LOVE AND DEATH, edward cullen

twenty one

━━ love and death. (2024)
edward cullen x fem!oc
chapter twenty one

He was there in my dreams every night. I was trapped inside the ballet studio but this time nobody would come to save me. Edward didn't come. James bled me dry and all that was left was skin and bones.

I was lying on the floor of the studio — my reflection in the mirrors surrounding me as I watched myself slowly begin to submerge in the shallow waters of death.

I could feel James teeth sinking further into my arm and his tongue swishing around the skin to taste as much blood as possible.

He was purposely drawing it out to make my pain last longer. No part of me had the ability to scream or cry. I was nothing but an empty shell as my soul slowly started to sink further into the water.

When I glanced at my reflection right across from me, my eyes were blown wide and my mouth hung open as I tried to mutter out a few symbols to form words. Right before James raised his head, finally stopping the feast on my own body, and grinned at me like a wild animal.

This wasn't heaven. This was hell — I was stuck in hell for eternity and I was forced to relive my worst nightmare over and over again.

I rolled over in bed and stretched my arms above my head, a large yawn falling from my lips just as my door opened after a small knock echoed.

I rubbed my eyes and greeted Charlie as he entered my room with a few wrapped gifts in his hands.

"Happy birthday Pen," he smiled happily.

"Hi dad." I pushed myself to sit up and comb my fingers through my messy hair. "Thank you."

He handed me the three gifts and I furrowed my eyebrows at the stack. "Ones from your mom," he addressed quickly then tucked his hands into his pocket. "Then one from me and the other from your brother."

"Oh," I smiled sheepishly. "This is really thoughtful, thank you so much."

"How'd you sleep?" He asked as I started to unwrap the first gift in the pile. "I didn't hear you wake up in the middle of the night —- is the medicine finally helping you?"

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled down at the box of acrylic paints staring back at me. "These are great — I'm assuming one of these is paper and brushes?" I chuckled softly and opened the next gift, proving my theory and glancing up to see my father blushing.

"Your mother and I coordinated with that. We thought you'd maybe like a new project to start on during your senior year."

"It's perfect," I hummed softly. "I've been wanting to paint something lately, it helps when I don't know how to express my feelings with words."

Beau entered my room just in time to watch me open up the gift he got me. He had a cheeky grin on his face and I was concerned his gift was nothing but mischief that I probably shouldn't open in front of our dad.

"Open it." Beau encouraged.

I arched my eyebrow worriedly and ripped off the wrapping paper, flipping over a book that was titled "Interview With The Vampire" by Anne Rice. I wanted to throw it at his head.