Waters of Oblivion

Chapter 3.1: The Newspaper

Reine didn't understand the girl's overt enthusiasm over the appeal of online social networking. She continued to re-shelve the books, but even with her back turned, she knew immediately when the link to the site had loaded. 

"Whoa! Is this him? If this is the guy you rejected last night Reine Baldwin, then I am seriously going to have to rethink our friendship because you are insane. He is totally hot," Noor gushed.

Resisting the urge to take a peek at the picture, Reine continued to place the worn volumes back in their right places while her friend browsed the site.

"I can't see too much detail. He's made the content pretty private. Ooh, do you think he'd accept my friend request?"

"Don't you dare!" Reine lunged toward the laptop to stop the girl from causing either of them further embarrassment. The two large catalogs she had just picked up slipped out of her hands, and she tripped over them as they landed back on the carpet.

"I can always add him from my computer at home." Noor peeked around the screen to make sure her friend was all right. Reine's icy stare only made her laugh.  "I'm kidding . . . maybe?"

The young woman turned her attention back to the screen and fell silent as she continued to read. Meanwhile, Reine sat on the floor surrounded by books.

She rubbed her eyes and let out a big sigh. She was still haunted by the previous night's memories, which she just couldn't shake. As she placed her hands on the ground in an attempt to push herself up, something sharp pressed against her palm. It was a small silver pendant or a charm shaped like a fleur-de-lis.

As she stared at the sparkling object wondering about its origin, Noor broke the silence. "Hmm, this is interesting."

Her feeble attempts at tidying up were going nowhere, so Reine gave in and indulged her curiosity. "What's interesting?"

"It's an article from the Rockville Gazette from a few years back: 'Local Teens Survive Horrific Accident'."

She wrinkled her forehead. "What? It's about Gabe?"

He didn't seem to have any lasting scars nor did he mention anything about being in an accident. However, she had only spent a few hours with him, and that's usually not the kind of thing a person uses to introduce themselves. Wanting to see the article for herself, Reine got up while slipping the charm into her pocket. Going around the desk, she looked over Noor's shoulder.

Her friend had already been skimming the article, and she began to read the pertinent sections out loud.

"Montgomery Prep students Gabriel Moran, seventeen and Malik Thompson, eighteen were involved in a one-car accident Thursday night. It had been raining . . . wooded section of rural River Road . . . returning from a party . . . swerved to avoid a deer . . . flipped multiple times."

"Oh my God," Reine whispered, after seeing the photo of a wrecked truck accompanying the article. "Go on."

"Where was I? Oh, okay," Noor continued. "Flipped multiple times . . . found several hours later by a passing vehicle . . . transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. It sounds like someone was watching over those two."

"Is there anything else?"

"Nothing more on this page, but hold on a sec," Noor replied, returning to the search results. "No, it looks like these are other Gabriel Morans."

"How about for Malik Thompson?" she asked.

Her friend typed the name into the query box and hit 'Go.'

"There are a couple of articles about him making it to the state championships with the high school's golf team, but absolutely nothing dated after the accident. Weird."

"Yes, that really is weird." Reine touched the outline of the small charm sitting in the bottom of her pocket.

Suddenly, a shocking thought occurred to her. Could a predisposition for immortality have anything to do with why Gabe and his friend had escaped the accident unhurt?

Her speculation was ridiculous, of course. After so much time, it was unlikely she'd ever find someone else like her. The thought still continued to intrigue her for several reasons, though.

First, if Gabe was immortal, then she wouldn't have to go through life alone. And second, maybe meeting him wasn't coincidental, after all. If that was the case, then perhaps there were even more people like them, which would open up a whole new world for her.

Then she remembered she'd rejected his advances. If they were going to meet again, it was now solely up to him. All she could do was go back to her regular routine and wait.