Disclaimer: Characters, some of the dialogue, etc. belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Carlisle's POV
As though the son could sense my despair, he quietly whispered, "He's not going to make it, is he?"
His mother chastised him softly, "Don't worry Edward, everything will be fine."
The boy continued to stare at me, knowing that his mother was wrong, waiting for me to confirm his fears. What was I to say? I couldn't lie, tell them everything would be fine, only to have this family's father and husband die before their eyes. But the thought of relaying the heart-wrenching news to them was even more dreadful. I'd had to explain to families before that their loved ones were unlikely to survive, but something about this family made the thought of doing so nauseating, if such a sensation was possible for a vampire.
"I'm sorry Mrs…"
"Masen, Elizabeth Masen." She stammered out with tear-stained eyes.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Masen, but when a patient has reached this stage of the influenza, survival is rare. He must have been feeling unwell for a couple of days now but was most likely ignoring it, believing it would pass on its own. Regardless, I will continue to do everything I can to help your husband through this."
Sobbing, Elizabeth thanked me for my help, "I appreciate what you've done for us Dr…"
"Cullen. And you're welcome." I tried my best to smile sympathetically and reassuringly at the family, but I'm sure they weren't fooled. They knew just as well as I did that they had only a small amount of time left with Mr. Masen.
Turning away from the family, I left the room to continue checking on the hundreds of other patients crowding our hospital. Working as a physician, I was constantly in awe of how fragile humans were. Many of them thought themselves to be nearly indestructible, doing things that were dangerous, only to narrowly survive so that they could do it again. However, whenever an unstoppable disease comes, like the influenza, or the cholera epidemic in London a half-century before, the humans are stopped in their tracks. It doesn't matter who is the strongest, the richest, or the most influential, they are all brought to an equal level, as they fear over the possibility of being the next to succumb to the disease.
I continued on through the night, doing what I could to ease the suffering of those I visited. As I neared the end of my shift, and the sun began to rise on the horizon, I returned to the room in which the Masens sat once more. I stopped, horror-struck, but unsurprised, in the doorway. Mr. Masen was gone, and in the bed where he had lain a few hours before, was his son Edward. Sitting at his side was his mother, dabbing a cold washcloth on her son's forehead as beads of sweat formed on her face simultaneously.
Without turning away from her son, Mrs. Masen spoke softly, "My husband passed away earlier this morning."
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Masen-"
"Please, call me Elizabeth." She stopped what she was doing as a violent fit of coughing ravaged her small frame.
I walked briskly to her side and poured her a glass of water. "Elizabeth, I think it would be best if you laid down and rested for a spell." She willingly settled into the bed adjacent to Edward's and sipped small amounts of water from the cup I held up to her mouth. After a few minutes, she lay down against the pillow and drifted to sleep. I stood, unwillingly, to return home for the day, but a small movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. Turning, I saw Edward toss and turn restlessly in his bed.
My long dead heart ached for this family and I was confused why I was so much more affected by their pain. For over two hundred years I've remained inconspicuous, which has meant avoiding any kind of close connection or relationship with anyone. But as Edward lay there, fever ravaging his body, the anguish I was experiencing resembled that of how a father would agonize over his sick son.
Edward awoke then, and slowly sat up to take a sip from his water. As he set the glass back down, he began to shiver uncontrollably. The chills were associated with the pneumonia that often accompanied influenza, and it was a tell tale sign that things were bound to take a turn for the worse. I grabbed an extra blanket and wrapped it around his shaking frame, careful to avoid touching him with my ice-cold hands, fearing it would cause the shivering to become more violent.
Surely my shift was long over, but I couldn't tear myself away from the room. I doubted that anyone would mind me working a bit overtime, especially when the hospital needed all the aid it could get. I helped Edward settle back down as the shivering subsided and he drifted back off to sleep. While both Elizabeth and Edward slept, I decided it would be best to make my way home for the day. Working a few hours extra may not be noticeable but working right up until my shift the following night might raise questions. No human doctor would be able to work that long without sleep, and as far as anyone knew, that's exactly what I was: human.
