35
You know that feeling when you're underwater, and everything around you is muffled? Like you're seeing the world through someone else's eyes? That's what it felt like as Bella sat on the cold floor, surrounded by Edward's arms. Someone, and she wasn't sure who, had silently wrapped their naked and bloodied bodies with blankets, the roughness of the fabric, rough on her bruised skin.
She saw Felix bypass them entirely and stop in front of the wheelchair where his father's body sat. The look on his face was . . . annoyance? Anger? Fury? Maybe even jealousy? He just stood there, staring at the brittle, skeletal remains that were once his father.
The home movies from their time in the Gathering of Twilight were still playing on the oversized television, though all she could hear was the sound of her and Edward's screams, the way they had begged for them to stop, the way they cried when their innocence had been ripped away from them.
"Bee, honey."
She shifted her eyes from Felix to Charlie, who knelt a few feet away from her and Edward. His dark eyes drifted between the two of them, down to her red, bloody knuckles that were now holding the blanket as tightly around her as she could.
"Bee, honey, you're okay."
"We stopped them," she whispered. "We did it. We stopped them. They . . . But we stopped them. We did. We stopped them . . ."
"You did good, Bee. You did real good, honey." Charlie scooted just a little bit closer. "I'm going to help you up, okay? We need to take you and Edward to get checked out, all right."
"Checked out?" Bella asked, shaking her head. "No, no, no!"
"Bee, we have to make sure you're okay." He gestured toward her hand. "Looks like you have a couple of broken knuckles, Bee. We need to get your hand X-rayed."
She looked down at her hand, which was swollen and uncomfortable, though she couldn't feel the pain. "I had to stop her; she was going to hurt him. I couldn't let her hurt him, too. I couldn't . . . I had to stop her."
"And you did real good, honey, really good, but now we need to make sure you're . . . you and Edward are okay."
Bella shook her head, nestling herself fully against Edward. "I had to stop her."
Charlie sighed and looked from her to Edward, who had his forehead leaning against hers, tears falling down his face and onto her shoulder. He looked back at her, his eyes filled with sorrow, sadness, and even a little fear, as he scooted a smidge closer.
"Bee . . ." Charlie said again.
"Will you just shut up?" Edward snarled, tightening his arms around her and drawing Felix and Carlisle's attention as they knelt next to Ben's body. "Just give us five fucking minutes to . . . to just . . . Just stop, okay? We're going to go to the goddamn hospital and let them do their X-rays and whatever, but we need five goddamn minutes to just . . . just breathe."
"I'm sorry," Charlie whimpered, his eyes flickering from him back to her and down the floor.
"I know you're sorry, but it doesn't make anything better."
In a move that surprised Bella, Edward stood with her pressed against him. He tightened the blankets around them as he turned, bypassing Charlie, Carlisle, and even Felix as he led them to the staircase and out of their cement prison.
—TB—
Bella wasn't sure what she had expected when they walked out, finally free. From the way Edward had described the compound where the Volturi brothers had housed the children from the Gathering of Twilight, she expected a large warehouse, an old dilapidated barn, anything other than the normal, white farmhouse they entered. The one with pristine white walls and polished oak furniture she saw as they walked through the kitchen into the dining room, down a hallway, and into the living room before finally stepping out onto a large, wrap-around front porch with wicker chairs, hanging plants and beautiful, colorful flowerbeds. It was so . . . normal that it felt odd and unnatural considering the torture they had endured beneath it.
When Edward directed her toward the black SUV parked in front of the house, she found herself climbing into the backseat without argument. She nestled herself in his embrace, needing to be close, to feel him next to her. She needed him, needed to know he was safe, that he was still safe, that they had saved themselves.
"We stopped them, didn't we?"
Edward nodded. "We did."
"We stopped them," she whispered mostly to herself, tightening the blanket.
Edward leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the seat in front of him, burying his face in his blanket, and she could hear his muffled cries. She wanted to hold him, to soothe the pain and heartache, but she couldn't. Not when she was struggling to keep herself together as it was. She could feel their hands on her, feel the knife handle inside her, feel their breath against her skin as they touched her, and once again, she choked down the bile that filled her throat, her hands still clenched in tight, rigid fists.
