Chapter 9

The night came and I was still alone. The rain was terribly cruel, never stopping…only increasing every minute…every hour. I felt like I was trapped in a deep hole of ice cold sludge. There was no moonlight, it was pure black.

I felt worms under my hands when I was sitting so I stood up…time crawled by on hands and knees as I gave up on my Disney song thing.

Unable to stand it, and hungry as hell, I kept making attempts to climb out. I couldn't see what I was doing but I felt my way around. It was a useless exercise. I would get back as far as I could, then run three steps, jump up into the wall of slime and claw at it, trying to get deep into it, finding a firm surface somewhere under the layers of mud.

It felt like climbing up a hole of cottage cheese. There was no side of any of the four walls that was climbable. And not only did this make the walls slide in on me a bit more, but it exhausted me as the hours passed by so fucking slowly. Would it be night FOREVER ?

Every move I made I could hear a squishing sound but the crashing of thunder kept vibrating deep in the pit of my chest.

I kept screaming for help. But who would hear me in the middle of the cemetery, on a Saturday night, during a god damned thunderstorm? I kept feeling bugs biting me every now and then. And whenever I tried to climb up and dug my fingers into the soil, I got an occasional worm or two in my hands, or on my face.

I didn't know what time it was. I was using my cell phone for light when it first went totally dark, but the battery died.

I had called Edward when my cell said it was 9:25pm. My voice was so jittery as my teeth chattered but I didn't care. Maybe he would take pity on me.

The phone rang three times and went to his voicemail. I kept hanging up and calling again.

Finally, he answered.

"WHAT?", he sounded annoyed and angry.

I didn't have it in me to be tough at this point.

"Ed—ward…" I blubbered, hating myself, "Edward, PLEASE let me out ! I'm so cold, I'm freezing ! And I can't see my hand in front of my face, the WALLS ARE CAVING IN!"

"You should have thought of that before you went crying over that PIG'S GRAVE !", he shouted bitterly.

I was bawling, my hands shaking so hard I nearly dropped the phone.

"As far as I'm concerned, you two deserve each other.", he said with a lower voice, "Sleep tight, my love."

And with that, he hung up on me.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!", I howled, falling to my knees, sinking in the mud a little.

I kept screaming for Edward, praying for either one of them by now. I pictured him only feet away, in his car, listening to my suffering, enjoying every minute of it. He was nearby, I just knew that. His love for me was eternal, whether or not he liked it. Even when he was horrible to me, he still wanted me, would not let me go, even to death.

My stomach growled painfully and my body shivered in the October cold. I had to go to the bathroom, too, but I made myself forget about that. Also, I was so tired…exhausted. My arms and legs hurt from the efforts to climb out and I was dieing for sleep. But I would not be sleeping in here, that was for damn sure.

I kept saying I was sorry, even though I wasn't. I knew something would happen if Edward heard any part of me saying goodbye to Jacob. But I still had to. I was only sorry that I was in this hell hole…literally. I prayed to GOD that Edward wouldn't make me stay in here all day Sunday, too. God, I'm so hungry.

For a second, I considered what Edward suggested about eating the bugs or worms…but I wasn't THAT hungry…yet.

A few times I opened my mouth straight up and got some water from the rain. That's the only good thing about the storm. I was covered with mud but that was the least of my worries.

I kept trying to take my mind out of where I was…and think of other things.

The prom sprung up but I couldn't…not right now.

Trying to focus on Charlie was nice…but soon, I was crying, needing him, missing him.

"Dad…", I wept.

The only thing that came to mind was the last time I was this hungry.

After Charlie disappeared, I fell into a deep, deep depression. I didn't want to believe Edward did it, but it was hard to imagine anyone else would just kidnap him for no reason, no ransom wanted, no word, nothing.

Especially when Charlie had arrested Edward two days before he vanished. I knew Charlie wouldn't stay in the dark forever. One day he saw one of my bruises. At first he thought it was Jake, but I couldn't let Jake take the fall for that. I told him that Edward had done it. I didn't tell him about Edward being a vampire and I didn't tell him about any of the other attacks before this. I was wrong to keep Charlie in the dark.

Edward was in jail an hour later. I still don't know why he went with Charlie willingly. Maybe that was the good Edward. Sometimes they were hard to tell apart, and at times, they were fused together.

Edward was released on bail and two days later, Charlie's cruiser was found on the side of the road, empty, the door open, the engine running. He was just…gone. Not a drop of blood, not a thing.

Of course, Edward denied having anything to do with it. But it was the way he denied it that made me know it was him. For my accusation, I was introduced to Edward's whips.

I still lived at my house, but I was alone. Jake kept coming over, knocking, but I told him to leave me alone. I didn't answer my phone. I didn't live anymore.

I hadn't eaten, either. I just wanted to waste away. This is one of the first times I really wanted to commit suicide to escape Edward. I thought Jake would be better off without me in his life.

