THE DOCTOR'S FATEFUL VISIT

Carlisle's POV

I stood at the front door of the house I left only hours ago. I had come early, much earlier than I should but I was very concerned for them but especially for the young man. I thought he could survive if treated soon.

Of my almost 260 years of existence I have spent the last 150 years developing my ability to treat and help cure humans of their ailments. My goal is to alleviate some of their pain and suffering if I can. Because of my enhanced senses I have saved the lives of those who would have otherwise perished.

I could hear someone inside coughing violently. I waited until the coughing stopped and rang the door bell. I was grateful I had come this early. Last night I knew that the father was fatally ill but the mother and son would be very ill today.

I had smelled a change happening in young Edward's blood before I left - he had influenza like his mother and father, but it had overwhelmed his system rapidly and even in this short time he may have developed pneumonia.

Hoping that it wasn't too late for him and his mother, I had to convince them to come to the hospital today. It would have been better if they had come with me last night but neither the man nor his wife would budge. The man wouldn't survive either way but I had no authority to force them, being their interim doctor.

I heard someone fall near the door and was ready to break in when I smelled blood but I heard young Edward's voice close to the door. I recognized it even though it was wheezing and weak.

I rang the bell again and hearing a shuffling noise coming closer, I waited. A long moment later the key turned in the lock and the door opened slightly and the additional smell of fevered sweat and urine hit me. Edward fell backward to the floor, blood covering his face. He began coughing again as I pushed the door open. I knew he was the only one downstairs and that his parents were still alive upstairs in the bedroom.

"Oh my God!" the familiar hospital lament slipped from my lips. "Edward?" Shocked by his appearance I fairly flew into the house, the door slammed violently shut behind me separating us from the chilly predawn air.

Anxiously and a little too quickly I pulled him up to sit with his back against the wall. Sitting up eased his coughing but fresh blood flowed from a long gash at his hairline covering his face again where he had wiped it away. It was now dripping off his jaw, staining his pale night shirt which was also soaked with sweat and urine. His hands as well as his knees and feet were blood stained. He groaned as I pushed his head back and pinched the gaping wound closed to stop the flow of blood. His fever was very high and he shivered in his wet clothes on the cold floor.

"Edward, what happened?" I asked calmly, listening to his body tell me his condition. I sensed his cracked and bruised ribs by the extra blood flow to the area and smelled the excess of white cells in his blood fighting infection.

He opened his eyes apparently unfocused for a moment before he looked at me.

"Please…my father … can't breathe … mother …need help," he said wheezing with every word before yet another coughing fit hit him.

"I'm going to call for an ambulance," I informed him. "Do you have a telephone?"

He nodded slightly, still coughing and motioned toward the parlor and while gasping for breath he passed out. His breathing steadied slightly.

I gazed around the entry area and saw the puddle of urine at the bottom of the stairs, the sliding footprints that had caused his fall, the outline of a pool of blood where he had fallen and the smeared trail to the door. It appeared that he used the rest of his strength to reach the door.

"You are a very brave fighter, young man," I said aloud though I knew he couldn't hear me. I wiped away most of the wet blood from his face but dried blood still caked one side.

I needed to stop the bleeding. It was too large a gash to leave untended, so since he was unconscious at the moment, I decided to close the wound. I moved at my preternatural speed and in only a minute I had it cleaned and stitched.

Having relieved his most pressing need, I went into the parlor to locate the telephone. I heard feeble coughing from the upstairs bedroom.

"Mrs. Masen, it's Dr. Cullen. I'm calling an ambulance for your family," I announced from the parlor and. I heard a faint sigh from her direction. Though I didn't need it, I turned on a light in the room and called the hospital for an ambulance.

After the call, I hurried up the stairs to check on Mrs. Masen and her husband.

She was sitting in a chair just inside the doorway facing her husband's bed, her breathing was weak and ragged. She watched me enter the room and smiled weakly.

"Thank you," she said very softly.

"I've called an ambulance; it should be here in a few minutes. You are going to the hospital," I said looking her in the eyes. She nodded once.

I moved a chair away from the bedside to check on Mr. Masen. Pneumonia had filled his lungs with fluid. A telltale scent in his blood told me that his kidneys had failed and he wouldn't last much longer.

Mrs. Masen was not much better; she was holding herself together by pure will. I cringed when I saw the unopened bottles of medicine sitting on the bedside table. I walked over to her and assessed her fever and breathing.

"My son?" she asked softly, staring up at me, carefully studying my face.

"He is very ill and is going to the hospital too. He injured his head but I've stopped the bleeding," I told her.

She smiled wearily, closed her eyes and nodded but didn't move otherwise. "Oh angel… it's true," she muttered almost soundlessly under her breath her eyes still closed.

I knew I was wasting my time but I managed to get some of the medicine into Mrs. Masen before I headed downstairs to medicate Edward. He was asleep, breathing raggedly. I gave him an injection of a pain reliever for his ribs and head wound, knowing it would also reduce his coughing and help him with the uncomfortable trip to the hospital.

A few minutes later I lit the entry table lamp and opened the door for the ambulance attendants. Edward was unconscious and unusually still by the front door. The glare of the lamp emphasized just how pale he was and beads of sweat glistened on his skin in the lamp light. A strange passing impression made me catch my breath but I shook off the odd thought as I watched his neck pulse with his beating heart.

I directed the attendants to the second floor and they loaded Mr. Masen on the stretcher and took him out. He was in such a weakened state he did not awaken during the move. They returned with a second stretcher for Mrs. Masen.

"Edward," his mother sighed and reached out for her son as they carried her past him.

Edward looked dreadful in the light, half of his pale face, his hair, hands and feet caked with blood and blood stained his night clothes. I was crouched next to him, he began shivering again as the cold air came in the open door. She looked at me with a peculiar expression on her face. Because of all the blood I expected her to ask me how severe his injury was but she didn't. Her eyes returned to him and I glanced at the row of stitches at his hairline. They were barely visible - she wouldn't notice, I thought.

"I'll take the boy in my car," I told both her and the ambulance driver, knowing that there was only room for the two in the back. I didn't want her to worry since he wouldn't be in the ambulance with her. She smiled almost blissfully and laid her head down as they took her outside. The air outside was cold so the attendant brought me a heavy blanket and I wrapped the wet bloody boy in it.

Dawn was arriving soon, the sky was cloudless and I knew there was no time for dawdling. Trying to be useful, the attendant helped me as I put him in the back seat of my car. I drove very fast to the hospital, taking a different route and we arrived before the ambulance.