Mortality

Dauntless Lamb

I'm blinded the moment I open my eyes. Bright, white light in a clean, white room. And without my second pair of eyes, the light seems to smear over everything. I feel the hard, uneven bed that supports me, the sling my leg is in, the cradle of my chicken-winged arm. My right hand, wrapped in clean bandages, grips the rails of the bed, and I try to raise from the lumpy pillows. One thing is certain — I'm still alive, and I'm still human. The steady sound of my heartbeat on the monitor is sign enough. I reach up to detach the air tube taped to my cheek, wanting to scratch the hidden skin.

"Don't you dare," cool fingers catch my hand.

"I'm breathing just fine." I say with a smile. I look at Edward, at the fresh darkness under his eyes, the blotchiness of his cheeks, and the crooked grin that plays his lips. He sighs, reaching and ruffling my hair. "Thank you... I shouldn't have lied, shouldn't have left. I just ... I'm sorry."

"Hey, you were worried about Charlie. I mean, Rosalie does want to tear you a new one, but Jasper is mildly impressed at the little set-up you created. It took Alice about an hour to realize you'd vanished. It's all good now." His soft fingers caress my bandaged cheek, soothing the stinging pain. "Everything's as it should be."

"What all happened? Everything is so muffled and blurry."

"We tracked you down just in time. He had just bitten you when we tore him from your neck. We could see you start to change, but ... you wouldn't have. Changed, I mean."

"Carlisle," I let out the tension from my shoulders. "He said my body was too weak. Had too little blood."

"James punctured your arms for that reason. He knew you'd feel the pain of changing, all the while your heart would just give out. If it weren't for Carlisle getting the venom out of you, I don't think we'd even be here right now."

"I'm grateful. Even if I could have changed, I wouldn't want to. I want to live as a human at least until I finish high school...." I rub my eyes, leaning back on the weird pillows. "God, how could I have been to stupid? Confronting a vampire alone, I'm lucky he didn't just ... Charlie!" I shoot back up, and a hot bolt rushes my ribs.

"Don't exert yourself!" Edward gently pushes me back. "He's already recovered, been in and out of here to check on you for the last few days. That, and talking to your mom, Renee. She sounds horrifically like you over the phone." He deadpans for a moment. "You know, if she really does look like you, I might just have a heart attack."

"Yeah, one of me is scary enough. At least she can walk straight."

"Without tripping over thin air?"

"Or even a fallen leaf."

"There really is a God." As if knowing the others' thoughts, we flick the bird and laugh. "She just arrived today. She doesn't understand why either of you are in Phoenix in the middle of the semester, but Charlie came up with a decent enough lie...albeit, a fairly bullshit one, but it was good enough for her as far as I know. I'll update you if I run into her."

"So what is the story? How did I get hurt, why am I down here?"

"You're down here because you and Charlie got into a fight about you leaving Forks over the summer, about how you didn't want to feel as trapped as she did before the divorce. And upon arriving in Phoenix, you fell down two flights of stairs and out a second story window. Alice uh ... Alice had a lot of fun creating the evidence."

We both laugh at the mental image, Edward pulling a chair beside the bed and sitting down. He pulls his knees to his chest and sighs. "You have some cracks in your skull, bunch of bruises. He completely snapped your left arm and right leg, and broke five ribs. They gave you so much blood you smelled like four different people, and none of them you."