Hey guys, I have read your reviews and thank you for your kind words. I know that you all want to see a Casey – Bella interaction and I am getting to that but I have done it purposely because I sort of want to have a little bit of conflict between them but you will see a bit of them together in this chapter.
Previously on Picture Perfect: We all sat down to dinner as Bianca bought over a dish of lasagne and a plate full of chicken parmigiana which I knew was Bella's favourite food. As we all began to get our food the atmosphere was slightly awkward and I knew exactly why.
CHAPTER 9
BELLA POV
As we all sat around the table to eat I could feel the tension, people not knowing what to say, whether it will cause me to have another attack. Then suddenly I let it all free "It happened a year ago…" I said and watched as everyone's heads flicked up diverting their attention to me, but yet somehow they all looked confused. "the scar… I got it a year ago" I said and realisation flashed across all of their faces "Bella… you don't have to tell us about this you know" Charlie said soothingly "Actually, yes I do, you asked me to be one of you bridesmaids and you have all been so nice to me… granted you kind of have to be since you are attached to my brothers but still we are going to be family in a week and a half and you shouldn't lie to family." I said taking a deep breath as I felt Heath take hold of my left hand and Brax took my right "About a year ago I was at a party with some friends, I was the one that was supposed to make sure that they got home safely and that they didn't drink too much, anyway after I got all the girls home I was walking back to our place when a guy leapt out and put his hand over my mouth and dragged me into the alley. The next thing I knew he was beating me, with a baseball bat just hitting me over and over and over…." I said trailing off as tears began to form in my eyes, I looked up to see Bianca with a saddened look on her face and Charlie I could tell was thinking, I took a sip of my water and continued "the guy just kept going hitting me again and again until I finally lost consciousness, I don't know how long I was out for but it couldn't have been too long because when I woke up he was still there and I could feel this blinding pain in my stomach, he looked down at me and just laughed, It was then that I saw the glint of the knife… I noticed that he had ripped my dress and then I felt the knife as he started to cut my skin I screamed but he just pushed a rag over my mouth to stop me, he just kept cutting and cutting all the while smiling at me and laughing, he kept repeating the same thing over and over 'now you will never be able to forget this night, I have marked you and you are now one of mine' he kept saying I was so scared but I knew for some reason that he wasn't going to kill me, he kept cutting for what felt like forever but I think in reality it was only about five minutes or so and then he kneeled down beside me kissed my forehead and whispered in my ear 'just call me the phantom' which is when I remembered hearing a news report about a guy attacking girls who was calling himself the phantom." I said stopping to take a deep slow breath when Charlie let out a gasp "Of course! The Phantom, now I remember where I have seen that scar before, I started working on that case just after you got attacked actually, I remember because I read your statement of course they used your full name which is why I didn't click when we met." I just smiled weakly and nodded, I wiped the tears from my face and took a sip of water. "Oh, Bella that must have been so horrible for you to go through not knowing what he was going to do to you" Bianca said softly, I just nodded lightly "All I knew is that I wasn't going to die, the doctors said that he made sure the incisions weren't deep enough for me to bleed out quickly but were deep enough to leave a permanent scar, which is exactly what he wanted… I just consider myself lucky" I said. Bianca looked confused "But why?" "well, because he attacked like eight other girls before he was caught and he always put the sign in a different place, I heard one got it on her back, another on her neck, one on her arm, legs, chest all different places but never in the exact same spot, some close but still not the same. At least I can cover mine up" I said looking at Bianca's horrified face, she just nodded. "I think I might go get some air out the back if you don't mind" I said standing and flashing reassuring glances and each of my brothers before heading outside through the sliding screen door. I followed the path stones to the little gazebo at the back which had been decorated in little butterfly lights that sparkled against the night sky, I sat at one of the tables when I felt a hand on my shoulder and I instantly knew it was Casey, I always knew when it was him, we were twins after all and had always been able to tell when the other was in trouble. I remember that night when he rescued me from the dark cold alley, he knew I was in trouble then and he knew I needed help now "you okay?" he asked already knowing the true answer "fine" I said glancing at him "you know I never did say thank you, you know" I said he smiled as he wrapped his arm around my waist "yeah you did" he replied. I was confused I had never actually said thank you before, Casey caught on "in here" he said pointing to his heart. I smiled as I knew it was ok to talk "I'm so scared Case" I said