limits. you can't shoot anyone over there. Ummm... I think that's it." By now Jacob and Rachel have come out with the stuff. "Ok, everyone take a gun. I'll count down from three and then it's every man for himself!" I take a gun from Rachel and watch as Jacob sets up the board, writing all of our names in his horrible little boy handwriting.
"3. 2. 1. GO!"We all start running around, shooting each other and putting points on the board. After about twenty minutes, we were all soaked from head to toe, and Charlie hollered out the door for us all to get our butts inside for pizza. We ate quickly (and outside), and afterward, Charlie set up the tent for us, with help from the boys pretending to be 'worker guys' as they called it. Rachel let me borrow some PJ's and a sleeping bag, and we all got our stuff set up the in the giant tent. I was in between Jacob and Rebecca, and that spot was rights smack in the middle of everyone. We set up our stuff quickly and then came out for a campfire.
Rebecca then felt the need to tell us a scary story. I've heard this one plenty of times."This is the story of a girl named Annie. There was a little girl named Annie who had a mother, father, and an older brother. Her mother said she could go to the store and buy herself a new doll. When she got to the store, she saw the most beautiful doll she had ever seen. She brought it to the clerk, and he warned her, "Be careful with this one, for some reason everyone keeps returning it."
"Well, it was obviously destiny for me to have it then, "Annie said, and off she went. She got home and played with it all day. When it turned to her bed time, she left it on the kitchen counter.
That night she had a nightmare, at least she thought it was a nightmare. She heard a voice, one that would normally be sweet and innocent. It said, in a quiet singsong tune, "Annie, I'm in the kitchen getting the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm climbing up the stairs, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in the hallway, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in your brothers' room, with the kitchen knives. Annie, your brother is dead." And then, it giggled.
She woke up screaming to the sound of police sirens. When she walked out of her room in her warm fuzzy PJ's, she also found paramedics in her house. Her brother had died. A knife stab had killed him. Lying next to him on the floor was… her doll, clutching a bloodied kitchen knife, with a wicked grin on her beautiful face.
Annie got scared of the doll. So she locked in the basement and worried, all day. She didn't know what to do. A doll that killed people? Impossible. She wanted to talk to someone about it, but she didn't want to be thought of as crazy.
That night, she heard a voice that she thought she'd heard before. It sang, "Annie, I'm in the kitchen, getting the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm climbing up the stairs, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in the hallway, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in your parent's room, with the kitchen knives. Annie, your parents are dead." Then, she heard a giggle.
Annie woke with a start. She rushed to her parent's room only to see that she shouldn't have. There were her parents, in their bed… dead. And there was the torturous doll with a scary grin spread across her sweet face. She was also clutching the kitchen knife.
There she was, in her own home, alone, almost likely to be the dolls next victim. She took the doll and buried it in her backyard, and with that, locked all the doors and windows to her house and waited. It got dark very quickly. Now it was time to see if her plan had saved her life. So, she went to sleep knowing that dolls can't come out of dirt or come in a locked door or window.
"Annie," it sang, "I'm in the kitchen, getting the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm climbing up the stairs, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in the hallway, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm in your room, with the kitchen knives. Annie, I'm on your pillow, with the kitchen knives." Annie woke up to see the doll standing on her chest. But before she could react, she heard, "Goodbye, Annie," along with a giggle. And that was the last thing she heard before the knife plunged into her heart."Rebecca smiles wickedly while Jacob, Quil, and Embry were all huddled together, shaking like a vibrating chair.
"Anyways, let's have some smores!" Rachel shouts, trying to get the boys into good spirits. After a good 6 smores or so, the boys were better, talking about trucks and sports and all other things little boys talked about. We stayed up until around midnight before finally crashing. This night was great. I was able to be with Jacob in a way that was almost... Childlike.
WHAAAAAT?! Yes, Bella's life is getting interesting. Review please! I'd like to hear how it's going :)