Bella and Edward turned when the driver and front passenger doors to the vehicle opened, and they found their fathers watching them with a mixture of pity and disappointment. The urged to lash out at them for not arriving sooner, for not being the ones to fight their battle, filled her, but she didn't scream or cry or lash out at either of their fathers. Instead, she sat in the backseat and just stared.
"We're going to take you to a small medical clinic in town, just as a precaution," Carlisle said, putting a hand up in front of him. "I . . . We have a friend, an old coworker, who we trust to stay discreet. She's a trauma doctor who used to work with us when we were a part of the FBI. As of right now, nobody knows what has happened here, and we are going to do our best to keep it that way for as long as we can," he explained, his eyes softening when he looked at his son before he looked at her. "Is that okay with you?"
Bella and Edward turned and looked at each other, slowly nodding. Charlie and Carlisle shared a look before they climbed into the front seats, the sound of the doors closing causing her to flinch against Edward, who turned and leaned his forehead against the top of her head. Bella and Edward cried as their fathers drove away from the big white farmhouse and their cement prison.
—TB—
When Carlisle pulled into the back of a small medical center, Bella felt herself tense. Charlie and Carlisle were the first to exit, both of them pausing and looking back at her and Edward, waiting for them to be brave, to be strong. The problem was, of course, they weren't strong or brave or anything of the sort. They were broken and tired. So instead, Bella leaned her forehead against Edward's shoulder, her body shaking as she continued to weep.
"We stopped them. We stopped them, didn't we? We stopped them, right?"
She felt him lean his head against hers. "Yeah, we stopped them."
"They killed Garrett," she wept. "They killed him. They slit his throat, and they killed him, and they —"
"We fought back. We fought back, and we stopped them."
"Together. We did it together."
Edward raised his hand to the side of her face, his fingers grazing her bruised and dirtied cheek. "Together."
Though the last thing she wanted at that moment was to climb out of the backseat, she found herself sliding after Edward, letting him help her out. An older woman with long blond hair pulled into a tight bun wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses covering her bright blue eyes glanced from Carlisle and Charlie to Edward and finally to Bella, who pulled the blanket tighter.
She smiled, though Bella could see the hesitancy behind it before she spoke, "Hello, Bella and Edward. My name is Irina Crafton. I have been a trauma doctor for close to thirty years, almost seven of those years with the F.B.I., working hand in hand with Carlisle and Charlie. I know you're scared, and you've been through a lot, but if you will let me, I would like to help."
Edward tilted his head to the side. "I remember you. I remember you from when I was little — when he carried me out of the rubble. He brought me to you, didn't he?"
Irina nodded. "Yes, I was the doctor who examined you when your father rescued you when you were a little boy, Edward, and I'd like to help you again, if you'll let me." She put her hands in front of her as she took a small step forward. "I have a room ready for both of you. There are clean clothes and toiletries so you can shower, but first, if you consent, I would like to conduct physical examinations." Hesitating before she added, "Rape kits, for example."
Carlisle and Charlie inhaled sharp breaths before they turned and looked at Bella and Edward.
"And X-ray your hands, seeing as you clearly put up one hell-of-a-good fight," Irina said, taking another small step forward. "Would that be okay with you?"
"And then we get to leave? We don't have to stay here, do we?" Bella asked.
"Of course, you don't have to stay, Bella. We just want to make sure you don't need other medical attention outside of here," she insisted. "I promise."
She shifted her eyes to Edward, raising an eyebrow. He simply nodded and said, "I don't think we have much choice here, sweetheart."
"Okay," Bella whispered, scooting closer to Edward as she looked over at Irina. "Okay, we'll let you do your exams and your X-rays, but then we leave here. We leave here together."
"Of course." Irina shifted so she was standing with her body stretched between Bella and Edward and the door leading into the building. "There's no rush. When you're ready, we'll follow."
Bella swallowed against the lump in her throat as she unclenched her fist for the first time, trying to hide the wince as pain shot through her hand and arm. She wrapped her fingers around Edward's fist, who looked down at their hands before he flexed his fingers outward and allowed her to hold his hand. Together, somehow just knowing what the other was going to do, they took a step toward the woman named Irina, toward the back door to the small medical clinic.
