I'm alone, and it's dark, so dark. I can't see anything, I can't tell where I am, I feel trapped, I can't tell how big the space is, I can't even tell if I'm inside. My hands feel wet, my entire body does, my T-shirt is clinging to my skin, and my hair is sticking to my neck. I try to step forward but there's something lying in front of me, I move to go back but I face the same problem. I call out but no one answers. Please, please someone help me. I can feel my chest getting tighter so I focus on my breathing, in through the nose out through the mouth. I can smell metal, iron, it burns the inside of my nose. Suddenly the room is light, it takes a second for my eyes to adjust and when they do I see what lies in front of me. What surrounds me. I scream, it's not water on my skin its blood, the floor is littered with bodies, my friends, my mom, Charlie.

"Bella, wake up! Bella!" I pushed up from my mattress, tangled in my sheets which were drenched in sweat. "Stop please, stop." I cried, rubbing my hands down my arms trying to get the blood off me.
"Bella, it's okay, there's nothing there, it's not real." Edward held my face in his hands. "It's okay, you're okay." I wasn't, I felt sick. I pushed back using his chest and ran to the bathroom.

After the nausea passed, I just sat on the floor, scared to stand up in case my legs didn't hold me. "Love?" Why did he have to call me that? Edward pushed the door open and as soon as he saw me on the floor was kneeling next to me. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." My voice was quiet, which obviously wasn't a problem for him. I put my hand on the sink to pull myself up, but he quickly lifted me to my feet. "Thank you." I said steadying myself. "What are you doing in here? Where's Jake?" I saw Edward cringe.
"He's…"
"Right here." Jacob interrupted, stepping into the bathroom. "What happened, I heard you screaming, are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?" He moved closer as he spoke, and I felt boxed in by the two of them. "I'm fine, I just had a bad dream. I'm okay really." I said looking between them, neither one looked convinced. "What's the time?" I asked eager to change the topic.
"Just before two." Edward said looking at his watch. Jacob was shirtless, as per usual, and Edward was dressed in a blue shirt and jeans. "Charlie's going to be home any minute. You two should go."
"Bella…" It was Jacob who spoke now. He only said one word, but it was filled with concern.
"Honestly, I'm fine, don't worry. Now come on, if Charlie finds either of you here Riley won't be the one I have to worry about." Jacob sighed and I couldn't bring myself to look at Edward for his reaction. "Okay, you know where I am. If you need me…"
"I'll yell." I said finishing Jacob's sentence. He left the room, but Edward stood watching me for a moment. "What?" I asked, wondering what he was thinking.
"Nothing," he said. "I'll be close by if you need me." His voice was pained, and I could tell he wasn't happy that he had to leave. "I won't." I replied, but the bathroom was empty.

I tried to get back to sleep but it wasn't happening. I'd had a hard enough time getting to sleep earlier knowing Alice and Edward were outside. I'd all but screamed at Jacob when we got in from the store. I think my exact words were 'what the actual fuck do you think you're doing? Yesterday you were so angry with them you practically wolfed out in my kitchen and now you're inviting them to my house without talking to me about it?'. He had apologised to an extent. He was sorry that it had come to this and that he had spoken to them first, but he wasn't sorry that they were at the house. I got what he was saying, the pack would need to sleep and having the Cullens involved in protecting me took the pressure off them. But I was still furious. It was bad enough I had to see them at school I really didn't want them at my house.

There was no point dwelling on it again, all I was achieving was infuriating myself anew. Instead, I got into the shower, trying to wash away the sticky sweat that remained on my skin. The water was hot, probably a little too hot and I scrubbed at my skin a little longer than necessary. It was worth it to feel clean, to convince myself I wasn't still covered in blood. I got dressed quickly, worrying about the people keeping watch. I pulled on an oversized jumper and a pair of leggings before heading downstairs. Grabbing my headphones and my copy of Jane Eyre I crept outside, careful to be as quiet as possible to not wake Charlie. It was still dark, so I switched the porch light on before settling into the porch swing Charlie had installed a few months ago.

Edward's Point of View –

When Bella appeared on the porch, I fought the urge to go to her. I knew she didn't want to see me, that was clear from her fight with the mutt. Still, she was so upset from her nightmare, and she looked so desolate, sat on the porch swing not even opening the book in her hands. "Go talk to her." Alice whispered, interrupting my thoughts. "I don't think that's a good idea." I said not even turning around. "She doesn't want anything to do with us, with me." I'd been thinking it for days but saying it hurt like hell. "That's not true." I whipped my head around, scowling at her, her optimism really annoyed me at times. "Okay, okay. Maybe it is but right now she's hurt. She's angry, and with good reason, but we'll never be able to fix this if we don't at least try. Just try Edward. We have to fix this, please try." I sighed before jumping down from the branch we'd been sitting on. I walked to the porch at human speed to give myself time to prepare for what might come next, hoping that Alice was right and maybe I could fix the mess I'd made.

