Chapter 3:Miracle
Disclaimer: Not my own story but Stephanie Meyer, but has a few twists in it. Also so sorry about the late update but please enjoy!
BPOV
When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was different.
It was the light. It was still the dull grey-green light of a cloudy say in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realised there was no fog veiling my window. I jumped up to look outside, and then groaned in horror.
A fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my truck, like icing sugar on a cake, and whitened the road. But that wasn't the worst part. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid-coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the driveway a deadly ice slick. I had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry; it might be safer for me to go back to bed now.
Charlie had left for work before Misty and I got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with Charlie was like having our own place, and I found myself revelling in the quiet silence instead of the awkward. I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and orange juice from the carton, for my sister and I. I felt excited to go to school, and that scared me. I knew it wasn't the stimulating learning environment I was anticipating, or seeing my new friends. If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was eager to get to school because of Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid.
I should be avoiding him entirely after my brainless and embarrassing babbling yesterday. And I was suspicious of him; why would he lie about his eyes? I was still frightened of the hostility I sometimes felt emanating from him, and I was still tongue-tied whenever I pictured his perfect face. I was well aware that my league and his league were spheres that did not touch nor co-exist together. So I shouldn't be at all anxious to see him today.
It took every ounce of concentration to make it down the icy, brick driveway alive. I almost lost my balance when I finally got to my truck, but I managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself, much to Misty's amusement. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish.
Driving to school, I distracted myself from my fear of falling and my unwanted speculations about Edward Cullen by thinking about Mike and Eric, and the obvious difference in how teenage boys responded to me here. I'd even joke with my sister on how to avoid their pronouncement of affections. Opting to pretend to be in a relationship or even pulling out the Dad card, which entails me telling the unwanted, lusty boys that Charlie would shoot any boy willing to go 'get' his daughters. Usually I wouldn't even have to worry about troublesome boys with crushes, as I was practically invisible to the opposite gender entirely. Maybe there's something contaminating the water here, in Forks that has got Mike and Eric in a daze of 'lusty love'.
My truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice, to my utter relief, that covered the roads. I drove very slowly, though, not wanting to cave a path of deadly destruction through Main Street upon the innocent civilians of Forks. When I got out of my truck at school, I saw why I'd had so little trouble. Something silver caught my eye, and I walked to the back of the truck-carefully holding the side for support-to examine my tires. Misty too came out of the truck to speculate as of what I was doing, standing near me. There we saw, thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Charlie must have gotten up who knows how early to put snow chains on my truck. My throat suddenly felt tight. I wasn't used to being taken care of, and Charlie's unspoken concern caught me by surprised. I was touched.
I was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when I heard an odd sound.
It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled. I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brainwork much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.
Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me; staring at me in horror. His stood out from the sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and my sister and I were standing between them. I didn't even have the time to close my eyes. All I could think of was the safety of my sister, hoping that she paid more attention to the surrounding than I did.
Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have the chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.
A low curse made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to recognise. Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting providentially into the deep dent in the side of the van's body. Then his hand moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt-exactly where, seconds ago my legs had been.
It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling. I could hear Edward Cullen's low frantic voice in my ear.
"Bella are you alright?"
"I'm fine." My voice sounded strange. I tried to sit up, and realised he was holding me against the side of his body in an iron grasp.
"Be careful," he warned as I struggled. "I think you hit your head pretty hard."
I became aware of a throbbing ache centred above my left ear.
"Ow," I said, surprised.
"That's what I thought." His voice, amazingly, sounded like he was suppressing laughter. That asshole.
"How in the world did you get over here so fast?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"I was standing right next to you, Bella," he said, his tone serious again.
I turned to sit up, this time he let me, releasing his hold around my waist and sliding as far from me as he could in the limited space. I looked at his concerned, innocent expression and was disoriented again by the force of his golden-coloured eyes. Damn…what was I asking him? And then they found us, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.
"Don't move," someone instructed.
"Just stay put for now."
"But it's cold," I complained. It surprised me when he chuckled under his breath. There was an edge to the sound. "You were over there, " I suddenly remembered, and his chuckle stopped short. "You were by your car."
His expression turned hard. "No, I wasn't."
