bed, lightly tracing the features of her face which was now only inches from mine. How could I ever let her out of my sight?
What happened next burned me so much that I begged that we could trade places, or that I could suddenly go back in time.
The camera lowered, to show what his next move would be. He lifted his foot, and stomped on her leg. There was a sickening snap as Bella's scream came flying out of her mouth.
I could feel an exertion of force or power slowly brewing inside me as violence pulsed through me.
"Would you like to rethink your last request?" A smile obviously in his voice.
With a light flick on his foot he nudged her leg while another piercing scream echoed through my brain.
A cry echoed through all our thoughts at once.
"Wouldn't you rather have Edward try to find me?"
I would have found you, James. If I would have just arrived a little earlier I would have pulled his eyes out of his sockets and chewed them, spit them out and stomped them into the dirt.
"No!" Bella barely croaked. "No, Edward, don't--"
Before Bella could finish her plea she was being thrown into the broken mirrors.
Through Alice's vision I could tell she had flinched, and suddenly her hand went up to cover her eyes.
Not Bella... Alice sighed a lament as her hand slowly slid back down her face.
Each torture continued to hit me relentlessly.
When my vision was restored I watched as each second the darkness ran down her face and flooded her white shirt, staining it red. Blood. Beads of blood were trickling at an alarming rate through her hair. I could remember the outrageous flavor floating on the air around her when I arrived at the studio. It was easy to ignore the thought as explosions of agony possessed me, like I was bursting with the pain of it all.
I brushed my fingers lightly over her face again, a reminder she was still here, safe...protected.
"It's entirely my fault," I whispered to Bella.
In the video her eyes began to close as James dropped the camera. The angle was not good, so the view was distorted, but that was a good thing. Bella slowly melted onto the floor, bringing her hand up to her face as protection. There was a guttural noise, the sound of flesh breaking.
That's when he bit her.
Seeing this, knowing how close she was to death felt like I was being pierced with scalding hot knives. This video just made it that much more horribly vivid. Each blow felt like I had been fatally wounded.
As if it were my own hand, Alice reached out and pressed the stop button. I was thankful, I didn't think I could watch those painful moments when I thought she was possibly dead or dying, the memory was clear enough, no need to add to the agony...though I deserved it.
Alice and Carlisle began talking with each other about what they just saw. I pushed their thoughts and their conversation from my mind. I couldn't think about it anymore. It was bad enough she was lying here, broken, mangled...bruised...unconscious. Grief began weighing on my heart.
I wished, prayed, even that this was all just a horrible nightmare; that I could sleep so I could wake from this. My stance around Bella was a continuance of looking like a body guard in hostile territory, even though she was safe in this hospital. I felt the ripping of my heart, slowly being shredded.
Halfway curling myself up on her bed, I kept my face close to hers. Kissing her every minute, just to feel the warmth on my lips. A reminder of how precious the life was that was laying here in front of me. My love...my existence. Each second realizing that she was my life, without her I would die. Not only would I die, I would beg for it, embrace it.
Other thoughts swam through my already troubled mind. I couldn't keep her. To have her be in my life would be like keeping her in the line of danger. She deserved more than me...she deserved marriage, kids, a family...college. Each thought lashed at me, leaving angry lacerations. I couldn't leave her now, but one day I will have to leave her. It pained me to think it, to know it had to be that way, but that is the only way it could be. I loved her too much to damn her to this existence, to take away her soul.