Cerulean Star

Chapter 31: Conversations with the Dead

We prolonged our departure from Forks for as long as possible. Partly because we didn't want to leave rainy Forks, but mainly because of Edward. As soon as we were settled at Syracuse, Edward would be taking off on his travels. And watching Edward leave was not something any of us were willing to rush.

But nonetheless, today marked my last shift at the hospital, after giving them a month's notice that I would be leaving. The hospital tried in vain, to keep me here but understood that I wanted to be near my kids as they all choose to attend college on the East Coast.

"Hi Dr. Cullen. I'm really going to miss you." A cooing voice called out to me and I realized that it was one of the nurses, Mindy.

"Oh hello Mindy. Yes, my wife and I will miss Forks as well." I turned my back to her as I continued walking to my office. The nurses often attempted to tempt me but to their dismay, I always replied with mention of my family. I wouldn't be held responsible for misleading any of them.

Once I was in the recluse of my office, I sat in the leather chair behind my desk and sighed an unwarranted breath. There was still much to do, as my office was still unpacked. The furniture at the house was packed, at least the pieces that we were bringing with us. Esme, Alice, and Jasper left early this morning to set up the new location. My family agreed that we wanted to stay as long as possible so Edward and Alice were to be freshman instead of doing college. Likewise the others were planning on starting their sophomore years.

I walked over to the far wall of my office and looked at my degrees. Pretty soon, I'd need to have new ones made up. The box that sat on my desk was waiting to be filled with my belongings and it was just about time for my shift to be over anyways. I guess there was no better time to start. Within two minutes, the box was full of my personal effects. The office was completely bare of my presence, and all that was left to do was walk out of the room.

I grabbed my box and walked over to the door.

"Dr. Cullen? I'm sorry to do this, but Drs. Bernathy and Haird are both in surgeries, and I can't find Dr. Vasel. Would you be able to handle the emergency that's about to pull up?" Mindy asked all expectation of flirting were out of her eyes.

"Yes, of course. What is the emergency?"

"The paramedics called in a cardiac arrest. I don't know the vitals yet, but ETA is one minute." We hurried to the ambulance bay and calmly waited for the paramedics to bring in the patient. In the near distance, I could hear the sirens of the fast approaching vehicle and felt the familiar rush that I had one last try to help another human resume their life here in Forks.

"Caucasian male age forty-four. Blood pressure is..." Brad, a paramedic I was familiar with rolled the gurney onto the street and began prattling on about the man's vitals while another continued chest compressions. But I didn't hear anything. My world stopped when I saw Charlie laying on the gurney with his eyes closed. I could faintly hear an unsteady heartbeat and it was steadily fading.

"No Charlie! He's going to V-Fib, charge the paddles!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I cringed, there was no heart monitor hooked up to Charlie yet so as a human I shouldn't have been able to hear him going into V-Fib. But there was no time to worry about the implications. I was not going to let Charlie die. Though she was no longer alive, Bella's legacy deserved this much.

"Doctor, the ambulance bay is not the best place for..."

"Mindy, this is the Chief of Police, and he's too unstable to move. Now charge those paddles and give me some room!" I yelled at her with a ferocity that made me feel guilty. But like before I didn't want to dwell on it. Charlie was going to live dammit.