Chapter Eleven
Dying is painful. Seriously.
That shit you see in the movies where people are killed instantly and they go off to the hereafter lickity split? Yeah, instead of the bright white light and being handed a pair of wings and a halo, I suffered immense pain. I could barely breathe. It felt like I could exhale, but inhaling was excruciatingly painful.
I was ready to die, to go to heaven and get away from this feeling. My entire left side felt like it was on fire, as if I were being burned alive and it took me a little while to realize that I wasn't dead or dying. So many noises could be heard all around me, but I couldn't decipher where it was coming from or what it was in general.
I lifted my head, immediately regretting the action as the pain flowed from the top of my skull to my toes. I then opened my eyes and found myself face to face with a giant tree trunk. It was then that I remembered the car accident.
Without moving my neck, I tried to assess the situation and realized I was seriously fucked. My left arm was twisted painfully almost behind my back against the back of my seat; my shirt was covered in blood. I could tell the blood was coming from my nose because it was flowing freely, tickling my lips and neck. My legs were fine from what I could tell, just a little scrunched up in the position I found myself in. My right arm had somehow weaved itself into the steering wheel, and I was facing towards the driver side door of my car instead of the front.
The worst part was the branch protruding from the trunk of the huge tree my car had smashed into and had stabbed me in the chest. Every breath I took I could feel it inching further and further.
"Hey dude, you alright in there?" a voice called from the passenger side of the car.
"Not really," I gasped out almost silently in an effort not to waste too much of the precious air I was trying to conserve. I could hear him going through my glove compartment rustling through my stuff. "Edward Cullen?"
I grunted in response.
"Well, my name is Marcus, and I'm going to sit with you while the rest of my crew gets the other car out of the way so that we can get to you out properly. I want you to remain calm and as still as you can, it shouldn't take too long. We have an ambulance waiting so as soon as we get that asshole's car out of the way we'll get you out," he said, his voice calming. "Now I can't see the front of you and from the sound of it, you're in a great deal of pain, so I want you to try your hardest to communicate with me. Alright Edward?"
I managed another grunt.
"Good, are you in pain?"
I was grunting before he even finished his sentence trying to convey that I was indeed in a great deal of pain.
"Alright, well, I'll see what I can do for you once I get inside. Don't worry about replying," he directed as the sound of metal crunching filled the air. "My boys are pulling the SUV off of you now, so don't be alarmed if you're jostled again. Try to remain as still as you possibly can. Don't worry about replying."
He wasn't lying when he warned me about the jostling. I cried like a bitch as the branch was pressed a little farther into me and both of my arms wrenched painfully. My tears were stinging as they flowed down my cheeks, getting into the cuts I evidently acquired. Marcus was a man of his word and I was surprised when he wrenched open the back passenger door of my car so that he could get up close and personal to assess the situation.
His voice went from calm, cool and collected as he explained his movements to me so I didn't get startled when he got to me, straight to panic as soon as he saw the front of my body. He immediately called for backup and demanded tools and equipment I'm not even going to try to name. He basically told me exactly what I already knew, which was fucked, but right after he said that he was going to get me the fuck out of there. It was weird hearing a paramedic in charge of keeping me alive until I got to the hospital cursing like a sailor, but for some reason it comforted me. It was sort of like having Emmett with me, but a smart, safety conscious Emmett.
"Alright Edward," Marcus said putting a plastic neck brace on me to secure my head. "I'm going to have to sedate you because there's no way I'm letting you suffer through us having to saw this fucking limb and getting you out of here. You're going to be fine, so don't worry. You're in good hands bro."
I grunted and felt the prick of the needle amidst all of the pain I was already going through.
"It's alright dude. Just relax and let this work for you. You'll see your family soon. I promise," Marcus soothed before I fell into an awkwardly peaceful sleep.
Somehow I woke up as soon as we arrived at the hospital. Marcus was holding an oxygen mask to my face while the paramedics worked to get me into the ER. He assured me that I was going to be fine before passing me off to the doctors and nurses. Looking into the eyes of Dr. Gerandy, one of my father's coworkers, I immediately felt the panic rise. I didn't want my father to have to see me like this. It would kill him. Especially when they told him that I wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
"Edward, you're going to need to calm down son," Dr. Gerandy said as I was wheeled into an operating room. The panic doubled, I'd never liked operating rooms. Dr. Gerandy of course knew this and gave me an apologetic smile as he pulled out a syringe. "We'll see you in recovery, Edward. You're in good hands."
