I could not tell if he looked more furious, tired, or worried sick. Just lookig at him made me feel a little bit sick. He had slept little if at all last night, it was obvious. He paused, looking me over for a half a moment. With how I looked, it was obvious I had not been out partying all night. That must have been why worry won out on his face. He ran to me and, pulling me into the house, grabbed me into a vice-tight hug.
"Bella, what happened to you?" he said urgently with his arms still around me.
"I'm so sorry Charlie, I was hiking and I saw the bear, but it wasn't the bear, it was huge, and I fainted, and I freaked out, and I don't know why they didn't chase me-" I was babbling so fast, already having gone over my half truths a dozen times, but I was still so panicy that it just spilled out, hardly ledgable.
"Bella, Bella, calm down." he soothed me.
"What about the bear?" he promted calmly. I could hear the strain in his voice, and I knew how much it must have taken him to sound that way.
I took a deep breath, and it did help.
"I was the bear everyone's been talking about, but it isn't a bear, it's a wolf. Wolves, actually. There are five of them." I shivered, remebering the terrifying sight of them.
"Wolves?" He asked in shock. "Are you sure?" He pulled back to look at my face, still holding onto the tops of my shoulders.
"Possitive." I said matter-of-factly, bobbing my head up and down.
"Well, I have to report this to the station." He muttered. "And I have to call and tell everyone that you're alright." He finally released me, and I was glad. The first reason was because Alice was in my room, and I was dying to make sure she had not disappeared. It felt like I had dreamt seeing her, and until I saw her in my room I could not be sure. The second reason was because the images that filled my mind were all too formiluar. Charlie on the phone over and over, "She's fine, we found her, she got lost,". Me, lying on the forest floor in the worst pain anyone had ever had...
For these reasons I was desperate to get to my room.
"I'm going to bed Charlie." I said as I rushed past him to the staircase.
"Okay," he muttered, as he turned toward the phone. "Goodnight." he added.
"'Night, love you," I muttered back.
I ran straight to my door, not bothering with my normal routine. Alice will be there, I told myself the whole way there. It seemed to take a lot longer than it should have to get there, but finally I threw open the door. And there she was. She was so beautiful and perfect. Her scent filled the room, and I inhaled deeply. I missed these things so much. Of course they weren't the same...it was a differant kind of happiness. Incomplete.
I ran to where she was sitting on the edge of my bed, slamming the dorr behind me. I sat next to her and hugged myself to her again. It felt like she would diappear. And I could not survive if that were to happen again. But what if she was going to leave? I needed to stop thinking so much and just ask her. No matter how much I speculated, I would not know unless she told me.
"Alice, how long are you going to be here for? Are you alone? Where's Jasper? How is he? And Carlisle? Esme?...Emmett? Where have you been staying? Have you been traveling?" I had meant to say only the first, but then all the other questions I had been thinking of spilt out, along with ones that just acored to me in that moment. Of course her mind could remember it all, so I suppose it did not matter.
She took my hand off from around her should, but held it tightly. She looked me in the eye. I stared back.
"I don't know how long I'm going to be here for. Yes, I'm alone. As soon as I saw the vision, I ran out the door. All the rest of them were hunting except Jasper and I, so I told him to tell the rest when they got back. Jasper is fine. They're all fine. Well, except of course...Well, as well as could be expected." It sounded like she had changed her comment half-way through. She continued down her list of my questions.
"Rosalie, Emmett, Esme, Carslile, Jasper and I have been staying in Alaska. I haven't really been travelling." Those were some pretty vague answers, but at least I had them. I wasn't sure how much more I wanted to know. But...she had not mentioned him as being with them...I should not ask. i couldn't.
"Where...? Where is...?" She seemed to understand what I was trying to ask.
"I'm not exactly sure." she said slowly.
"He...does travel a lot. He said he wants to be alone, and he hardly ever answers his phone. He checks in every couple months."
"Oh." was all I could manage. He was off, no doubt enjoying his distractions. My chest throbbed.
"You will stay won't you Alice? Why do you ven have to go away? You still have a house here, move back." I pleaded. I looked down. "Why did you leave?" I said in a barely audible voice.
"Bella," she said in a sad voice. My hope was crushed. She had no intention of moving back. Maybe she was enjoying her distractions, too.
A few moments passed in silence. Apparently she was not plannign on answering me. I had a new question. Why were all of my questions so idiotic? Why did I keep asking them anyway? Why did I keep getting my hopes up, just to have them crushed? But if she would not come back here...and he was not staying with her...
"Alice..." I began slowly. This was a very icey bridge I was about to cross.
"Yes?" she asked hesitantly. I finally looked back into her eyes.
"I have one more question."
"Alright. What is it, Bella?"
I did not feel scared. I felt hope. Which was very stupid.
"Can you make your vision come true? Will you change me?"