Fallen

Summary:

The story of Esme's life and how she had become a Cullen. This story was begging to be told…based on the facts of Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 1:

"Esme Anne Platt! You get down here this second." A woman with a plump face and almond shaped eyes called from her porch. She was standing in a long dress to her toes, her hair was pulled up into a bun making the appearance of her face seem rounder. A straw hat sat on her head, with fresh flowers wrapped around it and tied with ribbons.

A girl was hunched in a tree, her long caramel locks of hair falling around her shoulders. She was more a young woman than a girl now, and it was certainly not ladylike to be climbing a tree. Especially in her new church dress.

"But Mother!" Esme called back, brushing her hair across her small ears. Her face was also somewhat round, but it arched at the top and she had a thin jaw. "Look, do you not see that cat stuck in a tree?"

"I see it!" the woman said with disgust. "Don't touch it, it could be carrying germs!" But even with the warnings of her mother, Esme began to climb higher up in the tree, stretching her slender body through the branches. She could see the poor animal, scared and hissing. Her heart went out to the poor creature; it was so defenseless on the large farm her family owned.

"Come on down dear," her mother said more kindly now, but reasoning. "Charles Evenson will be arriving soon. He is a good friend of this family and I expect him to be welcomed with kindness, not with your dress torn and her hair down!"

Esme huffed and strained her ears to hear her mother's call. It would be disobedient to not listen to one's elders. The cat was closer now, she could see the bushy tail and the arched back.

"Here kitty," she whispered quietly. "Come here. I'll take you down." Esme reached out her arms to grab the cat, when it suddenly had its face to her. The cat's paw collided with the side of her cheek and Esme shrieked from the shock. She toppled backward on the branch. Her back hit the bark, but it snapped under the blow and Esme was hurdled to the ground.

The young lady felt the hard dirt hit her leg and a loud crack echoed through the small town in Columbus, Ohio. Esme laid there in fear for a second, not wanting to move.

"Esme darling!" her mother's shouts were nearer now and she could feel the old woman's presence. Her mother crouched down beside her and called for her father to call a doctor. Her father emerged a few moments later and came down to look at his daughter's leg.

"Dr. Wilsberg is not in town, his secretary suggested taking her to the hospital," the man said mostly to his wife. "I'll get the truck."

--

"Ouch," Esme moaned as her mother tucked a pillow under her leg. She lay in a hospital bed, one of the only ones in the small and lonely hospital.

Her mother smiled apologetically. "Can I get you anything sweetie?"

"No thank you," she replied and lay back on the bed. "How much longer do we have to wait for this doctor?" She was growing impatient, Esme was not the type of girl to sit around and wait. She was the type of girl to spend her days outside with her friends, chatting or picking flowers in the garden.

"He will be here shortly enough," her mother answered. "He is apparently a very brilliant doctor. The best."

Esme, who usually had impeccable manners though growing impatient, snapped angrily, "If he was a good doctor, he would be telling me what is wrong with my leg!"

"It is broken Miss," a voice said from the doorway and in walked the most beautiful man Esme had ever seen. It was cliché to say this, but she felt drawn to him and infatuation bubbled in her stomach.

The doctor's head was covered in bright, blond hair that fell gently across his eyes as he bent down to check something on his clipboard. Esme could see the stubble of hair on his square jaw line that lead up to well defined and high cheekbones.

Then the doctor looked up with a smile on his face, and the two's eyes connected. His pupils were glassed with gold and they sparkled with intensity that drove Esme crazy. She could see the kindness in him, could see there was something different in him. And in some way, she felt his soul open up to her. But it was foolish to thinking these things about the doctor, and she blushed, remembering he was rumored to be thirty-five.

Their eyes parted as she looked down at her toes and at her broken leg. The doctor moved closer and pulled on a pair of thin gloves. He spoke as his fingers probed her ankle, then up the calf of her leg. It made Esme feel giddy at his touch and she couldn't help but grin with happiness.

"Esme isn't it?" he had asked and she nodded though he wasn't looking. He seemed to know though, as he didn't face her, but still ran the tips of his fingers along her leg. "I am Dr. Carlisle Cullen," he introduced. "How old are you please?"

"Sixteen," she responded with all her strength, her voice barely making it out of her closed throat.

Finally he looked up at her and revealed his beautiful face once again. His profile showed he was briefly shocked, but then he recovered in a second, his face plain, but still spectacular.

"Well it seems you have cracked a bone, it didn't split completely which will most likely make it painful. But you will certainly be up and moving in a couple of weeks," he explained, his eyes never leaving hers.

Esme's smile widened. "No more climbing trees then?" she asked, in a mock sad voice. Though she could not be sad around such a beautiful human being.

"I would highly doubt that," he said with a smile of his own. His white teeth were blinding, and it made his face glow more radiantly.

Dr. Cullen moved closer to her face and Esme's heart beat hyperactively in her chest. It was if his aura was approaching and he was drawn to her as well. He stopped at the top of the bed and one of his pale, gloved fingers moved across her face.

She felt her insides explode and she embraced the feeling as nothing more but a silly crush. "You have a cut," Carlisle clarified, he could hear her heart beat over and over, and somehow this made him extremely happy.

"Oh," Esme said, horribly disappointed. "Yes, the cat did that."

"It does not look like it will scar, it should disappear in a few days." He still stroked her cheek as he spoke, there was dried blood around the area and he scrapped it away gently. He found himself feeling a disappointment to see the ruby colour disintegrate from his fingers.

"You are a brave one," he said and he gave her a lazy smile as he removed his hand. He turned back to Esme's parents, remembering they were still in the room. "She'll have a cast on her leg and after it heals, it will be removed and the leg should be fine."

"Thank you doctor," Esme's mother replied and she reached her hand out to shake his hand. Carlisle shook the woman's hand and turned back one last time to look at the sixteen-year-old girl.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Esme," he whispered near her ear. The sensation made a shiver travel up her back, and the doctor took her hand in his, her palm downward. He leaned down his perfect blond head and softly pressed his cold lips to the skin of her hand. She barely noticed the temperature of his dead lips; her body was tingling with warmth.

"Until we meet again," he spoke in his smooth and magical voice, then he parted, leaving the door open. He never did look back, but Esme did not care. His face was engraved in her memory forever.

A few weeks later, Esme was simply dying to go see that strange, but beautiful doctor again. She needed to see his face- she could remember the soft pink lips, the pale and translucent skin.

"Dr. Cullen please," Esme requested to the secretary at the front of the hospital. She hobbled on one of her crutches, struggling to stand straight.

"I'm sorry dear," the secretary began. "You just missed him. He left a second ago."

The happiness of her face dropped, and she felt her heart sink. "Well, is it possible to get an appointment tomorrow with him?"

"No Miss, Carlisle is moving out of town."

There was a tightening in Esme's stomach. The man she had been thinking about non-stop for the past three weeks was leaving forever?

"Did you say he just left?" she asked in a demanding tone.

The secretary seemed appalled at her rude behavior. "He went out the back to his car," she said in an equally snotty voice. But Esme didn't hear most of it as she began hobbling to the exit; she had a feeling that he was still there. Her good leg began to throb at the pressure she was putting on it, but she stopped as she stepped out onto the pavement. There were no cars in the driveway.

There was a loud screech of turning tires, and Esme's head flashed around to a car with dark windows, spin around and zoom off onto the long strip of road leading out of town. Just by chance she seemed to notice the side mirror where two golden eyes reflected back at her. She knew it was him.

She still thought about that man even now, when she was married and living in a loveless relationship.