Jimmy squeezed her hand. She looked up at him, smiled and squeezed back.
“Can you live with that?” she asked.
Jimmy shrugged. “When Monday comes, I may be dead, so I guess I can live with it for a little while yet.”
“Why do you say that?”
Jimmy laughed. “After what I did last night with those jocks, I’ll be lucky to last five minutes when I get to school on Monday.”
“Do you really think so?” she asked.
“What planet are you from where jocks don’t attack people like me on a regular basis and make their lives a living hell whenever they can?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am not a popular guy, Sapphire. I’m the kind of guy who likes to spend his time in the library rather than lifting weights. I don’t play sports. I can generally put a sentence together correctly, I enjoy science, and I can do math.”
“I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” she said. “I think you’re very nice, Jimmy. I think you’re special. I don’t think I would even be here if you weren’t special.”
Jimmy shrugged. “You talk in riddles, Sapphire, but I can’t stop looking at you.”
Sapphire smiled again. “I don’t want you to be in trouble on Monday.”
Jimmy did another shrug. “Whatever will happen, will happen.”
Sapphire nodded and looked down at her feet. Jimmy looked down, as well. The ground was wet, but surprisingly solid. He had always figured it was just swamp and vegetation down here but, instead, there was almost a kind of beach here. “Beach” wasn’t really the right word, but it was as close as Jimmy could get right now. Granted, he wouldn’t want to come down here in the summer in a bathing suit and go swimming in the river. Rumors about what was in that river abounded, and none of them were pleasant.
“Why are you down here?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not like there are houses down here,” he said, waving his hand absently to indicate the area in which they were standing. “And there are all kinds of stories about what might be in this river.”
Her eyes flashed with that interior light again and her head snapped around. She stopped walking. “What kind of things?”
The air around them suddenly felt colder. Jimmy stopped in his tracks and looked at Sapphire. Her hand felt cold again. Jimmy’s brow furrowed.
“I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. “People say toxic waste is down here. That there are mutant catfish in the river. Lots of stuff. They say there are dead animals in here. Raw sewage...”
He shrugged and waved his hand dismissively.
“Hell,” he said, “maybe even dead bodies.”
Sapphire dropped his hand. “That is not funny, Jimmy.”
Jimmy felt the air going out of everything. The cold air seemed to dip even lower, his breath pluming out in front of his face as he exhaled. The darkness seemed to press in on them. The world seemed to be getting dimmer. The only things that remained bright were Sapphire’s eyes, which seemed to be glowing red.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, just saying what other people say about this place,” he said, trying to sound good-natured, but he figured it probably sounded a lot like surrender and pleading. “I was just repeating what other people have said, that’s all. This just doesn’t have the reputation of being a romantic spot.”
The warmth crept back into her face and the light seemed to get brighter. Warmth also crept back into Jimmy’s body. It was as if the universe had a giant dimmer switch and it was now being turned back up. Sapphire suddenly smiled and gazed up at him demurely.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m probably overreacting. I’m just sensitive about that kind of thing. I’m sorry. Look, I know that everything about me is strange. I know that, Jimmy. And there are reasons for all of it, but I just don’t want to get into them now. In fact, I’m not even really sure I can explain it right now. I guess this is a weird place to meet and go for a walk, but at the same time, it’s also isolated. It’s just us. The rest of the world can just kind of disappear, right?”
Jimmy sighed. He could hear George in his head telling him that he was an idiot. Then again, George didn’t have a girl as beautiful as Sapphire standing there and looking at him the way she was now, smiling and warm. George hadn’t kissed her. He hadn’t felt the energy Jimmy had felt when he was with her.
“Right,” he said, and held out his hand. She took it and was in his arms an instant later. She kissed him then, and suddenly none of the questions he had discussed with his mother or George mattered.
For a moment the world really did slip away. With his eyes closed and his lips pressed against hers, it was as if the world fell away from beneath them. He felt the wind blowing gently against their skin, cooling the sweat that stood out on his arms and neck. Nothing else mattered. There was nothing else but that kiss and her body against his. It didn’t matter where they were, or the twelve million questions rolling through his head. For the moment,Jimmy forgot that nothing about her or the two of them or anything that had happened tonight or the night before made much sense. Like the fact that she claimed to live on a river, appeared out of nowhere on a dark road, was a girl he had never seen before, that being with her had gotten him to act like he had never acted before, and that she spoke in sentences that made no sense. All of that was forgotten.
When the kiss broke, Jimmy was breathless. The air around them had turned from chilly just a few moments before to boiling hot and he was sweating all over. Despite this, he was shivering. He had never felt his heart pound so hard in his chest before. Was he having a heart attack? He did a quick mental rundown. No radiating pain down his arm or up to his chin. In fact, no chest pain at all. Nope, he wasn’t having a heart attack.
“You’re shivering,” Sapphire whispered.
Jimmy nodded. He didn’t trust his voice not to break. He held her tight, afraid to let her go. He was afraid to let this night end. What time was it? How long had they been together? How long had they been walking, and how long had they been kissing?
“I don’t want this night to end,” he whispered back.
She smiled. “I know. Me, neither, but it is getting late.”
