Chapter 5: Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

Jake tore off his shirt and pants. The heat it was so much it was too much.

The transformation felt like the first time but instead of an instant phase it was slow, full of agony. It reminded him of horror films such as American Werewolf in Paris.

Jake scurried outside, his bare feet aching against the gravel.

The animal in him was ragging inside its cage and it wanted out. Whatever she had done to him was wearing off and as his bones began to break and shift. He screamed and screamed begging God for the pain to end.

His human hands started to form into paws and claws began to seep from his nails. He could hear and feel the tearing and cracking of muscle, nerves and bone. He wanted the pain to stop, he would give anything to for the pain to stop, even death would be better. As his back stretched out and he felt his spine, stretch and crack he let out a gurgling scream and passed out…again.

0-0-0-0

Jake slowly opened his eyes. Unlike before, he was not in the basement but in bed, covered in sweat, feeling unimaginable heat course through him.

"Jacob?" he heard Bella whisper across the room before ghosting to him to touch his forehead. She was like ice but that is what he needed right now. "God, you're burning up."

Her breathing picked up and he knew she wanted to sob.

"What have I done? I never should have turned you mortal."

"You think," he snapped but his voice was hoarse.

"It was an accident," she admitted then. "I hadn't meant to. I can't help it, when there's a chase it awakens the predator and the predator always wants to go in for the kill."

He took several breaths, "Then why didn't you?"

She looked at him sadly, "I could never do that to you. I would go mad if I lost you."

He looked away, he didn't want to hear her talk like this.

She said nothing.

He took several breaths, the heat was getting unbearable again.

"We need to bring my temperature down," he told her.

"I'll get ice," she answered.

He shook his head.

"No," he swallowed. He couldn't believe he was about to ask this but he wasn't about to start being nice about it. "Your cold as ice, you will do."

Bella looked down and nodded.

"Yes," she whispered sadly. "Stone cold ice cold and dead."

He ignored those last words because she was far from dead and he needed her help to bring this horrible fever down.

"You're not dead. Not like everyone else such as Charlie, Sam, my dad. They are all gone, but you are here. Now, please help me. Come lie with me," he beckoned.

She nodded again and removed her worn out shoes and socks. She took off her jeans that were muddied from the hunt and left on her old shirt to keep some modesty. She lifted the sheet and pressed her cold body next to him. After feeling like he had been roasting in an oven, he finally felt relief.

Bella meanwhile felt his immense heat and swore she was inside a fire pit but it didn't matter because he was wrapping his arms around her and for the first time in nearly a century she felt true peace. Soon the soft murmurs of her breathing filled his ears, he had fallen asleep.

"I wish, I wish I could be human," she whispered into empty space.

After a while, she closed her eyes tight and entered something very much like sleep.

0-0-0-0-0

The next morning Jake woke-up alone in bed but just as soon as he began to pull himself out of bed he found Bella sitting on a chair holding a tray of fruit, pancakes, eggs and bacon.

"Please eat," she said as she gently placed the tray on his lap and stepped back.

He looked at her and frowned.

Is she afraid of me? he thought.

"Would you like coffee?" she asked.

He simply nodded for he wasn't ready to talk quite yet.

She returned seconds later with coffee made with extra milk and some sugar. She still remembered everything about him and he couldn't fail to notice.

He took a bite of his food and almost died. He hadn't had these fluffy pancakes in years. He ate quickly and he swore he had caught her smiling which almost annoyed him but he was so hungry, it didn't matter. He soon finished eating and she could tell he wanted more. She brought him a second plate of pancakes hot and buttery with extra syrup and he couldn't say no. He ate until he couldn't eat anymore.

"I guess I should clean-up," she said.

Before he even protested she zipped out of the room plates and all leaving him with his thoughts. He stood up and felt quite strong, better if anything. It must have been the food, he thought.

Meanwhile, Bella quickly washed dishes and put everything away. If there was one thing she could do well was cook and she remembered everything she liked.

A way to a man's heart is his stomach, she barely remembered her grandmother saying that to her once.

She sighed.

Who was she kidding, she thought. He would never want her. She closed her eyes that felt suddenly very warm she covered her face and felt something new, a droplet of water in the corner of her eye.

Bella swallowed.

It must have been from washing dishes, she thought.

She decided to busy herself and clean the living room, in minutes she had dusted and wiped down counters. It was then that she noticed Jake looking at her rather annoyed.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

He looked amazing, she thought. He was wearing boot-cut jeans, paired with a white t-shirt and his leather jacket that she had loved to be held in long ago.

"Bella, I asked you a question."

"I just like to keep busy," she answered honestly.

"I don't need a housemaid," he retorted. "I don't want you to touch anything."

She felt disappointment, sadness and a bit of anger.

"Well, I guess—" she was about to say that she was going to leave when he asked her something unexpected.

"How do you remember how to cook?" he asked. "I thought you leeches forgot most of your human memories."

It wasn't meant to come out that way. After all he was thankful for everything she had done for him even though it was also her fault that he had been falling apart.

"Stop calling me a fucking leech," she said tossing a rag at him. "All I wanted to do was help out around here."

"Yeah, you've helped plenty," he spat. "Now answer my question."

He sat down and gestured for her to do the same.

"I have forgotten mostly everything," she said. "I can't remember my mother's face. High school is a blur. Charlie's voice is barely a whisper. But you…I remember everything including when I used to cook for you."

Jacob didn't know how to answer that so instead he prodded her with another question.

"What happened to the Cullens?"

She stood up and shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about them," she said.

"Well tough. Because frankly, Bella, I don't think you would be here unless something happened with them. What did they kick you out?"

"No, they didn't kick me out" she said. She couldn't possibly tell him. How could she? It was the worst moment of her existence. She could still remember Rosalie's face coming to the realization that she had a heartbeat again, barely human, what she had always wanted and now she was dead, truly dead, Bella thought.

She felt another tear form in the corner of her eye. She touched her face it was a tear she couldn't deny it. And a panic surged within her chest, something was changing, she thought.

"I need to go," she said again as she walked to the bedroom to quickly put on her socks and shoes.

"Bella," Jacob began softly but he was never the one for patience. "What the fuck happened to them? Why won't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry for what I did to you," she said regarding turning him human but at the same time for everything else she had done. "I hope you can forgive me someday."

"Wait, don't just go! You can't just leave like that because you dont—"

She opened the door and before he could approach her she sped off. She ran quickly until she sped off into the woods, condemning herself to eternity in solitude.

Up ahead she saw a familiar house with large open windows, it had been beautiful so many years ago but now it appeared like a haunted place.

Before she even stepped on the gravel of the driveway she felt and immense force push her into the nearby creek, she felt with a strong thud that felt violently painful. When she opened her eyes, all she could register was that for once in the past 90 years, she felt like death was possible.

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