Twilight: Stephanie Meyer.
I cried writing this, there's more sadness to come, but I hope you stick with me.
Chapter 8: Jane
EPOV
"Bella come on," is what I heard when I answered the phone call from Bella.
"Hello?" I called, but the only thing I heard in response was Mike Newton. Bella had a phone that didn't close, which meant if it was in her pocket it could call people. I just happened to be that last person she had talked to on her phone that day. I knew she couldn't hear me, but I was too curious to hang up. I wish I had, because the next thing I heard made me furious, "let's have some fun."
It made me sick; I knew what Mike was doing, that sick fuck. How could he? Then all I heard from the other side was crunching metal, I almost dropped my phone, glass shattering, things flying around in Mike's car, they had crashed into something or someone. My mouth fell open and my eyes widened in horror.
"Bella," I whispered, but I looked down and the line had been disconnected.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Emmett's voice brought me back, enough to know that I needed to do something to save Bella.
"Emmett, jeep, I need it." I couldn't form a whole sentence when even my brain couldn't function correctly.
"Dude, I know you're sixteen and all, but that doesn't mean you can just jack my jeep whenever you feel like it, you don't even have a license.
"BELLA'S DYING!" I screamed at him, I didn't want to admit it, but it was probably true. Carlisle chose this time to stick his head into our conversation; he must have heard us talking and wanted to see what was going on.
"Edward, take mine." He said, I said a prayer for the man; his car was much faster than Emmett's jeep. I grabbed the keys from his outstretched hand and bolted for the door. I was running towards his Mercedes when I realized something that he should have, and ran back inside.
"You're a DOCTOR!" I yelled in the general direction of where he had been standing, he appeared a few feet away from me and then nodded his head and jogged behind me towards the car. He let me drive, even though it was his car, he knew I wouldn't argue with him if he took the keys, I think he assumed I knew where I was going, when he didn't even know what was going on. Truth be told I didn't know where I was going either. I faintly remember Alice mentioning that Bella should go to this restaurant, I couldn't remember what it was called, but I knew it had been in Port Angeles. So they must have gone there. It was a school night too, and Bella's parents were fairly strict by what she had told me. If I was lucky they would be on their way home, there was only one good way to get back to Fork's from Port Angeles, so I headed that way.
I didn't speak a word to Carlisle the whole time, just drove with determination, scanning the entire place for Mike's car. About fifteen miles out of Fork's I saw dozens of flashing lights, cop lights. There were fire fighters, EMT's, ambulances, cops, and hundreds of fucking lights. I slammed on the breaks and bolted out of the car, I ran up to the first person I could find, he was an extra ambulance driver.
"Bella," was all I said, he shrugged and mumbled something I didn't bother to listen too. I ran up to one of the cops that Carlisle was talking to and interrupted.
"The girl that was in the car, where is she?" I was frantic; I couldn't bring myself to ask if she was alive, I needed to know she was somewhere though.
"Both the driver and passenger were transported to the Harborview Medical Center on Ninth Avenue in Seattle. I don't know anything else though kid." Normally, being addressed like that would piss me off but I could only think of one thing at the moment.
"Go son." Carlisle bent down to say in my ear, I didn't need to be told twice, and I ran back to his car and peeled away. I didn't think that maybe he would need a ride, but he knew everyone there, he worked with most of them, he could get a ride from someone I was sure, Carlisle was not my concern. Bella was the only one I was thinking about.
I had no idea where the hospital the cop had mentioned was. But how hard could it be to find a big fucking hospital? I paid attention to the signs that pointed towards it, and eventually made it there.
I parked quickly in the covered garage on level C, sprinted towards the elevator and went to the ground floor. When I finally made it there, I ran to the receptionist who looked a little shocked at my appearance.
"Isabella Swan," I gasped. She typed the name into the computer in front of her rather slowly.
"I'm sorry; we don't have any patient's listed under that name." My heart dropped to my stomach, I was too late.
"This is Harborview right?" The last of my hope disappearing as she nodded.
"Yes, Harborview Medical Center."
"But, this is where they said they took her!" I was yelling again, I couldn't have lost her; I hadn't had the chance to have her yet.
"When was she brought in?"
"Just now, less than an hour ago, she was in a wreck with Mike, and now I don't know if she's ok, or if she's gone and I'm too late, and now you're telling me she's not here, and I'm hoping the cop was wrong because if he is then maybe there's a chance she's still alive, I can't lose her!" I was rambling, I was worried.
"Ok, calm down, we had two come in recently from an automobile accident within the hour, that's probably them, you say her name is Isabella Swan? We need to contact her parents, do you have their numbers? And Mike, do you know him?"
