Disclaimer:I don't own these characters, I just play with them. This story is rated M, and is not suitable for younger readers. Story contains violence, coarse language and sexual "situations". Please do not read if any of these things offends you.

Note: [Unbeta'ed! – all errors are mine ]

Chapter 52, "Ceremony"

Isabella Swan POV

Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.

Have you ever been so hungry that you stopped feeling hungry? Well, I have. I was so hungry that it was a struggle to keep upright while sitting and I kept shaking as if I was having a seizure. I had refused to eat their disgusting bread and I didn't take the pills. The only thing I would let myself consume of the things they gave me was the water. A human could go days – or even weeks – without food. But if you ever tried to go without water, you might as well kill yourself right away, just to get it over with. Without water you're a dead man (or woman, in my case) within a week. Plain and simple.

I completely lost track of time. I didn't know if it had been hours or days since the incident with Jacob. I didn't know anything.

I remembered the feeling of the knife in my hand. How easy it would have been for me to just lunge at him – despite my leg – and stab him in the throat. I could imagine how the blood would splutter from the wound, painting the walls and the floor with the red liquid. And I wouldn't have cared.

Because he killed Jasper.

Despite everything, I had come to consider Jasper a friend. I could see why Edward had respected him so much, because Jasper had integrity. Something most people lacked these days. Especially teenagers. Most people at our school probably couldn't even spell integrity, let alone knowing the meaning of the word.

I hoped that I was one of those people that did have integrity, and maybe that was why I didn't lunge at Jacob. Or maybe it was because I was afraid. I couldn't stab another person, no matter how evil. I'm sure that if I were left in a room full of knives, with my mom tied to a chair, I would probably end up using one of the knives to cut her loose. I couldn't hurt people intentionally. It wasn't in my nature. No matter how evil they were, or how badly they had treated me. I just couldn't hurt them back. I couldn't stab someone just because they stabbed me.

I hated that about myself, because it made me weak. It made me pathetic. I couldn't even defend myself. Instead I just passed out, giving the enemy another chance at hurting me.

I hated everything about myself. How on earth could Edward love me? What was it about me that he found lovable? How could he look at me with that look in his eyes, as if I had finally made him see the light or something? I didn't understand. I didn't deserve him. He deserved someone strong. Someone who wasn't afraid to defend or stand up for themselves.

Someone who wasn't me.

The hunger-induced fatigue only got worse, and I lay down on the bed, curling into a ball. My cast felt almost too big on my leg, as if I could slide my leg out if I wanted to. I knew it was just a phantom feeling, but it was still irritating since it made the cast all the more uncomfortable.

My head was spinning and I wondered for a minute if I was going to pass out again.

I sighed when I realized I wasn't. My exhaustion wasn't going to bring me into darkness just yet.

I had to wait.

x

My ears barely registered the door lock being turned and the door being opened; and my eyes barely moved to see who it was. I couldn't even find it in me to care when my mom walked in. She closed the door behind her and walked up to the bed. She crouched next to me, lovingly caressing my cheek with the back of her hand.

"Oh sweetie," she cooed. "I know this is hard, but it's necessary."

I didn't answer her. I hadn't uttered a single word since Jacob told me that if I said Edward's name again, Jacob would cut his throat. That threat alone was enough for me to not want to speak ever again. Not that I had anything to say to these people anyway. I had quickly realized that protesting was futile. Crazy people didn't listen to sane people. I would have been more than surprised if they actually said 'hey, she's right. Let's not do this' after one of my protests. I wouldn't have believed it even if they let me go. If they let me go now, I would be paranoid forever. I would forever be looking over my shoulder, waiting for them to strike me with something worse.

I suppose that even if I somehow came out alive after all of this, the paranoia would still be a side effect. How could it not be? Let's just add that to the list of things of reasons as to why Edward shouldn't love me.

A normal person would be trying to focus on the people they loved, trying to conjure their faces and seek strength from their memories. A normal person wouldn't be listing reasons as to why their significant other shouldn't love them. I was just adding insult to injury by thinking like this, but I couldn't stop. It was my sick way of coping.

Coping by moping. How fitting.

I was nothing if not masochistic. Maybe Edward had it right all along, maybe all this pain was a turn on for me. Maybe I got a sick kick out of being tortured. Or maybe I was too afraid to be happy, and I was so familiar with the pain now that it was considered a safe territory for me. By being happy I risked more things than being in pain. With happiness came the risk of being hurt. When you're already hurt, another dash of hurt can't touch you.

