TW: Self-harm
"Stop freaking out!" Emmett shouted at his sister. Alice had been going crazy since Carlisle managed to convince Bella to meet her in a café. At first, he offered their home but she was getting agitated so he changed the course and offered a more neutral place. That seemed to work. But Alice was acting like it was a first date, losing her mind over what to wear and which topics were safe to talk about etc.
"I can't help it!" She screamed back. Not being able to see Bella clearly was still a sore point, she was not used to interacting with people without seeing their reactions. She was nervous and very afraid to mess up this opportunity.
In his room, Edward Cullen was as still as a statue. His eyes on the big windows covering his room, but not really seeing the raging storm and rain outside. He listened his siblings fighting, he could hear the excitement and hope in their minds. Alice and Emmett had always been optimistic, he never disagreed more. He unnecessarily gulped, tried to clean the heavy weight on this throat with no luck. It never went away lately, like a pair of hands squeezing his throat all the times.
This was even worse than the days leading his departure. Because back then, everything seemed black and white. Staying meant that Bella would eventually become a monster. Or she'd be in some much danger he brought. Leaving meant that she'd have a happy future. Sun, beaches, college, a husband, children-everything he was incapable of giving her. He had hope for her.
Now, everything seemed pitch black. He destroyed his Bella.
His family didn't want to accept, maybe they simply didn't see. Maybe they didn't see the way she refused to look at people in the eyes, her eyes always glued on people's shoulders. Maybe they didn't see the number of pills she carries with her every day. Maybe they were not as sensitive as he is to her blood, so they didn't smell the fresh scars on her arms and thighs. Maybe they just didn't want to see.
But he did. He saw. He saw the wreckage he created.
He didn't think that it was possible to get the old Bella back, even for her.