“What time is it?”Jimmy asked.
“I’m not sure,” Sapphire said. “I think it may be after midnight.”
“Impossible. How can time have gone that fast?”
Sapphire snuggled closer to him. “Time flies, as they say. I know this is strange, Jimmy. Trust me, I know. I wish I could explain more.”
Jimmy stepped back, holding her shoulders. “Nothing you’re saying makes any sense, Sapphire.”
She looked frustrated. She shook her head and then looked back up at him with pleading eyes. Jimmy wasn’t sure what to say. So, he said the first thing that came to his mind to keep her calm, which was completely contradictory to what he had just said.
“None of that matter. What matters is how you make me feel. Sapphire. I have had a lot of crushes on girls, but never had a girlfriend. I’ve never even had the guts to ask a girl out. You’re the first. You’re the first girl I’ve ever kissed. All that matters is us and when we can see each other again.”
Sapphire looked down again and shrugged. “I don’t know right now, Jimmy. I shouldn’t even be here now, so how can I predict when we can see each other again?”
Jimmy reached down and put his finger under her chin, lifting her face up to his. Her eyes shimmered. She looked like she was about to start crying.
“I think I may be falling in love with you, Sapphire,” Jimmy said. “I’ve never said that to any girl, either, but, as we’ve established here, nothing about this has made sense so far. I want you to know that. And I think that when two people are in love, they can cross any distance and solve any problem together.”
Sapphire smiled. “You should be a writer, Jimmy. You’re very good with words.”
He felt himself blush. “Thanks. I’d like to be a writer, actually.”
She kissed his lips gently. “You’ll be a great one. Come on. Let’s walk back to the road.”
They walked hand-in-hand along the riverbank. The smell of the river was not foul; in fact, it had a strange, natural quality to it that Jimmy found rather appealing. They talked about school and life, but Jimmy did not ask any more questions. He decided that the time for questions would come later. He had to get back home and face his mother and his best friend first. Then he had to face the jocks at school on Monday. Right now, just this moment and just them together in that moment, was all that mattered.
They reached the road and Jimmy turned to face her. She stood there, her arms folded in such a way that she appeared to be trying to keep them attached to her shoulders.
“Goodnight,” Jimmy said. “Look, can I give you my number or something? I have to see you again.”
She shook her head slowly. “I’ll come find you. Don’t worry. Somehow.”
She moved quickly into his arms again. They kissed again and, once more, they were lost in it for what seemed like an eternity. When she pulled away, her eyes were shimmering again, but still burning deep inside.
“I love you, too,” she said quietly, almost too softly for Jimmy to hear.
Then she was running away from him, disappearing back down the bank of the river. Jimmy reached out for her, but she was gone back the way they had come. Jimmy ran over to the bridge and looked over the side. He gasped. He saw only the moonlight and stars shimmering in the slowly flowing river water. There was no sign of Sapphire. He stood there with his mouth open, a shout frozen in his throat, his eyes frantically searching the riverbank.
He could see his footprints in the muddy and strangely sandy ground, but as he looked more closely, he realized that the second set of footprints was missing. It was as if Sapphire had been floating above the ground the entire time.
7
When Jimmy got home, he checked his watch and saw that it was one in the morning. He sat outside for a few moments, and then got up and walked as stealthily as he could up the front porch and into the house. He cringed when the screen door let out a groan that sounded about as quiet as a double-barreled shotgun going off. He crept into the darkened living room and froze. He slipped off his shoes to try and be quieter figuring his mother would start screaming at him at any moment. He looked to his left into the living room and saw a form lying on the couch and remained frozen for a time.
The snoring was what made him move again. When she was deeply asleep, his mother was known to saw logs louder than a lumberjack. The television was on with the volume turned down, and the screen cast an eerie glow across her face. Her head was back, pressed into one of the couch cushions, and her mouth hung open. She had a magazine on her chest and the remote control was held loosely by one hand and had also ended up on her chest. Her breathing was regular, making the magazine and the remote move up and down slowly. She was out.
Jimmy thought for a moment that a loving and diligent son would wake his mother up and help her to bed rather than leave her on the couch. However, given the verbal assault he was likely to encounter, Jimmy guessed he could spend one night not being a good and diligent son. He picked up his shoes and shuffled in his stocking feet to his bedroom. He closed the door carefully behind him, and only then did he let his breath out in a long sigh.
He undressed quietly. He then slipped into bed, the coolness of the sheets welcome against his skin. He looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom. The shadows from the trees and bushes outside his bedroom cast strange figures across the ceiling tiles, like hands clawing and scratching. He smiled. His head was buzzing and when he closed his eyes, he saw Sapphire staring at him, her eyes that were burning coals set far back in her sockets. He had never known anyone more beautiful. He wondered if he would ever get to sleep.
He was asleep in seconds. One moment he was staring at the claws and shadows on his ceiling, and the next he had gone into a deep sleep. His body was exhausted. Although his brain continued to buzz with thoughts and images of Sapphire, his body forced him into sleep. His dreams were troubles and, although he could not remember any of them the next morning, he knew that Sapphire was in most of them.
