Chapter 1 Savior

Carlisle

Emeralds.

I immediately thought of two lustrous emerald stones when I encountered her eyes watching me with intense fixation. They were the sole and only color in that sickly gray room. They watched me so intensely that they frightened me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Elizabeth Masen as I approached her cot, taking her hand and making my voice sound courteous to shed a bit of light for her. Her fever was dangerously high. Yet, she still hadn’t lost all her strength. I was instantly grateful for that. She had a strong heart.

She made a feeble attempt to smile, pursing her pale lips in a straight line and stretching them but they could not block the coughing fit that exploded soon after. I place my hand against the side of her head, steering it gently back down on the soaked pillow. "Do you have a headache?"

"Hmm." She struggled her hold off another cough while shaking her head from side to side.

Swiftly, I slipped the pillow from underneath her head. Elizabeth turned over on her side, her back to me, covering her mouth while another coughing fit overcame her. My eyes searched the room. When I caught sight of a nurse running inside with a tray in her hands, I hastened to grasp her attention before she darted back out. Her eyes popped out as I positioned myself in front of her. Clearly, my sudden appearance surprised this young woman who shook her head slightly, probably wondering if the fever was playing tricks on her vision as well.

"Nurse, can you get me another pillow? This one is soaked." I held it out to her.

"Forgive me, Dr. Cullen, but I believe there are no more." She murmured sympathetically when it wasn’t me who she should be offering sympathy but the many patients who were constantly being left alone. "We are out of stock." And stating this, she hurried past me to one of the beds.

I rubbed my temples. The fact the nurse had just stated was perfectly understandable. Actually, I had no reason to blame the doctors and nurses of this public hospital. Not even these walls could accommodate all the unfortunate victims of this disease. There were not enough hands as it is. I turned back to Elizabeth Masen’s cot, flipping the pillow with the slightly drier side up and slipping it under her head.