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PROMPT: MEMORIES

TRIGGER WARNING: DEMENTIA

Knocking on the door, Emmett squeezed my hand. I knew he was nervous about today. He wasn't sure what to expect. I understood it. I felt the same way when I first came.

The door opened, and Charlie's face lit up when he saw us. "Hello, strangers!. It's really nice to see you."

"You too, Charlie," I said, moving forward to embrace him. "How have you been?"

"Okay. Good and bad days. But we're coping."

"That's good," I told him, noting how much he seemed to have aged since a week ago. His hair had more greys sprinkled through it and his skin was pale and tight over his bones. The dark circles under his eyes appeared almost black, and the cheeky twinkle that used to be there had all but disappeared. I could just imagine how worried Sue was.

"I'm sorry I haven't been before," Emmett told Charlie, holding his hand out for a handshake. "I found it… hard."

"There's no need to explain, son," Charlie kindly told him. "It's difficult for us all."

Emmett gave him a small smile.

"Come on in," Charlie offered with a tilt of his head. "She'll be excited to see you."

Emmett and I stepped into the house after Charlie. It still smelled exactly the same as it had done fifteen years ago: an odd combination of must and oranges (I never knew why). The decor hadn't changed much, and Charlie's red tartan coat was hung up by the door as always.

Following Charlie into the living room, I felt Emmett freeze behind me when he saw Bella. In appearance, she didn't look any different. Her hair was still a lovely mousey brown, the tendrils curling over her shoulders. Her skin was pale, and a beautiful smile adorned her face as she watched the television. Outside, she looked like she had two years ago.

"Bella?" Charlie gently called. "Look who's here." He stepped to the side to allow her to see us.

Her face lit up when she saw me. "Rosie!" Unsteadily, she got to her feet as I crossed the room and embraced her. I squeezed her tightly when I felt her small frame - she'd lost more weight.

"Hello, Bella," I greeted, keeping a wide smile on my face. "How have you been?"

Bella blinked at me as if she didn't quite understand the question.

"We went to the beach, didn't we Bells?" Charlie prompted, his eyes watery and wide.

Eagerly, she nodded at me, keeping ahold of my hands. "Jakey was there with a girl, but I don't know who she was."

My heart broke a little bit at that. Because Bella did know her, they had spent the last five years together. That girl was her cousin who came to live with Bella – who still lived with her. But now she was a stranger.

Selfishly, I wondered how long it would be until I would be a stranger to her.

"She seemed nice, though," Bella said. Her eyes darted to my side, and I knew she had caught sight of Emmett.

I waited with bated breath because there was every chance she didn't know who he was. Emmett was prepared for that. I'd explained the nature of Bella's disease to him.

"Emmett!" Instantly, she dropped my hands and threw her arms around him, his face showing how surprised he was. "How was football practice?"

His panicked eyes met mine before he swallowed and regained his composure. "It was good, Bells." Emmett hadn't had football practice for over a decade, but it might as well have been yesterday to Bella.

"Can I come to your next game?" She looked so pleased, so happy at the thought of sitting in the stands and watching him.

"Of course," he told her, smiling at her like he wasn't breaking apart inside. I could see the truth, though. He hated this. He hated that Bella was right in front of him, but it wasn't Bella.

"I drew a picture," she proudly announced, dragging Emmett over to where she had been sitting. She pulled out her sketchbook and proudly showed him. "What do you think?"

"It's lovely," he said, voice cracking.

Bella tilted the book so I could see the page, and I felt my heart skip a beat. In the middle of the page was a bonfire, the flames flickering high into the night sky as several bodies sat around it. I remember the scene immediately. It was our senior year, and there was a long weekend. Jake and his friends had set up a bonfire on the beach, and we'd all gone down to hang out. Alice, Jasper, Edward, Bella, Emmett, and I were all sitting in front of the bonfire, laughing at the latest antics of Emmett's grandmother - she was known for being brutally honest, much to the detriment of others around her. I remember thinking at the time just how happy I was. It was such a simple evening but one of the best.

"She always draws that," Charlie said quietly. "It's one of her favourite memories."

Tears welled up in my eyes. We were just kids having fun. I wanted to go back and tell Bella how much I loved her. To tell her that she needed to remember it no matter what. To get herself to the doctor when she started to forget stuff and walk into things. That even when she inevitably forgot me, I would never forget her. I would always love her and she would always be one of my closest friends.

"It's one of mine," I whispered to Charlie because I couldn't make my voice go any louder. There was a lump in my throat. It didn't get any easier seeing Bella this way. Her diagnosis had been a shock. But I suppose it shouldn't have been. Her mother came down with the same illness when she was only forty-five. She died three years later.

"Thank you for coming today," Charlie said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

I smiled before turning my attention back to Emmett and Bella.

They were talking about the picture, and Emmett was asking her who all the various people were. It was very obvious who was who, but it was nice to see Bella so animated. Some days, she was lost in her own little world, completely unaware of what was going on around her.

There was a part of me that was angry. I was upset and hurt that this horrible disease was slowly taking my friend. She would never have her dream job of owning a bookshop. She would never be a mother and have a little girl that looked just like her. She wouldn't get to see her father marry his long-term partner. She wouldn't get to grow old, Edward by her side as they watched the sunset, their grandchildren playing at their feet. She was going to miss out on so much.

"I really enjoyed bowling," Bella said randomly, a smile still on her face.

Closing my eyes, I allowed myself a moment because, once again, I knew precisely the memory she was referring to. The thing was, I didn't realise how important these moments would be to Bella. I didn't realise that all these years later, these would be the things she remembered, the things she referred to regularly, because, at the time, we were just kids having fun.

"We didn't realise we were making memories; we just knew we were having fun." A. A. Milne.