They were fighting. I remember the screaming, followed by painful screams from her.
I remember a door slamming, without as much as a goodbye. He left her.
She came to check on me, tears streaming down her face.
"Why couldn't you be my friend for once, and not his sister!"
"You are so loved, my angel" she says to me as she packs the car. "It is safe, now, you can go to sleep."
There was thunder and lightning outside – it made me afraid. I didn't want to go outside.
"It's okay little darlin'" he suddenly appears beside me. He holds my small hand in his and leads me out to the car.
The rain was coming down so hard, I thought it was going to crash through the windows and swallow me up.
She was crying again.
He was yelling again.
They were fighting again.
The car stops. Everyone gets out.
"You stay here, no matter what happens. I know it's scary outside, but we don't have a choice right now."
All of a sudden, everyone is screaming. My family is dying.
And there's nothing I can do.
I never hated being a human more in my life than I did at this moment.
I woke up to a dull pain in my abdomen – great. I got out of bed, took a shower, and put a pad in my underwear in preparation for Satan's Waterfall that would be mostly likely paying a visit later today.
I was not excited.
"Do your best to have a good day," Mom said as I was walking out the door with Alice. "I know it's not easy right now, but do your best." She kissed me on the forehead.
"I'll try," I said, not even bothering to mention that I didn't feel well. I got in the car with Alice and pulled out my phone.
"Is that that 'Angry Birds' thing?" Alice asked, all excited that she found out what I was doing.
"No, not everyone plays that," I joked.
"Then what are you doing?" She asked me.
"Pinterest," I smiled. She nodded.
"You have a problem."
"And you don't?" I mocked her. When it came to material items, Alice had a lot of problems.
"Not when it comes to Pinterest," she smiled.
We got to school and parted ways. I felt the pain in my stomach a little more, but I didn't let it bother me too much.
"Have a great day, Dani!" Alice called to me and I walked to class.
By lunchtime, I had completely lost my appetite. I didn't eat anything, and I didn't feel like getting interrogated by my friends – or worse – my family if they saw me not eating.
Right before final period, Tyler finally tracked me down at my locker.
"What's the matter with you?" Tyler asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I started walking away, trying to make an escape.
"You look like you're gonna hurl," he followed on my heels.
"Oh, so you're a doctor now?" I asked, turning to smirk at him. We had chorus, so we were going to the same place.
"Look, it's my time of the month-" I started and he put his hand up.
"Say no more," he shook his head. "Seriously, though, if you don't feel good, you should go to the nurse."
"I'll get right on that," I said stepping into the chorus room.
In reality, the nausea had increased tenfold since this morning, and I felt terrible. If it wasn't for my family not needing anymore drama in their lives right now, I probably would have babied up and called my Dad to come get me. Me being sick, however, was the last thing everyone needed right now. I'd take some meds when I got home and power through it.
I didn't make it twenty minutes before racing out to the bathroom. I immediately started throwing up, and I couldn't stop. I was in there for about ten minutes before Mariana came in.
"Are you throwing up?" She freaked out. "Should I go get the nurse?"
"No, no I'm fine," I tried to assure her, but I couldn't keep my head out of the toilet.
"What can I do?" She asked sadly.
"Just…" I didn't have time to answer before Alice came bursting in.
"Dani!" She gasped upon seeing me. I waved at her – then promptly threw up again. Well, basically dry heaves. Nothing was coming out anymore.
"I already called Carlisle he's on his way," she explained, coming behind me and rubbing my back. I rolled my eyes. There goes Plan A.
"I guess I'll go back to class now…" Mariana trailed. I nodded. She didn't need to see any more of this.
"Thanks, Mari," I sighed. This sucked.
"Come on, let's try and get you to the nurse," Alice worried. I nodded.
"Did you bring a bucket?" I croaked.
"Damn it! I didn't…but you can use this," she decided, grabbing one of the smaller trash barrels. "Come on, we're leaving."
