Disclaimer: I own no part of The Twilight Saga or any of its characters. All rights are reserved to the author, Stephenie Meyer.
A/N: Hello, everyone. I figured I'd post this chapter a little early for the psych out of chapter two. I don't know about you, but I loved drunk Edward in the last chapter. Hehe. Anyway, the story is started to pick up now and I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Song: Paradise Circus – Massive Attack
Red seemed to be the only conscious thing I was aware of. It was all I could see. My other senses weren't working properly. My ears were clogged, my skin was numb, and my nose and mouth were both burning from the tremendous pressure building inside my throat. My vision was all I had left…and so was the foreboding color red. As Carlisle and Emmett pulled me through the door to the emergency room, I noticed the crimson splatters on their clothes like a morbid modern painting. The overhead florescent lights were blinding when they weren't being blotted out by various faces looking at me with concern. There were muffled sounds, and a deafening ring echoing through my head.
It was then that I saw him. He was pale skinned and honey blonde and his strange pale red eyes were trained directly into my own. We only shared a moment of eye contact, but it felt like forever. I know I hadn't really been able to see that well in that alley. But there was one thing I was absolutely certain about him. He was the one who stopped his friend from killing me, and yet I was just as afraid of him as I was that girl who had bitten me. My body lurched, the first time I had any physical control in what seemed like an eternity, away from the corner he was sitting in. I realized a second too late that this movement was a mistake. Carlisle and Emmett had released me in their shock and I crumpled to the ground on all fours, vomiting more red, and started to lose the only sense I had left. The blonde man stood at that point, his eyes narrowing in grim satisfaction. My vision blurred around the edges and began to turn black. I struggled against it. I tried to find the red again, even that was better than this complete colorless existence I found myself in.
"Edward! Oh, God, no!"
I gasped, panting into awareness, my body lurching forward. I became hyper aware of the complete control of my body I had. My hand flew to my chest as I panted and felt the fierce beat of my heart. I wasn't dead.
"Oh, thank god." It wasn't my voice whispering these relieved words. It was instead the voice of my father. Brow furrowed, I turned to him, conscious of how stiff every movement felt. It was then that I finally took stock of my surroundings. I was in a small room with bright florescent lights and a long curtain shielding its contents from the hall outside. There was a large supply of heavy, complex machinery littering the room. My father stood closely around the bed I was laying on. I had seen this room or, at least, countless others like it in my visits to my father while he worked. I was in the ER. I looked back to him, struggling to remember the day's events. I remembered the bar and getting drunk, but after that everything was fuzzy. I had to really concentrate to remember. There was a lot of dancing, Emmett was there, and Alice and Bella. I saw a dark alley in my head with a beautiful woman in it, her blonde hair waving in the wind, her wild, furious expression. And then I remembered the blood, so much blood.
"She bit me," I said.
Carlisle seemed frozen, his hands still extended with the defibrillator in his tight grasp. He seemed to come alive then, moving to put all of the medical equipment away and then grabbed various other instruments; I saw a lot of gauze, bottles of antiseptic, and a stethoscope.
"Excuse me?" Carlisle took the things the woman handed him with a half-assed smile. I was momentarily distracted. Why did my face feel wet? I reached up to touch the space between my nose and mouth. My fingers were greeted with a half gritty, half liquid substance. When I pulled my hand back to look at my findings, I could hardly believe what I saw. My hand was completely covered in blood, as was my bare chest and part of my stomach in long gruesome streaks.
"What the fuck happened to me!?" I was feeling a little dizzy. I had never seen this much blood before. It was like looking at something straight out of a horror movie. How was I even alive?
"I was hoping you could tell me that." Carlisle was dumbfounded. "In all my years of medical training, I have never seen anything quite like that before. It was like your body was rejecting something, but…that something was your own blood. It was like your system was trying to kill itself." I heard the shudder in his voice. I stared down at my blood soaked body and noticed the long tube projecting from my arm with a dark red liquid occupying the thin space – a blood transfusion. Carlisle seemed to notice my observation. "The transfusion calmed you down, but it wasn't enough. You kept losing more and more blood. Eventually, your heart stopped and you…died for a solid two minutes before I could revive you. And now…." He trailed off, but I knew what he was thinking. Now I was fine. But I knew that wasn't right. I wasn't fine. I was alive, but I could feel something stirring around inside of me, something abnormal. It was coursing through my veins, sluggishly yet sinister and it made a shudder flow through me. It wasn't right. I wasn't right. As this thought entered into my mind, my neck ached as if to taunt me, and I touched it, feeling two little imprints…like a snake bite.
Carlisle pulled my hand away, "Don't touch. I have to clean the wound." He did as he promised, making quick work of it and then handed me a damp towel. "For your face," he explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go let everyone in on your eventful night."
He left without letting me answer. I knew he was upset. As Emmett had said yesterday, I was supposed to be the good one, the one who was always level headed. I was a straight A student and never got into any trouble. I've never even had a speeding ticket. Now, I was an underage drinker, with cigarettes in my pocket, and nearly got myself killed. I felt ashamed of my behavior. Carlisle was never one to yell or show his anger, but when he was disappointed, it was almost tangible.