"I hate that we were apart for so long, but I will make it up to you. I promise," my mom continued as she stroked my hair. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get back here, but there were… obstacles. Nothing you need to worry about now, though. It's all fine."

She smiled at me and I looked into her eyes, trying to decide who the woman was in front of me. Was it my mother – or was it the crazy woman? I wanted to snort at myself. Who was I kidding? The woman in front of me was not my mother, it didn't matter if she wore her crazy eyes or not – which, evidently, she wasn't right now. Her eyes were normal. I hated her normal eyes almost as much as her crazy eyes. Her normal eyes made her look… well, normal. Even though I knew she was anything but.

"You're so beautiful, my sweet Isabella," she said. "I know you've been having a hard time these last few months, but I also know that everything will be alright now. You have finally come to peace with your destiny. You know that this is where you belong. The mother of the spirit will be reluctant, but she will find peace." She sighed deeply, before standing up and walking over to the desk. "Have you looked at our research?" she asked over her shoulder. "It's amazing how important you are. Mydaughter will be the catalyst that will make all our wishes come true. Prosperity, health, youth… everything we could ever want and more." She flipped through a few pages as I stared at her back. "I'm so glad Phil decided to look into all of this in the first place. Who knew that the legends could reach well outside the tribe itself? Who knew that the key to their salvation would bemy daughter? It would have been a tragedy to us all if he hadn't found this out in time."

I hated how she kept stressing the fact that I was her daughter. She must be so proud.

I sighed and she turned around at the sound. She smiled at me.

"I'm so happy that you finally changed your mind," she said. "The legend never said how long you would be reluctant, so this was a nice surprise."

I wanted to scoff. Reluctance wasn't a strong enough word to describe what I was feeling. But I wasn't going to tell her that, because what was the point? She wouldn't listen, and pretending that I wasn't opposed to what was going on anymore was helping me gain their trust. Arguing would lead nowhere, so why waste my breath? They trusted me now, kind of. You should have seen the look of pure bliss on Phil's face when he came into the room to give me more bread to eat, pills to swallow and water to drink – and find that I had eaten the bread and taken the pills he gave me earlier. It was like I had given him the most precious gift ever by eating and doing what I was told.

Little did he know, I had hidden both the bread and the pills in my pillow.

I didn't even flinch when Phil had come in later to 'extract' some more blood from me. My body felt numb, and the slicing of my skin was nothing but a soft sting. Nothing I couldn't handle. I didn't try to take the knife from him or fight him off, because I knew – once again – that it was futile. Even if I had managed to get a hold of the knife, I still wouldn't have used it against him.

I could have used it against myself, however. But something kept holding me back. Just like when I held the knife during the incident with Jacob. I could have so easily cut my wrists or my throat or whatever, and just bled out. But I couldn't do it. It was as if I… I didn't want to die. The realization was frightening to me, because I had lived every day for the past few months with the wish to die. And now, I didn't anymore? No, I wanted to fight; I wanted to live. And the only way I could do both was by just going through the motions that they wanted me too, and sooner or later they would let their guard down and I could escape.

As my body started wearing down by the lack of food, my mind became slow and irrational thoughts were starting to enter my mind. Many of the things I thought about didn't make much sense, and I was starting to lose grip of reality. It was like everything was a dream now. I didn't know if it was the irrational part of me or not, but eventually, I figured that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing going through the ritual after all. I knew for a fact that they didn't want me dead – quite the opposite really, if they wanted me to be the mother of some spirit, they had to keep me alive for at least another nine months. So I would survive their sick little ceremony, one way or another. And maybe then, I would get some freedom… maybe then, I could escape.

Sooner or later, I would get back to where I belonged.

With Edward.

Even if it meant that I had to be pregnant.

I had never given much thought on whether or not I wanted to become a mother, all I knew was that I never intended Jacob to be the father of my child. Not even back when we were friends, and our parents kept joking about us getting married eventually.

As I thought all of this, I realized my mother was mumbling nonsense to herself as she went through her notes. I couldn't make out many of her words, because they were all incoherent, but there was one sentence rang through.

