Chapter Eighteen: Fast Forwarding
Previously on Unrecognizable~
Suddenly, Angela burst out, "Oh how rude of me! Would you like to freshen up here, you can shower and change into a pair of clean clothes?"
"If it's not to much trouble, then that would be great."
"Of course not, come upstairs with me. We need some girl time anyway." She winked and led me upstairs.
Now on Unrecognizable~
Bella's POV
10 years later...
The scalding water rains down, soaking into my skin, cascading down my back and swirling down the drain.
My lips part as I inhale deeply through my nose, the sensation of the steamy water calming as my mind fades into peacefulness.
I allowed myself to completely relax as I massaged coconut shampoo into my blonde locks of tangled hair.
The shower was always the place I could really think, reminiscence and unwind. The hot water unfogged my mind, allowed me to think of memories of my past.
The past.
Once my past caused me pain and suffering. But now, I had gotten past that stage in my life, only accepting it and moving on.
I still had regrets, painful memories, stupid mistakes but I no longer dwelled on them anymore. I had been such a masochist before, banishing myself to those painful parts of my past, forcing myself to only look at the bad, never the good. Only causing myself such unnecessary pain. Pain that could have been avoided.
It took me a long time to change into the person I was today though. Ten years to be exact. It was a long agonizing process.
My mind shifted to the beginning, where it all started.
"Bella-"
"It's Izzy now." I snarled.
Angela sighed, sorrow lacing her golden irises.
"Izzy, you need to go back to Alaska. You need to talk to Edward and his family. You simply cannot live like this anymore, you're broken."
My anger flared, I roared, "I AM NOT BROKEN AND I AM NOT GOING BACK!"
Suddenly something inside her shifted, Angela's eyes hardening. She jumped up abruptly.
"Fine Izzy, I can see you aren't going to listen so we are going to have to do this the hard way!"
My eyes narrowed, glaring.
"Your life has become pathetic! You are constantly moping around, wishing that Edward will magically come and find you and everything will be happily ever after! Wake up call! That isn't going to happen! The only way things are going to get better is if you make the effort to! If you don't want to talk to Edward then don't, so stop sulking. For god's sake, when was the last time you brushed your hair, it's become a tangled mess! The world doesn't revolve around you, so pick your sorry ass up off the couch, take a shower and try to start a new life for yourself!"
My mouth opened to shout a retort back but I quickly shut it, thinking over what Angela has just said.
She was right.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
Angela's face softened, she made her way over, sitting beside me on the leather couch and rubbing soothing circles on my back.
"Everything is going to be okay Bella. It will take some time but eventually you will be okay."
I nodded mutely, trying to believe what she said.
The memory vanished as another popped up.
"I'm going to miss you so much Bella." Angela whispered sadly into my ear.
"I'm going to miss you too Ange." I replied, my arms still wrapped around her.
Finally I released her from the hug and moved over to Ben.
I hugged him too, "I'll miss you too Ben, thank you for putting up with me these last three months."
His chest vibrated with laughter, "It was my pleasure, we sure will miss you around here."
I chuckled sadly, extracting my arms from him.
"You better visit us Bella." Angela laughed sorrowfully.
I smiled weakly, "Of course I will. I owe you both so much. For allowing me to stay with you these last few months and helping me heal and become such a better person. I will be forever in your dept."
Angela let out a sob and ran towards me, throwing her hands out and capturing me in yet another hug. "You don't owe us a thing, we did this for you. We love you." She choked.
"Thank you." My eyes closed as I relished in my best friend's comfort for the last time.
"I really must be going now." I whispered, moving to look into Angela's beautiful loving eyes.
"Bye Bella." Ben snuggled Angela to his chest as they both waved as I departed.
It was then I felt real love after so many years. That's when I knew Angela was right. Everything was going to be okay.
The memory slowly faded away, I turned the faucet off, stopping the warm stream of water. My hand reached out, grasping the clear shower curtain and pulling it open. Droplets of cooling water ran down my body, carefully I wiped them away with a towel.
