Chapter 268
| - EPOV - |
My heart drops into my shoes.
Bella looks even more beautiful than I remembered; at the same time, she looks like a stranger—and not because it's been seventeen days since I've seen her. She's gaunt and sad and buttoned up tighter than Fort Knox.
I swallow thickly as she comes closer, my tongue tied with the weight of too many regrets. I feel like seeing her again is both my reward and my retribution.
A long-forgotten excruciating childhood memory insinuates itself—the lightning bug I captured in a glass jar. First its light went out, and then it died.
.
.
.
==8 BPOV 8==
A gasp of anguish escapes my lips before I can reel it in. Edward's beautiful face is gashed-up and spotted with purplish-yellow bruises and his right hand is splinted. Tears threaten, despite all my promises that I'd stay strong.
A million words need to be spoken, but we're locked in this charade.
"Do you want to change?" I offer, sticking to the script.
"Yes, I'm trying."
"Huh?"
"Wait, what?"
It might be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
"Did you want to take off your shirt?"
Crap, now all I can think of is his chest—solid, masculine, and bare.
A/N: Oh man. Some serious hurting going on here. :( Thank you for all your notes, reviews, encouragement, and even the frustrations. I know this isn't easy on ANY of us! XXX ~BOH