by Alex Apostol
I jumped out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans. How was I so sure he wasn’t lying to me instead of them? Maybe he was on his way right now to tell the others about me and I was just going to sit here like a mouse in a trap, I lied to myself as I justified my impulse to run. I grabbed my bags, which still had all my belongings in them, and left the motel.
9
“Something has to make you run. I don’t know why I didn’t come.”
–Norah Jones
I drove straight through the night, arguing silently with myself. A few times I turned around to go back to the motel so Sari would never know I left, but I always ended up turning back around to head away from him. It was the right thing to do I kept telling myself. No matter how much I wanted to be near him, I had to stay away. Even if there was the slightest chance that he could want me in the same way I wanted him, how would it even work? I pondered uselessly.
I saw a sign for an exit to the Presque Isle State Park when I suddenly realized I had no idea where I had driven to. The sky was still dark, but a subtle blue glow gave hint to dawn approaching. I turned onto the long barren road that stretched out into the clouded waters of Lake Eerie. The icy blue water lapped against the jagged, rocky edges of the road’s foundation. The drive seemed immeasurable. I rolled down the windows, welcoming the frigid breeze as it cooled my flustered face and cleared my head. Just as I became entranced by the endless passing of the road beneath me, a thundering boom crashed from the bed of my truck, awakening my mind with a jolt. Before my reflexes could jump into action, I saw my passenger door fly open. My eyes widened in fear until I saw Sari swiftly pull himself into the cab of the truck.
“Are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing?” I yelled, still feeling an adrenaline rush from seeing someone hop into a fast moving vehicle with ease.
He glared at me with dark eyes full of fury, causing me to clamp my mouth shut mid outrage. I should have figured he would be able to find me. As usual, my common sense was left in the dust when I made the plan to run from him. His intense eyes locked onto mine, forbidding me to look away.
“Pull over,” he ordered in a low growl.
Without another thought, I stomped my foot on the brake. The truck came to a screeching jerky halt. I sat frozen with my hands clamped tightly on the steering wheel. My knuckles started to turn white from the pressure of my grip. Not sure what was going to happen, I glanced toward him from the corner of my eye. The silence was deafening as he continued to glare. Anxiety rushed through my body. I couldn’t continue to sit there, waiting for him to say something. I opened the door as quickly as I could, got out, and slammed it shut. I heard the passenger door close quietly as I made my way around the cab in anger.
“You know, I didn’t ask for any of this!” I exploded. I breathed heavily, waiting for him to blow up in a fit of rage at me. “Maybe I don’t want to learn any of your special abilities and maybe I don’t want to be watched over!”
I listened to my voice echo loudly all around us. His appearance changed as if I had struck him across the face with my bare hand. Immediately, I regretted what I had said. I couldn’t stand to see him wounded because of me.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, taking a step backwards. “I’m still overwhelmed by all of this, I guess.”
I reluctantly lifted my head to apologetically look into his disappointed face only to find it filled with understanding.
“No, you’re right,” he said, slumping against the side of the truck. “I can’t force you into any of this. It is completely up to you whether you want to learn anything or not.”
“Of all people, you should have known it’s dangerous to be around me,” I said as he smiled and laughed to himself.
“You’re worried about me?” As the words escaped his lips he laughed louder, echoing through the emptiness surrounding us. I looked at him with confusion, not sure what to think about his change in attitude. “Ever since I met you, I’ve been trying desperately to keep you alive and you are worried about me,” he answered between chuckles. “You really are trouble,” he added in a mutter as if speaking only to himself.
“Finally, you agree with me,” I responded, leaning against the truck next to him.
My body was suddenly exhausted from the unexpected burst of anger. I felt emotionally spent. It could have been from the lack of sleep as well, though. Faster than my eyes could follow, Sari’s back was off the truck and he was standing in front of me.
“Whoa,” were the only words my lips could seem to form.
“You heard what I said?” he asked, ignoring my amazed and questioning face.
My forehead wrinkled while I tried to force myself to understand what he was asking. “Of course I heard you, you said it out loud.”
He smiled at me as if I’d just told him an amusing joke. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and closed his eyes. Raising his face up towards the sky, he heaved a deep, blissful sigh.
“You’re never going to cease to amaze me, are you?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer so I just shrugged my shoulders and stared down at the pavement.
“Tell me something, what are you feeling right now?” he asked inconsequentially, taking a step closer and smiling.
“Uh…confusion?” I responded. I had questions of my own I wanted answers to, like where was this conversation going? And what had I done to peak his interest?
“No, I mean, do you feel like something is going to happen?”
I looked away as he placed his hand on my shoulder gently. This was the moment I feared and hoped for. I couldn’t let it happen. I had to say something to stop it, anything at all.
“It’s going to rain,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Just as our eyes met a drop of water splashed onto the tip of my nose. Sari flashed his perfect white teeth, extending his finger to wipe where the rain had fallen. The moment he made contact, I felt a spark between his warm finger and the rounded end of my nose. The sensation made my pulse jump, shooting a tingling feeling through my veins at incredible speed. The clouds opened up above us and water came pouring down. I ran around to the driver’s side and scrambled to open the door. We both hopped in at the same time, soaked all the way through.
