Hey everyone! Well first and foremost this chapter is dedicated to rgodofmischifj! He is a really good friend and has been a dedicated fan since the beginning :) He's also a fellow Senior like me and he's really cool to talk too. Soo you should go and check it out....pretty good stuff there :)
Well without further delay here is the next chapter!
P.S...sorry if it's getting really mushy! I can't help it...There relationship is just..
*sigh*
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Chapter 23-Gwen
It was New Year’s Eve.
It had been three days since the last time I had talked or seen Gabriel.
There was a feeling at the pit of my stomach telling me that something wasn’t right.
The morning after he took me to the lake was euphoric. I felt like I was high on life and all its beauty surrounding me was the cause for my giddiness. There were so many things that I saw now that I hadn’t seen before. I saw there was magic all around me if I just opened up my eyes to see. There were the little things I noticed like how the birds seemed to surround me when I went outside to check the mail-which made me feel like I was Snow White- or how the flowers seemed to radiate from an unnatural beauty that they held. I smiled because I knew a secret that no one else knew.
My mom noticed that something was different about me. She said that I glowed and looked much healthier than I had the last couple of days. That day after Gabriel told me his secret was the happiest I’ve ever been. I still couldn’t believe that magic existed and that it was everywhere, unseen by us humans. It was beautiful the things that were in this world. So many things were suddenly shed to light. Still, there were so many other things that I still didn’t know about. A part of me was cautious for what I began to ask for. Knowledge was dangerous if people exceeded their limits. A good example of dangerous knowledge was Victor Frankenstein when he created his monster.
I had to be careful with what I was beginning to learn. Like Gabriel said I might be in danger because of what I knew now so being careful became second nature. There was a bit of sadness that came with knowing Gabriel’s secret. I couldn’t tell anyone what I knew and I found myself stopping to think of what I might say to my mother. I didn’t want to slip up and accidently tell her about Gabriel. This would be the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face, keeping things from my mother. It was hard but it wasn’t my secret to tell.
As the day passed, I forgot about Gabriel, which started to drain the euphoric state I had been in all day. I called his cell twice but he didn’t pick up and as night came my anxiety grew worse. The next day there was still nothing and I didn’t know what to do. There was a nagging feeling in my head telling me to go to him and try to reach him but there was no answer on his cell. I may have dialed his phone about twenty times in the last forty-eight hours but the last few calls went straight to his voicemail.
Today I was going to go and see if I could find him.
Mom was going to her office party to celebrate the new year so that left me home alone. Dad still hadn’t come by to see me and I knew that he knew I had been sick the last couple of days. I overheard my mom talking on the phone with him one day but I guess he just didn’t care.
Stop, I told myself. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I thought you were done with that.
I took a deep breath to center myself.
For some unexplained reason, I knew exactly where Gabriel was. There was something that just kept pointing to the right direction. The thought had surfaced that first night but it grew as the days passed and now it was like a blaring red light say ‘Here I am!’. I went to the backyard and grabbed my old bicycle. I hadn’t used it in years and it was rusted from its old age. Mom had already left and I couldn’t ask to borrow the car so my last resort was to ride my bike.
I got on the bike and started to peddle the familiar way to Gabriel’s house. It had been years since I’ve traveled this road. When he was gone, I tried to stay away because his memory tugged at my heart making me feel empty and alone. I didn’t like to reminisce about the times that we had before he left, it just filled with sadness. Now? It didn’t hurt anymore. Having Gabriel back gave let me relive those memories in my head.
The night of the play where I played Ariel was one of my favorite memories of Gabriel and me. The way that he had looked at me that night was the first time that I realized that I might love him. While I was on stage, I looked for him out in the audience but the lights were too bright that I couldn’t see anything. I knew he was out there and I smiled that he was here watching me. I was so nervous before the play had begun. When he had come back staged before the play started he told me to be confident in myself and to ‘blow the socks off this place’. I laughed and it made me feel better. He made me feel strong.
That was also the first night that he had kissed.
He kissed me on the forehead and said, “Good luck.”
I blushed but then said, “You don’t say that. You say break a leg in theater, Gabby.”
He whispered “Break a leg” and kissed me again.
There hadn’t been any mock anger when I called him Gabby. Instead, it was like he never heard me say that at all. He looked at me with such tenderness that night that I didn’t know what to think about the whole situation. I certainly didn’t ask him about it afterwards either. It was left unsaid.
My mind had been reliving that specific memory that I hadn’t noticed that I was in front of Gabe’s house. I got off my bike and left it on the lawn. This was the house I had spent hours at when we were kids. The neighborhood hadn’t changed since I last was here. There was a new brush of flowers and a fresh coat of white paint on the fence. I noticed that the McAllen’s hadn’t moved and I saw that they probably had children by the toys that were scattered on their yard.
