by H. R. Holt
“Esme?” he managed, feeling as if he’d walked into a nightmare. He realized, with an unexpected feeling of terror, that this wasn’t a dream. Seeing her face made it become real for him because it indeed was. “Esme?”
Nadia laughed again. “Oh, yes. The lovers reunited at last. Guess what, though, Emmanuel… she can’t speak to you. No. I made sure she couldn’t. Do you want her back or do you want your baby?”
He found himself unable to turn from Esme, so he spoke to Nadia while he gazed at his wife, her eyes filled with sympathy while his filled with questions. “I don’t have a child.”
“You do have a child,” she assured him, the white ball rotating slowly. “What are you willing to sacrifice in order to see her? Your eternal soul, perhaps?”
He looked at Nadia. “I have a daughter?” He turned back to Esme. “I thought you were dead. I thought the baby was too. What’s going on?” He remembered that she couldn’t respond to him, and again found tears forming in his eyes. “Esme, you have no idea…. We have a daughter…”
Nadia exhaled sharply, irritated by his delay. “Say the word, Emmanuel, and you may have whatever you wish, but you cannot have Esmeralda. She is no longer to be yours. Do you want riches? Power? Name it and it’s yours.”
He glanced at Nadia. “Why are you willing to grant my wish? What do I have that could possibly interest you?”
“It’s simple: I want you to forget Esmeralda. I want you to forget ever having met her. Ever. It is the bond between you and she that is ruining my plan, and I simply will not have it anymore.”
“If I don’t, temptress?” he glared at her. “What will you do then?”
Nadia smiled and the white ball in her hand began to turn black. She began laughing when she saw that Esme was trying to break free from her captors, unable to talk and managing a small whimper. Emmanuel looked at his wife, saw her eyes filled with sadness and fright, and then turned to the temptress. He realized that the ball represented something, but he wasn’t entirely sure what.
“Stop. Whatever it is you’re doing, just stop,” he stated and watched as the white began returning to the ball. He looked to Esme, realizing that she was far more beautiful than Nadia no matter how bad her hair was, no matter if she wore many clothes while her subjugator wore nothing. He turned back to Nadia. “I need to speak with my wife first, and I need her to respond.”
“Very well,” Nadia said and let the magic balls disappear, then clapped her hands together over her head.
The scenery around him changed and he realized he was standing on a beach, and everything about him was illumed by moonlight. He recognized the beach, remembering it as the first place he’d brought Esme when she stated she didn’t know how to swim. He’d taught her. It was only last summer.
Emmanuel saw a woman clad in white at the opposite end of the beach. She was coming towards him, her dress floating along the breeze. He took a few steps towards her, feeling his legs growing weary, and then he felt the need to run. She did the same and they stopped only feet away.
“We don’t have much time,” Esme said, her very voice filling him with desire. She seemed to sense this and looked at the ground. “I cannot let you risk the life of our daughter for me. I am already dead to everyone, except for you. She hasn’t begun living yet. I need you to take her with you.”
“I’m not going to choose,” he said and felt his heart break as he watched her bite her lip. “I love you both. I’ll have you both.”
“You can’t. She won’t let you,” she said and tried to smile. Emmanuel watched tears escape her eyes and stepped closer to her, feeling the warmth of her face as he wiped them away. Esme nuzzled up to his hand with her cheek, wanting him as much as he wanted her. She realized she couldn’t and pulled away. “I need you to say this: ‘I wish for the life of my daughter; in return, I will surrender every memory I have of Esmeralda Navy.’ I…I know it’ll be hard to say…but I need you to say it.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t need to, as long as I have you,” he said as tears escaped his eyes. He took a moment to regain his composure. “I need you to stay with me.”
She sniffled. “I wish I could. If you don’t choose our daughter, you will walk away with nothing, and become an empty shell. She needs you, her father. If anything, I need you to understand that.”
He nodded and took her hands in his, always amazed by how delicate they were, and then looked sincerely into her eyes. “No matter how alone and empty I become, I will seek you, know you’re alive. I’ll see you in every ray of light, in every sky of blue. I love you. That has to count for something in all of infinity, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” she said and more tears slipped down her face. “So does a bath.”
They surrendered to laughter and let tears of happiness overcome their dour moods. He looked down at her and she gazed up at him. They wanted to say something more than good bye, but there was no time to say much else.
“I’ll find you again,” he assured her. “I won’t rest until you’re by my side. I promised you that you would never escape me, and no amount of magic will stop that from happening. I am not a simple man, nor am I a man of magic, but I am a man of science. I know more about infinity than you think, dearest bride.”
