A/N: I have a really bad feeling about this one...

Chapter

14

My Brother Edward

Alice's POV

It took only a few minutes to reach the Swan residence. Bella's jeep was parked out front, and her bedroom window was lit up, illuminating the front lawn in a soft glow. Before I got out of the car, I pulled my cell phone out and dialed Jazz. I couldn't shake this horrible feeling, and I knew I wouldn't be able to relax in any kind of sense until my mind was at ease.

"What's up, Alley?" Jazz's deep voice spoke through the receiver after the first ring, with undisguised affection.

I had to push away the star struck sigh that wanted to escape through my lips and concentrate on my concerns at hand. "I'm a bit worried about Edward, Jazz. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay. Emmett's gonna take him home—when he finishes puking his guts up, that is," Jazz answered with obvious amusement.

I sighed with a twinge of relief despite Edward's present predicament.

"Okay, thanks, Jazzy. I'll talk to you soon." I still didn't feel as assured as I'd hoped.

"Sure thing, gorgeous. Love you."

"Love you too," I replied warmly, managing a small smile despite myself.

As soon as I hung up, my thoughts were back to Bella. I hurried from the car and banged on the front door urgently.

"Bella?" I called to her with concern. I wasn't sure at this point if she'd even open the door for me. I'd wash my hands of the entire Cullen family if I was her.

I heard her footsteps coming down the stairs and knew instantly they were Bella's; they were so inharmonious in relation to her slight frame. I almost chuckled to myself, before the door swung open, and without a word, Bella stepped aside to allow me to enter.

She looked up at me as I brushed passed her, hugging her arms around herself, shuddering—from the cold or her present state of emotion, I couldn't tell. Her face was tearstained and pale, and her deep eyes were reflecting a very significant amount of torment.

Before I had a chance to speak she opened her mouth and spoke quietly, "You knew, didn't you, Alice? That's why you told me to go outside." She wasn't angry like I'd first thought. She wasn't anything; she seemed detached.

I nodded. "I ... saw him, just before Mike..." I explained. There was more I wanted to add but decided against it. I didn't think she'd tolerate me even speaking Edward's name, at this point.

She nodded then attempted a grateful smile. It broke across her face, forced and very fleeting. "Well thanks for trying to protect me, anyway. I guess..."

I put my arm over her drawn shoulders. "Come on, you got any ice cream? I think this calls for serious Baskin-Robbins."

A tub of chocolate chip cookie dough flavored ice cream and a box of tissues later, and Bella all but opened up about her feelings for Edward. It wasn't comforting. As far as I could tell she was wretchedly in love with him and almost as equally pissed off.

"I'm hopeless—I never learn!" She huffed angrily, her face clouding slightly before she composed herself again. She looked like she wanted to burst into tears and punch something, simultaneously.

"No you're not, Bella," I replied with gentle vehemence. "I just wish I could tell you why Edward has been acting the way he has lately. The truth is, I don't have the slightest idea," I admitted, exhaling helplessly.

Bella shook her head, almost flinching at the mention of Edward's name. "I can't do it anymore, Alice," she admitted softly, and there was almost a trace of regret in her tone.

"Of course you can't. I totally understand that," I replied, but I was fast becoming distracted. I was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate. The nagging feeling in my mind was slowly turning to dread, and I was suddenly hearing Edward's voice clearly in my mind. There was something wrong—he was telling me he was sorry.

I stood up abruptly, cutting Bella off mid-sentence while she gazed at me in confusion.

"Are you okay, Alice?"

I shook my head, feeling my pulse begin to race with growing anxiety. "I've ... got a really horrible feeling." I looked over at her. "I just need to call Jazz for a moment, okay?"

She nodded quickly, her expression immediately puckering with concern. I walked into the kitchen dialing as I went. When Jazz answered, the tone of his voice did nothing to ease my fears.

"Jazz, tell me everything is okay?" I blurted anxiously.

