Bella POV

It had been two months since Christmas. I had been held captive for a total of 11 months. I wish I could say that I was happily engaged, but that would be a lie as well. Sure, a part of me did feel something for my kidnapper. I didn't know what exactly, but it was scary. The other part of me however, hated him with all of my guts. I couldn't deny though that I was lucky. Yes, I was constantly beaten and raped, by both James and Laurent, but at least I was alive. Most people kidnapped didn't last half this long. While my life was torture, I was still happy I had it, because I had to get back home. Whatever the cost.

"Hey Claire." James said, coming into the kitchen where I was cooking and wrapping his arms around my waist. He gently kissed my neck, and I felt my whole body tingle. This was what I hated. As much as I wanted to hate him with every piece of me, he still made me feel.

"I'm home!" Laurent called, a few minutes later walking into the room. A gorgeous curly haired redhead followed him, clutching his hand.

"And who did you bring with you?" James asked, eyeing the girl up and down. I immediately felt sorry for her, and I wondered why she would come here willingly.

"This is Victoria." Laurent introduced. "Vicky, this is James and his fiancé, Claire." I smiled a hello.

"Hi." she said, looking at me curiously.

"Claire, Vicky will be eating with us." Laurent said, and I nodded, happy with myself for making more than usual. The guys nodded at me before heading out of the room to watch some sport game. "Vic?"

"Um, I'm going to help with dinner." She said, smiling at me. I locked eyes with James, who gave me a warning glare. Basically telling me to keep my mouth shut or bad things would happen. I nodded, and the guys left.

"Thanks." I said to Victoria.

"Of course. What would you like me to do?" she asked.

"Well I'm making pasta. The sauce is all done and I just need the toss the salad. When the water boils though if you could drop the noodles?" I said and she nodded. I then walked to the other counter to work on the salad.

"So, you and James make a lovely couple." She said, trying to make small talk.

"Um, thank you." I said, not knowing if she was serious or not.

"You seem so young to be engaged. I wish I found it that easily, I'm way older than you and still searching." She said laughing. "How did you two meet?"

"Um.." I said, trying to think of something. I never had to pretend to someone before and I wasn't great at lying. Luckily, a though quickly came to mind. "James went to school with my older brother. My brother brought him home one time and we met and uh.. the rest is history I guess." I said.

"Older brother hmm?" She said. "Is he single?"

"Oh, um, no he, uh.. he died a few years ago in a car accident." I said.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed. I looked at her, and she seemed genuinely sorry. I was just surprised she believed me so easily.

"Yeah, it's no biggie." I said, wanting to change the subject. "So you and Laurent?" I asked, trying to save the poor girl. I liked her and I didn't want her getting mixed up in this mess I was in.

"Oh, yeah. I don't know what's going on with this. We've gone out a few times and he's a nice guy but.. oh I don't know, theres no magic between us. You know what I mean?" she asked. I nodded. I knew exactly about the magic she spoke of. It was what I had with Edward. "Anyway, I'm still trying to figure him out. He's a hard book to read and I'm kinda getting weird vibes from him. I'm just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"You shouldn't."

"What?" she asked curiously. I stopped what I was doing and turned to her.

"You shouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt. If theres a weird feeling in your gut, trust it. If theres no spark then you shouldn't waste your time. You deserve someone who makes you feel magical, and you'll know from the moment you lay eyes on them. If you don't feel it then, it will never happen."

"Was it love at first sight when you met James?" she asked. More like hate.

"Um, something like that." I whispered. She nodded.

"You're absolutely right. Thank you." She said.

"Dinner's ready!" I called, smiling at her. We quickly set the table and she ate with us. I couldn't help but like her. She was so optimistic about life and love, and I hated seeing her here. I only hoped she would listen to me and leave Laurent before it was too late. Too soon, dinner was over, and Laurent and Victoria left. I cleaned up the kitchen, and then proceeded to clean the rest of the house when Laurent came storming in. He ran right up to me and pinned me against the wall, making my drop the broom I was sweeping with.

"You little bitch." Laurent sneered, slapping me across the face. I fell to the floor clutching my cheek.

"What happened?" James walked into the room, not at all worried to see me on the ground in pain. Scumbag.

"Victoria dumped me. She said there was no 'spark' as she liked to call it. She said that Claire told her she shouldn't settle for something if it wasn't there!" He yelled, grabbing my hair and pulling me to a standing position. "Your little bitch cost me a nice pretty fuck."

"I didn't want you to hurt her." I said, defending my actions. He glared at me.

