by K L Ogden
After a few minutes, he turned the water off and grabbed a dishtowel wrapping it around her hand. He kept her wrapped hand tightly in his grip between his hands. She could feel the heat of his palm with her fingertips poking from the towel.
“Do you have anything to cover it up?” Obi asked keeping his head down.
“Yah. I’m sure I can find something. It’s not that bad. At least I heal quickly.”
“Not bad? I should probably take you to get stitches.” He finally looked up from their hands.
“It’ll be fine. If I need to my mom can stitch it up when she gets home.” Her gaze carefully monitored the concern on his face. He gave a nod but still did not remove his hands from hers. “Obi?”
“Hm?”
She smiled up at him. “I’m going to go wrap it up.”
“Oh. Yah.” He dropped his hands and stuffed them in his pockets. “I was just trying to keep pressure on it.”
“I’ll be right back.” She clutched at the towel and went up to the bathroom. Behind the closed door, she drew in a deep breath. Hitomi felt she needed to get away from him before she pushed herself into his arms. With her back leaned against the door, she took in another deep breath and unwrapped the towel from her hand. The bleeding had already stopped and the gash wasn’t even painful. She rubbed her fingertips together remembering the feeling of his skin.
Hitomi shook the thought from her head and went about covering up the cut with some gauze and tape. She headed back to the first floor and abruptly stopped on the stairs when the living room came into view. Obi was sitting on the couch with the television on and munching on the sliced carrots. Hitomi was frozen on the steps.
“Are you going to come eat your snack?” he asked without even looking at her.
Snapping out of her trance, she made her way over to the couch. She was nervous to sit next to him, but eager to prove she wasn’t afraid of him. Acting as nonchalant as she was able to pull off, she plopped down on the couch next to him and grabbed a carrot from the plate sitting between them. She glanced up at him, but he was refusing to look at her as he continued staring at the television. She wasn’t even sure what he was watching because she couldn’t take her eyes from him.
“Where do you go to school?” Hitomi blurted out unable to contain her questions.
“I don’t,” Obi replied shortly.
“You’re out of school,” she nodded completing his answer. “Do you live around here?”
“Sure.”
“Do you live with your parents?”
“Nope.”
She sighed frustrated that she wasn’t learning much more about him. “You don’t like to answer questions, do you?”
“Not really. Do you?” he finally turned and looked at her.
She grabbed another carrot and shrugged. “Ask me whatever you want.”
Obi raised an eyebrow and brushed his hair away from his face. He shifted his body so that he was facing her and rested his arm along the back of the couch. “Where’s your mother?”
“She works a lot. She’s a nurse at the hospital,” Hitomi replied smugly as she turned her body facing him as well.
“And your dad?”
“I never met him. He passed away a long time ago.” She nibbled at the end of the carrot.
“I’m sorry,” Obi mumbled.
“It’s okay. Any more questions?” she raised her eyes back up to his.
His head tilted slightly. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen. Almost 18. You?”
“Nineteen. Why aren’t you out with your friends tonight?”
Hitomi bit at her bottom lip and shrugged. “My best friend has a boyfriend.” She wasn’t really sure what other way to answer the question. She observed him waiting for more of a response. “Kerry is my best friend. We have been best friends since grade school. We used to do everything together. Every weekend we basically lived at my house. But as we got older, Kerry got the boyfriends and I got left at home. Not that I blamed her. We’ve just kind of grown a bit apart. But she has a great boyfriend now and they invite me out all the time. I just always feel like a third wheel I guess. I wish we were closer, but people eventually drift away from each other when priorities change.” Hitomi had just divulged feelings that she had never said out loud. At least she left out the part of her jealousy towards her best friend. But still, she was telling Obi things that she would never dream of telling anyone else. She wondered what compelled her to share her emotions. She felt close to Obi, tied to him in some way. She felt she could completely trust him.
Obi slightly pursed his lips as he thought and watched her intently. She wished that she knew what he was thinking. He never let emotion take over his expressions. She was positive she was an open book with her looks. Hitomi needed to know more about him. She wanted to know everything about him. There was something different about him. Something seemed off, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. Right now she wasn’t concerned with the oddities. Hitomi just enjoyed being with him.
Much to her delight, Obi changed the subject sensing her discomfort. “Besides photography, what do you like to do?” he broke the silence.
“Read. I don’t get to do much else.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have a car. And if you haven’t noticed, this town has nothing to do.”
“True,” he agreed with a nod. “If you could go one place, where would you go?”
“Honestly?” She dropped her head and fidgeted with her hands. “The beach. I’ve always wanted to go to the beach. I’ve never seen the ocean. I’ve seen photos of the most beautiful waves rolling in on white sands.”
