CHAPTER TWENTY- FIVE
I brought Ben back to Jayden’s house with me. As his mum was so kind, I assumed she would be okay with me bringing back Ben. Ben was reluctant to come but I told him that I wasn’t going to leave him to kill himself slowly. At this, he told me I was being just a bit pessimistic but he came with me despite himself. His hand was in mine when I knocked on the door.
Eva opened it, smiling happily until her eyes found our hands linked. “Hi, Ana. Who’s this?”
“Ben Ellis. I’m sure I’ve told you about him before. After Amelle... well, went away, he needs some company.”
“Died,” Ben corrected. “There’s no point in putting it lightly, Ana. She’s dead.”
Eva’s face softened as she placed her hand on Ben’s arm. The way she looked at him was like he was her son, like it was Jayden she was looking at. Ben’s face also softened when meeting her eyes. She pulled him into a gentle hug.
“Oh, honey, I am so sorry.” Eva pulled him tighter to her. “I know what it is like to lose someone who you love. Trust me, Ben, she will be safe and out of harm now. Would you like to stay here?”
“Oh.” Ben’s face dropped. “I couldn’t, could I? I don’t want to intrude on anything.”
Eva shook her head, stroking his arms lovingly. “Honey, you are not intruding in anyway. You need to be looked after and I only trust myself to do the job. Besides, it will be good for Ana to have a friend around here. Come in, make yourself at home.”
Finally, I let go of Ben’s hand, making my way into the house. Of course, my eyes were drawn to the pictures of Jayden that Eva had everywhere. In all of these photos, his eyes were not done any justice. In a photograph, his eyes looked dead. I didn’t realise how long I had been standing there until I saw Eva in the dark parts of the photo.
I turned around to see her looking at me with her arms crossed, blonde hair cascading over them perfectly. She, too, was staring at the picture.
“His eyes look dead, don’t they?” she commented.
I nodded in response.
She raised her hand, her palm facing the picture and I saw a gentle sparkle of light. Jayden’s eyes suddenly came alive and blinked.
In shock, I faced Ever. “What on Earth did you just do?”
“Magic, obviously. I’m not that great about it but Eva taught me some things about it. She gave me a few textbooks about it.” She shrugged. “Don’t look so shocked, Ana, of course magic exists. Nearly everything that is said to be fantasy exists. You just need to look close enough.”
“Wow. Can you do anything else?”
Ever laughed lightly, her whole heart not in it. “Not what I want to do, apparently. I want to somehow use magic to get Jay back here but that’s not going to happen, is it?” She sucked in a deep breath. “I miss him too, Ana, don’t forget that. We all miss him. I get it—he was in love with you, you were in love with him. But Kate and I... we’ve known the boy for years.”
“I’m not in love with him,” I said dismissively.
Ever’s face was full of shock at this sentence. “Huh? I thought... I thought that you were in love with him. Damn, Ana, he’s in love with you.”
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Cheating Death
Teen Fiction“To die would be an awfully big adventure.” – Peter Pan Death holds a grudge on Anastasia Elwood. The reason being that she cheats him. The first time she cheated Death, she had just been born. As a newborn, she had cancer. Somehow, she survived. Th...