"Sure sure, where is she? Is she alive? Is she alright?"
"Listen to me," the receptionist said as she called one of the nurses towards her, "I need you to stay focused here, we need their names, Isabella Swan and . . ." She trailed off because she didn't know Mike's last name.
"Newton, it was Mike Newton driving the car. Bella was on a date with him. I need to see her, please tell me where she is!" I begged.
"Are you related to Isabella?" I had seen enough to know that if I said 'yes' then I could probably go see her.
"Yea, I'm her . . . Brother," I paused briefly, inventing a family member for Bella.
"In that case, this nurse over here is going to take you to ICU where she is being treated and hand over her personal belonging to you, I need you to get in touch with your parents, they need to be here." ICU, she was alive. I followed the nurse to the elevator and pulled out my cell phone.
"Edward?" Alice's voice came from over the phone.
"Alice, Bella and Mike were in a wreck, I need you to tell anyone that needs to know and get them up here." I snapped the phone shut because the elevator had opened up to the floor we wanted. I was lead to another desk, with another receptionist, the nurse talked to her and she handed my nurse a brown bag, she then handed it to me.
"These are her things, I need you to follow me to the waiting room and sit there, you can wait for the doctor there, and he'll have all the news about your sister." I nodded my head and followed her to where she had told me to wait.
And wait I did.
It had been an hour before I realized I had a bag of Bella's things in my hand, I opened it up and found a pile of her clothes, they were in plastic bags and soaked in blood, I dropped them, not wanting to know whose blood had soaked them, there was also her phone, the screen was cracked and a few buttons had fallen off, the only other things in the bag were a movie ticket and a few receipts. I put everything back and went to check the time on my own phone.
Before I could, I noticed the nineteen missed calls, from Alice and various other numbers I didn't know. There were five voice mails, all from Alice.
"Edward, what the hell, where did they wreck, what hospital are they at? You can't just hang up on me and not tell me where to take everyone!"
This was true; I had forgotten to tell them where she was. I was just about to call her back when Alice, Bella's parents, and another boy who had his arm wrapped securely around Alice's waste. I had no idea who he was, but he looked a lot like Bella's mom, so I assumed he was the brother I was impersonating, Jasper.
Bella's mom ran up to me and starting drilling me with questions, I told her I didn't know anything but that they had been brought here after the wreck.
"How did you know it had happened?" She had tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked so much like Bella that my heart broke looking at her and I wanted to hold her and comfort her.
"She accidently called me while she was in the car with Mike and I heard the whole thing," I said dryly, never wanting to hear that again.
"Do Mike's parents know yet?" Bella's dad asked me.
"I don't know, Bella was the only one I was concerned about." This made his brow furrow; no one knew I had feelings for her, no one but Alice.
"Well, someone needs to get in touch with them." I needed something to do while I waited for news about Bella, so I wandered over to the nurse's desk.
"Excuse me; can I have the things that were found with Mike Newton, the other person in the wreck?"
"I'm sorry, the young man in the car died. All of his things are in the morgue downstairs waiting to be processed." This hit me hard; no one had mentioned the fact that Mike hadn't made it. I guess no one had the guts to say it.
"I'm so sorry, were you a friend of his?" She asked politely, eyes watering as she reveled in the idea of another dead human being, the job must take a toll on people.
I walked away without answering, back to where everyone was waiting.
"Mike died." I shook when I said it. I knew it was true, I just hadn't grasped it. I need Carlisle, needed to talk to him, figure out what to do, he was a doctor, surely he knew the Newton's and could explain it to them. I picked up my phone, dialed his number from memory and walked to a corner of the room to sit by myself.
"Edward?"
"Mike died, they just told me; will you tell his parents? I don't want them finding out later from the hospital, or from around town." They deserved this at least.
"Of course, I'm at the hospital now; I'll see you in a minute." I clicked the phone shut without saying goodbye. I looked up at Bella's family, Mr. and Mrs. Swan were standing in the opposite corner, Bella's dad had his arms cradled to support her mom who was crying uncontrollably into his shoulder, Alice was sitting in Jaspers lap on the waiting room floor, she was crying as well. Jasper looked like concrete, his arms wrapped around Alice so tightly I was surprised she could breathe. Before I could do anything else, I was hit with a series of images, Bella's pale face scarred and bruised, bleeding, on the concrete by a demolished car. Then another of the same face, but this time surrounded by a casket, she was holding black roses and wearing a black dress. The worst was the one of her lying in a hospital bed, eyes open in pain while the heart monitor made a dull hum next to her as it registered her dead pulse, while a doctor in a blood stained lab coat walked up and closed her eyes for her.