After three days of not eating, I was getting used to the pain of an empty stomach. I just laid on my bedroom floor and cried…I never told Renee anything about Charlie going missing. I didn't want her coming closer to Edward.

It was dark the night he came to me. All my lights were off.

Suddenly, he was standing over me…an irritated sneer on his lips.

"Jesus Christ.", he muttered, bending down and opening one of my eyelids with his finger.

"STUPID!", he shouted, picking me up in his arms as I limply folded without a hint of movement.

"I can't leave you even for a MINUTE !", he yelled, plopping me into one of the kitchen chairs, pushing me up to the table.

I slumped forward, laying on my hands with my head to the table. I just wanted to sleep.

I heard the refrigerator door yank open as Edward scolded me.

P

"Policeman's daughter, my ass!", he muttered, "You have the strength of a gerbil ! And the brain of one as well !"

I had no fight left. I just closed my eyes and started to drift off.

"UUKK", I heard him comment as he smelled a big casserole dish filled with something.

"This will do.", he decided, taking a large soup spoon out of the utensil drawer.

"Hey !", he yanked my head up by my hair as my eyes half opened.

"Wake up, it's time to eat.", he announced with distaste.

He placed a large glass of milk on the table and took a big helping of the casserole into the spoon.

I saw now what it was.

Pineapple cheese casserole. UGH! Sue had given this to Dad two weeks ago, I hated it then and now it was probably bad. It stunk and it was cold.

"It's cold.", I said, in a blur.

"You don't DESERVE warm food.", he sat right across from me, turning my chair to face his, and held my face upwards. His hand was under my chin. Was he really going to feed me like a child ?

"Open up.", he said as he delivered a huge bite into my mouth.

He closed my jaw together slightly, making my lips close against my will as I winced.

"Chew.", his glare was unmistakable.

It WAS bad ! Ice cold and hard, the noodles like rocks and the cheese tasted moldy and thick as plastic. And the pineapples…were acidy and too soft.

"NO !", I wretched and pulled away from him, spitting it out onto the table.

"That's awful!", I complained, "I can't eat that…"

"You're going to eat every bite of this, you little BRAT!", he got another spoon of food and grabbed me by the back of the hair, forcing my head up again, "Including that bite you just spit out!"

He stood up as I struggled, shutting my mouth closed tight. I FELT like a five year old.

"Bella, open your mouth !", he shouted, putting his hand around my neck now, "Open or you get no air!"

I felt tears come to my eyes as I gagged. All I could see was the rotten food right outside my lips, waiting to be shoved in.

He slammed the spoon down and went behind me, grabbing the string to my apron.

"Insolent little toddler.", he growled, grabbing my wrists and tying them behind me to the bars of the chair.

"You're dying, do you realize that ?", he yelled as he sat in front of me again, picking up the spoon again.

"I want to die.", I shared.

"Too bad.", he frowned, "You are mine and you always will be."

I noticed the whole bowl of the casserole was there waiting for me. Charlie hadn't eaten much of it, either that night.

"Now stop acting like a child and open your mouth.", he demanded, "If you behave and eat, I won't have to take my anger out on anyone else…"

Jake.

I felt tears coming out of my eyes and Edward sighed, getting pissed off.

He brought the spoonful of death to my lips and I blinked…and opened my mouth, letting the spoon in.

"Good girl.", he approved as I chewed, my body convulsing with disgust. I hurried and swallowed it fast…YUK….and here comes the aftertaste…SHIT !

Right away, another bite was being shoveled into my unwilling mouth. And they were huge bites…GROCE!

"I feel like a mother.", he smiled at me. SMILED !

"Here…drink your milk.", he brought the glass to my mouth and I began to drink…the milk was SOUR!

He kept tipping the glass and I kept swallowing until I choked. Most of it went down but some of it drooled out and onto my shirt while I coughed.

I gagged, thinking I would throw up but Edward raised a brow at me.

"Isabella…", he warned, "Don't."

He spooned more casserole and fed it to me as I whimpered, thinking of Jake the night Edward was chopping off his hair. If I could help it, I'd never let that happen again.

I took the food into my mouth and cried as the taste mixed in with the sour milk one.

"Oh, it's not that bad, come on.", he talked to me like I was an infant.

He wiped my tears with the back of his other hand, almost gently.

"Don't cry.", he kissed my forehead, "I'm just trying to take care of you. You need me now. You don't have to be alone. You can live with me."

I frowned and was about to say something when a new bite of food was being brought to my mouth.

So this is why Charlie disappeared. Besides the fact that he dared to arrest Edward Cullen.

I didn't get to say much that night. Whenever I tried, food was in my mouth. When the first glass of milk was gone, he poured another one.

I was full but the casserole was still half there.

"No…no more…", I tried to argue but he wouldn't hear me.