I walked up the creaky steps of the porch and stood there for a moment, feeling a rush of déjà vu. There was a slight difference in the way that the door looked. The wood was old and worn and looked like at any second it could fall apart. The knocker on the door hadn’t changed. It was a small lion made of iron. When I was younger I had always been afraid of it but now I smiled at its familiarity. I stood on my tipee toes and tried to look into the small window above the knocker but didn’t see anything. Finally I took a deep breath, knocked on the door and waited until Gabriel answered a moment later.
I gasped. I was horrified of what I saw. Gabriel looked dead. He looked drained and his skin was flushed. The light tan that covered his body was gone replaced by a pale shrunken person standing in front of me. He looked weak and out of character. Just standing there, I noticed that it was an effort for him to be standing.
“What happened?” I exclaimed as I steadied him when he lost his balance. I took his arm and propped him against me as I shut the door with my foot and walked him to the living room.
He winced as I gently laid him down on the sofa. He whispered, “My powers were taken from me for punishment.”
“Oh, Gabe.” I took his hand in mine and I shivered from the icy cold touch of his skin. I touched his forehead and instead of being cold he was burning up. “Gabe, you have a fever. We need to get you to the hospital.” I stood up but he tugged the end of my shirt. I saw the way his muscles contracted with the simple movement.
“No,” His voice was hoarse. “They wouldn’t know what’s wrong with me. This happens when we get our magic taken away. Our body is accustomed to having magic in our blood that when it’s gone our nervous system tries to sustain itself as best it can.”
I shook my head. I knew he was right but it didn’t mean that I liked it. There had to be something that I could do. I stood up quickly, so he wouldn’t be able to stop me and ran to the kitchen to grab some towels and a bowl of warm water.
Putting the bowl down, I helped him sit up on the sofa. Sweat was gathering on his forehead and his hair stuck in clumps at the back of his neck. He was shivering and I rushed out of the room to get some blankets and then made a stop at his room to grab a clean shirt. I was a little breathless when I came back to sit on the edge of the sofa next to Gabriel.
“Thanks, but Gwen you don’t have to stay I-”
“Nope, sorry Gabe but I’m staying and you can’t say otherwise.” I grabbed the towel and dunked into the bowl and rinsed the excess water in the bowl. Gently I rubbed it on his forehead, accumulating the sweat into the towel. When I was done I said, “Now, take of your shirt.” I ordered.
“But-” He protested.
“Shhh…” I put my finger to his lips. “I need to wash your body so you can put something clean on. I could bathe you if you’d like.” I teased.
He glared but then started to take his shirt off. I helped, seeing that he was having trouble. He really was weak seeing how much effort it cost him to do simple movements. A small gasp escaped my lips as I saw the scars that marked his skin. He looked down as if he had forgotten the marks and let out a sigh.
Instead of asking where the scars had come from, I grabbed the towel and rubbed his skin with the warm water. His abs were contracting under my touch and he winced when I touched his stomach. “Gabe?” My voice was loud compared to the silence that hung around us. He had closed his eyes and without opening them he said, “Hmm…?”
I lowered my voice and asked, “Why were your powers taken from you?”
He was quiet for a long time. I thought that he wasn’t going to tell me and instead he’d stay quiet and pretend like he didn’t hear me. It was a long time before he spoke again. I had already finished rubbing the warm water all over his torso when he finally said, “Because I broke one of the rules.” He took a haggard breath and laid back down on the sofa. “There are certain rules that we have to follow. They are simple rules and the most sacred of all is not to tell a mortal your secret.”
He opened his eyes and reached up to stroke my hair. His touch was light and caressing. So it was my fault that this had befallen him. It was because of me that he was like this. As if he could read my mind he said, “No, it’s not your fault, Gwen. I don’t want you to blame yourself. It was my decision and I knew what the consequences would have been.”
I took a blanket and covered him with it. He had begun to sweat again but he was still cold when I touched him. It was strange. Part of him was cold and the other part was hot. It was like his body didn’t know what temperature to be. He looked like he was on the brink of death and tears prickled at the back of my eyes. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop them from flowing. I snuggled close to him and felt the faint beat of his heart. I wanted him to be healthy and strong again not sick and weak. It broke my heart seeing him like this because of me. I wondered if he’d ever be okay again.
“Gabe if you knew this was going to happen then why did you tell me? I’d rather you be strong and healthy than like this.” I pressed my body closer to his and felt the heat that radiated from him. “I’m scared for you, Gabriel. This isn’t normal.” My voice trembled as I spoke those words.
He laughed, weakly. “I’m not normal, Gwen. I wanted to tell you the moment I saw you. You know the reasons I cast the memory spell on everyone who knew me.” I nodded. “Your mind didn’t succumb as quickly to it as everyone else had. If the spell wouldn’t have worked, I knew that I would have told you that day. I always knew that at some point you’d know the truth.”
“Will you get your powers back eventually or is this permanent?”
