A/N I do not own Twilight (blah, blah we all know that).
24. Fragile
Epov:
I stood there in the middle of the living room breathing heavily, waiting in anticipation for someone to answer my question. Everyone was frozen. Charlie was still bent over the map he had spread out on the table. Carlisle was holding red pins which were now falling on the ground. Alice sat on the ground next to Renee whose hand was paused mid way in the air pointing to something on another map spread out in front of Alice. Esme was frozen in front of some deputy serving coffee. Emmett and Jasper were busy placing new batteries in a flashlight and was also now staring at me as if I was a crazed person. Scrap that, everyone was looking at me as if I was a crazed person.
Jacob was the first to come to life. He lifted his head from his hands and stood up from the sofa.
"I know her route. She always jogs the same route and I joined her sometimes." With those words the trance was broken, everyone began talking at once.
"Everyone quiet down!" Charlie shouted and everyone froze again.
"Edward, what are you thinking?" I was beginning to get agitated, Bella was missing and he wants to know what I'm thinking?
"Alice, why does Bella jog?" I ignored Charlie's question and his quizzical look while I waited for Alice to answer my question. She frowned obviously wondering what that has to do with everything.
"For exercise mainly, but I know she goes jogging when something is bothering her, or if she's irritated."
I smiled a genuine smile for the first time since Bella disappeared. "Edward, would you answer me dammit!" Charlie asked impatiently.
"Oh, sorry Charlie. I was in Bella's room and I noticed her running shoes are missing. Yesterday evening she seemed distracted and irritated. So I was thinking what if she couldn't sleep or was restless? Maybe she went jogging this morning and something happened to…" I barely finished my sentence when Charlie jumped into action.
"Everyone grab a flashlight and follow Jacob. Those of you who don't have a flashlight join someone who has one. Harry, can you ask Emily to bring the dogs? Good work Edward. I don't know why I haven't thought about that."
I just nodded and grabbed the flashlight Emmett was holding out to me. I headed to join Jacob in the front of the line. Everyone was filled with new hope as we waited for Charlie to join us. He was still busy giving orders to a few people.
"Do you really think something might have happened to her?" Jacob asked me. He was just as impatient as me to get going.
"I don't know. She seems to attract any form of danger that comes near her. I just want to find her, she's my life. I don't know if I can exist in a world where she doesn't." Jacob placed his hand on my shoulder and I instinctively felt that he knew what I meant. Charlie and Harry joined us finally and Jacob began to lead the way.
"You know, with the rain the dogs probably won't get a trail to follow." I heard Harry say to Charlie behind me.
"I know but she's my daughter and I'll do everything in my power to get her back."
I won't give up either Charlie, I thought to myself as I scanned every inch of ground with the flashlight. The voices began to quiet down as we continued on the route. We walked about five miles when Jacob suddenly stopped in front of a rock some way up a hill. You could probably see the whole town from here but all we could make out through the rain was a light here and there.
"She jogs until here, rests and then turns around to jog back home." Jacob said as everyone started to gather around us. I looked around but it was so dark and crowded it was no use searching for anything.
"Did anyone notice anything out of place on our way over here?" Charlie asked but was answered by silence. No one wanted to be the bearer of bad news. "Ok, thank you everyone for helping out. Head home and get some sleep we'll continue searching tomorrow morning."
We watched as everyone slowly turned and walked away. Some voiced a form of comfort to Charlie promising to be back first thing in the morning before walking away. Where are you Bella? I shuddered to think what could happen to her, it started to rain harder but I barely noticed as the water began trickling down my neck, soaking my clothes. Was fate out to get me? Was there some sort of alert system that started warning fate? OK Edward Cullen is about to be happy, let's fuck up his life.
Like some sick joke bringing joy to some sick bastard. I was so lost in my trail of thoughts that I didn't see the rest of Bella's friends and family gather around us.
"Edward come on, it's no use searching now. We can come back tomorrow, we'll find her." I looked up at the last person I thought I would hear say something comforting to me. Rosalie stood in front of me with her hand on my arm, her hair was a mess and soaking wet. Her makeup was running down her face, her clothes all wet and her boots was covered in mud.
