Chapter One
"It was just a year or two, and then the girl would disappear. She would go on with her life—she would have a life to go on with. She'd go to college somewhere, get older, start a career, perhaps marry someone." –Edward Cullen, Midnight Sun
The morning after my first words with Edward Cullen, I checked the strange, quiet stillness outside my window, only to find a blanket of ice sheathed over everything, including the grass and the roads. A couple of icicles clung and clinked against each other in the tree as a single gusting breeze rocked them. I shivered.
Downstairs, Charlie's coat and gun were long gone, and so I hurried through breakfast to beat the little morning traffic I thought there would be in the precarious conditions. Thoughts of light eyes drifted across my vision as I ate, making my appetite less than non-existent as the excitement to see them again grew. His eyes…so strange, so sparkling. They drew me in as if I was some kind of helpless prey. But before, when they were black—I grimaced in remembrance of the wild glare he'd given me. What had I ever done to him?
I set the bowl in the sink and ran the faucet until the milky water ran clear, and then I put on my only pair of boots and stumbled into the clear, frozen morning. Too nervous to notice anything except the snow, drifting a little across the road, I slid over the last step and on my butt. Wincing, I regained my balance and stared at my feet until I made it to my truck, safe for the moment.
Perhaps ten miles an hour was a little slow-going on the road, and maybe I'd been there in time to snag a closer parking space if I'd pushed the truck a little more, but the risk of falling again in the parking lot was much less a risk than dying on Main Street and taking out a bunch of other cars in the process.
When I pulled into a spot in the back of the lot, I gingerly stepped down and glanced at the rear tire, all wrapped in something silver. I edged along the truck bed until I was close enough to see that someone, Charlie, had put snow chains on my tires, which was the reason I hadn't slid once in my drive. I felt all choked up for a moment, as Charlie must've gotten up God knows how early just to do something nice for me.
In my silent thankfulness for Charlie, I heard a screeching sound that seemed to be getting louder. Before I could fully turn around and react, I glimpsed a van, brakes squealing, just feet from hurtling into me. At the last second, I tried to make my escape, but in my haste, I slipped to the ground on the black ice and knocked my head against the pavement and into darkness.
"Damn it!"
I catapulted back to reality in my head, trying not to move from the pain throbbing behind my left temple. Someone had spoken aloud, cursing and hitting something metal. Two voices conversing, but one sounded more familiar, gruff, and angrier.
"It was an accident; I promise!"
"Your license is revoked, I can promise you that," the angry voice said. It sounded like Charlie, but with my eyes closed, I could only assume it was him.
I opened my eyes and tried to sit up, but immediately felt a gloved hand on my shoulder that was soft, but firmly keeping my body from lifting. On my other side, a pale doctor—too young to ever be considered a doctor's age—was looking down at me with a calming smile on his lips. He, too, had eyes just like Edward's, creamy and golden, and the palest powdery skin I'd seen. And there I was, calling myself albino.
"Hello, Bella," he breathed, and in my mind, I felt a deep panic settle in. Had I died? I squirmed against his arm, but discovered the painful response in my chest as I moved. "You've broken a rib. It will be a little while to heal, but for now, you shouldn't try to sit up at all. We haven't finished treating you."
"Oh." I couldn't think of anything better to say.
"I'm Dr. Cullen, Bella." He shook my hand lightly. I couldn't stop my mouth from falling open. Edward's adopted father, Dr. Cullen? Why did they look so much alike if they weren't actually related? Maybe Jessica got her facts wrong.
With a couple of fluid motions that didn't look like steps, he was around my bed and next to my father. "She'll be fine, but she will need help sometimes. The whole healing process could take up to six weeks."
My father looked relieved by one minute eye change, but he glanced at me worriedly and turned back to Dr. Cullen. "I—I don't think—will I need to send her back to her mother? The stairs in our house—"
"She'll be able to manage those after a couple days, but she won't be able to stand up for very long. Dizziness is a common symptom of broken ribs, as is confusion. The best thing for her right now is to lay down, get lots of rest, and not fly on any planes." Dr. Cullen smiled and made a few notes on his clipboard.
"Looks like I won't be making dinner for the next couple of days," I croaked out, trying feebly to make a joke to Charlie. He didn't laugh, but instead, looked more concerned than ever.
"Don't worry about dinner, Bells. I'll take care of it. Is there a certain diet for her, Dr. Cullen?"
