Chapter Five

Bella

Having made my decision I had to get time off work but things started to go wrong before I even got that far. My periods of forgetfulness were getting worse, I would find myself in bed or more scarily in the bath with no recollection of getting there. Sometimes I felt as if someone had been in the apartment, as if the air were disturbed or tainted in some way and I hoped these lost minutes or hours weren't the result of the drug that Dr Cullen had trialed on me. I became more determined to find him, to find out what was going on with me but I was finding it difficult to find the energy to work let alone go on a Doctor hunt. I felt dizzy and sick, my legs were wobbly and my ankles swollen and I made an appointment to see the Doctor I had registered with in Port Angeles but my appointment was cancelled when I got there and no one could tell me who by, they assumed I'd done it. I felt too sick to hang around for a cancellation so I dragged myself back home and went to bed. Had I cancelled the appointment while I was unaware?The following day I found myself sitting at the table with an empty plate but no idea what I'd eaten or when I'd cooked. This time I'd lost a whole hour! Charlie rang as usual and I tried my hardest to sound as if everything was OK but I knew he was concerned. He arranged to come over on his next day off but I never saw him. He rang furious that I'd stood him up but I couldn't remember anything about it so I made an excuse about being called in to work suddenly and forgetting his visit, well half of it was the truth!

Then I got a phone call in the middle of the night, It woke me from a sound sleep and I was groggy when I answered it,

"Hello?"

At first there was no reply and I wondered if it were a wrong number but then I heard a very quiet voice,

"Bella?"

"Yes, who is this? You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you very well."

"Bella, you have to get out of there now, before its too late"

"Who is this?"

"Bella listen to me. Get out before tomorrow night or it will be too late. Get in your truck and drive south. They'll find you then, help will find you but you have to get out."

"Alice? Is that you?"

"Bella I can't talk long, its not safe. You have to get away before they come for you, someone is coming for you and you need to move fast."

"Who Alice? Is it Carlisle? Alice what's going on? Where are you?"

"Bella listen carefully. Don't take any more of those tablets from the trial. They aren't what you think they are"

"I knew there was something wrong. I already stopped taking them"

"And?"

"I keep losing time, and I feel awful. Is it a side effect?"

"I don't know but don't start them again please. You're being used as a Guinea Pig, being experimented on. I couldn't see, I didn't know it was you. I've made such an awful mess of everything, I'm so sorry Bella. Get away before you lose..." her voice faded away.

"What? Where are you Alice?"

"I have to go. Get out Bella and head South, they'll find you. Trust them, Peter and..."

I heard the receiver go down and struggled upright turning the bedside light on and looking at the clock, it was three a.m. I got up and splashed some water on my face to wake myself up. What had Alice said? I was being used as a guinea pig by Carlisle, well that wasn't exactly a surprise, I'd worked that out for myself. She wanted me to leave, head South to find or be found by Peter and someone else. I didn't know any Peter and why did I need to leave? Because someone, Carlisle, was coming for me? Why? And what would I lose if I stayed? My life? My sanity?

I didn't know why Alice had been so cryptic or why she'd rung at all but she sounded sincere and frightened so I decided to act on her advice. I grabbed my flight bag and stuffed my clothes in it along with my I pod and the few personal possessions I had, leaving my books behind but taking the things I'd salvaged from the Cullen house, for some reason I couldn't leave them behind. I rang Charlie and left a message telling him I was going away for a couple of weeks but giving no explanation then grabbing the last sodas from the fridge and a bag of cookies I left the apartment locking the door behind me with a feeling of relief almost as if I were going on an adventure, anything was better than the life I'd been living. All I knew was that I should head South and hope this Peter found me and told me what was going on.

As I drove out of the underground car park I threw down two painkillers with some cold soda and headed out of the city, South to the unknown and the mysterious Peter and whoever. I put my cell phone on the seat beside me hoping that Alice might ring me again with more information. I had questions for her, questions about the past and the present. As the sun started to rise I decided to stop and get something to eat, I was starving and I needed some more painkillers, my back was aching from driving for three straight hours. There was a rest stop just up ahead so I pulled in and turned the engine off, sitting quietly for a moment as the parked cars around me floated in and out of vision, that's all I needed, to start going dizzy. As soon as the world stopped spinning I got out and trudged to the cafe ordering apple fritters before going through to the Rest Room at the back. I looked at myself in the mirror and groaned, I looked a wreck, well more of a wreck than normal. My eyes were sunken and red rimmed and my skin looked even paler and blotchy.

Shrugging I threw some cold water over my face and washed my hands before going back to my table and sipping my coffee as I waited for my food. I put a hand in my pocket to grab my painkillers but it was empty and I looked out to see it was raining. Great! I really needed to get soaked on top of everything else, then I noticed they sold them in the cafe and heaved a sigh of relief. I guessed they got a lot of drivers in here with headaches or bad backs from driving long distances. The waitress brought my fritters over and the pills and I tossed a couple back with a glass of water before eating.

I'd almost finished my meal when a thought struck me, I took the pill bottle out of my pocket and shook one of the pills into my hand. It was small and white with a line across the center. Deciding I was going even more crazy than normal I finished up and paying the bill went back to the truck. I checked my phone before starting the engine and saw I had a text message waiting, sure to be from Charlie demanding to know where I was going but I scrolled down any way. It wasn't from Charlie at all but from Alice, telling me to take the I-5 and hurry.