4
She walked in the house and quickly ran back to the utility room. She set the washing machine going and then ran around the house getting the dirty clothes together, Renée just dropped clothes wherever she took them off, it was Bella's job to make sure she found them all and got them clean. She knew that she had three months before the electricity company would get to the stage of cutting her off again, but couldn't help wanting to get everything done as quickly as possible just in case it went off.
After the washing machine finished she shoved the clothes she knew Renée wanted to wear in the dryer and folded the sheets as best she could and slipped them over the line installed in the room. The warmth of the dryer would help dry them, though the bill was paid she never used the dryer any more than she had to, it just ate money!
She put up the ironing board and got a cotton tea towel and rinsed it under the tap. The steam iron was too heavy for her to use properly, she had burnt her fingers a lot trying, so she used the small travel iron and a damp cloth instead when she ironed her school blouses, and her mothers work clothes, it was a lot more time consuming but she didn't burn herself half so much.
To begin with Renée didn't insist that Bella wash and iron her clothes, but she had realized ages ago that it was a lot easier for her to do it than to cope with her hysterical parent on the mornings she realized she had nothing to wear for work. So she had just taken over the task and had done it so well, so consistently that now Renée not only expected it, she punished Bella when it wasn't done.
By the time she was ready for bed she had caught up entirely on not only the clothes that had built up when the electric was off, but some ironing that she had neglected from before. The sheets were almost dry when she checked and would be totally dry in the morning. She made herself noodles for supper and tiredly slipped into bed.
There was no sign of her mother.
Knowing that all the grand plans Renée had made for the fortune she was going to get from her leatherworking and basket weaving were going to come to nothing, as she would get tired of the projects long before seeing any profit (or even the end of the courses) Alice worried about what would happen next.
It was difficult for her as Renée just decided on things out of the blue. There was no trail that led to these stupid ideas, she just thought them up on the spot, so there was no way of working in advance to stop her. Until decisions were made, most of the future wasn't clearly visible. It was so annoying!
Alice had been watching Bella even before she was born in a way. A vision had come to her almost a decade ago showing her the one person who could complete their family. She hadn't realized at first that the future she saw was not just the near future as usual, but more like her first vision of Jasper, long term. It had taken her four years to even find out Bella's name and where she lived. Things had taken a worrying turn in the last year though, events that had seemed set in stone were suddenly in flux. The hunter was still on target, it was Bella herself who was in danger of changing the ideal future. Closer observation had shown an increasingly bitter Renée as she felt her youth slip from her. Bella's danger though was not just from her mother's neglect and frequent bad tempers, but from a lack of self esteem and growing depression making her unable to connect to anyone, somehow the Cullen family, or at least Alice herself, had to make friends with the girl for almost 10 years without her noticing anything wrong. This crucial point was where she and Jasper together had come up with the plan they were now working on.
It was looking like it could be a full time job for the Cullens until the meeting of Bella and Edward at last happened, sometime around when she was either 17 or 20… Alice couldn't say for sure which one was most likely at any one time. The future wavered and settled as things progressed, a major decision had to be made for the earlier meeting, which was the preferable one as it meant not only Edward coming home earlier, but their road to happiness was much smoother if they did meet at that earlier time. The only thing that was unchanging and certain, now, was the fact that they WOULD meet, unfortunately this leading to Edward being reunited with his family depended on some very careful decisions, ones Alice would have to recognize and step in to ensure success. The fact that these steps weren't yet known did not change the future as it was certain that Alice WOULD act to protect that future that she wished for no matter what was needed.
They only had a few more days at the school, and Alice needed to be close enough to Bella by the time the sun shone again and stopped Carlisle working at the school, that they could keep in touch, even as pen pals it made future intervention so much easier. If they could be closer than that things would move even smoother.
However it was less than 2 days after, while Carlisle was still being science teacher at the school when the next crisis arose, and this was one where she had every sympathy with Edward's previous rebellious period.
Alice was sorting through Jasper's closet, picking out all the clothes that he had worn at least once to be given away when a vision suddenly appeared. Her cry was heard by everyone in the place and they all reached her in seconds.
