Woo hoo! I'm back from vacation! I went to Maine for ten days, and the weather there is so much nicer than it is in Texas! And it is so pretty there, too, what with all their trees and mountains and so on.
But I won't ramble on about my trip. Hopefully somebody will actually want to read this! I had so much fun writing it. It is my take on Carlisle saving Edward in 1918. This was really just pure fun to write, and I hope that you enjoy reading it! It was so cool for me to look up all the different things they did for medicine and the symptoms of the virus and all that good stuff. I feel all medical now, because I can say: With symptoms ranging from bronchitis to cramps and vomiting, a common drug given to patients of Spanish Influenza was salicin! Yay!
So I hope (again) that this is fun to read. But I have to go work on part two now, and hopefully I can get it posted either tonight or sometime tomorrow. Enjoy!
I walked quickly through the hospital doors, hurrying to tend to my patients. I grabbed a mask at the front desk, pulling it over my nose and mouth. I didn't need it, but I had to use it for appearance.
Just like I had to leave every night and go home to "sleep". I didn't need the rest—I just sat there, in the dark, watching the clock slowly tick away time.
My patients' lives were measured with that time, and to watch it pass away tore at me.
I wished more than anything that I could stay there all night, but that would raise too much suspicion. A doctor who never went home? People would start to wonder.
And that was the last thing I needed. People wondering about me.
Still, it was hard when I saw such devastation around me—devastation that I could improve—and not be able to work at my fullest. It tore me up inside.
I brushed past a stretcher bringing in yet another person ailed with the virus. The man's face held a blue tint, and I could tell just by looking that he didn't have much time left. His heartbeat was extremely faint—even with my hearing—and his breathing shallow.
Maybe two more hours.
Grabbing my white coat, I navigated through the chaos around me to the hall I was primarily stationed to. I turned the corner to E hall, and heard someone call for me.
"Carlisle," Dr. Gary hailed from behind me. He emerged from a room, scribbling something on the clipboard he held in his hands. I was impatient, anxious to check up on Elizabeth and her son.
"What can I do for you, Jared," I offered.
"We got four new patients since you left, three men and a woman," he informed me, looking up from his papers.
"Have we gotten them into rooms and—" He cut me off.
"Carlisle, we don't have any spare rooms left. They were put into rooms with our other patients. They tried to group people with similar conditions together, but I don't think that there's going to be much success in that. There are just too many."
I slowly drew in a deep breath. The disease was spreading much too fast—there were more patients than the hospital could handle.
"Okay, well I will see to them as soon as I can." My voice was muffled by the linen mask. "Go home to your wife and daughter."
He smiled. "I will." He let out a tired sigh and put his hand on my shoulder. "Take care of yourself, my friend." He turned around, and as soon as he began walking away, I rushed down the hallway to the second room on my left.
When I entered, I could tell that Elizabeth and her son had barely any time left.
I had become somewhat attached to this pair—something that I should not have done given their condition. It was dangerous for me to let myself become so involved with humans when they could perish so much more easily than I.
The way they looked now was tribute to that fact.
Elizabeth looked even worse than the last time I had seen her. I could hear that her pulse was barely there and incredibly slow. Her face was drained of color, and she seemed a corpse but for her eyes, open and gazing in my direction.
Edward was even worse off than she. He was restless in his bed, tossing and turning, coughing uncontrollably. A few drops of blood spewed from his mouth, and I rushed to his side. He was hacking furiously, and I pulled him onto his back, checking his stats.
His fever was the highest it had been yet, at one hundred and five degrees. He jerked in agony, fighting against my cold hands that held him down. He continued coughing, more blood coming up each time.
I reached for the oxygen mask and quickly strapped it on his face. It immediately fogged up with his breath, but he calmed down slightly. I redirected my attention to Elizabeth.
She had overall been in better condition than Edward since they arrived, but just by looking at her, I knew that she wasn't going to make it to the next day.
I stood at her bedside, checking her pulse and temperature, when suddenly she spoke.
"Save him!" Her voice was scratchy from the sickness, but there was a strength behind it that caught me by surprise.
"I'll do everything in my power," I assured her, taking her burning hand in my own. If she hadn't been so ill and delusional, she might have noticed how strangely cold mine was, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she gripped it with such fervor that I second guessed my assessment of how much time she had left.
"You must," she commanded with ardor, "you must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."
I stood in shock for a moment, completely still, staring at her. Her green eyes held such determination, that I was distraught.
How could she guess what I could do? Could anyone really want that for her son?
My gaze wandered back to Edward, lying there, obviously dying. But even as my eyes took in his writhing form, the oxygen mask that was dotted inside with his blood, I saw something beautiful about him. Something about his face—the kind of face I imagined my son having.
Elizabeth turned on her side, moans escaping her mouth between coughs. Her body heaved beneath the covers.
I went through the list in my mind of things that I could do for them to ease their pain. They already had the highest doses of epinephrine and salicin I could give them without having deadly side effects. I quickly left through the door and made my way to the freezer sitting in the doctor's lounge.
There were no doctor's relaxing now, though, and the room was filled with more patients who had no other place to go. I grabbed two ice packs and, upon returning to Edward and Elizabeth, placed them carefully on their foreheads.
Their thrashing made it impossible to keep the compresses in one place, so I paged the nurse manning the front desk and asked for the temperature to be lowered in the room. Only ten minutes later did I hear the filtration system generate cooler air in the hall.
I needed to check up on my other patients, but I was hesitant to leave. Eventually I did depart for the other rooms, promising myself that I would come back as soon as I was finished.
I went through my duties as quickly as I could without dismissing anything important. Each and every person was important to me—I felt responsible for every one of my patients. I made sure before I returned that I did everything I could for them. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do—no amounts of medicine could cure almost all of the people here.
I quickly wrote in a few stats in forms for my patients and waved over a nurse hurrying down the hall with a stack of papers in her arms. She paused at seeing me, then noticed the papers I held in my hand and smiled.
"Just set them right on top there." I did, and gave her a quick smile and thank you before entering Elizabeth and Edward's room.
I froze as soon as I passed through the door.
So what do ya think?! I bet people can probably guess what is going to happen next, but I thought that was a good place to stop for now. Don't worry, though, it won't be long before I post more. Was it good? Please review!!!
Disclaimer: Okay, so I don't know how many times I have to say this, but these characters are not mine. Alright?! I would be busy writing much better things than this (like Breaking Dawn, maybe?), so I will say it one last time: I am not Stephenie Meyer.
Hope to hear what you thought!! Thanks again to all who read and review. I love reading any reviews I can get!