Chapter Seven – Nightmare

Chapter Number:  Seven

Chapter Name:  Nightmare

Page Numbers:  129-151 (Hardcover)

Date of Chapter:  March 5-8, 2005

Summary:  Bella comes home after her trip to LA Push and goes up to her bedroom. She puts on headphones and listens to a CD that Phil had given her so she wouldn’t have to think.

Bella falls asleep and has a dream. In the dream she is in the forest near the ocean. She’s trying to follow the sound of the waves so she can find the sun. Suddenly Jacob appears, grabs Bella, and tells her to run. Bella shrugs him off desperate to complete her quest to find the sun. In fact she can hear Mike calling to her. Next, Jacob transforms into a reddish brown wolf with black eyes and starts to growl.  Bella can now hear Mike’s voice screaming for her to run, but she is distracted by this white light that is approaching her from the direction of the beach.  Out of nowhere, Edward steps from the forest smiling at her with pointed teeth and saying, “trust me”.  Just as Bella moves toward Edward the wolf jumps up and leaps in between them with his fangs aiming at the jugular. 

Bella then awakens from her dream screaming. She is on her bed fully clothed. It is 5:00am and thankfully Charlie is already out fishing, so she didn’t wake  him up. Unable to go back to sleep, Bella looks up vampire information on the Internet. Most of it is gory or information on role playing games. She is heartened somewhat by an entry about Italian vampires called Stregoni Benefici who are the mortal enemies of evil vampires.   She evaluates all the vampire information and decides Edward fits some criteria like pale skin, speed, strength, and beauty; however, he doesn’t fit other criteria as he obviously can be out in the daytime.

More frustrated than ever Bella takes a walk in the woods to clear her head. She comes to the conclusion that whatever the Cullens are vampires, superheroes, or something she hasn’t thought of, they are not normal humans. She decides that she has two options 1) to take Edward’s advise to be smart and avoid him, or 2) to let things go on as they had been because clearly Edward could have hurt her several times and chose not to. Bella chooses the latter and further comes to the conclusion that she is completely drawn to Edward. In her dream, she realizes she screamed when the wolf attacked out of fear for Edward’s safety. Bella walks home now relieved that she has made a decision about her relationship with Edward. 

Bella spends the rest of that day and the next uneventfully with Charlie. When she goes to bed on Sunday, she notices that the window in her room opens much easier than she would have expected.

When Bella goes to school on Monday it is bright and sunny.  She runs into Mike who again tries to ask her out on a date. Bella bluntly tells him that she isn’t interested, but that Jessica is. Bella looks for Edward in her classes, but he isn’t there. Then, at lunch she notices that his whole family is absent too. When Bella goes home Jessica calls and moves the date that she and Bella are supposed to go dress shopping because Mike has asked her out to dinner. Bella goes outside to read and falls asleep on the quilt after being frustrated that all the characters in Jane Austen novels seem to be named Edward. Bella wakes up with a start when she hears Charlie’s cruiser pull up, but also has an eerie feeling she isn’t alone.  Bella tells Charlie that the following evening she wants to go dress shopping with the girls. Charlie is confused because Bella isn’t going to the dance, and then decides that it’s just a girl thing.

The next day at school the weather is sunny and the Cullens are absent again. Right after school Bella meets up with the Jessica and Angela(Lauren can’t go) so they can go dress shopping in Port Angeles.

Characters InvolvedBella Swan, Charlie Swan, Mike Newton, Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, (In Bella’s dream) – Mike Newton, Jacob Black, and Edward Cullen

Characters Mentioned:  Phil Dwyer, Alice Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale, Rosalie Hale, Lauren Mallory, Renee Dywer, Tyler Crowley

Places Visitedthe Swan home, the woods surrounding the Swan home, Forks High School.

Memorable Quotes:
“He stared at me like I’d just spoken in pig Latin.”
~ Bella referring to Mike’s reaction to hearing Bella’s essay on Shakespeare is about whether Shakespeare treatment of his female characters is misogynistic.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea…if you ever repeat what I’m saying right now I will cheerfully beat you to death, but I think that would hurt Jessica’s feelings…Really, Mike, are you blind?”
~ Bella turning down Mike’s offer of a date and telling Mike of Jessica’s feelings for him.

“Weren’t there any other names available in the late eighteenth century?”
~ Bella thinking how the heroes of the Jane Austen novels all seem to be named Edward.

“I wouldn’t have to explain this to a woman.”
~ Bella musing how Charlie doesn’t understand why she’s going dress shopping if she isn’t going to buy a dress for herself.

“Bells, I fed myself for seventeen years before you got here.”
~ Charlie letting Bella know he can fend for himself while she goes dress shopping.

Important Information Learned:
Bella’s bedroom window opens easily even though, in theory, she is the first one to open it in years.

Bella screams in her dream not because she is afraid of Edward, but because she is afraid for him.

Bella does extensive research online about vampires and discovers that not all vampires are considered evil.

Renee has sent a bunch of emails that get snippier in tone because she hasn’t heard from Bella during the week, but Bella just replies with a quick response that says she’s been out with friends and busy with school work and now enjoying good weather.

Bella decides that Edward isn’t a normal human being but she is still not sure if he is a vampire.

Bella agonizes over choices carefully evaluating all facts that she has amassed, but once she makes a decision she never looks back to second guess herself.