“You can't blame gravity for falling in love.”-Albert Einstein
I pace the room. I watch food network on the holographic television. I lay in my bed. I go in the bathroom and wash my hands just to smell the clean soap. I fiddle my fingers. I run my hands repeatedly through my hair to rid of the disarray.
It's been a few hours, -or at least if felt like it- and Alice still hasn't shown up to bandage me or give me the tour she was so eager to guide. There is definitely something missing in this situation. Complicated puzzle piece. I wrack my brain for where she would scamper off to but I realize I know almost nothing about this woman. Or the places she could go. I sigh and crash onto the bed again.
I want to go run outside. I still have enough bottled up energy for that. But I know I can't, because I'll end up helplessly lost in the labyrinth. My face connects with the pillow and I can't breathe. I stay there just to see how long I can hold it. A pretty lengthy time, actually. If Renee had ever let me try out for sports it would've been swimming. I liked being in water.
With sudden inspiration I go to my bathroom to a giant tub. I swear my private bathroom is almost the same size as the bedroom itself.
I do know why that have a community bath, though. There is only a tub here, but no shower faucet. If somebody wanted to get in and out in a hurry they'd go for the shower. Alice must have been anxious for the tour, and couldn't wait for me in the bath. But then why would she leave? And hasn't Edward found her yet? I mean, honestly, my neck stings. Bad. He should have at least sent someone for me. Is that so hard? No it isn't. Edward forgot.
I shake these thoughts from my mind and start the tub. I'm still fairly clean but even in my thick clothes I'm starting to grow cold. I feel the hot water running from the the faucet with my fingers and relish in the warmth. It soon gets way to hot and steamy so I pull my hand out and wait. I don't turn the temperature down. Instead, I wait a couple minutes before shredding my clothes and stepping into the still-steamy bathtub. It's so big and comforting I sigh and try to relax.
So much energy. My toes are tapping on the edge of the tub along with my fingertips. An endless beat-less rhythm. I stay in the tub and dunk myself in repeatedly to practice holding my breath. Over and over and over until I'm dizzy. I gasp for air and lean my head on the edge of the tub. It reminds me of the grave. I wonder where Alice is now? Or Edward? Are they even thinking if I'm okay? Are they thinking about me at all? Probably not. Or my neck would be bandaged and my tour finished.
I finally drag myself out of the tub when it starts to get chilly. The last thing I need in this place is frozen toes when I don't have socks. I dry myself with the same fluffy white towel from this morning because it's really not that dirty. I put my hair up in the towel and leave it there to dry. Pulling my sweatpants and shirt on again, I crawl into bed because my toes are freezing.
I'm debating whether or not I should leave the room, even if I do get lost. Just for something to do. Then, I feel a huge lurch deep in my stomach as the bed dips under me. I scream and hold on the the edges of the mattress.
What. The. Chickenshit.
It feels like I'm in an airplane and we're having major turbulence. I shout for Alice and Edward because I don't know if it's me, or the hospital's moving. Is it an earthquake? No, that doesn't seem right. And the Cullen Project C21-0 is obviously too large to be an airplane. I'm strangling the sheets balled up in my hands. My towel flies off my head as if it has a mind of its own and sticks to the metal door. Gravity is shifting. My bedside table starts to screech it's way across the metal part of my floor. I want to cover my ears, but my hands are all but glued to the sheets of my bed. My bed starts to shift, and then I really start to panic.
"Alice! Edward! Carlisle!"
I squeeze my eyes shut to withhold the images before me. Furniture sliding. Water spewing out of the bathroom door in small orbs. Floating. Superman liquid. My ceiling is growing. Getting closer and closer. So dangerously close. Could this be real? What if I'm dreaming...? My screams have not ceased and they grow louder because it all won't stop.
Suddenly, the air rushes out of my lungs as my bed hits the floor with a hard impact. Whoosh. I hear the oxygen escaping from me. There's a splashing sound as all the water droplets hit the floor and soak my gray rug. The wardrobe is stagnant, but twisted at an odd angle with the wall, and my bedside table lays cracked at the foot of the front door. A static-ridden voice explodes out into my room from the ceiling. I jump and look up at the ceiling. A speaker rests in the middle of it. That must be where the sound is coming from.