Two can play that game. "I saw you." I argued, my eyes glaring into his golden ones. His eyes were wary, staring me into submission, to agree with him that I imagined the whole thing up. It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van away from us to bring in the stretchers. Edward vehemently refused his, and I tried to do the same, but the bastard told them I'd hit my head and probably had a concussion. Staring at him defiantly, I opened my mouth to point out something but I realised I had forgotten something, or rather someone who was standing next to me. Misty. As quickly as I could, well as far I am able to with my head pounding like drums, I scrambled up and looked for the form of my sister; wishing that she had somehow gotten out of the way. However, I was pushed back by both the EMT and Edward but not before I saw it.
But alas there she was, on the other side of the blue van, crippled; her head surrounded by a pool of blood. My head was in absolute agony as I remembered the last time I saw her so helpless. Her fragile body was hauled onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. As her form passed me, I cried out "Misty!" reaching again towards her but Edward held me back and passed me to the EMTs, traitorously telling them that I'd hit my head and probably had a concussion. In normal circumstances, I would've died of humiliation when they put on the neck brace; but I could only think of my sister's wellbeing. It irked me to no end that the entire school was there, watching soberly and with great pity as they loaded me into the back of the ambulance of one and Misty into another. Edward got to ride in front of mine, not that it matters. It was maddening and chaotic.
To make matters worse, Chief Swan arrived before they could take us away.
"Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognised me on the stretcher. "What happen to you, and where's your sister?"
"I'm completely fine, Char-Dad," I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me, but Misty isn't."
His eyes widened in shock and he started to frown with worry. He then proceeded to look around for Misty, with no avail, as she was already inside the other ambulance. Charlie turned to the closest EMT asking the whereabouts of his youngest daughter, who in turn reported to him that; the ambulance that held my sister had just left for Forks Hospital. Upon hearing that Misty was on her way for medical help he relaxed, and truthfully so did I. Charlie then inquired about my state for a second opinion, at that I tuned him out to consider the jumble of inexplicable, and horrifying images churning chaotically in my head. When they'd lifted me away from the car, I had seen the deep dent in the tan car's bumper-a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Edward's shoulders…as if he had braced himself against the car with enough force to damage the metal frame…
And then there was his family, looking on from the distance with expressions ranging from disapproval to fury mainly from Rosalie and Emmett, but held no hint of concern for their bother's safety, whilst Alice and Jasper held no ill emotions with this turn of disastrous events, their faces expressed; horror and worry. Their reactions made sense in this sort of situation, however it made no sense for Edward's sister and brother, Rosalie and Emmett, to be judgemental and in Rosalie's case; downright pissed.
I tried to think of a logical solution that could easily explain what I had just seen-a solution that excluded the assumption that I was utterly and madly insane.
Naturally, the ambulance that I was in got a police escort to Forks hospital. I felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading me. What made it worse was that Edward simply glided through the hospital doors under his power. That sex-haired, crooked smiling piece of shit. I ground my teeth together as they put me in the emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel-patterned curtains. Thankfully, the bed they placed me in was next to my little sister, who had arrived earlier than me, and to my relief she was awake; only looking a bit bruised up and she had a bandage wrapped around her head. We smiled at each other, glad that we were both alive.
A nurse came in for the normal procedure of checking my health, which I'd previously and repeatedly, insisted that I was fine but she continued to put pressure on my cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. Since no one bothered pulling the curtain around to give me some privacy, I decided I wasn't obligated to wear the stupid looking neck brace anymore. When the nurse walked away I quickly unfastened and ripped the Velcro and threw the contraption under the bed. I winked at my sister as she giggled at my obvious hate for the neck brace.
There was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to other side of me. I recognised Tyler Crowley from my Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Tyler looked a hundred times worse than I felt. But he was staring anxiously at me.
"Bella, I'm so sorry!"
"I'm fine, Tyler-you look awful, are you aright?" As we spoke, nurses began unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek. He ignored me. "I thought I was going to kill you and your sister! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong…" he winced as one of the nurse started dabbing at his face.
"Don't worry about it; you missed me, and Misty well she's still kicking as you can see," I gestured towards my sister, who grinned at Tyler, giving him a thumbs up.
"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone…"
"Um…Edward pulled me out of the way." Technically that was the truth.
He looked confused. "Who?"
"Edward Cullen-he was standing next to me." I'd always been a terrible liar; I didn't sound convincing at all, even with Edward's lie he had used on me.
"Cullen? I didn't see him…wow, it was all so fast, I guess. Is he okay?"
