23I first met Edward when I was twenty years old and in college. I was running across the road to make it to a class on time and he nearly hit me with his car. He'd jumped out to apologise to me and offer to take me to coffee to make up for it. His girlfriend sitting in the passenger seat wasn't too happy, so I declined. He did, however, ask for my name and when I got home that night found a friend request on Facebook from none other than Edward Cullen.
Occasional messages soon turned into long conversations about our lives. I learned that he had two siblings, his older brother and sister, Emmett and Alice. He was the baby of the family and treated as such. They were all extremely protective of him and all disliked the girlfriend immensely.
Since we became so close, I was the one he came to when shit got hard, especially when he told me he was breaking up with his girlfriend. I was the one who comforted him and it was my shoulder he cried on. The one that was adamant he not get me a coffee to make up for almost running me over. Apparently, she'd started getting into drugs and had tried to force him to take some. Sometime later, he took me to meet his family. His mother and father were ecstatic to finally meet me, after hearing so much about me from Edward. Alice and Emmett treated me with kindness and respect, but didn't warm up to me until much later.
About six months after Edward and his ex-girlfriend broke up, he asked me on a date. Esme, with tears in her eyes, told us it had taken long enough.
Edward's mother, Esme, and I became close. Where my own left me and my dad, Charlie, when I was little, Esme filled the space for me. When Edward was travelling with the armed forces, I would have dinner with her and Carlisle some nights and we would all get to know each other. Sometimes, Emmett and Alice would make an appearance and slowly, we became close friends as well.
He proposed to me on one of his leaves in the most beautiful way, I still get tears in my eyes. The ring he gave me was perfect; silver with one diamond on it. I wear it on a short chain now.
But of course, that wonderful period of our lives didn't last as long as I would have hoped.
His ex-girlfriend, Tanya, came back into the picture after Edward was honourably discharged from the army with an injury in his leg that required some pretty hard core surgery. To pass his time and regain his strength, Edward started kickboxing. It then progressed to underground boxing, paying him well. At this point, Edward and I had been together for over four years. I was a high school teacher, in one of the poorer parts of Chicago, while he was boxing. This was also the point in time Tanya came back into the picture. She'd heard he was into underground boxing and gave him cocaine after a particularly difficult fight. He was half conscious and didn't even know who she was, suffering from a concussion and heavy bleeding.
One hit.
That was all it took for him to become addicted. When he told me, I was furious. I immediately called my father, Chief of Police in Forks, Washington, to tell him what she'd done. He advised me to tell the Chicago PD that she was dealing and taking, and that she'd practically forced it up Edward's nose, knowing he wouldn't have a clue what was actually going on. His trainer, Jacob (who I knew from high school) caught her in time to stop her from taking him home, but he was too late to stop the real damage. He was in the back room, looking for a first aid kit to stop the bleeding. Poor Jacob still blames himself.
While the police picked her up from a street corner, arresting her with numerous charges, I was holding my fiancé down to the bed, tears running down my face, as he fought the cocaine in his system. Going through withdrawal was the hardest part. Edward would forget who I was and lash out. It's the reason I don't wear my ring on my finger anymore. The diamond on it cut him too many times when I had to defend myself. He has one or two scars on his jaw from my right hook.
After a particularly bad episode, I was sitting in the hallway of our apartment building, my head in my hands, when James and Victoria, our neighbours, approached me. They'd heard the whole thing and convinced me to tell them what was going on. They were the ones who helped me to get him into rehab the first time.
A lot happened in the three year period of his using. Our wedding kept getting put off. His family never knew why, and I swore my father to secrecy. I couldn't bring myself to tell the Cullens what Tanya had done. They were all so proud of not only of his service, but the way he handled himself after the injury.
It was Carlisle who James had to call the day after my 27th birthday and tell him Edward had overdosed and that he and I were in different ambulances on the way to the hospital. It was Carlisle who I woke up to five days later, Esme sitting next to him. Emmett and Alice stood near the door, looking at me with pity.
The patriarch of the Cullen family had seen the bruises, broken bones and lacerations his youngest son had left all over me. I don't think I've ever seen the Cullen men so broken as that day. Edward was still in ICU and would remain so until he woke from the coma he was in.
I'm positive I heard Esme's heart break when I told her what Tanya had caused. Alice came forward and threw herself on the bed, hugging me tightly and thanking me for not abandoning Edward, like others would have. Emmett told me he wouldn't ever let this happen again.
When Edward woke from the hospital a week later, he went on a rampage to find me, tearing out all the tubes and needles he was connected to. Whilst he wasn't experiencing literal withdrawal, the effect the drugs had on him still messed with his head. It was Emmett who had to pull Edward off me.
The part that continues to break my heart is that Edward didn't even know he was hurting me. He never realised his strength. He never thought it was him that put me in the hospital in the first place.
He was protecting me all along, I found out a year later. When he saw the bruises and the x-rays and pictures of everything in between, he never realised it was him that caused the damage.
"Bella, what are you thinking about?"
I jump and force myself back into the present, meeting Edward's wonderfully clear eyes through the thick glass. I smile and tighten my grip on the phone. "Nothing. How are you feeling today?"
Edward fell off the wagon seven months after the hospital stint. He's been in jail for two years now. He'll be released in 42 days.
This is the full story of the eight years I've been with and in love with Edward Cullen.
This has been rattling around in my head for years now. I've written, re-written, forgotten about it and now picked it up again. This little ditty literally came pouring out from my brain.
If you happen to have a look on my profile, I've sadly deleted most of my stories. This is because almost all over those were started over three years ago, when I was in an extremely bad place. For me to pick those up again would force me to put myself back in that mindset, which is something I'm not sure I'd survive again. If I'm ever able to continue them without falling back into the depression, I will strive to do so. But if you feel you can't wait that long, feel free to PM me and I can give you the outline of them and where I wanted them to go.
To the people who have stuck with me since 2008, with my first fic being Monsters (I was a little baby back then! I'm now 18!) And now to this one, I thank you so, so much. To the new readers, I want to thank you as well. Writing has always been my escape, and reading all of the wonderful stories all of you come up with has helped me through the roughest of times.
This fic will be violent, and at times, very difficult to read. Edward won't always be the nicest guy in the world. The journey through this will be tough. I see this as similar to what I've experience in my life, and just as I've had dark times, so will Bella and Edward. If you stick with me, this will be a ride that I hope you'll 'enjoy' as much as I have.
As always, thank you for reading and reviewing.
RiRi17