by Steve Bevil
“Well,” smirked Leah. “She is 17 and a woman is entitled to change her mind.”
Leah stepped in closer to him as she gazed over his shoulder. Nathan glanced down at her arm. Once it was wrapped with a white bandage, but now there was only a deep elongated wound. Abruptly, Nathan cleared his throat. “Now, in no way am I trying to sound like my grandfather,” he said, with obvious trepidation. He pointed toward the purple and bruised scar that stood out against her fair white skin. “But, how is it?”
“Oh,” she said, breaking her gaze. Carefully, she caressed her arm. “It’s okay. I try to forget about it.” She looked past Nathan’s shoulder again. “I think we all are.”
“‘All are’ what?” asked Nathan, while following her gaze.
“Trying to — forget about it,” she staggered. “Is that a picture of your parents?”
Nathan glanced over toward the two picture frames of his parents and immediately bee-lined toward them, after he noticed the bottle of Wool’s ointment still sitting on his desk. “Yeah,” he said, quickly placing the white bottle with big black lettering in his desk drawer. Awkwardly, he scratched his head and then forced a nervous smile. “You haven’t seen them before?”
Leah raised her eyebrows and then smiled wide before walking over to him. She smiled big again as she reached around him to pick up one of the picture frames. “When was this taken?” she asked, holding out the wooden frame. “They look so happy.”
“That’s from my parent’s wedding day,” he said, slowly drawing close to her. “It’s my favorite picture of them. Roy said mom made it.” He pointed to the frame. “She carved it herself.”
Carefully, Leah marveled at the rose-colored picture frame. “It’s beautiful,” she said, tracing her fingers across the raised wood grain. “It’s just as beautiful as the person who made it.”
The solemn look on Nathan’s face suddenly gave way to a smile. “Thanks,” he said. He took a deep breath and then relaxed his shoulders. “It’s really the only thing I have of my mother’s. I usually take it with me if I am going to be away from home for a while.” He shrugged. “It’s like taking a little bit of home with me.”
Slowly, Leah’s breathing became shallow and the wooden frame in her hand started shuddering. “So…” she uttered, nervously. “I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned what happened to them.” Nathan’s face became blank again. “It’s okay,” she said, quickly, her breathing returning to normal. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.” Leah paused. “I guess — I guess — oh, never mind.”
Nathan’s forehead frowned and he looked slightly confused. “No, no, it’s okay,” he said. “Really, what is it?”
Leah cast her gaze downward and for a moment, stared at the two people in the picture. “I was just wondering,” she said slowly, and with hesitation. “How come I never hear you talk about your father?”
Abruptly, Nathan slumped down unto his desk. “That’s because I didn’t know him,” he said, his eyes painfully glaring over her shoulder. “I didn’t know my mother either, but there were a lot of her things still left around here — in the cottage.” He broke his gaze and then straightened his posture. “My father died in a car accident shortly after they were married.” He took a deep breath. “And my mom died giving birth to me. I’m not even sure if my dad even knew about me — that my mom was pregnant.”
“I’m so sorry,” whispered Leah. She had a sad look on her face. “I didn’t mean to….”
“Really — it’s okay,” said Nathan, sounding more confident. “Roy has taken good care of me.” He glanced over toward the door. “Granted, I wish he would talk more about my father, but for the most part I never really feel without a parent.” Nathan paused to look around the room. “Don’t get me wrong, I would do anything to have some memory of my parents or to even have them alive, but living here with Roy — and the Devaro’s — just feels….”
“Like you belong somewhere?” added Leah.
Nathan thought hard and then his eyes lit up. “Yeah,” he said, while nodding his head. He paused. “It just feels like — like a family.”
“Well,” said Leah, stepping in close to him. “I know that Roy and the Devaro’s are happy to have you.”
“Oh,” he said with a grin. “And why are you so certain of that?”
Leah smiled and then wrapped her arms around his waist, paying careful attention not to drop the wooden picture frame in her hand. “Why wouldn’t they?” she grinned. “You are such a sweet and caring person — not to mention very brave.” She reached out to stroke his face. “It’s not every day that a guy goes out of his way to save a girl’s life.”