There was a pause on the other end and my heart felt like it literally stopped beating.

"Alley, we can't find him," Jazz finally admitted with a somber sigh.

"What do you mean you can't find him—I thought he was out cold?" I demanded, my voice rising with both anger and alarm.

"We thought he was in the bathroom, but when Emmett went in to get him he wasn't there," he explained, but the tone of his voice was alluding to something more.

Something that made the blood run cold in my veins.

"Jazz," I whispered, my tone deadly serious, "please tell me he didn't go anywhere in his car?" There was another pause, and I felt my chest start heaving in and out in sudden panic. "JAZZ?!" I cried.

"Alley, don't stress, honey. We think he has—Emmett has gone to check," he answered with reassurance, but I could hear the uncertainty clearly in his voice.

"Don't stress!?" I exclaimed incredulously. "Find him, Jazz!" I stressed, close to tears. "Please find him!"

"We will, Alley. I promise," Jazz's tone was soft, but laced with a large degree of pessimism that was clearly evident.

I hung up the phone and dropped my head in my hands, struggling to keep optimistic, but knowing there was something very wrong. I knew it as surely as I stood in Bella's kitchen.

"Alice?" Bella's apprehensive voice from the doorway startled me. I looked over at her not realizing that tears were falling freely down my cheeks until just that moment. Hastily I wiped them away, while Bella continued to stare at me her face going so pale I thought she was about to faint. "What happened?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper and wavering.

I shook my head. "I don't know. Edward's gone—they think in his car somewhere," I answered, my voice filling with anguish. I slumped down at the breakfast table feeling my legs going weak and unable to shake the feeling of dread from spreading deeper.

Bella didn't move; she looked like she was unable to. "Alice?" she repeated with a sense of urgency in her voice. "Tell me? What is it?"

I shook my head again. "I don't know, Bella, but I have a terrible feeling that Edward's in trouble," I answered her, my voice coming out in a tremor.

Bella sighed, softly at first then again deeply. "Come on, we'll go look for him," she said finally and with a resolute determination.

When I looked up she was already out the front door—without grabbing her coat. I jumped up quickly and followed her, and by the time I climbed into the front passenger seat, Bella was starting her car's engine. She pulled away; the tires spinning in the gravel noisily.

"Where do you think he'd go, Alice?" she asked me after a moment, breaking the silence.

"Seriously, Bella? I think he might come and see you," I answered her, my eyes scanning through the window out into the darkened Forks streets. I turned to gaze at her seriously, unable to shift the feeling of trepidation that had anchored itself in the pit of my stomach.

She turned to stare at me for a moment with surprise and disbelief, before she hastily looked back to the road and asked in a soft voice, "Why would he come see me?"

"He thought you went on a date with Newton, Bella. I don't know what he heard, but somehow he got it in his head. I told him it wasn't true and he realized ... I think," I explained, faltering over my words. I put my palm to my forehead and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down and think rationally. All I saw was the image of Edward's face as I slapped him. My eyes welled with tears and I swallowed back a sob, as panic all but flooded my senses.

"Alice!" Bella's tone was stern as she gazed at me frowning. "Stop doing that—you don't know that anything's happened yet!"

"I know. I'm sorry, Bella," I said meekly, sighing, and finding no comfort in her words.

My cell phone suddenly beeped with a message. I opened it hastily; it was a text from Jazz. My heart fell for a moment; I was hoping it was Edward. I clicked it open:

Alley, just called your house, he's not there, we're still looking, don't worry, he'll be okay.

I read it and threw my cell back in my purse in frustration. If truth be told, I was starting to get angry that Edward would do this, and make me worry so much.

Bella turned to me with a hopeful expression.

"Jazz. Edward's not at home," I explained flatly.

For the next twenty minutes, Bella and I drove down every back street of Forks finding them dark and undisturbed. We were just about to give up and go back to her house when the next street we turned down, we were immediately confronted by the flashing lights of a police cruiser.

