Chapter 24: I'm not over loving you
Bella woke up first. She had just have a pleasant dream where Edward and her were holding hands in the meadow, looking peacefully at each other and playing with their finger across their skins.
She opened her eyes softly. It was early morning by the way sunlight was coming shyly through the window, barely illuminating the room. Edward was still in bed with her, but sometime along the night they had moved and now they were lying on their sides, face to face, holding their hands between their bodies.
He looked serene while sleeping. His face was so close Bella thought she could count his eyelashes. Edward's skin was pure white marble, perfect and flawless. His mouth was partly opened and his bronze hair was everywhere along the pillow.
Bella contemplated him for what seemed like hours. She had never had the chance to look at him for such a long time, at least not in reality, with her true eyes. He was the image of perfection. She brought herself closer and rubbed her nose against his and she saw him smiled crookedly in his dreams. Bella closed her eyes and went back to sleep with a grin spread in her face.
"Good morning sleepy heads!".
Edward and Bella jumped in bed, getting roughly awake by the high-pitched voice of Alice. She was standing in the doorway holding a tray with breakfast and looking at them both with goofy eyes. They looked so cute holding hands while sleeping close to each other that no one in the family had wanted to awake them. But it was late and Edward needed to get to work, so after everyone passed through the door exclaiming "Ahhh" in delight, Alice decided it was time to break the bubble.
"Sorry, guys. But Edward needs to get to work and Bella should have her medicine" she stated.
Edward opened his eyes lazily, founding two big brown eyes staring at him. They were so close to each other that their noses were touching, and suddenly all he wanted was for his sister to vanish so he could take Bella between his arms and claim her as he had wanted since the first time he saw her.
But instead, Edward smiled embarrassed and moved away from her. I can't do it. I would scare her, he told himself. Supporting his body with his elbows, he lifted himself from the bed and looked at her sister.
"Get up and move!" Alice exclaimed. "Or you will be late. I will take care of her".
Edward did as told and soon was out of the room, and away from Bella's view. She felt a pang of pain in her chest at the lost of his proximity.
"Now, you have to eat something and take your medicine" Alice said moving towards the bed and helping Bella get into a sitting position.
About fifteen minutes later, while Bella was finishing breakfast, Edward came back all clean up, dressed in a new outfit and smelling delicious. "I'm going" he said approaching the bed. "Do you feel better? I will be back by night"
"I feel a lot better" Bella replied. "And Alice brought my laptop from home, so I will be able to work a little during the day".
"That's great. I'll see you at night then. Don't work too much, get some rest. Ok?" He said before kissing her forehead and heading out.
The day at the hospital was slow. And soon after lunch Edward was over with his job and bored. He sent a couple of text messages to Bella, which she replied instantly, telling him she was ok and working in bed. Beside, Alice was with her and Esme kept feeding her like is she had never eaten before. He laughed at her comments and shutting his phone went to the doctors room to rest a little.
Edward lay down in the couch and flipped the channels, finding nothing interesting to see. Finally, he closed his eyes and fall asleep peacefully.
He dreamed he was standing in a meadow, which was covered with blue flowers and deep green grass. The sunlight was soft and warm, illuminating the place with a halo of yellow light. Beyond the meadow there was a dense forest. Thought it was the first time he was here, he felt he knew this place as much as his own home.
Edward felt her presence even before he heard her steps. He turned around and saw Bella staring at him from the edge of the opening. She was wearing a white lose dress, that fitted her waist and breast beautifully. Her chocolate hair was falling like a cascade over her shoulders, framing her exquisite features. She looked so gorgeous he felt his heart could shrink.
"Bella" he whispered, and was unable to say anything else. As she smiled at him he saw that her eyes were glowing. He took a couple of steps toward her, and so did she, so they were soon really close to each other. She lifted her eyes and stared deeply into his, not saying a word. Edward put his arms around her thin figure, and brought her closer to him until their chest were touching, but never leaving her eyes. Everything seemed strangely familiar to him, but he could not recall why.
They stayed glue to each others eyes for what seemed like hours. He didn't want to move or to break the moment. He wanted to stay in that instant forever. Holding her, feeling she was part of his soul, lost into the deeps of her eyes.
But suddenly Edward saw Bella's eyes changed, the glow in her pupils dying away. He felt something wet against his stomach, so he moved her a little away and his features were transformed in horror. The wetness was coming from her. Bella was covered in blood, a red stain spreading over her white dress, just under the line of her breast.
She collapsed in his arms, giving Edward just a fraction of a second to react and catch her before she hit the floor. He gathered her in his arms, panic rushing through his body, not knowing what to do. He inspected her, but could not found any injury. Blood was still coming from her, its source untraceable.
He looked horrified back at her eyes, tears clouding his sight, and all he saw was a deep pain and terrible sorrow, as Bella lifted her hand to touch his face. She caressed his jaw line softly and then her hand dropped, lying lifeless at her side. Edward noticed her eyes were closed and that she was not breathing anymore. Holding her motionless body against his chest, he cried and screamed her name at the top of her lungs, trying hopelessly to bring her back to him.
"No!" he screamed. "No! You can't leave me. I'm not over loving you. Please!"
