Title: Everyday Slip
Genre: Angst
Rating: T (*Warning- mention of self-harm, cutting*)
Pairing: Bella/Sam
Words: 506
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Prompt: "I don't need to be saved."
AN: Yeah, this Bella is just… um… I don't know. I'm just full of sunshine this week. ;)
~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~
Everyday Slip
He fled from his home as fast as his four legs would carry him, drawn like a magnet to the girl in Forks. He knew where he would find her—perched alone in her chair in front of her window, staring at nothing. Or he assumed she would be there.
He'd returned every night since that first in September, when he'd finally been grateful for his transformation. No one else but the wolves would have been able to find her before she succumbed to hypothermia, and he was proud of the fact that his wolf actually saved someone.
That same wolf was dragging him by the nose to the familiar house by the woods, telling him there was some danger there, an urgency to save her once again.
Bella was in her bathroom, just returning her hidden razor blade to the back of the medicine cabinet after her nightly ritual. Everyone thought she was a zombie, drifting throughout her day with little notice of the world around her. Nothing could be further from the truth.
She was literally torn—one half of her longing for the soothing, comforting warmth of Sam, the huge black wolf who saved her, and the other half still clinging to her frozen dreams of immortality.
Her secret indulgence began one night after a particularly vivid dream that seemed almost a foreshadowing. The solution was so simple that she was surprised she hadn't thought of it before. A single drop of her blood had been enough to stir the entire Cullen family to the hunt, so each night before bed she used that same blood to call out to them.
It surprised her how easy it was to handle the sight and smell from each cut, but she decided maybe she was meant to be a vampire after all. How else could she explain the sudden change? She stared at the girl in the mirror, mesmerized by the newest neat line that slowly oozed her life force with each slow beat of her heart.
A fierce growl drew her attention to the doorway and for half a second she thought her dreams were coming true. Then she realized the man glaring at her with furious black eyes was not a vampire, but a wolf.
"What are you doing?" Sam barked as he grabbed her arm and pushed her sleeve up further. He couldn't believe he'd missed this, missed the physical signs as well as the psychological ones. How could he have been so wrong?
Bella drew back, defensive. "It's nothing, Sam. It makes me feel better—like I have some control over my life." She was no idiot. She'd read up on what she was doing, and she would give him all the textbook answers.
She let him clean and bandage her arm, then lead her back to her room. He simply held her for several long moments as he tried to calm himself. She finally grew tired and pushed him away.
"Just go home, Sam. I don't need to be saved."