Okay! Sorry its been so long...class is kicking my butt. Well here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy. Please review!!!
Seven years later I was working in a hospital in Chicago, when the Spanish Influenza hit the nation. I was weary, bitter and angry at myself for the loss of life. Surely I could save some of them; my job was about saving lives, though my existence was to take them away. My thoughts often strayed to Columbus, to Esme Platt. I wondered what she would be like today, no longer sixteen, a woman. I sighed as I rose from my chair, glancing around the stark office before heading back to my patients.
The Masen's were a family of three, Edward Sr., Elizabeth, and their son Edward. Edward was better off than his parents, both of them currently occupying a hospital bed while he sat in a chair next to them.
"How are they, doc?" he asked.
I nodded. "We're doing everything we can, but it doesn't look good." I said quietly.
I saw something flash across his face, and his lip tremble. I felt the lump in the back of my throat.
"I apologize. I should be handling this better." He said.
My heart went out to him, the young man who had to grow up too quickly. "No, don't apologize. It's affecting you, and it should." I said.
He nodded. "Go get yourself something to eat, and then try to get some rest. It's been a long day for you."
He tensed at that, looking between his parents and then to me.
I nodded. "I'll stay with them until you get back, my shift ends in a few minutes."
He nodded, standing and heading toward the door. He turned, catching my gaze, piercing green eyes looking at me. "Dr. Cullen, thank you." He said, turning back to the door.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was called back on duty, but this time it had nothing to do with taking care of a patient. I was angered, mentally filing away another death as I watched them wheel away Mr. Masen. Now Edward had taken his father's place, the same plaguing disease attacking him just as it had his father.
I stood outside the door, watching the nurse check over Edward and his mother, nodding when she stepped outside to join me. I walked in, leaning over Elizabeth's prone form, checking her over quietly. Her hand reached out and snagged the front of my doctor's coat, tugging weakly on it.
"Dr. Cullen." She wheezed; her green eyes cloudy and glazed over with fever.
"I'm here, Mrs. Masen." I replied, placing a hand on hers on the lapel of my coat.
"Save him." She said. "Save him as only you can."
My eyes widened slightly, glancing between Edward and his mother.
I swallowed, nodding. "I will, Mrs. Masen, I promise you." I said. She nodded and closed her eyes, taking one last raspy breath, and she was gone.
I leaned down to Edward, whispering in his ear. "I'm going to take the sickness from you, there will be pain, but it will be over, and you will feel better." I said.
I saw him nod, swallowing and closing his eyes. I tilted his head away, holding his jaw so he couldn't turn his head, and pressed my mouth against his neck, sinking razor sharp teeth into the flesh there.
His blood sickened me, the taste of the illness sharpening its taste. Part of me had to hold back, had to keep myself from finishing him off. I rinsed my mouth in the basin on the dresser, spitting the remnants of blood into it and turning back to him.
I picked him up effortlessly, checking the hallways and making a break for it, rushing out the doors of the hospital and heading to my home.
As soon as I reached my front yard he was screaming, the venom burning through his bloodstream and wreaking havoc on his systems.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three agonizing days later, Edward Masen opened his eyes, no longer the sharp green color; a startling crimson taking their place. I had taken him, created a companion, a son. My existence had been lonely, now I had hope.
"But I'm on the outside, And I'm looking in, I can see through you, See your true colors" – Outside, Staind