"… Charlie had it coming. He shouldn't have tried to protect what wasn't his…"

Biting my lip and closing my eyes, I tried to tune her out. I refused to believe that Phil was my father, and hearing my mom speak of Charlie like that made my skin crawl. Did she mean he was trying to protect me? Or was he trying to protect someone or something else? And how could she speak so coldly about the man she married and lived with for almost twenty years? Didn't he mean anything to her? He had worshipped the ground she walked on, and what did he get in return? A stab in the back.

Not like he didn't deserve it. But still.

My feelings about Charlie's demise were still muddled at best. I didn't know how to feel about it at all. He was my father, for all intents and purposes. I didn't care that these crazy people were under the impression that I shared DNA with Phil Dwyer. My gut feeling still said that Charlie Swan was my father, and no one else. I wondered if they were going to let Charlie have a proper burial, or if they would just dump his body and hope nobody would go looking for him. Maybe they would dump his body somewhere random, getting rid of all the evidence, and maybe make it look like a bear attack or something.

There had been many animal attacks around Forks, and there were always a few cases of fatalities reported each year. Would they somehow make my dad a part of those statistics?

I closed my eyes again. My mom's nonsense mumbling nothing but distant hum in my ears.

Sleep came fast – and the nightmares followed.

x

Time held no meaning anymore. None at all. So when my mom danced into the room – not even closing the door behind her – I knew that the day had come. It was my wedding day.

Daylight poured into the room through the open door, and I was oddly fascinated by the way the light lit up the entryway. I never thought daylight would be one of the things added to the list of things I took for granted.

Mom grabbed my hand, pulling me up and my head span worse than ever. If today was New Years Eve, that meant I had gone without food for... when was I taken? Christmas Day? I wanted to shake my head; I refused to believe it. I had been stuck in this room for the lasts sevendays. No wonder my body was shutting down on me. No wonder I had no strength left. It was nothing short of a miracle that I was even able to stay awake.

I swayed on my feet when Mom pulled me off the bed, forcing me to stand. She frowned at the sight.

"We will need to pretty you up, sweetie," she said. "You look like a corpse. And no daughter of mine will look like a corpse on the day of her bonding ceremony."

She helped me out of the room, and I hated the way I clung to her for support. Without her by my side I would have fallen to the floor, unable to get up. My body was drained completely. How was I even still awake?

I looked around, trying to take in my surroundings. I concluded that we were in some small cottage somewhere. The room right outside the bedroom where I had been looked up, was a combined living room and kitchen – the only thing dividing them was the breakfast bar.

Through the windows, all I could see was snow and trees.

I didn't even care where we were anymore. I didn't care if we were in the middle of nowhere – or if we had somehow shrunk and been placed in a snow globe. I simply. Didn't. Care.

Mom pulled me toward the breakfast bar, telling me to sit. She then grabbed a small bag from the counter, pouring out its contents in front of me. Make-up. Of course. The jumble of colors made my head hurt, and I closed my eyes in order to block the dizziness that followed.

"You'll be so pretty, sweetie," she said, as I heard her push the objects around on the counter, trying to find the right product to begin with. "Jacob is lucky to have you."

I felt her dab something on my skin with a small sponge. I didn't open my eyes to find out what it was; I just let her do her thing. I didn't care anymore. Maybe, if I was lucky, she was painting me like a clown. I would be okay with that. It would just make the ceremony a bigger joke than it already was.

Ten minutes – or an hour, who knows? – later, a phone rang, and Mom stopped what she was doing to my face and went to answer.

"Hello?" she said sweetly. "Oh, hi Hank… uh-huh… no, we're preparing everything now. They're at the cliff… no, I'm at home with Bella… yes, she's going to be very pretty… what?... WHAT? Say that again please?... how?... why? I thought you talked to him?" She sighed deeply. "Now you listen to me, Hank. I trusted you to keep things under control without raising suspicion now with Charlie gone. Why on earth would you be talking to Dr. Cullen about this?... I don't care!... what? Five days ago? And you're calling us now?... No, damnit, Hank. You were supposed to keep them out of it. You were supposed to keep them away. What the hell is wrong with you? If they interrupt us tonight, everything will be ruined… Sue won't be happy when she hears about this." She hung up the phone, and all but threw it at the wall before stepping back to me, picking up where she left off. She smiled sweetly at me, but I could tell by the movements of her hands that she was trying to keep her anger at bay. Whatever Hank had said on the phone, it obviously upset her. I wondered what Dr. Cullen had to do with it. My mind was too tired to come up with any ideas. My mind couldn't even figure out who Hank was – even though his name sounded familiar. But then again, there were many Hanks out there. It was a common name after all.