“No.” He said softly. “I’ll get them back. My father just wanted to teach me a lesson and I don’t know when I’ll get them back.” He put his arms around me and I felt his muscles contract. He didn’t have any control with what his body was doing. It was like short spasms that ran through him.
“Your father did this to you?” I was shocked.
“Yes.” His voice sounded distant and sad. “He is part of the Council and he was the one who executed the punishment. There are worst things they could have done. This was nothing compared to what I have seen.” His voice took a tone of guilt and regret. “I’ll be better in a couple more days. It takes a while for the body to transition and function normally without magic.”
I sighed in resignation. “Okay.” I dropped this for the moment laid in his arms as I listened to the steady rhythm of his heart beat. He needed to rest and talking wasn’t going to make him any better. I listened to his uneven breaths until he fell asleep and I thought about him being better soon.
*****
I had fallen asleep and woke up to my ringtone Stereo Love. I quickly got up from the sofa and ran to where my bag lay in the hallway. I looked at the screen and saw that it was my mom.
“Happy New Year’s sweetie!” My mom’s voice yelled into the phone.
“Happy New Year’s mom.” I replied. I couldn’t believe that it was midnight. I heard the blaring of music in the background and smiled. I was glad mom was having a good time with friends. She needed that and deserved it.
“How are you sweetie? Hope you’re not lonely at home.”
“I’m fine. No its not lonely; I was asleep.” Well it was half the truth. I did fall asleep but I wasn’t at home nor was I lonely.
“Well okay. I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. I’m staying over Kendra’s tonight. Not safe to drive.” She said a little slurred.
Oh my gosh. She was drunk! “Umm….okay.” I said slowly. “Yeah…just don’t do anything rash.” Wow. I sounded like I was the parent. I shook my head and actually laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See ya honey!”
I pressed END and put my phone back in my bag. I walked back to the living room and saw that Gabriel was still sleeping soundlessly. Treading to the kitchen, I grabbed a glass of milk and jumped on top of the counter. I gazed out the window and saw the sign of fireworks in the sky. They illuminated the sky in its brilliancy of joy the new year brought. It was a sign for fresh starts and new beginnings. A time where everything was blissful and none of the worries were present.
“You look cold.” I jumped and held my hand up to my heart.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” I looked back at him and saw that he was significantly better. Some of the color was returning to his skin and I didn’t see a trace of sweat on his body. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and the cuts on his muscles were visible. The scars were something altogether.
He walked over to wear I sat on the counter and he leaned against it. He was quiet as he watched the fireworks outside the window. Time felt like it stopped when Gabriel and I were together alone and silent like this. It was peaceful and serene like the moment when were in the forest. This was just another one of those moments and as I saw the fireworks light up the sky, I thought about how there would be more times like this. I believed with my whole heart that it was true.
“Gabriel?” I said breaking the silence. “How did you get your scars?”
He looked up at me with a distant look in his eyes. He wasn’t really looking at me but remembering something. “It’s a long story.” He said sadly almost with a hint of reproach in his voice.
I wanted to understand. I needed to understand who he is or who he was. All the questions that I had when I thought I’d first met him where still in mind but now I wanted to know where he had been all those years and why he came back. There was still something that he wasn’t telling me and I saw it in the way that he looked at me. A sadness that I hadn’t seen in him before surfaced in the depths of his blue-green eyes.
“Please,” I whispered. “I have time to listen. I have all the time in the world, Gabe.”
He stiffened next to me. His jaw clenched and I saw him clench his fists at his side. “No, Gwen. I can’t.”
I didn’t understand why he was acting like this. Why couldn’t he tell me about his scars? I wondered if the same reason he got his scars on his torso was the same reason for the scar on his eyebrow…? Did he get them while he was away? Where was he off to in the last few years? Is it bad? Is he not at all the good person that I thought he’d be?
He took my hand in his and I felt the warmth of his touch. “I don’t want your pity and I know that’s what you’ll do if I tell you how I got my scars. It’s not because I don’t want to tell you, Gwen. It’s just-”
I took the hand he was holding and cupped his face. “I just want to understand why you’re so sad. I’d never give you pity Gabe. That’s the last thing I’d do.” I kissed him lightly and said, “You can trust me.”
“I know.” He walked towards the sliding door that lead to the backyard and opened it. A gust of freezing cold hit my body and I shivered. Gabriel didn’t realize how cold it was outside and seemed to reconsider what he was going to do in the first place that he closed the door the next second. “Sorry. I forgot that it was winter.”
He said it casually and shrugged. The sadness that was in him a few moments ago disappeared and he was trying to be light and casual. But I saw the façade that he was putting on. “I have to show you something but it’s upstairs.” With that he disappeared and I didn’t know if I should be following him.
Taking a deep breath I followed him into the hallway, up the stairs, and into the attic; not having the slightest idea of what he was going to show me. I silently followed and felt the tension in his body when he stopped at the entrance to the attic.