“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, my voice sounding hollow.
“I can’t hear her. She’s not moving. Not breathing…did she die?”
“She’s not dead,” Alice said, sitting next to me and running
her fingers through Bella’s hair. “This is the trance-like state, but it
appears like death. What she did to James zapped every ounce of power out of
her.”
“How long?” I asked, holding her closer to my body and
nuzzling her cheek. “How long will she be like this? Will she come back to me?
Will she remember me?”
“She will remember you and she will remember her past, the
good parts of her past,” Alice smiled. “She’ll remember her parents, their love
for her, her childhood and everything that James took from her when he changed
Bella into a vampire.”
“Did your past come back?” I asked, looking at her.
“Yes and it is not something I wish to revisit. My human
life was not at all the loving one that Bella had. I grew up in the south where
God was the law and my visions, which preceded my change, made me a demon. I
was abused, emotionally and physically, by my father. My mother had died in
childbirth, with the birth of my sister, Cynthia, when I was four years old.”
Alice frowned. “James saw me, locked outside in the form of punishment. James
knew I had powers and I was powerless against him. He was going to take me, but
my father interrupted him. Daddy dearest had brought two men who carried me to
an insane asylum.”
“What?” I breathed. “Your father had you committed?”
“I was eighteen and I was deemed a witch. I was thrust into
this hellish nightmare. And James was there,” Alice breathed, her eyes closing
and tears falling down her cheeks. “He was a worker in the asylum. There was a
fire in one of the wings the day I arrived and that’s when James attacked. I
had had my first treatment, losing my long hair from being tangled in the
chains and bindings, holding me to a cement bed. James bit me while he…” Raped me… “He wanted me for his mate,
but had to leave when the police and fire department came. I woke up from my
change, breaking my bindings easily and running from the asylum. I didn’t know
what I was or where I was since my memory was gone. The only thing guiding me
was my vision of Jasper and another of Carlisle.”
“When were you changed?” I asked.
“1920-ish,” she said. “I was eighteen.” I wish I hadn’t remembered. I was blissfully ignorant. I liked that.
Now? Every hateful word my father said to me, every ounce of pain from his belt
to his fists to a switch is clear and the fact my sister was left in it… “It
was a blessing to not know. I have to move past it, but I will. With time, I
will.” And Bella will wake up, Edward. I
promise you. I vow it…she’ll come back to you.
“But, when?” I pleaded, inhaling her sweet, perfect scent
and my heart breaking for Alice. She had gone through hell and I was whining about my mate and was sounding
absolutely pitiful, but Bella was my sun, my earth, my stars…she was my reason
for being and I loved her with all of my heart. With my soul…
Alice hugged me, kissing my forehead and sat down next to me
on the cold, snow-covered ground. “Edward, she will wake up in about a week,”
she said. “Her body and her mind experienced a jolt of the greatest magnitude.
She needs to rest and this is her body’s way of doing it, Edward.” She will be perfectly fine. Weak as a
newborn kitten, but once she feeds, she will be as good as new. Her mind
filled of Bella waking up from her trance and needing me to hunt for her, feed
her and care for her as she regained her strength. “Come with us. Jasper has a
cabin nearby, just north of a town, Shaw. It’s comfortable and secluded.”
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