Disclaimer: I Do not own Twilight

Chapter Eight

I had to get out of here.

In the quick moments of me waking up and jumping to my feet, I braced myself, prepared for Edward to come back, hoping to find any thing else of value. But after a few minutes of standing completely stil, he didn't come back, and I finally let out an uneasy breath.

I had to get out of here, though. The feeling of emptiness that I had previously felt when waking up had been replaced by a feeling of sickness, and my stomach was churning, and I could feel my face heat up.

I was not going to cry. So I sucked it up, and while there was this sudden, stabbing pain in my chest, I swallowed back any type of whimper and sob and collected my jacket off of the floor and left.

I didn't know where I was going exactly, so I just followed whatever footprints I could make out in the mud and deep, fresh tire prints in the earth before stumbling out of the dense vegetation and near an old, winding road.

The rain storm that had passed through last night left debris scattered everywhere, and a few trees laid snapped on the ground near the road. It was also fairly cool out, so I had to grit my teeth and zip my jacket up and hope I didn't catch hypothermia before I made it to some sort of gas station.

The walk gave me some time to think, which meant I slept and no solid fifteen minutes mentally attacking myself for being such an idiot. Which was also dumb, because I should've actually been angry with Edward, but honestly, I had to accept my own culpability.

Now, I was walking near the side of the road, broke and a feeling of violation surging through me at the thought of Edward stripping me of my belongings as I slept, under the faux pretense that I was somewhere safe for the night.

And when I saw a car edging close to me, I honestly thought of flinging myself in front of it, because I didn't know how I was about to bring myself back from this type of humiliation.

Yet, when I thought I really couldn't feel anymore humiliated than I already felt, the car screeched to a halt right near me, and I honestly wished I would've jumped in front earlier at the face that peeked out at me from the driver's side.

"Bella?"

Angela's brown eyes were wide and shock. "What are you doing out here?"

I gestured at the forest and made a comedic attempt to lighten up the mood.

"Taking a walk. A little hiking, actually." Angela's face remained passive, so I just sighed. "I don't know..."

She unlocked her car doors and I hopped in the front. She pressed her lips together firmly before speaking. "Are you okay, Bella?"

"Great. Peachy."

Angela started driving again and as we made our way down the road, she shook her head. "Don't lie to me, Bella." She looked at me. "I'm not Jessica."

"I'm fine, really."

She scoffed and pointed at the bruise on my face. "Jesus Christ, Bella. Look at your face!" She gripped my jacket and nodded towards my clothes. "You look like you've been walking out there all night!" Her eyes widened and her head whipped towards me. "Did something... happen to you, Bella?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and pulled away from her. "What? No!" I swallowed. "At least, not that."

Angela looked unsure of what to say. "Did it... was it that guy?" Her fingers gripped the steering wheel and she looked nervous. "You know, the guy at the bar who Jess saw you with?"

When I didn't answer, Angela pulled over to the side of the road and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. "Oh, Bella!" It sounded like she was crying. "Oh, Bella. What happened?"

My fingers gripped the front of her sweater and for the first time, I cried. "He used me, Angela."

Angela spent five minutes hugging me and I spent the entire time crying into her shoulder, my body shaking with sobs.

"He took all my things," I said. "He picked me up, last night, after a fight with Charlie. I slept at his place, and he just took everything!" I clutched Angela. "God, I felt so stupid."

Angela leaned back into her seat. "I went looking for you, last night. I thought you wanted a friend. You looked so sad, the last night we were together, so I dropped by." She pointed to the backseat, where a dozen doughnuts sat in a white box. "I was hoping we could hang out together. But then, Charlie answered, and he said you had run of-," she shook her head,"- I was so scared, you know, with what happened to that other girl. I spent all night looking for you."

This time, I hugged her. "I'm sorry," I said. "I was stupid. I'll never do anything like that again." I squeezed her and then we pulled apart.

"I'll drop you off," she said, starting up her car again. But she looked at me again. "What happened to you face, Bella. Did he do that?

"No," I smiled,"a branch. It got me good."

She bought it, so we spent the rest of the drive in silence, taking the road back down into Forks.

Angela dropped me off right outside my house. As I slid out, Angela grabbed my arm. "Your dad, Bella. He can do something about it. He's the sheriff! He'll do something about him, Bella."

"I know," I answered. I closed the door and as Angela pulled off, I waved until her car finally disappeared down the road.

Inside, the house was quiet, save for the slow breathing of Renee. Charlie was strapping up his boots for work when he caught sight of me in the doorframe. He grinned and half walked half stumbled over to me. "How's my sweet girl?"

I have a small smile and he reached out and brushed his thumb against my bruise, which made me jump. "You'll have some when I get back, won't you?"

I nodded and he pulled me into a tight hug. "That's my girl!" He placed a sloppy kiss on my cheek and then walked off. I heard the door slam a few moments later.

It was Sunday, so really, there was nothing for me to do. I could head out a little later to get Charlie's beer, but other than that, I was going to be inside for the rest of the day.

I made my way into my room and switched on the tv, where a news report was going on. I looked at the moving letters at the bottom of the screen. NO LEADS IN CASE OF MURDERED JUNKIE

I was about to change the channel when another headline caught my eye.

STRING OF ASSAULTS ON LOCALS, VIOLENT BEATINGS

A blond haired woman atboutppeared on screen and I watched intently, soaking up the details.

"Yes, Jake. I'm standing right here outside this very pharmacy, where a total of five homeless addicts have been violently assaulted in the past week, three of which were hospitalized due to grievous injuries sustained in muggings..."

The local killer had morphed from a murderer to a local mugger, and while I guess that was supposed to comfort me for the moment- knowing that there wasn't a murderous binge happening in the town- the fear of him escalating again made my skin crawl. It gave me an itch.

An itch I couldn't scratch.

So, I switched off the TV and opted to read for a few hours, but there was still the nagging feeling it side me of uneasiness. Forks now was so different from the Forks I had grown up in years prior, and the fact was that nothing like this had ever occurred here before. These few days had me teetering on edge, worried, mulling over the safety of Angela, or my mom.

But it also gave me this surge of excitment mingled with fear. It was wrong, but it was also... exciting. Riveting, actually, because for the first time, I was seeing Forks in an entirely different way than I ever had before.

But a lose killer still made my skin crawl, and it also made me realize that I had a very short list of people who I was genuinely worried about meeting their end at his hand.

Angela... mom... who else?

Dad?

Charlie was... a cop. Mom spent her days stuck in this house. Angela, however...

I shook my head. No, Angela wasn't an idiot. Roaming the streets at night was never something I'd picture Angela on the otherhand. It was me who thought it was okay to take trips to cabins in the wood with strange boys.

So, I flopped down onto my bed and turned the TV off for good. I stripped out of my wet clothes, down to my underwear, and snuggled deep down into my covers, any thoughts of serial killers or Edward gone from my mind.

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xoxo

And btw, Edward is gone for now, but he'll make a very BIG appearance in later chapters. I promise.