From beside me Bella sucked in her breath, and whispered in a stricken tone, "Oh God..."

For a moment, I couldn't comprehend what was in front of me, but then suddenly it hit me with the force of an explosion. My heart began hammering loudly and erratically within my chest as I stared in disbelieving horror at the scene before us.

I felt sick to my stomach.

It was Emmett's Black Ford F250 that was parked along the side of the road, and on the other side lying in a ditch, the front end of it a wreck of broken and twisted metal, was Edward's Volvo.

"Is that...? Oh my God!" Bella cried again, her voice rising with alarm, but I was already out of the car and running toward what I was convinced was the scene of my brother's death.

Edward was lying on the road almost unrecognizable, with blood covering his face and matting in his hair. He was unconscious, and even from where I was I could see that his skin tone was a horrible grey color. Chief Swan was beside him speaking into his walkie-talkie with his other hand on Edward's wrist, feeling for his pulse; a grave look etched into his worn expression. On the other side was Emmett, and the expression on his face terrified me the most. Never in my life had I ever seen Emmett look so scared.

I screamed Edward's name, hearing it as if it came from outside my consciousness. I tried to run, but my legs felt like lead weights. I tripped and fell, but before I impacted with the road I was in the grip of a strong pair of arms that held me tightly. I struggled against them, desperately, becoming hysterical, but the arms only encircled around me tighter.

"Alley, honey, baby, it's me! It's me!" Jazz's voice called to me both soothingly and full of dismay from outside my consciousness again. I tried to find him. I looked around for him desperately as the arms enfolded me in a crushing embrace.

I was shaken slightly and then again a little harder, when suddenly I realized it was Jazz's hands that were holding me; it was Jazz's steel blue eyes that were desolate with panic and concern as they gazed at me.

I threw my arms around him, choking with sobs, but not even Jazz's warm embrace could soothe the pain that was like fire in my heart. I again tried to pull from his arms, but he held to me tightly.

"Alley, listen to me!" He pulled me back so he could gaze into my eyes. "Please listen to me!" he pleaded to me his voice going soft.

I nodded numbly and he continued.

"He's breathing. His heart is beating," he spoke slowly and deliberately, his eyes serious but shining in shock and disbelief. It was all I could process—the look of fear in his eyes.

I only nodded again, dazed, then turned to face the horrific scene in front of me; of Edward, the brother I adored, lying motionless on the road. I turned away again and pressed my face into Jazz's chest, wanting desperately to wipe the image from my mind as tears broke through me like knives.

Very tentatively, Jazz walked us over to Edward, his arms still enfolded tightly around me. I clung to him, shaking violently with each step we took. When we reached Edward, I released myself from Jazz's arms and slowly bent down beside him.

His mouth was slightly open and I could hear the air move in and out of his lungs in rasps as his chest rose and fell in rhythm with it. I sighed deeply, feeling such intense relief that I almost burst into fresh tears. Reaching down, I took Edwards hand in mine gently, feeling the slightest pressure from him in return. It was cold.

"Edward?" I spoke his name, my tone gentle and breaking with emotion.

His eyebrows very slowly puckered, before a soft moan escaped his lips. He opened his eyes, only fractionally, but enough for me to see that his entire right eye was sickeningly crimson-red from a burst blood vessel that completely overshadowed his usual green iris.

"I'm sorry, Alice," his voice was hoarse, weak and full of genuine regret.

I shook my head slightly. "It's okay," I insisted tenderly, my voice barely a whisper as tears began slipping hotly down my face. They fell to his chest, mixing with the blood that was soaking into his shirt.

"He's been in and out like this for a few minutes," Emmett spoke up, his voice was grave and slightly trembling.

I looked him squarely in the face. "How could you let him leave, Emmett!?" I accused him in a sharp whisper.

Emmett just shook his head, unable to answer, his expression tortured with guilt.