"Bella, it's this…or I can get a tube down your throat, it's your choice.", he threatened.

"Please, I'm not hungry anymore.", I whimpered, my arms struggling in their tight bonds.

"Isabella…", he was stern again, "I said you're going to eat all of it and I meant it."

"But I'm—"

"Here comes another bite.", he sang, brining it to my mouth. I didn't open it. I frowned fully at him. Damn his beautiful face and hair and body…and voice.

"I wonder if Jake would like some.", he grinned at me.

I got his message.

I opened my mouth and he smiled as he crammed it in.

Edward was not kidding. I had to eat every bite, including the one I first spit out. And all the milk, too.

"I'm so proud of you.", he stood up, kissing my forehead and putting the dishes in the sink and filling them with hot water.

It was over. The only problem left was the tastes in my mouth and my sore stomach.

I jerked again, the horrible taste making me nauseous.

I wondered if he remembered he had me tied to the chair.

"We'll discuss this little hunger strike in the morning.", he stood in front of me, crossing his arms as if I misbehaved.

I waited for him to let me go but he still wasn't.

I had a desperate need to brush my teeth…and tongue several times before going to bed. My body was so sore from laying on the floor these last few days and I hadn't realized it until now.

"Good Night Bella.", he walked into the living room and turned the kitchen lights off, leaving me there. I heard him turn my TV on and he was flipping thru the channels until some medical show interested him and stayed on.

I would love to be asleep in that chair now, instead of where I was. It seemed like time was frozen, not moving forward. It felt like I'd been in this hole for a hundred years.

Then, finally, the rain drifted off…turning into a light mist…then nothing. I tried singing my Disney songs again, the dark still holding me in his tight little hand.

"Oh I just can't wait…to be Kinnnngggg…", I sang to myself, leaning against a wall of sludge, rocking myself as I stood.

When the sun finally started to come up and a little pink light appeared in the sky I cried like a baby, like I had never expected such a miracle.

Soon after, I could not hold my bladder anymore and had to open my cold, wet jeans, pull them down, with my underwear, and squat to pee.

I was never more humiliated in my entire life. Not even when Edward licked me to death on his dining room table.

And it was no easy trick pulling up wet undies and jeans let me tell you.

My stomach growled and made all kinds of weird noises. I stopped trying to get out, I stopped calling for Edward. I sat and smiled as the sun came out completely now.

It was a Sunday now and there had to be people coming to the cemetery to visit loved ones. I wanted to call out for help again but I knew if Edward found out someone else saved me and got me out of here, they would vanish too. And I would really pay for it also, in a non lethal way.

The sun was out for a long time. I was so glad to be out of the dark that I almost forgot about the hunger, the coldness of my body, the dirt all over me. I kept telling myself MY Edward would come for me soon. I knew it.

"Tale as old as time…song as old as rhyme…Beauty and the beast…", I sang in a little voice, hardly audible.

A shadow fell over the sun in my hole and I gasped, looking up.

There was Edward, in all his perfection, wearing a gray suit. He was sparkling in the sun but didn't seem to be too concerned about it. So I guessed there were no humans in the area yet.

He was wearing sunglasses but now he pulled them off and stared down at me.

I was trembling everywhere…I HAD to get out of this hole. What if he didn't let me?

"Enjoying being dead yet, Isabella?", he tucked his sunglasses in his breast pocket.

"No.", I cried right away. This was still mean Edward.

"You seem upset.", he furrowed his brow, looking confused.

I sobbed without a shred of pride left and groveled.

"Please let me out.", I begged, "I have to get out, PLEASE EDWARD ! I'm sorry !"

He looked away from above and sighed, as if he didn't believe me.

"Look", I got on my knees, hardly able to breathe between my sobs, "I'm on my knees! I mean it ! You have to know how scared I am! I want to go home…with you."

"I've heard this song before.", he crossed his arms, shaking his head.

"What do you want ?", I was still on my knees, "I'll do it !"

Oh God, what am I saying?

Edward pondered this and his lips drew up into a wicked little bow.

"I don't want to ever hear the name of Jacob Black again.", he said, watching my reaction.

My heart broke.

"Alright.", I said with little emotion.

"And you will never come here again, not even with that pathetic version of me.", he sneered.

"Alright.", I repeated, a tear falling down my cheek.

"And…", he waited until I looked up at his face.

"You will give yourself to me.", he added. I saw his eyes. Lust.

I am still a virgin. And now that Jake is dead he wants me to have sex with him. He really thinks he will erase Jacob out of my heart.

I was hesitating and he saw it.

He frowned and said, "Take another night and think it over, Bella."

And he walked away again, slipping his sunglasses back on.

I didn't beg him as he left. But the roar of a scream I heard tear out of me was enough of a reply for now.

See next chapter soon !

Love WinndSinger