I looked around me at the people who loved Bella just as much as I did. They were all soaked. Alice's hair was hanging down her face and she didn't even notice our spoilt clothes. Emmett was standing next to Jasper. Both of them looked like they were dragged backwards through a thorn bush. Their clothes were in the worst state, with small tears all over. They probably got snagged by branches from trees as they searched the forest in the dark.
Renee and Esme had puffy faces and had the same empty look on their faces. Carlisle looked the same as Charlie, wet, exhausted and afraid. Both of them knew the bad world out there and what exactly could happen to a seventeen year old girl. Even though we all looked like shit I knew one thing, we loved Bella and will not give up until she was found.
"Come on we'd better go home. I know it'll be hard but we need to try and sleep for at least a few hours. If we want to continue the search tomorrow we'll need the rest. As long as there's life there's hope. I believe she's alive and I'll only believe she is dead when I see her cold body. So come on, pull yourself together and start walking." I was surprised to hear Renee speak for the first time since this afternoon.
Nevertheless we started walking home, saying nothing but still scanning the lit up ground as we walked back. Once back at the house we agreed on meeting at six am in the morning, before Carlisle, Esme and I headed back towards our home. We said little in the car but I did notice the concerned glances from Esme. I ignored it and just stared out the window, wondering about places Bella might be.
I went straight to my bathroom and took of my soggy clothes. I placed them in the bath before taking a warm shower. As I exited the bathroom I noticed a plate of cold ham sandwiches on my bed stand. Esme must have placed it there. I forced down the bread and turned of the lights. As I lay on my bed I knew that I would never sleep, instead I remembered all the good times with Bella.
After about two hours of rolling around I went and sat on the porch. It was still raining lightly and I just gazed into nothingness. Carlisle joined me after some time.
"How long have you been sitting here?" He asked as he sat down beside me.
"It was dark when I came out. Now it's not." Was all I said but he understood what I meant.
"I couldn't sleep either." He said and we sat there until Esme informed us it was time to go.
When we turned onto the Swan's street there were even more cars than yesterday. After we finally found parking space we walked to the house. I noticed some officers standing outside the house dividing some papers between them. I could here dogs barking in the back yard and voices coming from inside. I frowned as I walked into the cramped house, Charlie was yet again bent over a map and Renee was serving coffee to everyone. Carlisle walked to Charlie and Esme went to help Renee.
"Edward!" I glanced around when I heard somebody call my name. All I could see was a mass of people planning something or scanning something and talking.
"Edward… up here!" I spun around and looked up the stairs where I spotted Rosalie.
I don't know how but somehow I managed to maneuver my way through all the people and up the stairs. "Did you sleep at all?" She asked concerned leading the way to Alice's room.
"No, what's going on?" I asked as we entered the room. Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Jacob were already gathered here.
"People heard about Bella's disappearance and volunteered to help. Emily brought the dogs this morning but they're all wet. They reek! Alice made some posters this morning to put up across town and now we're escaping the madhouse downstairs". Emmett gave me a quick rundown of the morning's events. I nodded picking up a white paper from the floor. Bella smiled back at me. I dropped it back to the floor, wishing I could see the real thing.
I looked around Alice's room. It was a girl's room. Make up and beautification products was strewn everywhere. "So what's the plan of action?" I asked flopping down next to Jasper.
"Dad wants to take the dogs on the route Bella jogged yesterday and the rest of us will be divided to search further away from town." Alice said from where she sat against Jaspers legs. So we waited to be called downstairs, I couldn't stand just sitting around and started pacing back and forth. On my eighth turn there was a small knock on the door. Emmett stood up to open it.
"Is there an Edward Cullen here?" A small squeaky voice asked. "Someone downstairs said he might be here." The voice sounded frightened and broke on the last part of his sentence.
"Sure kid, he is in here."
Emmett turned around and revealed a rather pale boy. He had red hair and freckles. He looked from me to Jasper to Jacob. Obviously he didn't know how I looked and was now trying to figure out which one of us I was.