"Attention! There has just been an extreme gravity malfunction caused by a fried wire in the system. Please, do not panic, workers are attending to it as we speak. Do not expect this to happen again. If anything near you is broken or damaged, please contact a worker. Resume your business."
The message repeats itself three more times before it finally crawls back into the speaker. Gravity shift? What are we in, space? I laugh at the completely ridiculous thought. Space? This? Please. I'm recovered from my fright as quickly as it came, simply glad that it's over and done with. The voice in the speaker said it would not happen again, but I don't trust it. I walk across the room carefully, expecting the floor to fall out from under me again like the wolf trying to get the roadrunner.
I'm finally at the door. I carefully pick up my glass end table and set it by my bed, which I straighten out. The crack in the table is quite large, but if I don't lay anything on it I think it will be fine. The holographic television and stand are surprisingly unscathed, and I quickly set my wardrobe back in it's place.
The puddles are a different story. They must have seeped out of the bathtub that was still draining. I wrack my brain and remember that they were floating, but that could've been me just freaking out. I stubble into the bathroom, infamously tripping over my own feet. The bathtub hasn't tipped over, like I supposed it would be. Then how did the water get out...?
There's a knock on the door that separates my from that thought. I jog over to the door and open it wide to a handsome dark skinned man with dreadlocks and humble brown eyes.
"Hello, miss. Are you all right? As you probably know, we experienced a gravity shift, so we are checking each room for damage to the people or their possessions." The man moves his head to try to look around me, and notices I've put almost everything in there good order. He nods to himself.
"Um, there's a glass table that cracked, and my floor is soaked but other than that I'm sure you have more important things to take care of." I tell him and he smiles. His grin fades quickly.
"Do you need a bandage? What happened?" He's noticed my neck.
"Oh, that's from the other day, and I would like a bandage..." The man unfolds a backpack and unzips it. He presents me a gauze and wraps it on my neck. "Thank you."
"Would you like some pain pills? It's inflamed, I think you have a small infection."
"Please," I state and hold out my hand to accept two pain pills. I swallow them dryly and my throat convulses as I choke them down. An all too familiar feeling... "Thanks, again."
"You're welcome, Miss..." He pauses.
"Bella. Call me Bella." He smiles widely and his white teeth are very straight. They contrast nicely with his dark skin.
"Bella. My name is Laurent." He shakes my hand but lets go quickly, obviously in a hurry but sustaining politeness. "I need to attend to the other rooms in this section now, Miss Bella."
I nod and wave at him as he knocks on the door to the right of mine. He's really nice. I leave my wet room and walk down the hallway, not sure of where I'm going but it's better than the confines of that place. There are no broken things in the hall but there was nothing in here to begin with except for people. Who are buzzing around right now checking to see if everything's in order. I get shoved a couple times and I'm the one that says sorry. I shouldn't be in their way.
I round a corner and practically fall down a set of stairs to the first floor. Grabbing hold of the railing, I lose my footing and slide down until my bum comes into contact with the bottom metal step. Ow.
Why does it have to be metal, anyway? Practically everything is. The walls. The floors. The stairs. Boring, drab, and down-right ugly. Oh, and hurtful. Don't forget hurtful. I get up with a huff and rub my ass. That really did hurt.
I stagger into a mess hall. It's filled with food and broken plates scattered on every metal surface. It's slippery and I barely hold my footing. Dozens of people are bending over to pick up food scraps and are audibly cursing under their breath. The food goes in the green bags, and the glass plate bits in orange ones. There's a cleared pathway out of the mess hall a few feet to the left so I hop over and walk across it towards the exit.
"Hey, it's you." I freeze. I recognize that voice. James. Mr. Tattoo.
I break into a jog for the exit. Being the klutz I am, I stumble and fall to my knees right my a smashed watermelon.