"I think so. He's here somewhere, but they didn't make him use a stretcher." To my utter frustration. I knew I wasn't crazy. What had happened? There was no way to explain away what I'd seen. Edward saved me from being crushed, inhumanly so.
They wheeled me away then, to X-ray my head. I told them there was nothing wrong, and I was right. Not even a concussion. I asked if I could leave with my sister, but the nurse said I had to talk to a doctor first. She also told me that when I do leave, my sister would be unable to join me as she has a concussion and is kept overnight as a precaution. So I was trapped in the ER, waiting, harassed by Tyler's constant apologies and promises to make it up to me; with my sister annoyingly smirking at my distaste of both the hospital and the apologies from Tyler. Seriously, no matter how many times I tried to convince him I was fine, he continued to torment himself. Finally, I closed my eyes and ignored him. To my displeasure, he didn't get the hint and he kept up the remorseful mumbling.
"Is she sleeping?" a musical voice asked. My eyes flew open. Edward was standing at the foot of my bed, smirking. I glared at him. It wasn't easy-it would have been more natural to ogle.
"Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry-" Tyler began.
Edward lifted a hand to stop him.
"No blood, no foul," he said, flashing his brilliant teeth. He moved to sit on the edge of Tyler's bed, facing me. He smirked again. "So what's the verdict?" he asked me.
"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go and poor Misty here is stuck for the night because of her concussion," I complained. "How come you aren't strapped to the gurney like the rest of us?" I gritted my teeth as I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.
"It's all about who you know," he answered. "But don't worry, I came to spring you."
Then a doctor walked around the corner, and my mouth fell open. He was young, he was blonde…and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his eyes. From what Charlie's description, this had to be Edward's father. The famous Dr Carlisle Cullen.
"So, Miss Swan," Dr Cullen said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, " I said, for the last time, I hoped. He walked to the light board on the wall over my head, and turned it on.
"Your X-rays look good," he said, flashing a charming smile in my direction, which I tried not to swoon over. "Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard," he continued.
"It's fine," I repeated with a sigh, throwing a quick scowl toward Edward. The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along my skull. He noticed when I winced.
"Tender?" he asked.
"Not really." I'd had worse. I heard a chuckle, and looked over to see Edward's patronising smile. My eye narrowed. Dr Cullen moved over to Misty and checked her over. I inquired to him if my sister had to stay at the hospital for the night or a period of days, to which he replied the same answer the nurse had said, that my sister would only be staying for the night. He smiled, "Don't worry Miss Swan-"
"Bella." I cut him off.
"Well Bella, there is nothing to worry about. I will ensure that your sister will be comfortable, in my spare time." I looked over to Misty who was just staring at Dr Cullen, probably hypnotised by his attractiveness as I have. "Well, you father is in the waiting room-you can go home with him now. But comeback if you feel dizzy or you have trouble with your eyesight at all."
"Can't I go back to school?" I asked, imagining Charlie trying to be attentive.
"Maybe you should take it easy today."
I glanced at Edward. "Does he get to go to school?"
"Someone had to spread the good news that we survived," Edward said smugly.
"Actually," Dr Cullen corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."
"Oh no," I moaned, covering my face with my hands.
Dr Cullen raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"
"No, no!" I insisted, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and hopping down quickly. Too quickly-I staggered, and Dr Cullen caught me. While he may look concern, apparently my bit of a mishap had snapped my sister back to reality from her dreamland and she started to laugh at me. Those moments where you wish you were an only child, well this was one of them.
Scowling at her, I assured Dr Cullen again "I'm fine." No need to tell him my balance problems had anything to do with hitting my head.
"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he steadied me.
"It doesn't hurt that bad," I insisted.
"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr Cullen said, smiling as he signed my chart with a flourish.
"Lucky Edward happened to be standing next to me," I amended with a hard glance at the subject of my statement.
"Oh, well, yes," Dr Cullen agreed, suddenly occupied with the papers in front of him. Then he looked away, at Tyler, and walked to the next bed. My intuition flickered; the doctor was in on it.
"I'm afraid that you'll have to stay with us just a little bit longer," he said to Tyler, and began checking his cuts.
As soon as the doctor's back was turned, I moved to Edward's side. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I hissed under my breath. He took a step back from me, his jaw suddenly clenched.
