Guys, I know these are coming out like nearly weeks apart but you'll happy to know that my last exam is tomorrow and I can dedicate like the next 10 or so weeks dedicated to writing only for you guys. Woop! I would also like to thank you for being so patient you are all wonderful!
So here it is, Chapter 27.

Kayla’s POV

I woke up to darkness. At first I was scared. The darkness meant the cell and the cell meant Loren had kidnapped me and the kidnapping meant I was going to die. So I screamed. I screamed because of all the fear and anger in me. I had thought I had escaped. That I was free from any torture Loren had planned for me. Not to mention that my escape meant Loren was dead and that he couldn’t hurt me or Charlie anymore. Even though he had managed to hurt Charlie in the process of my escape but that hadn’t mattered because I healed him. It wasn’t until I felt cold hands on my arms that I realised I wasn’t in the cell.
“Sshh, Kayla,” a voice so familiar to me I knew my escape wasn’t a dream. “You’re safe at home.”
I shut my mouth and saw that if I had given me eyes time to adjust I would have realised that I was at home. I was in my own bedroom. The window was open and uncovered so moonlight streamed into my room and a cold breeze blew in.
“I thought...it was dark when I opened my eyes...I thought I was...”
Edward pulled me gently onto his lap and I laid my head on his shoulder. He stroked my hair to comfort me.
“I know what you thought,” he said, a slight hardness to his voice. “Do not think that again, Kayla, because you won’t be going back to that place. I will be here to protect you.”
I also knew what he was thinking. He blamed himself for what happened to me. He thought it was his entire fault that I was kidnapped and kept in that dark cell.
“Edward,” I said, quietly. “This isn’t your fault.”
“What isn’t?” he asked even though he knew.
“My kidnapping,” I explained. “It wasn’t your fault. Loren would have gotten me some other way.”
Edward didn’t say anything which told me he was still blaming himself.
I sighed. He leaves me alone for one moment and anything that happens to me in that one moment is entirely his fault. That is what he thinks. That is what he is thinking.
“If I hadn’t left you alone,” he said. “The Shadow Hunters wouldn’t have taken you.”
So that’s what had taken me. Whatever had grabbed me knocked me out before I could see what they were. I didn’t know they could take people too.
“They would have gotten me some other way, Edward. They are experts at getting what they want. That’s why Loren and everyone have them.”
“But if I hadn’t left you alone,” he insisted.
I pushed away from Edward to look up at him. I had to get him to believe it wasn’t his fault or he would be tearing himself up for all of eternity.
“Even if you hadn’t left me alone they would have taken me,” I said. “The whole commotion of graduation is what Loren wanted. You could have turned away for a second and they would have grabbed me. On my way to the bathroom they would have grabbed me. Getting into my robe at school they would have kidnapped me. Lots of opportunities, it just so happened they kidnapped me when you left me. Do not feel any ounce of guilt. It was not your fault.”
Edward was now arguing in his mind about what I told him. He agreed with everything I said but he was still trying to find something that was his fault. He wasn’t doing it purposely he just wanted to make sure that anything he did didn’t go unpunished.
“See?” I said. “Nothing was your fault.”
He pulled me back to his chest.
“It might not be my fault but I still feel I am to blame,” he replied. “I should have found you faster.”
“Edward, if you keep on blaming yourself I will blame you for the suicide I am about to commit because of your continued self blaming.”
I heard a quite chuckle and knew he wasn’t as totally depressed as I thought.
“Why would I be?” he asked. I looked up at him and saw his gold eyes sparkle. “You are here in my arms, I cannot be any happier.”
I smiled and reached up to kiss his lips. His arms tightened around me but did not hurt me. I could feel the longing he had for me. To him, it felt like I had been gone for seventy years not just seven days and it had hurt him more deeply than I had ever imagined my absence could cause. I had felt pain being away from him, I had felt my heart ripping open and a hole created that only he could fill. I had never thought that I would make such an impact on him. I knew he loved me but feeling all the pain and agony and hurt he had felt over the past seven days I realised just how much he loved me. It went deeper than love. It was like I was his soul mate and he was mine. It was like we were destined to be. I couldn’t explain it; it was like I just knew.
He pulled away from me and looked deep into my eyes. Without words or even thoughts he told me that he knew exactly what I meant. He kissed my forehead and I laid my head on his shoulder again.
“Sleep,” he whispered. “That horrid place can’t have been too comfortable for you.”
“But I don’t want to sleep,” I said. “I want to be awake. I’ve just got back.”
“I know,” he replied. “But you’ll enjoy it more when you’re fully awake and rested. Sleep, my love.”
He began to hum that lullaby I’d heard him hum before to help me sleep. I listened to it for a while. It was very beautiful and I wondered if he’d composed it himself.
“What is that?” I asked, my voice sleepy. My eyes were closed thanks to the lullaby.
“A lullaby,” he said, a smile in his voice.
“Did you write it?”
“I did.”
“It’s very beautiful.” I was struggling to focus on sentences and words as I was drifting further and further into sleep.
“My inspiration was you,” I thought I heard him say before I fell asleep.