When Mom was finished with my face, she went over to fix my hair. She used a curling iron, a straightener and different kinds of hair products to get my hair the way she wanted it. She was in the middle of curling a few strands of my hair when the front door opened. Phil came in, shaking the snow off his jacket as he pulled it off and hang it on the rack. He walked up to Mom with a smile, kissing her cheek.

"How are my beautiful girls?" he asked with so much love in his voice that it was almost sickening.

"We're fine," Mom replied, her voice clipped. "Care to tell me what has been going on lately? Here I am, finally home with my daughter, preparing her for the biggest day of all our lives. Everything is fine… and then Hank calls."

Phil's smile wavered. "Hank called? What did he want?" he asked, even though it sounded like he already knew. Mom pursed her lips, frowning as she put the curling iron away.

"Hank informed me that people higher up are somehow getting involved. Apparently someone has been talking, letting some things slip, and word has it… information has spread. Care to tell me how that happened?" Mom asked. "I thought you said you had everything under control and that Hank knew what he was doing? I thought you said we could trust him!"

"Don't worry, sweetie. I have it under control," Phil said, stroking Mom's arm reassuringly. "I'll take care of everything."

Mom sighed, wringing her hands together nervously. "I swear to God, Phil, if this doesn't go according to plan, I don't know what I'll do. They must be bonded, they must be together. And it must happen tonight. It's our last chance."

"Don't worry," Phil said again, still stroking both her arms soothingly. "I told you, I'll take care of everything. I'll call Hank and get the details, and if it's true that the people in higher places are getting involved now, there is nothing we need to worry about. The ceremony is taking place tonight; there is no way for them to find us before it happens. And by then, it will be too late for them anyway. The ceremony will have already taken place, and it will help us fight whatever happens next. The spirit will protect us."

"Now, tell me, what else did Hank say?" Phil asked.

Mom sighed. "Apparently he has been talking to Cullen... a lot. When you picked up Isabella, Hank was the one talking to Cullen at the station. I don't like that he knows so much, Phil."

"Well, that's not a big deal. As long as Hank sees to it that he's the only one Cullen continues to talk to at the station, then we have no problem. Hank has been with us since day one, you know we can trust him. Hank promised me that he has made sure that Cullen isn't going to talk to anyone else, that it was going to be kept on the down low. I must say, for a doctor, that man isn't the brightest crayon in the box." Phil leaned in to kiss my mother on the cheek, and she visibly relaxed. "Things will be okay. We just need to reach the pointthen it will all be okay. Besides, they don't know squat. Who knew, you marrying a cop would end up being a good thing for us? Without him we wouldn't have gotten away with any of this."

Mom tensed at again, scowling at Phil. "Don't remind me of Charlie, please. I'm still disappointed at what he did… for all we know this might be hiswork."

"Which is why I took care of him. For you, my darling," Phil pulled her to him and pressed his lips to her. I turned my head away. Eating their disgusting rust-bread would have been less disgusting than watching these two crazy people suck face.

When they were done, Mom sighed deeply, sounding content, before turning her attention back to me. She smiled at me when she gripped my chin to turn my face to her.

"You're so pretty, my Bella," she said, stroking my cheek with the back of her hand. "You and Jacob are going to be so happy together. And I promise you, nothing will ruin tonight."

Phil leaned against one of the counters, watching us with a serious face.

"I wonder who slipped," he said, talking to himself. "Hank said he had it under control, so how on earth did the feds get a whiff of it? They have no proof to go on anyway. I made sure of that," he muttered under his breath, still talking to himself.

"How about you call him and make sure everything is under control?" Mom suggested, who had also heard every single word. "And maybe you can call Sue too, maybe she knows something? You know she's not going to perform the ceremony unless everything is safe and under control."

"Okay, will do, honey," he said, kissing her cheek again before stepping into the bedroom so he could make the call in private.

They talked about feds and the police like they were discussing dinner plans. Every day talk. Even though they didn't sound happy about how things were going. I should have been happy that the feds were getting involved, but what did that really mean for me? Was I going to be saved or not?