Nathan smiled as he brushed a loose strand of wavy brown hair from her face. “Yeah,” he said, with a laugh. “And it’s not every day that a guy has to go up against a fallen angel.”
Leah laughed and then stood on the tip of her toes as Nathan carefully cradled her face in his hands. “I mean, what is there not to like?” she said, teasingly, before Nathan could kiss her. She playfully turned her face away from his. “But now that I think about it, there is that annoying stubbornness — but I guess a person can get used to that.”
“Oh, is that so?” asked Nathan, before pulling her in close to kiss her.
Suddenly, the door to Nathan’s bedroom swung forcibly open, hitting the wall behind it, hard. “No, that’s not fair!” someone screamed.
Startled, Nathan pulled away from Leah. “Talk about kisses interruptus!” he groaned. Nathan spun around and then immediately frowned. “Jonas!” he yelled. He paused after seeing the two pairs of brown eyes staring back at him. “And Bobby.”
Jonas looked up at the call of his name and displayed a huge smile. “Nathan!” he said, energetically. He looked at him bright-eyed as Bobby continued to try to get the basketball away from him. “Oh — and hi, Leah.”
Leah watched Bobby struggle to reach the basketball while Jonas held it high in the air. “Hey, Jonas,” she laughed. “How are you?”
“Jonas!” blurted Nathan. “W–what are you doing here? And in my room!”
Jonas continued to avoid his brother while simultaneously bouncing the basketball around the room. “Angela brought me,” he said, taking a moment to look at Nathan through his shaggy dark hair. “Well — us.”
“Come on, Jonas!” whined Bobby, through clinched teeth. He was nearly out of breath. “You said that I could have it next!”
Nathan grimaced as Bobby stood on top of his bed and attempted to grab the basketball from Jonas. “Look!” shouted Nathan. “Will you just give him the freaking basketball already? He’s messing up my sheets and my bed!”
“It’s okay, Nathan,” said Leah with a laugh. She carefully placed the wooden picture frame back on the desk. “I’ll fix it.”
Without warning, Bobby sprung off the bed; launching for the basketball with his hands stretched out into the air. “Give it to me!” he yelled, before slamming into the tall wooden dresser. “Ouch!”
“Ugh!” moaned Nathan, as the items on top of the dresser toppled over. “You guys get out of my room. You’re making a mess of everything!”
Jonas looked over at him again and a look of sorrow washed over his face. “But I wanted to talk to you!” shouted Jonas. His eyes began to quiver in their sockets. “We haven’t really spoken since camp.”
Nathan froze. “Oh,” he said, sounding disarmed and slightly surprised. Nathan diverted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he hadn’t been the best at returning Jonas’s phone calls or text messages. “W–what did you want to talk about?”
Jonas paused, securing the basketball underneath his arm. Slowly, Bobby staggered to his feet, nursing a bruised elbow.
Jonas took a deep breath and sighed. “Umm — just some stuff….”
“Like?” asked Nathan, slowly. He stared at him inquisitively. “Jonas?” Suddenly, Nathan’s eyes grew wide. “This isn’t about your powers is it? You know they can find you if you use y
our powers. Bobby?”
Bobby quickly looked up at the sound of his name and frowned. “If I was using my lame powers I wouldn’t be here,” he smirked.
Nathan looked at him confused and Bobby sighed. “This isn’t exactly Wizards and Warriors,” he explained, grudgingly. “It’s not like I can actually use my power to travel into the space in-between realms to protect myself.”
Jonas raised his eyebrows and they almost disappeared beneath his shaggy curls. “No, no,” he stumbled. “It’s not about that.” Slowly, he glanced over at Leah and then loudly cleared his throat. “Umm — it’s personal.”
Leah stood up, making the final touches to Nathan’s bed, and smiled. “I think now would be a good time for me to checkin with Lafonda.”
Happily, she strolled past Bobby, but not before roughing the dark curly hair on his head with her fingers. She smiled wide as her eyes met Jonas’s, but abruptly came to a halt when she noticed the unhappy scowl on Nathan’s face. “I’m not going far, handsome,” she said. “I promise — just over to the main house.”
