Chapter 3: Cant be Real
Edward left the school early, just seeing the girl tore a hole right through him. He leaned against the door of his car, dragging his fingers through his hair. "Oh God," he said quietly. He had to be losing his mind, there was no possible way that Bella was alive. Even if she hadn't died that night, she would've died of old age. There was no possible way she was alive.
"Edward, what is it? What's wrong?" Esme asked as she walked into the hallway.
"I'm losing my mind mother," he replied.
"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.
Edward stared at her. "It's been over a hundred years and I saw Bella, alive. I saw her as clearly as I'm looking at you," he told her. Esme rested her hand on his cheek. "What's happening to me? I'm losing my mind," he insisted.
"I'm sure it was just a wrong take son," she answered quietly.
"No, I thought it was too, but she sat next to me in the biology room," he answered.
Esme hushed him quietly as he started panicking some more. "I saw her," he said quietly. She hugged him gently, rubbing his back.
Later that evening, Emmett and Jasper took Edward out to hunt, to distract him from what happened that day after they explained to Carlisle. Esme walked into the kitchen to find her husband deep in thought. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked. Carlisle looked over at his wife with a sigh, holding her hand.
"It's just difficult Esme…seeing him going through the same torturous pain he did so many years before," he said quietly.
Esme bit her lower lip as she gave her husband's hand a gentle squeeze. "What do we do?" he asked quietly.
"We be there for him as parents are supposed to," she replied, stroking his hair lightly.
He sighed as he kissed the back of her hand.
After the hunt, Edward was sitting back against a tree looking out at the open field he and his brothers were just hunting in. "Hey, Edward, so this Isabella girl, she's the reason why you never moved on with your life? Why you sit outside and stare at that ring around your neck?" Emmett asked as he sat back against the tree next to him. Edward was silent for a minute.
"Emmett cool it," Jasper told him.
Edward closed his eyes for a second. "Yes, she was and still is," he answered. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together.
"Just can't get the other girl out of your head?" Jasper asked.
"You saw her Jasper, she looks just like Isabella," Edward answered.
The three of them remained quiet and Edward closed his eyes as his mind started drifting. Going back to how easy things were a hundred and thirty-nine years ago.
Edward was standing in the gardens, pacing back and forth a little as he was thinking over what he was going to say when the back door opened. Looking up, a smile appeared on his face when Isabella walked out of the house. "This is a surprise," she commented. Chuckling lightly, he took her hand and brought her closer. "I had to speak with you," he said quietly, reaching up to stroke her face. Isabella smiled, resting her hand over his. "What is it?" she asked as they sat down on the stone bench that was behind them. He sighed, holding onto her hand. "I love you, you know this yes?" he asked. "Of course," she replied smiling. Edward smiled a little as he traced small designs into her hand. "I have loved you since we were kids and I have been wanting to find a way to do for awhile," he murmured. "What are you talking about?" she asked curiously. He got off the stone bench and held onto Isabella's hand. "Isabella Swan, I love you more than life itself and I will prove it to you every single day while we're together. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" he asked. Isabella stared at in him disbelief, before a smile appeared on her face. "Yes, of course I will," she replied beaming. She hugged him tight with a huge smile on her face. Edward hugged her back with a smile.
Edward came out of his daydream when Emmett shoved him lightly. "Hey, Eddie, snap out of it, we should head back before Esme starts to wonder where we took off to," Emmett commented standing up. Edward rolled his eyes before getting up from the ground and walked back to the house with his brothers.
The next day at school, Edward sat at the biology table when her scent reached his nose before she entered the room. Looking up, she walked into the classroom hanging up her jacket with the rest of the kids. She walked over and sat next to him hesitantly, glancing over at him a few times. "Hello," he said slowly.
"Um…hi," she answered.
"I never got a chance to introduce myself yesterday…I'm Edward Cullen," he informed.
"Bella Swan," she replied.
Another dagger to his already dead heart, she shared the same name as her. "We're going to learn about mitosis today, so could you please identify the slides in front of you which stage they are," Mr. Molina informed the class. Edward cleared his throat, pushing the microscope over to her.
"Ladies first," he told her.
"Thanks," she answered.
He tapped his fingers on the table. Not only was her appearance bothering him, but also her scent. The smell of her blood made the venom pool in his mouth. His fangs were protruding from his gums a little and he had to think of everything possible to keep his fangs from revealing. He suddenly realized Bella was talking to him. "I'm sorry?" he asked.
"Metaphase," she told him gesturing to the slide.
He cleared his throat, swallowing against the venom that was still trying to pool in his mouth and willed his fangs away. "Mind if I check?" he asked.
"No," she replied sitting back a little.
Edward looked through the lense. "Metaphase," he repeated quietly. He saw her bite her lower lip out of the corner of his eye. "How do you like Forks?" he asked.
"It's cold, wet, something that Phoenix wasn't," she replied.
Edward chuckled lightly, tapping his fingers on the table. "Isabella, means "Beautiful" in Italian," he commented. Bella cleared her throat a little.
"Yeah, when my mom was pregnant, she was in this thing where she wanted to look at family ancestry. So she took out my dad's family tree and saw an Isabella in the family so they named me after her," she replied.
Nodding his head slowly, Edward continued to write down the rest of the answers. They had both finished with a few minutes to spare in class.
When the bell rang, Edward once again left the school earlier than the rest of the students. He walked over to his Volvo, climbed in, and sped off towards the hospital.
Carlisle was sitting at his desk, looking over the appointments he had for the next day when his phone rang. "Yes Stacy," he answered as he turned on the speaker.
"Dr. Cullen, I'm sorry to bother you, but your son is here," Stacy informed.
"Thank you Stacy, you can send him in," he answered.
He clicked off the speakerphone as the door opened. He looked up when Edward came in. "What can I do for your son?" he asked.
"Father, I feel like I'm losing my mind," Edward answered.
Carlisle walked over and stood in front of his son. "What is it?" he asked concerned.
"Why does she look like her? Of all the girls in the world, why did it have to be the human that looks like Isabella?" Edward asked.
Sighing, he stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "I can't stay here," he added.
"I could contact the Denali clan if you…" Carlisle started.
"No, the last thing I want is to have Tanya all over me again," Edward muttered.
Carlisle cleared his throat. After over a hundred years of progress, he slowly saw that he was losing Edward all over again. "I won't stop you from going Edward, I won't, I haven't in the past so I won't start now," he informed. Edward nodded his head slowly. "But before you leave, I want you to think long and hard about this. Can you honestly run from this?" Carlisle asked. "I taught you and Jasper to never run from your troubles, but knowing how much it kills you I can see why you'd want to, but can you?" Edward was silent, giving Carlisle a clue that he was pondering his question. "Go home son, we'll talk about this later," he informed.
"Yea, sure," he answered.
He turned around and left the office. Carlisle sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Parenthood never ends," he chuckled lightly as he sat back down at his desk.
