Poisoned Blood ↠ Edward Cullen ✓

12 ; even before i knew you

A indignant beeping sound startled Caden from his slumber.

Dark lashes fluttered awake, alongside a soft mewl escaping from Caden's mouth without being able to stop it. A deep ache started on the right side of his head, brutal in it's intensity as he hissed, closing his eyes against the white walls he was flashed with.

"Caden?" The voice belonged to his Aunt Helena, who was sticking a cup of water in Caden's direction as he turned towards the sound of her voice.

Blinking, Caden shakily reached for the cup but his aunt simply tsked and brought the cup to his mouth, manually letting him drink. Once the first dry swallow was down, Caden began to chug down the liquid in heavy gulps, not caring that his throat was sore.

"Slow down," His Aunt reasoned, removing the cup from his lips. She placed the cup on the side table before leveling him with worried brown eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"My head," Caden croaked, while he dragged his eyes along the cords running upwards from his body to many different machines. There was a sharp pain in his side, and Caden instantly pressed his hand to the heavy bandage that was just a few centimeters below his ribs.

"You had a collapsed lung," Helena spoke, noticing his confusion. "The doctor said it should heal in a few weeks, but if it really bothers you or if you find your breath becoming laborious-"

As his aunt spoke, Caden was shot with a memory of just how his lung had collapsed in the first place. His malleable body collapsing against the cement walls, hearing his gasping breathes of air as something in his chest seemed to be tightening uncomfortably.

"What happened?" Caden asked, interrupting his aunt. He needed to know what she knew before he started speaking.

"You don't remember?" His aunt's face was grim at this news.

"I remember bits and pieces," Caden lamented, meeting her eyes shyly. The pure worry on her face threw him out of his element. "I just remember a lot of pain, to be completely honest."

Aunt Helena bit her bottom lip, before she spoke. "They said that one of your classmates, Hannah Jennings, ambushed you and Bella Swan Thursday on the high school's campus. From Bella's statement, she said that Hannah was pretty out of it, like she was deranged or something."

Caden nodded slightly, getting a flash of scarlet eyes in his memory alongside hot blinding pain against the back of his head. Then, something his aunt said caught his attention. "Thursday? What day is it now?"

"Saturday," His aunt answered promptly, "You've been in and out of it since the surgery. Which I'm grateful for, they had to do a lot of scans on your head-"

"Where's Edward?" Caden couldn't help but ask, once against interrupting his aunt.

At the mention of Edward, Aunt Helena had a tiny smile gracing her face. It was so different from the normal expression she typically wore on her face that Caden couldn't help but feel surprised for a second time since waking up.

"He's been in here every few hours," His aunt said, and her pursed her lips. "His sister was the one who found you, you know? What was her name, I think her name was Alice, yes that's it."

"Alice found me?" Caden asked, and he had a general idea of how Alice had "found him", but he wanted to see if Alice had given his aunt a human version of how Caden had been found.

"Yes," His aunt hummed, before she was truly frowning once more. "You truly don't remember anything?"

"Aunt Helena," Caden huffed, exasperated. He just wanted the story of his survival so he wouldn't slip up later if the cops were to show up.