A/N: I actually don't have much to say here. Other then, here is your fantastical chapter and hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie Meyers. I own nothing.
An Ode to Silence
The more I mused over my insane notion during the ride to the hospital and while they were unloading me, the more it seemed ridiculous. Still, I had a feeling that I was right about him beyond what made sense to me at this moment. I trusted my intuition, relied on it and I had plenty of first hand experience with wrong conceptions of reality. There was a limit though, wasn't there? It just wasn't possible.
I almost burst out laughing at myself but I choked it down when I realized that the EMTs would probably think I was insane on this stretcher. Who are we, foolish humans to try and judge nature about what it can and cannot do? Our understanding is so limited and people are always discovering new things. Although, many of them aren't released to the public because of the military. I was probably getting ahead of myself though.
Eventually, I gave up trying to reason it out rationally and attempted to figure out what I was going to do about it now. I could confront Edward but despite my wishes that he would explain everything and that it would all make sense, I had a good head on my shoulders. He would deny it, provide some wrong explanation, or I really did hit my head too hard.
Otherwise, the entire school would've already known that he was different other then the astounding beauty and anti-socialness which meant Jess would've blabbed about it.
I wouldn't say anything to him. I'd wait and observe him, look for clues that would support my thoughts. Subtly ask him and the other students, use tact and maybe an answer would appear.
From my quick observations, he and his family were white as sheet, had good looks well beyond the norm, gold eyes that changed to black, kept to themselves, and were extraordinarily graceful. Edward at least was also faster than humanly possible and stronger then champion weight lifters if what I saw was right. Also factor in the expressions on his family that I saw as they loaded me up, which weren't at all concerned for their brother like they knew he'd be fine and the fact that though they looked scarily alike, they were all adopted and I got a confused mess.
They wheeled me into the emergency room which consisted of a long row of plain, metal framed beds separated by the generic, pastel curtains. Soon afterwards, a nurse came in and completed the standard checks, blood pressure and temperature and before leaving. It was one of the few familiar things about this place. It was a pattern that I could fall into without a second thought.
Since there was no one to scold me in the room, I calmly unfastened the Velcro on my neck brace and tossed it under my bed. Hospitals always seemed to put more effort into things and make them seem much worse them they actually felt. It was like the time that I fell off the swing set when I was eleven and hurt my foot.
I'd been walking on it with a limp for about a week before Renee finally went and took me to the doctor. Turns out that I'd broken one of the bones in my foot and they gave me something to wear on that foot until the bone finished mending. That seemed like a lot of trouble to me but Renee was happy enough to heed to their ideas. Maybe that's why there's the saying about fearing the doctor more then the disease.
While I lay there and mulled over my flawed logic, more hospital personnel rushed into the room with a boy I recognized as Tyler Crowley. I followed him with my eyes since I couldn't listen in with my useless ears. The bandages on his head and body were soiled with his blood and I wrinkled my nose in distaste as the smell of rust and salt floated over to me.
"Bella, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed while the nurses worked.
"I'll live. There's nothing wrong with me," I replied without any specific emotion. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be listening since he was so caught up in his apology.
"I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast and-" I missed the rest when a nurse moved in front, blocking my view.
I decided to respond to what I could when the nurse moved, "You missed me. I'm fine," I repeated.
Tyler blinked. "How did you get out of the way so fast? You were right there but then you weren't anymore."
His statement didn't really make sense but I got the idea. "Edward Cullen saved me."
"I didn't see him… it was all so fast. Is he okay?" Even Tyler didn't see him then. Maybe there really was something going on.
"He didn't even have to use a stretcher," I stated calmly in contrast to Tyler's frenzied and emotional words.
We continued talking, or rather, Tyler kept apologizing and I kept repeating myself. It probably resembled a broken record. Eventually, they took me away to X-ray my head. As I had thought, there was nothing wrong with me at all. Not even a concussion. I knew the procedure after this, I would talk to the doctor and then leave if I wished and I did wish.
When I got back to the ER, Tyler resumed his droning so I stopped paying attention. I toyed with the idea of just closing my eyes and becoming essentially dead to the world but what if the doctor came in and tried to talk to me? He would probably know about the deafness but Tyler was my witness, I'd have to keep my eyes open.
As a sort of silent prayer that the doctor would come in here, talk to me for that brief bit, and then let me go, I directed my gaze toward the corner we came around. To my joy, someone did appear soon enough but it wasn't exactly who I wanted to see.
I followed Edward with my eyes until he sat on the edge of Tyler's bed. Tyler started to say something but I quickly recognized the pattern from earlier and ignored it, directing my eyes back to Edward since Tyler had nothing interesting to say.
"What's the verdict?" He asked me.
I rolled my eyes. "The same as I told you in the parking lot. I'm fine," I muttered, getting tired of repeating that over and over again. "Count your lucky stars that you got off scot free."