Angry for a moment, I pushed my tears away, before I turned back to Edward. I pulled the police blanket that was draped over him further up around his shoulders. Under his head Chief Swan had laid his parka that was already stained with Edward's blood.

"The paramedics should be here very soon," The Chief spoke to me, his deep gruff voice both professional, yet gentle simultaneously.

I only nodded, hearing the faint sound of sirens in the distance already.

Edward was still again and his eyes were closed. I was almost glad not to have to see the horrible condition of his eyes again. Pulling a tissue from my pocket, I began to tentatively wipe the blood from his face. My hands were shaking violently, and it was then that I felt Jazz's hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. I took a heavy, trembling breath and abandoned myself to the tears, letting them flow in constant steady streaks down my face as I reached up and grabbed his hand. Jazz knelt down behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I only leaned against him unsteadily, then closed my eyes and allowed the fear and heart ache to conquer me.

"Please, God, no..."

"He's going to be okay, Alley," Jazz whispered with sudden determination in my ear.

I only shook my head, wanting desperately to believe him. He wrapped his arms around me more tightly and held me as I clung to my brother's hand, feeling all life from him fade.

The ambulance arrived. I expected the sirens to be on, but the noise of them still surprised me and filled me with a deeper panic. I held tighter to Jazz, who'd pulled me away as the paramedics immediately began to work over Edward, analyzing his condition. They began saying things like suspected internal injuries, accelerated heart rate and low blood pressure. I stood numb, helplessly and watched, unable to look away. They loaded Edward on the stretcher, carrying his lifeless body quickly inside the ambulance. The doors were closed in an urgent manner, making me jolt violently, before it transported Edward away, leaving us standing alone in the illuminated lighting of the police cruiser.

"Come on, Alley," Jazz said gently into my ear, moving us slowly forward.

Chief Swan was talking to Emmett, his expression and tone was compassionate, yet serious. "I'm going to need to get statements from you two boys, but it can wait until later."

Emmett nodded then glanced at Jazz and I, his tone grim. "Alley, I-I've spoken to Mom and Carlisle; they're waiting at the hospital."

Emmett rarely called me 'Alley' and not since I'd been sick in hospital. It was like being struck. I had the urge to place both my hands over my ears, but instead, I only nodded absently in reply.

Emmett jumped into his car without another word, and Jazz led us towards it when I stopped him. "Wait, Jazz, I just have to see Bella."

He released his arms from me and I made my way, with precarious steps, back to where Bella's Jeep stood. Chief Swan was beside her, and as I approached, he pulled her into his arms. She was trembling, that was evident enough, even in the semi illumination of her Jeep's headlights.

The moment she saw me, she broke from Billy's embrace and threw her arms around me. She was shaking violently.

"Alice, he's going to okay." It was almost comical, the contrast between her tone and her expression, but she'd spoken with so much conviction that my heart began to ache and tears once again welled behind my eyes. Her expression though, was just as struck with shock and grief as, no doubt, mine was.

I nodded. "Thanks, Bella," I mumbled softly. "Are you going to come to the hospital?"

She immediately paled—at least five shades lighter, then shook her head with sudden panic. She lowered her gaze from mine and stared at the ground for a moment, and when she looked up again, her eyes were shining and conflicted. "Tomorrow?" she asked in terrified whisper, before adding hastily. "But please call me as soon as you know anything, okay?"

I nodded again, feeling my heart sink in disappointment. I understood her fears, but in my own desperate selfishness I wanted her to be there. I knew what it would mean to Edward; her presence could be the very difference between two vastly different outcomes; one of which I would never accept.

Jazz and I rode in the back seat of Emmett's car as he sped to the hospital. I clung to him with all that I had left. My heartbeat was hammering in my ears, and I knew the only thing that was keeping me from sinking into shock at that moment was adrenalin.

