A/N: Hi there. I hope Monday is treating you well so far. Here's the next chapter to make your beginning of the week a little better.

Oh and just a small warning, this chapter deals with character deaths and depression.

Chapter-3

Five Years Ago, Summer

As we're waving at the ostentatiously decorated car taking Emmett and Rosalie to the airport for their honeymoon in Hawaii, I can't help but look down at the girl standing next to me. She tries to smile through her tears as she waves the bouquet she caught from Rosalie just a little while ago. Leaning toward her, I whisper softly, "I thought you said you aren't the weepy kind when it comes to weddings?"

She glowers at me through her glistening eyes and mutters, "Shut up. I'm not weeping."

"You are crying," I tease. "Want me to ask Jasper to use his hippie voodoo to suck out all the weepy energy from you so you can go back to being a badass?"

"You're an ass. A bad ass," she grumbles as she turns away from me, making me chuckle.

With Jasper popping the question to Alice and moving in with her just weeks ago, I return to my apartment to a big emptiness.

Throwing myself down on the couch, I barely manage to close my eyes when my cell phone rings. With a groan, I peek at the unknown number.

It better not be some telemarketer.

My voice might be just a little grouchy as I answer the call.

A pleasant female voice asks, "Is this Edward?"

Frowning, I answer, "Yes, what is this about?"

"Do you know a Carlisle and Esme Cullen?"

My confusion grows. "Yes, they are my parents. What's this about?" I ask again.

There is a silence on the other side before the woman says, "I'm sorry, Sir, your parents met with an accident on the highway. You need to come down to the Virginia Mason Medical Center right now, Sir."

"Wait! Are they all right?"

She doesn't answer my question; instead, requests me to get to the hospital right away before hanging up.

On my way to the hospital, I try to call my friends, but no one seems to be reachable. The only one who answers is Bella. "What?" she snaps as a way of answering. "Calling to gloat some more?"

"Bella ..." I only manage to choke out her name before the tears overcome me.

"Edward?" Her tone becomes alarmed now. "What's wrong?"

"Bella, my parents … t-they had an ac-acident," I stammer out between deep heaving breaths. "They're at the hospital."

"Which one?"

"Virginia Mason."

"I'm on my way," she says before hanging up.

When the doctors declare my parents dead, the only thing anchoring me to the world feels like Bella's hand clasping mine. She doesn't say anything as tears of loss flow down her cheeks, crying the tears that refuse to come out of me.

She just wraps her arms around me and holds me tight, silently giving me strength to live.

When you're a medical student, it's a given that you've read about depression and how to treat it. But I never knew what depression truly feels like until my parents death.

For the next few weeks, I shut off the world, hating everyone who tries to console me. I want to yell at them, ask them if their phony consolations would bring my parents back. I hate everyone for living while my parents aren't with me anymore. I even push away my friends who keep trying to make me come back to the light.

Until Bella Swan bangs on my door and threatens to break it down if I don't open it that instant.

When I finally open the door, she takes a good look at me and then holds up a pizza box. "Movie and a pizza?"

I scowl at her in response.

Pretending as if she's immune to any amount of scowling I might aim at her, she walks off to settle herself down on my couch and pats the seat next to her. "You're welcome to join me," she says before grinning. "Unless of course you would much rather just watch me eat it all by myself."

The fact that she teases and treats me just like a normal human being instead of someone delicate who should be spoken to in whispered words is what makes me move. She chooses an action movie for us to watch, and as we watch Arnold Schwarzenegger blow shit up, I feel the walls I've built around myself starting to crumble.

As the first tear rolls down my cheek, I feel Bella slipping her hand in mine. The tears come earnestly then as I clasp her hand for dear life. It feels cathartic to just let the loss and despair that had engulfed me for the last few weeks wash over me without pretending to be strong.

Bella silently pulls me into her arms, letting me cry into the crook of her neck. Without meaning to, the words start pouring out of me. "They're just gone," I tell her. "I can't believe they're not here anymore, Bella. I just … can't. They were supposed to be there for my graduation when I can finally claim to be a doctor, but now … now no one will be there. I don't have a family anymore. I'm all alone now. I have no one."

For a moment, her arms tighten around me and then she pulls back from me, nudging me until I look at her. She doesn't wipe away the tear tracks running down my face. No, instead, she cups my face in her hands and says in that determined voice of hers, "Never ever say that again, you hear me? You do have a family. I am your family. We all are. So listen to me, Edward Cullen, and listen good. You're going to clean yourself up and start studying again. You'll study real hard until I can proudly put that graduation cap on you and tell everyone that Dr. Edward Cullen is my best friend. You have to get yourself back together, Edward, for yourself, for your parents … for all of us. You're not alone, you hear me?"

Silently, I nod, her words alleviating the deep burden of grief and resentment from my heart. Slowly, I start coming out of the dark corner I had pushed myself to. Bella is right there with me, supporting me through every step of it. Soon, I start going back to classes and hanging out with our friends. The dark cloud of depression rescinds and I start living again.

Weeks later, as I'm waiting for sleep to claim me, I mull over all that has happened in the past few months. As my mind turns to the night Bella came over to my place, I turn her words over and over in my head.

Was there a different undertone in her words than usual? I wonder for a moment.

The very next moment, I shake my head at the absurdity of it. My sleep-addled brain must have gone crazy. After all, Bella is like a sister to me, isn't she? A very snarky yet adorable sister.

Right?

Of course, a few months later when Bella introduces me to her new boyfriend, Jacob, I realize how wrong my assumption really was!

A/N: Writing about the aftermath of such a loss was cathartic for me. That's exactly how I felt after my grandfather passed away two years back. To all of you who have lost a loved one, my love and prayers are with you for being so strong to pick yourselves up after it all.

Thanks for reading.

Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.

As most of you agreed with the current posting schedule, we'll have updates Monday and Thursdays for now.

Due to a family obligation, I won't be able to post on this Thursday. So see you on next Monday!

Love,

Ann