𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 | carlisle cullen

(𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐢𝐱) i don't recognize you anymore

song for this chapter
black out days - phantogram

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"IS HE STILL UP THERE?" Rosalie asked in a dull tone twirling a section of her long blonde hair around her fingers.

"Where else is he going to go?" Edward shrugged, "it's only been a day... it's going to take a lot longer than that for him to deal with all this". The family fell back into an uncomfortable silence. It was unclear how long they'd been sitting around staring at the floor as though hoping that the carpet would swallow them up. All of them were waiting ,as they usually did, for the instruction of Carlisle.

Every time something went wrong, every time the family were put in risk he'd always have a solution. A way to move on from things. Whether that mean move to a new state, talk away problems or enlist the help of others he always had this fail safe ability to calm any situation down.

Now Carlisle has locked himself in his study. After the fight they'd found the crumpled bodies of Kate and Tanya and he'd stood around helping them heal. As soon as they were up to standing and yelling insults about the opponents now burning on the fire, Carlisle was the first back at the house. No one had seen him since.

The Cullens hadn't expected any different. They had known just how heart wrenching this would be for him, just how much it would hurt. They had been seeing it over the last week, very much so over the last two days. It was unmissable, the light leaving his eyes. There was of course the worry that he'd never go back to who he'd been before. They had eternity but this didn't seem to matter any more. Rather than an eternity of opportunity it felt like an eternity of pain.

The ten Cullens sat around the living room doing absolutely nothing. It had been just over twenty four hours but the concept of time had been lost to them. Edward sat on the piano stool, further from the group than anyone else so their tangled worries didn't mess with his own thoughts.

Alice was curled up in the biggest arm chair, leaning into Jasper's side. She was staring at the stairs, waiting for Carlisle to appear. Emmett had been standing as though raring to go, he leant against the door but could've been a statue. Too busy thinking to worry about seeming human. Rosalie was on the chair in front of him. For a while she'd been fidgety but now her glassy eyes just looked past the widow.

Irina, Tanya and Kate all sat on the sofa, their hands linked. After coming so close to losing each other it was clear how panicked they felt about not being in each others company. Tanya and Kate's eyes were still mirrored in the pain that they'd felt, the fear and the knowledge that they were about to die. Irina could've been crying, her face looked that pained.

Eleazar took the last sofa, Carmen leaning against his knee, her topaz legs stretched over the floor. Both remained very still. Everyone was too still, scarily so. None wanted to move in case they'd be the first, no one wanted a change to come over the forced peace. No one wanted to be the one to break. Voices filled the dim once every few hours. Stupid questions with answers already written in minds. Lost hopes, broken promises.