I managed to clean myself before my family emerged into the small room. Emmett and Alice had glazed, white faces, unable to recover from the sight of me bloodied and nearly dead. But Esme had not seen the mess I had been and she rushed forward, hugging me with a force Emmett would have trouble reaching.
" I came as soon as I heard what happened. And I want you to know, I don't care what you did, I only care that you're okay," she whispered in my ear and kissed my cheek.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm so sorry," I muttered thickly, hugging her back. I hardly ever called her mom, but in this instance, there was never a word more fitting. When she was done with her coddling and moved to sit next to me on the bed, there was a deep and intense silence that filled the room after. I had noticed that Bella was not among my family, but I was too afraid of breaking the silence to ask of her whereabouts. Carlisle didn't seem to mind breaking it, however.
"It's probably best if you all leave, your brother needs rest. He's scheduled for quite a few tests in the morning." The silence continued after his words, but everyone shuffled out of the room in response. My siblings seemed as if they couldn't get out fast enough. I knew it shouldn't have bothered me. I knew they were scared of what had almost happened, but I couldn't help the small sting of hurt in my chest.
A large white piece of material landed on my lap then and I glanced up at Carlisle. "I'm trusting you can change yourself." His voice was a monotone.
I grimaced, "Do I have to wear this thing?"
"I hardly think you're in any position to ask for favors." His voice was final and I bit back a frown. I wanted to apologize, to say anything really, but my throat was stuck and I couldn't manage to make myself talk. As Carlisle left the room, he said over his shoulder, "I'll be back in a minute. You're getting moved to a room upstairs."
I stood for the first time since I was attacked and felt how weak my legs were. I had to hold myself up against the plastic headboard of the gurney while I slipped off my pants and shoes and pulled on the stiff gown, conscious of the long tube attached to my arm. I was nearly finished tying the string around my waste when I started to feel a burning sensation in my left arm. I sucked in a sharp breath and looked down at my arm noticing that the skin around the transfusion needle started turning purple. I was nearly positive this wasn't supposed to happen so I hurried to gather up my clothes with my right arm, holding my left tightly against my waist. I made to grab the infusion hanger, juggling all the items in one arm to go find my father, when he walked through the room. I sighed in relief.
"Carlisle, there's something wrong with my arm." I held it out for him to look at it. I studied his face carefully, watching grimly as his face went from calm to confused to alarmed in a matter of seconds.
"How long as your arm been like this?" He grabbed it gently and poked around the skin. I winced. "You're having pain as well?"
"Yeah, that's how I noticed it. It must have happened pretty fast. My arm was fine a few minutes ago."
He removed the tube from the drip and waited while the rest of the blood filtered into my arm before slowly pulling the needle out. I bit my lip in pain. My fingers had started going numb.
"I don't know what the hell is wrong with you…." Carlisle hissed and I flinched in response; Carlisle never swore. Even 'hell' sounded rough in his voice. What made it worse was that I knew he wasn't just talking about my strange medical anomalies.
I grabbed his arm and waited for him to look at me. He did reluctantly. "I almost died today. You saved my life. And I know that I never should have gone to that party, that I should have been the responsible kid that you had faith I would've been. But I didn't, Carlisle. I can't change that now, but please, just be happy that I'm still around to make it up to you. Please." I was sick of the cold shoulder, and, regardless of my words, I was more aware of mortality than I was letting on.
My father looked at me for a long time. Eventually, he just said, "You broke my trust, Edward. I'm not going to just get over it."
"That's not what I'm asking!" I was yelling now without really meaning to, but I was desperate for him to understand. Life was too short. "I know I fucked up! I know I ruined your trust! But I died today Carlisle! I could still die! You don't know when or how. You can try to stop it, but next time you might not be as lucky as you were today."
His eyes tightened. "Don't raise your voice at me, Edward. I know damn well how close I was to losing you. And if you use that as an excuse to get any favor from me, you might as well pack your things now. This was your fault. This never would have happened if you didn't go to that party." I clenched my teeth and held my tongue. He just threatened to kick me out. "Are you finished arguing now? I want to go home."
He showed me to me to my room on the third floor and left without saying anything else, not even a goodbye. I sighed and laid myself on the bed, resigned to whatever fate was going to have me. At least I didn't have a neighbor in the bed next to me.
I was woken up in the morning by a young nurse who escorted me to various tests. I had an MRI and a CAT scan, some x-rays and a physical of sorts where a doctor just asked me questions about my well being. It was all very boring and rather unpleasant. I was finally escorted back to my room where I was allowed to eat. Fortunately, I wasn't put on a specific diet and I indulged myself in ordering a cheese burger. I knew hospital food wasn't the greatest, but burgers were relatively easy to make and not very easy to mess up. While I waited for my delivery, I was surprised to see my sister walk hesitantly into the room. I immediately straightened up and pulled the blankets over me, not wanting her to have to be exposed to my bare legs.
She smiled only slightly, her eyes still a little haunted. "Hey."