Bella didn't move. She didn't answer either. She was gone. But none the less, Edward kept shaking her against him and screaming her name.
Edward opened eyes and found Jessica Stanley, the nurse, looking down at him shocked. She was holding his shoulders, and he supposed she had been shaking him awake.
"Doctor Cullen, are you ok?. You were screaming. I think you had a nightmare" she said.
Edward sat on the couch, his breath still ragged and looked at his trembling hands. He couldn't erase the image of Bella's dead body from his mind, the idea of losing her like a stake through his heart. Something was wrong, out of place. He grabbed the phone from his pocket and dialed Bella's number. He got the voice mail. He dialed his sister number then.
"Hey brother. What's up?" she asked.
"Alice, is Bella with you?" he asked anxiously.
"No, she received a phone call from her agent and, since she was feeling better, she went to the publishing office for a meeting. Is something wrong?" Alice sounded worry.
"I don't know. Do you have the address of the office she is heading?"
"It's downtown, but I have to google it to be sure" she replied.
"Ok. Do it and send me a message with the address" he demanded.
"Ok. In a minute. But please, tell me what's going on!" Alice pleaded.
"Hopefully, nothing. Just do what I'm asking" Edward finished the communication without saying goodbye. He stood and looked at the nurse by his side, whom still had a bewildered expression on her face.
"Jessica, please call Dr. Crowley or Dr. Newton and tell them I have to leave because of an emergency. Ask them to cover me, ok?".
Jessica just nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but Edward was already gone, running to the parking lot. He got onto his Volvo and headed downtown. Within a second he received a message from Alice with the address.
Not long after that, he was parking in front of the publishing company building. He got out of the car and into the reception area. The secretary looked up at her and smiled flirtatiously.
"Hi, can I help you?" she asked bashing her eyelashes.
"Is Bella Swan here?" he required abruptly. He had no time for her crap.
"Mmm. No, she left a couple of minutes ago" the secretary replied visibly annoyed by his rough manners.
Edward ran out of the building without even looking at her a second time. Standing on the street he looked all around searching for Bella, but found no clue to where she might be. He was getting desperate by the minute. Focus Edward, he thought. You know how to find her, just as she knew how to find you in the pool. He closed his eyes with strength, doing his best to concentrate on Bella. An image of her came to his mind, sitting on a dirty floor with her back against a brick wall. Edward opened his eyes and run towards the direction in her brain.
He turned the corner of the alley and stopped hastily in his tracks. Before him, Bella was curling in the floor against a wall. A bald and thin man was standing over her, holding a gun in his hand and shouting at her.
"Where is he?" he said. "Tell me how to find him!"
"He doesn't exist" she was answering. "I made him up. He is a fictional character"
"NO!" he replied back, the gun trembling in his fingers. "No, he is real. You are a liar. You want him for you. There's no way someone like him could not be real".
The man stepped closer to her, touching Bella forehead with the weapon. She closed her eyes, and Edward saw the tears running down her cheeks. The sight of her pain unfroze him.
"Stop!" he yelled to the armed guy. The man turned his head and looked at him through red eyes.
"You…" he whispered taking a step away from Bella. Edward lifted his hands so the man could notice he was unarmed. Bella was looking at him with a desperate stare.
"Please, let her go" Edward asked.
He saw that Bella was shaking her head, like if she wanted him to leave it alone and go away.
The bald guy looked at him and then back to Bella. "No!" he shouted. "She lied to me. But I knew it. I knew you had to be real".
"What the hell are you talking about?" Edward enquired. "Please, just let her go so we can talk"
"We will be talking. Now that I found you, I will never let you go" the man replied staring into his eyes dreamily. "But first I need to get rid of her".
Edward saw the man approaching Bella, just as she lifted her eyes and looked at him with sad eyes. She's saying goodbye, Edward thought, and that triggered his reaction. He jumped over the bald man, just it time to move his arm away to divert the shoot. They struggled in the ground, but the guy was too thin and Edward was stronger. He threw the gun away and hit the bald man until he lay unconscious on the floor. Edward breathed a couple of time, watching down at him, making sure he was completely out.
He then heard a gasp and turned his head, reminded that Bella was somewhere near him, probably freaking out. He stumbled over to her, and found a pool of blood under her body. Her eyes were closed. Edward put a hand carefully over her face and called her name. "Bella?". She lazily opened her eyes. "My leg" she whispered.
Edward looked down and saw the injury on her right tight, a stream of blood running from it towards the floor. He took of his shirt and wrapped it over the wound.
"Hold on Bella. I will call for help" he said reaching his phone from his pocket and dialing 911.
Within ten minutes, Edward was climbing over an ambulance, while the paramedics where attending Bella's injury. She was conscious, her eyes fixed in Edward's face like if her life depended on it.
"Talk to me, Bella" he pleaded.
"Please, don't go away. Don't leave me alone" she whispered.
"You won't get ride of me. So don't worry. Now rest, you will be ok" he said reaching out and grabbing her tiny hand in his.
She closed her eyes and fall asleep.
We are getting closer to the end. But yet there are a couple more chapters to come. I hope you are enjoying this.
And tell what do you think about where this is going! Please consider how hard it is for me to write in English!