The Dancing Ghost ★ Edward Cullen

vi. Cold hands

Anastasia found herself loosing focus on many things. Her mind never seemed to stop, making even a quiet room seem loud. She tried to shut her thoughts off, but it simply doesn't work which causes quite some problems in a lot of situations.

"Anastasia!" Oksana's voice caught her by surprise as she was yet again lost in her thoughts, causing some mistakes in her dancing.

She fell on the ground and twisted her ankle, making her yelp in pain as she held her injured joint.

Oksana approched in worry, inspecting her ankle up close as she brunette bit her tongue to keep her mind away from the pain. Jenny, who was also in the room along with some other ballerinas practicing their own roles, ran up to Anastasia.

"Are you okay, Stace?" She asked in worry, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's probably a strain," Oksana explained, "Can you get me some bandages?"

Jenny nodded and ran out of the room, the sound of her pointe shoes fainting away.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Oksana asked Anastasia who was still closing her eyes.

"It's bearable," She answered, having experienced way worse injuries before in ballet.

"You're a great dancer, Anastasia" Oksana sighted, making the brunette shift her attention to her, "You just seem very far away these days."

Anastasia didn't know what to say, she knew how to do every move perfectly but she was simply way too out of her body to be able to control it.

Luckily she didn't have to say anything because Jenny came back holding some bandages and a tube of pain relief cream.

The two helped her bandage her ankle in mostly silence, except for Jenny asking every two minutes if she was okay.

"Here you go, you go home and stop at a doctor to check it," Oksana spoke up, tying the bandages, "There won't be practice until it heals. Try to settle back into your body in the mean time, believe me, trying to escape from it does no good."

Anastasia nodded her head, "Thank you," She stood up, with some help from Jenny and left the vast room, got her bag and walked to the train station.

After arriving to her city, she sighted in relief when she got to her car that she parked near the train station, sitting back in the comfortable seat with the faint music playing.

She debated if she should wait until tomorrow to go to the doctor, but she decided to get over with it today, not wanting to lose a lot of practice days.

She tried to drive to the hospital from memory, not being familiar with all the roads in the city. After some turns, she did get there and luckily, they didn't make her wait a lot to get her ankle checked.

Anastasia was sitting in the large white room when someone entered to tell the nurse that was examing her ankle something, but when Anastasia looked up from her phone after texting her aunt, she was surprised to see him.

"Edward?" She blinked in surprise, making him turn his attention to her, equally surprised. The nurse left the room and told her that she will be back with her results, closing the door behind her.

"Anastasia? Are you alright?" He asked in worry, his eyes scanning her for any obvious injury.

"Yeah, i just hurt my ankle while in practice," She explained briefly, "Why are you here- oh right your father is a doctor, right?"

He nodded, sitting on the rolling chair in front of her, placing a book he was holding on his lap, "I come here sometimes to try and help as much as i can," He explained, finding it frustrating that he can't know what she thinks.

"That's nice of you," She smiled, "You seem like you're interested in medicine, you never thought of studying it?"

Edward came up with a lie on the spot, "I am interested in it, but i just enjoy literature more, maybe in the future i might go back to college and study it."

Anastasia nodded, "I always wanted to get several degrees and keep studying, but well i guess i lost a bit my motivation to do that," She said, not saying the real reason she changed her mind.

"Well there's plenty of time to change your mind on what you want to do, you don't have to have your entire life planned out," Edward said, obsessively listening to anything she tells him about herself.

Anastasia thought about what he said, she rarely spoke with someone her age who talked like Edward, he seemed to have a different way of thinking than most people.

She noticed the book in his lap, and curiously read the title.

"White nights?" She said, "I've never read it, although i did read most of Dostoevsky's books."

"It's a great book. It's about a poor man who suffers from loneliness, he falls in love with a young woman but she loves someone else."

"It sounds good," Anastasia said, Edward took the book and handed it to her, making her freeze when his hand slightly brush against hers.

"You're freezing," She pointed, making him quickly place his hand back on his lap, telling her that it's nothing.

"You can take it, I've already finished it," Edward suggested as the brunette read the summary on the back.

"Thank you," She smiled, "I'll give it back to you in university,"

The doctor entered the room, making Edward get up, "Don't worry about it," He said and left the white room.

Anastasia drove back home after the doctor told her that it was a mild sprain that would take a few weeks to fully heal.

She parked her car and painfully went up the stair, annoyed that the apartment was on the highest floor.

Meredith and James, her aunt's husband, were already home. They were sitting on the couch and talking with a smile on their faces, excited when they saw Anastasia.

"Hey guys," Anastasia greeted, placing her coat on the hanger, then noticed their happy expression, shooting them a questioning look.

"We have a surprise," Her aunt said excitedly, pulling her to sit on the couch.

"What is it?" Anastasia asked curiously, looking between the two.

"It's been two months but we've only just found out," Meredith explained, running a hand through her blonde hair.

Anastasia's eyes widened.

"I'm pregnant!"

"Oh my god!" Anastasia smiled unbelievably, "You are?!"

Meredith nodded her head, and James spoke up, fixing his glasses on his nose, "I will stop traveling for my job to stay here,"

"That's so great!" Anastasia smiled at the couple.

She spent the night helping Meredith and James find baby names, ignoring the assignments she has to do.