Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. Sigh.
Beauty and the Geek
Chapter 28- The End of an Eternity
My insides were crumbling, desolate. Ashed filled the places where my heart and lungs had been. The only colors that presented themselves to me where gray, and darker gray. No sounds crossed my ears, my tongue could neither grasp the words nor had any will to speak. The mind that had once roamed with love and the joyfulness of a new life was now dreary with the lack of these emotions, or lack of anything for that matter. My eyes were fixed on only one subject; her. They did not stray, nor did they wish to. My muscles were fixed, and the only movement in my aching body was that of blood being pumped through my veins by that of my ever-weakening heart.
Whilst I could feel the presence of my friends, I had no longing to converse nor even look their way. They would understand, for I knew that though my ears had adjusted their senses to ignore the beeps and hum of the machinery, they had not yet become immune to the weaps of Rosalie and the footsteps of Jasper and the tiny strides of Alice. As soon as they had entered, my senses focused only on her, as they had before, and returned my being to the existance of a ghost, haunting the bedside of my beloved.
Her warmth radiated from her hand to mine, the only source of heat that flowed through me emanated from her. She was my life source. Bella was the only tie that bound me to life. Time was at a stand-still, and when my focus was complete, my anguish was all that I detected within myself. We had been ignored by the staff that drifted in the room from time to time, and respectfully made their way around the statues we had become. I was only vaguely aware of the connection between Jasper and Alice only because of their position opposite from mine. Their hands were interlocked, flashing a stabbing pain through the emptiness that had once formed the love I felt.
Only once had we been so rudely awakened from our oblivion, and for such a trivial purpose such as nourishment. A very pushy, pig-headed nurse had threatened to force-feed us lest we take the effort to do so ourselves, to which I replied;
"No thank you." I was as polite as I could muster, especially due to the fact that I now loathed her existence, for she had pulled me back into the grim reality I concentrated so fiercely on separating myself from.
"Now, I know you are upset but it will not slow her recovery if you eat." Her harshness dug through my chest, sending a silent message through my brain, activating adrenaline through my system.
"Forgive me if I lack an appetite while I sit beside the girl that I love who had slipped into a coma due to the car crash that I myself had witnessed. But please, send your complaints to Dr. Cullen, my father, who would be so pleased that you decided to shove food down my throat when I refuse to eat until she can." My rage poured through my voice, the bitterness cut like a serrated knife. Upon this, she left me, and hopefully, knew better than to repeat the action.
I rested my head above my arm as it laid across one of the metal rails, and unknowingly allowed my eyes to close. It was not a second after they shut that I drifted into sleep. It could not be longer than a half an hour that I slept, for I knew the measure of passing time by the length of my dream. It had been the same dream I had invisioned before, where I chased my bride who dressed in lace and white. There was no difference than before, and knew what outcome to expect. However, nearing the close of the scene, our voices cried out for the other.
"Edward!" Her un-distinguished voice called for me. The difference in the sound that radiated from my throat was both an utter surprise, and more expected than the imminent sunset.
"Bella!" I screamed in my dream. At that moment, I became alert. A single note rang through the air, an electronic, horrifying sound.
Beeeeeeeepppppppppppppppppppppp...
Nurses and doctors raced into the dwelling, and I backed up into the nearest corner. My hands gripped the wall as my friends departed. No one urged me to leave, I guessed the nurse I had nearly attacked had spoken of my anger.
"She's going into cardiac arrest, we need the defibrillator."
"Charge to 150. Clear." Jolts of electricity raised her chest into the air as the metal faces hit the plastic stickers on her chest and ribs. The tone remained flat and even.
"Charge. Clear." Another shock was administered. This cycle repeated continuously for an entire minute, and though I knew we had a little more time before her brain would begin to suffer from lack of blood, the medical staff looked doubtful. They jolted her body one last time, and the tone echoed through the room. Infuriated, I darted to her side.
"You can't just leave her like this! You have to try something else!" No one responded to my fury. Remembering the CPR Carlisle had taught to me, I pressed my hands on her heart and pounded my body weight onto her.
One, two three four. Breathe. One two three four. Breathe. echoed in my head, and I made a pattern of beats and blowing air into her lungs. I glanced at the monitors, and they remained unchanging. One last time, I thought to myself.
I bent my head down to hers, knowing this would be the last time I would touch her face while it was warm. Instead of filling her lungs with air, my lips embraced hers in a first, and final kiss. The duration of this seemed eternal, just her and I in this moment, forever. As I began to pull away, my empty eyes swelled with moisture, and my hand curled around hers as I bent down beside her. The only woman I would ever love was taken away from this earth, and I would surely do the same as soon as I was left alone...
Beep. Beep. Beep. The long string of notes became staccato and repeated in intervals as evenly as before, only with more power. Her chest heaved as oxygen filled her body, and my hope was restored. At the departure of my lips, her heart had began to beat again. It was not that she was my life source, but that we were each other's reason for living. This was when I was assured that she loved me as I did her.
My hand carressed her cheek as her eyes fluttered open, wishing and praying with all my might that her mind was still intact.
"Bella? Bella my love, can you hear me?" Her chocolate eyes wandered through their sockets, and became fixed on mine. Her mouth parted slightly, taking in air on her own accord.