Obi continued to fire questions at her. She ended up telling him anything he wanted to know. She sat there talking about her favorite foods, books, and movies. She talked about photography for what felt like an hour, while he patiently sat across from her watching every word flow from her mouth. The topic eventually turned to how she wanted to move to California and go to college (something she had never told anyone). Then she slowly drifted into her mother. She talked of how she wished her mother had married so she could have siblings and a father.
The entire time, Obi sat gazing at her. His eyes never breaking from her face. A few times she eyed his hand lazily resting along the back of the couch. She wanted to rest her arm as he was and gently brush her hand against his. Then she wondered if her hand was there with his if he would try to touch her. She pondered if he longed to touch her the way that she wished to touch him. She kept her fingers tightly intertwined in her lap trying to occupy her mind with more conversation.
It had been awhile since she had reached over and turned on a side lamp. Hitomi glanced down at the clock under the television and realized she had practically been talking non-stop for almost four hours. Her stomach let out a loud protest to lack of food. She quickly put her hand over her stomach.
“I’m sorry. I’m keeping you from your dinner,” Obi commented.
“I’m alright.”
“No, I should go,” he rose from the couch. “I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
“That’s okay. It’s not like I have plans or anything. You don’t have to go.” She jumped up from the couch immediately losing her balance. Hitomi felt herself moving in slow motion as her body plunged towards him. Her hands moved in front of her to brace her fall, but quickly Obi was catching her by the shoulders. Her feet stumbled to get their balance as she stood back up straight. She felt utterly ridiculous and her cheeks instantly began burning red.
Obi’s hands felt hot on her shoulders and he slowly smoothed them down to her upper arms. “You’re very accident prone,” he remarked.
“Yah. I always have been.”
“How is your hand?” His fingers slipped from her arms and down to her hand. He cradled it within his and pulled back the tape and gauze. She looked up at him as he stared down at her hand. He was not hiding his shock well. “It’s practically healed.”
“I told you I heal fa
st.”
He peered back up at her and dropped her hand. “I’m going to go.” Obi suddenly started for the door.
“But…” Hitomi walked after him not wanting him to leave.
He spun back around to her when he reached the door. “I have to go.” He grabbed his jacket and rested it over his arm.
“When will I see you again?”
Obi twisted the door knob and opened the door, moving backwards through the frame. He eyed her and she was dying to know what he was thinking. He leaned down and forward bringing his face severely close to hers. From watching romance movies, she almost thought he was about to kiss her but instead he gazed deeply into her eyes. If she hadn’t been so stunned, she would have taken the opportunity to study his eyes more carefully. She rocked back on her heels feeling probed by his intensity.
“Your eyes,” Obi said as he stood back upright. “They are the color of those oceans you wish to see.” He took a few more steps back. “Meet me at the bench tomorrow morning.” He turned and hurriedly disappeared down the street.
Chapter 5
Obsidian pulled his hood up over his head and lowered his face as he stalked down the corridor. It was one of the first times he was thankful for the dim lighting. The few torches lit along the hallway cast an orange brilliance over the rock walls and created dancing shadows. It made him uncomfortable not knowing who might be lurking around that he was unable to notice, but he didn’t smell anyone in hiding. He stopped at one of the caverns attached to the hallway and threw back the thick fabric stepping inside.
Guri sat on his bed with his legs tucked up reading a book. He glanced up as Obi entered. “Hey…”
Obi was across the room in a second and had his hand over Guri’s mouth. “Shh.” He removed his hand and stepped away from him.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you know about that girl?”
“I already told you. Nothing.” Guri dropped his feet to the ground and laid his book aside. “But I need to tell you…”
“You need to tell me about her.” Obi had crossed the room and pulled Guri up from the cot. He held Guri by the collar and pushed him back against the wall. “Who is she?”
“Obi, calm down.” Guri stared at him.
Obsidian shook his head and let go of him. Taking a few steps away, he rubbed his forehead and peered at Guri. “Don’t do that to me. Stay out of my head.”
“Sorry but you needed to be calmed. Tell me what happened.”
Obi moved over and sat down on the floor against the opposite wall. He had no idea where to begin. His head was overloaded and Guri’s intrusion was not helping matters. “Guri, I can’t get her out of my mind. Something is drawing me to her. Something I can’t explain. My stomach pains when I am not near her. When I am around her I want nothing more than to just touch her. I find myself intoxicated with her scent. It completely encompasses me.” His speech became more frantic. “She does something to me. What is she doing to me?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do know. You’ve been keeping something from me.”