With the towel wrapped securely around my body, I glided my brush through the wet strands of hair, choosing to let my hair dry naturally into it's usual soft ringlets.
I hummed quietly, fingering through pieces of my blonde hair. My thoughts went back to the day I had dyed out my brown hair to an ash blonde.
Three weeks had past since I had left Angela's and I had made up my mind. I was going to dye my hair. Every time I looked in the mirror, the brown hair glared back at me. I couldn't stand it, it only saddened me to look at my reflection. So I stopped looking in mirrors.
After much thinking, I had come to the decision to take a trip to the hairdressers to get my hair dyed.
I had thought about going back to red, but I wasn't that person anymore, going back to red almost seemed wrong.
So I'm going blonde.
And I followed through with it, after a couple hours of sitting in a chair, I was left with my new and improved color.
I haven't dyed it since, the blonde suits me and I like it.
I put down my hairbrush and left the bathroom, flipping the fan on to disperse the steam on my way out.
I walked down the hall to my bedroom, opening the door I was met with my familiar creamy beige walls. Sunlight spilled through the open window onto my crisp white bed sheets.
I made my over to my vanity, sitting down to begin my makeup. I preferred to keep my makeup natural, not the way I used to apply my makeup.
I filled in my eyebrows softly with a brown pencil, then moved onto my eye makeup. I applied a silky golden brown shadow to my lid with a dark brown which I swiped into my crease area, blending the two colors together smoothly. Then, I used a black kohl liner and applied that, smoking it out. I finished with a slight bit of mascara on my lashes. To appear more human, I swiped a warm pink blush across my cheeks and lastly some chap stick to my lips.
Ditching the fluffy bath towel, I rummaged through my closet for some clothes. In the end, I choose a white blouse with some dark denim jeans and my black Mary Jane flats. From my jewelry box, I grabbed a pair of diamond stud earrings, my white Michael Kors watch and pastel blue beaded necklace for a pop of color. Before walking out of my room, I snatched a air tie from my vanity, gathering my hair into a ponytail.
Satisfied, I made my way downstairs. I still had an hour before I had to get to work so I had time to continue working on my new piece of music.
Opening the door to my piano room, I smiled, inhaling slowly. I glided over to my piano, sliding onto the bench. Grinning, I opened the sleek black lid to the grand piano, relishing in its astonishing beauty.
Recently, with so much thinking of my past I had begun working on a song about reconnecting with myself and my former life.
The sweet melody filled the air as my fingers skimmed across the ivory keys. Without any thought, my eyes slipped closed as I lost myself in the music.
"Hello, it's me, I was wondering
If after all these years you'd like to meet to go over everything
They say that time's supposed to heal ya
But I ain't done much healing
There's such a difference between us
And a million miles
Hello from the other side
I must've called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry, for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
Ooh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Anymore...
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore"
My eyes fluttered open, trailing down to look at my watch. After being so consumed in my music, I had lost track of time. It was time to leave for work.
Sliding off the piano bench, I fled the room to the main entry room. I slipped on my green army drawstring jacket whilst seizing my brown leather purse. With my car keys in hand, I slipped through the door, down the stone walkway and into the driveway where my baby sat. My white Infiniti car.
I hopped inside, turned on the ignition, speeding out of the driveway. A while back, I had tinkered a bit, increasing the speed on the car so I could go really fast and boy was I glad I did. It could easily go over 250 miles an hour. It truly was my pride and joy.
I flew down the streets of Portland, humming along to the radio, thinking back to when I had first moved to Oregon.
After my chocolate brown hair was freshly dyed to blonde, I couldn't go back to my old life. Frankly, I knew it was time for a chance, I wasn't about to go back to New York. I had to kick my old identity to the curb. A new home, a new style and a new job was what I needed. But I wasn't quite ready for that yet. Baby steps…
So I ended up touring the world for five years, traveling places, making my own happy memories instead of dwelling on the old painful ones.
But after five years, I was ready to settle down.
