A small smile graced her lips. "Edward." She whispered. He stroked her cheek gently.
"I'm here, Baby," He whispered hoarsely. His voice cracked and his eyes welled up again. "I'm here."
Pain radiates from Bella's frontal lobe, making her shut her eyes once more.
"No, open your eyes, Bella! You can't shut your eyes." Edward implored as he gently tapped her cheek with his thumb. Begrudgingly, she listens.
Groaning, she tries to shift her body, still confused by what's going on. Pain shoots out from every part of her. Crying out in pain, Edward panics.
"Bella! What is it?" He nearly shouts.
"It hurts!" She groans back. "What happened?"
Stroking her face, he replies, "You were hit by Ole Rusty, Bella. You…you pushed me out the way. Why? Why would you do that?" His voice so incredibly hoarse.
Images flash though Bella's mind.
Football.
Bus.
Kisses.
Laces.
Squeals.
Edward.
Pain.
Oh yeah.
Swallowing as best she could, she moves her hand up ever so slowly to lay over his.
"Because…I love you."
Clenching his eyes shut forcing multiple tears to overflow and run down his dirty cheeks, Edward drops his head onto his shoulder to compose himself. Looking back at his world, he's determined not to loose her.
"I love you too, Bella." He says, "Which is why I want to marry you."
Tears flowed freely from both lovers.
"I'd be…honoured to…marry you." She hiccups out.
He lets out a humourless laugh. "Believe me, my love, the honour would most definitely be mine."
Sirens wail from outside.
People continue to shout and call from the parking lot.
But suddenly everything falls silent.
Because a rumble began to sound.
From above them.
More debris started to fall around them, small chunks of plaster and concrete hitting them as gravity decides their route to the ground. Edward tries to shield Bella's face with his hand but it doesn't help. Frantically looking around he spots two small stepping stools beneath some fallen ceiling tiles.
"I'll be right back."
He climbs down to fetch the two metal stools as quickly as he can. Climbing back up he feeds them through the gap one after the other. This time, placing both arms through the hole, he situated one of the stools over Bella's back before placing the other over her head and shoulders. Retaking her hand, he finally notices the gash on her forehead.
And it was bleeding quite a lot.
Frowning slightly he looked back to Bella's face, he noticed her eyes drooping again.
"Come on, Bella. Stay with me." He patted her cheek again and again.
Opening her eyes fully, she looked resigned. "Edward, please, get out whilst you can." She begged.
He shook his head frantically. "Not without you." He growled.
As more and more stuff fell and the rumbling and creaking of the unsupported weight above them increased, they were running out of time.
"When you go to college," Bella began, "I want you to show the world how amazing you are." Edward continued to shake his head, unwilling to listen.
"When we get to college," He stuttered, "We will have to find out when the best date for our wedding will be. Because I'm not letting you back out of this now, Bella. Eighteen years. For eighteen years, I've loved you. And now you've said yes, get ready for another sixty, at least."
More tears spill from both of them.
More rumbling can be heard from above.
Suddenly, Edward is pulled from behind, his hand losing its hold on Bella's.
"NO!" He shouts. Scrambling out of the stranger's grasp he reaches back for Bella's outstretched hand, latching on tightly.
"Bella!" He rasps.
Looking at the firefighters over Edward's shoulder, Bella knows its his time to go. So many thought swirl round her battered brain trying to think of something to say. She squeezed his hand one last time.
"I love you, Edward. Take care of my heart because no matter where I am, in Heaven or on Earth, you will always have my love." Releasing her hold on him was one of the hardest things she's ever had to do.
The arms wrap around Edward's torso again. His hand slips out of Bella's once again as he screams and shouts for them to let him go. "I can't just leave her! Let me go! Bella! She's still alive, dammit!" He's hauled out the hole in the wall where another pair of arms wrap around him. "No, let me go!" He trashed and hits at his captures not seeing anything but the place he needs to get back to.
Everyone looks on in shock and despair as such a positive, charming young man is reduced to a shadow of himself as he tries every trick in the book to be released. His friends swarm him to try to get him to calm but to no result.
But suddenly, he stops.
As does everyone else who has been witness to the events of the past twenty minutes. Because that's all its been. Twenty painful, heart wrenching minutes since Bella first heard the tyres squeal. Twenty minutes to rip a young couple's lives to shreds. And as everyone stares in horror as the three story school building collapses in on itself, Edward falls to his knees and screams.