It was one more step toward being safe. That's what she told herself anyway. But the problem, of course, wasshe wondered if she would ever be safe. They didn't know if Ben and Angela were working alone or if there was another Gathering of Twilight just aching to get their hands on Marcus's most prized possessions.
—TB—
The room they were taken to was bigger than Bella had expected. There was a big examination table, three chairs, a large wooden cabinet with jars of cotton balls, tongue depressors, little packs of alcohol swabs, and Q-tips. There were also two unopened plastic boxes that Bella knew were rape kits.
Set almost perfectly on two of the chairs were sweatpants and T-shirts, packages of clean underwear, a white bra for her, socks, and a pair of shoes for each of them. Behind those, there were little clear bags with mini shampoo and conditioner bottles, body soap, loofas, and hairbrushes. Everything they would need to clean up and wash away their shame, she thought. But again, she kept that thought to herself.
"You should wait out here."
When Bella looked over her shoulder, she saw Irina standing in the doorway, but she was facing Carlisle and Charlie, both of whom looked weary of leaving them alone.
"They don't need you in here now. Just stand right here," Irina said, gesturing to the wall outside of the room. "You brought me in for a reason, gentlemen. You're going to have to trust me."
"Those are our children," Charlie whimpered, his eyes flickering to Bella. "That's my daughter, Irina. She's my daughter."
"I know, Charlie, and I promise I will take care of her. Just give us a few minutes, okay?"
Sighing, he nodded, and he and Carlisle moved out of view. Irina shook her head before turning and closing the door, shutting them out, and leaving just the three inside the room.
"We'll start with the physical examinations and then move to the rape kits," Irina said, her eyes shifting between them, "for both of you. And then, I will bring a portable X-ray machine in, so we can check your hands for breaks. Is that okay with you?"
"Do we have a choice?" Edward asked.
Irina frowned. "Of course, you do. We will not force anything you don't consent to, Edward."
"We woke up naked," he whispered, tightening the blanket around him. "We woke up naked and strapped to chairs, but we woke naked. We woke up inside that room naked, Irina. Naked!"
She tilted her head to the side. "Have they told you where we are, where the people who kidnapped you brought you?"
Bella and Edward shared a look before they shook their heads.
"It's not the compound in West Virginia, that much I know," Edward confirmed.
"No, they did not take you back to the site of the original Gathering of Twilight." Irina folded her arms in front of her. "You were found about twenty miles outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, in a bunker near the small community of Lark, which is where we are right now."
"And how long were we . . . were we inside there with them?"
"Almost two days."
"Two days," Bella whispered. "Two days. It took them two days to find us."
Irina frowned.
The silence that filled the room was deafening, and Bella struggled not to bolt out of the room and run away and hide. She felt awkward and uncomfortable and uneasy, yet she couldn't get her feet to move, her lips apart to beg Irina to let her out. So, instead, she stood in the middle of the room and dwelled on the fact that it took her father two days to find her. Two days in the hands of people who wanted nothing more than to hurt them. And they had hurt them. They'd touched and violated them in ways Bella had never imagined.
"Why don't you both have a seat on the table?" Irina suggested, gesturing behind them.
Bella and Edward shared a look before they turned and rose onto the examination table, shifting their eyes back to her. Irina made a show of walking over to the sink, washing and drying her hands before donning gloves. She turned and looked back at them, her hands lifting in front of her as she stepped over and stood in front of Bella.
"I'm going to start with your head and work my way down to your feet. If you need me to stop, just say so."
Bella nodded, unable to speak, as Irina lifted her hands up to her head. Her eyes filled with tears as she felt herself flinch when her fingers touched the back. "Stop, please stop."
"Okay," Irina said, pulling her hands back.
"Sorry," Bella whimpered. "I don't like being touched. I've never liked being touched. And they did . . . They fucking touched me!"
"Okay, okay, it's okay." Irina took a small step backward. "How about I start with Edward, that way you can see I'm not going to hurt you. Is that okay?"
Bella shifted her eyes to Edward, who gave her a small smile. "I guess."