"Why was he lying on the road, was he thrown from the car?" I asked Jazz, shuddering. The very idea filled me with horror. I squeezed my eyes shut and sank my face further into his chest.

I felt the motion of Jazz shaking his head and taking a huge breath before he began to explain with delicacy, as though the harsh reality of it would be too much for me to bear. "No, he wasn't, Alley. When we found him he was still conscious. He got out of the car himself, but he collapsed not long after we arrived."

I looked up and my eyes met Emmett's in the rear view mirror. He looked to be, among other contradicting emotions, pissed. He vocalized it a moment later, his tone so angry and low that the tempo of it surprised me.

"When Edward gets out of this, I'm gonna kick his ass into next week! What the fuck was he thinking?"

"I doubt he was thinking, Em." I sighed feeling myself tense with anger in addition to everything else.

Edward knew better; he was smarter than this!

Emmett huffed, his irritation only amplifying. "Did all this have something to do with the whole Bella thing tonight?"

"I think so," I answered him, my tone flat and dull.

Emmett scoffed, shaking his head slightly to himself. "Jeez he's a complicated asshole. What's wrong with him anyhow?"

I shrugged. "Who knows—who knows what goes through his mind these days," I mumbled, though it was more of a reflection.

"It's really not that difficult. You like a girl, you ask her out, you get laid—a few hundred times if you're as uptight as he is."

I felt my lips twitch with amusement and a feeling similar to hope and optimism started to filter through me.

"That's not all it is with Alley and I—" Jazz piped up indignantly, before immediately breaking off realizing the error of his admission; without mentioning the glare Emmett was giving him through the rear vision mirror.

I grinned broadly; it was astonishing what just a single smile could do in relation to your hope. I was suddenly feeling like I had bucketful's of it, where as just a few minutes earlier I was drowning with despair.

I squeezed Jazz's hand gently, then entwined my fingers through his; he kissed the top of my head in response. Releasing my breath, I closed my eyes momentarily and leaned against him.

Edward was going to be ok.

"Is that so?" Emmett retorted. "Don't think we still aren't going to talk about that either?"

Jazz scoffed caustically. "Please," he snorted, "just knowing what you and my sister get up to is payback enough!"

"Emmett, give it up," I added dryly, rolling my eyes.

Emmett's eyes narrowed darkly, but he didn't reply.

"I swear watching this whole Edward, Bella thing play out is like watching a really bad daytime soap opera." My tone was dry as a loud exaggerated sigh escaped my lips.

"Yeah, "Emmett muttered without humor, "like sand through the fucking hourglass. Maybe if Bella just gave him a good bludge, he wouldn't be in this shit," he added with a small smirk lighting up across his face.

I smiled again, grateful Emmett was creating a light-hearted atmosphere. It was infectious and talking about Edward in the context we were kept the hope in me alive.

However, the moment we entered the emergency room the enormity of it hit me, with all my hope and optimism vanishing in an instant.

Carlisle was embracing mom, who was pale and sobbing in his arms. My heart practically stopped beating, and I felt myself going faint as Jazz's arms quickly encircled around me, all but holding me on my feet. It was something about the expression on Carlisle's face; I'd seen it before. It took only a moment to realize when, and the air immediately exploded from my lungs, leaving me gasping for breath.

The only time I'd ever seen that look on his face was during my blackest days of chemo, before the bone marrow transplant from Edward. When they weren't sure I was going to make it.

"Alley, calm down!" Jazz was saying anxiously in my ear.

Clinging desperately to him, I buried my face against his chest, breathlessly sobbing; too terrified to move.

"Just hang on to me, baby," Jazz whispered into my ear, gently easing me closer.

I peeked over at Mom and Carlisle; he was sitting her down in one of the chairs in the ER, before he disappeared through two huge swinging doors. Emmett sat down next to her, took hold of her hand and spoke to her.

Stubbornly pulling myself from Jazz's embrace, I grabbed his hand and walked with faint, shaky steps over to where my mother sitting.