“Obi, the council knows. You are to go before them tomorrow.”
Obi dropped his head back against the cool rock. “But Hitomi…” He thought of the plans he had made to meet her. After talking to Guri he had planned to return to her house and wait until she went to bed to see her again. Then he would be waiting for her in the morning. “Even now I feel the pain rising. I just left her minutes ago.”
“This would all go away if you finished your list,” Guri whispered.
Obsidian sucked in a staggered deep breath. He rubbed his fingertips together. If he hadn’t touched her that first night, none of this would be happening now. All these things he was feeling and thinking would not be present. He wouldn’t be worrying about punishment from the council. He’d be sitting alone in his cavern awaiting the next list. Alone. He’d been nothing but alone for the past 17 years.
“I can’t,” he mumbled. “I can’t let anything happen to her.” He looked back up to Guri who had a smile on his face. “Why are you smiling?”
“You have so much confusion swirling around in your head. It’s making me dizzy.”
“You weren’t able to feel anything coming from her when you marked her?”
“No,” Guri shook his head. “It was like she had some sort of barrier.”
Obi brushed his hair from his face. “And she heals fast. I mean, fast like us. How can she heal like us?” Guri shrugged in response. “I need to go back and see her.” Obi pulled himself up from the ground and Guri quickly moved in front of him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Guri…”
“I’ll have someone else watch over her. Just stay here so we can figure out what you need to tell the council.”
“Who?”
“Don’t worry about it. You can trust him.”
“You know something more, don’t you Guri?” Obi narrowed his eyes.
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to talk about it yet.” He flashed another smile. “Stay here.” Guri hurried out of the room. Obi began pacing the room. He didn’t like leaving Hitomi unprotected. If the council knew his list was incomplete, anything could happen. But he was taking his chances trusting Guri and trusting the fact that the council never did anything without a meeting.
****
Hitomi woke up early Saturday morning. She jumped out of bed and rushed over to the window. The bench sat empty. It really didn’t surprise her that he wasn’t there yet. The rain was pouring down and the street lamps were still on. The sky was practically as black as night time. The street glistened from the yellow lights and Hitomi turned her face up to the sky.
Her body shuddered as she felt the cold wash over her. Someone was watching her again and she knew it wasn’t Obi. She swiftly closed the drapes and hugged her arms around herself. She stepped back from the window and started getting clothes from her dresser.
After a hot quick shower, she got dressed in a pair of hip-hugging jeans and a navy turtleneck sweater. She couldn’t decide whether to leave her hair down or put it up, but considering the weather she opted on a ponytail. She heard her mother banging around in the kitchen as she walked downstairs.
“What are you doing mom?” she asked walking into the kitchen.
Regina was kneeling on the ground with half of her body poking out from one of the lower cabinets. “I’m looking for something.”
“I kind of figured that. What are you looking for?”
“Have you seen our crock pot? I wanted to start something this morning so it will be ready when we get back.” Regina’s head appeared and she pushed her hair back from her face. “Oh, you’re all dressed and ready to go.”
“The crock pot is above the refrigerator. And where are we going?”
Regina let out a ‘hmph’ as she stood up and eyed the refrigerator. “Shopping. Did you forget about getting your dress?”
“Oh,” Hitomi’s shoulders slumped.
“Don’t sound so excited,” her mother glanced back to her and grinned.
“No, I am,” Hitomi tried to convince her. “I just have to go do something first.”
“Go do something?” Regina stood from the ground and adjusted the belt on her robe. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Mother, I go to school every day. I get straight A’s, except for gym. I’ve never snuck out of the house, I don’t do drugs or drink. Can you give me a little slack here?”
“Hitomi, it has nothing to do with you. I just want you to be safe.”
“I’ll be back before lunch,” Hitomi spun around and started for the front door.
“Hitomi, don’t you walk out of here!” her mother called after her, but Hitomi wasn’t listening. She had given her mother almost 18 years. She was doing this one thing for herself. Tossing on her jacket and grabbing an umbrella, she slammed the door behind her. She looked over to the bench, but Obi still wasn’t there.
She opened the umbrella and hurried out into the rain. She rushed across the street and over to the bench. A thick tree branch overhead shielded her a bit from the pouring water, but the bottoms of her pants were completely soaked. She held the umbrella tightly for fear it would blow right out of her hand.
Glancing up and down the street a chill swept through her again. Her body shivered and she found herself looking for a pair of eyes on her. There was no one on the street and only a few cars had driven past as she waited. She looked behind her, but no one was in the park. She wasn’t sure what direction Obi would be coming from, but she was praying that he would get there soon. She was starting to get creeped out and didn’t like being out in the open.