"Your father is waiting for you," he said through his teeth.
I glanced at Dr Cullen and Tyler.
"I'd like to speak with you alone, if you don't mind," I pressed. He glared, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. I nearly had to run to keep up. As soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face me.
"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes were cold and cautious.
His unfriendliness intimidated me. My words came out with less severity than I'd intended. "You owe me an explanation," I reminded him.
"I saved your life-I don't owe you anything."
I flinched back from the resentment in his voice. Once I composed my self I straightened my posture stiffly, how dare he turned back from a promise. I took a deep breath whilst narrowing my eyes upon the ungodly beautiful yet frustrating Cullen; I whispered harshly "You promised."
"Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about." His voice was cutting.
My temper flared peaked, and I glared defiantly at him. "There's nothing wrong with my head."
He glared back. "What do you want from me, Bella?"
"I want to know the truth," I said. "I want to know why I'm lying for you."
"What do you think happened?" he snapped.
It came out in a rush.
"All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me-Tyler didn't see you, either, so don't tell me I hit my head too hard. That van was going to crush us both-and it didn't, and your hands left dents in the side of it-and you left a dent in the other car, and you're not hurt at all-and the van should have smashed my legs, but you were holding it up…" I could hear how crazy it sounded, and I couldn't continue. I was so mad I could feel the tears coming; I tried to force them back by grinding my teeth together. He was staring at my incredulously. But his face was tense, defensive. "You think I lifted the van off you?" His tone questioned my sanity, but only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfectly delivered line by a skilled actor. I merely nodded once, jaw tight. "Nobody will believe that, you know." His tone held an edge of derision now.
"I'm not going to tell anybody." I said each word slowly, carefully controlling my anger.
Surprise flitted across his face. "Then why does it matter?"
"It matters to me," I insisted. "I don't like to lie-so there'd better be a good reason why I'm doing it."
"Can't you just thank me and et over it?"
"Thank you." I waited, fuming and expectant.
"You're not going to let it go, are you?"
"No."
"In that case…I hope you enjoy disappointment."
We scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel.
"Why did you even bother?" I asked rigidly. He paused, and for a brief moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.
"I don't know," he whispered. And then he turned his back on me and walked away. I was so angry, it took me a few minutes until I could move,. When I could walk, I made my way slowly to the exit at the end of the hallway.
The waiting room was more unpleasant than I'd feared. It seemed like every face I knew in Forks was there, staring at me. Charlie rushed to m side; I put up my hands.
"There's nothing wrong with me," I assured him sullenly. "But Misty is a bit banged up and has a slight concussion, so she isn't coming home with us tonight, hopefully tomorrow the doctors here will allow us to spring her from this place." I was still aggravated, not in the mood for chitchat and endless questions about my health, even though I had previously insisted that I was fine.
"What did the doctor say?"
"Dr Cullen saw me, and he said I was fine and I could go home." I sighed. Mike and Jessica and Eric were all there, beginning to converge on us. "Let's go," I urged.
Charlie put one arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me to the glass doors of the exit. I waved sheepishly at my friends, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief-the first time I'd ever felt that way-to get into the cruiser. We drove in silence. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely knew or acknowledged that Charlie was there. I was positive that Edward's defensive behaviour in the hall was a confirmation of the bizarre things I could hardly believe I'd witnessed. Life isn't always what it seems…accept the impossibilities…
When we got to the home, Charlie finally spoke.
"Um… you need to call Renee." He hung his head, guilty.
I was appalled. "You told Mom!"
"Sorry."
I slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on my way out, but instantly regretted it. It wasn't Charlie's fault that Mom overreacts at these instances. He was just being a good parent and notified the other about these unfortunate circumstances that had happened, I had reasoned to myself.
Mom was in hysterics, of course. I had to tell her I felt fine at least thirty times before she would calm down, and double the amount when it came to reassure that Misty was okay and was not on the brink of death. She begged me to take my sister and come home-forgetting the fact that home was empty at the moment-but her pleas were easier to resist than I would have thought. I was consumed by the mystery Edward presented. And more than a little obsessed by Edward himself. Stupid reason really. I wasn't as eager to escape Forks as I should be, as any normal, sane person would be. I decided I might as well go to bed early that night. Charlie continued to watch me anxiously, and it was getting on my nerves. I stopped on my way to grab three Tylenol from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, I drifted asleep.
