Gentle Touches

Chapter 2 - Discussions (EPOV)

Chapter 2 - Discussions (EPOV)

We needed to decide what we were going to do with this girl. It would be dangerous to keep her here; living with a bunch of vampires wouldn’t be healthy for any human. But from Carlisle’s thoughts, I gathered that he thought it might be a better idea having her in the house where he could look after her properly.

The rest of the family was crowded together in the dining room as I entered with Alice. She immediately crossed to the corner where Jasper was standing anxiously, arms crossed across his chest.

Carlisle smiled at me sadly. You know that we had to do that, son. I nodded in response to his concern. We needed to be worried about the girl, not me.

I sat by his side, Esme opposite me and Emmett and Rosalie next to her. “Before we do anything, how is she?” Emmett asked a frown in his brow and images of the strange girl huddled in the corner of the cabin bedroom in his mind.

“Physically, she seems fine,” Carlisle answered cautiously, “There were some cuts and scrapes and obvious abrasions on her feet. There were also rope burns on her wrists where I presume she was bound for long periods from the extent of them, and probably multiple times”.

A growl automatically wanted to escape, but I squashed it down. I hated the thought that anyone had hurt such a fragile angel, but I couldn’t explain my sudden attachment to this human.

“Mentally and emotionally, however…” he continued then hesitated. I knew what he meant. We didn’t know what traumas she had gone through, but she had basically been reduced to a feral state. We didn’t even have any idea as to what her learning capabilities were or even if she was able to communicate at all.

Emmett broke the silence again. “She seems to be in a pretty bad way,” he noted, sadly, his frown deepening. “She wouldn’t even let anyone touch her, and she growls,” he added.

“Her emotions are unusual, though,” Jasper spoke up. Everyone turned to stare enquiringly at him, including Alice. “Well, normally if someone is feral, they only feel basic emotions like fear,” he tried to explain, “But she feels other things. Like she felt trust in Edward and then upstairs she felt betrayal. So, she must have some understanding and intelligence”.

We were quiet again after his revelation. Would she be able to talk? I wondered. It was something to be considered; maybe we could try to test how much she knew and understood.

“Can you hear what she’s thinking, Edward?” Jasper asked, his thoughts now considering the possibility that I could decipher her thoughts to know how to help her.

I focussed on the girl in the room, my sensitive hearing showing that she had made no movement since I had put her on the bed. To my astonishment and annoyance, I found that there was nothing: no thoughts or feelings running through her head. I couldn’t hear her. “No, I can’t get anything,” I frowned, feeling strangely off balance as I tried again to listen.

My father broke the unsettled atmosphere by continuing his evaluation of the girl. “We also have the problem of her being underweight,” Carlisle included onto the growing list of problems for my angel. My? I shook my head. I definitely couldn’t begin to think things like that, but it did really feel like she was mine somehow.

“Would she eat if we tried to give her something?” Esme asked aloud. We turned to stare at Alice as she gazed blankly around her. I watched as she searched the future, trying to see the outcome.

She let out a small sigh and shook her head. “I don’t think she will,” she answered, “She’s exceedingly wary and won’t trust us at all. It looks like we might have to wait for a while before attempting anything”.