The little town of Forks, Washington was so small that, up until this point in time, it had remained irrefutably safe and boring. The most scandalous thing that had happened in recent years occurred when Mrs. Stanley, in a fit of rage over her cheating husband, attacked him with a butter knife. Of course, nobody was injured and Mrs. Stanley went to jail for aggravated assault.
The newspaper was full of reports that informed the public of "cats at large" or "suspicious vehicle sighted." Life was slow in this close nit town and the days were full of monotony and gossip.
The inhabitants learned though, on the night of December 25, 2007, how cruel life could really be, and how everything could be lost in the blink of an eye. It was on this night that the little town lost its innocence.
In the darkened waiting room a young man sat with his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
In ordinary circumstances this man would be seen as extraordinarily handsome. And he was. In his high school days Emmett Swan was the pride of the Forks town: the star of the football team, straight 'A' student, and dimples and blue eyes that could charm the pants off of anybody.
Now he just looked broken. Tear tracks marred his otherwise flawless face and his shirt was soaked with blood that did not belong to him.
The flashes of lightening illuminated his horrified, disbelieving face.
As a doctor walked around the corner Emmett shot straight to his legs—and then almost collapsed on the ground when they wouldn't stay beneath him. He simply didn't have the strength to hold himself up.
The force of the agonizing pain he was experiencing made his entire body tremble, and he vaguely remembered wondering if this is what shock felt like. Or perhaps the trembling was his body's way of trying to rid itself of the guilt and agony.
"Whoa!" the doctor exclaimed, taking Emmett's elbow and guiding him back into a chair.
The doctor looked exhausted, and Emmett tried his best to ignore the blood stains on his scrubs.
"How is she? Please tell me that she's alright," Emmett pleaded with the doctor.
The doctor sighed and sat down next to him on one of the seats. "She's alive…which is much more than I could've hoped for three hours ago. But it's going to be a long time before that girl can ever be considered 'alright.'"
"But she's alive? She's going to make it?"
The doctor looked down at the boy with sad eyes. "She's not out of the woods yet, son. We've got her on a ventilator so that she can breathe a little bit better. And she's in a medically induced coma so she can heal faster and better.
"If she makes it through the night and responds well to the medication, I believe that she'll be fine. And then we can go ahead and wake her up in a few days."
The tears leaked unabashedly down Emmett's face. The guilt, and the anger, and the sadness were simply too much.
"And…And the other injuries?"
"Bruising mostly; on about seventy percent of her body. Also, she fractured a rib and shattered her left femur. She's going to have to need a few surgeries to repair the femur and then an immense amount of PT if she's ever going to walk again."
The doctor looked sadly at the boy in front of him: such great sadness and tragedy for such young people.
"What concerns me the most are her lungs. She inhaled an awful amount of smoke. They've been scarred badly. I'm afraid she'll have respiratory problems for the rest of her life.
"You sister will be more fragile than ever Mr. Swan. The slightest cold will send her to the hospital. Her life will be changed drastically after this.
"Well, Duh!" Emmett wanted to shout at the doctor.
The doctor paused. "Emmett, the trauma that Isabella has endured is outside of either of our understandings. You have to prepare yourself for when she wakes up. Recovery is going to be long, both physically and emotionally. It's going to be a long road for both of you."
"Yes, I know," Emmett responded impatiently. "Can I see my sister now?"
The doctor nodded. "Yes, of course."
As the doctor walked Emmett down the hallway Emmett thought back to the words he had last shared with his sister.
They hadn't been kind.
He gripped his heart in agony as he remembered the names he had called her.
He had told her to "grow the hell up" and to "stop living in the past."
And then he stormed out; leaving his little sister crying in the middle of the floor.
More tears escaped his face and rubbed furiously at them.
That was a month ago.
The doctor stopped outside of room number 114 of the ICU.
He looked at Emmett with a serious expression on his face. "I would prepare yourself Mr. Swan. Isabella…her body endured a lot of trauma and she doesn't look quite as you remember her. Now, visiting hours in the ICU usually end at 8, but considering your situation… you just take as much time as you need, son."
Emmett looked at the doctor with sincerity in his eyes. "Thank you for everything. Really."
With a lot of fear and trepidation Emmett slowly opened the door to his sister's room.
The first thing he had noticed was the incessant beeping. On most days Emmett would have wanted to ram the cause of the beeping into the wall. But not today. Today, the beeping was the only sign that his baby sister was still alive. Barely.
As Emmett looked at the figure in the bed, the breath rushed out of him all at once.
The emotions that he had been holding in all day rushed to the surface and before he could stop them, enormous wracking sobs shook his body forcefully up and down.
He had never noticed how tiny his baby sister was until now. She barely made a bump in the white covers.
In this particular moment, Bella looked so completely helpless and small. She looked no older than ten years old and Emmett's protective instincts flared.
A big tube ran from a machine that set beside her bed into her mouth. So in the balance was her life that she depended on this machine to keep her alive.
Smaller tubes ran all over her body.
Bandages covered nearly every inch of his little one, and wrapped around her leg was a very bulky cast.
The bruises on her skin contrasted greatly against her pasty white complexion, and she looked like the poster picture for domestic violence.
Collapsing into the chair next to Bella's bed, Emmett sobbed out his guilt and anguish.
He gently stroked her head and forehead, hoping that she could feel his presence. More than anything he hoped that, in the depths of her unconscious mind; she wasn't scared. He hoped that she wasn't constantly reliving this nightmare over and over again.
"Hi little one," Emmett cooed gently, for once completely at loss for words. What do you say to a person in a situation like this?
"I don't know what to say. We haven't talked for a while, Bella…"
Emmett paused. "But that's not on you, baby. That's my fault, I know. You know how goddamn stubborn I am.
"But everything's going to be alright now. I'm here. Nothing can hurt you now." Emmett soothed over and over again. "Nobody will ever hurt you again."
"I'm so sorry, Little One. So fucking sorry."
Emmett continued to soothe Bella: stroking her forhead and her hair. Hoping that maybe his comfort would keep her alive. Maybe she would fight harder if she knew that she had somebody to come back to.
Looking around the room Emmett felt an overwhelming wave of sadness. He was the only one that sat here. There were no other family member...no friends. How long had his baby sister been alone? How must've these last few years felt with nobody around?
"A month ago I said some shit that I didn't mean. God, please believe that I didn't mean it.
"I was mad because you were right. Not about not loving you or feeling obligated to keep coming back. Never about that. But about not being there when I should've been there. It was reality check, sis. And I was just way too stubborn to own up to it.
"And then…I wasn't there today. I wasn't there when you he was hurting you. I didn't protect like I promised I would. That's something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life.
"But you were wrong, Baby," Emmett choked, talking to his very sick little sister.
"You were wrong when you said that I don't love you. I do. I love you more than you could ever imagine. I love you more than any other brother loves his little sister," he sobbed, leaking pain-filled tears onto his sister's hand.
"But I failed you so, so badly little one. Because…because despite how much I love, you still have absolutely no idea."
Clenching his eyes closed against the guilt that threatened to consume him Emmett continued.
"After mom died and I left for college, I couldn't face the memories of this place…I was a coward.
"But I'll do better baby…Just live. Live and give me the chance to be a better brother."
"I'll be there. I'll never leave you again. But I can't do this without you."
Emmett clutched Bella's hand violently. "You have to live… Please."