Alice ignored them all as she sorted through pathways, trying to find the best way to prevent what she had seen… Bella, dead! She was laid in what looked to be a shallow grave while a man Alice didn't recognize was filling loose dirt on top of her. She was in her school uniform, partially.
Jasper tried to calm her as she sifted the futures until she found one that not only protected Bella but several other young girls.
The triggering factor… Renée. She had not only started dating a man 'seriously' (or as seriously as she ever did), she had just decided to bring him home. That would lead to him seeing Bella. However this man was different from the usual users and flakes she had hooked up with before, the visions Alice was subjected to would have made her vomit if she had been able to.
She looked at her husband and realized that she could not ask this of him, it was time for Emmett to join in! He had been wanting to help since they had been told the plan, Rosalie had flatly refused to do anything to help, stating that Edward had come back last time, and he would again when he got over his "sulk", but Emmett was, as usual, fascinated by anything human, his sense of humour was strange… to say the least… but his loyalty and compassion were second to none.
As soon as Alice revealed what the new man in Renée's life was after, and what he was capable of doing in the future, Jasper and Emmett made plans on how to "dissuade" him from his lifestyle.
"It won't work." Alice said sighing as the future swirled as their plans developed, she put her hand onto her husband's arm before he could object. "It needs to be something more… permanent."
"You mean we should kill him?" Jasper asked, shocked that his wife could suggest such a thing.
"If you don't then I can foresee at least 4, maybe 5 girls being tortured and killed by him, and that's just in the next few years, God knows how many he has already killed!"
"But…" Jasper was the one who struggled most on the diet of animal blood, Alice knew what she was asking by advocating the death of the paedophile, which was why she knew she could not ask him to do it. She turned to her brother.
"I'll do it." Emmett said, his voice and face grave for once in his life. Esme put a consoling hand upon his arm, but he didn't need it, the proud look he received from his wife was enough for him. Rosalie nodded her permission when he looked to her, though she had insisted that she wanted nothing to do with the plans to help Bella, her past made her vicious when it came to sex offenders, no matter what age the victim. "When is the best time, Alice?"
"It has to be tonight… Renée will leave him just before midnight and he will head over to another woman he has been seeing, her daughter is 9." She didn't need to spell out to them what he was going to do, one look at her face told them that if they procrastinated then they would be too late for one little girl.
"Where will he be?" Emmett asked, Alice gave him the route that would lead from the bar to the girl's address and by the time he and Rose (who refused to stay behind) left Alice could no longer see any future for the man, by 4am Rose would have given him every reason to regret ever being born and Emmett would make sure that the pieces of him that could be identified would be in the stomachs of carnivores 2 States apart.
Alice slumped, she had never had to work so hard just to keep someone alive! Truthfully she had never tried to keep anyone alive as such, but she could not imagine that everyone was as prone to danger as Bella seemed to be, after all if they were, no one would ever end up growing up!
She searched futures frantically, still she could not bring back into focus the exact vision that had set her and the family on this course in the first place. What if, by changing things, she had stopped that future from ever happening? Ok the changes she had made as to the money and the paedophile were necessary, but somewhere along the line she had changed something else, something that now meant in a few years time Bella did not go to Forks, did not meet Edward and did not help Alice right the wrong that she had caused that day back in 1950. The later meeting was now the one that was certain.
Something that needed to happen had not happened, and it had not happened because of what they were doing. In fact the nebulous swirling of the future now showed Bella, aged in her 20's STILL at home looking after her mother, she had met Edward, the bond had formed, but Renée had demanded that Bella not leave her, she had even threatened suicide until Bella agreed to stay. The Bella in this future was obviously suffering, but her mother was too uncaring about her to even notice.
What had she done wrong? WHAT? She went over every move they had made trying to find out what it was but she came up blank every time. It was enough to make her scream. Even Jasper couldn't help as he tried to send calming waves to her. She was determined though, she would sit there until such time as she worked it out! Even if it took until Bella was 17 and Alice had to kidnap her to get her to Forks!
