"Ms. Swan, can you hear me?"
I groaned, both sounds sending streaks of pain across my head. "Loud and clear." I muttered through my gritted teeth.
"Sorry. I thought you might have a headache. You had a pretty nasty hospital visit."
Hospital? I was in the hospital? Well, that wasn't really a surprise for me. It was always a concussion, or broken bone, but this was no broken bone. "What happened?" I asked.
There was some whispering from multiple people, but my eyelids felt to heavy for me to lift and find out who was in the room.
"There was a nuclear explosion, and you were in the blast zone." The voice said. "It was a miracle you survived. It's practically unheard of for someone so young to be able to come out… partially unscathed."
I waited for the words to connect in my head. "Partially?"
"Um… yes. The radioactivity affected your body." The doctor said. "How familiar are you with albinism?"
Albinism? I heard a beeping sound getting quicker around me, apparently the heart monitor. My heart felt like it was beating its way up my throat.
"Ms. Swan, calm down!"
"I'm white now?" I asked quietly in horror. I'd never been one for caring what other people thought about me, or one for attention, but this was bound to draw both.
"Partially. You have two-thirds albinism. It only affected your skin and eyes." The doctor amended. "Speaking of which, your skin is now highly susceptible to skin cancer by sunlight. You're not going to be bound to avoiding the sun at all costs, but you should avoid it whenever possible to dodge the risk of severe cancer.
"Your eye color will vary. The lack of melanin in your iris will make them appear red, due to the blood vessels being the only color in your eye. But, a few melanin cells are still there, and will reproduce through mitosis, and your irises will get a darker red and eventually turn black in a six month cycle before dying off from the lack of nutrients in your eye, and will repeat the process over and over again.
"Also, the radioactivity disintegrated a lot of nutrients in your body. It may result in stunting any growth you still have."
"I'm going to be 17 forever?" I asked tentatively. This day was not going very well.
"I'm afraid, yes."
Shit.
A/N: Just a story prompt I really want to continue.
And, all of this—the partial albinism, stunted growth, and color changing eyes—can happen to a human being. I just thought it would be interesting if Edward thought Bella was a vampire.
To my new prompt!