..::.. Chapter 7 - A Mess ..::..

I can hear the muffled struggle. They're dying, one at a time on my kitchen floor, making a damn mess.

I ran, and I ran hard. That man by the back of the house is laying there now, blank eyes staring up at stars; the same stars that twinkled over Mom's lifeless body.

I remember.

God, I remember.

Everything I thought I knew is all different.

I ask myself—standing in the basement again, listening to muffled death above—why I didn't flinch when I pulled the trigger? I came around and found the door open to the basement after killing a man.

Edward is upstairs.

I watch that door we both came through, splayed. Shadows ghosting over the panes. I reach for a second magazine.

Isabella Swan, you won't be the same from this point on. I swallow hard and accept the words looping through my head as I take these steps. Night and day; I'm the latter now, someone else is inside of me.

One shot. A knee bends the wrong way. A man cries out. I aim for his neck next.

I watch as blood seeps until it almost touches the edge of the carpet I vacuumed this morning. I gnaw at my lip hoping it doesn't connect.

The front door I locked is now open. I maneuver my way there, walking over a choking man and another splatter of blood to my left. It's all over the countertop.

I look into his eyes, and I want to ask him why he came. He tries to take a breath, but can't. I don't get a chance to ask a thing.

Two men in the kitchen, one out back. I'm keeping count.

The porch outside creaks and squeaks with every footfall. Stealth means nothing to this guy. A sloppy, loud-walking Edward is out there hiding, looking around the side of the house.

I step out.

I lean the barrel against the threshold. I step onto that weak floorboard I know so well to announce my presence… and suddenly I'm staring down his barrel.

I lift my chin high.

I wait.

He lets that barrel dip. "Bella." His eyes brighten even on a dark night. The lamp was shattered above us, glass sprinkled around.

He comes closer. His chest heaving.

I cock the gun and find that spot between his eyes.

"What happened to me?"

He lets out a breath. His smile is so big. He lifts a hand to cup his heart.

I pull the trigger.

The thump is loud when a man hits the floor. It shakes under my feet. Edward looks back from his crouch where he flinched. He quickly looks behind me. From cupping his heart to my neck in seconds. We tumble down to the floor when he dives onto me.

I covered his back, he covered mine with two shots. The black-clothed men fall on either side of us.

Then he kisses me.

I'll have none of it, not even when he looks at me like I've been lost and he's just found me. He lets his gun go to smooth back my hair, the other hand to wrap itself around me.

I bend a knee and shove him. I press the hot barrel to his neck.

"Up," I seethe.

His mouth turns up instead. He catches my lips again until he can't pucker up anymore. He grunts.

"Get the hell off me," I say. This time, he listens. Maybe he cares for his balls far more than his neck. He stands, and where I kneel, I know I've got him. Gun pointed between his legs.

He takes a breath, but he's smiling.

"Careful, Baby. You don't want to do that," he says. I stand on my two feet, and I'm taller now.

I dig in just a little harder. "Why's that? You come into my house, you leave a mess. Why shouldn't I?"

His eyes flutter. His chest gets going. He's barely on his heels. "Because you'll want it, one way or another." He looks at me.

Our staggered breaths break the silence as we stare at one another.

His hand tentatively reaches. He runs a few fingers down my neck, to my chest. He delves deeper.

"You remember?" he asks. "How much?"

I shake my head. I look away and back again.

I'm wavering.

I know I should never lose focus of what my gun is aiming for. That, I remember. He taught me that.

"I missed you," he whispers. "How long has it been? Ten years? More? Then you're here, and I almost broke my cover. Every time I'd see you on the street, in town, out my window…" he says and shakes his head. "You made me crazy."

I swallow heavily. It's his words, but it's his hand traveling inside my nightdress. I've observed this man, watched his every move. Now he's here.

"What happened to me?" I ask through my teeth. I enunciate with a sharp jab.

He sucks in a breath.

I bite on my tongue when he cups a breast. Then he snakes two knuckles around the hardened peak.

"I couldn't trust you," he says. "You appeared out of thin air, and I wondered why and what you wanted."

He clamps and twists hard. Pain shoots through my chest. My hand around the trigger shakes.

"And you were alone, and I've been alone. Every night I wanted to come to your bed like I used to, watching you—but how was I supposed to be so sure?" He looks straight into my eyes.

I hold back a whimper. My tense cheeks shake with the pain. My eyes prickle.

"I respected Charlie. I stayed away. It's what you wanted. So, imagine my surprise? I asked myself, 'What does that pretty girl I once knew, who's grown into a beautiful woman, possibly want from me?'"

I'm panting.

His knuckles tighten. I swallow a scream.

I think about this. I think hard.

This crazy man was mine. This neighborhood was mine. And this life of his was mine. He's right. He's the only one who knows me, more than I know myself.

I break.

The gun tumbles loudly at my feet when I let go.

Like a desperate man, his mouth is there to wet and dull the pain. He pulls my dress down and makes his way up to my lips again. His hands are everywhere, mine are at my sides.

"What happened to me?" I ask, staring at the beams up high on the porch ceiling. My chin is gingerly cupped in his hand.

He pecks at my lips, and then he looks at me. This sadness changes him. He shakes his head. "You left me," is what he says. "Time has gone by, and I've missed so much."

.….