Mom was humming some random song as she continued her work on my hair. If I closed my eyes, I could pretend that she was just my mother playing with my hair for no reason at all. Just another lazy Sunday, where we were both out of things to do. A happy mother and her daughter. Just hanging out.

But I guess I had no strength to even pretend anymore. A dream like that was so far beyond my reach that I might as well be shooting for the moon. She was lost forever now, just like my dad.

I suppose I could officially consider myself an orphan.

x

The white dress they had been forced me to wear for the past week was replaced by another white dress. This one wasn't as loose as the other one had been – this one was strapless, with a built-in corset, keeping my stomach and my breasts in place, so I wouldn't need a bra. The skirt was made out of layers of thin fabric, and it shifted beautifully with every move I made. If it weren't for the fact that I was wearing it to my execution – oh, I'm sorry, I mean my wedding – I might have liked it.

When everything was done, and Mom had made the final adjustments to my hair and makeup, it was already dark out. I didn't know what time it was, since I hadn't spotted a functioning clock anywhere. The clock on the ancient VCR, underneath the ancient TV, was blinking 12:00, and that wasn't really helping.

I couldn't stand up at all without support anymore. I felt completely drained, and I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. I wasn't even hungry anymore; I couldn't have cared less about food. All I wanted to do was sleep.

It hadn't escaped my notice that I hadn't seen Jacob in a while, and I wondered where he was. Phil and Mom were discussing something in the bedroom, while they left me unattended in the living room. I didn't even attempt to make a break for it. The thought itself was absurd. How on earth was I going to make a break for it if I couldn't even get off the couch without falling over? My cast was still not helping matters, though there wasn't any pain at all anymore. I wondered if it was because it had reached the point in the healing process where there was no point for pain anymore, or if it was because the rest of my body was numb too. It was something to think about, while my 'parents' spoke in the other room. Every now and again, my mom would raise her voice, but my mind was too tired to make out the words. And I frankly didn't care enough to try either.

Finally, they emerged from the room. Phil put on his winter jacket, before walking over to me and picking me off the couch.

"Time to go, sweet child of mine," he said, kissing my cheek.

I closed my eyes, feeling the movements as he walked over to the front door. Mom opened it for him, and we stepped out into the cold. The freezing cold was like fire on my skin. I wanted to ask why I didn't get a jacket, but even as I opened my mouth, I had no strength to actually get the words out.

I kept my eyes shut, trying to go back to the numb state where I couldn't feel anything that was happening to my body. Not even the blistering cold that felt like fire.

I must have fallen asleep – or maybe I passed out – but somehow I was now finding myself at the edge of the woods. In front of us was the highest cliff in La Push. The cold air from the ocean swept over us, and my body was shaking worse than ever now.

I guess I really was a goose – I had the goose bumps erupting all over my body to prove it.

The sky was crystal clear, no clouds in sight. A million stars blinking back at me, with the big, full moon right there, staring me in the face. The cliff had been decorated with several big candles lighting up the small area. Beautiful flowers had been put in vases in the snow. A small altar was there, with a few objects on top that I couldn't make out. The scene before me was almost beautiful.

Jacob was standing on the cliff, with a woman I didn't recognize and another man. The man looked vaguely familiar – he wasn't a Quileute – but I couldn't for the life of me place him. Where had I seen him before? Billy wasn't there, probably because of his wheelchair. Jacob smiled widely as Phil stepped out through the woods with me in his arms; Mom was walking next to us.

"Finally, I thought you'd never make it," Jacob said as Phil put my shaking body down. My legs gave out the second my naked feet touched the snow. Jacob put a strong arm around my waist, holding me to him. "Oh, baby, are you as excited as I am?" he asked me, kissing my cold cheek. I barely felt his lips against my skin. I couldn't feel anything.

My teeth clattered, and I envied how much clothes Jacob was wearing. Why the hell did I have to be the only one who was basically naked?

"I love you so much, Bella," he said to me quietly, pressing his lips against my forehead.

In the distant, above the trees, I could see the occasional firework. I wondered how far from town we were. Orwhere we were at all, for that matter.

Mom stepped up beside the woman and the man, and Phil stepped up next to my mother, clasping her hand in his. Both smiling widely in anticipation. The other woman and the man showed no emotions on their faces.

Mom glanced at the woman. "Sue, I hope everything worked out earlier," she said.