Irina stepped to the side, so she was standing in front of him. Her eyes flickered to Bella before she reached up and pressed her fingers against the back of Edward's head. He winced but didn't pull away. "Did you hit your head?"
He nodded.
She moved her hands to his face, tilting his head from one side to another, using her little light to check his eyes, look in his ears, nose, and throat, like he might have come down with tonsillitis in the two days they spent inside their cement prison. And then came the hard part, Bella thought. She reached for the blanket wrapped around him and lowered it, exposing his upper body. There were bruises already starting to form on his arms, and there were scratches on his back that she cleaned.
Bella climbed off the table as Irina asked him to lay back, and his eyes closed as she reached behind her and picked up one of the two sealed rape kits. Bella bit her lip, not knowing if she should touch him or leave. But when she felt Edward's fingers wrap around hers, she shifted her eyes to his, finding him watching her with tears in his eyes.
"We stopped them," she whispered, moving closer. She lifted his hand and placed it on the side of her face. "We stopped them, Edward. We did it."
"We stopped them," he cried quietly, his eyes closing again.
"Okay, I'm done, Edward." Irina scooted her stool backward, placed her swab inside the plastic bag, and sealed it. "If it helps, I don't see any signs of sexual assault."
"It doesn't," Edward whispered, his head lolling in the opposite direction. "You should swab my mouth, my . . . my throat."
Irina frowned but stood and grabbed another swab before she moved to the other side of the table and stuck it inside Edward's mouth. She used a different one for his throat, sealing them in separate bags before she turned to Bella.
"It's your turn."
Bella's eyes closed as she took a seat on the table, feeling Edward's hand still wrapped around hers. Slowly, Irina managed to perform her examination before she laid back on the table and put her feet in the same stir-ups Edward had. Her eyes closed, and she couldn't keep from sobbing when she heard the sound of the rape kit being opened; felt Irina's hands on the inside of her thighs, felt the pressure as she began to swab the inside of her vagina. How was it that just two days ago, she'd allowed herself the comfort of Edward's loving touch, and now, she was being probed and prodded and invaded?
"There's bruising and a small tear just inside your vagina that will need a couple of stitches, but I don't see any fluids."
Bella cried harder. "She used the handle of a knife. Inside of me, I mean. She put the handle of a knife inside me."
"I'm sorry." Edward was on his knees next to her in a heartbeat, his head leaning against the side of hers. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop her. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry."
"Hurry, please hurry," Bella wept, tightening her fingers around Edward's. "Please, hurry!"
"Okay, okay, I'm almost done, Bella. I'm almost done."
Though it may have only been a few minutes, it felt like a lifetime passed before she felt Irina's hands move away from her, and she dropped her feet onto the bed, sitting up and wrapping the blanket around her knees. She vaguely heard Irina say she was going to get the portable X-ray machine before she grabbed their rape kits and hurried out of the room. The second she was gone, Edward was up off his knees and pacing back and forth, the blanket still wrapped tightly around him.
"He was going to hurt me."
Edward stopped in mid-step and looked at her.
"He said if you didn't let him . . . put himself in your mouth, that he was going to hurt me, so you did. You did that for me."
Edward nodded. "And I'd do it again, sweetheart. I couldn't . . ." He walked over to her, placing his hands on either side of her face, cradling her against him as tears fell down their faces. "I couldn't let him hurt you. I couldn't . . . I couldn't stop her, but I couldn't let him touch you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry I didn't stop them sooner."
"We did, though," she whimpered, covering his hands with hers. "We did it together. We did it, Edward. You and me, right? It's always going to be you and me."
"For as long as you want me, sweetheart."
"Can we start with forever?"
"You still want forever with me?"
"I need forever with you, Edward. I need you. Just you."
And for the first time in two days, Edward smiled as he leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. And for the first time in two days, she almost felt hopeful.
Almost.
Thank you for all the AMAZING (and a little heated) reviews! I could have gone the easy route, but from the start, this story did not take the easy route, so why start now. HUGE thanks to Sunflower Fran for being an amazing shoulder and ear and sounding board, and helping to clean up my messy chapter.