“Oh, for God’s sake, I can’t go anywhere with you two…without some type of PDA,” Amber complains. “No, seriously, you two really are getting on my nerves.”
“Really? We’re on your nerves? Hmmm.” Caleb says back to her, letting me go and grabs our drinks. “Jess, I think we should leave, there are shadows everywhere.”
I look around nervously, still under the watchful eye of the owl. I reach in my pocket and pull out my penlight. I stare back at the owl, concentrating on making him fly away. Who knows, maybe I’m more than just a Light Tamer, maybe I’m able to talk to animals. Right, I can talk to animals and I’ll snatch their light if they come near me. I’m a light princess, I tell myself in my most diabolical inner-voice. I hear laughter, and realize it’s me. The owl, on alert, stretches his wings, in an attempt of showing me he is a warrior. I focus solely on the light he is standing on, not fearing the dark as there are ten more lights surrounding us. I should know, I counted them. It’s my new hobby, counting the lights around me.
My concentration blocked out anything else that surrounds me, it’s only me, an owl, and a light post. In the next moment I stumble over, teetering on one foot, my balance is lost. I swim in the light, all around me. It has entered my body, more like…I don’t know. Like it has taken over my body. The world is spinning slowly, and my heart is beating, or is it? No, it has to be beating, right? I can’t hear them, I know they’re there. I’m one, the light is part of me. I will never worry again, the light is my savior, and it’s all that I am. I’m the light. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. Like a childhood chant, I’m ten little lights, all rolled into one. Where did the park go? Amber? I know that name, who is it? No, I know Amber, but how?
“Jessie! Smoke hot potatoes! Dammit, I’m cussing, to hell with this shit. Jessie, wake up,” a girl screams.
My shoulders lift up; I must be on the ground. I love the way those hands feel on me. Come with me hands, come see my light. Stop shaking me, I need to sleep. Come with me, please. I’ll share my light with you.
“Amber, there is an emergency kit in my car, go get it!” The male voice says. “Jessie, wake up!” He puts his head on my chest.
I want to run my hands through his hair. I think I like him, he is beautiful. I want to show him my light.
“Jessie, its Caleb, come on baby wake up,” the male says.
He must be Caleb, I like that name. His voice makes me want to sleep in his arms. I feel my body rising off the ground. Why am I on the ground? No, I’m in the light, not on the ground. I’m with…what did he say his name is? Oh, yeah, I remember…Caleb. I wish he would answer me and come share my light.
“Jessie, wake up!”
Stop yelling, why are they yelling? That girl, I hear her again. She is talking to, Cal…no, Caleb. If they would just hush, they’d enjoy the light too.
“Jessie, I’m gonna have no choice but slap you silly! Come on!” Amber yells.
Violence never solved anything. Didn’t your mom teach you that? Safety, I feel so safe. His voice in my ear is pulling me. No, stop, come with me. His words are like a symphony of sounds vibrating through me. What if I love him? No, love is a silly word. I like him though.
What the hell is that smell? Ewwww, ick. Stop that disgusting smell.
“I think I saw her eyes flutter. Keep putting that smelly thing under her nose,” Amber said.
“Jessie, I need you with me. I hear you talking about the light Jess, but it isn’t your time. Come on baby, open your eyes,” he whispers in my ear.
In a moment of ecstasy, his lips are on mine. He pulls away and says my name again before kissing me one more time. My body responds to his touch, his heart is mine, our beats are as one. He is my light, not this distorted illusion of light. No, I will live and breathe with him. Yes, I choose you Caleb. You.
His lips part and his tongue is in my mouth. At first I think I’ve forgotten how to respond back. My mouth begins to kiss him, I feel his arms pull me in close. My arms wrap around his back, and my light is gone but my truth is not.
“Oh cry me a freakin river, what the hell? Five minutes you’re at the brink of some type of mental seizure and you wake up making out? Shoot me in the blasted eye,” Amber complains. I smile against Caleb’s mouth and we both come up for air.
“Jess, you okay?” Caleb asks.
Amber lets out a disgusted sigh. “You just had your tongue down her throat and you’re now asking if she’s okay? She blew out every light in the park, and if we don’t get in your car with your crazy flashlight’s we’re going to be a marked target.”
“She’s right Caleb. We need to get in the car. That was crazy, crazy kind of crazy,” I say.
Thankfully we didn’t draw any attention, maybe a sideways glance but nothing major. I
still feel shaky as we get in the car.
“Dude, what the hell was that? Did you die or something?” Amber asks. Her energy is radiating off of her.
I waited until we were on the road to my house before answering. “I have no idea. One minute that owl and I are having some stare-down, the next I’m out cold. I actually felt the lights that I burned out. I thought that if I could burn out the light the owl was standing on, I’d be able scare him away. Epic fail.”
“Incredible. It was you that took the light, not a Dark One. That alone shows how powerful you are. We can all turn out A light, but so many powerful lights is impressive. I bet you taking so much energy in at one time is what knocked you out. Were you completely unconscious? Could you hear us talking to you?” Caleb asks as he sped up to keep up with traffic.