Nathan’s eyes fluttered a few times before his frown slowly formed into a smile. “Okay,” he said, reluctantly, while glancing first at Bobby, then at Jonas.
She followed his gaze and gave a quick grin before stepping onto her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll be back.”
“So,” said Nathan, drawing a deep breath.
“Oh, wait!” said Leah, hurrying back into the room. “I almost forgot — my bag!”
Suddenly, a few frown lines appeared on Nathan’s forehead. “Oh, okay,” he said, sounding a bit confused. “But aren’t you coming back?”
Quickly, she reached for the brown knitted bag that sat at the foot of Nathan’s bed near Bobby’s leg. “Umm — yes,” she said, her voice quivering.
“Oh, here,” said Bobby, reaching for the bag.
“I got it!” said Leah, forcibly. She paused to secure the long crochet strap diagonally across her shoulder and chest. “I mean, thanks, but I got it.”
Bobby, Jonas, and Nathan all looked at Leah confused. “A girl can never go too far without her brush and things,” she said nervously, while patting the bag. She smiled and then swiftly headed toward the door. “I’ll see you guys later.”
Nathan’s face continued to frown, but he turned his attention to Jonas and Bobby after Leah closed the door. “So,” he sighed. “What did you guys want to talk about?”
Bobby stopped rubbing his elbow and with his left eyebrow raised, made a displeasing glare at Nathan.
Nathan grinned. “I mean … what did you want to talk about, Jonas?” he asked, placing an emphasis on the word “you.”
Quietly, Jonas stared at him through his dark shaggy hair and his brown eyes slightly shivered in their sockets again. “Don’t you miss us!” he blurted.
“Ugh!” said Bobby, rolling his eyes. “I don’t need to talk about anything!” Quickly, Bobby launched forward from the balls of his feet. “Just give me the dang basketball!”
“Aaaah!” Jonas moaned as Bobby crashed into him; causing the basketball underneath his arm to fly into the air.
Quickly, Nathan ducked as the ball flew unexpectedly over his head. It hit the wall above his wooden desk and landed on top of the rose-colored picture frame.
3
PROTECTING WITH SECRETS
Nathan stood motionless as he stared at the shards of broken glass and the pieces of red painted wood that lay strewn across his wooden desk. He was so still and his face so red that Bobby was scared Nathan would never breathe again. Slowly, Jonas’s stunned face gave way to a frown as he carefully stepped forward. He winced as he cautiously reached in front of Nathan to stop the rolling basketball from falling off the desk and on to the ground.
“Umm, you can just buy a new one, right?” stammered Bobby. He paused, taking a moment to look at Jonas. “I’ve been with Mom to this store near campus — to replace stuff I’ve broken at home.”
Bobby inched closer. “And by the looks of it — it looks old anyway.” He shrugged and reached out for Jonas’s basketball again. “Mom always says there’s no use in crying over old stuff.”
Jonas cringed and then turned around to shake his head at his little brother. “Umm, Nathan?” whispered Jonas. He swallowed hard, hesitating to speak. “Are you … okay?”
“Well, at least the other one isn’t broken,” said Bobby, while looking over Jonas’s shoulder.
Jonas turned around again, this time to glower at his little brother. “What!” shouted Bobby as he crossed his arms. “I don’t understand what the big deal is — I break stuff all the time.”
“You’re not supposed to break stuff, Bobby!” said Jonas, sternly. He took a deep breath and then whispered in his ear. “Remember what I told you? The reason why Nathan lives here with his grandfather? It was his mother’s.”
Bobby’s eyes grew wide and then his head hung low. “Oh,” he uttered, softly.
Slowly, Jonas tried to catch a glimpse of Nathan’s face. “Umm — Nathan,” he said with some trepidation. “Do you think the other frame is broken?”
Nathan continued to stand motionless, but finally exhaled deeply as Jonas reached out to touch his hand. Both Jonas and Bobby looked at each other with a sense of relief as Nathan carefully shook shards of glass from the other picture frame.
It had fallen flat on its face and Nathan was worried that it too had been broken. He stared at the silver picture frame, its glass intact and in place. He then stared longingly at the pregnant woman looking back at him. Besides the dust and small particles of wood fragments on the glass, she stood just as he remembered her; a smile full of hope and eyes beaming with life.