So that's how I ended up in Portland, Oregon. The weather reminded me of Forks, but not the atmosphere. No, the atmosphere was completely different to the one in Forks. Forks was incredibly small and quaint, while Portland was lively, cluttered with people. A lot like New York City. I found it oddly comforting, the business of the city kept me occupied.
Though the neighborhood I lived in was much quieter, I still liked it, it was simple. I lived in a neighborhood called Woodland Park, on a large lot, with a fairly big house but nothing as huge as the Cullen's mansions. Although, mine was the largest in the region. The abundance of people lived in nearby apartments or townhouses. My house was secluded, large trees sprinkled across my lot, providing shade when the clouds didn't. Behind my house was a forest, perfect for hunts between work and such.
After having such an atrocious personality for years I wanted to make it up. So I chose to take a career in medicine. Despite not having a degree in medicine that didn't wear me down, I chose to take online university courses, not only was it convenient, I could take the courses at my own pace. Therefore, I was able to get my degree in two years instead of eight.
Recently, I had begun working at Woodland Park Hospital and it was wonderful. Angela was right, things were beginning to look up for me.
It had been three years since I had started working at Woodland Park Hospital, I knew it would only be a couple years from now that I would have to move because of keeping up my human facade. That saddened me, but I knew in another fifty years I would be able to live here again.
I parked my car in the lot for hospital staff and made my way to the entrance of the building. Woodland Park Hospital was a fairly small medical center, only a hundred beds. I worked there along with a couple other doctors, Dr. Celina Sanchez and Dr. Marshall Cruz. They were my only friends, I preferred to keep to myself, less chance of someone becoming suspicious of myself.
"Good morning Dr. Elizabeth." The receptionist greeted me.
I nodded, smiling, "Good morning."
I had kept the surname Elizabeth, not going back to Swan, because I simply was no longer a Swan, it didn't fit me anymore. I liked Elizabeth. I didn't have an concerns either about someone recognizing me as Izzy Elizabeth either, we no longer shared the same hair color or style. I look nothing like I used to.
The name Izzy Elizabeth is hardly ever spoken of anymore. At first when I disappeared people were going mad. It took a couple years before things started to die down. Now ten years later, it's barely mentioned, people have merely accepted the fact and moved on with their own life.
Also, I had gone back to Bella, I used to deny the fact that I missed Bella, but now I embraced it. Bella is always who I've been, not Izzy Elizabeth.
I continued down the long dreary hallway leading to my office. This particular hospital was old, very much in need of some updating. The walls which used to be painted a creamy white now peeling and turning to flakes exposed the grey concrete behind. The yellow faded titled floor uneven with the amount of traffic over the years. The smell of the air was much like any other hospital, full of disinfectants and plastic smelling chemicals. Hand sanitizers lined the blank walls too in attempt of keeping the germs at a bay.
At the end of the was where my office was located, I turned the brassy knob and stepped inside. My office was just as bland as the rest of the hospital not like the other doctors who chose to embellish their office with family photos and memos.
I dropped my purse onto the desk and sank into my chair. Every now and then I would get lonely. I was alone, I had no family. Every once and awhile I would visit Angela and Ben or Jacob. But it wasn't enough to keep away the loneliness nagging at my heart.
I had long ago accepted the fact that I would always be by myself, without family but that didn't stop the lonesomeness.
I breathed a heavy sigh, picking myself up from the chair and slipping on my doctor coat on, getting ready for my day at work.
Hey guys! So I know this is a short chapter but it seemed like a great place to stop before more drama happens and such. I would love to hear your opinions about this new chapter because everything changed. I was kind of hesitant whether or not to make this change but I felt it was necessary for what is coming soon. And don't worry readers, the drama isn't over yet, there is plenty to come! So pretty please review this chapter and let me know what you thought of the new Bella!
Who is excited for Christmas?! I AM! And my birthday is in ten days yay!
What's on your Christmas wishlists? Let me know!
PS: Sorry for any errors I may have missed!
Thanks for reading,
~Alexandra:)