Sari smiled avidly while the rain dripped from his sopping wet hair down his face and onto his black pea-coat.
“Did I make that happen?” I asked with overwhelming curiosity.
“No, of course not,” Sari answered in short. “But you knew it was going to happen. You have the ability to see things that haven’t happened yet. It’s amazing.”
“Amazing? Can’t you do the same?” I asked, thinking all angels had the same abilities.
“Of course,” he said absently, turning to look out the window in thought as the rain pounded on the hood of the truck. I sat quietly, waiting for him to explain. “The others like you only had one ability they could master. One could predict things, one could move faster than lightening, one could banish evil with nothing more than their mind, but you seem to have all of our powers.
“But I move like everyone else…” I said more to myself than to him. “And besides this rain is coincidence. I’ve never seen anything before it happened.”
He took my hand in his, squeezing it tightly in his incredible grip.
“You just haven’t learned how to use or control any of it yet,” he said, looking up at me through his thick lashes. How was I supposed to reject such a tempting gaze?
“Fine…” I said, defeated. “You can come with me on a hunt and if I decide I like what I learn, you can stay.”
I knew it was a bad idea even as I said it.
“Deal,” he agreed quickly before I could change my mind.
As his face lit up with anticipation, I couldn’t help but smile slightly at the sight of his grin. A shiver ran through my body as we stared at each other. I started the truck again, letting the heater blast on high to dry my clothes and hair. I glanced over at Sari, his hair blowing all aroun
d while he closed his eyes in thought. He looked so divine and, well, angelic of course. I forced myself to look forward and focus.
“So, where to?”
“I want you to close your eyes,” Sari said to my surprise.
I decided not to argue and follow his instructions.
“Now…clear…your…mind…” he hummed in an entrancing deep voice.
With every syllable his words drifted further and further away.
“Let…your…mind…carry…you…”
*
By the time he spoke his last few words, they were nothing more than a whisper. His sweet breath filled my nostrils, clearing my head and carrying me out over the water. Beneath me, the ground passed quickly, changing from mountains to hills to plains. The sun moved from east to west within the same minute before the sky fell dark, shadowing the moving earth beneath it. As soon as the last ray of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon, my mind began to flash on an empty unlit road. With another flash, the road was no longer empty. A woman in a flowing white dress stood in the distance. Then, another flash. She was closer. She raised her head slowly, letting her matted, stringy blonde hair clear her face which reflected an unseen fear. Flash. She was just inches away from me, her face morphing from undeniable grief into pure hatred. She narrowed her eyes and barred her teeth as she raised her foot to close the last bit of space between us.
*
My eyes sprang open and to my surprise I was back in the cab of my truck, staring out at the rain soaked pavement.
“What was that?” I gasped, my stomach trying to settle itself from an invisible fall.
“Intense, isn’t it? You can travel the whole world and never have to leave your home.”
I sat quietly, trying to grasp the concept of visiting far off places in my mind.
“Did anything stand out to you? Maybe a sign of where we need to go?” he asked, patiently.
“Bad Axe,” was all I muttered before doing a U-turn in the middle of the road to drive away from Pennsylvania.
Instead of looking at me perplexed, Sari rested his head back and closed his eyes, letting me lead the way to the hunt. The same sights I’d seen in my head now passed by us outside the window at a much more reasonable rate. The bleak flat land rushed passed as I sped through Ohio on my way to Michigan. Every once in a while we would spot a small town on either side of the road, but mostly we saw immense farmland and forests.
It was almost winter and the leafless trees and dead grass reminded me of the cold to come. Soon, the pouring rain would turn to billowy fluffy snowflakes covering the frozen earth in a blanket of white. It was my favorite time of the year. The only green daring to stick around through the frigid weather were the tall forests of pines.
The deeper we got into Ohio, the more we saw country turn into suburbia. Sparse neighborhoods morphed into well organized communities. Younger, purposeful trees lined the sidewalks while children darted in between. As we crossed over into our destination state, the communities dispersed once more and turned back into vast open spaces. Water started to creep from the massive lake to the east over to us, flowing under the highway. While I made my exit onto a smaller highway, venturing into the middle of Michigan, I recognized the name of North Van Dyke Road. The sign I saw before flashed through my head, confirming it to be the same one I saw now.
The rain persisted to my dismay. Whenever any precipitation decided to fall from the sky, people drove as if they were trudging their way across country in covered wagons. The sky was blanketed with clouds so dark that it appeared to be late in the evening rather than lunch time. What should have only been another hour on the road turned into bumper to bumper traffic. We were supposed to make it by noon, but thanks to the terrified drivers we made it just in time for an early dinner. I hadn’t eaten anything the entire day and I was starving.
“I need something to eat, are you hungry?” I asked, thinking for a moment. “Wait, do you even eat?”
