Bella Hale: An American Werewolf in London-A Teen Wolf Fanfiction

CHAPTER 29: Soulmates Are A Curse

Pain. For weeks, Bella felt as if something was missing. She knew what it could have been but she can't avoid it. Luke was right about being able to sense each other from far away. Bella felt it was an invasion of her privacy. She despised feeling the emotions of another. But she could also sense Luke's emotions. Most especially his rage. He felt scared, alone, and confused. There was another feeling or two but Bella could not identify them.

Soulmates are a curse. Soulmate brings out the worst in you, that they cause you pain, and that they'll forever be branded on your skin. It was supposed to start out with promises of forever, love, and pure bliss. Neither one of them had that. Nothing about this is bringing neither Bella nor Luke any joy in life.

It was early December but the temperature had already given way to winter, causing the lingering rain to turn into sleet that further melted on Bella's warm skin.  The air was brisk and cold. She added this moment to the growing pile of resentment she had for being a werewolf. She wanted to feel the cold set into her skin, and she wanted to finally be physically numb to match the internal lack of emotion she had been feeling.

Winter had arrived. Despite things being calm at this point, Bella felt more alone than ever. Agitated and irritated.  Living at the cottage, alone, on a beach, far away from everything was starting to drive her insane. It finally got to her after three years. The Cabin Fever.

Bella is the only sign of life in the woods surrounding the cottage. At the beginning of winter, any animal that is native to the lands has already begun to hibernate for the season or has already turned toward southern horizons. To Bella, who had grown up in the neutral temperatures of central California, it seemed unnatural to be in a place so silent. After years of canvassing the woods, she had thought that the silence would grow on her, but instead, it had made Bella feel more on edge and out of place.

Bella gaining a soulmate had turned out to be the beginning of the end.

It was the pounding headache that woke Bella up. Not not the ringing of her phone. Its lingering pain throbbing against her skull. She was sitting on her bed, taking it all in before reaching for her phone. Bella picked it up off the nightstand and looked at the caller ID: Dad.

Bella sighed heavily upon seeing her father calling. It's been a minute since they last spoke.

"Hey." Bella answered groggily

"Hey, sweetheart." Peter responded "Did I wake you?"

"Nope. I was already awake."

"Liar." Peter chuckled

Bella slightly laughed "What's going on? How are things?"

"Well, things would be fine if I could somehow convince my daughter to at least come home for the holidays this year."

Bella sighed "Dad, we've discussed this. If you want to celebrate the holidays and my birthday with me, you'll have to come here."

"Eh, worth a shot."

"And yet it always fails." Bella smirked

"Are you okay, Bells?"

It was an unfair question for Peter to ask, but he could hear something off within his daughter's voice. The question implied that Peter was unaware of the isolation and the whole soulmates event. It implied that Peter was unaware of the scent of sadness and confusion that filled her house and that this phone call was the first conversation that they had had since they last saw each other.. It was an unfair question that deserved the unfair reply that Peter got.

"I'm fine." Bella lied through her teeth. "Just getting a little sick of sitting around here, that's all."

Bella, growing up, had always had a fascination with the science and theory behind time travel. The debate between time loops, paradoxes, and parallel timelines that can be traveled between, had always grabbed his attention. It was a fixation that developed as a childhood fantasy of correcting a cosmic wrong. That if she could go back far enough, she could prevent the deaths of her family, the fire and the isolation of her. However, time travel did not exist and even if it did, Bella had begun to believe that all her worst moments in life were fixed points.

Irreversible, unchangeable, predestined.

It's why the isolation hadn't surprised her. This distance from Beacon Hills did not cure Bella of the hollow feeling that was left behind. Instead, Europe had given Bella the space to be alone with her thoughts. But sometimes that time alone can become lonely.

Bella had grown used to the harsh winter weather. She had grown used to the idea of miles and miles of grain that would cover the surrounding area in the summer. How the temperature would grow past the pleasant temperament of southern California. She'd grown used to this reality.

Bella knew that she wouldn't grow used to the ache that filled her chest or how it ricochets off the hollow wall. The very ache that had been almost bearable in the presence of Luke had now returned to its increasing pressure as she settled into the small cottage that she resides in

"Are you sure you're okay?" Peter asked once more

"Dad, I'm fine. You can trust me."

What was she supposed to say? "I'm doing great, dad! And guess what, I have a soulmate now."? Fat chance. Having a soulmate really is a curse. And it's a burden she would have to carry for a long time.

"Alright." Peter said. He trusted his daughter but he wasn't trusting her word. Something was going on and he knew it. Peter didn;t have to be near his daughter to know something was wrong.

They ended the conversation peacefully. But Bella's heart broke. She was aching. Part of her really wanted to talk to Luke. She's never felt like this before. Bella blushed at the thought of Luke. She could not get him out of her head. The pack was right though. This mate thing will tear you apart if you fight it and Bella has been fighting it. It hurts so damn much.