The sun slanting into the room through the window woke Bella up, she stretched and yawned… she loved sunny days, the heat felt marvellous on her skin as she basked in the early morning rays coming through the gap in the curtains. She glanced over at her clock, 07:45. She groaned, it was Saturday! Why couldn't she ever have a decent sleep in? The warmth of the direct sunlight through the window tempted her to snuggle back into the bedding, but she knew she should really get up.
There were things that needed doing.
Mr. Carlisle had said that he wouldn't be at the school any more, Mrs. Vaughn and her mother were back from their holiday and she would be taking back over again. Bella wasn't as happy about that as she thought she should be. She had really enjoyed science with Mr. Carlisle, as well as enjoying Alice's company. However it was nice to know Mrs. Vaughn was ok, it had worried Bella that she had never managed to go around to see the missing teacher, every time she tried something seemed to get in the way. Of course, she could always go around after lunch.
If she managed to get the rest of the housework up to date, and managed the bulky dry goods shopping… she pulled her backpack onto the bed and slipped her hand into the pocket in front, $68 left. Plenty for her needs.
Luckily her mother's wage would be in the bank after the weekend. Though with the unauthorized overdraft a large chunk of it would be swallowed up. At least the electric was sorted. Bella had a list of bills and their priorities, first (though not Bella's priority she knew she could not stop it) Renée insisted that she take $200 a month for herself. Though what she spent it on Bella had no real idea. After that, there was the rent, then the gas, and phone, Bella had already cancelled the cable service, public channels would have to do her mother if she was ever in to watch them. If she did the bare minimum of shopping that left $15 out of the wage which she could use to pay the minimum on the new credit cards. She had already taken the card and she had cut it into pieces. When Renée had shouted at her that it wasn't up to her to say what her mother could or could not do, Bella offered to stop paying the bills, or even to go shopping. Renée had slammed out of the house and hadn't been seen at all for 2 days.
When Charlie's money arrived they would be ok for the rest of the month. Always assuming that there wasn't something wrong with the bank and it DID arrive as it was supposed to. What she would do if it did not, she didn't even want to think about.
She slipped on her only pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that she had picked up at a charity shop for 50 cents and made her way downstairs. As she turned into the kitchen she jumped in surprise to see her mother there. She sighed at the sight of her, the short shorts and tight, low-cut top would have fit her if she had been 2 sizes smaller, and may have looked good if she was 10 years younger, her make-up was smeared and she smelled of cigarette smoke. It was obvious that she had been up all night, and by the tissues on the table, Bella guessed that she had been dumped by her latest boyfriend. She sighed, all she needed after the week she had had was to have to console her mother after another relationship disaster.
She filled the kettle and lit the gas ring. She poured the milk into the cups and tried not to watch her mother, who was sniffing very dramatically, as she went about making tea for them both.
She slid the mug towards her mother as she reached for the out-of-date coco pops that she had got for half price in her shopping. Her attempt to ignore her mother didn't work, Renée let out a sob and started crying again… "I don't know what happened!" Bella continued getting her breakfast, "We were so good together… he just… seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth!"
"Hmm," Bella said around a mouthful of cardboard tasting cereal.
"We were supposed to meet at the bar near my school, but he never arrived, they said no one had seen him since Wednesday!" Bella didn't mention the fact that her mother had been out both Thursday and Friday evenings… and if not with her new man, with whom? "I even went around to his shop, it was closed, but there's no sign in the window to say why."
"Hmm," Bella said, hoping she sounded a little interested, but not enough for her mother to go into detail.
"The mail is on the floor, and a couple of daily papers, I tried calling the police but they said unless there was some sigh of foul play, or a relative called, there was nothing they could do."
"Oh, dear," Bella sympathized, unsympathetically.
"I mean, I told them he would never go away on his own… he has classes to take!"
"Thought he owned a shop," Bella said, then realized her mistake. She really shouldn't have shown she was listening.
"He does own a shop, he does leather goods, oh Bella, you should see the things he has in the shop!"
