Edward Cullen's Little Sister

Chapter 22 - Coping

So sorry for the wait guys. I've had a lot of homework to do so haven't been able to write as much xx

"What are we supposed to do about her bite mark?" Edward asked Carlisle as we reached the emergency exit, sounding nervous. Edward sighed and rolled his eyes to whatever Carlisle had thought.

Her blood hit me yet again as well as the blood of the patients in the hospital. Emmett grabbed onto my arm to hold me back. "Ellie," he growled and it was only then that I realised he was trying to pull me away from the doors that I was inching towards. I stopped fighting and let him drag me away from the appealing smell of human blood.

"Emmett, it burns," I moaned, clutching my throat with my free hand; he hadn't let go of my arm.
"I know, Ellie," his voice and eyes were soft. "Come with me." He led me round the back of the building and sat down on a bench that was there. I sat down next to him.

"Take a deep breath through your nose," he instructed. I did as he said and the fresh blood hit me like a tonne of bricks. I jumped up from the bench, my hands clenched into tight fists and it was a great effort just to keep my feet still. "Emmett," I growled. Why would he tell me to do that?
"Take another breath," he said.
"No."
"Ellie, I'm trying to help you." His grip was still tight on my arm and he pulled me back to the bench.
"Now, take another breath." I took a deep breath through my nose, prepared for the assault. It burned my throat more than anything I had smelt before. I clutched at my throat as if I could tear the fire out.

"Good," Emmett said "And again." I did.
"It's not getting any better," I told him through clenched teeth. He ignored my comment.
"Now think about each person inside that hospital." I did everything he told me to. "Think about how they are hurt and the pain they are in. Think about the life they have and their families. Think about how this is affecting them all. Think about how killing them would kill someone else. How it would destroy someone. How it would put them through such immense pain they could barely cope. Now take another deep breath." That time, the burn hurt less. I didn't want to kill them as much.
"Think about that every time you want to drink someone's blood."
"Thank you, Emmett, that actually helped." He laughed.
"I'll try not to be offended that you sound so surprised." We both laughed and Emmett was me back to the front of the hospital.

I did as he said and I was able to cope better with the thirst. Just then Alice and Jasper arrived. Alice was on the phone and since I could hear the person on the other end of the receiver, I knew she was talking to Edward. She put her finger up to her mouth to tell us to be quiet. None of us spoke and Alice hurried inside.

"What's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing much," Jasper told me. "She's just trying to surprise Edward so don't think anything interesting."
"Wow, Jasper. You know that just makes everyone want to think something interesting," I said sarcastically. He laughed.
"Let's just run patrol," Emmett said and we set off round the hospital.

Once we were round the front of the building again, Jasper ran inside due to an outburst he felt from Edward. It must be awful for him, to see Bella like this. Broken.

I went into the hospital a while later and left Emmett outside with Jasper who had come to join us.

The scent was hard to deal with but I was fine. Jasper said he'd help if I needed it and kept Emmett's advice at the front of my mind. I knocked on the door to Bella's room though I wasn't sure why. Edward knew I was coming and knew it was me. "Come in," he called.

Edward was sat in the chair next to Bella's bed and I walked over to him and pulled up a chair. "How are you?" I asked placing my arm round his shoulders.
"Okay, I think. I mean, it's horrible seeing her like this and I don't even know if she can love me after this and I think it would be better if she didn't."
"Edward, you can't think like that. She's Bella, she chose you and she loves you. She loves you and she always will. And it is not better for her to not love you. Edward, as much as you think you are bad for her, you need her and she needs you."
"Thank you," He said hugging me and I hugged him back. It had been awhile since we'd had a moment like this.

"What about you?" he asked, changing the subject.
"What do you mean?"
"With the blood. I never imagined you'd react like that."
"Neither did I. I guess it was just because of the fresh blood. I've never been around fresh blood that I wasn't going to drink."
"Are you alright now, though?"
"Emmett helped me. It burns, a lot, but I can control it. You'd know if I couldn't anyway and Jasper would too. And Alice for that so I think it's safe to say nothing could happen."

I left the room a few minutes later. Edward stayed with Bella until she woke up. I went to see Bella and Edward a few more times. Bella's mum, Renee, also spent most of her time with Bella. The only time she left was to get food or visit the bathroom.

Bella was discharged a week after she first woke up. Life went back to normal surprisingly quickly.