Midnight Kisses| ✓

Chapter 26

A small caliber one which he cocks in his hand and points at his father. Officer McAllister's grin fades away and real alarm fills his eye but that is just for a moment. Another smirk makes its way to his mouth, twisting it in a nefarious way. In that moment, I get glimpses of all that he has done to his family behind the closed doors of his home, where he didn't have to answer anybody for his crimes.

Novahk's mother slumps down on the patio with her hand covering her eyes and keeps on repeating "Novahk no Jesus. Novahk no Jesus. Novahk no Jesus." like it's some kind of a mantra that will make the nightmare go away.

"Novahk what are you doing?" I say stepping forward. His eyes are shaking and when he looks at me again, tears roll down his eyes.

"Go away Krishna, you shouldn't be seeing this. You shouldn't be seeing me like this," he bites out.

"Is this the bitch you have been going around my back being a thief and a vandal?" McAllister asks looking at me with venom. He knows, he knows what Novahk has been upto this last few months. Is that why this is happening?

"Don't talk to her like that, you fucker." Novahk kicks him in the stomach. "Go away Krishna. Go back to your home. You don't have to be any part in this. Ad take Adam with yu," he says gesturing to his brother behind me who is till crying but soundlessly.

I shake my head. There is a loud ringing in my ear. "I can't leave you here." The grassy yard becomes black in my vision. The shadows are coming to life, and my demons who I haven't seen in days now are back once again. I wonder if my old part has reawakened once more or f the demons are the manifest of Novahk's conscious. Maybe these things work this way.

"No Krishna," Novahk moans. "Go."

"Don't do this Novahk," I say edging towards me but I flinch when he pulls the barrel of the gun back switching it to unprotected mode. The bullets inside it cocks to its place, ready to be fired. "This does not need to end this way."

He shakes his head. "There is no other way. I have to end this today, because if I don't, I will not be able to live with myself."

"You won't be able to live with yourself, if you pull the trigger. And I can't live with myself if I let you pull it. So Novahk don't tell me there is no other way, because there is always another way, it's inside you. You just have to find it."

"Don't do this to me," Novahk moans. His entire body is quaking now, as if he's having some kind of seizure.

"Go ahead pull it, son. You are just like me, now you'll just prove it to the rest of the world," his father gives a shaky laughter and I know looking at the fallen man that I have never felt more loathing for anyone except him. And I know him since a few days earlier, I imagine growing up in his house, marked by his sins and I understand why Novahk would want to do it. I finally understand why Emily ended her life. I don't want to, and a part of me denies this new realization, but I do.

And I don't have in it me to stop Novahk anymore. Not when I look at Adam and his innocent, tear strained eyes and the broken Mrs. McAllister. Novahk's dad is already damned, and today he'll finally meet his judgment but I can't let Novahk be the one to do it, he'll be damned along with him, and that's a brand I can't afford

My mom screams from behind. "What are you doing Krishna? Get away from there, you can be hurt. Krishna get away, the police are on their way. " I ignore her

"It's never too late." I hold up my hand towards him at the same time Novahk's dad says. "Prove it. Prove that you're just like me."

Emily comes towards me, the faucet in the sink still running. There's smudged mascara under her eyes but I don't pretend to notice it, all I can see are her tight thongs and are too tight shirt. I should hug her, I should tell he it's okay like we have been doing for each all this years. I should joke about her revealing cleavage and shoot a disgusted glance at it. "What's wrong with you?" I had asked folding my arms across my chest and giving her a cold look.

"What is wrong with me that I didn't see your pain earlier. It's right there in your eyes, why didn't I see that before?" and I should have stopped her and not let her walk out on me.

"It's never too late. Look at the sun, you're just like it. Sometimes the cloud blinds you, but in the end you always find a way to emerge. Look at the supernova inside you, it'll eventually burn out, it knows that, but when it does it will rise from its ash and be a brighter star still, if it can find a way not to destroy itself. It will. It always does. You're the supernova, you'll always be my supernova."

Novahk drops the gun on the ground at the same time, he reaches out to me, his hands as warm as his eyes are cold. But life is coming back to them and I am relieved to see that it's not a stranger's eyes anymore.

He engulfs me in a hug. A long one and even with all the layers f clothes between us, I still feel him, bone to bone as if fused ad heart to heart in synchronization.

"I love you, Novahk," I say patting his head and he does not let me go, squeezing me even tighter as the siren comes closer and closer. "I love you for being brave and kind and strong even if you thought that wasn't what you really were. It's not just some picture everybody has painted of you. This is what you, hat you really were all along. The brightest star in the universe."

"As you are of mine," he whispers to my heart, his beautiful sorrowful parting words before strong hands break us apart.