Shield

~EPOV~

When Carlisle arrived, Bella reluctantly looked toward him. Pulling herself from my embrace.

Her body was tight and stiff as though she were waiting for her trial to begin.

Raising her eyes to his, she knew the awful truth he would find there.

Carlisle was the one who guided us through this life. He showed us the way and helped us stay on course.

But his beliefs and morals didn't stop his arms from opening to her, they didn't stop his hands from ushering her toward him.

She fell into his arms, a sob breaking free from her chest as she collided with him.

Suddenly she looked so young in my eyes. That familiar guilt washed over me, and I was reminded.

She was my wife.

The mother of our child.

The one I turned to keep forever.

But ultimately, she had only been on this earth for twenty-one years.

Too young for these horrors, too precious for the malicious actions of those monsters.

I'd done this to her.

Carlisle led her to the sofa, and I sat beside her as he pulled a chair from the dining room to position himself in-front of us.

She sat, looking at her hands tightly closed on her lap.

We waited, knowing she could feel her eyes on us. Knowing that she needed to unburden herself of the heavy load she was carrying. Such things couldn't be left to fester inside. If you don't let them out? It moulds and grows roots, spreading out and digging itself into you.

"When did they release you?" Carlisle asked her quietly, deciding to start slowly, easing her in.

But we didn't realize that was no question we could ask of her that would have a simple answer,

Bella shook her head and frowned at her hands. "They didn't release me," she explained softly.

I knew then that the shock in Carlisle's expression would mirror my own.

I sat stunned, watching her face as though the answer was hidden somewhere there.

"I don't understand," Carlisle said as he leaned forward, pressing his elbows on his knees. "You escaped? They didn't follow you?" He questioned with a tight crease in his brow.

"I just walked away." She murmured with a light shrug; her eyes still caught on her hands. "They didn't try to stop me." She added.

"Why, why didn't they stop you?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as I angled my body toward her, wanting to see her face.

She didn't answer, but I could see something in her eyes. The evidence of a memory playing out in her mind.

"What happened, Bella? How did you walk away?" Carlisle questioned, not attempting to conceal the concern in his tone.

She lifted her head and looked at him, sorrow and pain soaking into all her features.

The silence of the room was deafening, until the sudden sound of Carlisle's chair scraping against the floor hit our ears. His chair repelled backwards with him in it. Moving him two feet away without any effort from him.

Our eyes snapped from the chair back to her.

"They showed me what I'm capable of" she admitted with regret,

Her mental shield was also physical. It a was complete protection from everything. No ability or strength could reach her now. But the look in her red eyes was enough to know that it hadn't saved her.

"They won't be bothering us again." She said as she looked back to her hands. Rubbing them together, she couldn't remove something from them.