That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen
CPOV
After talking to Tyler Crowley about his injuries and asked if he needed any anaesthesia for the pain, which he said no to, I moved on to young Jessica Swan. Poor thing was battered and bruised and was stuck in this cold hospital. Putting on what my wife calls the Make-The-Nurses-And-Patients-Woozy-Til-They-Faint smile, I stood beside the young Swan. "Do you anything for the pain, Miss Swan?" I asked politely. She answered by shaking her side to side. "Well since you have been a good and co-operative patient I think the nurses will allow me to sneak a little sugar into your diet, huh." I handed her a red lollypop, in which she gave me a squeal of delight and flashed me a brilliant smile. I chuckled at her as she quickly unwrapped the .
The doors slammed open suddenly, making Jessica jump in shock as my daughter Alice came barrelling through. To my relief she didn't run to Jessica too fast like Edward had done when he saved Bella Swan. "MISTY! Are you okay! I saw that you got hurt!" screeched my not-so-quiet-daughter, causing both Jessica and I to flinch at the sheer volume. That reminded me, Misty? Must've been a nickname. Jasper trailed behind Alice and wrapped his arm around her waist, effectively and thankfully calming her down. "Darling, we wouldn't want Misty to get deaf would you? So calm down and remember why we came to visit."
"Oops," giggled Alice. "Anyways, Misty we went back to the crime scene and grabbed your backpack before we came since I know you would be dying of boredom." She handed it to Misty, who smiled in appreciation and had quickly pulled out a scrapbook and start to quickly sketch. I bid a farewell to her, getting a brief grunt of acknowledgment from her as I left the room to continue with my rotation.
Later when I came home, I sighed as I heard the spiteful shrill of Rosalie's and the growl of frustration of Edward's voices. It was probably about what happened at school. As I entered the house, Rosalie screamed "You idiot! Why did you have to play superman when you're obviously going to be seen!"
"I couldn't let her die Rosalie!" argued Edward. Esme, my darling wife walked up to greet me. She had a strained smile on her beautiful face as I leaned in to kiss her lovely red lips. "They had been at it since Edward came back home from the hospital," whispered my wife. I sighed again as I entered the living room, where the screaming match was held. "So what's more important Edward? The safety of your family or a stupid, plain human!" spat Rosalie.
Edward narrowed his eyes. "It's not like that!" he growled. "There's just something about Isabella Swan that's different."
"Is it her blood? Because she is your singer," I questioned.
"Well that factor may be true about the part of me that wants to drain her blood dry…." Trailed off Edward.
"The other?" my wife asked softly. Edward's posture stiffened then relaxed and mumbled something under his breath. I asked him to repeat what he just said.
"Well as you know I can't read Bella's mind at all but she intrigues me-"
Rosalie snarled, "Don't fucking tell me you have feelings for her!" Edward said nothing and nodded.
At his confirmation, there was chaos. Esme was welling up in tears of happiness that Edward finally won't be alone. Alice squealed, "I knew it!" Emmett smiled a goofy grin at Edward while his mate shrieked explicit words at Edward. Jasper was probably the most calm of us all but I could tell he was a bit worried. This was getting out of hand. Once I quieted them down, I asked Edward "What do you plan to do with Bella, son?"
Just as he was about to answer, Rosalie interrupted him by whispering in a not-so-quiet voice "Kill her."
Edward whipped his head to her and growled threateningly "No, you narcissistic bitch." Emmett then started glaring at him at the term Edward had given to Rosalie. "I want to get to know her…." he whispered.
"Well let's take a vote, shall we. Who wants to stay in Forks?" I queried. Alice Esme, Edward, Jasper and I put our hands up. "And those who oppose this and wish to move?" Rosalie and Emmett, though he looked like he wanted to stay, put their hands up. With the majority of us voting to stay, it was evident which side won. Rosalie huffed at the results and dragged Emmett up to their rooms, Alice started to jump up and down, Jasper smiled at the antics of his mate, Esme smiled motherly at Edward and Edward himself went to play the piano; smiling as he walked to the instrument.
Despite the situation, I didn't mind he took an interest in Bella. Edward was my first son; first companion and I loved him as his second father. Despise the situation where he revealed his vampiric abilities to a human, the daughter of the Chief no less, I couldn't feel naught but happiness and hope at the prospect that Edward found love and possibly a mate.