The Cullen house has never been particularly morbid, despite technically being inhabited by the dead. Esme always made a conscious effort to keep the décor light, breezy, open; welcoming to outsiders though they so very rarely came beyond our drive.
The absence of Edward, however, has made it feel like a house in mourning.
Before my change I had never understood the importance of family; me and mine never particularly communicated with one another and so bonding was something we never experienced. On being adopted by the Cullens, I was surprised to see how quickly that changed. Carlisle had warned me that my human instincts, emotions, experiences, would be few and far between for the first few years of my Vampire existence and to an extent he was right; I was an unruly and temperamental newborn at times, determined and reckless in my behaviour -- Rosalie's continual presence at my side was more than a comfort, it was a necessity. Behind the Vampiric reactions however, something deeper was growing. My feelings for Rosalie, strong off the bat, grew with every moment I spent with her, and the more I stayed with Carlisle and Esme, the more I grew to view them as the parental influence I never felt I had in my human life. Edward grew to be the brother that I needed.
Each of our roles within the family is essential; I cannot imagine coming home to find Esme gone, nor can I imagine the seat at the head of our table empty of Carlisle. Eternity would be bleak without Alice to smile and laugh with, nor would it be as exciting without Jasper to compete against. More and more he is becoming a brother in arms, an ally, a confidant and I appreciate him more than I could possibly let on. And of course there was Rosalie, my Rosalie, without whom I would never have been invited into the fold of something special, and without whom Eternity would be worth nothing at all, despite all of this.
So to be home without Edward, to be driving to school in anything other than the silver Volvo, to have nobody to goad and playfully ridicule, nobody to look out for us at the center -- the heart of the Cullens is missing.