"Yeah, how very noble of you." He yelled as he punched my stomach. Let's show you what noble acts can get you." He said, ripping off my shirt. He then ripped off his belt and began to whip it against my skin. The whole time I screamed out in agony, and James stood in the doorway watching. Finally he finished whipping me, but then he grabbed my by my hair to pull me up again. He then started punching me wherever he could, calling me every name in the book. After several punches I fell to the floor, where he kicked me a few times in the stomach. I heard loud cracks, and I felt my ribs break inside me. This was one of the worst beatings yet. My eyes were drooping, but I kept them open long enough to watch James finally walk over to me and tear off my pants. As I felt him enter me, my world was consumed in blackness.

Edward POV

"Bella." I spoke, looking over at her body inside a plush casket. I was surrounded by people crying. People mourning. "Bella I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I'm so sorry." I whispered, tears falling. I touched my hand to hers and was shocked by how cold it was. She was gone. She was really gone. He had killed her. And there was nothing that I could do.

"NO!" I shouted, sitting up in bed. My bedroom door burst open and I looked over to see Alice holding a baseball bat.

"Wha- Who's there?" she asked, clearly disoriented. If I hadn't just woken up from that dream I would have chuckled at the sight. Did she, tiny little Alice, believe that if there was really an attacker that she and that metal bat would be able to fight them off?

"Ali, put that down before you hurt yourself or break something." I whispered. She looked over at me and sighed, leaning the bat against the wall.

"Sorry, I just heard you yell."

"Yeah." I said. She walked over to me and climbed onto my bed.

"Nightmare?" she asked, I looked over at her and in that moment she looked just like she did as a child, when she would sneak into my room after bedtime and we would talk. I guess it was a twin thing.

"Yeah." I whispered. She grabbed my hand.

"You haven't had one in months, you've been so much better." She sighed, shaking her head. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

"Was it about Bella?"

"What else would it be about? Her not being here is the most terrifying thing to me ever."

"I know." She said, squeezing my hand. "I don't want to say I understand, because I don't, but I do get you. Like, I can't imagine what I would do without Jasper. He's my everything, just like Bella is yours." I nodded at her words. It was nice to hear.

"She's been gone a year Alice." I whispered. "Next Tuesday will be exactly a year."

"I know." she whispered.

"It's been the worst year of my life, understandably. They always say time heals all wounds, but it still hurts as bad as it did the day I woke up in the hospital and you all told me what happened. Will it ever get easier?"

"I honestly don't know." she whispered, laying her head on my shoulder. Then she sighed. "You know Edward, how I get those weird feelings?"

"What about them?" I asked. Alice would always get weird feelings whenever something was about to happen, whether it be good or bad, she always knew when something was going to happen.

"Well I've been having them for the past week." she whispered. I sat up and looked at her dead in the eye.

"What do you think it means?" I asked, dead serious. She sighed and put her head in her hands. She knew how much I believed her when she told me these things.

"I don't want you to get your hopes up." she spoke from her position, I pulled her up so she was looking at me again.

"You need to tell me Ali. You're always right." I said. She sighed.

"I think it means we're going to find her soon." she whispered. My heart jumped into my throat.

"Alice this is fantastic! Like I said, you're always right! We're going to get her back!" I said, feeling more hope than I had the entire year.

"See this is why I didn't want to tell you. Now your hopes are all high and I don't want them crushed."

"What? You're worried about being wrong? You never are with these things Ali." I reminded her.

"I know I'm not! I'm never wrong. I know I'm right that we're going to find her soon. However, I don't know what condition we'll find her in."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I mean.." she sighed. "I mean we are going to find her. I just don't know if we'll find her alive." she whispered the final word. Immediately, the pit in my stomach was back. Hearing her say that made my nightmare feel all too real. I pulled her in for a hug, trying to comfort her. As Bella was my love, she was also Alice's best friend. Her sister. I never really thought about what Bella's disappearance did to her until I saw how broken she was on telling me her worry was that we would find Bella dead. I kissed the top of her head, and looked out my window. I looked straight at the moon, as as soon as my eyes locked onto it, my hope returned.

"She's alive Ali. I know she is." I whispered, hugging her close to me as she slowly drifted to sleep. She began to softly snore, but I was wide awake. I was staring at our moon.

A/n: Hey guys! I just wanted to say sorry I haven't really posted. The last chapter I posted I basically added on to the last chapter I had already written (So if you read it when I first posted it there is a new edition that you should check out. Everything in Edward's POV is the same, but I added a Bella POV to the end so go read that so you don't miss anything!) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I especially enjoyed writing the Edward/Alice scene. Tell me what you think in a sweet little review- I love hearing from you guys! I promise I'll update soon- the more reviews i get the quicker I'll update!(;

lots of love always!3

~Rose