Chapter 1: The Disease
Chicago, 1918 -
I lay sprawled out on my bed, ` thinking about what life had in store for me. Up to this point, I hadn't done anything incredibly interesting. I mostly stayed to myself. My mother was starting to wonder if I would be alone forever. At my age, it was high time to start becoming serious about finding a companion and starting a family. I had other ideas in mind.
The war was still going on, and I wanted to sign up. If it hadn't been for my family situation, I would go first thing tomorrow and enlist. All of my friends have already joined, and I wanted to as well. I made my view clear anytime I could. Anyone could tell you that I had quite the temper problem, and I wanted to go out and fight more than anything in the world.
The only thing stopping me up to this point had been my mother. She's been quite ill the past few weeks and I've stayed home to attend to her. Speaking of which, it was time to go check on her. I walked quietly down the hall to her bedroom where she spent most of her time lately. I found her there, lying on her pastel bed spread reading a battered book she'd read many times before. A classic, of course.
"Edward, darling!" My mother smiled at me. Her voice was week and her skin paler than it should, but she still managed to be as pleasant as ever. She always was a strong woman.
"Good morning, mother." I replied politely. I walked toward her and sat on the edge of her bed, and felt her forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"I've been bet—" She broke off with a harsh cough. She seemed to not be able to stop. She was clammy and sweating, and had a bluish tint to her face. I knew then that this was much worse that we thought. My father had died just a few weeks prior, taken by the Spanish Influenza. He had very similar symptoms. I got pulled out of my thoughts with the sound of my mother gasping for air. Suddenly, she was breathing heavy and her eyes rolled back into her head and fell out of consciousness.
"Mother!" I started to panic. I already lost my father, I couldn't lose my mother too, I just couldn't. She means so much to me. I picked her frail body in my arms and started to run. The hospital was only a few blocks away, I could make it.
When I finally got to the hospital, I gasped at what I saw. Cots and beds full of people all having similar symptoms to my mother. There were even people in blankets on the floor. I had to find someone to help me. I was beginning to lose it.
"Somebody help me, please! Help!"
I saw a flash of white heading towards me very quickly. As soon as I finished my sentence, there was a very attractive man standing before me. His skin was almost as white as his coat, and had golden blond hair. He had very angular features, but there was a softness to them that I could tell I could trust him. But what struck me the most were his eyes. His golden eyes. I've never seen eyes that color before. Topaz, almost pure gold. They were mesmerizing. His words pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Good afternoon, I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Now, what's wrong with our patient here?" He said kindly.
"Oh yes, of course. My name is Edward Mason, and this is my mother, Elizabeth. She's been sick for a while, and when I went to check in on her, she just collapsed! I didn't know what to do, so I brought her strait here." I said slightly frantically. I was starting to feel a little light headed, and I was breathing rather heavily. Probably just all the events of the day catching up to me.
Dr. Cullen gave me a small, comforting smile and began to take my mother out of my arms and over to a cot.
"Just calm down son, you did the right thing. Everything will be alright." He looked to me, but I couldn't focus on him, I was getting really dizzy, and I had a burning feeling in the back of my throat.
"I don't feel so good." I slurred. I really didn't. Probably just over stressed. Dr. Cullen looked up from checking my mothers vital signs, and looked me over.
"Maybe we should take a look at you as well." That was the last thing I heard before everything went black.
I woke up feeling much worse than I did before. My head was pounding so hard I couldn't see straight. I felt like I was going to throw up. I tried to take a deep breath to clear my head, but I couldn't breath. The only thing that came out was enormous amounts of coughing. I kept trying to breath, but all I could do was cough. I tried to sit up, but found that I was much too weak to even attempt it.
When my eyes finally adjusted, I noticed that I must have been out for a while. When we came here, it was around noon, and now it was dark outside. I wonder what happened? I looked around and saw my mother who looked even worse than I felt. She noticed that I was awake and sat up to come over to my bed and sat on the edge. She was so weak, but still trying to take care of me.
"Edward! You're awake. Oh Edward, are you alright darling? I'm so sorry, I should have been able to take care of you." My mother hugged me as tightly as she could in her condition, but I was to weak to return it.
"Mom, I'm fine, don't worry about me. Just get yourself better." I told her, my voice extremely hoarse from coughing. She didn't listen to me, just continued to try to attend to me. She gave me a cool washcloth and put it on my forehead. I must admit, that did make it feel better. My mother went back over to her cot, with much persuasion on my part, just as Dr. Cullen came in.
"Ah, Edward. I see that you're awake now." He said, while looking me over.
"Yes, sir. Dr. Cullen, what happened? Why am I here?" I asked him, confused. I couldn't remember much of anything. I remember bringing my mother here, but after that, it all seemed a little fuzzy.
Dr. Cullen gave me a sad smile before addressing me.
