The Muted Luna (Sequel to TASW)

(Chapter 5)

                   (Bella's POV)                                                           

   I sat on the rock as I over looked my beautiful territory.

              There was no sound as the night sky reflected off of the lake.

             The moon was shining so bright and it was mesmerizing as I stared at its painted like surface.

                Clouds danced around it, as the stars played the choir singing an amazing harmony that was silent .. yet, so loud.

            I felt a hand on my shoulder but didn't turn to see who it was.

The tingles that ran through my body told me who it was.

         "It's beautiful outside isn't it?"
         I nodded my head and sighed.

"It is." I looked over and came face to face with Jackson.

He smiled at me but I couldn't bring myself to do the same.

         He dropped his smile only slightly and dropped his hand from my shoulders.

           I turned back to the lake and just allowed my mind to wonder.

         "You can't keep beating yourself over this. It wasn't your fault Arabella."

              But wasn't it?

"You said it yourself, she was dead. You saw her life vanish right before your eyes. How she is alive now is beyond any of us."

           But was she? Or was I just too naive to tell the difference from dead and slightly gone?

     "Just tell me what do I have to do, to make you feel better." His voice was so soft that if I wasn't so far gone into my own problems I probably would have melted into his arms.

     "Can you take me back five years from now? Can you put me back into the cellar where they kept us?"

I turned to him to see anger and sadness both in his eyes. I don't really talk about what happened when I was gone.

      Mainly because Jackson gets mad knowing everything they did to me and he wasn't able to stop them.

       The sadness I think is because me leaving him would hurt him a lot.

      "If I could send you back... I wouldn't."

     I turned to see that his eyes seemed a little darker and I knew he was fighting his wolf.

        I laid my hand on top of his as I held onto it and looked back at the lake.

        "I know you wouldn't but If I could I would." I said.

           I could feel that his wolf was slowly backing down but still, I didn't let go.

       "You think she is still alive though? I mean... it's been five years. Five years with animals who use you for their own sick games. How could I have left her there?"

         I looked back at him, fighting the tears as they threatened to spill but I wouldn't let them.

          "Bella you did everything you could that day to save her. It was probably a Hail Mary type of thing that the Moon Goddesses had pulled. You suffered enough in that place. It was your time to leave. I know you didn't want to leave her there but there is honestly nothing you could have done for her."