“Good, it’s not broken!” exclaimed Jonas, while securing the basketball underneath his arm.
Nathan turned around to look at him and his pursed lips slowly curved into a smile. “Yeah,” he said drily and Nathan could hear Bobby release a deep sigh.
Nathan turned to reassure him, but Bobby had already embraced him tightly to his side with a hug. “I’m sorry, Nathan,” he said. “I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay,” he said, while resting his arm around Bobby. But Nathan’s worse fear lay in front of him.
Nathan’s smile had disappeared again as he released Bobby. Carefully, he maneuvered through the pieces of glass and wood, so that he could examine the photo. Nathan blinked a few times and couldn’t believe his eyes. Even though the rose-colored picture frame his mom had carved from wood lay completely in ruin, their wedding photo was perfect and intact. Nathan smiled as he admired the picture of his parents, both dressed in their Sunday best.
“What was your dad’s name?” asked Jonas with a smile. “And your mom — she’s beautiful. Grace, right?”
“Yeah,” said Nathan. His stomach tingled and a warm feeling began to grow from the pit of his stomach. He smiled. “Yes, my mom’s name is Grace and my dad’s name is Michael. Michael Urye.”
“I’ll help you clean!” said Bobby eagerly, reaching for the glass.
“Wait!” shouted Nathan. Bobby froze. He could see a look of disappointment starting to creep onto Bobby’s face. “You can help, but let me put the pictures away first.”
Bobby smiled wide as Nathan placed the silver picture frame and the wedding photo of his parents into the top drawer of his desk. “What’s this?” asked Bobby, quickly reaching through the shards of wood and glass again.
“Wait, Bobby!” cried Jonas. “Before you cut yourself.”
Bobby paused and then frowned. “I’m not four years old, Jonas,” he seethed. From underneath the small fragments of glass and wood, Bobby pulled out a small cylinder object. “What is this? A whistle?”
“Let me see that,” said Nathan, sounding intrigued and surprised. Bobby handed Nathan the small silver object. The surface of it was smooth and it glinted in the light.
“See, there is a slit or a hole near the top, for the sound to come out,” said Bobby.
Jonas lo
oked intently at Nathan. “You haven’t seen it before, have you?” asked Jonas.
Slowly, Nathan shook his head while rubbing his hand over the surface of the object that nestled in the palm of his hand. “No, I haven’t” he said.
“I’m guessing it’s a whistle,” continued Bobby, stepping forward.
“It’s not a whistle!” responded Jonas, in a condescending tone. Bobby glowered at him. “Look Bobby, it’s too small to be a whistle.”
Suddenly, there was a gleam in Bobby’s eyes. “Then, I bet it’s a dog whistle,” he boasted.
“I highly doubt that,” said Nathan.
Bobby looked confused while Jonas smirked.
“See the bottom?” explained Nathan. “There’s no way to blow in the air to make it whistle, just a clasp at the end of it.”
“What was it doing inside your mom’s picture frame?” asked Jonas.
“I have no idea,” said Nathan.
Bobby’s head sprung up. “Can I have it then?” he asked.
“No!” cried Bobby and Nathan in unison.
“Ugh!” wined Bobby, plopping down on to the edge of Nathan’s bed. “I never have any fun!”
Nathan turned to look at Bobby and sighed before he slowly shook his head. “It looks like it’s a charm or something,” he said. “I’m guessing because of the clasp — and how small it is. It probably was worn as a part of a necklace.”
“Or bracelet,” added Jonas. Nathan’s forehead furrowed again and Bobby overzealously nodded his head. “It’s small enough to be worn as a charm on a bracelet.”
Gently, Nathan continued to turn it over in the palm of his hand. Could this have been my mom’s? He thought. And why would she put this in a picture frame?
Nathan opened the top drawer to his desk again and took out his parents’ wedding photo.
“It looks like she’s wearing a gold chain — or necklace,” said Jonas, peering over his shoulder. “But most of it is hidden beneath the top of her wedding dress. What about the other photo?”