"I'm Edward." I said to help him out.
"Uh, a girl asked me to give this to you." He walked into the room trembling and held out an envelope. His hand was shaking so bad I had to reach for it twice before I could grasp it.
"Who are you?" I asked before the boy could turn and walk out of the room.
"Riley." He barely whispered before making a bee line for the door. I glanced at the envelope. It was completely blank. I opened it and emptied the contents into my hand. A paper and a small trinket fell into my palm. The others gathered around me to see what was inside of the envelope. I glanced at the trinket and felt how the blood drained from my face.
I burst through the others and ran downstairs. I stopped in the living room and scanned it for any sign of the boy. I spotted a flash of red at the back door.
"Riley, stop!" I shouted as I began maneuvering through the crowd of people. The boy's head snapped back as he glanced over his shoulder and when he spotted me, he ran through the back door. I cursed loudly when I finally reached the door. He was probably long gone by now. I heard growling coming from outside and when I opened the door I was met by an astonishing sight. Riley was backed into a corner of the backyard by a sand colored dog. A woman was trying to calm the dog. I ran forward to help but didn't exactly know what to do.
"Down Seth, down boy!" I heard the woman say as I reached her. The dog only snarled and still didn't back down from the cowering boy.
"How can I help?" I asked the woman who was still talking to the dog.
"I don't know. He doesn't want to listen to me!" She shrieked panic clearly in her voice. I crouched down on one leg.
"Come on Seth, its ok we got it from here. Good job boy. Come here boy." I said in the calmest voice I could muster. The dog stopped snarling but still stood aggressively in front of the boy. "That's it boy. Come on." I said again and this time the dog turned to me and sat down, his tong lolling out the side of his mouth. The woman sighed and placed a leash on the dog while Riley fell to the ground in a shaking heap.
"Thank you. Seth is still young and can get aggressive at times. I forgot to put a leash on him. Oh, my name is Emily." She turned around and held out her hand for me to shake. I stifled a gasp. Emily's face had a long scar on one side, from the temple all the way down to her chin.
"Edward." I quickly shook her hand before she thought I was staring when I remembered why I came out here in the first place. I walked to the boy. "Riley, who gave you the envelope?" I asked as crouched next to the boy. Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Jacob and Rose walked out into the yard and stopped next to me.
"Some girl, I don't know her. She just paid me to give you the envelope." He whispered as he sat up and glanced at all the people around him.
"Can you remember anything about her?" I asked patiently fighting of the urge to shake it out of him.
"Just that she had red hair."
I froze and yet again felt all the blood drain from my face. How did she find me? Where the others with her or was she acting alone?
"Edward what is going on?" I heard Alice ask, I got up and walked into the house, I didn't notice the people I bumped into as I walked up the stairs and into Alice's room. I stopped to pick up the piece of paper.
"Edward what the hell is going on?" Jasper asked from the door. I turned around.
"I know who has Bella." I stated simply and pushed through them to find Charlie. I stopped in the living room.
"Charlie I know who has Bella!" I shouted and everyone went quiet.
Bpov:
I watched as James walked out the door, my cheek was burning from the slap I had received. I crawled into a ball on the bed and glared at the food he brought in. I wasn't going to eat any of it, suddenly my stomach growled. I haven't eaten all day and was starving, well Bella you can either starve to death or see it as your last meal. My father told me about death row, apparently the person on death row can ask for any meal to enjoy as his last meal before they execute him. Well then, last meal it is I decided as my stomach growled again. I ate the soup hungrily, it wasn't very nice but at least it was edible.
James came back after a while. "Did you have enough to eat, Isabella?" He asked sitting down next to me. I nodded and just stared at a small dark spot on the wall in front of me. "Apparently your friends are looking for you."
My head snapped up. They knew I was missing. They would find me and everything would be over soon. Charlie would lock them up for ever and they would never be able to hurt someone else.
