Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series- Stephenie Meyer created this amazing series and these amazing characters.
Author's Note: So this is just a oneshot from Edward's point of view. I really love writing in Edward's view, because I can understand how he must be torn constantly when he thinks of Bella- and this is just a hint of the battle he has to go through constantly.
Most people were terrified of the dark. I had seen many a people frantically panicking when a power outage suddenly came on. I had seen children crying out about 'night lights.' I had seen teenagers wincing as they stepped into the dark streets to throw out the trash. I had seen so many people cringing at just the mention of total darkness.
I didn't understand it.
The dark seemed to be the safest time for me. Perhaps I was being biased. If I could not see a person coming at me in the darkness, like most mortals couldn't, I still hand the immortal advantage of my highly acute sense. I could smell out anyone coming towards me. I could probably sense the shift in atmosphere, if I put my instincts to the test. Most of all, I could read the thoughts of any person getting that close to me, and know their intentions perfectly, and know very easily whether or not I needed to be on the defensive.
But that did not mean there were people unlike me who suffered from the advantages I had and they lacked. The mortals of the world could probably not see that well in the dark, unless their eyes were already adjusted. They could not smell people the way I could, unless the person had some sort of pungent smell on them. They did have the instincts, but most of them were so paranoid they dismissed instincts as a further sense of said paranoia. And of course, mortals can not read minds.
I didn't really care for most of the mortals of the world, though. I was not ecstatic at the death of one, but I had much more important things to worry about than the human's fear of darkness. There was only one human I truly cared about enough to worry about, and I had no way of knowing whether or not she was afraid of the darkness.
But that didn't mean I didn't keep check on her constantly just in case.
"You really watch over her too much, Edward," Alice said with her lithe arms folded as I attempted to exit my door. Most people would be shocked to find their sister standing outside of their room knowing perfectly well what they were about to do, but I was used to it, and merely laughed. "You've seen her, Alice. It is impossible to watch over her too much," I gave her a grin.
Alice smirked back at me, letting her arms fall to her sides. "I want to go visit Bella!" she protested when I went to walk past her, closing the door of my room behind me. I laughed easily, always pleased with how close Bella was with my family. Glancing over at Rosalie's room, I revised my thought: I was pleased with how close Bella was with most of my family. "I doubt you would be interested in what she talks about when she's asleep." I reminded her. Alice had a hard time remembering that humans had to sleep, even though we did not.
She sighed, following me down the stairs. Emmett was watching television when we reached him, and he grinned back at me. "Going over to Bella's, Edward?" he asked. He, more than anyone else, understood mine and Bella's love thanks to his love when for Rosalie when he was still a human. I nodded, and he merely smirked as he went back to watching the tv, folding his arms across his chest. Esme was reading quietly in the kitchen- I didn't want to distract her. Her thoughts told me that Carlisle was at the hospital, which is the only thing I would've interrupted her to ask her- but her immersion in the book made me continue walking past them all.
I ran to Bella's house. Most would think me crazy for running so far, but I got there faster than I did even driving over one hundred miles on my car. I silently slipped my lithe form into her house, stepping in the shadows past Charlie. He was on the verge of sleeping, but he clung to a conscious form so that he could watch a sports game's last few moments. I smiled at him, stepping out of the shadows, and his thoughts reassured my knowledge that he wouldn't truly realize I was there.
I need sleep…I'm even imagining Bella's boyfriend now, he thought to himself, his voice sounding curious in my head as he leaned his head back off his shoulder to stare at the spot I had been at to reassure himself. But, of course, by then I was already stepping into Bella's room.
She had the blankets kicked off at the foot of the bed, her arms folded tightly over the loose fitting night shirt she was wearing. I crept into the rocking chair in the corner of her room, dragging it soundlessly next to her bed before I sat. It was quiet in her house except for the occasional buzzing of a car driving by, and the sound of her muffled breathing. I stretched over her to pull the blanket back onto her shivering form, and she seemed to turn towards me. She seemed much calmer in the dark than most humans I had seen- though she told me it was all me, I had a doubt. I didn't understand how anybody could feel safe with a vampire sitting next to them.
I was overwhelmed then with the urge to leave. I suddenly wanted more than anything to defend the girl- defend the girl I always wanted to defend even more so, that is- and the best way to defend her was to remove the vampires from her life. I had done it before, and who was to say she couldn't survive it again? She had been fine- I was the one with the pathetic existence, not her. I was the one who kept to himself, who longed to see her constantly. She was the one who had made a new close friendship with Jacob Black. She would've been able to move on, had it not been for my sudden reappearance.
But then her lips parted for a mere second, and one single word escaped her. "Edward," she whispered, and I leaned forward to stare closely into her face, wishing I could see what she was dreaming right now. I touched her cheek, running my hand down her neck and shoulder, down her arm until I had a grasp of her hand.
Perhaps I was selfish, or maybe I realized that she did need me, in a way I had never thought possible for humans- but like I had done every day and night since we had returned from Italy- I stayed.