After Dawn Broke

Chapter Twelve: Graphic

{AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter answers a question Taylor had a few chapters ago. After hunting, she woke up on a hospital bed. This is a bad-written chapter, but I wrote that part a long time ago, and I wasn't really sure what I meant for it to turn into. I had to make something up lol Please tell me if after reading this, you think it makes no sense. I can rewrite it! Thanks (: }

After we finished laughing, and silence spread throughout the room, I finally remembered what brought us to this. Something was wrong, and no one was sure what. Not only that, but there were things I needed to know. First of all, why was I in a hospital bed? How did I end up here with this bandage wrapped around my head? Secondly, we had a plan that I hadn't heard yet. And what about the Volturi? Were they coming to get their revenge?

I glanced up at my grandparents and saw that along with mine, their smiles had disappeared. Grandpa's because he knew what I was thinking. Grandma's probably because she could see it in our expressions.

"So..," I began, "how did I end up like this?" As I finished my question, I pointed to the gauze wrapped around my head.

Grandpa looked a little uncomfortable, but he abandoned his position at Grandma's side anyway and sat next to me on the hospital bed. "As I said before, would you like me to tell you in words or... show you?"

I had to sit and think about that minute for a minute or so. He said earlier that it was graphic. Did I want to see something bad happening to me through his thoughts? Hear it through his words? Did I really want to know at all? I decided to go with watching it through his thoughts, since it would probably be easier for both of us. Also, Grandma would not have to relive the experience. I know she doesn't like to see me hurt, so I could save her that much.

"Okay then, are you ready now?" Grandpa questioned hesitantly.

"Umm... I guess so," I replied, not knowing what to expect.

His memory started simply with us walking through the bright green woods of Forks, Washington. There wasn't much to hunt there, but I wasn't allowed to go anywhere farther without my parents, and of course... they were missing... so there was no arguing with that.

Suddenly, the scene changed. Through the faded senses in Grandpa's memory, as well as my own, I could vaguely smell a herd of deer somewhere in the distance. In his peripheral vision, I could see me crouching into hunting mode. Then there's a silence, and a growl. This was part of the little I remembered of the hunt, but from what I remembered, there was never a growl. Where had it come from? With that thought, the memory cut off abruptly.

I looked at Grandpa, puzzled. "Why did you..." I started to ask, but he cut me off.

"You never heard a growl?" he looked at me with a worried look.

"No, why does it matter?" What difference does it make if I heard a growl or not?

Just when I had almost forgotten she was still in the room with us, Grandma interrupted. "What growl?"

Grandpa looked up at her, confused. "You didn't hear it either? It was right after we caught the scent of deer."

"No... there was only silence," she confessed.

"Show me." Grandpa said, but she must have new he was going to say that because before he even finished his sentence, we were seeing the same memory from her point of view. It was exactly the same, until it came to the part where Grandpa's had the sound of a growl. Just as she recalled, there was only silence.

"How can that be?" Grandpa demanded.

"I'm not sure, but it probably doesn't matter. Just please show me what happened," I requested, trying not to raise my voice or sound demanding. The suspense was killing me; I needed to know.

I closed my eyes, and we were back in the forest. Grandpa turned around to look for the source of the growl, but there was nothing. Nothing to smell, nothing to see, nothing to hear, so he turned back around and sped off into the trees, following the scent of the heard.

After a few nanoseconds of him running and Grandma following, a thought popped into my head. How did either of them see what happened to me if they were so far ahead? They were too fast of runners for me to be anywhere near them.

Once again, the memory stopped. Grandpa looked into my curious eyes with his saddened ones and said, "I didn't actually see what happened... but I heard it... and I could smell the blood."

"But I thought you said it was graphic?"

"By that I meant your condition."

"Oh... please continue."

It happened exactly as he described it. Just after he pounced on the biggest buck and drank it dry, you could hear the shrill scream of a girl a short distance away, the sound of something large hitting the ground, a soft thud, and after that... nothing. Nothing but a faint heartbeat.

Then came the scent of blood. It was strong, and it was definitely human, but there was definitely werewolf/shapeshifter and a tiny bit of vampire along with it. Realization flooded through his thoughts, and grandpa was there in a flash. My unconscious body was laid in the middle of the forest floor. Blood was oozing from my head, and my heart was barely beating. I could definitely see what he meant by graphic.

He unbuttoned his shirt, and Grandma was there suddenly, to wrap it around the wound. She then picked me up carefully and ran as fast as she could to the Cullen house. Since Grandpa was a bit faster, he got to the house quick enough to set up the room we were sitting in now.

The memory ended there, as she laid me down on this hospital bed, and I assumed it was because I could guess what happened after that.

"So what do you two think happened to me?" I asked.

"I'm not absolutely certain, but I believe it was a mountain lion. It's the only reasonable explanation I could think of... I was so worried about making sure you were okay that I didn't pay attention to my surroundings," Grandpa explained.

Grandma cleared her throat. "I wasn't paying much attention either... but I don't think it was a mountain lion."

"What makes you think that?" he sounded a little offended.

"Edward, mountain lions are your favorite. How could you possibly not recognize one of their scents?" she sighed while crossing her arms.

"I know, I know... but what else could it be?"

Then it hit me. "What if it wasn't an animal?" I blurted out without thinking.

"Taylor what do you mean by..."

"I heard something in my head... right before I lost consciousness. It could just be my faulty memory... but I remember hearing a voice in my head, right before everything went black."

Grandma was the first to speak up. "Was it a familiar voice?"

I concentrated as hard as I could, which was a bad idea considering the condition my head was in, and I forced myself to remember. I couldn't quite make out the words; they almost sounded like they were in a foreign language.

"No, I am ninety-nine point nine percent sure I have never heard the voice before," I confidently decided.

All the sudden, Grandpa got up, lifted his arms in the air, set his hands on his head, and started to walk around the room in fast circles. It reminded me of what I do sometimes in gym class to cool down.

"You were right, Taylor," he groaned.

"About what?" I asked nervously. He seemed extremely aggravated.

"About the voice. It was in a foreign language."

Realization crossed Grandma's features, but I had no idea why. What did his statement mean to her? What do they know? "No..." she gasped.

"Yes, Bella. I wish it wasn't, but it was," he affirmed.

"Was what? Why does the language matter so much?" I was desperate for answers.

Grandpa stopped walking, looked into my eyes, and answered me. "The voice you heard in your head was in Italian. Italian... as in what the Volturi speak."