"Is this the man you paid for lessons?" Bella asked, knowing she was right… trust her mother to not only start a new flaky idea, but get conned out of the tuition for it! She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, her mother would now go look for someone else to teach her, and pay out again. If the idiot had just taught a couple of lessons Renée would have got fed up when she saw how much effort was required and would have given up to start something else. But now he had run off with the money she would be more determined than ever that this was the ONE way to make money that would work. Bella felt like hitting her head on the kitchen table.
"I have to go out," she said, quickly rinsing the bowl and spoon out and grabbing her coat from the hallway.
"Where to?" her mother said, still sipping the tea, "I thought you could help me look for him…"
"Mom, I don't have time!" Bella protested, a small amount of the ire she felt leaking into her tone. "I have to do the shopping, and then the house needs cleaning, and there's dinner to cook… and I have to visit Mrs. Vaughn and her mother…"
"You don't have to visit anyone!" Renée said, "You try to do too much, and you shouldn't use that cream cleaner, it's doing terrible things to your skin, use an organic cleaner instead." Bella noticed she didn't tell her not to cook, clean or shop, and how did she expect her to be able to afford organic anything on the money she had? Did they actually DO organic cleaners? Would they work?
"I really have to go… you know the freshest food is in early," Bella said as she slid out the door.
"Have a good day!" her mother called sarcastically, and Bella knew she was safe, something had distracted her and she had forgotten her protest at Bella's schedule.
Bella walked to the store with lighter steps, pulling the small wagon behind her that she used for heavier shopping days. She loved her mother, she really did. But sometimes she really didn't like her too much. She wondered where she thought she had the money to shop from, or even why the electric had magically turned itself back on. But then realized that her mother wouldn't think twice about it. The shopping fairies must have come and given her some cash, for all Renée knew or cared.
She filled the wagon with the things she needed most, cleaning items, and so forth due to Renée's strange view on food storage, and not too much in the way of groceries. There was no point in stocking up anyway, as nice as that sounded, as Renée would do stupid things, like try and cook and end up making inedible food for herself and then throwing it away, or feed the wildlife as she had earlier in the week. Bella sighed, dejected as she made her way to the school teacher's house. She knew if she headed home first she would never get around to visiting, her mother would make sure that she spent all her time with her… not through motherly love, or even just for company, no Renée hadn't had her pound of flesh in sympathy yet, and though Bella was in no mood to baby sit her mother and bolster her ego, she knew as soon as she walked in the house, that was all she would get to do.
Bella put the brake on the wagon as she stepped up to the door, she knocked tentatively, what was she doing? What was she to say? 'I noticed you weren't in class and you didn't tell me you were going away so I worried?' This wasn't her mother, this was a grown woman! Before she could turn and retreat though, Mrs. Vaughn opened the door, a huge smile on her face.
"Bella!" she said, swinging the door open to allow her to walk in, "How nice to see you my dear, I hope everything is ok?"
"I…yes…I," Bella stuttered, Mrs. Middleton shouted from the front room where her bed was.
"Who is it?"
"It's Bella Swan, mother!" Mrs. Vaughn shouted back and gave Bella a smile again. "I think she came to see why I wasn't at school! Come on in my dear, I was just making mother a cup of tea, would you like one?"
"Erm… I wasn't going to stay, I was just…"
"Worried, I know," she patted Bella on the arm and sort of pushed her in the direction of the front room. Bella had no choice but to go in and see Mrs. Middleton. The old lady was laid in what should have been the living room, and was now her bedroom. A small TV in the corner of the room played to itself, some sort of sci-fi programme, as far as Bella could see. She sat on the small sofa that was wedged behind the door, the only other piece of furniture in the room beside the single bed the old lady lay in.
"Worried she was playing hooky?" The old lady asked, wheezing with laughter at her own joke. Bella smiled politely. "Well, it's a strange thing," the old lady continued as the sounds of a tea tray being put together in the kitchen rattled through to the room. "We were just sat here, talking about where we could afford to go on holiday come spring break when we got a phone call, seems someone had put us in a sort of award thing… or something… anyway, we won a holiday! But we had to take it straight away… Our Linda said we couldn't, as she was a teacher, and the people said it was too bad, but couldn't she just ask her headmaster… so she did and he said it was fine. She's never had a day off work in 17 years! He even said that he wouldn't officially put her down as having time off, as she had been so loyal and all."