She looked up as we approached and smiled at me bravely through her obvious pain and anguish. "Alley, are you okay, sweetheart?"

"No," I whispered, collapsing into her arms and again breaking into a torrent of tears.

She soothed me gently, holding back her own tears that I knew were hovering just below the surface. "He'll be okay, sweetheart. I know in my heart he will."

I nodded clinging to her for a moment longer, before I sat myself back, wiping my tear stained face with the palms of my hands. "What did Carlisle say?"

She took her handkerchief from her handbag and dried my tear sodden face with it tenderly. I looked up and met her gaze, her eyes were tortured and despondent, but with a beacon of hope in them. "He's waiting for Edward to finish getting tests then he's going to come and tell us."

I sighed suddenly impatient. "What does he think, though? I saw his face, Mom. I know he knows something."

She paused for a moment, her forehead creasing slightly. "Just that he's worried about internal bleeding." I knew she was withholding more. It was the way she did not fully meet my gaze, her eyes flickering away cautiously.

"Mom!" I pleaded with her, my voice jarring, on the verge of another flood of tears.

"Alice, sweetheart, he doesn't know for sure. He's waiting for the test results. Once we know them we'll go from there." Her tone was unwavering in her conviction. "Be brave, honey, okay?"

I sighed shakily and nodded in defeat.

I sat down next to Mom in one of the hard plastic ER chairs. Jazz immediately sat on the other side of me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. I rested my head on his chest inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying in vain to get some control over my emotions and find some hope again.

In the next moment I bolted upright. Jazz was covered in blood!

"Alley, what is it?"

My breathing hitched in my lungs. "What happened to you?" I exclaimed anxiously.

For a moment he didn't understand, he just shook his head bewildered, his forehead knotting, his eyes burning with confusion.

"Jazzy, were you hurt?" I asked him, my tone rising again almost hysterically.

A light of recognition suddenly ignited behind his eyes, before he shook his head. "I'm okay, Alley. It's not my blood, it's—" he stopped abruptly before he could finish saying what I already knew.

"It's Edward's," I answered softly in resignation.

He sighed deeply, nodding.

I took a shaky breath and nodded in return; fully grasping the truth. I wasn't sure if knowing it made me feel better or worse, but I couldn't lie in Jazz's arms while Edward's blood was all over him.

I made him take off his sweater right there in the emergency department, and Jazz being Jazz obliged willingly, before he enfolded his arms around me again, holding me against him.

Carlisle returned not long after, his face drawn and solemn. My heart jarred and I immediately felt myself tense in Jazz's arms.

Mom was already on her feet, wringing her hands nervously. He sighed and sat her down again, handing her the coffee he'd carried out with him.

When he spoke he addressed us all, "Firstly the CT scan shows that Edward has a ruptured spleen—"

Mom drew her breath in hastily, her hand flying to her mouth in fear.

"Honey, he needs emergency surgery on it, but we are very lucky it wasn't his kidneys or his liver," he paused to make sure mom completely comprehended exactly what he was saying before he continued. "He's being prepped for surgery; we need you to sign a few consent forms. It's a fairly straight forward procedure. They're only partially removing it and it shouldn't take longer than an hour," he explained gently, though his eyes were unable to shield us from the graveness of the situation.

Mom nodded. "What else, Carlisle," she asked, her voice determined.

"The underlying problem at the moment is his spleen. However, he does have two broken ribs, a compound fracture of the skull and some swelling on the brain. They'll address that with you once he's through surgery," Carlisle answered her in a calm, yet sedate manner.

He took out a consent form from inside his coat, handing it to Mom. She signed it immediately and handed it back to him. Carlisle handed it to a triage nurse who disappeared with it through the emergency room doors.

"Carlisle?" I spoke up, my voice shaking and barely audible. "Is Edward going to be okay?"

