twispitefic

Title: Real Tragedy
Author: mogseltof
Fandom(s): Twilight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 679
Inspiration: New Moon, Bella and Alice on their way to Volterra.
Warnings: Character death
Author’s Note: Just an idea I had after Bella's "Oh no, not suicide!" off the cliff.

Bella was never quite sure what had happened that day, only that she was now in the wheelchair because of it. One minute she'd been on the flight - the next was a blur of panic, screams and fire on water and water on fire and she couldn't breathe and she wasn't going to survive and -

(Calm)

She wasn't meant to think about it, but she couldn't help but wonder. If maybe Alice hadn't had the window seat, if maybe they hadn't been over the Atlantic, if maybe they'd just called ahead, if she'd never left Forks, if she'd told Charlie, if, if,ififif-

(Calm)

Alice had been the first to go. The fuel tanks had caught on a spark. It was always an accident, everytime Bella replayed it in her head she was completely helpless. The plane catching. The stench of burning flesh, the rancid odour of burning vampire, the weight of the water, of the sheer mass... It was so heavy. Sometimes she could still feel the heat, and at the same time the bone chilling weight of the cold, which was stupid, but it happened anyway. She wasn't sure why.

The name Edward Cullen had appeared on a list of a large group of missing tourists who's tour bus had gone missing on the outskirts of Volterra. So had Jasper Cullen. Bella wasn't sure what to believe anymore. They'd never visited, the Cullens. Jacob had come once - but he never came back.

"YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT! ALWAYS YOUR FAULT!""stopscreamingpleasestopscreaming""ALWAYS YOU-"

Charlie visited once a week, like clockwork. Sometimes with Renee and Phil. Bella never spoke to them. She hadn't spoken three months.

"Good morning, Sweet," said the kind-faced nurse who had Bella's breakfast. She left the paper and bustled away after checking the clipboard. Bella ignored breakfast and picked up the paper. She ignored the smiling faces, the proud kids holding the fish, the births, the sports prizes. The death notices she turned to immediately and scanned them slowly. It was a habit, a morbid one, but a habit nonetheless. She had to know.

The door opened without a knock, and Bella looked up sharply. Jessica. "Hi," she said softly, as if she wasn't sure how to speak to her. Bella felt bile rising in the throat, she didn't want to speak to anyone, see anyone, know anyone-

Hate.

Jessica must have caught something in her expression, because she flinched and hesitated before sitting in the chair next to Bella's bed. She stayed, for nearly an hour exactly, babbling inanely about school, friends Bella barely remembered and college. Then she left.

She came back the next week. And the week after, and the one after that. Four weeks after that, Bella said "Hi," back to her. Soon Bella knew almost everything about Jessica - the name of her cat, her cousins' bad habits, her grade school performance, her first crush, her first kiss.

It was odd, but Bella began to look forward to the visits from her friend. Her friend. When had Jessica become her friend? When Bella found she could smile at her family anecdotes and it was genuine? When Bella could side with her arguments?

(She was her friend?)

But that wasn't all. Jessica taught her. She taught her about the times when you wanted to run away, to leave everyone behind but you didn't, because you love them.

LOVE

About the times when you thought the world was going to end because your pet was in the vet with an infection and you'd cry because you love them.

LOVE

About how your heart would nearly burst at times, and all because Bella saw that face, that smile of that girl, that Jessica, that FRIEND because you LOVE your FRIEND and Bella knew that if she stopped coming her heart would really break, because she was her FRIEND, her real and true FRIEND. Bella learnt love and value and friendship and how to smile at her father and laugh with her mother. Bella learnt how to make Jessica laugh and smile. She learnt.