Esme leaned against him, listened to his heartbeat, wanting forever to remember the pace of his heart when she was near. It was the same beat that equaled hers when he was near. He kissed the top of her head, taking in the smell of jasmine that would forever be her.
***
Emmanuel wished as Esme requested and he suddenly awoke in the floor on his back. He felt as if he’d had a wonderful dream, but he couldn’t remember what it was about. After he stood, he heard a baby wailing nearby. He looked at the crib beside the bed and blinked, seeming to recall a faint image in his dream, but realized it wasn’t important. He smiled and realized his sweet little girl must be in need of a diaper change.
He walked over and looked at her. She cooed and stretched her arms up to him, so he lifted her up and realized she was wet. He recalled how Mrs. Brevard considered him to be excellent with children, even if he hadn’t been born into a large family. ‘Usually,’ she would say, ‘those born into large families are rather good with children.’ Since he was a single parent, she commended him even more because of his devotion.
“All good now, Reverie?” he asked after he’d changed her diaper. Although the name was an awkward one, he remembered that Esme had circled the name in a birth name book. His wife died shortly after giving birth to their daughter, begging him to raise Reverie with as much love as he’d given her while she was alive. He was planning to do just that.
Emmanuel held her to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “We’ll be fine, Reverie. Just wait and see. We’ll be just fine.”
She burped in response and he held her until she fell to sleep, then he gently lay her down. As he looked at her, he knew there was simply not a more beautiful baby in York County. Many of the mothers claimed the same. He knew she would become as beautiful as her mother, and he was more than willing to make sure she did.
♥ Part Two: If Anything, a Heart ♥
Isaac Partridge sat with his football friends at what was designated the ‘popular’ table in the new cafeteria, watching as the freshman high school students tried to find themselves a place to sit. He couldn’t sympathize with them, because he’d always been charismatic enough to fit in anywhere. After all, he was the star quarterback. This group was another story, so he and his friends sat at their table, laughing at them. They even looked uneasy in their uniforms, with some pulling at their collars while others scratched their arms.
They had already begun placing the freshmen at tables, laughing at each decision made. When they saw a boy with glasses, he was automatically categorized as a geek. When they saw a boy with muscles, he became a jock. If his parents had seen him doing this, they would berate him, even though he’d learned from the best.
&n
bsp; “Hey. Hey. Look at this one,” Teddy “Blitzer” Bwitz said and slapped Isaac’s arm. He pointed wildly as another line of freshmen began looking around for a place to sit. He was gesturing to the girl at the head of the line, while his mouth was still filled with food. “She doesn’t look like a geek or the cheerleader type, but does she have a body or what? What do you think, Isaac?”
The girl had auburn hair that seemed red when the light shone on it (as it was now) and a pair of expressive deep blue eyes. Her figure was curvy, especially for a fourteen year old, but she didn’t seem to realize how beautiful she truly was. She turned to Isaac and they locked eyes, making the rest of the world disappear. He had never been infatuated with someone younger than he was, especially not a fourteen year old. When he was eight, he had a crush on his babysitter, who was sixteen with large breasts and a low IQ. He had a feeling this girl, whoever she was, wasn’t stupid.
Isaac found someone’s hands cover his eyes and heard a shrill New Yorker accent ask, “Guess who?” He could tell that voice from a million voices, and the perfume, which she’d used so much of that it was offensive, was the same. Penelope Conway was the head cheerleader and always reapplied, reapplied, reapplied, until it came to graduating and going to college. He wondered how many times she’d put on her makeup, brushed her hair, and wet her neck and wrists with perfume. “Come on, now, honey, you’ve got to know who this is. I’ll give you a hint: I have a crush on you.”
He smirked. Although some thought he was popular only because of his football skills, there was also another reason: he could get any girl to fall in love with him. He merely had to capture them in the hall, whisper a compliment their way, and they would be yearning for him uncontrollably. His teachers even thought he was charming, and that was saying plenty. There were many teachers at York County High who hated all of their students. He had always easily gotten himself out of detention. The only person he’d ever regretted saying anything good about was Penelope, because she wouldn’t stop bothering him.
“Let me guess: Danielle Brevard?” he asked and heard her giggle. She was pressed so close to him that he could feel her breasts shake when she laughed. “No? Ok. If you’re not Danielle then perhaps you’re her twin, Demi?”
He knew she was jealous of the twins, especially since they were popular without being cheerleaders. There weren’t many girls who weren’t popular without a bad reputation, but the twins were as decent as they came. They helped out at the church with their parents when they weren’t delving into their studies. He had gotten in trouble once and his parents had signed him up for helping with feeding the needy. The twins had loved him ever since.
“Come on, keep trying,” she said and laughed again. “I know you know who I am, honey. I’ll give you another hint: my last name rhymes with ‘day’.”