The woman – so this was Sue? – nodded. "Hank has seen to it that Dr. Cullen is otherwise occupied. There will be no interruptions tonight. Any leaks have been taken care of as well. There is no reason to worry." She looked back at Jacob and me with a smile. With an ominous tone she said, "It's time."

I closed my eyes, leaning against Jacob as I shook. He had to tighten his grip on me, or else I would have sunk to the ground. My mind started slipping in and out of consciousness. One moment the cold was unbearable, the next I barely felt it at all. I wondered if this was my body's way of telling me that it was time to go.

Sue started the ceremony with a speech. I didn't register much of what she was saying; all I knew was that her voice was soothing.

"… with the dagger to your heart, a dagger to your mind, a dagger to the essence of your life, tell me, are you prepared to make the final sacrifice? A spirit will be awakening…" Sue's voice was soft, almost a purr to my ears. I smiled. She would make a good teacher for kindergarten; her voice was perfect for telling the kids a story before their naps.

"Hey, Bella?" Jacob shook me, and I forced my eyes open. "You have to say it." I looked at him confused, I could barely focus on his face. What did he want me to say? "You have to say 'I do'."

I closed my eyes again. I couldn't say anything, let alone 'I do'. I didn't want to get married to Jacob.

Their voices muddled together as I once again drifted into semi-consciousness.

"The reluctance ends here, Bella!" My mom's voice snapped me back, and she was gripping my arms so tightly it should have hurt – but again, my body was too cold and too numb to feel anything. "Do you hear me? Stop this nonsense right now!"

"You can't force her, Renée." I didn't recognize the voice, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that the other man had stepped forward. Huh, was he going to be my savior?

"But she's the mother!" Mom yelled, pushing me aside. I fell into the snow as Mom started yelling louder and louder at the others. Her words didn't even make sense. I didn't care… the snow was so fluffy. So soft.

Maybe I could rest my eyes for a little bit?

I felt someone grab my arm roughly; I didn't react at all as a knife suddenly sliced my skin. The cold was my very own sedative.

"Drink it, Jacob," Mom said sternly, holding my arm out to Jacob. "We don't need her to agree, we just need to complete the ritual. Drink hers, then she'll drink yours, and everything will be peachy."

"Renée," the man said warningly.

"WHAT? We have to do this! The tribe needs this! We're not going to be young forever. We're gonna grow old and dieunless we do this. The whole tribe will be dissolved by the misery that will follow. The spirit will not be happy," Mom yelled. "Drink, Jacob,DRINK!"

Jacob got down on his knees in the cold, taking my hand and raising my wrist to his lips. Behind his head, I could see the moon. It was beautiful. Somewhere in the distance, I could still see fireworks. There were more of them now.

I glanced at the mystery man; he had his hands on his hips. The moon was reflected on something on his belt, and I would have gasped if I'd had any energy left to react. I recognized the badge on his belt – because my dad had one just like it. All the cops from Forks Police Department did.

I realized then why I recognized the man. I had seen him at the station. He had been working with my father. His name was… of course, this was Hank. If I hadn't been so drained, I would have figured this out way earlier.

I almost wanted to laugh. Everyone was corrupted. You couldn't even trust the police anymore. What did they know, and how had they managed to make it go away without alerting people in higher places? No wonder the crazy people had been able to get away with so much. With the police on your side, how could you ever go wrong?

Laugh. Cry. Shut down. All three were things I wanted to do in reaction to my newfound realization. This was insane, so very insane, and I was tired, so very tired.

Just as Jacob was about to touch his lips to my skin, there was a loud bang that echoed through the area. Jacob dropped my arm and quickly scattered to his feet. Everybody was looking around, watching the woods, trying to find out who were shooting at them.

"Who's there?" Phil called out, sounding demanding but he didn't fool me. He was scared.

Another bang and Hank staggered back, clutching his shoulder.

Someone shot him, a part of my mind slowly registered.

Good for him, another part of my mind added.

Suddenly they were all moving, realizing that this was not a safe place. Just as Phil was about to pick me up, two dark shapes emerged from the woods, one of them clearly holding a gun in Phil's direction; the other one was holding… what the hell was that? A camera?

"Touch her, and that will be the last thing you do. I promise you that," the shape with the gun snarled as they came closer. Another person emerged from the woods behind them, with long hair blowing in the slight breeze. A girl. She looked young too, maybe around my age.

