empathy

NINE

"Miss Wright, right?" a blonde man, presumably Dr Cullen, enters the room and Anastasia glances over to him.

By now, Antonina is settled on her lap and she has taken a seat on the surprisingly comfortable bed.

"Dr Cullen." she nods shortly, her hand taking gently stopping Antonina's as she goes to pick on the glass yet again. "May I?" she asks them, the gentlest of smiles dancing on his lips as he nods at Antonina.

Narrowing her eyes at him for a second, Anastasia nods and scoots back to place her sister between her legs rather than on her lap.

"Hello, you." Dr Cullen crouches down, not approaching Antonina just yet. He didn't miss the way she flinched ever so slightly when he entered the room. "My name's Carlisle." he introduces himself to her. "Is it okay, if I go and take a look at your eye?" Dr Cullen suggests but Antonina shies away from him and closer into her sister's embrace. 

"It's okay, Nina. Carlisle is a friend of mine. He can make the pain go away." Anastasia whispers lowly into her sister's ear, meeting her eyes for a moment. "He won't hurt you." she means weakly, her emotions yet again pressed into the deepest hole her mind can find.

Antonina looks back at Dr Cullen, who is watching them two with sad eyes - something he covers up with another soft smile of his. He wasn't supposed to hear this, it was too low for humans to hear.

Sending him a tentative nod, Antonina allows Carlisle to step closer and the blonde doctor does so slowly. He doesn't want to scare her, he never wanted to scare anyone. And yet, scaring such an innocent soul seems unnecessarily cruel.
Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear to get a closer look, he tries not to touch her for too long or too fierce and hurries to retrieve his hand as he takes in the splinters. 

"I will go get a pair of tweezers and some antiseptic. Is there anything else I should take a look at afterwards?" Dr Cullen questions them, his eyes mainly on Anastasia.

He has heard about her but she doesn't seem to live up to her reputation.

"Does your tummy still hurt?" Anastasia once again asks Antonina, who nods. The pain leaks through the distraction her eyes have caused her. "Would you feel comfortable with Carlisle taking a look at it?" she adds, only incidentally noticing Dr Cullen leaving the two of them - probably to get a pair of tweezers. 
"Does he look at yours?" Antonina asks her sister. "Would it help you?" Anastasia retorts, watching her little sister nod. 

Glancing back up as Dr Cullen joins them again, Antonina watches the tweezers with a scrunched up nose. The only times she has seen those things were when Anastasia removed wooden splinters and that certainly weren't moments she necessarily enjoyed. 

"Can I take your hand for a moment?" Carlisle once again crouches in front of Antonina, who glances at her sister in uncertainty. "May I?" Dr Cullen follows her line of view and takes Anastasia's hand instead as she holds it out to him.

Demonstrating a pair of tweezers doesn't hurt by gently picking the tip of her fingers and pulling even softer, Carlisle repeats the process with Antonina as she holds her hand out as well.

"Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" Carlisle asks Antonina, who shakes her head no.

"Once upon a time a great musician lived in Greece. The melody of his lyre was the most beautiful to be heard, so beautiful even the birds would fly past his window to listen to his play."
Dr Cullen's voice is ginger and his movements towards her are slow as he starts removing the splinters from her skin. 

"Orpheus lived with his wife Eurydice, whom he loved very dearly and she loved him just as much. But one day, when she was out picking flowers in the woods, Eurydice was bitten by a venomous snake. She dies and Orpheus was so devastated, he could no longer play his lyre. He wondered what he could possibly do to get her back and finally decided he would go to Hades, the lord of the dead, the god of the underworld." Carlisle's voice trails off and Anastasia is mildly surprised to feel her sister relaxing just a tad against her.

"But his plan was dangerous for the underworld holds many dangers and for there has never been one to make it back alive. But his love for Eurydice was stronger, so he set off with his lyre and travelled to the River of Death." Dr Cullen cleans the small wounds around her eyes before falling back in a crouching position.

His eyes meet Anastasia's, silently asking about Antonina's stomach and the older sister gently lifts up her own shirt. Carlisle starts to demonstrate what he will do to Antonina on Anastasia once again before moving to take a look at Antonina. All the while not stopping the story.

"The boatman did not want to drive him to the other side as only the dead were permitted to cross the river but Orpheus began to play on his lyre and the boatman soon gave in. The boatman, however, has only been the first hurdle to cross and Orpheus found himself at the gate of Hades's palace, where Cerberus, the god's three-headed dog denied him entrance. Once again Orpheus played his lyre, successfully enchanting fierce Cerberus and managing to sneak past his three enormous heads." Carlisle continues, his eyes flickering to Anastasia, who seems fairly uninterested in the story and rather concentrated on her sister.

"When Orpheus reached the chambers of Hades and Persephone, the king and the queen were shocked, surprised but they also couldn't deny they were impressed for it had been very few mortals that managed to sneak into their kingdom, never less their palace. Still playing his lyre, Orpheus told Hades all about his love for his dear Eurydice and about Hades's love for Persephone. And he offered them a deal. Orpheus thought that because all souls would eventually become Hades's possession, either way, it wasn't fair to have Eurydice die this soon. The royal couple was touched by his story and the music he was playing and agreed. But Hades had a condition. Eurydice was required to walk behind Orpheus as he travelled back to the mortal realm and he was not allowed to glance back at her." 

"So, Orpheus and Eurydice began their ascent but the former didn't know whether or not he could trust the lord of the dead, so as he saw the exit and stepped into the light shining through, Orpheus turned around. He just wanted to confirm his love was by his side again, a little glimpse, he was anxious to look into her eyes after being parted for too long but by doing so, he disobeyed Hades's wish. He broke the condition and watched as the image of his love faded into nothingness and heard as a last confession of love was made by her before she was gone forever. Orpheus spent his last days in the trees, playing the song of love on his lyre to all the birds in the sky before he died of a broken heart." Carlisle goes on with the story, watching an adorable frown overcome Antonina. She was hoping for a happy end.

"Some say their spirits found each other again in the afterlife and that every time you hear the birds sing by your windowsill, Orpheus is playing his lyre to Eurydice. But his play is too low for us humans to hear, so the birds translate the melody in their own beautiful way." he ends with a small smile. An expression mirrored by the two sisters. Antonina because she is grinning up at her sister and Anastasia because she is sending a weak smile to her in return.