I walked out of the building and into the welcome center that housed the nurse's office. Dad was already there when we arrived. Edward and Bella were also there waiting for us. Alice must have been with them when she saw me puking.
"Hi, sweetie," Dad greeted, helping Alice get me onto one of the beds in the nurse's station.
"Dani, right?" The nurse asked, filling out paperwork. Dad must have filled her in already.
"Is that how many times I've been in here?" I joked. Dad shook his head, smiling. I hadn't left my sense of humor in the toilet.
"How long have you been feeling nauseous?" The nurse asked.
"Most of today, but it didn't get bad until after lunch," I explained.
"Did you eat lunch?" Dad used his doctor voice. I almost laughed.
"Not really…" I answered.
"She wasn't at lunch at all," I heard Edward say from a distance. I didn't know where he was standing anymore.
"Danielle," Dad chided.
"I wasn't hungry," I defended.
"You should have called me," he corrected, then turned to the nurse. "Thank you, is it alright if I take my daughter home now?"
"Absolutely. Let me know if there's anything else you need. Do you have all of your stuff, Dani?"
I was about to say no, but then Alice came back into the room. I hadn't even noticed that she left.
"I got it for you, hun."
"Thanks, Alice."
As I said that, I clutched the bucket that replaced the trash can as my stomach cramped again – causing me to throw up. It was disgusting and there were so many witnesses.
"It's okay, sweetie. Let it out," Dad coached and tied my hair back. He nodded at Alice again and she left.
"Alice is going to get the car, then I'm going to take you to the hospital. I want to put you on some IVs and have someone do a full examination."
"Dad," I whined.
"No arguing," He declared.
"I'm cold," I complained, lying in the hospital bed. Dad grabbed the thermometer off the wall and checked my temperature. Alice, Edward, and Bella had all gone back to class after I was dismissed. Mom was on her way.
"Your fever hasn't gone down, that's why," Dad explained. When I came here I had a low grade fever of 99. By the looks of it, my fever had gone up since then.
Finally a nurse came in to draw blood and hook up an I.V. Dad started mumbling things to her and she nodded. He was probably being overprotective. He did that.
"She's going to draw your blood and then give you fluids. We don't want to give you any medications yet until we know what's going on. Are you in any pain?"
"A little," I admitted. I guess it wasn't my period after all.
"Where?" Dad asked, as he started poking around my belly. He got to the lower right side of my abdomen and I almost died.
"There," I gasped. It hurt more than I expected when he pushed down. He nodded and whispered something else to the nurse.
"We need an ultrasound and CT scan to be sure, but I think you might have appendicitis," Dad told me, running his fingers through my sweaty hair. I cringed at his cold hands, but it ultimately felt good.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I wasn't feeling good," I apologized. He smiled and shook his head.
"You're so stubborn," he smirked.
When Mom came back in, she had about a thousand questions for Dad. Even after being married to a doctor for fifty years, she didn't understand most of what was going on. He assured her that he was on top of everything and nothing was going to happen.
The doctor came in – he was a resident – and performed the ultrasound. My appendix was enlarged, so I did have to go get the CT scan.
Mom wasn't allowed to come with me, but because Dad was such a prestigious doctor here, they didn't argue with him. He followed me up to radiology and helped me get settled into the machine.
It took what seemed like forever to get the test done, but instead of going back into the ER, I went to another department.
"You're going to need surgery, love," Dad told me. I had barely even talked to my doctor because of my dad. Honestly, his voice calmed me a lot more. I knew that nothing bad could happen to me if he was there.
"We're going to make a 2-3 inch incision in your lower right abdomen to remove the appendix. The surgery is simple enough, and there are very few risks."
"I'm going to scrub in so I can be with you the whole time," Dad promised. "Mom is in the waiting room and she'll be right with you when you wake up."
"It should only take about two hours, maybe less," the doctor said. Dad nodded.
"Let's get it done," I insisted, and I was wheeled into surgery prep.
It felt like waking up from a dream, but it wasn't like the nightmares I had been having. It was peaceful.