Bella was sure the old lady had a lot of the facts wrong. Headmasters, in her experience, just weren't that nice. When she had had her tonsils the year before out Renée had told her that they wouldn't even let her have the afternoon off to pick her up from the hospital. She had had to stay until almost 8pm waiting for her mother to come get her, as they wouldn't let her discharge herself.
Mrs. Vaughn walked carefully into the room and placed the tray by her mother's bed.
"Would you like a scone?" she asked, putting one and a brownie onto a side plate, she placed them on the arm of the sofa Bella was sitting on. Bella nervously shifted in the seat, she couldn't remember the last time she ate cake, she usually couldn't afford it.
"Eat up girl!" Mrs. Middleton said smiling at her, "I've never seen a child so skinny in my life!"
"Mother!" Mrs. Vaughn smiled sympathetically at her, Bella put the plate on her knee and bit into the chocolate cake, "nice?" the lady asked. Bella smiled and nodded, it was delicious!
"We just got back from Florida, my nephew entered me into a competition for carers for the elderly, a respite sort of holiday, and we won! I was amazed, we have never won anything in our lives, have we mother?" she looked at the older lady to see her nod, then shake her head, seemingly confused as to which response was right. "It was ever so lovely, they sent a posh ambulance to get us and we had a special plane to fly us there. Then we had 4 days of being waited on hand and foot, they had specially trained nurses to help mother get around and even had a sauna and a Jacuzzi…"
"I didn't like that!" Mrs. Middleton muttered under her breath, causing both her audience to laugh.
"And Phil came to visit us, he was so pleased that he thought to enter us when he had seen the advert in the locker room, we haven't seen him in ages, have we mother?" the old lady shook her head firmly this time. "It makes me think that we may move out there when I retire, it was so clean and bright!"
Bella doubted it got much brighter in Florida than it did in Phoenix, but she didn't bother to correct the ladies, all her worries had been for naught. There was nothing suspect about Mr. Carlisle's sudden appearance, it just seemed strange because it was all so quick.
"He promised to visit next year, when the baseball season finishes," Mrs. Vaughn told her, "He's a lovely boy, always thinking of us, even though he can't afford to visit much he never fails to call." Bella smiled and finished her cakes.
"I have to get home soon, Mom will be wondering where I am."
"I'm sure she will," Mrs. Vaughn said, an edge to her voice that made Bella uneasy. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, be friendly with teachers? But if she never spoke to an adult she would hardly ever speak. She had no friends at school, due in part to her obvious poverty compared to everyone else, but mostly her shying away from close association so her home life stayed private. "Here my dear," Mrs. Vaughn put a couple of scones into a paper bag, "take these and have them with your tea, I made miles too many." Bella was about to refuse but something in the teacher's eye stopped her. She thanked the two old ladies and made her way outside. "Come again next week, mother loves to see you." The teacher invited.
Bella made a rather non-committal nod as she put the bag with scones into the top of the brown bag with her shopping in and released the brake. As she turned out of their garden she looked back and caught a sad look on Mrs. Vaughn's face that changed quickly into a smile and a wave.
She worried about it all the way home, but once there she was happy to note her mother was no longer at home. Bella put away the shopping, hung the washing out onto a line strung across the back garden and put the last load on to wash.
She gathered together the ingredients for a casserole and placed them into the dish and put it onto a low heat, she could turn it up when Renée came back in and it would be ready in an hour.
She looked around the house. It was obvious Renée had left just after she had. The mug was still sat on the table where she had left it. "It wouldn't hurt you to rinse a mug out," Bella mumbled under her breath as she picked the pot up. She immediately felt guilty, though she did not know why. She got the cleaning bucket and made her way to her mother's bathroom(the ban on her using it didn't apply to cleaning). She hadn't scrubbed it for a week, and her mother liked it spotless, so she set to!
Alice squealed with glee! Somehow things were back on track. All of a sudden the future popped back into her vision. She had no idea what had changed but something had! Things were back on target!