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Beauty and the Geek
Chapter 26- Critical Conditions
As I followed the car before me, the surrounding area began to seem less and less familiar. I told myself that they lived somewhere outside of the town as I did, but my stomach was not convinced, The downpour only became stronger as it struck the roof of my car. I turned on the radio to muffle the sound, but it did not succeed in muffling my worries. Lightning struck the ground, and light plastered itself against the dome of the atmosphere, sending shivers down my spine. As the streetlamps thinned and disappeared, my anxiety increased severely. The roads were wet, and my tires struggled to tread on them, as if they were hands slipping off of a metal bar drenched in oil.
The road began to decline, and the landscape began to fade into the darkness. The cruiser began to speed up greatly, and reluctantly, I did the same. When they sped twenty miles over the speed limit, I could almost swear I heard Bella's cried. I kept my Volvo at the speed limit, and wondered why the car before me continued to rapidly move across the road. Remembering something I had learned in a car magazine, my heart stopped as realization struck. Their brakes must have been shot. There was, regrettably, nothing I could do but follow them, and pray with every cell in my body that this road was straight, and would return to being horizontal with the sea level.
I turned the corner, squinting for a view of the cruiser that was already far from me. Rounding another curve, my foot slammed onto the brake, and lept out of my still-moving car. It paused as I ran, still humming, when I raced over to the rail.
"No! No, Bella!" I wished it had been my imagination, but it hadn't been. When I had turned around the hill obscuring my view, I was in full sight of the horror of the police cruiser breaking horizontally through the rusted barrier, and continue to spin on an invisible axis as it flew into the air, and gravity yanked it downward. The curve was nearly a hairpin turn, and was not supposed to be attempted to be made on any speed above thirty.
My hands held onto the rusted metal where the car had broken through, and watched in terror as the vehicle still spun down the cliff.
"Bella!" My feet lost their hold on the ground, sending my head slamming into the rail. Wet, warm blood trailed down my head, but the pain was nothing compared to the shredded heart that lay limp inside my chest. My fingertips dug into the side of the mountain as I crawled downward toward the ravine where the smoking car now lay.
Luckily, it was not vertical, and was easily maneuvered. The sickening tire tracks and skid marks imprinted in the mud had torn apart the bushes and miraculously avoided ancient, thick trees. Once on level ground, I broke into a run, racing for the crumpled cruiser. I knew it would be best if the paramedics came first, for I could not look at Bella or her father without losing the fight to the urge to pull them out. With trembling hands, it took me six tries to punch the right numbers into my cell phone.
"911 Emergency?"
"Hello? I am in a ravine, and Chief Swan and his daughter crashed, oh my god, they must have spun twenty feet in the air, please you have to hurry!"
"Calm down, sir. Where are you?"
"I don't know trace my damn phone! Just get here now! They could die!"
"I am tracing the signal, sir, what is your name?"
"Edward Cullen."
"I can stay on the line with you until paramedics arrive."
"Yeah, thanks. Let me just call my dad on the other line first."
"Of course." I dialed his number, and waited anxiously for him to answer.
"Edward?"
"Dad, I was following the Swans home for dinner, and they spun off the road, they got lost or something. You have to help, they fell into some kind of ditch."
"You called paramedics?"
"Yeah, you have to take care of them at the hospital, I think it's serious."
"Are they breathing?"
"I can't go near the car, Dad, they're bleeding, and I can't let myself hurt them if I try to pull them out..."
"Okay, just wait for them. They are already dispatched, and I will scrub up and take care of them. Trust me."
"Thanks. Dad?"
"Yeah son?"
"Love you."
"Love you too." I hung up, and waited with my hand in my blood-soaked hair, until sirens were audible.
"Down here!" I yelled and waved my arms, and within seconds crews were down the mountain and were opening the doors. Two ambulances were ready at the road above, and I raced to Bella's side as they placed her gently in a stretcher. Blood dripped from her head and cascaded over her face, her arms were embroidered with shattered pieces of glass, and her neck was propped up in a neck brace.