"Edward." She mumbled slowly. The most beautiful sound in existence resounded through my ears, allowing me to exhale. I had not realized that as she drew in her first breath after dying, I was holding mine. My shoulders collapsed as relief flooded throughout me. She was going to be alright, and it was because of me.
"Oh Bella, I thought I lost you." A faint smile turned her lips, and her fingers twitched as mine laced around them.
"You would have to do a lot more to keep me away." She whispered faintly, romantically, lovingly.
"I love you, so very much." I admitted, and knew that I would not let one hour pass that I would not remind her of it.
"I love you too, more than you can imagine." I smiled, and looked deeply into her eyes.
"I believe I can, but you might have to convince me." We leaned toward the other to lock our lips, and the heart monitor sputtered out of control. We parted, and the doctors met their colleagues' eyes in wonder and amazement. A female cardiologist by the look of it asked us politely to refrain from repeating this for a little while. We reluctantly complied, laughing.
The staff cleared up the room, freeing Bella from certain wires and tubes, though many still remained. Her head had been badly cut, as mine had, only more severe, which had triggered the coma. Glass had nearly shredded the skin on her arms, and though she had one hairline fracture in her foot it was miraculous that the head injury was the only critical wound found on her. She begged me to retell the tale of how I found her in the ravine, and though I despised reliving the horror I agreed. Editing the parts that would pain her and myself, she stared at me with awe as she recalled me leaning over her, blood dripping on the earth. She looked deep in thought at that moment, and though I dismissed it to myself as a near death experience memorandum, I was not entirely convinced.
"How is Charlie?" Her sweet voiced was tainted by worry.
"He is recovering from a fractured rib and a tear in his shoulder. Charlie was released from surgery earlier than expected, and is healing well." His doctor informed us as he passed, thankfully, for I knew not of the answer.
"When can I see him?"
"I know how eager you must be to see him, but it is not in your or his best interest to move around a lot right now." Her face fell with his information. "He does have a telephone in his room, and I may write it down for reference, and, I don't know, drop it or something. I am terribly forgetful, and may not even miss it." He hinted with a wink. We smiled at him and he whisked out of the room, his long white coat trailing behind him in the wind he created. After a while, our friends were allowed in the room.
First to enter was Alice, who teared from the corners of her eyes, and had to restrain herself from leaping on the bed and hugging Bella around the neck. Behind her Jasper closely followed, wrapping his hand in hers and smiling at Bella. Rosalie entered after him, her hand locked around Emmett's who was the last to come in. He respectfully stayed at the foot of the bed while Rose took a place next to me, and rubbed the thumb on the hand belonging to Bella that I clasped. They spoke to her soothingly, and her face was calm until she spoke with great excitement.
"I remember something." She turned to me, and realization came over her. "It was you! You were the one that Emmett hit." Bella's voice lowered as she ended, and I dropped my head, edging slowly away from Emmett, who perked up at the comment.
"What?" He looked at me confused, while fright overcame Jasper. Rosalie rose from her position, put her hand on his large chest and led him outside.
"It was a misunderstanding..." She began the story she told me. Seeing the scene through the window of the room out towards the hall, the large head whose hair was growing back into curly locks was bent into two mammoth hands. Our eyes met the other's through the glass, guilt read easily through their thin membrane of mental defense. At that moment, he apologized without a sound, and he knew that he was forgiven. Jasper quivered in his seat, being comforted by Alice as he whispered a condensed version of the story in her ear.
My attention was returned to my love, and I kissed her lightly on the cheek, making the monitor race. Rosalie, and Emmett, who had just entered the room again, stifled their laughter as Alice and Jasper let theirs free. A passing nurse who was familiar with our case shook her head and suppressed a smile as she waved her finger at us. Bella blushed furiously, and the doctor who had promised a phone call to Charlie 'dropped' a piece of paper on the nightstand by the phone, and then pretended to get paged to another room. There were still good souls in the world.
I held her hand to the extent of her arm as I left the room with the others. I could not help but peek in the window as we clustered around the door outside. A wide smile beamed across her face as his voice echoed into the receiver. Tears of joy streamed down her face as they conversed, and I saw the veil of stress and longing lifted off of her fragile being as they spoke. A little while later, she waved us back in as we were accompanied by the trays of food. Food, especially hospital food, had never tasted so sweet, and burnt coffee never smelled so smooth and welcoming.
Nothing in my life could disappoint me if Bella was there with me. I never intended on letting her go as long as she held the desire to stay, and of that, I had no doubt that the time where that statement was false would never come. My future flashed before my eyes.
Bella was adorned in white silk and lace, a thin veil poured over her blushing face that held a smile so wide, so beautiful, it would make an angel cry. Violins sang their songs in the background, and we danced to our song for the first time with the same name underneath the stars and a canopy of twinkle lights. I saw us chasing our children, one with eyes of chocolate and another with eyes of green. I envisioned us living our lives somewhere with life, yet with peace and serenity and night fell. I saw our wrinkled hands holding on to the other's as we remembered our lives, and this part that I lived in presently, the beginning of forever, and the end of the tumult that had been our lives. The end of an eternity of misery, and the start of serenity forever.
