The Dancing Ghost ★ Edward Cullen

xvi. Lifeline

   Twilight had settled onto the sky, pouring it's colors down till the edge of the sky as Edward watched the final strands of light disappear from the large hospital window and leave behind nothing as the bright artificial illuminated the mostly quiet corridors as he sat in the waiting room.

On the seat beside him was Rosalie, who for once, Edward couldn't find any annoying or nagging thoughts in her mind.

A sense of déjà vu washed over him but this time he was able to recall the old memory.

It was back when Rosalie had found Emmet injured gravely in the forest by a bear.

She had took him to Carlisle that night because she couldn't do it, she couldn't bite him herself. While Carlisle was doing his best to save him, Edward and Rosalie were waiting outside by a lake, completely quiet.

Rosalie was sitting beside him, starring at the distance with an expression that made it seem like she was forcing herself to get rid of any trace of hope from her heart but was failing terribly.

Back then, even though Edward had never gotten along with her before, he couldn't help but share her hope, rooting for her to find happiness.

At this moment, Edward understood deeply what she must have felt back then, waiting around to see if fate will be kind or not, trying to push back the stubborn hope in his heart.

Edward was pulled out of his thoughts when Alice and Esme walked down the corridor. Esme gave him a kind smile, rubbing his shoulder, making him look up from Anastasia's watch he was holding in his hand, staring at the flying seconds.

Time was slow.

Hope was violent.

"She'll be fine," Esme reassured him softly while Edward was lost in Alice's thoughts as she yearned for a vision, a sense of certainty.

Right.

She'll be fine.

She'll live, she will live inside her head, a place Edward had no way to.

The moon was well up into the sky when Anastasia's eyes fluttered open, hazily taking in her surroundings.

Her eyes adjusted to the pale white light illuminating the foreign green walls as she tried to sit up, but felt herself being too weak to even try like her body was lacking something.

There was a heavy taste of antiseptics in her mouth and a faint sound of the clock on this opposite wall ticking.

When her mind took note that she had something attached to her wrist, her gaze trailed down and at the sight of the white bed sheet and the small tube attached to her bandaged wrist...

She felt her heart sink.

She's still here.

She's still here and she still has to face everything she tried to leave behind.

It all came crashing down, the world felt just as unbearable as it did before but now, there's a new layer of shame and guilt.

The door opened calmly, a tall man with a gentle smile entering the room. It took Anastasia a while to recognize him, it was Carlisle Cullen.

"Anastasia," He said gently, "It might not sound like good news right now, but you're in the hospital, we stitched up your wrist..."

Anastasia doesn't say anything, just giving a small weak nod.

"We haven't informed your aunt yet, do you want to tell her?"

An even thicker layer of guilt draped over her at the mention of her aunt who was pregnant and enjoying her time in Paris.