Flightless Bird »»Edward Cullen Bwwm

Chapter Sixteen

Margo’s Pov
Carlisle’s office smelled like antiseptic and cedar, a strange mix that made my head throb worse than the cracked ribs did. I sat on the edge of the examination table, my hand bandaged tight, my jacket folded beside me like evidence of a crime I didn’t remember committing.

Carlisle moved with calm precision, fingers gentle as he checked my side my shoulder and my wrist. I had never seen him so focused on one task before.

"Nothing is broken," he said at last while he was looking at me, trying to hold back his worry. "You’ll bruise badly. But you’ll heal because of the little bit of venom." He stood back up looking at me kindly rubbing over my shoulders.

Hea, those words seemed to always make me laugh.  The word felt hollow.

Edward hadn’t spoken once, he was just looking at the wall in a quiet manner.

He stood near the door, rigid, unmoving like if he let himself breathe, something inside him would shatter. His eyes weren’t on me. They weren’t on anyone. They were somewhere far away, somewhere I couldn’t reach.

Carlisle gave me a small, reassuring nod before stepping out. Jasper and Alice followed after a moment, Alice squeezing my uninjured hand, her face pale and tight.

"I’m so sorry," she whispered. I nodded, because if I spoke, I might scream. I gave her hand one more weak squeeze before she was gone out of my sight.

The door closed, the silence that followed was deafening. It was like my mind was ringing begging for anything to make it go away.

Edward finally turned to me the look on his face... God, it hurt more than the fall ever could.

This wasn’t just fear, It was disgust at himself directed at me. The way his eyes were looking at me
"This is my fault."  he said quietly he was pushing himself off the wall hard.

I swallowed quickly swallowing the dryness. "Edward.."

"No." His voice snapped sharp, slicing through the room. "Don’t."

I froze. He ran a hand through his hair, pacing once, twice, like a caged animal. "I should have known better. I did know better and I still let this happen."

"Rosalie.. didn't mean this and you know that!" I said firmly cutting him off before he did the same.

"Is not the problem here," he cut in.  I am."

That stung. "You were bleeding," he continued, voice tight, venomous not literal, but it might as well have been. "In a room full of predators and I brought you there. I let you believe you were safe."

"I was safe," I shot back. “Until you thought something was going to happen."

"Until my family lost control," he said coldly. "Until I lost control."

I slid off the table, ignoring the sharp ache in my side. "You saved me."

"I shoved you into a piano," he said flatly. "I broke you."

"You didn’t mean to I'm not fragile or stupid Edward- that's why we are training the powers-"

"That doesn’t matter." His eyes finally met mine, and they were dark not with hunger, but something worse. .

The finality was hinted at in his words like there was no use arguing anymore. "I won’t let this happen again."

My chest tightened I stepped towards him my footsteps could be heard echoing around. "What are you saying?" He exhaled slowly, like he was steadying himself before a fall.

"I’m leaving." he word echoed.

"What?" I shot out looking at him quickly like he shot me with his words.

"This town, this life, you." Each word landed harder than the last. "I won’t put you in danger again."

My vision blurred."Edward, don’t do this."

He laughed once, bitter and empty. "Don’t do this? Margo, you’re still human and I seem to keep forgetting that, you are still human Fragile.. Bleeding and I’m-" He stopped himself, jaw clenching. "I’m poison."

"That’s not true,"I said, my voice breaking. "You love me."

"I thought I did," there was so much venom in his tone I wasn't used to it and it was silently breaking me.

That one nearly dropped me to my knees. "I thought I could pretend this was normal," he went on, voice cruel now, deliberate. "That you were strong enough to stand in our world, tonight proved you’re not."

I had never shown anger at Edward but it shot through me like a fire. My words spit out roughly.

"You’re a coward."

His head jerked up. I stepped closer, ignoring the pain screaming through my body. "You don’t get to rewrite what happened just so you can run."

"I’m protecting you."

"No," I snapped, tears spilling freely now. "You’re punishing yourself and dragging me down with you."

"You almost died!"

"I almost lived," I shot back my voice raising at the same octave as him. "With you."

He stared at me like I’d slapped him. "You think I don’t know what I am?" I continued, voice shaking with fury and heartbreak. "You think I don’t wake up every day knowing I don’t belong in your world? I choose you anyway."

He looked away.

"And you know what?" I said bitterly. “Rosalie attacked me because she’s a vampire but she didn't mean it,"  His fists clenched.

"You don’t get to decide my limits," I whispered. "You don’t get to decide when I stop fighting."

He turned back to me then, pain etched into every perfect line of his face.

"I can’t lose you."

"You already are," I said softly.

Something strange pulsed under my skin then warm, electric. A faint echo of something familiar for just a second, I felt it, his strength, his restraint, the iron control he wrapped around himself like armor.

"Go," I whispered, tears falling freely now. "If leaving is the only way you can live with yourself… then go."

He stood there for a long moment, his body hesitating for a minute then he was gone.

The room felt emptier. I collapsed onto the table, sobbing into my bandaged hand.

Happy birthday to me I guess.