Chapter Eighteen: How Dare You

Edward's POV

“How dare you.” I whispered after I read a few of the diary entries.

“What?” Alice asked, looking up from where she was sitting on the couch, Jasper's arms wrapped around her protectively.

Everyone else looked at me, confused.

“How dare all of you!” I exclaimed, my body growing tense.

“What do you mean?” Emmett asked.

“How dare all of you! How dare you all be so selfish! She was suffering and being beaten and pushed around and all you, Alice, cared about was how you were stuck here in Forks! And Emmett, you...did you even call her once?

“How dare you all not notice how she was suffering here! How dare all of you keep on talking about things that happened when she wasn't here! How dare all of you be so selfish as to not even notice when she felt uncomfortable! How dare-”

“W-what do you mean being beaten?” Emmett asked, cutting me off.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alice look down at her feet like she knew something.

“It's not that hard to figure out.” I said as I sat down on the couch, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down. “Well, it wasn't for me at least. I did have access to her medical records‒well, my dad did anyway.”

“What are you talking about?” Rosalie asked as Emmett and her moved to the other couch.

“Do you remember when Bella broke her leg?” I asked.

Everyone nodded at different times beside Alice. She was refusing to meet anyone's gazes, even Jasper's, like she knew what I was going to say.

“Well, she shouldn't even have gotten hurt; she landed fine. That was my first clue to what was going on. When she was in surgery I looked at her x-rays. Dad came up behind me and just stood there. I asked him why there were so many breaks and fractures and why she had to have surgery. She couldn't have had that bad of a fall.

“Dad told me that not all of those were from that fall; he told me that some of them were from earlier in her life and they hadn't been treated. They would need surgery to be healed fully. After Bella got her cast off she didn't limp.” I recalled

“She limped?” Jasper asked.

“Even Bella didn't notice that she limped.” I whispered, mostly to myself.

“I still don't understand.” Jasper said.

“When she was out of surgery and in her hospital room and no one was paying attention I looked in her medical records. There...there was so much stuff in there. She had been in the hospital so many times with bruises and fractures, and other wounds.

“When she had that bad dream I had a pretty good idea about what she was dreaming about. Later that day when I took her home to meet my parents, she fainted when we were in the middle of my driveway‒the part in the forest.”

By this time it felt as if I was talking to myself and everyone was just listening in on my conversation.

“When she woke up at my house, she seemed a little shaken. Dad had to talk to her alone for some reason. She seemed a little shaken when she came out for dinner. By that time I was absolutely positive of what was going on...or what had gone on.

“After I had dropped her off and was back home I asked my dad if I was right. He solemnly nodded his head and told me what Bella had told him. That was the night that I threw my five thousand dollar stereo at the wall.” I laughed with no humor.

“Bella,” I said moment's later, “she was abused by her mother and stepfather.”

The room went dead silent though no one but me had been talking before. Everyone's faces were as pale as snow.

“You...you can't be serious...can you?” Rosalie asked, her eyes wide in shock.

“I'm dead serious.” I swore, looking her dead in the eye.

“How could we not have noticed?” Jasper whispered to Rosalie, as if they knew something that we didn't.

“It doesn't matter now.” Rose told him.

“N-n-no.” Emmett whispered. “NO!”

He stood up, shaking, and paced back and forth.

“You...you're lying, Edward. You can't be telling the truth. She couldn't have been abused by mom! You're lying!” Emmet turned to face me, tears in his eyes.

“I'm not lying.” I said, my jaw tense.

“Yes you are!” He exclaimed.

“I'm telling you the truth.” I said.

“NO! YOU'RE LYING!”  Emmett screamed at the top of his lungs.

“He's telling the truth, Emmett!” Alice exclaimed, looking at him with tears falling down her cheeks. “He...he's telling the truth!”

“No.” Emmett whispered. “He can't be. This isn't happening. My sister was not abused.”

“I'm sorry that I didn't tell you.” Alice said quietly as she stood up and walked over to Emmett, taking his hand in hers.

“No.” Emmett whimpered as he hugged Alice, the tears in his eyes falling down his cheeks.

Rosalie moved to sit next to Jasper. He hugged her and patted her back as she cried. It was kind of unusual for Emmett to be hugging Alice and Jasper hugging Rose. I was so used to them going to the “loves of their lives” as they called each other. At this moment they just needed family.

I sat on the couch put my hands in my head, my fingers lacing through my hair. It wasn't until I tasted salty water on my lips that I realized that I was crying.

“What are we gonna do?” Alice asked.

“I don't know. She could be anywhere.” Emmett told her.

“Where are you Bella?” I whispered to myself. “Where could you-”

My eyes grew wide as it hit me.

“Volterra.” I murmured with an Italian accent.

“What?” Rosalie asked, everyone looking at me.

“Volterra.”