Author's Note:
I do not own Stephanie Meyer's characters.
It was evening here,
But upon earth the very noon of night.
- Purgatorio (canto XV, l. 5)
-Dante
Prologue
All I heard were people screaming my name. All I felt was the pain. It coursed through my body and seemed to extend past my fingertips. I smelt my own blood, but the pain overruled any discomfort the smell could give me. I felt the hot, sticky liquid on my stomach and knew that this was no small amount of blood.
It happened in slow-motion, it seemed. I was standing at the tail-end of my truck, admiring the snow chains Charlie had put on my tires when I heard the screeching of other tires on the icy asphalt. I watched in horror as Tyler's van slid to pin me to my own truck.
Instantly, all I saw was red, but all my other senses were still in tact. I fought to breath. Just breathe. You will live, Bella, you will live.
But despite the pep talk I was giving myself, I felt the life drain from me. People always say that your life flashes before your eyes, but mine didn't. All I could picture was Charlie and Renee, the two people I loved most in the world. How would they survive this? Their only daughter finally managed to kill herself after all the chances she had before.
"Bella!" A cold hand was on my neck as a desperate, beautiful voice called out my name.
I blinked, and the red disappeared for a moment as I focused on the face of the man who said my name with such anxiety.
"Edward?" I whispered.
And everything went black.
I awoke with a start. For so long, I was blissfully unaware of the pain from the accident, but now what woke me was an entirely new type of agony. It felt as if I was being burned from the inside.
I was in hell. I had to be. Where else could so much pain be inflicted on a person? I wondered when I would see Satan himself.
I started screaming and thrashing around, almost as if I was trying to expel the pain from my body. Suddenly, cold hands were around my wrists, trying to hold me down.
"Carlisle, how long is this going to last? Can you not administer more morphine?"
I heard the musical voice above my screams. That voice. I know that voice.
"No, Edward. Any more morphine would kill her before the venom could. It's only been one day, and so much damage to her body to erase. I'm afraid you will just have to be patient."
I could not comprehend the riddles that were spoken above me. All I could focus on was the pain, and prayed that God would save me.
The pain seemed to last for years, but finally I felt it abate, first from my fingers and toes, and slowly up my limbs.
"Look! She's almost complete! Look how beautiful!" a fairly-like voice exclaimed.
"Really, Alice. How could you be so excited for this to happen to her? She was so young, and had her whole life ahead of her…" Another high-pitched voice responded.
This time, it was a third voice that rang. "Rosalie, you know she was practically dead. We are giving her a new life. Besides, perhaps this is what Edward needs after all of these years."
"Just like you and Carlisle thought it was me that Edward needed," the voice named Rosalie answered.
My heart was pounding now at an exceptional speed. It felt as if it were racing against something, racing for its life. I felt no fire in my limbs now, just in my chest. I couldn't breathe, the pressure was so intense. Now I was sure I was dying, if I wasn't already yet.
The pounding lasted a moment longer, and then silence.
My body was dead, I could feel it. But I was still here. What happened? How could this be?
"Bella?" the first familiar voice called out. "Can you hear me?"
Slowly, I opened my eyes to the new life around me.
