Soul not Included

Chapter 65

 They call everyday... Charlie and Renee... 

The phone rings and it's them and I know they want to know I'm okay but I don't know if I should do that. Don't lie and tell them I'll be fine. I won't be fine. I don't want to use the word fine with Charlie anymore.

I'll do it for everyone else... but it was feeling harder to do it with Charlie... because this isn't going to be a one time thing and I will get better and we will go down to the end of the block to grab a bite to eat and everything will be okay again. 

This is a different kind of fine. The type that holds no promise of a future where he and I can still see each other. 

And at the same time as I felt like I shouldn't the other part of me is clinging. I want to hear his voice. I want to see him. I want to hold him. I want him here.

"He misses you," Edward whispered holding the phone closer to me. He had taken time to talk to Charlie and tell him how I was doing much better. He even laid the groundwork for me that I wasn't fully cured yet and didn't want to lie to him or worry him. Which was still only partially true. 

These are all goodbye calls.

Edward pressed the phone into my hand. I slowly held it up to my ear and forced a perfectly upbeat voice, "Hey, dad! Did you get what Edward sent you?"

I asked him questions. So he wouldn't ask me any. He had to stop me. Repeatedly just to get himself an answer to 'how are you doing'

"...I don't know, dad. I'm always tired, always hungry... always missing home."

Truths. That's all I can do for Charlie. I don't want to lie. Edward knows that. He knows I could but I won't. 'We'll have you home soon,' Charlie said. 'Once you're better'

And I say sure. And he says he loves me and I say I love him and we hang up reluctantly.

Then there's Renee. I can't talk over her the way I talk over Charlie. She throws question after question after question and I'm forced to lie to her because she won't stop otherwise. Because she will tell Charlie. She will fly over. She will do something that I can't predict because I don't know her.

Theo and Demetri returned with Augustus, barging right into the room like he owned the place, right when I finished the call.

His eyes darted around the room. First with Jasper who sat behind me today to reduce my stress of the phone calls. Then to Rosalie who sat by my feet and then to Edward.

The thumping sound of his footsteps echoes around the room of vampires. Everyone moved so silently that i had all but forgotten the sound of a normal person.

"You!" Augustus jabs his beautifully manicured finger into Edward's face, "Haven't you ever heard of the term pulling out, man? And you—" he pointed at me, "— the fuck, Iz."

"Hi Augie!" I reached up to hug him. He bent down so quick that everyone in the room hissed in fear that he'd fall over me. He gave me a gentle squeeze, being very careful of the little one, "I've missed you."

"Oh dear," Augie muttered, "and now you're crying. Geezus, like you haven't had a hard time already... you throw a kid into the mix. Kids don't always fix everything, Iz. Did your head officially die on you?" He knocked lightly on my forehead, "still working up there?"

He turned to the vampires in the room and sneered, "everyone is so fucking glum up in here! What the hell is your problem. Glorious life is being fucking created here! Where's the baby shower? Where's the presents?"

Edward cleared his throat, "Welcome back, Augustus."

Augie ignored him, "So Izzy, what's the deal? Is it a boy or a girl? Same name? New name? Tell me, what's up."