"Don't get your hopes up, the rain has washed away all of our tracks. They'll never find us." He said as if commentating on the weather. He clearly didn't know my father and I refused to give up hope. He smiled suddenly. "Your friends obviously care a lot about you. I wonder? Do you care about them as much as they care about you?"
He looked at me waiting for an answer. "Of course, I'd give my life for them!"
He snickered. "You say that now but when push comes to shove you wouldn't." I looked at him studying his calm facial features.
"I'll give my life for them in a heart beat. That is true friendship, willing to do anything for them."
He snickered again. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
I cocked my eyebrow at him. "You don't have a friendship like that, do you?"
He glared at me. "What do you know about my friends?"
I shrugged, "Would they be there out in the rain if you were the one missing?" I asked matter-of-factly.
"I…I don't know?" He confessed to my surprise.
"Would you be out there in the rain searching for them if they where missing?" I asked again and he shook his head slowly. "Why do you hate Edward so much?" I asked pushing my luck.
I thought he was never going to answer as he only stared into space, I was about to shake his shoulder when he spoke.
"He never appreciated what he had. He always took it for granted. Plus everything he had was forbidden to me. He had things that I could never have, so I decided to take it away from him. First Victoria, she was the most beautiful girl in school and she went out with Edward.
"I didn't like her much, I thought she was a snob and stuck up but once she began going out with Edward there was just something about her. Edward and I were best friends but one night at a party that didn't mean anything to me. Victoria was drunk and alone. Parties were never Edward's scene. One thing led to another and I slept with her.
"When I woke up next to her I knew Edward would never forgive me, and I was afraid I might loose his friendship. I never told him and promised myself it will never happen again. But it did, over and over again. He caught us red handed one day. I lost his friendship and Victoria's love. She went running back to him but he didn't want to take her back.
"She came back to me but it just wasn't the same." He got up and went to stand against the wall. "You know what the funny thing is?" He asked sounding tired. "He was probably the only friend I ever had. He always stood by me and came up for me. He even once took the blame for me. I just fucked up that whole friendship."
"Then make it right, let me go and I'll talk to Edward. You can talk to Edward, before it's too late. You don't have to do this." His head snapped up and he walked over to the bed picking up the empty tray.
"It's too late for that. I started this and I have to see it through." He walked out the door, locking it behind him.
Great, it seems he suffers from a split personality. One moment he is regretful, the next, emotionless. I shoved all thoughts out of my head and tried to get some sleep. I woke up to the sound of a key turning in the door.
"Isabella, why don't you join us for breakfast this morning?" James said and he left the door open. I grabbed the comb and quickly ran it through my bed hair before I walked to the kitchen.
I noticed Laurent sitting in the living room before I entered the small kitchen. James indicated to the chair beside him and I made my way over. He held out a white paper toward me, I took it from him as I sat down.
"Seems that black pixie haired sister of yours are creative. These were all over town, and they're bringing in dogs to search for trails." I glanced at my smiling picture. They must be sick with worry by now.
"Victoria did you sent the package to Edward?" James asked as I began eating the scrambled eggs.
"Yes, I paid a boy named Riley to take it to him. With a small note telling him he has until midnight tonight to find her or we'll send her to him piece by piece." I swallowed hard and felt the scramble egg make its way down my throat. It seemed like an Austin Powers movie where Dr. Evil announces his evil plan and then laughs his little evil laugh.
Was this the part where James and Victoria laugh their evil laugh?
They chuckled softly as I just stared at my breakfast. It really was my last meal.
A/n ok I planned to write this sooner but my nephew that I haven't seen in three years paid me a surprised visit and we stayed up late until 3 am talking. Then the next day my mother hogged the computer to play games. Anyway here is the new chapter. Yes they haven't found Bella yet maybe in the next chapter we'll see. So James is growing on me for some reason so that's why you see a lot more of him than the other three.
Thank you for all the super fantastical reviews. Hope no one is crazy yet. Thanks for adding the story to your favorites and alerts lists I would like to thank my super beta, Princess Briar Rose, for polishing this chapter to perfection and for all her support.
Thanks for reading.