Phil raised his hands in surrender, slowly stepping away from me.

"Seth, what on earth are you doing!" Sue snapped, taking a step forward. "You don't interrupt a ceremony like this, especially not this one. Do you have any idea how important this is?"

I zeroed in on the man with the gun, noticing that the person holding the camera was just a boy.

"Yes, we're well aware how important this is,mother," said the boy – whose name was Seth. He had a very boyish voice, as if he was right in the middle of puberty. He didn't look older than fourteen.

The girl took a step forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But human life is more important," she added in his place, giving Sue a disgusted glare.

One by one, more people stepped up behind the trio. From what I could tell – in the weak state that I was in – they were all people from La Push. They were all Quileutes.

I didn't understand. Why were they interrupting the ceremony? Didn't they want the spirit to rise? This was their legend. This was their stories coming to life. So why were they interrupting us? Why did they act like they didn't want this to take place? I didn't understand. It didn't make sense.

Did they want to do even worse things to me? Was slicing my arms open not enough for them?

The threat of the torture was worse than the torture itself. Not knowing was always worse. I didn't know who wanted to hurt me this time – or why or how. I didn't want to be afraid anymore. I didn't want to be scared of getting hurt again. Tortured. Why couldn't these godforsaken people leave me the hell alone already? I hadn't done anything to them, so why did they insist on torturing me like this?

I wanted to curl up and cry in the snow, but instead I just laid there, not moving an inch as I watched the stars above me. If I pretended that I was dead, then maybe they would let me be. What use was a corpse to them?

A loud yell brought me from my musing, as my mom started running in the opposite direction, trying to get away from them. She didn't stand a chance, however, as a tall guy took after her. He was fast.We could all hear her yelling as he captured her in the woods.

Ever so slowly, the rest of the pack moved in on us, trapping Phil, Sue, Jacob and Hank. There was only one way out for them – and that was jumping. And no one in their right mind would go cliff diving now. That was one jump you had no chance of surviving. I noticed that several in the pack were armed. So Phil, Sue, Jacob and Hank were all screwed no matter what they did. There was no escape for them now.

They all shot each other desperate glances, hoping that someone would come up with some way of getting out of it. But they were all coming up short. There was no one there to rescue them.

A man crouched next to me, putting a blanket around me before picking me up from the ground.

"It's over now, Bella," the man whispered to me.

I looked at him with empty eyes. I tried to understand what he was telling me. By saying it was 'over' he was suggesting that I didn't need to worry about getting hurt anymore. By saying it was 'over' he was suggesting that I was safe. But that didn't make any sense. I couldn't be safe. The entire area was filled with people from La Push. They would never let me go. Whatever was over was probably not in my favor. I was still going to be hurt, I was sure of it. I wouldn't trust these people with my garbage.

"Shh, Bella," the man said quietly, even though I hadn't said anything. He held me to his warm chest as he started walking away, with a couple of people in tow. "We're going to take you to the hospital now, everything will be alright." Something in his voice made me trust him. Or maybe I was just clinging for any kind of sign of rescue. Maybe I would trust him with my garbage. "There is a boy there who's been dying to see you," the man continued, chuckling lightly. "Dr. Cullen said he'll be there waiting for you. What's his name again?"

I smiled the first smile I had in a week, and uttered the first word in days.

"E-Edward," I managed to croak out, the word no louder than a whisper.

The man smiled down at me. "That's right, that's his name. Edward. He'll be happy to know you're safe." Yes, I definitely trusted this man with my garbage, maybe I would even trust him with my mail.

"I'm glad I'm not Dr. Cullen right now," one of the guys behind us said. "He's so gonna lose his license to practice medicine for this… He'll probably end up in jail."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Paul. He's going to have one of the best attorneys by his side, who will help anyone who doubts him realize that he was saving people. Even though he might have broken a law or two," the man – who carried me – replied.

"You want me to call and tell them we're on our way?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, you might as well," the man agreed. "Then you can go home, take care of your wife. Being pregnant is a bitch… or so I've been told."

Paul chuckled. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell Rachel tha–"

Their laughter was interrupted by two loud bangs, echoing through the field and making me flinch. I looked up at the man, asking him with my eyes what the hell just happened. He didn't look amused anymore, his eyes were sad as he shook his head. I decided that was my sign.

I didn't need to see or know the rest. It was okay to sleep now.

It was over.