Panic (Carlisle's POV) Ashland, Wisconsin 1921
I was just finishing up with a patient's broken arm. I walked past the hospital's front desk just as a nurse hung up the phone.
"Dr. Cullen," the older woman began, "wait by the ER, we have an incoming patient. It appears to be a failed suicide attempt."
I nodded and briskly walked towards the emergency room. I can't help but feel remorse towards situations such as these. It's such a pity that someone would want to end their own life. Then again, who was I to be talking? But that was long ago, and I had my reasons.
The emergency room doors flew open and two doctors ran in, pulling a stretcher inside and into a nearby, unoccupied room down the hall. "Dr. Cullen, you have to hurry, we're losing her- but I doubt there's much we can do."
I quickly followed behind the stretcher with ease. "Failed suicide?" I began to scribble down notes on a clipboard. "Where did you find her?"
"At the foot of a cliff. She must've jumped." The doctor set her on a hospital bed and began to hook her up to a machine.
I set my clipboard down and glanced up at the half-dead woman on the bed. Despite the heavy bleeding, the bones snapped up in an unusual way, her legs twisted most peculiarly and the ten years worth of aging from a young adult to a woman, I recognized her. "Esme," I breathed. I couldn't believe it. It was definitely her- I was most positive.
Her heart rate began to fail her as the machine beeped at least four times a second.
She wasn't going to make it. I knew the all too painful truth of the matter. It was too late for her to be saved. I couldn't help but recall our first meeting. She was such a cheerful young girl, and so beautiful. I wasn't going to let her life end like this. As much as it pained me, I just couldn't afford to lose her. Just like with Edward. "Doctors, please, I can handle this- go tend to another patient."
The doctors nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them. They, too, knew that it was too late for the young woman.
"Forgive me, Esme," I whispered as I leaned down and pressed my cold lips to her neck. I had to save her. Of all people, I wasn't going to lose her and this was my only option.