Forget Me Not | ✓

40 | Monstrous Fear

   
40
Breaking Dawn   [Pt.1]
M o n s t r o u s    F e a r
    
    
    

ADELE RAN WITH the desperate speed of a protective mother – she running on pure fear and anguish. She was faster than a soldier dodging bullets in a warzone, faster than the lightning striking outside, faster than anyone else in the house because that was her daughter – and she was in pain.

Carlisle and Esme were on her heels.  Their fear for their granddaughter was palpable, but it was infinitismal in comparison to Adele's. It wrapped around her throat, suffocating her, as she barged into her four-year-old daughter's bedroom and found her heaving, gasping desperately for air.

    Maxine lay on her bed, her body limp of all movement except for her heaving chest as her throat constricted and fear swelled in her big, beautifully confused eyes.

"MAX!" The monstrous fear crawled up her throat into a gasp.

"WE HAVE TO GET HER TO THE HOSPITAL!"  exclaimed Carlisle as her lips tinted blue. He couldn't do anything for her here – not when he didn't know what was truly wrong with her.

Esme quickly grabbed a duffel bag from the closet and stuffed her blanket, pillow, and stuffed bear into along with other necessities. As she sped around, Adele scooped Max up into her arms, placed a blanket over her, and the pair speedily followed her to the foyer.

"Oh shit..." Jacob swore when he saw the poor girl. He glanced nervously outside at the wolves who were still lurking around. Would they let them go?

"Oh my god." Rosalie's hands flew to her mouth as she moaned horrifically. 'What's wrong with her?"

"We have to get her to the hospital." said Carlisle gravely. He didn't know. She was just fine a few hours ago.  "We'll have to get past the wolves."

"FUCK THE WOLVES!" Adele ran out of the house as her baby cried silently in her arms, still gasping, and unfortunately very aware of her surroundings. She almost made it to her car when the wolves leapt out of the woods and circled her. Carlisle jumped in just in time to dodge one of their gnashing jaws. "LET ME PASS!"

Carlisle took Max from her as she faced them ruefully. Furiously. Desperately. They had only minutes left before...before the worst. Deep down, her patch-work heart knew it and those goddamn wolves would not be the death of her baby girl.

"LOOK AT HER!" She screamed more towards Paul and Sam than anyone else. Jacob leapt into the circle as the Cullens took offensive stances – they would fight.

"She can't breathe, for Christ's sake! She needs a hospital or else in a few moments, she'll be dead!" Carlisle

"SHE NEEDS A HOSPITAL OR ELSE IN A FEW MOMENTS, SHE'LL BE DEAD!" Carlisle roared ferociously. Not even Esme had seen such animosity within her husband before – she momentarily wondered if this image was exactly that of him and Adele all of those centuries ago when she was bitten.

They prowled around them, exchanging glances in their wolf forms. They weren't letting down.

"SHE'S HUMAN, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Jacob barked at his former pack-mates. She couldn't register her surprise. "HER DEATH WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS!"

She would never recover from this. Already, as her daughter fought to keep her eyes open, that overwhelming, suffocating dread seized her heart and squeezed. She'd never felt agony like this before. She was willing to do anything. Anything. But she couldn't think, she couldn't process enough through the shock of the situation to bring them down with her mind, so she unleashing her weapon of words.

She marched at Paul, much to the dismay of her coven as the wolves snapped at her. She punched one of them – Quil, maybe.
    
"I SWEAR ON MY FAMILY, ON MY CHILDREN, IF YOU DO NOT GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY, I WILL SEVERE IT, PAUL LAHOTE! I WILL SEVERE THE BOND!"

Paul's wolf cowered under her threatening words as he felt the bond stressing and he snarled at his pack to back off. Carlisle ran to Adele's car, placed Max in the backseat, and climbed in as Adele scrambled into the back with her daughter. They pulled out of the driveway and sped onto the road with everyone watching after them and Carlisle drove faster than he ever had in his life – but would they be quick enough?

•        •        •        •        •        •

Adele was sleeping peacefully in her  bed, curled up under her blankets as baby Asa slept in his crib on the other side of the room. It was around midnight – the sky was pitch-dark from a receding rainstorm –  when a small hand wrapped around the doorknob and opened her bedroom door. The dim lighting in the spacious hallway bled into her bedroom as Max tip-toed in. She climbed onto her mother's bed and sat, admiring her flawless face as a child admiring a colorful flower. She beamed as she gently shook her mother awake. Max loved her mother's touch because she was not as cold to the touch as the rest of her family.

She awoke and looked around to see the room was still showered in darkness aside from the light peering in from the hal. She propped herself up on elbow and looked questioningly at her daughter, who she saw perfectly in the darkness.

"What's the matter, Max?"

The little girl beamed pridefully at her through her curtain of brown curls. "Mommy, I did it. I made the monsters go away."

It took moment for her to scramble her thoughts together, but when she did, she smiled.

"Did you now?" Adele lifted her blankets so that she could crawl under. Max rested her head on the pillow next to Adele's and they were left gazing at each other. "What did you say?"

She nodded. "I told it that I wasn't afraid."

"And it went away?" She queried, brushing a loose curl from her face. Max nodded and she smiled. "I'm so proud of you."

"Did you tell your monsters, mommy" Max inquired innocently, obliviously. "Did you tell them you weren't afraid?"

"No, I haven't, darling..."

"Why not?" She yawned and her eyelids dropped.

Adele realized the innocent questioning of a four-year-old caused her to dive into a midnight introspection. Why had she not tried to put an end to her haunting dreams and flashbacks yet? They had become less frequent, it was true, but they still impacted her all the same. Maybe she wasn't trying to stop them for a reason...maybe she still thought something was going to come out of them....

"I don't know... I suppose I'm still afraid." She replied honestly.

She looked at Max but her daughter's eyes had already closed. Smiling bittersweetly, as she was now  plagued with unfortunate thoughts, she pulled the blankets over them. Just as she sighed and she shut her eyes again with the hopes of falling asleep, Max whispered to her in sleepy little voice.

"...Don't worry, Mommy." She nuzzled against her chin. "I'll protect you."