Bella experiences some strange things. Is everyone going crazy or is it just her? Next chapter will be rated M for sure!

Bella POV

I was shook out of a sound sleep. Or at least that's what it felt like. Another nightmare, you can't really escape the past I guess. The therapist I went to see told me it gets better. She knew, something similar happened to her when she was my age. I objected to going to therapy, so did Renee but the school councillor insisted after the incident. High school girls were cruel, they knew how to get to you.

2:00AM was on my alarm clock. I had been tossing and turning all night on the air mattress, I couldn't imagine Renee was doing any better. I had a kink in my neck, my bed couldn't come soon enough. I had this sinking feeling like someone was in the room with me, I did notice the closet was wide open; I couldn't remember if I left it open or closed it. I turned on both sides, trying to get back to sleep. BANG. I ran over to the window. Something metal was flung in the backyard. I knew it couldn't be a racoon, maybe the same shitheads who tagged the house. Or Jessica. Was she dangerous? Alice did tell me to back off from some guy named Emmett, Jessica could be a lot like the girls from back home.

I couldn't see anything outside, the backyard was dimly lit from the streetlights, no movement. I didn't hear anything else so I lied back down and finally drifted off to sleep. In the morning I helped Renee unpack more boxes. I was finishing up in the kitchen.

"Bella, come quick!"

I was startled by the urgency in her voice. I ran into the living room and saw Renee standing in the corner holding up a large white blanket. What was under the blanket was a mystery but from the look on her face I had an idea; the blanket wasn't just used to cover up some dusty antique. She threw the thing aside and there it was a grande piano in mint condition, she knew I used to play back when I took lessons.

"Wow, cool."

"You should play."

"I don't know, it's been a long time."

She took both my hands and guided me over to it, "Some things you never forget." I hesitated but decided it was worth a try. There was this one song I remembered well, the first song I ever learned and surprisingly didn't sound too bad. It was cool to realize I had one thing I didn't suck at. Renee was enjoying it but as I got to the end her smile faded, her face began to strain.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

She gave her head a shake, "Ugh, nothing dear. Just a headache. I might run over to the store, would you like anything?"

"No. I'm good."

"You wanna come with?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay and clean up."

"I saw a sex shop up the road, I might check it out."

"Tempting but no" I said.

"I might buy some assless chaps."

I raised an eyebrow, "Ok, you do that." After living years with this woman I realized her weird obsessions one of them being her ass. She has a great one. She used to be in a band in the 80s where she paraded herself onstage with her friends in tight black leather and ridiculous hair. It's one of those things I'm never sure if I should admit to people if they ask; the band not her ass; who knows that could come up in conversation.

Left alone I did what I could to tidy up. The graffiti was still on my mind, I decided to go next door to see if Alice was home and could get it cleaned up because I knew Renee would forget to. I walked outside in my fall jacket, I was beginning to think the sun never shined in this place; you'd think this was hurricane weather the way the sky was.

Alice and Jessica 's house wasn't much different than ours, the same minus the hairy balls painted in large letters. I knocked on the door and waited a minute. I only saw one light on and it was upstairs, I assumed they couldn't hear so I buzzed the bell. That's when I saw her. A woman on the second floor staring at me from her window. She had a house coat on but it was open. I saw everything before turning away. All I could think was "Holy shit! Does nobody around here have curtains?"

The door finally opened up and Alice was there. "Hi, sorry, I didn't hear you I was watching a movie." She invited me inside, I was still in shock over what I saw. "Don't worry, I called Donny he said he can be over this afternoon to look at it. He should be able to get a start on it tomorrow after another job."

"Cool" I said sinking into the Lazy boy recliner. We must have talked for more than 2 hours, she had a lot of questions about where I went to school and what it was like in Arizona. I tried to dance around the fact I had no friends.

"Is your mom one of the lead singers of Gloss?"

She really looked like she really wanted me to say yes or she'd die. "Yes" I sighed with a smile.

"I thought she looked familiar!"

"Yeah she still hasn't escaped that."

"So does musicians run in your family?"

"Sort of. I used to play piano. Back when my mom was still alive."

She was puzzled by this, I didn't clue in right away. "Oh, Renee's my stepmom. My biological mother died way back when I was 13."

"Oh. I'm sorry..."

So much for good impressions, "I really know how to bring the house down, huh?"

"No, I can relate. Jessica and I were adopted by our mother Esme. I don't remember anything about my parents."

"Wow. My real dad abandoned me and Renee. He went after a...real winner."

"Oh my." She really couldn't nelieve my shitty luck. "Have you ever heard of a website called The Dirty?"

"The Dirty? Isn't that a website people use to expose cheaters?"

"Cheaters, scammers, gold diggers" She counted on her hand, "Real garbage."

"She could be on there I wouldn't be surprised. "

"Your dad really just left you?"

"His slutty girlfriend wanted nothing to do with me."

"I...I just don't know what to say."

I shrugged, "We were never really all that close. It's weird that Renee and I got along like we dI'd. "

I heard movement coming from upstairs, Alice thought it was funny how jumpy I was, "That's Esme. She's sick today."

"Oh ok. I think I saw her when I was in the driveway. "

"Oh. Hopefully she had her robe on" She laughed.

"Uh...yeah" I laughed nervously.

I left to go see if Donny went over to the house but not before asking Alice more about the house and town. She told me the last family was nice but they seemed to just disappear. In fact they weren't the only ones. I didn't know what to think about that. Maybe the house was cursed?

I was glad to at least meet one decent person in town, Donny was a close second, mid to late 30's, possibly Renee's type.

He was a bit of a smart ass, he couldn't seem to get over the mess. "Someone was having fun" he snickered. "You really want me to paint over such a masterpiece?"

"Uh, I'm sure. I don't think we need hairy balls written on her house. It's not really us."

Renee pulled into the driveway, I knew immediately they would hit it off. She saw Donny's truck and us standing there. She wasn't her usual self, something was off, I would never have guessed what it could be.

Donny said hello, she just looked at him smugly. She glared at me. When Donny went over what he would charge she just said that would be fine, whatever. She kept looking over at me like she was concerned about something. Eventually when Donny was still in mid conversation she walked over to me, "Get inside!" She snapped. I had not seen her like this before, not this angry about anything not even her divorce. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

I retreated inside, looking back at a distraught Donny. I had no idea what this could possibly be about. When she was a drinker even then she wasn't an angry drunk. I spied on them until Donny drove away. I ran to the living room and sat down, pretending I was preoccupied with something else. She practically slammed the door when she entered.

"You aren't to talk to that man!"

"Mom, what's wrong?" I ran over to her.

"Listen to what I say, Bella!"

"Why are you acting like this?"

She held onto my face with both hands. She brought her face close, really really close. "Go to your room."

This wasn't normal. This was nuts. I took one last look at her before climbing the stairs. I've always trusted her, she was really the only family I had. I lied on my stupid air mattress and closed my eyes, I wanted to wake up from this nightmare. I slept away the rest of the afternoon and evening. I felt like someone was watching me. The room was so dark.

"Renee?"

"Go back to sleep." A voice said. My door closed.

Hope you like. More soon!