So for the second time in quite a while I have decided to tread into the waters of fan fiction yet again. It's been a while since I have written anything, so please be gentle with me. This is just a little something I thought up today, and I need to know if it is something worth finishing, or just leaving as is. Feel free to leave me comments. Constructive criticism is gladly accepted.
Also, as I am sure you know already... if you recognize it, I don't own it. I am merely borrowing it. Unless it's Carlisle. Which in that case I am stealing him and keeping him all for my own personal use.
For not the first time in my nearly four hundred years, I found myself on the precipice of change yet again. I'd watch the whole world around me change in ways no one would have ever been able to imagine: automobiles, airplanes, motorization and industrialization, telephone, radio, internet, and travels to space, and yet after all that I still found some changes unfathomable. I've watched people come and go all over the world, life revolving in its never ending circle of birth and death, and yet this one thing has affected my whole being. After centuries of wandering this earth alone, I had finally found my mate. It's been ninety years now. Ninety years since I first laid eyes on the brown haired beauty who would become my wife, and the mother of my "children". We've built a life for ourselves, despite our obvious shortcomings of immortality, and become what a true family is. Or at least I thought we had. When I came home from the hospital one night to find Esme packing a suitcase, the world I has spent so many years carefully creating quickly came crashing down around me.
I sensed something was off when Edward tried to head me off at the front door, rambling on about something Emmett and Jasper had done, or some car Rosalie had bought, but instantly I was suspicious. Edward was not one for useless rambling. Had they sent Bella instead, or possibly even Jacob, I may not have been concerned. But as Edward babbled on it fell on deaf ears. I could hear the shuffling coming from upstairs, and the whispers that even my excellent vampire hearing had difficulty understanding. I placed a gentle hand on Edward's shoulder, and he fell silent, a pained look gracing his features.
"Edward? Son? What is going on?" I asked quietly as the noises continued from upstairs. I got no response. Edward merely stared at the floor and shrugged his shoulders. I now knew for sure something was amiss. I watched as Alice descended the stairs, followed by Bella and Rosalie. Alice slipped past me without a word, as did Bella, but the surprise was with Rosalie. She stopped and gave me a hug, a sad look adorning her beautiful and flawless features. The reason for her sad countenance came down the stairs only a few moments later. Esme.
"What is going on?" I asked calmly as I noticed the luggage Esme was carrying with her. "Are we taking a holiday? I've not reserved any time off work, but I am sure if I call-". My sentence was cut short by Esme laying her hand over where my heart had ceased to beat all those years ago.
"Carlisle, please don't make this hard," she whispered. My brain went into overdrive. Could this really be happening? What had I done? I've devoted my life to my wife, my children, my work, and God. Was I being forsaken? Had it finally happened and I had fallen asleep to my worst nightmare? Visions of eternity began to swarm through my head and all I could see was misery. I could tell Edward was reading my thoughts, as he placed his hand on my shoulder. A wave of calm washed over the room from Jasper, but it did little to quell the torrent of emotions currently coursing through me.
"I've decided it's time to move on," Esme said softly. "Alice, Jasper, Emmett and I have decided that we want to have our own lives, to do the things we want. I still love you Carlisle, and I always will, but it needs to be this way."
I could feel my control slipping away. I tried desperately to figure out what I had done to drive them away, but I could not think of a single thing. I devoted my I had done to drive them away, but I could not think of a single thing. I devoted my life to them, and now I was being thrown away life to them, and now I was being thrown away like the trash. I could feel myself begin to tremble, and sat down on the stairs to steady myself.
"Carlisle." This time it was Rosalie. "I love you like a father, and while I've not always been happy with the life you gave me, I appreciate how you have taken care of me. You gave me a family and while it was not the one I had always dreamed of, you still gave me a place to call home. It's time for me to live my own life." Those were the words I had always dreaded hearing from my children. I knew it was always a possibility but I never dreamed it would actually happen.
"It has been an honor to be part of this coven, Carlisle but Rosie is right." This time it was Jasper. My whole family had turned on me? Dear God, what had I done? "It is time for us to move on. I am tired of being a high school student. I want to live in the world, and do what you have done. I want to help others. I've had my fill of dealing with noisy and shallow teenagers. I want to be an adult."
"We can move on somewhere else," I said, grasping at anything. "No more high schools. Esme, you can find your own career. Please, don't do this."
"It has to be like this," Alice said softly from her place by the door. "I've seen what the future has in store for us, and it is just more of the same."
"I thought all of that was arbitrary?" I argued, still not wanting to accept what was happening.
"It is, but everything I've seen, regardless of choices, has us living the same lives. We all want something different, and asking you to give up your job as a healer is just too much for all of us."
Suddenly, I snapped. I sprang from the stairs, my control slipping even further away. "But you think losing my family would hurt less? Do none of you know me?"
"We do know you, Carlisle and that's why we've chosen this route." This time it was Emmett who spoke. "You would give up everything for us, and we don't want that. We want you to be happy."
"And you think by leaving me alone I will be happy?" I raged, whirling on him and causing him to flinch. I looked to Edward, who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange. "And you? How do you feel? Are you abandoning me as well?" Much to my surprise, Edward shook his head no.
"No, and Bella is staying as well. We've discussed this and Bella and I do not want to leave. We want to stay with you."
My frustrations continued to grow. They had discussed this? An image of the family sitting down while I was at work came to mind. I had never felt so betrayed. Instead of coming to me to tell me they were unhappy, they decided to go behind my back and make the choice of leaving. Anger settled into my core, and I shook with rage.
"Get out."
"But Carlisle, we just want you to be happy," Esme said, placing her hands on my shoulders, which I quickly slapped away with a snarl.
"Don't touch me. All of you… get out! NOW!"
Despite the despair that had settled into me, I watched as my former family slinked out the door. I did not want them to see how their actions were crushing my long dead heart, and stormed up the stairs to my study, slamming the door behind me and splintering the wood. If they wanted to leave, then who was I to stop them? I was absolutely seething as I watched their cars disappear down the driveway, listening to the hums of the engines as they faded into nothing. The same nothing I had now become. Sinking to my knees, I turned my eyes upwards and screamed in agony.