Page 102

On his way over to the Cullen house the next morning, Charlie Swan started to recall everything he knew about the strange family, in order to prepare himself for what he was going to walk into.

The first thing he knew for sure, was that they were not human.

Jacob had told him about the supernaturals existence, by revealing himself to be a shifter.

Although the boy seemed more like a werewolf to the man, since he could become a giant wolf and all.

And even though Jacob hadn't told him what the Cullens were, Charlie knew for a fact that they were a part of the supernatural.

The next thing he knew for certain, was that whatever the Cullens were, his daughter was now one of them as well. Bella, was no longer human.

Charlie had gone over all of the facts he had regarding the missing person case of Pearl Clearwater before he left the house this morning.

He needed to have all of the details firmly placed in his mind for this confrontation.

Pearl has been missing for close to 11 months now, and the only report of a potential sighting, had taken place quite a while ago.

The report of which came from Seattle, and was provided to him by a Sergeant Taylor.

The last thing of note, was that Sue had reported all of the Cullens for kidnapping.

As the chief of police, it was his responsibility to investigate the claim. No matter how ludicrous it sounded.

Charlie Swan pulled up in the driveway of the Cullen's house in his police cruiser, wearing his full uniform. Knocking on the front door of the home, Bella opened it up and looked at her father in surprise.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Bella asked curiously.

"Hey Bells, I'm on duty at the moment and I need to speak to everyone. Are all of the Cullens here?" Charlie inquired after greeting his daughter kindly.

"Umm, yeah. Come in." Bella answered, unable to hide her suspicions.

Charlie nodded to his daughter and entered the house.

Bella led him into the living room where the family was located.

Bree and Pearl were upstairs in their room.

They had heard the car pull up, and after Edward immediately told them to get out of sight, as they weren't supposed to be seen by humans, they retreated to their room without complaint.

The sternness in the mind readers tone, put the girls and the rest of the family, on edge.

As Bella left to answer the door, Carlisle had tried to ask his son what was wrong.

Now that Charlie Swan was in the living room, the entire family was unnoticeably tense in the humans presence. Edward had managed to pick up bits and pieces of the humans thoughts as the chief pulled up, and they didn't sound too good.

Carlisle, like always, greeted the chief kindly and inquired as to why he was here. "Hello Charlie. I trust you've been well. What can we do for you?"

Charlie nodded to him in acknowledgment, then switched to a much more serious persona. Which the Cullens all picked up on immediately. Addressing the group with authority, Charlie said, "You all need to be 100% honest with me right now. And this is non-negotiable."

"Dad we can't do that with the need to know stuff." Bella quickly reminded him. But before she could continue, he interrupted her.

"This has nothing to do with what you are. I'm here on official police business. And aside from involving yourselves, this shouldn't have anything to do with the need to know stuff." Charlie replied.

The chief's statement caused a few eye brows to raise in confusion, but the group remained calm.

Carlisle took the lead and asked in a professional manner, "What do you need to know Chief Swan?"

"Pearl Clearwater." As soon as Charlie said the name, the entire coven stiffened, including the girls who were hiding away from the human in their room.

The reaction of the group was unnoticeable to Charlie's human eyes, so he continued speaking.

"Sue Clearwater is claiming that you have kidnapped her daughter and are holding her against her will.

She wants to press charges against all of you and take you to court. "

Before the chief could continue, Emmet loudly blurted out, "That is absolutely ridiculous! The hell's going through that bitches head?!"

Jasper, reacting quickly, slammed his hand over Emmet's mouth to stop him from making the situation worse. At the same time, the empath was working overtime to induce a calm over everyone, in the now, very tense, living room.

Charlie narrowed his eyes at Emmet, then faced Carlisle with his cop stare, and asked firmly, "Is Pearl here?"

Oh fuck. Oh shit. What the hell?! Sue knows very well that I am not kidnapped! What the fuck?!

From the way Bree was looking at me, I could tell that she was scared. I tried to bring myself to comfort her, but all I could think was that, I was too.

What does this mean? Is Sue trying to ruin my happiness a second time? I don't have to go back to her, right?

I could hear Carlisle trying to talk to Charlie and convince him that I wasn't here, but everything they were saying just seemed to blur together.

My chest tightened as I felt my mind spiral.

Recalling everything that had happened after my dad died, and how my own mother had shut me out, because she didn't want to deal with a troublesome kid.

It made my lungs constrict. It felt like someone was squeezing my chest, not allowing me to take in a breath.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Bree with a panicked expression on her face as she looked at me.

Her mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.

I gripped onto my hoodie in the centre of my chest, as I desperately tried to breath in.

My heart was pounding in my ears, as my body trembled.

But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't inhale.

It was like there wasn't any oxygen left in the air for me to use, all of it had evaporated from existence.

And now, the void where the oxygen had gone, was trying to suck the life out of me.

I couldn't breath. I couldn't focus. I couldn't do anything...

Before I knew it, I felt cold hands wrapping around me, as somehow, my body had collapsed to the floor. I didn't even feel it. It was like I was submerged underwater, but I was back to being human, everything was muffled and out of reach.

Nothing felt real...

Despite everything going on with my body, all I could focus on was the fact that Sue wanted to take me away. She wanted to separate me from the only people who've ever truly cared about me.

I hate her! I can't go back there! That place isn't home! Here, is home! I don't wanna go back! I can't go back to how it was before! I can't live through that again!