Authors Note: Hmm...Now I could definitely come up with a list of excuses for my lack of updates for the past months but all I can really do is make it up to all you faithful reviewers and readers by finishing this story with some well written chapters.

I have currently finished the next two chapters, this being one of them and I will have the next one up by March 20. Thank you to all the readers who have pushed me to continue with this story, and thank you for your amazing comments and support; it always brings a smile to my face. Please enjoy the rest of this story.

Sarah xo

Chicago, 1918

I had run through the whole set of differing scenarios for weeks, pondering the morbid nightmare which would ultimately lie ahead for me. I had imagined my death to be quick and by some mercy – painless. I assumed my death would be an end to my suffering and lead me to a realm I had been dreading – a world where Bella and I no longer existed. I thought my heart, too weak to beat any longer, would just stop beating and I would cease to exist.

This would have been the case, if I really were dead.

I was neither living nor a part of the deceased; it was though I was trapped in limbo, the middle ground of either spheres. It was a dark place to be, a painful place. It was a place where I could feel my past life being stripped away from me and a new one was being forged against my will. I wasn't able to see anything which was happening around me, I could not identify where I was; all I could feel was the raging blistering fire which seared through my numb and feeble body.

It was the most painful infection I had ever endured, more excruciating than the influenza which had weakened me. It was travelling throughout my entire body, pulsing and furious in the core of my rapidly beating heart and stretching to the very nerve ending of my fingertips and toes. I could feel the perspiration dripping feverishly from my skin and forming small puddles all over the hard surface which I was lying atop of. I wanted to scream, I wanted to beg for my death which was teasingly being dangled in front of my eyes. I wanted to form some sort of noise but I couldn't – the pain was relentless and all I could see was black.

There was only one thing I wanted and I knew I would never get her back. If this was a taste of my death then I knew I would never see her again.

"Edward..."

I struggled against two heavy masses which pinned my wrists down, trying to ignore the deep voice which echoed loudly in my ears.

"Edward...can you hear me?"

I did not want to hear whoever it was. I just wanted this to be over, I wanted the pain to end. Why would no one have mercy upon my fading soul?

"Edward..."

The voice repeated my name once more but I continued to struggle as my heart relentlessly pounded the fire throughout my being.

----

I did not know how long I had been screaming in pain but I finally managed to make some sort of noise. Time did not seem to matter anymore; hours, minutes and seconds had become meaningless and it seemed the burning would never cease.

I shouted, struggling to fight and begging to die.

"Edward...I am sorry..."

I tried to open my heavy laden eyes but the pain seared through my eyeballs causing hot tears to cascade down my perspiring cheeks. I could only see a blur hovering over my face, and I blinked against the fire.

"I'm hoping this will be over soon..."

The voice, it seemed so familiar to me that I did not fear it. I did not feel anger or resentment towards it. Instead I wanted desperately to learn who it belonged to, who the mysterious blur above me was as I fought against the pain. The water which continued to escape from my eyes was proving relentless as I tried to see, so instead I closed my eyes once more...focusing on my breathing...on my heart rate...on anything else but the pain...

"Edward...Edward are you out here?"

My heart began to beat solidly against my chest as I heard another voice surround me. My eyes remained closed as I tried to picture who the kind voice belonged to, it was a voice which I was all too familiar with...I could just picture her face coming into frame in my mind...her dark auburn hair, green eyes much like my own...

"Oh there you are darling...I was worried that you had run off too far..."

The voice returned and for a moment the pain evaporated and the image from my mind, my memory, was lit up as a slideshow behind my closed eyelids.

"I'm sorry Mama...I was playing in the park..."

A young boy ran through the trees to the young woman, clasping onto her legs tightly as she smiled lovingly down at him, brushing back his hair....it was me. It was one of the earliest memories of my mother and I. It felt so real, so vivid that I almost felt I could reach out and touch her myself...Mother... I wished that I could speak out loud to her.

But the memory began to fade, the pain slowly returned and I was returning to the darkness, the fire. My throat stung and I tried to cough yet I was breathing too heavily, my heart was increasing in speed...it would never end...

"Listen Papa, I learnt the entire solo on my own!"

"What did I tell you Ellie? Our boy is a genius."

"It is all from his mother's side."

The voices returned once more, and I tried to focus on the new one...try and picture everyone in my mind and recreate my memory.

We were in the drawing room, I was a young boy sitting at the piano whilst I seated my parents behind me to listen to the latest piece of music I had mastered....Father...I tried to speak to him out loud yet my throat burned and all I could do was see the image of him I remembered. The proud, strong man who was the figure I looked up to, tried to emulate.

The memory began to fade and I prepared for the excruciating pain to return to my body...yet it didn't. My heart only began to race even faster yet my body completely relaxed as my memory phased into another one...one which my body seemed to respond to...

"Edward Anthony Masen! This is not fair!"

The voice was youthful, innocent, sweet...belonging to one little girl who I knew all too well. This was one memory I recognised and was able to picture instantly...Bella...

We were in the park, I was hiding behind a tree snickering as a little girl with freckles ran around searching for me and her missing bonnet.

"Edward I want my bonnet!"

I could see myself and her lying on the grass once I had yielded and we were looking up at the sky enjoying the afternoon. This was back when things were so simple. There was only Bella and I and my life was free and easy; I didn't need anything else.

"I was wondering why people get married..."

"Maybe because they are lonely," I remember replying to her question, and I wished I could laugh at our youthful naiveté. If only we knew what would lie ahead for us.

I could feel my heartbeat rapidly quicken once more and I tried to focus on my breathing as once again my memory changed and I was presented with a different Bella, a grown up matured Bella. The woman I fell in love with, the woman I had wanted to spend the rest of my life with...

"Well...I thought this would be the right place."

My voice was deeper, yet it was shaking. I was anxious, nervous and I knew exactly which memory this was; one which I would remember, even in death. The moment I went down on one knee and proposed...

"Edward...is everything alright?"

"No you silly girl...you are supposed to be standing."

"Standing? You...oh...oh my..."

"Isabella Marie Swan...you are my best friend, the woman I love. I do not have a lot to offer you but my love...I am hoping that is enough. Will you do me the honour of being my wife?"

"Yes."

That was all it had taken...one word and I was the happiest man in the world. I had everything to look forward to. That was until--

I screamed out, my voice returning, the pain blindingly scorching through my body as my memory faded...I thrashed about on the hard surface I lied upon.

"Edward, Edward...calm down...it is almost over, I am sure of it..."

I could barely hear the voice as my heart began pound abnormally fast that I thought it would burst from my chest. The fire raged through my veins, and I clenched my eyes shut in terror, just wishing it would all end.

"Don't leave...please don't leave..."

Bella? Bella where are you?

Her voice was ringing in my ears, her sobs echoing all around me as I felt my wrists being pinned down and my heart rate increasing even more...

"Don't leave me here Edward..."

No! Bella I am here, please find me...I don't want to leave you...

"I love you..."

God I love you, Bella....Bella? Please...

Please...find me...

It was all ending, the fire was leaving, Bella was leaving, my memories were leaving...

Bella, no...

My heart stopped.

TBC