He pasted a smirk on his face, "It's all about who you know. I came to spring you though."
Immediately afterwards, the doctor I'd been awaiting came around that corner. I was blinked at his appearance. He was young, blond, and possessed the same ethereal beauty of the Cullens and Hales. This would be their adoptive father, I thought.
"So, Miss Swan, how are you feeling?" Dr. Cullen asked me, reminding me even more of Edward with a musical and appealing voice.
I sighed. It was that question again. "I'm fine," I muttered.
He took a look at my unnecessary X-rays. "Your X-rays look good. Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard."
"I'm fine," I repeated in that same, dead tone. I didn't bother conjuring up anger so I just threw a withering glance at Edward.
The doctor's cold fingers danced along my skull to inspect it. I tried to mask my wince but he noticed anyway.
"Tender?" he asked when he finished. How many questions could he ask that I could respond to the same way?
"I'm fine," I said yet again and gave him a bored look.
"Tired of saying that line?" he asked, considering the look I gave him. Perceptive one, he is.
"I'm fine," I repeated, trying very hard not to shift my expression.
His shoulders visibly shook which she took for laughter. "Your father's waiting. You can go home now." I nodded and swung my legs over the side of the bed, eager to leave. Unfortunately, I was too hasty and I staggered. Dr. Cullen caught me without skipping a beat. I smiled reassuringly and detached myself from his steadying arms.
"Thank you," I said gratefully and turned the corner toward the waiting room with Edward following me a bit behind like he would watch to make sure I got to the waiting room. I didn't wish to stay any longer then necessary even in this familiar setting. This would've been a perfect chance for me to ask him about what happened but I saw little point. There was only one question that he might answer that I wanted to know.
"Why did you bother, Edward?" I asked casually, turning to face him.
He was stunned about my question indeed, it appeared. Then his face turned a bit sad, and vulnerable. "You would've expected me not to?" he asked.
"I don't know. I don't know a lot of things," I stated though I was disappointed in his answer. My thought about the situation was that he normally wouldn't save another person like that from extreme circumstances.
He probably would save somebody if he really was right next to them but he wasn't next to her. Maybe it'd caught him off guard and he just acted by instinct. I couldn't say for sure, but that's what my gut told me. As always, I paid extra attention to my gut feelings because the sub-conscious supposedly made many more connections then the conscious mind did.
The waiting room was a horror for me. Every single face that I knew in this town had crowded in the tiny room. Most of which was the school and faculty. Charlie found my side instantaneously. Before he could ask, I spoke. "They let me go. I'm fine. Let's go home," I blurted out quickly, seeing as Mike, Jessica, Erik and some other kids were beginning to converge on me.
Charlie nodded his understanding and swiftly steered me to the door before I could be trapped into an unpleasant conversation. We were fast enough that we were spared and I soon found myself safely seated in his police cruiser.
I never had felt such relief to be seated in that vehicle. Actually, I never felt any sort of relief before this. We were both caught up in our own thoughts of the day so neither of us said anything even when we were at a stop light. I felt like I was missing one vital piece of information that would help everything to make sense. I knew I was.
When we arrived, Charlie gave me a sheepish look and my eyes widened. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I thought as I realized what had happened.
"We're going to have to put in a call to Renee," he said before almost cringing away from me.
"Dad! You should've waited till you knew that I'm not dead or seriously injured! Like I usually am…" I added the last part in a mumble.
Charlie took my admission of the severity of my frequent hospital visits to mean that he was forgiven. Still, I hated making phone calls. It was so much trouble.
Quickly, we made our way inside and Charlie dialed Renee after putting it on speaker so she would be able to hear us both and Charlie could translate for me. It had only been a few seconds before Charlie began signing Renee's words. Even with us both explaining the situation to Renee, I could tell that it took a great deal of time and effort for her calm down from the amount of times that Charlie winced.
Eventually, the call ended and we both, in silent but mutual agreement, sighed and went off in our little routines. My routine included cooking dinner and doing homework. His routine included watching the game and setting the table.
That night, I went to bed earlier then usual and despite the throbbing ache in my head from the fall, I grimaced at the thought of drugs. I avoided drugs whenever I could. I had my fill of them for a lifetime of a normal, non-clumsy person. I was just lucky that way…
When I closed my eyes, the scene before me seemed familiar. I know this place...
A/N: For those of you who are wondering, Bella does not sleep talk. Speaking is not quite as natural and easy for her to even talk in her sleep. It made sense to me that she wouldn't sleep talk so deal with it for those of you who are disappointed. Anyway, there's something I'd like to note here.
I'm considering writing the next chapter in Edward's POV and stretching out a couple of those throughout the story because I honestly think that I relate better with Edward then with Bella as you should be able to tell from my writing style. Or, I could just leave the whole story in Bella's POV. I want comments on that because if you don't want any of Edward's view, I won't make one.
Thank you all! Review please.