“Oh… is that you Penelope?” he asked and laughed.
She removed her hands and sat down beside him, smiling. Her mascara had been reapplied several times and he could hardly see her eyes behind it. There were times in the past when he had asked her why she wore so much, but that was before he’d met her mom. Penelope would be beautiful without the gunk, but she didn’t think that she would be. Her lips, large and pouty, were covered with several layers of her favorite cherry red lipstick, and her cheeks were a bright red. She wore her hair in a high ponytail, and it swayed behind her as she looked from him to her food to the other football players.
Isaac began searching for the auburn haired beauty he’d seen earlier, looking through the many crowds that seemed to be developing the way he’d predicted. York County High, since its inception in 1930, being created with the intention of finally breaking away from York County Elementary/Middle School, was a typical school no matter what the papers said. There was once an advertisement that said ‘York County High: a school unlike any other,’ which had actually been the first announcement seen by the public. It had been pulled from the papers only a week later, and replaced with ‘York County High: Feel connected to education.’ They didn’t feel much of anything, these freshmen, except lost.
He saw her seated at the opposite end of the room, alone. She looked like a wild animal, afraid of everything and everyone. When she decided at last to escape into a book (rather than face high school society), he couldn’t stop the smile from forming on his face because of how disconnected she was. He was just the guy to fix her problem.
“I’ll catch you guys later,” he said and stood. He wasn’t the tallest member of the team, standing a mere 5’9, nor was he powerfully built. His father often claimed that the Partridge men were ‘late bloomers.’ Isaac still had something to be proud about: although the others were well built and towered above him at 6’, he was the smartest by far. He was the leader.
“See you,” said Kyle Crum, the wide receiver. He was focused on his food now, which he hadn’t eaten any of since he’d been busy labeling the new students. He was a smart kid, Isaac knew, but spent more than half of his time being a goofball.
“Where are you going?” Penelope asked and looked up at him, biting into her sandwich and staining the food with lipstick.
“I’m sure the guys can take care of you,” he said and started walking away.
Isaac looked at his group, realizing there were hardly any of them who spoke when they were at lunch. He’d always been the one to start them talking, even when they said that they didn’t want to. He further knew that Blitzer had a thing for Penelope, but he was too ‘manly’ to reveal his emotions. When Isaac had stated his real feelings for Penelope, Blitzer had smiled and slapped the quarterback’s arm with delight. He realized, of course, that he was running out of time because they were a year away from graduating. He didn’t have long to reveal how he felt.
Isaac strolled over to the table furthest from civilization, placed his food on the table with a bang, and smiled when she jumped.
“Did I scare you?” he asked and sat down. She refused to lower the book, actually raised it higher so he couldn’t see her face. He read the title aloud, realizing it was a library book about animals and not a textbook that had been assigned by her teachers. “Are you interested in animals?” She refused to speak and kept the book in front of her face. “I have a Rottweiler. His name’s Gable. I named him after Clark Gable. Do you watch movies?”
“Mmm,” she said in response.
“Oh. I see. You’re a fan of Tarzan,” he said and laughed at his own joke. “I don’t think Tarzan would need to read about animals, though, because he was always around them. What do you think?”
She moved the book away from her face with a flick of her wrist and held it with pinky and thumb on opposite pages. He smiled at her, but stopped when she didn’t return it. He could tell by her expression that she wanted him to get lost. He wondered if he was right assuming she was detached, because she seemed to be the loner type. They were connected about being disconnected.
“Do you often ignore people, or is that a new hobby?” he asked and slightly scooted his plate away. He rested his head on his hand, and put his arm on the space he’d made by moving the plate. He wanted her to speak, and realized that being annoying usually got everyone talking. “I have several hobbies. Talking is one of them, unless you haven’t noticed. My name’s Isaac Partridge, by the way.”
“Partridge? What kind of name is that?”
“At least I have a name.”
She bookmarked her place and put the book beside her on the table, then looked at him with a grimace on her face. He noticed her gaze was focused over his head and he turned to see the Brevard twins coming towards him.
“Isaac!”
He smiled but he wasn’t feeling happy to see them; perturbed was more the word. He stood up and waited for one to sit beside him, and then the other sat beside the new girl. With a smile, he realized they were all acquainted.
Isaac sat down and looked from one Brevard to the next, realizing the one sitting beside him was Demi. She wore glasses while Danielle didn’t. She
hardly read anything except assignments while Demi could delve into any and all material with ease. He had seen her go from reading a comic book to classic masterpieces in the span of an hour. In his mind’s eye, he could see her in a library, surrounded by books, and feel perfectly happy. Danielle was a different story. She could talk for hours on end and hated silence.