"No, any food will do. I have to check on Tyler, but when I get him ready to go, I'll come back and teach you some of the breathing exercises you'll need to do while you recover." He nodded to us once more and turned to Tyler, who was in the doorway. "We can go back to your room now, Tyler."
"Bella, I am so sorry," Tyler gushed and disappeared from the doorway.
Charlie muttered something to himself and sat in a chair next to me. "When Dr. Cullen comes back, I'll go call your mother."
"Wait, did you tell her?" I felt my heart rate go up.
He nodded.
I sighed. "She's probably just freaking out right now. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already on a plane here." Suddenly, a whoosh of painkillers swept through my head, and the room began to wobble. I looked at Charlie's frazzled expression and mumbled some reassurance. "I'm fine, though. Tell her I'll call soon."
He noticed my head going round in circles as I tried to focus. "Just get some sleep until Dr. Cullen gets back." I nodded slowly and closed my eyes.
Dr. Cullen didn't come in for about fifteen minutes while I struggled to stay awake. Charlie left sometime in between, mumbling something about pizza for dinner. I lay in bed, trying not to move, though the painkillers were definitely doing their job, but finally, Dr. Cullen slipped in and approached when he saw that my eyes were open.
"Will I be going home today?"
"Most likely. I just need to see that all your vitals are good, and make sure you know the proper breathing techniques. Otherwise, there's a chance you could get pneumonia." Dr. Cullen grabbed my wrist and felt the pulse in it with his gloved hand, which still felt cold despite the latex between us.
I thought of Edward's similarly cold touch, when we accidentally bumped hands during the biology lab. He'd been absent before that day for a week straight. Dr. Cullen was a doctor; he might've known what the reason behind Edward's changing eye colors was, and so I spoke, "Has Edward been okay? He was absent for a while. I'm his partner in biology, and I don't want him doing all the lab work for the both of us while I'm out."
Not that we had anymore labs coming soon that I knew of, but the lie came out so organically that it could've convinced me that it was true.
Dr. Cullen paused from his examination and looked at me. "Well, Edward isn't coming back to Forks High School, Bella. He transferred to a school—up in Alaska—where his birth parents live."
"Oh!" I flinched and blushed. "I'm sorry. I just was a little worried when he didn't show up for a few days."
"He has been a little ill; the cold weather in Alaska really clears his head."
"That's good." I nodded slowly, still embarrassed. Dr. Cullen looked upset by his adopted son's absence. I felt a tugging in my chest that wasn't from the rib pain that left me wondering exactly who Edward was. But he was gone: a mystery that would never be solved. I tried to let his image disappear from my cloudy head, but those eyes were permanent in my memory in a strange way.
"Bella? You have a contusion right above your left temple, but it is minor." Dr. Cullen interrupted my staring and began to explain the proper way to breathe. In the latter part of his explanation, Charlie came in and sat in a chair in the corner until the instructions were finished. "All right, Charlie, I'm going to get the nurse, and we'll have a wheelchair ready for her to go."
He nodded. "Feeling okay, Bells?"
"Yup," I said, trying to pull myself up through the pain and the dizzy-making painkillers.
The wheelchair came, attached to a very smiley nurse. "Here you go, sweetie!" Her voice was like sugar. "We'll take you through the lobby so everyone in your class who showed can see that you're okay. No one left since you arrived."
I felt my stomach turn a little. "Uh, we can't go out the back or something?"
"Everyone is really worried, sweetie. We can't leave them hanging!"
"Maybe you can't," I mumbled.
We flew through the white hallways that seemed to get smaller and smaller as we approached the lobby. I could hear the raucous laughter and chattering as Charlie opened the double doors and revealed the colorful walls that tried to cheer up the sick with bright animation in the pictures.
"Bella!" Several squeals rang out from the crowd, and Jessica was the first to run up to me and give me a hand squeeze, as the nurse announced straight away that no hugs were allowed.
"Oh my gosh, Bella! That was so scary. I've never seen a car crash before. It gave me a heart attack!" she gushed. "You have cuts all over you!"
Behind her, Angela smiled and waved, but didn't come forward. I was grateful, because it felt as though I was suffocating from the attention already. She called, "I'll come visit you!" as the nurse started pushing again towards the exit.
"They all really like you," Charlie commented as they unloaded me into the backseat of the cruiser.
"Yeah," I responded, falling asleep before the door shut.