"Need a hand?" I glance up toward the sky and find James staring down at me. His hazel eyes piercing my soul and sending a shiver up my spine. He holds he arm out to me, and I take it cautiously. He hoists me up and I immediately let go of his hand and place it at my side.
"Thanks." I say curtly and continue on my way, not looking back.
"Wait a second there, Bella, I'd like to have a chat..."
Shit.
What would he like to "chat" about? I don't care for this man at all, and honestly, he makes me gag.
"About what?" I say rudely, and I'm staring at the floor. I can't handle his hazel eyes that pierce skin and bone and soul. Searching the darkness there.
"I was wondering..." James lifts a hand to tuck a runaway lock of hair behind my ear. I shiver at his touch. James must mistake my reaction because he steps closer to me, our bodies almost touching. He reminds me so much of Phil and I feel as if I'm going to throw up all over his dirty shoes. He looks down at my shirt and I cross my arms over my chest. "...If you and me-"
"Bella!" I almost leap for joy at the sight of Alice, forcing her way through the mushy floor in her black stilettos. I've missed the Tigger Pixie. I forgive her right away just by seeing her face. I can tell my the urgency in her voice that she's saving me. Her shoes click-clack on the metal floor and she stands at my side, ignoring James. "I need you to come with me, Bella. Now." The dim light in her eyes is real, that I see. This isn't an act. Alice is hurting for real. I nod my head yes and without sparing a glance in Jame's direction we all but sprint out of the mess hall, leaving a stunned James behind us.
"Alice, what's the matter?" I raise my eyebrows as she grabs hold of my shirt, pulling me with her. I try to keep up the pace but she's amazingly fast for someone so small.
"It's Jasper," Alice almost sobs. "He's sick."
Dammit. I've been so selfish for being mad at Alice before. Of course she would leave me to be at her husband's side. She must of thought I wouldn't be dumb enough not to ask someone for help. Yet I make a fool of myself and crash into her twin who doesn't seem to like me much. It still doesn't explain why he didn't send somebody for me. Maybe he was too wrapped up in his brother-in-law's sickness it slipped his mind. It makes me feel a tiny bit better knowing he didn't dump me in my room on purpose. We fly up two flights of stairs before I can get a word in.
"I'm so sorry. You shouldn't be with me, Alice, you should be with your hus-"
"I am." Alice hisses at me and I've never seen her so aggravated. "Well, I'm on my way anyway. I just needed to figure out where you were so I can keep on eye on you." She turns a corner and comes to a stop in front of a door marked 3-A1. Third floor, section A, room one. "Would you rather wait out here, or come in?"
"Whatever makes you more comfortable, Alice. I don't want to intrude..."
"You won't. Besides, if you're out here I wouldn't really be keeping an eye on you, eh? And you'd probably get bored and run off. 'Common-" Alice scans her finger on the door and opens it wide. She waves me forward and I enter first while she shuts the door behind her softly, the metal door extracting a barely audible click.
The room is all white and very sterile. A typical hospital room. There's a computer at the foot of Jasper's bed with his name in it, but I'm too far away to read the diagnosis. I gasp at the amount of people in this room. Carlisle is sitting in a chair by Jasper's bed, Emmett leans against a wall at the far corner of the room, Rosalie molded into him. Cope from the community showers is sitting in another chair by Jasper, and a tall pretty woman is kneeling by Jasper's side, hand in hand. That could only be Esme. Edward is sitting on a very uncomfortable loveseat close to Cope, alone and with his head in his hands. No one is wearing any kind of uniform, they're casually dressed, except for Rose, who's in a neon blue cocktail dress and heels. I stop abruptly and Alice whistles past. Esme automatically gives Alice room, and let's Alice take Jasper's right hand.
"Jazz, can you hear me?"
Jasper is sick. It's plain all over his features. His eyes are dim and far-back, as if he's seeing different scenes in his mind rather then whats happening outside. Dark shadows encircle his eyelids and his face shines with a slick layer of sweat. His breath comes in pants. I do see him register, though. He grips Alice's hand and mumbles something in her ear. Alice nods and strokes his cheek.
