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Dream's Shadow

Summary:
This is my take on the over- and usually poorly- done plot. Edward leaves Bella again. She is changed and they meet again in the future. There will be a big twist! Requested by Iris. Banner by Iris!

Notes:
Try it! I know stories like this usually stink, but I thought I'd give it a try. I own nothing. Stephenie Meyer owns all.

23. Chapter 23

Rating 5/5   Word Count 542   Review this Chapter

I look to the sea and shore, to Edward’s distant perfect figure, anywhere but at Carlisle. I have always been such a terrible liar. I am certain he will know the truth the instant I make eye contact.

Finally, I have no choice.

Will they ever forgive my deception? I can only pray they can. I cannot further it any longer. I don’t have the strength or the lying ability.

“Yes.”

The pain of the admission leaves me feeling oddly hollow. Not so much empty as filled with an unfamiliar insubstantiality. It’s almost like being a balloon blown to popping.

Strange. I am stretched too far, for once. Maybe chasing Edward was a good idea. After all, at least there’s a little variety in the pain.

He spins to look at me. “Bella, why did you leave Edward? I thought…”

They all believed him. How could they all believe him? I thought they knew me better than that.

If they believed him, will they be able to believe me? Can I convince them I’m not a traitor when I am so clearly a liar? How can I regain the trust of my family? Will they still want me, even in the far-fetched event he does?

“I didn’t.”

There’s a moment, and then his eyes widen. There is no doubt there. I suppose he does know me just as well as he knows Edward… and he knows which of us is more likely to be able to live without the other.

“Oh. Oh, dear God, have mercy…”

His prayer is unanswered. This is another reason I doubt the existence of anything eternal. If He existed, wouldn’t He have ended my life by now? Would this pain be possible?

But I am not one to question anything anyone believes. After all, I believe the most ridiculous of all things- that Edward loves me.

“Bella, I’m so sorry. That he could do that… twice… Bella, know this. He loves you.”

“Does he?” My voice sounds pitiful even to myself with the frailty of the hope.

“There isn’t time for me to ask what happened. This is not the place. I have to know, though, how you were changed.”

A strange question, given the hundreds of others he could be asking in this odd circumstance. I wonder if it could give some clue to my desired answer.

“The Volturi. I couldn’t wait… I need to tell him. I have to tell him.”

“Of course.”

“Wait… who are we running from?”

He avoids the question, neatly sidestepping the information he so clearly doesn’t want to divulge.

Instead, he gestures toward the waiting vampires. I sigh, wistfully wishing I had a little more time. Just one more clue. Just one more day. I can’t bring myself to trust even Carlisle’s faith in the impossible.

And yet I had to. I recognize in myself that I will never have enough trust in my own desirability.

Plus, I have little choice. Carlisle’s going to be thinking of nothing else, now.

Well, here goes nothing…