letting the tears I had been holding in fall, he pulled me closer "I know, but he is gone now, he's in jail and isn't coming back for a long long time. Okay" he said trying to reassure me "I think about him all the time, his evil smile, the knife, his voice… everytime I close my eyes he is there laughing at me. I just never get to stop thinking about that night" I said crying harder "shhh, I know it is hard but you need to give it time, maybe you should talk to someone about it. I doesn't mean that you are weak Bella, it means you are accepting it and trying to move on" he said calmly "I can't Case, tonight was hard enough I mean I can't say it out loud again it just makes it all to real" I said weeping softly "I promised myself after he attacked me that nobody would ever make me feel that way ever again but yet even though it was a year ago and he is rotting in jail he still makes me feel that way every time I see that scar, or hear certain words…. I just can't make him stop and all I want is for him to go away" I finished sobbing loudly into Casey's chest, he just held me and gently began to rock me stroking my hair. Just being there for me. After I had begun to calm down and I had stopped crying, Casey broke the silence answering the one question that had been on my mind for the last twelve months "You know why I've been so distant with you since the attack?" I just sat up and looked at him, urging him to go on "because, you have always been so strong, I mean you are the youngest, the only girl and have to deal with our family reputation but yet you still were the most popular girl at school, had all the guys after you, had Brax and Heath wrapped around you little finger… which by the way you haven't forgotten to do" I interrupted him by laughing before gesturing for him to carry on "you were the popular girl who stood up to the mean girls who picked on people who weren't even your friends, I mean there was never anything that you couldn't do and then that night, the first time in so long I felt that you needed me, I thought that there was no way that I could measure up to the standards that you had set, so I would just let Brax and Heath be there" "that you didn't need me" he added quietly. I smiled before turning to him "Case, that night when I was lying in the alley, cold and scared and bleeding I wasn't thinking of big and strong Brax and Heath I wanted you…. I needed you and when you came for me I thought that you were just as brave and strong as Brax and Heath… When I was in the hospital and you never came to visit me I thought it was because you were ashamed of me that I had let you all down" I said a stray tear falling from my eye. "I did come once, you were sleeping , I left you a bunch of flowers that I had picked I wanted to stay and wait for you to wake up but you were so vunerable and fragile I just thought that to wake up to me would be a disappointment, that I was nothing compared to Brax and Heath" he said, I was shocked I turned his face towards me "Hey! You have and never will be a disappointment to me, your my brother, we something that neither Brax or Heath have, we are twins, two peas in a pod, don't ever think for a second that I would be disappointed in my other half!" I said before lightly kissing his nose, something we used to do as kids when the other one fell off their bike. Casey laughed "you know you still didn't tell everything" Casey said looking me dead in the eye. "I know, but you can't give away all the cards in your hand." I said smiling before getting up stretching my hand out for Casey who grabbed it and stood as we walked inside to the others.
Later that night
CASEY POV
I was glad that Bella and I had had the chance to talk earlier, it had cleared any awkwardness up between us, as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep I knew that it was no use, I threw the covers off me and tiptoed down the hall and to the stairs only to find Bella sitting on one of the chairs with a coffee cup in her hand, I knew that she never drank coffee after seven so she must have been drinking hot milo, our favourite. "still drinking milo" I said as I walked down the stairs and over to the couch, she jumped slightly "sorry" I said she shook her head "no don't worry, and yes I still drink milo but I happen to know for a fact that you do too." She said smiling slyly. I sat down beside her and pulled her closer to me so that she was now leaning on my shoulder. "what are we watching?" I asked "The Addams Family" she said "our favourite" I ended.
There you go guys, what did you think? I really like how this chapter turned out. I wanted a sweet scene between Bella and Casey. Now you all know where she got the scar from but there are still many mysteries to Bella Braxton, I don't know what they are yet but I will work it out. I know in this chapter Charlie and Brax were supposed to have a chat about baby names and stuff but I thought it sought of bought down what I was going for in this chapter, I wanted to reveal more of Bella and I love Casey's POV and thought it was a great way to end the story so I will put the Charlie/Brax conversation in the next chapter and the wedding is coming up in the next maybe two or three. I don't know when chapter 10 will be up but it should be soon. Remember to review not as many people have been reviewing so please review, hearing your feedback helps me to write better stories. So REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Thanks Dannielle xx