"Please, call me Carlisle." He smiled warmly at me, but then his eyes got sad before continuing. "I'm sorry son, but it seems that you've come down with the disease as well. It's very contagious and I assume being so close to your mother made you more prone to it. It seems we'll have to keep you here for a while."
I started coughing again, but this time the cloth turned read. Oh no. I was coughing up blood. This made me more panicked, which made the coughing worse. Dr. Cullen... er, Carlisle, quickly left the room, only to come back seconds later with a mug. He came back over to my bed and handed me the cup.
"Here, drink this. It should help ease the coughing a little. Just don't ask what's in it." He said with a smirk.
I took the cup from him and drank. It tasted more foul than anything I could imagine. I had to hold my breath to drink it. However, it did help the coughing, at least for now.
"Thank you, Carlisle." I said, giving him a look of gratitude. I took this opportunity to look at him again. He still had that friendly smile on his face, but he looked extremely tired. He had really dark circles under his eyes, which seemed to be much darker today. How could that possibly be? I thought. Maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me. Yes, that's what it was.
"Why don't you get some rest. You're going to need your strength if you're going to fight this off." He rested his and on my shoulder, and I realized how cold he was. Almost like ice. I flinched slightly, and he seemed to notice. He apologized, saying it was due to my fever, and quickly left the room. It didn't take long at all to drift off to sleep. I was completely exhausted and in a lot of pain.
I was unconscious for a long time, but even then I could feel my mothers presence close to my bed, putting cool towels on my forehead, occasionally waking me to drink some tea or take some medicine. She was probably hurting her chances of survival by attending to me. She should take care of herself. She needed to stay alive. I needed her to stay alive. She was my life.
I woke up later to sounds of voices. They were soft, but I could hear them perfectly. It was almost as if it were a dream. Maybe that's what it was, a dream. I kept my eyes closed, so I could listen without being noticed. It was Dr. Cullen and my mother. My mother sounded frantic about something. I wondered what it was?
"Save him." My mother commanded in a hoarse voice that was probably all her throat could manage. Was she talking about me?
"I'll do everything in my power," Dr. Cullen promised her. I peaked at them and saw that he had taken her hand in his. She looked so weak, so pail, so fragile. It hurt to watch.
"You must!" She insisted, clutching at his hand. Her eyes were hard, like stones, like emeralds. I had so much of her in me. Same bronze hair, same green eyes. Same stubborn personality. She continued, "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."
I must admit, this was an extremely vivid dream. The Carlisle figure looked shocked, frightened almost, after my mother pleaded with him. He looked as though she knew something about him that nobody else did. He stared at her for a moment, before she slipped into unconsciousness.
I was much too sick to listen to anything anymore. I was beyond getting better and I knew it. When I wasn't unconscious, I was coughing and wheezing. I could barely open my eyes anymore. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Carlisle turn to look at me. He had so many emotions on his face. His eyes were sad, almost pained just from looking at me. What had I done to make him look so hurt? As he looked at me, I noticed that he looked at me like a father would look at his son in this position. Not that he was anywhere near old enough to be my father, but nonetheless, that's how it was. Finally, he got a strong look of determination in his golden eyes staring into my green ones.
I knew my mother had died then. I looked at her for a brief moment, and instantly realized that I was now alone in this. I didn't have the strength to survive without her. As I saw her face, she didn't look peaceful as I would have thought. She still looked worried. She always did put others before herself. So selfless. I watched him wheel my mother away to where I assume was the morgue. I closed my eyes and tears came down my face without my permission.
I must have gone unconscious again, because suddenly I felt myself being wheeled away as well. I wanted to scream at them that I was still alive, that I wasn't giving up, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't make any sound some out of my mouth. Suddenly I wasn't being wheeled anymore. Somebody picked me up. I felt a door open, and we were outside. Why were we outside? I thought. It seemed as though we were being carried across the rooftops, but that didn't make much sense. I didn't know what was going on.
Suddenly it was warm again, I assumed we were inside somewhere. I felt him lay me down on a bed. I still couldn't open my eyes. Inside though, I was panicking. What was going on? Why was I here? Suddenly, I heard someone talking. It was Carlisle. He seemed to be talking to himself.
"I don't exactly know what I have to do here. I've never done this before, after all. I suppose I should just recreate my own experience." He mumbled to himself.
What on earth was he talking about? It didn't make any sense. I heard his footsteps come closer to me. He sat on the edge of my bed. I wanted to ask him what was going on, but I still couldn't manage to open my eyes or find my voice.
He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "I'm so sorry, Edward. Please forgive me."
Just then I felt something sharp pierce my neck.
AN - Ok guys, some people have mentioned that the sickness seemed a little rushed, so I thought I'd explain that. I did a little research on the Spanish Influenza, and everything said that people who get it will be fine one day and then they'll get sick and die within two days. For the people who make it, they'll be better in four days. So Edward had to experience this quickly because that's how the disease was. Hope that makes more sense! Review!