"That nightmare seemed bad. Do you have them a lot?" Not the smoothest of openings, but the words were out of my mouth before I could think of anything better. I could tell Alice was rolling her eyes up in her perch. "Why do you care?" Bella snapped, pulling the headphones from her head and dropping her book into her lap. I sat on the swing next to her, desperate to be closer to her. "Bella, please. Of course, I care. I know I left but the way I feel about you never changed." Her whole body tensed, her eyes snapping up to mine for a second before looking away just as quickly. "Stop. Just stop talking. The way I feel about you has changed, about all of you." She paused briefly, seeming to struggle over what to say next. "I never once thought you would hurt me, even when I found out what you were, it never crossed my mind that you could ever make me feel like this." How could I do this to her? I needed to apologise, to explain. "I know, I…"
"You don't know." She cut me off emphatically. "You don't. You know I wish you could read my mind. I wish you could hear the things I think, how I feel. Maybe then you would understand why I don't want you here. It hurts me. You being here, hurts me. I don't know how to begin to explain how this feels. I lost my fucking mind. I started doing the most stupid things just so I could see you." I couldn't help my frown, what did she mean? "For some backwards reason when I was in danger there you were, warning me against it telling me to stop. That's why I jumped off that cliff just so I could see you for a split second. And now you're back and I don't know why I… You didn't just leave me. You abandoned me, it would have been one thing if it was just you, and I still had Alice or, anyone to lean on but I didn't. And it's not just that you left. The things you said." She was breaking my heart. I'd been so awful to her in the forest. "Bella I…" She cut me off again.
"It was everything I had ever worried about, all the awful things I thought about myself, about us and you said it so easily you…" It was my turn to interrupt her. She didn't believe me, surely she knew it wasn't true. "I didn't mean it. I was trying, I was…" I couldn't bring myself to finish my sentence. "Trying to hurt me." She stated, doing it for me.
"Yes," I winced. "But only because I wanted you to let me go. I didn't want you to follow me." Good one Edward, like that made it any better. "Well it didn't work. I did try to follow you. I got lost." What? "I got lost in the woods and I gave up." No, not my Bella. "I curled up in a ball on the floor, Charlie had the whole town searching for me in the pitch black. You didn't achieve anything except hurt me, I didn't think you could even be that cruel."
"I didn't want to be, I hated it." I whispered, my thoughts tumbling out of my mouth unfiltered. "I didn't mean it Bella, you know, you have to know that." I pleaded.
"Do I? I have to?" She exclaimed, incredulous. "I don't. I don't know anything. I don't know you. And you being here is just confusing and I, I can't deal with this right now." Her words seemed to lose their conviction, I felt she wanted to say something else. "Why?" I questioned, wanting her to get it off her chest. She sighed, running her hand down her face. "Because I've barely slept and there's a vampire army coming here for some reason."
"No, I mean, why is it confusing?" I needed her to tell me.
"What kind of question is that?" She fired back, her brow furrowed.
"An important one. What's confusing? Me being here? Your feelings for me?" I knew I was pushing but I needed to. "Stop it." She whispered, casting her eyes down.
"Bella, please. What do you mean?" I pressed, moving closer to her.
"I don't I…" The words got caught in her throat, her breathing picking up speed.
"Love? I questioned, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Don't call me that." She snapped, her hand going to her chest.
"I'm sorry. It's okay, just breathe." I gently cupped her face in both my hands, drawing her gaze to mine for the first time. She screwed her eyes shut but after a few seconds I heard her breathing slow. She wrapped her fingers around my wrists pulling my hands away from her face. I felt dejected but she didn't let go, instead holding my hands in her lap, her fingers interlocked with mine. She opened her eyes looking down at our hands for a moment before finally looking at me. Truthfully, I thought it was the first time she'd looked at me since we'd returned from Italy, or more accurately looked into my eyes. I felt my whole body soften as our gaze met, hers did too and I realised that's what she meant. "This is what you mean." I murmured, gently squeezing her hands. "This is confusing. Not your feelings for me, how I make you feel. How I still make you feel?" She pulled back at my words. "It doesn't matter." She said coldly. "Whatever this is, it's nothing. You left me, and ironically, I'd really like for you to do it again."