I didn't even feel the prick of the needle under Dr. Gerandy's calm hand. He instructed me to count back from ten while someone replaced my oxygen mask with another. He started spewing out technical terms and I made it to nine before my world turned black for the third time today
Waking up after surgery isn't like in the movies either, I've come to realize. I assumed I'd have an underwater experience where all of my loved ones came to pay their respects and beg me to wake up. No... my welcome back to the world moment was a little unorthodox to say the least.
"I can't believe that bitch had the nerve to come here," Alice's fuming voice was the first thing I heard waking up. It seemed appropriate, her voice being the last thing I heard before the accident.
"Alice, I think your being irrational," Rose whispered, her voice an octave or two lower than usual as if she had a head cold or something. "You didn't get his full story before the acc-ident," she choked out.
"Babe, don't cry." Emmett's voice was solemn, a distinct difference from the sarcastic tone I'd grown up knowing.
"I think we need to get out of this room for a little while," Jasper reasoned from across the room. "Everyone's getting restless."
"Fuck you!" Alice spat. "I'm not leaving until my brother wakes up. Besides, the last time we left, we came back and found her here. You're out of your fucking mind if you think I'm going to let that shit happen again."
"Babe, you need to calm down," Jasper's voice drew closer, and I opened my eyes wincing at the bright lights above where I lay. Jasper's shaggy blond hair was the first thing I saw hunched over my little sister as she cried. Emmett was sitting in a recliner chair with Rose tucked under his arm while she wiped her eyes. Needless to say my friends looked like they hadn't eaten or slept in a few days. I tried to talk to get their attention, but coughed roughly instead. One by one they froze before rushing over to the bed while Jasper exited the room.
"Oh Edward!" Alice cried, kissing my hand that she held gingerly in her tiny ones. "Are you really awake now?"
"W-what do you mean?" I rasped, my throat felt like it was on fire.
"Well, you woke up yesterday and they removed your breathing tube and chest tube, but you were in too much pain so they put you back under. You don't remember?"
I shook my head, willing the fire in my throat to smoulder and die out. Rose started looking around the room for something. "Where the fuck is that little water thingy that they brought in here yesterday for Ed?" she snapped, throwing Coke cans into the small garbage pail by the door.
"The nurse took it away when she came in this morning, babe," Emmett replied, giving me a wide smile. "You scared the shit out of me, bro."
"Me too," Rose and Alice said simultaneously, but didn't laugh like they usually did. The door opened before I could ask any questions and Jasper led my parents into the room. My mother immediately accosted me with soft kisses and a lot of crying. My dad sort of pushed her out of the way, claiming that the last thing I needed was her having a mental breakdown, before he kissed my forehead and told me that he was ecstatic that I was alright.
Then the doctor walked in and demanded that everyone but family needed to leave because he didn't want the excitement to overwhelm me. Dr. Gerandy gave my knee a squeeze as he started to check me over.
"It's good to see you awake, boy."
I tried to reply, but my throat was too dry. Instead it sounded like sandpaper. Dr. Gerandy offered to go get some water for me when the door opened and Rose walked in holding a bottled beverage. "You should fire your fucking night nurse. She's a bitch and she doesn't replace things when she takes them." She sent me a wave before exiting the room.
Dr. Gerandy just chuckled. Everyone that knew Rosalie Hale knew that she was a major bitch with a potty mouth. She wasn't going to change and to this day I haven't seen a person willing to try to change her.
He opened the bottle and grabbed a straw out of one of the many cabinets on the far side of my room before placing it between my lips. When the bottle was halfway gone, he pulled away and I took a deep breath feeling the pain in my side start to twinge.
"Careful, son," Dr. Gerandy chuckled, putting the bottle on a side table before sitting on the edge of my bed. "I know you just woke up, but we need to cover a few things before you run off to those frat parties and raves or whatever it is you kids do these days."
I couldn't help but laugh, yelping when the pain became more apparent.
"Sorry my boy. You broke your left arm, if the cast wasn't obvious. Your sister tried to talk us into giving you a rainbow colored cast, but I had your back and decided to go with blue cause it's my favorite color. Hope you don't mind."
"No," I croaked. "It's fine."
"Any who. Broken arm, broken nose... we had to reset that bad boy and you managed to escape without the black eyes, so you're still pretty. You had surgery to remove the tree limb from your abdomen but nothing to worry about. We'll remove the stitches in a few weeks and you'll be right as rain."
He paused, taking a breath before turning back to the file he was reading out of. "The impact of the collision caused your lung to collapse, so that's really the only thing we need to monitor. You'll be in bed resting for a couple of weeks, so I hope you got the new Bioshock game. My grandson is obsessed with that stupid game. He's been playing it for a week straight, so it should definitely keep you entertained."
"What about school? I can't just miss two or three weeks willy nilly." I started to worry about how this accident was going to affect my graduating on time.