I duck my head, knowing I'm looking in on something intimate. I wonder why Cope is here. Maybe she knows Rosalie, or Alice or any one of the people in this room but I decide it doesn't matter. Because Edward is seeming very lonely on that loveseat.
I steal a glance in his direction and catch him watching me. He raises his eyebrows. Edward leans back and then pats the open space beside him. Edward wants me to sit with him? Well, I won't object. Making the least noise I can with my clumsy limbs I clamber into the loveseat and lean back. Edward doesn't speak. I'm not expecting him to, they're all here for Jasper and I'm here for Alice. I catch Rosalie glaring at me from her corner, and Emmett hugs her body closer.
We stay like this for a few minutes, before Esme breaks the silence. "I'm going to get coffee. Who wants some?" Everybody raises their hand except for me. I don't like coffee. Edwards head shifts toward me and he gives an incredulous look.
"I'm not a fan of coffee." I tell him, barely louder than a whisper. He nods his head and leans his chin on his hands, leaning away from me so I can't see his face. I notice I still have no bra and underwear. I feel a deep blush creeping to my cheeks. I duck my head and cross my arms over my chest to hide. It's then that Jasper starts coughing. Bad. Alice jumps up and lifts him into a sitting position. Blood is beginning to pool around the corner of Jasper's mouth and then everyone is on their feet.
Carlisle is the first into action. "Edward, go get a nurse."
Edward is out the door before I have the chance to watch him leave. Carlisle tests Jasper's pulse while Alice wipes off Jasper's mouth with a handkerchief. It comes back red. Alice is sobbing into his shirt. I shouldn't be here. I turn and walk out of the door. No one notices my absence. I'll catch up with Edward and he can tell me how to get back to my room.
I see Edward walking very fast in my direction, Jessica in tow. I'll be damned if she isn't qualified for this. I glare at her as she passes but she ignores me. She's too busy staring at Edward's ass. I'm tempted to let my foot out and make her fall on that makeup-smeared face of hers but she's too late and she's disappeared through the door. Edward doesn't go inside.
He leans against the wall, looking defeated before he finally slumps to the ground in a fetal position. My heart goes out for him and I walk toward Edward tentatively.
"Anything I can do?" I ask. There must be something I'm good for here.
"No, Bella. Could you just- sit with me?"
That's a surprise. I shuffle over and sit beside him. It's not the most comfortable place what with the metal floor but I don't care. I'm about to wrap an arm around him but think better of it. He doesn't say anything for roughly ten minutes before the silence is driving me mad.
"Can I get you something?"
Edward shakes his head no but finally releases it from the prison his hands constructed. He leans his head on the wall. Edward's hair is at the craziest I've ever seen it and it's most likely from him repeatedly running his hands through his hair.
When he eventually speaks his velvet voice is rough and cracked. "Seeing Jasper like that..." He shakes his head again and closes his eyes for a moment before releasing them. "And then knowing I can't do anything to help..." His slams his hands down on the floor and it creates a loud snap. I flinch at the sudden noise and recoil away from him before recovering and scooting over closer, trying to comfort a man I barely knew.
"It just aggravates me."
I know how he's feeling. Helpless and hopeless and on the verge of being out of control. This time, I do drape an arm over his shoulders and recoil slightly as electricity courses through me. I take my arm back and duck my head, embarrassed. What was it about this man that's so enticing? I want to touch him again, but the expression on his face holds me at bay. Utter confusion, and shock.
"I shouldn't be bothering you. I'll go back to my room." I unfold myself from the ground and wince as my knees crack. My energy as depleted extremely and I feel slightly sleepy. I wonder where the Cullen Project C21-0 keeps the Paraquin...
"Which way?" I ask timidly and he points down the the hallway to my right. "Go down that hallway, then down the set of stairs at the end of the hall, turn left, keep walking until you get to Section 7. I think you can take it from there."