He smiled his perfect, crooked smile.
“I don’t have to, but I like to.”
That was good enough for me. I spotted a small family owned Italian restaurant and pulled off into the first parking spot. I was excited to see that there were barely any other cars there, so we were guaranteed a table right away.
“Is this okay with you?” I asked, not sure if he was more accustomed to finer dining. I was just happy to be eating somewhere without a drive-thru.
“Italian is my favorite food,” he answered.
Involuntarily, my lips parted into a big grin.
“Get out! Me too!” I exclaimed. “I’m actually part Italian, although it’s a small part.”
“I know,” he said, staring at me as he leaned back on the head rest.
“Right,” I responded, forgetting he knew everything there was to know about me.
I wasn’t sure how fair that was considering I didn’t really know all that much about him. Sure I knew his general background, but he had been alive for thousands of year…maybe forever. There had to be more to him than what he’d told me.
The place was small, but charming. The square wooden tables were mostly for two and covered in red and white checkered cloth. The walls were plastered with old photographs of Italy, with the occasional green, white, and red flags thrown into the mix. Even though we were inside, the restaurant had tried to make it look as if we were dining outside with an assortment of fake trees and brick walkways. The young hostess sat us at a table under a string of white lights. In the center was a red glass bowl with a single candle glowing dimly. Once we were handed our menus, we were left alone.
I scanned the entire list of food for minutes, torn between a sausage and pepper pasta and spinach stuffed ravioli. I loved spicy food, though. It was always my go to.
“I’ll have the spinach stuffed ravioli and she will have the sausage and pepper pasta,” Sari said to our waitress before I could even look up to see her. “And we’ll each have a glass of Pinot Grigio.” He pronounced the name of the wine with a subtle hint of an authentic accent.
“I thought you couldn’t read minds,” I said, perplexed by how he knew what I was going to order.
“I can’t, but I know how much you love spicy food,” he answered casually, flashing his bright smile as he unfolded his napkin and placed it over his lap.
“And how’d you know the spinach ravioli was my second pick?”
He grinned and leaned in as if he were about to reveal a secret.
“I didn’t. That one’s my favorite.”
The wine was the first thing to arrive to the table, along with complimentary bread and butter. As the waitress tipped the bottle, the sweet smell of the golden yellow wine hit my nostrils and left my mouth watering. I closed my eyes while I took in the first tangy sip.
“You know everything about me, how about you tell me more about you,” I urged, not being able to contain my wonder.
Sari looked into my eyes as if examining my desire to figure him out, or my strength to be able to handle his past.
“Well…” he pondered. “…my favorite color is blue, I don’t prefer cats or dogs, reading and traveling are my favorite pastimes, December is my favorite month, and you already know I prefer Italian cuisine,” he concluded with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
“Alright, fine,” I responded, giving up my quest to learn more about the mysterious man across from me. “I don’t want to know.”
When we were finished with our dinners we sat in the truck trying to figure out our next move.
“I’ve dealt with ‘Ladies in White’ before,” I jumped right in, “and it can be tricky to find their bodies because they’re usually the victims of murder without a proper burial, but…”
I was cut off when Sari raised his soft, warm finger up to my slightly chapped lips, freezing them in a puckered position.
“You need to stop thinking like a regular hunter,” he ordered, keeping his finger pressed against my mouth.
My hear
t beat rapidly as I stared at him in awkward confusion.
“Remember what you did to Alli?” he asked, knowing I absolutely remembered. “You’re going to do the same thing. Focus everything you’ve got into getting rid of this spirit,” he explained simply, removing his finger.
My nerves tingled, causing my stomach to twist into knots. What if I couldn’t do it again? I figured the only reason it even worked before was because I was not in my physical form. Everything seemed different now. It seemed impossible. And I wasn’t sure this was the woman I wanted to be testing my abilities on when they were so new and fresh. These spirits were some of the angriest ones out there, prone to hurting and even killing people in their blind rage over what happened to them. I didn’t want to be standing in the middle of an open road without my weapons, exposed, but that was exactly what Sari was asking me to do. I had promised to try this hunt his way and if I didn’t like it then I wouldn’t ever have to do it again. The same was true, though, if her spirit ripped me to shreds. I started the engine and drove slowly down the dark, windy road.
My eyes focused widely as the truck putted through the blackness, the only light in sight coming from the dim headlights. Every so often my vision would shift from left to right, scanning for a lonely woman alongside the road. The minutes passed by slowly without so much as a glimmer of a ghost. I started to question whether my visionary travels were real or if I had just imagined the whole experience.
“There,” Sari said so quietly it was almost a whisper. “She’s just around the bend.”
My foot eased off the gas while my hands grasped the steering wheel. Any hidden confidence I had in myself to do this job was completely gone and replaced with paralyzing fear. I hadn’t felt so terrified since my first hunt with Don. We had gone through months of training before I even attempted to go with him, but this time there was no training involved. It felt as if I were getting ready to perform surgery without ever having gone to medical school.