"Hey honey, how do you feel?" I heard a woman's voice ask. I felt someone's hand on my head, and another pair of hands on my arm and in my hand.
I opened my eyes all the way and got a view of the room. It was white. I felt a little nauseous, but nothing like what I had been feeling earlier. There was a little pain, but again, nothing like it was earlier.
"Can I have some water?" I choked out. My throat was dryer than the Sahara. Dad laughed and nodded.
"Slow sips," he encouraged. I did what he told me.
"How is the pain?" Another voice asked – a nurse.
"Minimal," I told her. She nodded.
"You're on morphine now, enjoy the ride," she told me. I smiled. Morphine was good.
"When can I go home?" I asked softly.
"I want you to stay overnight, just to be sure there's no reaction, but I'm sure I can get them to release you tomorrow," Dad promised.
"Sounds like a plan," I nodded.
I slept for a while after that – the morphine knocked me on my ass. I was in and out, but every time I got up, Mom or Dad encouraged me to go back to sleep. I was tired enough that I listened.
As I was overnight in the hospital, nurses kept coming in to check on me every few hours as well, also waking me up. Once or twice my actual surgeon came in. It was kind of annoying.
Finally, the next morning, I woke up and Dad was walking in with a smile.
"Are you up for a few visitors?" Dad asked, sharing a grin with Mom. I shrugged. The pain was a little worse today than it was yesterday, but I still had control of the morphine. I was mostly just tired.
"I'll release the wolves, then," Dad joked, and moved out of the way.
"Jacob!" I exclaimed when I saw him walk through the door. I jumped up, but then realized that I had stiches in my side and that that probably wasn't a good idea.
"Easy there," he said, walking towards me. I mouthed a quick thank you to my parents as he walked over. I knew it hadn't been easy for them to call him.
"Don't thank us," Mom told me, holding Dad's hand. "Thank Edward. He called him yesterday once you were out of surgery to fill him in."
"I almost had a heart attack too," Jacob shook his head. "I can't believe you were so sick," he ran his hand through my hair, resting it on my shoulder. I'd never seen him so comfortable around my family before.
"Thank you for coming," I smiled. I felt so much better having him here.
"There's better news," Jake glanced at Dad, waiting for a nod before turning back to me. "You're going home today."
"So that's why you get to be here instead of Edward. He's helping Alice set up for a party," I reasoned. Everyone chuckled.
"How do you know she's throwing you a party today? She could be too busy planning Bella's graduation party, you know," Mom tried.
"Mom," I looked at her, "This is Alice. I've known her my whole life. She's going to throw me a party when I get home, it's inevitable."
Everyone laughed – again.
"I suppose you're right. We better start getting you ready to go then, hm?" Dad offered.
"That would be great," I nodded. Going home and being in a real bed would be amazing.
"Alright, I'll see if I can spring you," Dad said as he walked out the door.
Jacob was allowed to come over to celebrate with us. It was the best gift I had ever been given by my family – their acceptance. Edward and Jacob still didn't get along –at all – but they stayed on opposite ends of the room.
Unfortunately, Jacob had to leave almost as soon as he arrived, because someone had to protect Forks from the sketchy vampires. When he got the text from Sam, he looked heartbroken.
"I'm so…" he started, but I didn't let him finish.
"Go be a superstar," I smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." I pecked his cheek for good measure.
"Please be careful!" I called out to him as he was leaving, since I was still basically immobile. The rest of my family looked on, but I ignored them.
Eventually, we all settled down to watch a movie. Bella, Edward, and I were on the couch and everyone else was scattered around the room. My eyes felt a lot better closed than they did open, so ultimately, I let sleep take me.
At some point, I felt someone lift me up to carry me upstairs. I opened my eyes briefly to see that it was Edward.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered as he laid me in my bed. He tucked me in, just like he did when I was little.
"If you need anything, just call one of us, okay?" He reminded me. No one was going anywhere tonight.
In the midst of all the chaos, if only for one night, we were going to be a normal family.
