Scars
Scars
Alice stared at me silently and expectantly, waiting for me to begin. The problem is I didn't know how to begin. But I need to tell her. God, why can't I just spit it out?
"Bella," Alice's gentle voice interrupted my thoughts. I shifted my gaze from my lap to her eyes, those beautiful pools of gold that smoldered with warmth and friendliness.
I bit my lip lightly and sighed. "The two vampires from your vision are after me." There.
Alice's soft gaze hardened ever so slightly, but her eyes refused to leave mine. She was obviously waiting for me to give her more details, but I was afraid to for whatever reason. Did I still not trust her? No, that isn't it. Then what?
I knew why. I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to have to relive the painful images again, even though my dreams had taunted me night after night by doing just that. The memories were permanently ingrained into my brain. I remembered their twisted smiles, their heartless laughter. I remember their blood red hungry eyes. The scars. I remembered the scars the most. Each time teeth sank down into me, each time I felt like my body was on fire, the hours I spent writhing in unimaginable pain, wishing they would just kill me and end it.
The physical, mental and emotional scars that the hunters had brought on me would never disappear. I tried everything I could, but I could never make them go away. The bite marks, eternal reminders of my ruined life, were especially painful. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw Victoria and James, baring their teeth in an ominous smile, looking back at me.
I suppose the fact that I was about to commit to trusting a vampire, the race of beings that I didn't think existed until it was too late, the beings that had tortured me and hunted me, was another fact that stopped me from going on. But when I thought of this, my dreams came back to me. Not the nightmares, nor the emptiness, but that voice. That heavenly voice that kept urging me forward, making me feel warm inside. Alice had the same voice. And I could see in her gold eyes that she wanted to know. She wanted to help. She wanted to make my pain go away.
I'm not sure she can, though.
"I...I don't know..." I trailed off, looking down at my lap. I couldn't look into those angelic eyes. I couldn't face them.
"Start from the beginning," she said softly. "When did you meet them?"
"Four months ago," I answered. "I...I had been wandering around at night when I first saw them, standing in the distance. At first, I didn't think too much of them, but then I started to feel myself pulled towards them. I don't know how, honestly I never figured out why. All I know is that I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time." I could feel tears beginning to form in the back of my eyes and did the best that I could to push them back.
"Why were you out at night alone?" she asked.
"I, um, was just bored," I lied. She obviously wasn't satisfied by my answer, but she didn't press. I went on with the story, wanting to get it over with.
"They started talking to me, acting all nice and shit. I tried to walk away, but the more they talked, the more drawn in I was and eventually I couldn't resist them anymore. The woman kind of..." I paused, wondering if Alice needed to know that detail. "She, er, forced her lips onto mine." I noticed Alice's eyes darken slightly. Fearing her reaction, I quickly continued. "That was when they revealed what they were to me. I had fallen into their trap and there was nothing I could do about it. Next thing I know, they'd taken me to a warehouse."
Alice tensed up as I continued. I could see that her eyes were slightly darker then they had been before. She seemed to be struggling to keep herself composed for reasons I didn't understand. Her hands were twitching nervously, like she wanted to strangle something, but at the same time she looked like she wanted to hug me. She did neither, though, so I took in another breath and started up again.
