Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 18 (New Moon 7)

I must have dozed off shortly after saying thank you and goodbye to all the volunteers, as I was half sitting, half laying on the couch beside Bells when I heard the phone ringing.

Dazed, I stood to pull the receiver from the wall, eager to let Bells continue her sleep.

Mrs. Stanley's voice cut through the phone like a rusty knife.

"Charlie! Some bastards are burning something out by the ocean! The smell is keeping me awake!"

"What? Where?" Was I still dreaming? What was happening?

"It's near the reservation, those damn kids are trying to light the whole forest on fire!"

"You're sure it's outside the reservation? But what could be burning out there?" I asked, more to myself than to her.

"Yes Charlie! If that fire gets to my house, I'm going to sue you and the entire reserv-"

"Look, I'll call down there and check it out," I said, hanging up the phone. Mrs. Stanley had always been more than a little racist towards the Quileute, but I couldn't just discount her call as nonsense. I dialed Billy.

"Hey, Billy, it's Charlie, sorry for calling you so early," I said.

"Nonsense. Is it Bella? Is she okay?"

"No, she's fine, She's sleeping. That's not why I called. I just got a call from Mrs. Stanley, and she says that from her second-story window she can see fires out on the sea cliffs, but I didn't really-"

"Ah, yes. Sorry, Charlie, it's some of the boys. They're celebrating, well, with the Cullens being gone and all..." Of course they were. The Quileute boys hadn't been quiet about their distaste for the family.

"Well, don't apologize to me. Just make sure the fires don't spread – I'm surprised they even got them lit at all in this weather."

"Will do Charlie, you go back to bed now. It's all under control."

I hung up the phone and staggered back over to the couch. The conversation had woken up Bells.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm sorry I woke you, honey." She seemed weak. Frail. She needed to go back to sleep, get her strength back.

"Is something burning?" she asked.

"It's nothing, just some bonfires out on the cliffs."

"Bonfires?" She was clearly too curious to fall back to sleep any time soon, and I was too tired to try to make her.

"Some of the kids from the reservation being rowdy."

"Why?" I knew where the conversation was heading, but like a truck with shot brakes, it couldn't be stopped now.

"They're celebrating the news," I finally conceded.

"Because the Cullens left," she whispered. "They don't like the Cullens in La Push – I'd forgotten about that."

"It's ridiculous," I said.

She was silent, but her eyes remained open. Her skin was pale, her eyes dark; she looked close to death. Even in my exhausted state, I could feel anger rising in me. Ever since I'd gotten her back, that damn Edward had made her life here a living hell. No teenage girl should have to endure the drama that poor Bells had been through over the past few months. And for what? Some strange boy? Some weirdly incestuous foster family? I'd tried to give Carlisle and his lot the benefit of the doubt, tried to defend the newcomers to town against the biases of those already here... but honestly? A part of me was glad to be rid of them.

I needed Bella to realize just how badly she'd been treated. She had to see that, while it may have seemed like normal behavior to a love-blind teenage girl, the way Edward had obsessed over her was anything but healthy. That what he'd done was downright dangerous.

Making that clear would help her get over him, I'd hoped.

"Bella... He left you alone in the woods?" I finally asked.

"How did you know where to find me?" She deflected.

"Your note," I said, handing her the piece of paper. I knew it wasn't her handwriting, especially after she had to take the time to read it. Well, two could play at that game.

"When you didn't come back, I called the Cullens, and no one answered. Then I called the hospital, and Dr. Gerandy told me that Carlisle was gone." In reality, I'd only thought to swing by the hospital after visiting the Cullens', and I'd only actually found the note after orchestrating the search. But she didn't have to know all the specifics.

"Where did they go?" She asked. I was floored that Edward hadn't even divulged that much when breaking things off.

"Didn't Edward tell you? Carlisle took a job with a big hospital in Los Angeles. I guess they threw a lot of money at him." Bella looked crestfallen. I couldn't believe that, even after our conversation, the boy would have the gall to leave her without even a proper explanation.

"I want to know if Edward left you alone out there in the middle of the woods," I asked again, trying to drill home just how badly she'd been treated. Trying to severe the emotional ties that still bound her, like corrupted vines, to her toxic now-ex-boyfriend.

"It was my fault," she said. "He left me right here on the trail, in sight of the house... but I tried to follow him."

"But what about his car? Edward must've had to come back to pi-" At that, Bella covered her ears and jolted off of the couch.

"I can't talk about this anymore, Dad. I want to go to my room."

She took off up the stairs, slamming the door behind her. She was obviously upset, and I couldn't blame her; a first break-up is hard to go through, and I knew from hard-won experience that it would take a while for her to even begin getting past it.

Maybe I should have followed her up the stairs and tried to comfort her. Maybe I should have talked about how I'd been in a very similar situation, in this very house, all those years ago. Maybe I should have done more. 

But after the ordeal that the night had been, I instead curled up in the blanket on the couch, letting exhaustion overwhelm me, and fell into a deep sleep in the residual warmth she'd left behind.

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