Okay, those directions are easy enough. I nod, and he tilts his head downward in response, silently telling me to go. I follow Edward's instructions and amazingly I'm back in my room.
My feet make squelching noises on the wet rug so I roll it up and prop it against a wall. The floor is damp but I just ignore it. It will dry eventually.
I'm feeling tired an it scares me. What scares me more is the electric feeling I have whenever I'm around Edward. Like some force is pulling me toward him however hard I struggle to resist.
I make my bed and redo it until there isn't a crease or wrinkle to be spotted. I rearrange my furniture half a dozen times but I like it best the way they had it first. There is not one thing to do in this room besides watch television, and I noticed every channel has reruns nonstop.
I would find this weird and annoying but it's not on the top of the list of my priorities right now. The first is finding out what caused the strange gravity shift earlier, and the second is dealing with Edward. Or maybe that should be first.
I sigh and walk out of the room down the hall. I have no idea who my neighbors are. This isn't the best time to get acquainted though, everyone is still cleaning up the mess the gravity shift caused. Dozen of people still scatter down the hall, cleaning and repairing and moving out spoiled, broken items. Maybe I'll help.
I spot a midnight haired girl hefting a cart full of buckets. I look closer and see that they're full of heavy glass shards. The cart looks heavy and the black haired girl is struggling.
"Need any help?" I step in front of the cart.
"Oh, um, no I got it." She pushes her glasses up that were sliding down her nose and sniffs. Is she sick? My eyes widen with horror at the thought that Jasper's sickness could be spreading, but I push it back. My mind is just running at full speed at pulling random thoughts into the air to give it something to do. She obviously has a simple cold, or a case of the sniffles. Allergies.
"Please, I want to help. I have nothing to do."
"Er, well... okay. If you put it that way..." She moves to the side to make room for me and I walk over to her and grab the right side part of the handle on the cart. We start pushing and I let her steer mostly, not knowing where this will go. She breaks the silence first.
"I'm Angela."
"Bella." I tell her and give her a smile.
"It's really nice for you to do this, by the way. Thanks." She steers the cart around a corner and we enter a large metal room. It's very loud in here and it sounds like something is grinding metal under our feet. The metal floor slightly vibrates.
"You're welcome!" I yell over the noise, and cup my hands toward her as she leaves the cart, a bucket in each hand. I follow suit and grab a larger bucket in both hands. She stops at a huge round cylinder in the middle of the room. It's height reaches up to a few inches above my waist. The center of the oval is dominated by a gaping hole with huge turbines in it, tearing up whatever's inside. Angela dumps the glass contents of her buckets into the oval and they slide down into the turbine. The turbine eats of the glass shards hungrily and a ear-splitting noise chokes the air. I drop the bucket quickly and cover my ears.
I see Angela's mouth open and it looks like she's laughing and shaking her head. She takes hold of my bucket from the ground and dumps it in. The noise is deafening but I finally free my hands from my ears and help Angela with returning the empty buckets the to cart. After about ten minutes the last of the buckets is cleared and we leave the room.
Angela shuts the heavy metal door behind us and I'm thankful that the noise is muted. There's a slight ringing in my ears and I pick at them with a finger, coaxing the sound to register.
"What is that place?" I ask and start pushing the cart along with her back the way we came.
"Don't you know? It's the garbage room." Angela cock her head to the side.
"I've never been around the place, much." I say, and to make things clearer for her, I use a term I heard Edward call me once. "I'm a Subject."
Her eyes widen. "So you're up early? That's strange."
"That's what I hear..." I say. I still don't know what a Subject is but it reminds me of a submissive so I just don't want to know.
Angela nods her head and hands the cart to a burly man with my buckets full of broken glass. I shiver as I remember the sounds of the garbage room and I'd rather not go in there again.
"You don't have to come back with me, Bella." Angela smiles, sensing my discomfort. "It's my break, anyway. Would you like to eat with me?"
My stomach growls. It approves. I haven't noticed how famished I was and I grab my stomach. "Please."
