My eyes opened up to a bright light. At first I was blinded. For as long as I could remember, I had not been able to see anything but darkness. It had become a comfort to me in the immeasurable amount of time that I had been surrounded by it. This light was too harsh, it was too intense compared to the dull background I was used to. Yet, as my eyes adjusted, I could start to make out figures. A man held me in his arms. He was someone I had never seen before, of course I had not seen anyone in my life, but I felt like I knew who he was. He looked at me with wonder in his eyes, but there was something else…worry? Pain? I small weak whisper shook me out of my reverie.
"Renesmee…"
When I looked in the direction of the whisper, I saw a pitiful, sickly looking woman lying on a table covered in blood. I cringed away from the sight. The woman held her arms out, gesturing for the man to let her hold me. I was passed from his arms to hers gently. She was very weak; her arms looked very brittle and breakable. Even though I was small, I did not want to move in case I hurt her. Then both of our bodies were shaken violently by an ear splitting cough. I could hear it grating against her lungs.
The man quickly grabbed me out of her grasp, so swiftly I was a little disoriented for a moment. The woman grabbed him by the shirt collar and brought him, along with me, down to her level. Her face was severe. She panted and her body heaved with every breath, but she looked determined. Her voice was barely a whisper when she spoke, but it was commanding.
"Edward…no matter…what happens to…me…you must promise me…that…you will take care of…her. Promise me. PROMISE!" She mustered to scream. It really took it out of her; she fell back on the table. The man named Edward stayed bent down. The woman whispered again. "Do not...follow me… she needs you…more…than I do."
He leaned closer to her and kissed her lips. He moved to her ear, I could not hear what he said, but when his lips moved, it looked a lot like "I promise." His body shook uncontrollably after that. I looked at his face, but not tears came. He was just overcome by dry sobs. I then felt myself being lifted out of the weeping man's arms. I was taken out of the room and the last image before the door shut was the man now kneeling on the floor next to the table with the woman on it.
I cried out in frustration. I wanted to stay. I needed to stay. I needed to know if the woman was alright. I tried to free myself from this blonde man's hands, but he was too strong. He carried me down a flight of stairs where I was greeted by five other people. I was handed to a curly brown-haired woman. I automatically felt comforted by her embrace. She sat down on the couch with me still in her arms. I kept looking up at the ceiling, whishing that I could know what was going on.
"So it really happened?" The woman that was holding me asked the smallest one.
"Yes." That one word seemed to break everyone into pained faces. Some shook like the man upstairs, again with no tears. Some just looked dead and unfeeling.
"I just can't believe she died. After all the things Bella's been through I figured she could handle a pregnancy, no matter how strange." A big muscley guy said shaking his head back and forth.
"Poor Edward." The woman holding me said while turning her head into the shoulder of the man that had carried me downstairs. "You don't think he'll do anything irrational, do you?"
"No, he seemed pretty set in his promise." Said the smallest one. "He'll never be the same though."
They all then stood or sat in silence. So, the woman was dead. How horrible. How was the man upstairs going to survive? He seemed to really love and care for her. I looked around at these people that I did not know. I looked at every individual sad face, seeing how this woman had affected their life. Their heartbreaking tearless faces brought tears to my own eyes. So, I sat there with these strangers and cried for them and for their loss, but most of all I cried for the man that loved her the most.
