Chapter Two
Somewhere around the edges, the pitch black curtain of unconsciousness was beginning to lighten. It was still so dark that my eyes were blind, but I was dimly aware of something cold brushing my forehead gently, and even through the dark, I could sense that someone was near.
But after a few seconds, I suddenly felt as if I were alone, although I couldn't be sure. The overwhelming pain and panic of being alone jerked back that thick black curtain, and I sobbed aloud to feel that pain.
Emily?" I was no longer alone, and the soft whisper of my name was easily recognizable. Dr. Cullen, so absurdly beautiful that it hardly seemed possible, was leaning over me, his golden eyes filled with worry and mild relief.
But the way he'd murmured my name made me think of a different face. I looked into Dr. Cullen's eyes which normally shone like gold but were suddenly like emeralds; his blonde hair darkened abruptly to bronze. His perfect features, already so youthful in their perfection, grew even younger until he was a beautiful boy just past the edge of seventeen.
It was the face my brother had died with. And it was the face I would never see again.
I broke into tears just as my heart shattered. It left behind a hole where it had once been, a hole that throbbed painfully around the edges, a hole that only Edward had filled.
Above me, Dr. Cullen's face contorted with pain to see the pain in mine. His beautiful, perfect face was etched with a sadness that no man before him had known, and his golden eyes were immeasurable pools of grief. His pain was so breathtakingly beautiful that it had conquered Edward's loss for the swiftest moment; I was suddenly so ashamed of myself for thinking of something as trivial as Dr. Cullen's absurd beauty so soon after losing Edward that I started crying even harder.
It was too hard to accept. My only brother was gone, and I was the only one left to grieve for him. The pain I felt was completely my own, none of it the grief my mother and father should have felt, because I had loved him so much more than they had.
Maybe that was why every time I thought my tears had finally dried, I always found more.
Maybe that was why the hole in my chest burned so badly.
Maybe that was why my world suddenly meant nothing to me.
A/N: The chapters will get longer, I promise. I just like to mix things up with long and short chapters.