Chapter 38

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth.
~Smiling Faces Sometimes- Undisputed Truth

Lightning seared the sky a ways away, and Bella counted in her head how long it took thunder to roar. She made it all the way to ten seconds and concluded that the storm was about two miles away. It didn't help her figure out her surroundings, but it momentarily distracted her from the present. When Edward wrenched her from the car, her bare feet his sand and she almost collapsed from the sudden movement. "Where are we?" She asked, taking in her surroundings with her one good eye.

The darkened beach was only illuminated by a small campfire a few yards out and the occasionally bolts of lightning. "Let's go." Edward growled and began to tow her towards the campfire. "I'm sure this place brings back lots of memories."

Bella took in the beach with puzzlement. Edward was right. There was something about this beach that was tugging at her memory banks. It was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite place where the familiarity came from. Had she been here before?

The brunette did not get much time to ponder about her surroundings as they had made it to the campfire. Edward tossed her aside and Bella collapsed by his feet immediately. Her body had been weakened by the abuse and she was struggling with merely staying cognizant. Thoughts of her child kept her from allowing unconsciousness to claim her and she looked around in search of her daughter.

"Where did you put him?" Edward asked suddenly.

A figure appeared from the other side of the campfire and Bella gasped when she heard the person's voice and recognized it. "I tied him up near those rocks over there. He's still unconscious. I think I hit him too hard."

"Doesn't matter. He's not going to survive the night anyway."

The man crossed by the campfire to join Edward but paused and lowered his gaze to Bella who was lying on the sand awkwardly. "What did you do to her face? You didn't say you were going to hurt her like that."

"How is any of that your concern?" Edward kicked Bella roughly with his foot and caused the brunette to roll on her stomach away from him. "After everything we've accomplished, you're worried about a few bumps and bruises?" Edward scowled at the man and jabbed him roughly in the chest. "Would you rather I hurt your lover instead?"

The man turned his head from Edward and looked at Bella pitifully. "Please don't threaten him."

"I don't give a shit about your boyfriend." Edward snarled then pointed at a cluster of rocks a couple yards out. "I'm going to make sure he understands who is in control now so watch her for now." Edward didn't wait for a response, but skulked away towards the rocks.

After Edward had gone out of ear and eyesight, the man sank to the sand beside Bella so they were eye to eye. He reached out and gingerly held Bella's face in his hands. "What did he do to your face?"

Bella felt her body begin to convulse from the the touch of the person. She could not wrap her head around what was going on and everything seemed to be spiraling so far out of control that she was losing her grip on reality. "Demetri? What are you doing here?"

Demetri tilted her head up and took in the state of her bruised face and eye swollen shut. "This is going to take a while to heal. You're not going to be able to open it for a couple days. But it should heal completely in a couple weeks."

Bella pulled her head away from her co-worker's gentle hands. "Thanks for the evaluation, Dr. Pire." Bella couldn't help rolling her one eye at the dark haired man. "Answer my question."

"He hired me." Demetri responded after a beat. "I'm sorry Bella. I didn't expect it to progress this far."

A silence fell over the pair and Bella tried to rewind time in her head. Demetri had been so nice to her and had even helped her with her daughter's birthday party...Which Edward had randomly shown up to. "Why?" She didn't mean to ask the question aloud, but it slipped between her lips as her mind was racing a mile a minute to wrap around the situation.

"It's a long story." Demetri sighed and got comfortable sitting on the sand beside her. "But you deserve to know the truth." Demetri paused and looked at Bella ruefully. "I didn't mean to become such good friends with you. But you, Alice and Max made me feel so comfortable here."

"You're stalling." Bella glanced from Demetri to where she knew Edward to be across the campfire. "Tell me before he gets back."

Demetri followed her gaze and his face fell into a grimace. "Trust me, he's not coming back for a while." He looked around the beach and settled his gaze on the waves as they crashed against the shore. "Do you remember this place? It's probably been a while since you were here."

Bella followed Demetri's gaze and felt a connection to the area. Her breath caught in her throat as she remembered back a few years. Before she had even met Jacob. Her relationship with Edward had been so bad she just wanted to escape. She thought he loved her, but she had been painstakingly wrong.

