Escaping Death [Watty Awards]

Chapter 19-Gwen

Chapter 19-Gwen

Christmas came and went without my knowledge.  It didn’t bother me that I had missed Christmas.  It wouldn’t have been anything special this year.  Mom and Dad still weren’t talking to each other and Dad had completely forgotten about me.  He hadn’t come to see since the day that he walked out on me and Mom.  Mom did give me one of my presents and I had gotten a new book called, “Pradise Lost”.  I had heard of the book but I hadn’t had a chance to read it because I had gotten sick for the holidays.

 I had been in bed for four days because of a headache and a fever.  When I started to have those visions, my headache got worst and the pain was excruciating.  My mom gave me some Tylenol, hoping that the pain would go away in a few hours but it hadn’t.  She drove me to the hospital and it was there that I was hospitalize for two days.  Those days are a blur but I remember seeing Gabriel once; he came and sat by my bed and then when I woke up he was gone.  On the twenty-sixth, I was released and put to bed rest.  There was no more sign of the excruciating pain of my headache but now I had a raging fever.  The doctor’s only explanation to my sudden sickness was because of my stress level.

Stress.  

 It was a reasonable explanation but no one knew what the “stress” was.  This was the first time that I have ever lied to my mother and it was because I couldn’t tell her the truth.  The truth was something that I have yet to make any sense of and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what I thought of; everything that involved Gabriel.

Bits and pieces slowly started to surface and I was able to put the memories together.  The visions kept on flashing in my head and most of them were of my childhood with Gabriel, a childhood that he was a part of.  My memories had somehow been “erased” for a brief moment of time and just barely I had begun to recover them.  At first, none of it made any sense.  I had barely met Gabriel a few months ago but then the memory of the first time I saw him came back. 

That first time that I thought I had met him wasn’t the first time at all.  The truth, the reality was that I had known Gabriel my whole life until the point that he had disappeared six years ago.  Something had happened to me.  That something had caused me to forget every memory of him.  I just didn’t know what that something was.  Knowing him explained how I felt about him.  Since the moment I saw him, I’d felt safe and comfortable with him.  This was because I’d known him when I was a kid and I trusted him, still trusted with all my heart.  He had been such a big part of my life then and now.  Something might have made me forget but it had never stopped my feelings towards him to end. 

The thing I knew about all this though was that Gabriel did care about me.  He always had and he never forgot about me.  It was all a diversion of some kind.  Was it a diversion that he created?  No.  It couldn’t be possible.  He didn’t have the power to make me forget him.  It was when I fainted that I had lost those memories and I was getting all of them back now.  Everything that I lost of him was coming back along with all those precious moments that Gabriel and I had grown up together.  He was my best friend and I didn’t understand why out of everything I could have forgotten, I had forgotten everything about him.

*****

I finally saw Gabriel on the twenty-eighth.

My mom thought that I had gotten better and she let Gabriel come and see me.  I did feel better and I was glad that I could finally see him.  My mother had told me how Gabriel had been calling everyday to see if I had gotten better or worse.  By mother’s description of her conversations with Gabe, she said that he was worried and offered to help in any way possible.  Of course, she’d told him that she had everything under control.

I was in the kitchen when I smelled the familiar scent that reminded me of him and the next thing I knew, his arms wrapped around my waist.  I breathed in everything about him and melted into his arms.  I felt safe being in his arms like everything was going to be okay and we would figure it all out.  I felt secure, like nothing could touch me and harm me while I was in the protection of the wall that he seemed to create.

“I’m so glad you feel better, Gwen.”  He said into my hair.  I could feel the brush of his lips on my head and I smiled at how perfect this moment seemed.  “I was getting worried for a second there.  But I know that you’re strong and that you would pull through.”

I turned around and saw the intensity that his eyes held.  But the moment that he looked at me, really looked at me, his whole body relaxed and the barriers that he had put up went down.  “I know.”  I said gently.  I put my hand on his cheek.  “I’m sorry to have worried you so much.”

He cocked his head to the side in wonder and faintly smiled, “It’s not your fault.  You shouldn’t be sorry for something you can’t control.”

Slightly nodding my head, I moved to the cupboard to grab a snack for Gabe.  “Do you want a fruit snack or Oreo cookies?”

“Hmm…neither.”  He said.  He cleared his throat and said, “I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to go somewhere.”

I turned around to look at him and saw his whole demeanor change.  His face was guarded of any emotion but I could see that there was something wrong when I saw the tension in his eyes.  “Is everything okay?”  I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

“Yeah.  I just want to take you somewhere.”  His voice was casual and guarded.  I saw the movement of his adam’s apple when he gulped.  It seemed like the air around us had thickened and it was making everything in the room to be deafly quiet.

“Where are we going?,” I finally asked.  I closed the cupboard and walked back to stand in front of him but he had moved away and was at the door.  There was something inside of me that made me challenge the sudden turn of the conversation.  When he first came in, everything had been blissful and now it was strained.  Before I could stop myself I said, “I need to tell you something, Gabriel.”

“No.”  He shook his head and walked over to stand in front of me.  “There’s something I need to tell you.  But I can’t tell you here.”  He looked around the room and mumbled, “Somewhere else.”  It was faint but I caught it.

Momentarily, I forgot about telling him about the visions I had when I was sick.  The expression on his face made me just think of him and what he could possible want to tell me.  His eyes were pleading with me to just go with him.  I sighed and said, “Okay.”

I grabbed my jacket from the coat closet and put it on.  He held out his hand and I took it, following him out into the cold, frigid Virginia day.

*************************************************************

So....do you think that Gabe will finally tell Gwen or will she figure it out herself? Why do you think he is acting the way he is? Hmmm...any thoughts of where he is going to take her?

Dun. Dun. Dun.

Stay tune for the next chapter to find out!

:) <<<<<<-----------------Comment. Vote. Fan!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

This chapter is dedicated to Callmegummybears because she is a really cool person to talk to! She is really funny and out there just like her story SPEAK NOW! Which you guys should definitely go and check it out!!! Thank you for loving my story girly! :D