Hi, Lovelies!

Been a very long time since I've posted anything, I'm sorry about that. I hope you like this one-shot that's been in my drafts for ages. Please review and let me know what you think, I love to hear from you all.

Much love,
Liv xx

I sat in the back of the car with my head pressed up against the glass, trying to calm the pain that seared between my eyes. Edward sat next to me with Carlisle driving and Esme beside him, the car had fallen into silence a while ago, and no one made any attempt to change that fact. Every now and again Esme would turn to look at Edward, I could tell how relieved she felt, how relieved they all felt, I could see it on their faces after we landed. They'd been scared, as terrified as I'd been. They were right to be, I was nearly too late, he nearly… The thought made my stomach roll. I closed my eyes and tried to push it away when I opened them we were pulling up outside my house. "I'll walk you in." Edward said.
"No, it's fine, Charlie won't want…" But before I could finish he was opening my door. As soon as the car pulled up Charlie was out on the porch. "Bella, what the hell is going on? Three days you've been gone! Three days and all you left was that ridiculous note? You better start talking or so help me God!"
"Mr Swan it's my fault I…" Charlie's head snapped towards Edward as he spoke.
"I don't doubt it!" I've never seen Charlie so angry before, I quickly step in to try and explain.
"Charlie, I'm sorry, I… There was an emergency, Edward was, he got caught up with some bad people, and he needed my help. I'm sorry I shouldn't have left without speaking to you first but it was, it was time-sensitive, I… Here." I said reaching into my pocket and handing him my phone. "My laptop is in the kitchen, the only place I will be going is to school until you say otherwise, I'll do the laundry, I'll clean the house, I'll cook dinners. Whatever needs doing I'll do it. I really am sorry." I said kissing him on the cheek. As I pulled back he cupped my face in his hand. "Bella are you okay?"
"Fine, I'm just tired, just really tired."
"Okay well, get to bed, you've got school tomorrow." I did as I was told and left Charlie yelling at Edward, telling him that if he ever sets foot through the door he's a dead man. Before going to bed, I got in the shower and left the water hot enough to turn my skin a bright pink. I made sure my window was shut and locked, I just wanted to be alone, just wanted sleep, a dreamless sleep. But of course, that was too much to ask for.

I woke up breathless, sweat covering my skin, bile pushed its way up my throat and I ran quickly to the bathroom, trying not to wake Charlie. After I'd brushed my teeth I went back into my room and looked at the clock, it was 3:30 and I knew there was no point trying to get back to sleep. Instead, I was quiet and made my way downstairs, desperate for a distraction.

School passed in a blur. I'd spent my lunch in the library trying to carve through some of the work that I'd missed in the past three days, and I was sat in English, my last lesson of the day. I was surprised when Edward had walked into class, as was everyone. The Cullen's had been gone for months and here he was walking back in like he'd never been away. There was only a couple of minutes left of the lesson and we were watching Macbeth when Jessica started screaming. Suddenly I was back in the Volturi's lair, the smell of damp mixed with blood burning my nose, my eyes struggling to adjust to the dimness of the light, terrified screaming filling my ears. My chest tightened until the screaming was drowned out by the pounding of my heart. "Bella?" I felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me back into the classroom. Edward's grip was tight, too tight, when I turned to face him I could see it in his eyes, he could smell blood. I glanced down at my hand and could see why I'd curled them into such tight fists that my nails had cut into my palm. "Calm down, for goodness sake it's just a spider." Mr Richards's voice broke Edward's trance, his grip immediately loosened. "Bella, are you… I'm so sorry I…"
"It's fine Edward." I said grabbing my books and shoving them into my bag. Everyone had started filing out of the classroom while Mr Richards took care of the spider that had apparently been big enough to mean that Jessica had to stand on top of a chair. "Bella…" I moved quickly and left Edward packing away his things while I headed to see my history teacher to hand in some work.

By the time I got to the parking lot, there were only a few stragglers left to leave, along with the Cullen's. I hadn't even realised that all of them had been at school today. Hopefully, the rest of my classes would be free of them. I couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive so there would be no chance of seeing them at all. I didn't even glance their way, just wanting to get home. No sooner had I reached my car I found Alice leaning against the door. "Hi, Bella!" She spoke as if seeing me in the parking lot was the most exciting thing that could ever happen. "Hey," I said not bothering to look up at her. "Can you move? I need to get home." The only movement she made was to cross her arms over her chest. "Bella, please we need to talk."
"The only thing I need to do is go home. So, will you please get out of my way?" Before I realised what was happening Alice had put me into the passenger side of the car and was driving. I didn't say a word, knowing that any attempt of argument would be futile.

Esme and Carlisle watched as we pulled into the driveway, at the sight of them the hole in my chest opened wider. I avoided looking into their eyes as they greeted me. I got the feeling that they both wanted to hug me so I made clear with my body language that there was no way in hell that was happening. The rest of the family were in the living room, as I walked in everyone looked at me with what seemed like trepidation. "Why don't you sit down Bella?" I followed Esme's suggestion and sat down on the couch, no sooner was I seated she asked if I needed anything. "No thank you, I'd just like to know why Alice dragged me here."
"To talk Bella, we just want to talk." It was Alice who spoke sitting opposite me on the coffee table.
"What is there to talk about?" I questioned, glancing around the room. Everyone frowned at me excluding Rosalie who looked indifferent as always. "We're sorry Bella," Carlisle spoke softly as he sat down next to Alice, he looked at me so intently I dropped my gaze to my hands. "We've missed you so much." I let out a small sigh.
"It's true Bella." I looked up surprised to hear Jasper's voice. He looked at me fervently as he read the disbelief in my emotions. "You're my best friend Bella, you're my sister. I never wanted to leave you." I turned to Alice as she pleaded with me.
"Then, why did you?"
"We didn't think we had a choice. Edward thought it was the best thing for you, he said we had to keep you safe. I tried to tell him he was wrong. We all did, and then when they gave in I tried to convince everyone that we couldn't leave you. I tried to convince them that we needed to stay. Really, I did Bella, I tried." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"You tried?" My voice came out as a whisper which of course was no issue for any of them.
"Bella…" I didn't give her a chance to finish whatever lie was going to pour out of her mouth, instead, I pushed up and out of my seat heading towards the door. "Bella, please we just want everything to go back to how it was. We just want it to be the same." I screwed my eyes shut at her words, not believing what I heard. "I would have died." I breathed. I turned around to see them all looking at me with confusion. "I would have died before I would have done to you what you did to me. Before I would abandon you. Before I would abandon my best friend, my sister." I sneered at her. "I would have died before leaving any of you, any of my family. Before I would make you feel how I felt, before leaving you without sleep for months on end because every time you shut your eyes you would wake up screaming. Before making you feel like you'd be better off dead and the only reason you didn't make that a reality is because it would destroy your father if you did. I would have died. So, don't you dare Alice! Don't you dare stand there and tell me that you tried. You didn't try hard enough." Tears pooled in my eyes as I spoke but I refused to let them fall. "And don't bother apologising because it doesn't mean anything, from any of you. You're deluded if you think things are going to be the same, they're not, because I'm not the same. Not anymore."