DISCLAIMER: Nope not mine. Familiar characters are property of the awesome Stephanie Myer.
SUMMARY: When something bad happens to Bella, how does she deal with it?
A/N: This is the rewrite of my story Waning Moon, Waxing Moon. It wasn't working the way I wanted and so I scrapped the old version and started this one.
Saturday night. Bella had spent all day with Jacob fixing the bikes. Right after dinner with her dad she spoke up. "Dad, I promised Jess I'd meet her in Port Angeles for a late movie tonight."
"Are you sure, Bells? That would put you back here sometime after midnight."
"I'll be fine, Dad. Really. And I'll be careful." She kissed his cheek and ran out the front door.
Charlie just shook his head. Quite a turn-around after three months of nothing at all.
As she drove down the road she tried to justify her actions to herself. 'I heard him in town last night. Maybe I'll hear him even better if I go back to the bookstore.'
'Bella, this is reckless. Don't do this.'
'I have to. I need this.'
'You promised.'
Before she knew it she had pulled into the parking lot where Edward had saved her that one night. Stepping out of the truck, she marveled for just a moment at the fact that she'd even found the place.
But then she noticed them. The same four guys who'd attacked her that night had surrounded her out of nowhere, trapping her against the side of the truck.
"Lookee here, boys. We found us a repeat. She didn't really want to go with ol' psycho boy last time."
They started pawing at her arms and then she felt their hands on her breasts and cringed. That was when they started ripping off her clothes.
The next thing she felt was the cold of the truck bed against her bare back. Two of the guys were up in the bed holding her down as another one held one of her legs. The fourth guy just knelt in between her legs and unzipped his pants. "This is what you missed that night, darlin'."
She screamed as he rammed himself hard between her legs. She started crying at that point, certain that these four would kill her before she could even try to get away.
'I didn't want this for you. I was trying to save you. Protect you.'
'You left me. Left me alone and broken. Now I'm broken even more.'
The voice in her head let out a keening wail and fell silent for a moment before beginning to hum her lullaby in her ear.
When the men had finished with her they left her lying in the bed of the truck. Somehow, she managed to drag herself out of the bed and pulled on some of her clothes. Then, she dragged herself into the cab of the truck and drove to the hospital she had passed on her way into town.
The nurse looked up as the automatic doors slid open and a teenage girl trudged into the emergency room. Running to her, the nurse noticed that it was by a sheer act of will that the girl was standing at all.
"I was raped," she managed to whisper before collapsing into the nurse's arms.