It's been a rough few days, so it might reflect some in the subject matter on the entry today. Hopefully not TOO bad. :)
Penname: kyla713
Creative Original or Derivative Fiction: Derivative
Rating/Warning(s):
Notes:
Disclaimer: All copyrighted, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.
Prompt: Glass
It felt as if it had been forever since I'd seen him, yet it had only been a week. If there was a point and purpose to this separation from the man I loved, I would be far more understanding. But there wasn't, and I couldn't even touch him when I was able to see him.
Being escorted for the long hallway, I still couldn't help but smile at the nervous butterflies I felt at the anticipation of seeing him. My smile grew as I stepped into the room with a line of booths in front of me, my eyes finally meeting his at the fourth one from the end.
I hurried over to the seat in front of him and immediately lifted the receiver from the barrier wall beside me, as he did the same. "Hey baby."
A small, sad smile graced his lips and he slowly shook his head. "You know, every week I keep dreading that it's going to be the one that you don't come back."
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked in confusion, furrowing my brow.
"Tired of waiting? Tired of believing in me? There could be so many reasons. And you're still so young, Bella. You deserve better than this."
"Edward?" I began, waiting for his eyes to meet mine again after lowering as he spoke. "I'm not going to stop coming here until the day you walk out those doors with me. I will always believe in you. I know you, and I know you didn't do this."
More than four years I had been coming to this place, all because of a bogus attempted manslaughter charge. Though there was significant proof to the contrary, James had damn good lawyers that found a way to discount almost all of it. They convinced the courts that in a rage of jealousy, Edward had shot James for having a conversation with me, only barely missing his vital organs.
The conversation had never taken place, nor had I even seen James since the day I broke up with him two months before I had started dating Edward, until the day I walked into that courtroom to proclaim my boyfriend's innocence.
The story I had gotten from Edward – and the only one I would ever acknowledge – was that James had approached him as he was walking home from the library after a late night study session, and began a verbal altercation with him. When Edward refused to break up with me and tried to walk away, a gunshot sounded behind him. Turning around quickly at the sound, he watched James collapse onto the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest – being an anatomy major, knowing exactly where to do it to avoid his heart and his lungs. Edward, on instinct, rushed over to him to apply pressure to the wound and called an ambulance.
When they arrived, along with the police, all they could hear or see was James' plea to arrest the man who did this, and Edward covered in his blood with the gun at his feet.
In three months, Edward would be eligible for parole, and he hadn't so much as set a hair out of line in all the time he'd been in there. Therefore, his lawyer assured us that the chances were good that it would be granted.
Placing my hand against the glass that separated us, I waited until his joined it on the other side before I spoke again. "I love you. Three more months and this is over."
"Maybe," he mumbled, his eyes lowering again. It broke my heart to see how much being in prison had changed Edward. Every ounce of optimism and hope had been stripped from him, always expecting the worst rather than hoping for the best. 'You're never disappointed that way, Bella,' he would tell me.
"It will. I know it," I replied confidently, wishing more than ever that I could reach through the glass and wrap my arms around him. Have the freedom to show him how much I still loved him after all this time. "You're going to get out of here, and we're finally going to be able to get married. And we're going to put this behind us and mend."
His eyes lifted back up to mine and I watched as his fingertips whitened from the increased pressure of them against the barrier between us, as if it would bring him closer to me. "I love you too, Bella. Your visits are the one thing keeping me going through all this."
"I have something for you. She keeps begging me to bring her with me…"
"No," Edward replied, shaking his head and his hand dropping from the glass. "I won't have her see me in here."
I shook my head and held up a picture of my seven-year-old daughter, and watched a teary smile appear on his face. Even though Emma wasn't Edward's, and she was barely three when he was sent away, he'd never failed to treat her as if she were and asked about her on every visit. She got one phone call a month from him, and she waited as patiently as a young child could all day until that phone rang.
And always answered with 'Hi Daddy!'.
"She brought her school pictures home on Friday, already with one of the five by seven's set aside. And she wrote you a letter too," I said, smiling and pulling out a sealed envelope with 'For Daddy's eyes only!' scrawled across it from my purse.
"Time's up," the guard behind him stated, tapping the back of his chair.
I sighed heavily. These moments were never long enough, but soon, I would see, hear, and touch him anytime I wanted. I kept reminding myself of that.
"I'll have these checked in so you get them," I reassured him, trying to keep the positive smile on my face. Tears were for when I was alone.
"Thank you, baby. I love you, and tell Em I love her too," Edward replied, pressing his hand against the glass again.
"I love you too. And I will," I promised and mirrored his action, until he had to hang up the phone and was taken away.
I rushed out of the room as fast as I could to check the articles in for Edward and leave before the tears came. After over four years, three more months should feel like nothing, yet it felt like an eternity.
x-x-x
Later that evening, EPOV
I lay back on my bunk, holding the picture of Emma and smiled. She had gotten so big, and grown up to be so beautiful like her mom, even since last year. My finger ran over the gold print at the bottom of the photo.
Emma Swan
2nd grade
2009-10
Taking the tape that the guard had given me, I cut a piece and stuck the picture below last year's, beside the picture of her mother.
I stared at them both for a moment before opening the envelope to read the letter my girl had written me.
Dear Daddy,
Hi. How are you? They are teaching us to write letters in school, and told us to write to anyone we wanted. So I chose you.
I miss you. When are you coming home? Mommy said we could have a big party.
I love you, Daddy. Come home soon.
Love,
Emma
By the time I reached the end of her letter, I had tears streaming down my cheeks, and I was not the least bit ashamed. I had a family at home waiting for me; Bella and Emma were my family.
Everything I was fighting for.