"Have no fear big brother. I've already talked with your teachers yesterday after the 'rents." Alice shot an annoyed look at mom and dad before turning back to me. "Made me go. Every one of your teachers said that you could go the entire time without doing your work and pass with B's because you're such a geek. I told them that the great Edward Cullen would never accept a B, so they agreed to start sending you work through me next week."
"Thanks," I sighed out, the pain starting to become more apparent, but I didn't want to be drugged up. Something dawned on me.
"How long was I out of it?"
"Oh, Jesus Edward," Alice laughed. "You're so dramatic. It's Saturday. You got in the wreck the day before yesterday. You didn't go into a coma in the operating room or anything."
"Alice Bianca Cullen," my mother scolded. "Be nice to your brother. He's be-"
"Been through a lot," Alice cut her off. "I know." Her face fell and I could sense that she was getting upset, so I patted the spot on my bed with my good hand and she climbed up next to me, despite the comments from both doctors and my mother. "Thanks."
"You're welcome" I answered, wincing as my stitches pulled.
"Are you in pain, Edward?" Dr. Gerandy asked. "Because now's your chance to get all the pain meds you can get. We're sending you home under the care of your father in the next day or two, so take advantage."
"No, I'm fine. Maybe in a little while."
It took me two hours to convince my parents that I would be fine for the night by myself. It took Alice another hour to convince the three of us that she should stay with me. Her not having school the following day won the battle, and dad pulled a few strings so that she wouldn't get in trouble for being here all night.
"I can't fucking stand green Jello," I groaned, poking the gelatin with my spoon and watching it bounce right back to it's normal form.
"I know, but you're on a strict liquids diet," Alice said, pulling her bag into her lap and rifling through it. "That's why I went and got you some real Jello!" she cheered, pulling out a six pack of strawberry Jello. I reached for it as best as I could, trying not to agitate my injuries too much. but she pulled it away.
"Who do you love?"
"You Alice," I sighed, rolling my eyes and holding my hand expectantly for the snack pack.
"Who's the best sister in the world?"
"You Alice. Now give me the Jello or I'll page the nurses and tell them you're just here to steal all the medical supplies."
"Fine. You're no fun." she relented, going the extra step to open the foil top for me. "How's the pain?"
"Eh, feels like I got hit by an SUV. I could go for a jog in a few minutes, yah know?" I joked, but Alice surprised me by bursting out in tears.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "It's my fault. If I wasn't so fucking nosy about you and her," she snarled at the last word, "you would be alright. You would have seen that jackass before he ran into you."
The jack ass's name was Tyler Henson. At two o'clock in the afternoon he was drunk off his ass and decided to make a beer run when he didn't need any more alcohol. The liquor flowing through his system had him so inebriated that he didn't see the stop sign or me before he plowed into my car. Tyler wouldn't be getting in trouble with the law over his bad decisions though. By the time the ambulances arrived to the scene, he died of a massive heart attack. People would think that he got what he deserved. I don't really know what to think.
"Alice, it's not your fault. Even if I had seen him, I wouldn't have been able to get out of the way fast enough, even if the woman in the car behind him had honked her horn earlier." I kissed the top of her head. "No blame, squirt."
Alice mumbled something, but I only made out the last word.
"What about Bella?"
"Nothing," she said, pulling away and grabbing the Jello from my good hand, proceeding to try to feed me.
"You're lying through your teeth. What about her?"
"She came to see you yesterday," she muttered.
"She did?" My heart started to beat erratically.
"Well yeah, according to the nurses she just sat in front of your door. She kept going to open the door, but then she'd chicken out. She'd been here for about ten minutes when me and the gang got back from the cafeteria." Alice scooped out some Jello and held it up. She fed me a bite of it before I said something.
"And? Did she come in and see me? Did she ever make it through the door?" I asked, immediately alarmed for Bella. It had to have been difficult, her coming to see me after a car accident. Alice was quiet as she tried to shovel more Jello into my mouth. "No, I don't want anymore. Tell me what happened Alice. Did you tell her to leave?"
"No."
"Well then, what happened?"
"You really don't remember?" she asked, fidgeting with my nurse button.
"No. Jesus, will you just tell me already?"
"She's extremely selfish," Alice rolled her eyes. "She was sort of freaking out the second she saw us, wanting to know if you were alright as if she wanted us to comfort her. Anyway, Emmett invited her inside and she started crying as soon as she saw yo-"
"Is she alright?"
"I don't see why you care Edward. You told her to get out."
My heart stuttered to a stop.
"What?" I croaked.
"Well, not exactly that nicely," Alice shrugged. "You took one look at her and told her to get the fuck out. After that they had to come in and give you more pain medication and you were sort of in and out of it for a while."
What?
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