Chapter 5:

I was slammed into the corner, my head banging into it violently, my rib cage crushing in on itself until it perfectly contoured the 90 degree crevice. After that, neither my eyes or my mind were fast enough to keep up with the people and objects whirring around me like an old VHS stuck on fast forward. Nothing made sense. I know I flew across the room several times… there was definitely the distinct sound of glass shattering. There were many bodies fluttering around me in a blur that resembled a runny watercolor painting. Someone was shouting. No. Several people were fighting, they were all growling and screaming, I've never heard anything like it.

I think I had been thrown to the floor, I was stationary now. My head began to pulse, in sync with my racing heartbeat. I put my hand up to touch my throbbing head, when I pulled it away, my hand, from the fingertips down to the wrist, was soaked. Someone grabbed hold of my bad ankle firmly, I shrieked as I was thrown back into the air, but instead of someone else catching me and playing keep away again, I struck the wall, with a brutal force that knocked the wind out of me, and fell about 15 feet into a crumpled heap on the floor. A human rag doll.

"Alice! Emmett! Get them out of here! Esme, Rosalie, go and assist them!" After a couple more minutes of deafening howls and snarling it was quiet, and then it was silent. Several moments later there were footsteps walking, cautiously, in my direction. With each deliberate step the adrenaline coursing through my veins faded, releasing numerous amounts of pain spreading through my entire body like a wildfire, raging out of control. When the footsteps stopped, there was the shadowy figure of a man hovering over me. He crouched down and rocked back onto his heels, after taking a deep, cleansing breath the man said,

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, you're a strong one. Come now, let's get you fixed up." I coughed on what tasted like my own blood and wheezed,

"I'm not going any where with any of you!" His eyes dropped to the floor,

"You don't have a choice, I'm afraid. If you stay here, you'll bleed to death. I don't think you realize how bad a shape you're in." I closed my eyes and sighed,

"Probably be better than what you guys are planning for me, anyway." I half whispered.

"Please…" He paused, not knowing what to call me.

"Bella." I offered, coughing up another round of blood.

"Bella, I need you to stay awake, please." I took a deep breath and felt a sharp pang in my side and groaned.

"Why should I listen to you?" He smiled at me then, in a kind way, almost proud or fatherly.

"I'm a doctor. Don't worry, Bella. I'm going to help you." I attempted to lift my head to look at him, and blacked out.

When I woke, my head was resting gently on a fluffy feather pillow in a satin case, I ran a hand across the bedspread, it was a matching set. Using that arm, I tried to sit up, but didn't even make it halfway. I flopped back onto the satin bed, groaning, my head felt flat and ached, like an elephant had stepped on it

"Hush now, you'll be okay, you just need to rest." It was his voice. My eyes shot open for the first time since I had regained consciousness. I didn't want him talking to me, I didn't want him anywhere near me! But, they were all there, staring at me, with exception to Rosalie, and the other boy whose name I did not know. But that didn't matter, they had helped me. He, however, was standing there, restrained by a member of his family on both sides. I narrowed my eyes at him, but otherwise showed no signs that I acknowledged his presence.

"How bad am I?" I asked, my question directed towards Carlisle, but he answered anyways.

"You suffered some severe head trauma, with mild bleeding, your shoulder was dislocated, you're right forearm is severely fractured, one of your ribs is cracked, some deep cuts, and major bruising. Oh, and your ankle's broken."

"Duh." I retort softly, rolling my eyes to rest on him, scathingly. His expression was much different than I had imagined it would be, pleading and apologetic. It made me feel compelled to reach out and touch him, to soothe him, tell him everything would be okay. No! I'm not falling for that again! It's what he wants, what he's expecting. He's just going to have to deal with disappointment. I thought to myself, throwing black fireballs of hate deep into his retinas.

Growing tired of staring into the eyes that itched to see me dead, I rolled my head around so I would face Carlisle, the tender blonde man who had taken care of me.

"Would anyone mind explaining to me what, exactly, happened last night?" They all turned to look at each other. From Carlisle to the older woman, of the group, who was clinging to his arm, to the big brawny man with wild, curly hair who was clutching Edward's right arm with one hand and his right shoulder with his other, to Edward, to a childishly petite girl with short, choppy black hair that spiked out around her ears in all directions like she had stuck a fork in a light socket, she was restraining Edward's left arm, though hardly looked qualified.

They all had the same chalky skin, and their features were all very similar, all perfect and beautiful. They even managed to make the soft purple rings under their eyes look like a fashion statement. All of their eyes were that golden amber that Edward's had been when we first danced together. Oddly, his were now a deep black with a shock of fiery red circling his pupils and he had black bags drooping under his eyes like he was just in a bar fight. Finally Carlisle spoke out,

"You pricked your palm on the thorn from the rose and you were bleeding."

"Yes, I remember. I was referring to after that." Again they all swiveled their heads around to look at each other, trying to decide how much to tell me, probably. The small girl with the spiky black hair cleared her throat,

"Don't worry, she can handle it. I can see that she will." She chimed, winking at me playfully. She was the mysterious girl who I had thought sounded like a pixie last night, I should have guessed it had been her, the voice fit her physique perfectly. Carlisle looked to Edward, who sighed and nodded, before Carlisle explained,

"We're…a little different. Blood is a bit of a problem for us. And, last night you began to bleed unexpectedly in a room with two particular family members whom aren't as capable of controlling themselves." Edward cleared his throat, a small sense of dignity playing at his dead eyes, Carlisle half smiled at him and added,

"One, more specifically, unable to control himself around your blood." Edward smiled at Carlisle, having been justified. The pixie girl didn't seem to like that too much, because she tightened her grip on Edward's arm. And although he was solid as a marble slab underneath my fingertips and as immovable as a block of granite he actually tried jerking his arm away, as if she had hurt him. I think I might actually like that one, I wonder what her name could be…Tinkerbell? Edward looked at me, his eyes wide with disbelief, before bursting into laughter.

"What?" I snapped at him. He had no right to look at me, especially not like that, like he had done nothing wrong. His laughter stopped abruptly.

"Bella, I…" he said softly, almost a whisper, taking a step towards me, causing both Tinkerbell and the Hulk to tighten their grip on his arms, holding him back. Then I remembered Edward saying that I had several cuts, they must be afraid that he'd attack me again.

"No! I don't want to hear it!" I screamed at him, as loud as my rib injury would allow.

"Bella, please." He pleaded.

"No!"

"Just listen to me!"

"Why? I already know. You want to kill me," I say shooting daggers at him with my eyes, "and everyone else is trying to help me. It's a little confusing, I'll admit, but that seems to be the gist of it." His eyes narrowed into tiny slits,

"You know nothing!" he raged before tearing his arms free from the Hulk and Tinkerbell and racing from the room. He had the strength to fight them off after all. Wait! That means he could have pulled free and killed me at anytime! I thought to myself. From what sounded like downstairs I heard him bellow,

"But! I! didn't!"