A/N: I had a surprising amount of people asking me to continue this story. I'm not exactly sure how far I will go with it, but here it goes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the characters. But thanks to SM's amazing mind, I can play around in this beautiful fandom.
Big Thanks to jansails for pointing out grammatical errors. :)
Warning: Gruesome violence will ensue. Reader's discretion is advised
Love much,
Phee
Chapter Song: World So Cold by 12 Stones
Christmas Eve seven years ago...
Ten-year-old Bella woke with a start to thunderous banging.
Soon after, her mother, Elizabeth, was rushing into her room with terrified eyes, scooping her up like she weighed absolutely nothing.
Carrying her to the living-room and opening the door to the air-conditioning system, Elizabeth guided her daughter in the small space underneath.
"Mom?" Bella asked in a trembling, scared voice.
"Shh?" Elizabeth soothed, kissing her cheek. "Stay here and don't make a sound. No matter what. Do you understand?"
Bella nodded even though she didn't understand why. Then the door was closed and the only view she had was from the air duct vent.
She heard her mom's voice as the banging got louder and louder. "Someone's trying to break into our house." Hearing this scared Bella so bad she felt warm liquid run down her pants.
At that moment a man walked into view with an aluminum bat. It was her father, Alec.
He held Elizabeth and kissed her. "Where's Bella?" He asked his wife.
She looked silently to where Bella was hidden away.
He followed her gaze and looked directly into the vent, then nodded before hollering. "We've called the police! And they're on their way."
That didn't stop the banging at all, amplified it actually.
Stepping in front of Elizabeth, Alec held the bat up higher as the door exploded open.
A dark figure stood between the doorframe with a machete.
Bella whimpered, scooting closer to the wall as she thought, This is a nightmare. This is a nightmare. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!
She watched in an almost surreal way as the intruder advanced on her parents.
Pushing Elizabeth out of harms way, Alec slammed the bat against the large man's side. The man doubled over but quickly regained himself and decided to return the favor, except his weapon of choice was much deadlier. Alec's hand was severed as if it was cucumber.
Bella covered her ears, unable to hear her fathers pained screams but she couldn't bring herself to look away as he crumbled to his knees as blood spewed all over the place. "Run, Elizabeth! Run." Was her father's last words before a machete crashed into his skull.
Elizabeth gasped, frozen stiff. Bella wanted so badly to scream at her mother to run, but couldn't force her voice to work as tears rained down her cheeks.
The man laughed, the most sinister sounding thing that would haunt Bella for the rest of her life. He was on Elizabeth in the blink of an eye, bringing her to the ground and paralyzing her from the neck down with quick work of a hunting blade.
Elizabeth laid motionless as helpless mewing sounds escaped her.
The man looked down at her for a long time, then looked up, right in the direction of Bella then walked forward. Bella squeezed her eyes shut and curled further into herself as the thump of his boots came closer and closer. She barely relaxed when he passed her by. He searched the three bedroom house quickly, returning to Elizabeth.
"Where is she?" He asked in a deep, evil voice, obviously noticing a little girl's light pink room.
Elizabeth was quick to respond without even a flickering glance to where her daughter was. "She's at a friend's."
"Liar!" He screamed.
Bella and Elizabeth winced as he crashed about the house, turning everything around and slamming every door open.
Elizabeth only then looked at Bella and mouthed, "I love you."
He returned to the living room right when the police pulled in front of the house. Hope flickered in Bella's heart only for it to be ripped away as the machete pierced Elizabeth's chest.
Then the murderer disappeared as if he was never there.
Chapter Note: This is by far the most intense thing I've written...and I've wrote some whoppers. I wasn't sure if this is what people wanted when they said for me to continue but I wanted to delve more into Bella's nightmare childhood so readers could see why she became mute.