Near dawn, he had a dream that he carried with him right into his waking moments. He was running through the darkened woods with Sapphire. She was clutching his hand, and all around them was darkness. The darkness seemed alive, however, not just the absence of light, but something alive that wanted to reach out and grab them. Tree branches slapped Jimmy in the face, whipping at his eyes, tearing the flesh from his face. He could feel the blood running down his face, dripping from his chin, and spattering against the ground. Beneath his feet, the roots of trees reached up from under the ground like hungry hands grabbing for food. He felt them wrapping around his ankles, threatening to spill him onto the ground. And behind them was the worst part, because something was there, something was coming. He could hear it thrashing and crashing through the branches. Sapphire was terrified, her hands gripping his with such force that he could feel the bones moving beneath her fingers, squeezing so tight that he thought the bones might break.
“Run, Jimmy!” she screamed, and she began to run faster, pulling her hand away from Jimmy’s.
“Sapphire!”
Sapphire’s eyes were wide as she looked back over her shoulder at Jimmy. Just then, the trees near Sapphire split apart as if they had been hit by lightning. A man emerged from behind the trees, from within the darkness. He had glowing red eyes and huge, long, reaching, and grasping fingers that ended in sharp claws. He grabbed Sapphire, the claws sinking into the flesh of her arms. Sapphire let out a sound that pierced Jimmy’s heart. Then the man’s mouth opened, and it was filled with row upon row of needle-sharp teeth. Before Jimmy could catch his breath, the man bit into Sapphire’s neck. Sapphire screamed again and, in the real world, Jimmy’s eyes snapped open.
He stared at the ceiling over his head. The ceiling tiles were still there, but the shadows were gone. Sunlight streaked through the blinds and spread across the ceiling. He sat up, the covers falling away and looked down to see that his entire body was slick with sweat. The blankets were twisted around his legs, as if he had been thrashing in his sleep. He groaned when the blood rushed to his head and his head pounded angrily in response. He felt hung over again, was thirsty, and felt as if he had not slept at all.
“What time is it?” he muttered to himself.
He looked over at the clock. It was ten o’clock in the morning. He blinked in surprise and gazed at the clock face again. Yes, it still said it was ten a.m. Actually, now it said it was after ten. That was odd, to say the least. There was no way his mother would let him sleep this late. It was a Sunday, sure, but the best he could normally have hoped for was that she would let him sleep until eight.
It felt like a knife twisted in Jimmy’s gut. When his mom suddenly deviated from her rather predictable norms, that meant she was about to try and teach Jimmy a lesson. She was angry. Perhaps he would be getting the silent treatment from her all day. He sighed and freed his feet from the blankets. The air in the bedroom was warm. It was going to be a hot day, he could tell already.
The events of the night before replayed before his mind’s eye. Already much of it felt like a dream. At that thought, he immediately recalled the large man who had come tearing through the trees and shot him back into the waking world. The long arms, razor-sharp claws, and needle-like teeth made him shiver, despite the heat.
He stood up and stretched, but his head continued to beat a steady rhythm just behind his eyes. He would need to take something to get rid of this headache. He didn’t have to work, which was nice, so maybe he could try to track down George and maybe patch things up with him. First, he had to get through the gauntlet that was his mother.
Jimmy grabbed some pants and headed into the hallway. The television was on, but the volume was higher than it was last night. He could hear the soft clinking of a spoon hitting a ceramic bow
l, and knew that his mother had also slept late and was just now eating breakfast, probably on the sofa in front of the television. His mom was not the type to get up and make bacon and eggs for herself. She ate cereal and that was that. If she was feeling particularly celebratory in the morning, she might make herself some tea and toast coated with honey.
Jimmy frowned. It was unlike his mother to indulge in that extra sleep. He wondered if she had cried last night and, perhaps, even cried herself to sleep, convinced that her once obedient-without-question-son had defied her and gone off with the mystery woman from the side of the road.
He quickly went down the hall to the linen closet and got a towel. He moved rapidly, ducking into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and turning on the shower before his mother had a chance to get up from the couch. He let the shower get warm and then he undressed, assessing himself in the mirror. He looked the same. He was skinny, his arms comical rather than muscular. His ribs showed and his stomach, rather than showing off a six-pack, seemed concave, as if he were collapsing on himself. He hardly looked like a bully-killer who had injured one of the strongest jocks in school just two days ago. What the hell had gotten into him? One word came to mind when he asked himself that question: Sapphire. Everything about her was different, and that made him feel different.
Steam began to rise from the shower, clouding the mirror. He listened for a moment to see if he could hear his mother getting up or walking around. He heard nothing. He stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash over him.
His head felt a little bit better once he was done, but there was still that residual pounding at the base of his skull. Is this what people felt like the day after they got drunk? If so, why did they seem to enjoy being drunk so much?
Once he was dried off, his hair brushed and deodorant applied to his armpits, he decided he had been in the bathroom long enough. He had expected his mother to knock on the door or, perhaps, just burst into the bathroom to talk to him. She had done neither, and this worried him. What was she trying to prove—that if he felt he was old enough not to heed her advice, she didn’t need to offer it?
Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance Page 6