“I don’t think I was totally out of it, but I wasn’t totally aware of my surroundings either. The energy felt amazing, I remember that of course. Everything else is a little fuzzy. I could hear you both talking, but I didn’t know who you were or where I was at. It was you Caleb that brought me back. I think I would have died or self combusted if I hadn’t come to so fast. When you kissed me, the energy that was holding me back seeped from me to you. Did you feel it?” I rambled as I dug in my purse for gum. “Want some,” I asked.
“I felt the energy as well. It was very powerful, how you harnessed so much is beyond me,” Caleb said.
“Oh, gag me,” Amber said and sat back in her seat. We all burst out laughing.
I wonder what my friends in New York would think if I told them I’m a Light Tamer. I can hear Jersey complaining about not having enough light to put her make-up on. Her name really isn’t Jersey, but that’s what we call her since she is from New Jersey. I should text her and tell her about Caleb. She’ll totally spaz out.
After we got back to the house, we told grandma about the park. Mom went to a girls night out with some of the nurses at work. We watched a movie and Caleb and I fell asleep on the couch. I was snuggled up to him until eleven when Amber shook me awake.
“Wake up, your mom just pulled up,” Amber says as she wakes us both up.
“Thanks, did Gayle go to bed?” I ask.
“Yeah, about thirty minutes ago. She said you two were so dead to the world she wasn’t concerned about anything. Oh, here she comes,” Amber says, referring to my mom.
“Hi kids,” mom says and starts turning off lights. “My mom’s electric bill is going to be through the roof with all of the lights everywhere. You’re so much like your dad when it comes to the dark. He was always afraid you’d wake up in the dark and fall and hit something with your head.”
“I know, mom. We were watching a scary movie, sorry. We’re almost finished. I hope you had a good time,” I say, trying to rush her out of the room.
Mom scoots a pillow out of the way and sits down on the sectional. I look over at Amber and she tries to hide her grin.
“Oh kids, it was so nice to get out with people my own age. We had such a good time. You’d be so embarrassed, but I got up and did karaoke. Can you believe it?”
“Wow, you didn’t tell anyone your real name did you?” I say.
> “No, I gave them yours,” mom said and tosses the pillow at me.
“Ladies, I need to get home. I promised my dad I’d be home by midnight. Miss. Tabitha, I’m glad you’re making some local friends. Amber, I’ll give you a ride home tomorrow, is there a time I need to come get you?”
“You and Jess are going to the movies at six right? If it works out, you can give me a ride home on your way to the movies,” Amber says.
“That works for me,” I say.
“Goodnight,” Caleb says.
I take his hand and we walk out to his car. Grandma had been busy installing new flood lights all over the front yard.
“I understand why she put all the lights up, but what’s up with the trolls?”
“She looked it up on the web, and trolls scare away other beings, ergo trolls scare Dark Ones.” I lean in to put my arms around Caleb. “Who knows, maybe it’ll work.” I reach up and kiss him. What begins as a sweet soft kiss, until his hands run up and down my back. He pulls me in closer, as if our bodies could meld into one another. My breast smashed against him, my heart pounding so loud in my ears. Surely this is love, whatever it is, I’m in it. I pull away a little, and say to him. “I’m in-like with you,” I whisper, barely audible to my own ears.
“I’m in-like with you too,” Caleb whispers back. “I better go, before the gentleman in me loses to the man in me that wants you.”
Did he just say he wants me. Like, wants wants me? I want him too. Like a stereotypical girl, I give in to the first boy to come along. No, don’t think like that. You are bound to him, you have a long time to explore the word want. Now, it’s time to be sure of your feelings. Does it mean that if I’m bound to him, he will be the only boy I’ll ever kiss?
“Goodnight beautiful,” Caleb says and gets in his car.
“Goodnight handsome,” I say and blow him a kiss.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8
Excellent wretch!
Perditon catch my soul,
But I do love thee, and when I love thee not, chaos is come again - William Shakespeare
Othello
It’s been a week since I saw my dad. Caleb and I practiced relentlessly to stop time; coming up with every scenario we could think of. We put a watermelon in middle of the road, and he ran over it with his car. I rewound time and pulled the watermelon to safety. It was nearly seamless, just a tweak here and there and we’re good to go.
“Jessie, I got a phone call from the principal at Parca Academy, Mrs. Ward. She said she’d like you to come over for lunch tomorrow. She told me she met your briefly last weekend and likes to meet her new students up close and personal. Before I hear any excuses, it isn’t up for debate, sorry kid,” mom said.
“That is totally lame mom. Amber and I were going to go to the movies tomorrow, remember?” My mind running in seven directions, thinking of actually hanging out with my soon to be principal.
Mom set the magazine she was reading down on the counter. “I’ve been very lenient with you and your friends. If you remember correctly, you weren’t supposed to date until you are sixteen. I happen to know that you are a month shy of sixteen. Would you like it, if I take that privilege away?”
