Burning... My forehead was burning. A searing hot line was etched across it, warmth spilling out of it and running down my face like water. Except... Except it was thicker. More like blood. Both the pain and the smell of burning rubber dared to drag me forth from the comforting black that was filling the edges of my conscious, seeping forth with a lulling silence, begging me to escape into it. I fought against awareness. Oh how I fought. But it was unrelenting. Screams, shouts, roars, cracks. All these sounds brought me back to the world of the living, much to my chagrin.
The soft melody of a piano stood out strangely against the rest of the sounds, chaos fading into white noise. Curious... The CD player was still working despite the entire right side of the car being crumpled and folded onto the front of a rather large truck. I opened my eyes slowly only to find my vision blocked by crimson. I tried to make a motion to wipe it away with my right hand only to find that I didn't know where it was. I couldn't feel it. In fact, I couldn't feel the right side of my body at all.
It was then that I realized what had happened. My mouth opened in an silent scream, and soon I was choking on the same liquid that was pouring from the rather large cut on my forehead, and I noted, my broken nose. Pulling back from the airbag slowly, I wiped away the blood from my eyes, blinking furiously to try and clear my sight. People were milling around my car and the truck, facial expressions ranging from horrified to blank.
A crackling noise pulled my attention to the front of my car. A small fire was burning, increasing in it's ferocity each passing minute. Something clicked in the back of my mind, though I couldn't bring it forward. I knew it was important, perhaps even a matter of life and death. I waded through my thoughts, feeling as though I was weighed down mentally with mud. I knew it had something to do with the fire and my car. Weren't car engines and fires a dangerous mix? Didn't..? Didn't fires...? Why couldn't I remember!? It was all too frustrating... Just as I gave up, though, the thought clicked. Car engines, or rather just cars, plus fires, equalled dangerous explosions. Or at least, that was how it generally was in the movies.
Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.
I twisted in my seat, my right arm flinging helplessly. I scratched at the seatbelt, trying desperately to press the button to release the clasp. It wouldn't budge. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate as blood started pouring over my eyes once again. I tried to calm myself down, but all I could think of was the fact that I was going to die in a horrible, fiery explosion. This week really just hadn't worked for me...
Realizing that resistance was futile, I leaned my head back, tears mingling with blood as I waited for a burst of fire to engulf me. Hopefully it would be quick. A strange noise to my left piqued my curiosity, wondering if that was what the beginning of an explosion sounded like. It, however, was no explosion. It was a person, or rather, a god in human form. Doctor Cullen had just opened my door and was gazing at me with a pained expression. I was speechless, and felt like a fish as my mouth opened and closed uselessly. I blinked, and he was leaning across from me, unbuckling me quickly and pulling me out. He cradled me as if I weighed no more than twenty or thirty pounds, instead of one hundred and twenty. I opened my mouth to protest, though only a gurgling mumble escaped. He pressed a finger against my lips and shook his head. I noticed two things, A) Carlisle was cold, and B) he was hard. It was like he was carved out of marble by some great master. Blinking back more blood, I gazed up to his face.
His lips were a hard-set line as he stared ahead and maneuvered through the crowd and to the hospital. I supposed I was lucky in the sense that the wreck was right at the entrance to the hospital's parking lot. I noted silently that I wasn't being jostled at all as he started running towards the emergency entrance, and peeked over his shoulder at my car. There was still no explosion, though the fire had spread rapidly. Perhaps those explosions were only in the movies... I continued to stare at my car as we went through automatic doors, and only stopped as I was placed on the gurney.
I closed my eyes against the harsh flourescent lighting and focused on trying to locate my right arm and leg. It was useless, and I soon gave up. I opened my eyes as I heard a whimper, only to realize that it was me. Squinting, I looked at my savior and was startled to find him looking back. Despite my condition, I felt my cheeks go hot. I cleared my throat and licked my lips before speaking. "Doctor Cullen?" I wondered if he could hear my voice waver.
He smiled at me, though his facial expression seemed one of an immense sadness. "Please Jennifer, I've told you to call me Carlisle."
"Carlisle, I can't feel the right side of my body." Luckily, this paralysis didn't seem to effect the muscles in my face.
He nodded, looked up as we went through a door, then looked back at me. "It's okay, Jennifer. We'll get you fixed up in a minute. Just breathe in deeply and count backwards from one hundred." With that, the anesthesiologist put a mask over my mouth and nose. I started counting out loud, and right before I slipped away, I murmured a quiet thank you, hoping he would hear it, though knowing full well that it had barely been audible to my own ears. Still, the last thing I saw before fully going under was his gorgeous smile seemingly mouth the words 'you're welcome, Jennifer'.
Carlisle Cullen had to be my angel.