"Bella? Bella? Can you hear me?" I knelt beside her when they set down the stretcher onto the ground, preparing a way to bring her up the side of the mountain. "Bella? Bella? Can you hear me?" No response, her eyes did not flutter nor her lips. I could not bring myself to check her pulse. "Bella? Bella can you see me?"
My eyes scoured her face, and finally, her lids began to separate.
"Edward..." Her voice sent relief flooding through my system.
"Bella! Oh Bella, you are going to be fine, I promise." I could not promise this, but I had to believe it true.
"Dont' leave me."
"I will be right here beside you. I won't leave you." As the medic lifted her up, I demanded to ride with her in the ambulance. They hoisted her up with cables and did the same with Charlie, whose injuries were less severe than Bella's. An officer helped me back up the side, and I slid onto the bench beside the sleeping Bella. I longed to hold her hand, but the glass that was embedded within her skin warned me to keep my distance.
Tubes and bandages swirled around, and to my fear, a breathing tube was inserted. We arrived at the hospital, and the gaurds had to use all of their force for me not to follow her into the intense care unit. I saw Carlisle beside her as they rolled her into the hospital. My hands wound into my drenched hair, and saw drops of red staining my shirt. I had been bleeding more seriously than I had thought. The nurse gave me two clipboards for Charlie and Bella, and I filled out what I knew. I wrote down their full names, ages, occupations, and little else.
"You know, honey, you might want to get that checked out." The nurse motioned toward my head.
"I'm fine." I lied.
"Should she wake up and see you like that, imagine how that would sicken her." I walked with her reluctantly, knowing she was right. I had been bandaged up, stitched up, and my hair had been rinsed from blood. The automatic doors opened revealing my frantic mother, who ran to me.
"Oh, Edward! Are you alright."
"I'm fine, Mom." We hugged tightly, and she allowed me to resume my pacing. Several nurses told us we could go home, but I refused, and Esme agreed to stay by my side. She must have thought it irrational, of course, but she could see the look in my eyes, and knew that I intended to stay. Hours later, Carlisle emerged and waved us forward.
"Cheif Swan is awake, and in stable conditon. He has allowed you to see Bella. I must warn, you though. You will not like the look of her." I dove to her bedside, and held her hand that did not have an IV plunged into it. I kissed her hand, and rested my cheek against it. Scratches marked up her entire arms and face, which had a head wound similar to mine, only much more severe. Critical condition was written on her chart.
"What happened?" He rested his hand on my shoulder, and my eyes welled up with salty tears. I knew this was not good.
"She has slipped into a coma." I sobbed with no cares about who saw, and held her pale hand to my face. On my knees, I prayed to whatevery gods existed that she survive. I kissed her hand, rested against it, and repeated the cycle. Not Bella, anyone but her.
"Will she wake up?" This was the question I needed answered as he pulled me away from her still body, her chest heaving by way of the ventilator.
"We don't know, son." I turned to him and grabbed his shoulders.
"What do you mean, you don't know!? You have to know something your a doctor for Christ's sake! Has her heart retained its beating, is her body responding at all? You know something!" I yelled into his face, something I had never done before.
"Edward! Calm down! Have I ever lied to you, huh? Have I ever mislead you ever in your life?" I shook my head, still enraged. "So what the hell makes you think that I would choose this of all times to start?! If I knew anything, any turn of events, I would tell you, but I DON'T KNOW!" He left the room in a huff when I stopped him.
"Dad?"
"I know son." He knew me too well. I tried to apologize, but the one word had settled it. I settled myself into the recliner beside the bed, and listened to the beeping machines. For no reason at all, I began to sing to Bella the song that had played on the radio when it happened.
"Forgetting, all the hurt inside you've learned to hide so well
pretending someone else can come and save me from myself
I can't be who you are
I can't be who you are"
"If I could take your place, and take your pain away, I would, my love." I kissed her hand, and hummed melodies that buzzed around my head, some of which did not even exist. Notes played through my lips, changing rhythms, but always in tune with the electronic beat of her heart. The whooshing wind moving through her trachea whistled through my ears, and kissed her hand every few breaths. "Bella, I love you, and I am not ashamed to admit it." Then, I waited for my love to return to me.