I returned later that night and immediately made my way to the room in which the Masens slept. Elizabeth was very much the same, her breathing was a bit more labored and the fever hadn't subsided in the slightest. My concern heightened however when I took in the condition of Edward. His fever had risen substantially and I could tell from his ragged breathing that his lungs were beginning to fill with fluid. I feared he didn't have much time left and the thought of Elizabeth losing a husband and a son was heartbreaking. Grabbing another cold washcloth, I attempted futilely to lower his fever but I knew it was no use. As I turned to do the same to Elizabeth, she suddenly awoke with a start. At first, I thought it was the delirium overtaking her, but she spoke with such intensity that for a moment, I thought she might have the strength to survive the influenza and pneumonia.
"Save him!"
The force of her words startled me, and I assured her that'd I'd do everything in my power to help her son. She continued with her urgent pleas, her emerald eyes penetrating my carefully composed face.
"You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."
The composure I'd held mere seconds before faltered as the woman collapsed into unconsciousness. Elizabeth had spoken with such force that I feared she knew more than any human had ever known about the secret I hid. Is it possible she knew I had the ability to save her Edward by unimaginable means? For years I'd toyed with the idea of doing such a thing and now I had someone on the outside pressuring me to do the unthinkable, however inadvertently that pressure may be. Of course, there was no way that Elizabeth knew exactly what I was or what I could do. But the fact remained; she had known there was something I could do that others could not.
Within the hour, Elizabeth had passed away, never having reawaken after her outburst. During that final hour, I had continued to argue with myself over whether or not to change the dying Edward who was now an orphan. At first, I attempted to lower his temperature and cure the boy how I would any other patient. But he was too far gone and I knew his death was imminent. After his mother took her final breath, I wheeled her to the morgue. Having made my decision, I returned to Edward's bedside, prepared for what was to become an eternal undertaking.
Edward's POVUpon the passing of my father, my mother and I were admitted to the hospital as well. We had both begun to experience the dreadful symptoms and the doctors hoped they could help us, having caught it early on. I was skeptical after seeing how suddenly my father passed, I had little faith in what the doctors and nurses would be able to do.
My mother tended to me throughout the day, even though the nurses begged her to lie down and rest. I knew she was putting her health at risk but my pleas did just as much good as the nurses'. As the day went on, I could tell the sickness was becoming worse, my breaths began to come out in ragged gasps as my lungs struggled to fight against the onset of pneumonia. Sitting at my side, my mother did her best to fight the fever, repeatedly pressing cold compresses against my forehead, but her strain was to no avail; my fever ravaged on.
Eventually, Dr. Cullen returned and was able to get her into her own bed. Relieved that she might start to recover for herself, I drifted off to sleep. I continued slipping in and out of consciousness as the doctor tried unsuccessfully to lower my temperature.
I awoke a bit later to witness my mother being wheeled away, a thin white sheet covering her still form. It horrified me to realize that I was now parentless, but the disease had consumed me so fully, and the delirium had begun to overpower me so much that I could do nothing but lay there. No cries of anguish escaped my lips and no tears fell from my eyes. I saw the doctor glance at me once more, his onyx eyes distressed, as though he were battling with himself internally. Before he'd even fully left the room, I slipped back into unconsciousness.
Now completely alone, I almost wished for a fate like my parents. Death now seemed like the preferred outcome in the situation, for I had no family to go to if I survived. I knew the possibility of me surviving was slim, and I was relatively at ease with my looming end. The thought of dying no longer frightened me and I was actually looking forward to reuniting with my parents in the near future.
I remember seeing Dr. Cullen return to my bedside, tenderly pressing his cold hands to my forehead as though he were caring for his own son. I choked and sputtered as I fought to keep breathing but I knew there was no chance of me living much longer. As I began to convulse in another set of chills, the doctor held my shaking frame still as he pressed the stethoscope once more to my chest. And as quickly as the disease overcame my parents, it overcame me. All of a sudden, I knew I had died, for I was being carried at an impossible speed, and surely there was no human on earth who could run this fast, let alone while carrying a 160 lbs. person.
However, before I could even register the fact that I had passed on and joined my parents, a knife-like pain pierced my skin, and I began to experience pain like never before.
There will be more from Edward's point of view next chapter. Please review!!
Reiews = Motivation = Quicker Updates