He paused for a moment and my heart sank with dread. Jazz squeezed my hand beside me, but I barely registered it.

"Alice..." he paused as if pondering his words before he spoke them, "we don't know what his outcome will be yet. The next twenty-four hours are going to be critical, but his chances are good for his injury." His eyes remained sincere, and I knew it was the best he could offer at this point of time.

I nodded, resigned.

Carlisle stayed with Mom while we waited for Edward to come out of surgery. During that time Rosalie came and took Emmett into her arms in such an intimate display of affection that I was both touched and surprised. They wandered off to find a coffee machine a moment later, with Jazz and I following not long after.

When we returned back to the ER waiting room, Edward was just coming out of surgery. Carlisle walked back into the waiting room, explaining that Edward had come through the surgery without any complications. His expression remained somber, his tone staid, and he quickly continued as I held steadfast to Jazz, "He's in ICU, we needed to put him in an induced coma. He has pretty significant swelling in the brain, and it's the only way to prevent him further trauma and to allow the brain to heal. His vitals are strong, but I'm afraid all we can really do now is wait."

Mom dropped into the chair and cried softly. I'd seen her expression, how it brightened in relief before falling immediately into despair. Carlisle sat next to her taking her into his arms and whispering that it wasn't as grave as it sounded, and that it was just standard procedure for Edward's kind of accident.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head not wanting to hear any more. Faintness washed through me, my breath quickened and became shallow as I heaved air in and out of my lungs. Jazz pulled me against his chest; I buried my face there, hoping to find a release from the horrendous reality of what was happening.

I couldn't.

"Carlisle, I want to see him!" Mom spoke up with sudden conviction, drying her eyes with the handkerchief Carlisle had handed to her.

He nodded, before he turned to me. "What about you, Alice?" he asked me gently.

I nodded, overwhelmed with sudden uncertainty. "Take Mom in first," I replied barely able to find my voice.

Carlisle led her through the ER doors, where she returned several minutes later shaken and pale, but with a positive resolve shining from behind her eyes.

"Okay, honey," she said softly to me with an encouraging smile.

I wasn't prepared to see Edward in the condition he was in. I had a picture in my mind of what to expect, but still the brutal truth of it brought me almost to my knees. Carlisle quickly grabbed a chair for me and sat me in it, as I bent my head into my hands trying to desperately pull myself out of the wave of dizziness and nausea.

Edward was lying attached to a respirator that blew artificial air in and out of his lungs noisily, his chest rising and falling mechanically along with it. His head was bandaged, and the cut above his eye was covered with gauze. He was bare-chested, covered with heart monitors while his left ribs were horrifically bruised and swollen. He was deathly pale, and the only thing that told me he was still alive was the constant and rhythmical beeping from the machine beside him.

I shuddered violently, my chest aching horribly as it heaved with painful sobs.

"Don't you dare think about leaving me, Edward!" I pleaded with him helplessly. "Not when you were the one who kept me here."

I stayed with Edward, keeping a vice-like, determined grip on his hand until Carlisle had to practically forcibly remove me. I felt ashamed that Mom was so calm where as I had completely fallen apart, but never in my life would I ever forget the sight of Edward the way he was tonight. It would haunt my dreams and plague my mind until my dying days.

Mom insisted that we go home and get some rest. Not that any of us would sleep that night, or many nights that would follow, but we went home regardless. Jazz stayed with me, even though he, like the rest of us, was close to being dead on his feet.

We were in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate. I was fast beginning to feel the effects of shock infiltrate through me, when my phone started vibrating from inside my jacket; I'd completely forgotten it was there. I pulled it out and turned it on with flat sluggish movements, feeling as though my brain was disconnected from my body.

"Who is it, Alley?" Jazz asked me gently.

"It's Bella," I replied.

A/N: :(
This is the end of Alice's pov in this story. I hope you enjoyed what she had to say, even though it was pretty hard to write, and thanks for reading.