"This way," Angela takes my arms briefly and pulls.
We eventually reach the mess hall downstairs and I search the room for James. He's gone. I exhale with relief. The mess hall is somewhat cleaner than before. There's a counter full of food. Buffet style. But Angela takes a moderate size of food. A salad, breadstick, and a container of pudding. I do the same, not wanting to seem rude but add an apple to the mix. Angela clears off a table and we sit down.
We eat in comfortable silence and other workers start to file in to eat. The mess hall is soon full and chattering. Angela and I finish our meal and I have no idea if it was lunch or dinner or even breakfast. I ask Angela for the time.
She glances at a digital clock set in the wall above our heads. "It's 2:30, why do you ask?"
"It's hard to keep track of time, here. I've been sleeping for a while and just woke up this... Morning? Afternoon? So I didn't know if we just had lunch or dinner."
Angela laughs at this and her laugh is very young and carefree. She seems more like a child even though she looked about twenty-five.
"I really like you, Bella. You're funny. I think we're going to be good friends."
I beam at her and she returns the smile. I give her a small short hug as it feels a little awkward for me but she seems okay with it. We wonder around the building for a few minutes on a semi-tour. Not the grand kind I knew Alice would have conjured up but Ang showed me the basics. She showed me how to get to the mess hall, community bathroom, and medical wing from my room. I memorized the route knowing I'd need the medical wing eventually.
After a while of walking through an abandoned medical wing, I turn and face Angela. "Do you think you could give me a dose of Paraquin? I'm feeling tired."
"Of course, Bella!" She tells me and struts to a locker. She opens it and takes out a small package.
"Here you are." She hands me the clear plastic packet and I see small white tablets inside.
"I thought it's supposed to be injected into your arm?" I ask and point at the crook of my elbow. Angela shakes her head.
"That's one way, and it's faster, sure, but I find it painful. This is Paraquin in pill form. It also comes in a drinkable liquid but it has the nastiest taste so I wouldn't recommend it." I nod and accept the little package greatfully. I noticed that Angela didn't have to unlock the locker she pulled them from so now I know where they are, if I need them.
"Thanks, Ang." I open the resealable packet, "How many do I take?"
"Just one." Angela states. I pull out one and swallow it dryly, my throat convulsing.
Then everything is dark. The lights flicker and sputter out lifelessly. I squeal and feel out in the air for Angela's arm. She yelps out in surprise at my touch but recovers and wraps and arm around my torso, holding her to me. The lights return after a few seconds but then flicker and die out again. We stay standing in the medical wing for what seems like hours but the lights never come.
"We have to move." Angela says and links an arm through mine. She pulls me along with her as I hear her shuffling around. "Got it!" Suddenly, I hear a snapping noise and a glowing light appears before me. A glow stick. And a powerful one at that. I can see about ten feet in each direction, before it fades to blackness. I spot pinpoints of light in random places and I suspect it's other people, just finding their glowsticks.
Angela's face is twisted in fear. I don't know why though, it's just a blackout. It's then that I notice that they're are no windows in this hospital that I've seen, so far. Why wouldn't it have windows? If they did it wouldn't be so dark, now. It is only 2:30, the sun should be high in the sky.
"Angela, why are there no windows anywhere?"
She gives my a quizzing look. "What?"
"Why aren't there windows?"
"Well, there are, but not much."
"Why is that?" I wonder where the scarce windows are around the Cullen building.
"To avoid as much oxygen leaks as possible, why do you ask?"
"Oxygen leaks?!" I hiss, incredulous. Holy shit.
"Yes, Bella, don't you remember coming here?"
"No. I don't remember anything!"
I'm so frustrated. Why can't I remember coming here, like they say I do? I can feel my eyes prick and I hate myself for my emotions to be connected to my tears. I hate crying when I'm mad. She seems to understand my confusion, or maybe she just doesn't want to snoop in my business.
Angela pats my hand, sorry for telling me whatever she's going to say next.
"We're in space."
My knees buckle under me.
End of chapter six.
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