Bella laid back on the raft, glancing up at the sky dubiously. The dark storm clouds were getting closer. She hopped that she would make it to shore before they reached her as her weak raft would not survive the storm.

A few minutes later the entire sky had completely darkened and sent a chill down her spine. At first it was a mild drizzle, but soon it picked up and Bella grew frustrated by this storm. Just her luck a storm would hit right as she was in the middle of the ocean. She looked towards the direction of the shore, but it became so dark, she couldn't even tell where it was located.

All of a sudden, lightning crackled against the sky and thunder boomed. The wind picked up and her hair thrashed around her face. The waves began cutting through the water choppily, and throwing the little raft to and fro.

"I can handle this." Bella whispered to herself, gripping the life raft with her small hands.

Something bumped against the raft and Bella feared for the worst. Sharks.

But when she inspected what was bumping against the raft, she was appalled to find a alge-crusted couch pushing against the raft. "There must be a sunken ship around here." she mused aloud as the rain pelted her face. Next to the old couch, she saw crates and other debris. Her only hypothesis was the storm had dredged up these long since forgotten items, from the bottom of the ocean.

Lightning struck the sky again and Bella covered her ears as the thunder bellowed loudly. So loud in fact that she knew the storm must be directly overhead. The waves picked up even more and Bella let out a squeal when the raft almost tipped over. The water looked as treacherous as the sky, and Bella couldn't believe her predicament.

The sodden women knew the world was against her when the waves began to increase in size, aiming for her small raft. She held onto the raft for dear life, but one stubborn wave crashed against the little raft, causing it to flip through the air and fling her off into the sea. The sea cut off her scream as Bella sank down into the water. She kept her eyes closed, and fought her way to the surface. Breaking through, she gasped for air and was assaulted by another wave. Bella opened her eyes and spotted the little raft drifting away from her.

"No!" she screamed, reaching out feebly towards it.

The waves threw the raft to and fro, and sent Bella here and there. Even with her swimming skills, she wasn't able to stop the waves from beating down on her. Her only relief came when she managed to swim underwater just far enough to not be harassed by the relentless waves above. With her eyes closed, she swam in a nameless direction until her lungs threatened to burst from lack of air. The brunette had to fight her way to the surface and regretted her decision immediately. The ferocious waves took no pity on the battered woman and ended up smashing her legs against many of the rocks and corals from down below. She knew that later she would find numerous bruises on her legs. But she was used to bruises so this didn't bother her too much. Right now, her main concern was escaping the deadly storm above and below. Another wave rained down on her and she couldn't even scream.

The wave sent her underneath the surface again, and this time, Bella sluggishly broke the surface again. Her body was beginning to tire out from all the exertion and it dawned on her that she might actually drown out in the middle of the ocean.

Bella spotted the yellow raft and began swimming towards the it with all her might. This was her last chance. If she could even just hold on to the floating rubber, she might be able to survive.

Just as she was about to reach her raft, another monstrous wave crashed over her, and water flew down her windpipe. Bella coughed, trying to expel the water from her lungs. As bad as that experience had been, she smiled in triumph when she felt her hand graze the life raft. She struggled to get into it, but her body was so weak from fighting against the waves. She almost cried when she realized she didn't have enough strength in her body to crawl into the raft. Settling for half-in, half-out, she collapsed on the raft and closed her eyes. The waves were starting to settle down and she started to wonder if the storm had passed. She opened her eyes just in time to see a colossal wave filled with all the debris she'd seen earlier, racing behind her.

"Oh-"

"This is where Jacob found me." Bella wiped away at the tears that streamed down her cheeks. "The day I got lost at sea. I don't remember everything... so much happened. But he found me here." Bella dragged her attention away from the ocean and locked eyes with Demetri. "My new life all started here."

Suddenly Bella felt her hair being yanked backwards and she toppled into the sand as her vision connected with Edward who was hovering over her. "And it's going to end here as well."

A/N: Why is Edward such an asshole? How did Demetri get wrapped up into this? What is going to happen to Bella? All of these questions will be answered in the final chapter that will come out and it's gonna be WILD. The exciting conclusion will be posted sometime in January so as always, stay tuned!

Happy holidays!