I roll my eyes at her, I try to be respectful but I fail every once in a while. “Whatever, I’ll go. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it,” I said. This sucks. What the hell do I have to talk to some woman with a scary dog about? Caleb is going to freak out, I know it.
I get to do mindless housework until my date with Caleb tonight. I like it when I can do chores and no one is around to tell me I’m doing it wrong. I’ve come to learn that North Carolina has an enormous supply of dust that scatters around the house endlessly. It is mind-numbing if you don’t have anything to think about. I have something to think about…Caleb.
The last time we kissed, I was overcome by a memory; it was as if I lived it too. His mother, once young and beautiful, until she withered away to skin and bones. Her face gaunt, her skeletal hands with bright pink nail polish, was holding a box. She told Caleb a story about how his dad proposed to her eighteen years before. Her words were raspy and her eyes would close for longer than a blink. Caleb sat perfectly still next to her on the bed. She was propped up by a thousand pillows and he leaned up against the headboard. His long lean legs looked prodigious next to her scrawny toothpick legs. At one point they both pulled the covers over their legs, but I know Caleb wasn’t cold. He did it for his mom; he could tell she was getting tired and cold. She insisted on finishing the story, forgetting she told him the same story just the day before.
This time, as she finished the story, she added one more dimension to it. She handed him the burgundy velvet box, just as his father handed it to her eighteen years before.
“Caleb, one day you’ll find the perfect girl for you. One day, you’ll think of nothing more than being with her, every day of your life. When that time comes, I want you to share this ring with her,” she said as a tear fell from her eyes. Her hand trembled as if the box were almost too heavy to hold.
“Mom, we’ll find a cure for you. I don’t want your engagement ring, that belongs to you,” Caleb said choking back a sob.
“Son, my time is limited. I want you to have this, please take it,” she said and put the box in his hand.
Caleb takes it and sets it on the bedside table. He gently takes his mom’s hand into his, thinking how fragile it feels in his own. “I know who she is, but I don’t know how to find her.”
“She’ll be here after I’m gone. The light angel came to me last night and told me that great things will happen for you. Son, I need to rest my eyes, I’m really tired.”
Caleb stood and moved the pillows so she could lie down. He looked at the box on the table and felt his chest tighten with emotion, but left the box on the table. He pull the covers up and whispers, “I love you,” to her.
Thinking of how beautiful that moment was and how kind he was to his mom, made me happy. My heart hurt to know that was the last conversation he had with her before she died. His dad went in to check on her and she had died in her sleep.
From one kiss, I could feel the sorrow and pain that flowed through Caleb. Why do bad things happen to good people? I saw a book with that title one time, I didn’t ‘get it’ then, but I do now. Caleb and his dad are such good people, no agenda to hide behind. I feel the same way for Amber, a girl that hides behind sarcasm to hide who she really is. It makes me put my own problems with my parents in perspective.
The doorbell rang at exactly seven. I wonder if he sits in his car and waits until it is exactly the time to pick me up. Mental note to self, peek out of the window to see if he is waiting next time. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he likes to sit and visit with my grandma.
As I walk down the hall to the living room, I hear two male voices, Caleb and someone else. Mom is telling some story about me when I was in kindergarten and wore my jeans backwards to school. Ugh.
Can we get out of here before she tells another story, please. I think, hoping Caleb is tuned in.
“You look great,” Caleb said. I feel myself blush from both the compliment, and there being another guy in the room. “Jessie, this is Otto, Amber’s date,” Caleb said giving me a quick wink.
Oh lord, this should be interesting.
“Oh hi, nice to meet you, I’m Jessie,” I say. “Are we picking Amber up?” I look at Caleb, wondering where this all came from. Otto is obviously shorter than Caleb and has shaggy blonde hair. He looks well built though stocky. The kind of guy that looks a little chubby, until he gives you a hug and you realize he’s all muscle. This I know, because he walked over and gave me a hug. Not exactly something I was expecting. I catch my mom looking at me with a gleam of humor in her eye.
“You have your own man, stop pawing at mine,” says Amber’s voice behind me. “I can’t even go pee without you trying to steal my man.”
“Uh, no I wasn’t. What?”
Amber smacks my butt. �
�Gotcha, chilax.”
Caleb and Otto laugh it off. My mom and grandma look at each other curiously, probably as confused as I am.
“Don’t forget to be home early, you’re having lunch with Mrs. Ward tomorrow. No excuses.”
“Okay, bye,” I say and grab my purse as Caleb holds the door open.
“Sweet tie-dye dress, the cowboy boots give you that country-girl-with-flair look. For a New Yorker, that’s cool,” Amber says to me.
I’d found the dress at a local thrift shop the last time I went out with my mom. I saw Taylor Swift wear something like it in a magazine, and thought I’d try out the look. “Thank you, I just got it.” I pray my boobs aren’t about to fall out the top. I hate it when there’s too much boobage going on.
The Light Tamer (The Light Tamer Trilogy) Page 8