I opened my eyes to find sunlight blazing in my room. I stretched my arms out and realised that Edward wasn’t next to me. I didn’t panic as this wasn’t unusual. I hardly woke to Edward still lying next to me. He had to run all the way home to change and come back, making it look like he actually did go home and stay there, not sneaking upstairs and spending all night with me. I smiled, wondering what Charlie’s reaction would be if he ever found out what Edward did.
I sat up and looked at the clock next to my bed. It was after one in the afternoon. I slept late. I got out of bed and found that I wasn’t wearing what I had on before. I had still been in my graduation dress when I escaped. Now I was wearing pyjamas. Someone must have changed me after I fell asleep on Charlie. I walked out of my room determined to have a shower before going downstairs. After my long hot shower in which I used nearly half a bottle of shower gel and shampoo to get rid of all the dirt, I got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Wearing a dress for seven days really changes your
dress style. I tied my hair back in a pony tail not caring that it was still wet. As I was closing the wardrobe door the sunlight touched my hands. It had been so long since I’d seen natural light. Seven days in the dark did no one any good. But when I remembered what sunlight meant I felt the happiness lessen. Edward couldn’t come out in the sun. It was a big giveaway to humans that he wasn’t normal. Damn. I’d just have to wait until dark to see him. I walked as quietly down the stairs as possible. I didn’t want anyone to know I was awake just yet. I wanted to actually get inside the living-room before everyone jumped me.
I only managed to open the door. Jacob was the first one to get me. He scooped my up into his signature bear hug and I didn’t complain even when my oxygen was cut off. I just hugged him back sinking into the warmth of his skin. I had missed him so much.
“Let me see her!” a voice with an English accent screamed. “Let me see her!”
Jacob dropped me gently and stepped out the way so my mother could hug me. It was like a death grip she used. She squeezed me so hard Jacob would be proud. But again I didn’t complain. I was just so happy to see her that I didn’t care.
“Oh Michaela!” she sobbed. “I thought you were dead!”
“Nice to know, Mum,” I said smiling through the tears that were now rolling down my cheeks.
She let me go and I saw her tears. She wiped away mine and her hand lingered on my cheek. We stared at each other, into each other’s eyes. It was one of those mother-daughter moments. All these different emotions mixed together inside me. I never thought I would be this happy to see Sarah Swan again. The reckless crazy woman that drank herself stupid so many times I ran out of paper to tally it up. The woman that was a part of the reason why I moved to Forks but never admitted it to myself.
“I missed you so much,” I cried to her. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“You missed me?” she asked, smiling. “Why do I find that surprising?”
Of course she knew what she was. She knew that she was a reckless crazy woman who drank herself stupid so many times I ran out of paper to tally it up.
I nodded.
“Oh you silly girl,” she said, her hand dropping from my cheek. “I’m not worth the time to miss.”
“You are,” I said, grabbing her hand and holding it. “You’re my mum.”
“Some mother,” she said, looking down. “I turned up drunk at your graduation.”
“So,” I said. “You started a bit earlier than everyone else.”
She smiled, more tears coursing down her cheeks. She truly thought she was a terrible mother.
“Mum, I don’t care if you drank the volume of the River Thames in Smirnoff Vodka. You are my mother and you are the best mum I could ask for. I love you.”
“Kayla,” she sobbed before hugging me again. “You are the best daughter I could ask for.”
She let me go and wiped her eyes.
“I just need to go to the bathroom and clean up,” she sniffed before leaving the living-room. I turned around and saw Jacob gone and Darren there.
“Hi,” I said.
Darren looked a mess. He looked like he’d copied Edward, when I’d seen him in the cell. They looked so alike in that one moment. Not in actual appearance but what my absence had done to them. Darren had purple bags under his eyes and his eyes looked dead and he was so tired he could fall asleep right there standing. He looked like he’d lost weight too since I’d last seen him and that was only last week. But despite all that he was smiling.
“Kayla,” he whispered. “You really are here.”
I tilted my head, confused.
“I thought I’d dreamt the whole thing,” he said. “Even though I’ve hardly slept since you were gone.”
I couldn’t believe that Darren would be like this over me. I mean, look at him. The guy was beyond a mess. Did this mean he loved me more than I’d thought?
“I’m here,” I said. “Safe and sound.”
He surprised me by hugging me. It was very gently, unlike Jacob’s and my mother. At first I froze. Darren had never hugged me once. An occasional pat on the arm was the most I got from him. But then I relaxed, realising that it wasn’t so bad. Darren was a part of my family now. It was possible in the cell that maybe I had thought of him. He was my sort of step-father. He had been dating my mother for four years. Their engagement was a recent thing.
“Missed me, Darren?” I asked.
“Not at all,” he laughed. “This is what I usually look like. A complete and utter state.”
“I could have told you that.”
He laughed and I looked up at him. Already I could see some life returning to his eyes.
“Come on,” I said. He let go of me. Even though I had just got home and still had other to people to see I needed to take care of Darren first. It was not because I felt guilty because I had sort of done this to him; it was because I wanted to. “Let’s get you something to eat.”