"Hi, Alice. Mom let you out of the house, huh? I would have bet money we were grounded for the rest of our lives."
"Oh, we are. She said seeing you didn't count though." She was standing awkwardly by the door. "Emmett would have come, but…."
I sighed. "It's not your fault, you know. You couldn't have possibly known something like this would happen."
Suddenly, she was fiercely staring into my eyes, her voice filled with the emotion it so severely lacked just moments ago. "But I could have. You know I could have. You, of all people, know that I could have prevented this. This is my fault. I had a bad feeling, just like Emmett did yesterday morning. But I ignored it. I wanted this party to be a success so badly that I just pushed it into the back of my mind. And for what?"
"Alice…I had a bad feeling too. I didn't say anything either. It's no one's fault except for…." I trailed off, my eyes wandering to the window.
"What?" She finally sat down in the chair next to me and took my hand. "Who did this to you, Edward?"
I shook my head, "I don't know who she was." Or what she was.
"Does Carlisle know that there was…foul play involved?"
I shook my head again, "All I said was 'she bit me,' right after I woke up and then he got distracted when I asked what happened to me."
"Someone bit you!?" she gasped. I looked back at her, nodding slowly. I could feel the color draining out of my face. She studied me for a long time. "Was she, like…rabid or something?"
"No…at least, I don't think so." I explained what happened in detail, watching her shudder and gasp at the things I was saying. When I finished, she was quiet for a long time.
"That sounds like a bad dream. I hate to say this, Edward, I really do. But are you sure you're remembering it correctly? I mean, you were pretty drunk. We all were."
"I've never remembered anything more vividly. Alice, that was the most…surreal, fucked up thing that has ever happened to me. I know what you mean about how it sounded like a nightmare. It felt like it." Then something horrifying came back to me. A man sitting in the corner, red eyed and grim, was staring at me behind my eyelids. "I have to tell you something else." My voice dropped to a whisper. "Last night, when Emmett and Carlisle were dragging me in here, he was there, the man who stopped that girl from killing me. He was just sitting there, watching me as I bled."
Her face turned to horror as I said this. "Do you remember what these people looked like?"
"Perfectly. I could draw them if I wanted to."
My food arrived and the man set the platter on the little table next to my bed, swiveling it around so it was in front of me. I thanked him, even though I didn't feel like eating anymore. Somehow, saying what had happened yesterday out loud made the experience feel more real.
Alice saw my hesitation. "You should eat, Edward. You're probably starving." I knew she was right so I ate regardless of my disagreeing stomach. She continued speaking while I chewed with a bit of difficulty. "If you can remember them so vividly, why don't you report them?"
I smiled humorlessly. "You're my own sister and you barely believe me. Besides, something tells me that the police will never find them. They weren't…right, Alice. It was like they were something else."
"What…like inhuman?" she laughed for a second and then looked at me harder. "You're serious. Edward, come on. I know you banged your head pretty badly, but monsters? Really?"
Feeling a little pissed, I defended myself, "Look at the facts, Alice. I was bitten by a chick who I could easily over power, and then, I died. For two fucking minutes! And from what!? No one fucking knows!" I threw my hands up in the air, and winced as my arm ached again. I looked at it, the purple bruises had started to fade slightly, but the skin around it was oddly discolored. It was almost yellow, like the color of death. "Look at this." I showed her.
"Jesus. How did that happen?" Alice's face had sobered up some, the sight of my arm clearly taking its toll on her resolve.
I shook my head. "I don't know. Carlisle didn't know either. It's where they put the infusion."
She brushed it off. "I know it doesn't make sense. But you can't just jump to irrational conclusions. Now keep eating."
"No, I don't feel well." I mumbled.
"Probably because you're hungry."
I sighed and grabbed the burger, taking the biggest bite I could manage. As soon as the bits of food made contact with my tongue, my mouth immediately went bone dry. I needed to take a sip of water just to force it down my throat. I felt it slide down the entire way, leaving a rotten, dirty taste behind in my mouth. My stomach turned further, and I felt my mouth finally watering, but for a different reason.
"I think it's rotten," I managed to choke out before darting to the bathroom. Just barely making it to the toilet, I heaved the near empty contents of my stomach into the bowl. Quiet footsteps sounded from behind me, but I ignored them. It was over as quickly as it started, and I flushed the toilet, not bothering to look inside. My sister, who had started to rub my back gently, froze.
"My god," she gasped.
"What?" I asked breathlessly, and looked into the flushing water. There was so much blood. I could never escape it. The color drained from my face. What was happening to me!?
A/N: Oh, God. I'm sorry, Edward. I hope you guys like it so far. I am loving tortured, 'crazy' Edward. I know it's a little fucked up though so I hope you don't mind. If you did like it you can go ahead and review and/or add this story to your alert list. If it's one of your favorite stories ever made, you can add it to your favorites. So, what do you guys think of angry, mean Carlisle? (Don't worry; he's not always like this.) And do you like tortured Edward as much I do? (Probably not.) Also, do you guys think Edward is crazy or is he telling the truth? You guys gotta answer that one. I'm seriously curious. Thanks for reading!