Parallax

Chapter 4

Charlie held Bella in his arms as they walked together towards the door and as soon as they entered, Bella remembered Alice.

"Oh, by the way... Dad... we have a visitor" At her words, Charlie's brows furrowed and his head turned towards the driveway and finally realized that Carlisle's car was there.

Alice chose that moment to show herself.

"Hey Charlie... I'm sorry I came at such a bad time"

Charlie blinked twice and squinted his eyes, trying to make sure that he was seeing the small girl in front of him correctly.

"Alice?" his words were doubtful.

"It's me... I was in the neighborhood."

"Oh... is Carlisle...? "

"It's just me" Alice and Bella knew that it wasn't Carlisle he was talking about.

"Is it okay if I invited Alice to stay here? I couldn't let her stay in her house all alone." Bella asked but she was pretty sure Charlie would have no problem with Alice staying.

"Yes of course. I'm going to be busy with helping as much as I can with the funeral... it would good for you to have company" Charlie agreed. He finally excused himself and left the girls in the room while he went to the kitchen where Bella left him dinner.

Alice smiled at her tentatively and she went back to sit beside her. Bella wanted to talk to Alice, get to know more about them in this past. Did they have the same personality as the Cullens that she has grown up with? She already knew that Edwards actions were totally different from how she knew him and she wondered if it was because that was what made this Bella Swan's story different.

Before she could even work on striking a conversation, she felt herself going into a dreamless sleep.

Bella woke up stiff from her position in the couch and she heard voices from the kitchen.

"Would you tell me what happened Charlie... after we left? "Bella heard Alice asking softly.

Bella tensed and she waited to hear what Charlie was going to say. She had a pretty good idea that they were talking about this Bella and just like what Alice asked, she was dying to know what exactly happened.

Charlie sighed. "I've never felt so hopeless "he started slowly. "The first few days.... She was catatonic. She wouldn't drink, she wouldn't eat, she wouldn't even move... I was ready to hospitalize her... send her back to Florida... anything... I didn't know how to handle it. I... I wanted her to be better, I thought that staying with her mom would allow her to... I don't know.... Heal."

Bella felt the ache in Charlie's voice and she was suddenly devastated at what Charlie had to endure. "When we started packing her things, that's when we got a reaction from her all right. She threw a fit and Bella was never one to do that. She didn't want to leave. She screamed, she broke things, she cried, she shouted, and she cried some more... We were scared, but we thought that maybe she needed that release... so, we just stayed with her until she calmed down.

After that period, we thought she was starting to get better..." Charlie paused. Bella could hear it in his voice that it was hard for him talking about her. Alice was silent, probably allowing Charlie time to continue.

"She started going back to school and back at Newton's again. She was eating and sleeping and doing her homework but everything she did... it was all done in autopilot. She was a living, walking empty shell.

She doesn't initiate conversations and will only answer questions when being asked. I couldn't force her to talk about it because I was afraid that she was going to go back to being catatonic again. I was walking on eggshells around her.