Before this chapter kicks off, I'm compelled to advertise my OTHER stories. And by other stories, I mean one story posted under my fiction press account (which has the same username as my fanfiction account). It's called Never Hungover Again, and I just posted it, so if you feel like it, feel free to read it.

Also, this chapter is slightly shorter than the others, and it's kind of like an interlude to later events.

And also, thank you guys. Thank you for reviewing, thank you for being so dedicated to my story. Whenever I feel like skipping out on writing a chapter, I think of you guys, so thank you guys for being my inspiration.

Xxx

Chapter Five

The first thing that registered when I woke up the next morning was the violent headache that threatened to bust open my skull. I threw my covers off my body and darted to my bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach.

I laid by the toilet for a few minutes, my throat burning. As I wretched and my body shook with chills, a hazy memory shot through the dizziness and pains going through my body.

Edward's lips pressed against mine.

It could have easily been the alcohol. I had down nearly two beers and Edward wasn't exactly sober as he led me to my car last night. Even when we kissed, I could still taste the alcohol on his lips and smell it-along with the smell of cigarettes- on his clothes.

Yet, a small part of me is hoping that Edward won't think that. Is it possible that right now, Edward is sitting next to his toilet, skin covered in sweat, thinking of it, too? Does he even remember last night?

"No," I whispered, swallowing hard. But my mind- the teenage girl inside me- says otherwise.

Yes.

So, instead of wallowing in vomit and sweat, I take a shower, rubbing my skin raw, trying to push the memory of last night from my thoughts and tiptoe downstairs, where my mother is lying on the couch, drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Bella?" Renee stirred and in the blink of an eye I'm beside her. "Bella.." her hand squeezed mine and I kissed her forehead. "Bella... Bella... my sweet Bella..."

That's all she says before she slips back into dreamland. I kiss her cheek and then stand, making my way to the kitchen, when my house phone rings.

I answer it, only to hear the frantic shouting of Angela on the other end. "Bella! Bella?"

"Angela?" I propped myself on the kitchen counter. "Angela are you okay?"

There's a long pause before a shaky laugh comes from the other end. "Am i..." Angela sounds breathless. "Am I okay?" Angela laughed in disbelief. "Bella, you scared the shit out of me!"

I'm confused. "What? Angela, I don't know-"

"-Turn it onto the news, Bella. Channel nine."

I shook my head. "Ang-"

"Channel nine."

I rolled my eyes, hopping of the counter and picking the remote up from the coffee table. I switch on the TV and flip through channels before landing on the local news station, where a blond women is speaking.

I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at and I'm prepared to tell Angela off before I realize the blond woman is standing in front of a seedy, rundown old bar. The seedy, rundown old bar, the one I stumbled from last night after drinking my sorrows in cheap, three-week old beer.

Words flash on the screen quickly and my mouth dries as I read in big, bold letters TEENAGE GIRL FOUND IN DITCH 5 BLOCKS AWAY, MUTILATED, GUNSHOT WOUND TO HEAD.

"What..." I blinked about twenty times, unable to comprehend. "Ang-"

"Jessica... Jessica saw you Bella. She said- she said you were with some guy and that you were drunk and..." Angela's choking on the other line. "I tried calling you, but you wouldn't pick up. You left your phone and-" Angela broke down, sobbing loudly on the other end. "My dad told me early this morning. Some girl our age got mugged. They... they tortured her Bella. My dad said that they must have beat her with some sort of chain..."

"When?"

"Early in the morning," she answered. Angela calmed down. "They found her naked, by the side of the road, cut up and beaten."

I'm too shocked to even move. The thought of some girl, walking home, getting mugged, being tortured near the side of the road, then stripped and left there like some sort of toy stirs something inside of me, makes me want to run upstairs and puke up whatever's left inside me.

Here. In Forks?

It's too sinister to comprehend. Of course, people have died here, been murdered, but usually only to bar fights, the occasional animal attack, car accidents. But not this. Never this.

"I'm scared, Bella," Angela croaked from the other end. "Nothing like this has ever happened here before. Something like this is just... just evil. And whoever did this is still out there."

"I'll come by later, Ang," I said. "We can go up to Port Angeles, spend the day their. It's just this once, Ang. They'll catch the guy. Okay?"

It took her a while to respond, but eventually agrees. I tell her that I can't wait to see her, and then she tells me to be careful before hanging up.

My mind first goes to Jessica, who undoubtedly is probably talking to Lauren, or Mike, or maybe even cruising to my dad's job to let it slip where I was last night.

But then I think about the mangled body of a young girl on the side of the road, dead, naked, and how the thought of something like that happening here is too horrifying, too disgusting.

I go to the kitchen and gulp down a few glasses of water, trying to rid my mouth from the taste of vomit, and then I go upstairs and slip on some clothes, ready to go meet Angela.

For now, the thought of Edward is gone from my mind, temporarily replaced by the thoughts of a girl, thrown into a ditch, naked, tortured. I'm thinking about how so suddenly, Forks doesn't feel as safe and as boring as it was before, and I can feel this type of fear-induced adrenaline pumping through my veins at the thought of a killer roaming the streets.

Somewhere, a murdering is lurking in the shadows, poised to strike again. In a matter of hours, Forks has transitioned from a quiet, sleepy town, to the home of a murderer, who will undoubtedly strike again when faced with the fact that Forks Police is a disgruntled mess as of now.

Who's next?

My body feels hot with fear at the possibility of it being anyone. Me, Angela, Jessica...

Anyone.

For the first time in years, I didn't think of Forks as being boring at all.

xxxx