I ran to the bathroom down the hall and threw up in the sink. I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my head, they had been so vivid. So real, like it was all happening right in front of me. I washed up and walked back to the waiting room, Carlisle was there now, holding Alice's tiny body in his arms. He looked up when I walked in, he had a grim expression on his face, he nodded in my direction and I took a seat near Jasper.
Alice eventually went back to sobbing in Jasper's shoulder while he cradled her, and Carlisle went to talk to Bella's parents.
Three more hours passed before a doctor appeared from the ominous double doors that lead to ICU. Carlisle rushed to talk to him first; the talked in low voices for a few minutes before the doctor turned and walked back through the swinging doors.
"Bella is in critical condition," Carlisle began, "She fractured her left leg, it's broken in six different places, she has a lot of scarring from the metal of the car, Dr. Stevens says she has around forty stitches in various areas, she's lost massive amounts of blood, the worst of it is internal, she's bleeding everywhere and they can't control it. I'm going back there to see what I can do to help, Edward keep your phone on you so I can keep everyone updated." Before we could ask him anything he disappeared and all we were left with was the swinging of the ICU doors.
"Critical?" Bella's mom whimpered.
We all sat in silence as another few hours as I stared at the phone in my hand that never rang.
Carlisle appeared before us sometime around 5:30 am, looking tired, with what I assumed was Bella's blood on his borrowed lab coat.
"Bella needs a blood transfusion, and this hospital isn't very well stocked with her blood type, we need to test all of you." Everyone sprang up from their chairs and followed him behind the mysterious doors that we had watched fly open and swing shut all night. Everyone was tested, Bella's mom and Alice were the same blood type as her, and so they donated as much as possible. I was devastated that I couldn't help; Bella's father, Jasper and I were ushered back into the waiting room. A while later Alice and Bella's mom, who I learned was named Renee, came back, looking a little pale and shaky.
I felt the need to talk to Alice.
"Have you seen her yet?" I wished I had.
"Just through a window where she's being operated on," this explained the horror in her eyes. It must be worse than we all had imagined. I didn't want to imagine anymore. I needed to see her. I called Carlisle's cell and he answered on the first ring.
"I need to see her," I really did, it was almost crucial at this point.
"You can't until she's been stabilized and in her own room," he had barely finished his sentence when I heard a nurse call him frantically along with the sound of metal hitting metal and then the line was disconnected. This scared the shit out of me, I couldn't sit in the waiting room anymore, and pacing never helped my nerves.
"I'm going to walk around for a bit, someone call me if they have any news." Before they could protest or offer to come with me I had turned on my heels and headed for the elevator.
I wandered the sick hallways, never stopping on a certain floor for very long. There was a maternity ward, a prosthetic limb ward, and many others. I spend most of my time in the children's wing of the hospital. I crossed from room to room looking at the names on the doors, stopping in at the waiting rooms to see all the toys and coloring books littering the floor, there was never anyone in them, which was why I stuck around. I kept walking, one of the patient's doors was open, and there was a little girl, though it was hard to tell from her shaved head, sitting up in her bed staring at the door. When she saw me she smiled and waved to me to come in. I did, and sat down at the end of her bed.
"I'm Jane." She said in the tiniest voice, I couldn't help but smile just a little.
"My name is Edward, what are you doing up so late?" I didn't actually know what time it was but I assumed it was too late for Jane to be awake, she seemed to be about eight or nine, but rail thin, even for a child.
"It's almost eight in the morning," she stared at me with her head slightly tilted, "you're eyes are very sad." The statement made me chuckle, 'children are more perceptive than we give them credit for' was something Carlisle said often after coming home from a long shift at the hospital.
"I think I'm a little more sad than my eyes," I didn't know if she would understand or not, but judging by the expression in her eyes, I figured she did.
"Someone you know is hurting, do you love her?" I started shaking again, Carlisle was right, she was more aware of my feelings than I was.
"I think I might, and now I'm losing her, she might be dying." The horrible images of Bella I had seen earlier flashed in front of my eyes again. I shook my head as if to shake them out of my head.
"Mama tells me every day; death ends a life, not a relationship. She needs you to love her Edward." I didn't think about what she said, didn't think about the profound knowledge behind the words, I just got up and ran back to the elevator that would bring me closer to Bella.
There you go, I was conflicted in the killing of Mike, I wanted too, but didn't want to. In the end a good friend of mine reminded me that it's my story to write, and I should write it the way it comes to me.
Erin, thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you.
Ben, thanks for being so smart and helping with some of the medical stuff.
JennCD, your reviews make me giggle like a little girl, thank you so much!
Reviews are nice.
