Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  It was cold outside and she remembered her dad telling her that she’d need a sweater. A moment passed, then Michelle heard the car window roll down behind her. “I’m sorry. I had to take that call,” Haden said without a drop of honesty in his voice. What’s worse was that he wasn’t even trying to hide it. He told Michelle that she was being silly standing out there in the cold. They had another ten minutes before her parents were going to fetch her. Michelle pretended that she didn’t hear him so he got out of the car and walked over to where she was standing. Michelle refused to look at him; she was humiliated. Not just because of the phone call, but also because of everything he had said earlier. Could he really sense that she was attracted to him, or was he fishing for information so he could then use her words against her? Michelle had never dealt with a person like him before.

  Haden opened the car door and again asked Michelle to get back inside. It was one thing if it was daytime, but seeing how late it was, the last thing he wanted to do was confront a bunch of drunk hooligans. “Because that’s what you’re going to get, standing out there in your tiny skirt and shiny top,” he told her.

  Cold and scared, Michelle reluctantly climbed back into the car. Back in his own seat, Haden stretched out his palm, asking her to give him her hand. Michelle kept looking straight ahead; she had no intention of touching him. The thought made her skin crawl. “Michelle, give me your hand,” he asked again, his voice taking on a lower and warmer tone. Michelle knew that he was playing with her and asked him why he was doing it.

  “You must be so proud of yourself, a grown man messing with someone like me,” Michelle blurted out.

  “Michelle, just give me your hand,” he asked her again, touching the back of her hand with his. “I just want us to be friends,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done what I did. I know you’re young. You’re just a baby, even Veli said so. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just playing. Honest.” Michelle watched herself put her hand in his and she watched as his fingers wrapped around hers. Why did it feel so good to have her hand enveloped in his? Warm and safe. “I promised Veli I wouldn’t do anything to hurt or disrespect you.” Michelle thought about that for a moment. It was great that he had promised those things to Vilna, but suddenly she jerked her hand away from his and asked that if Vilna didn’t object he could just do with her as he pleased? That was just great! Haden looked at Michelle, shaking his head again. “Yes, if that’s what I wanted. But in reality, I haven’t decided if you’re worth it yet.”

  At that point Michelle was fuming. “So you’re telling me that my wishes have no say in this matter at all?” Michelle yelled out.

  “Au contraire, mademoiselle. I would only be acting upon what you are wishing for, but too prude to admit.” Michelle couldn’t believe what she had just heard, and before she could even think about it she was swinging her hand to slap him, only he was too quick and grabbed her hand before it reached his cheek. “Uh uh,” he said, shaking his head. “Violence is not the only way to take out our physical frustrations, understand?” he said, making no attempt to hide his anger. Michelle struggled to pull her hand away but he wouldn’t let it free. Then in one powerful jerk he pulled her straight out of her seat and held her underneath him, drawing her face to his. His eyes sparkled and he smiled with excitement. “Now, isn’t this better? You can blame it all on me and keep that image you have of yourself intact.” Michelle found herself in the same position that Marika had been in only hours earlier, but unlike her, she tried to push him away. Haden held on to her as if she weighed nothing and just stared at her with pity. Michelle felt powerless, like a fish dangling off a fishhook, and at the same time she was impressed by Haden’s stoic manners because she thought he‘d get angrier the more she fought him, but he didn‘t.

  When Michelle was completely out of breath she gave up struggling, and only then did Haden release her. She looked at him, wide-eyed, trying to discern his motives, and yet despite everything she still felt drawn to him. When he had held her so close to his face she had felt his warm robust breath on her skin; his smile didn’t seem cruel, just suggestive and oddly knowing. Why was it that she wanted him to kiss her, and yet that would symbolize her utter defeat? And why didn’t he kiss her if he had the power to do as he pleased? What was wrong with her? No, she would never give him the satisfaction of accepting his advances. Michelle’s breath finally slowed down and she fought with all her might the urge to cry out to him to just get it over with and kiss her so she could spit in his face. He was right. She is so pathetic. Haden never took his eyes off Michelle as the thoughts rushed over her like an avalanche of confusion. Eventually he let out a short laugh and gently took a hold of her chin, leaning his lips to hers. Michelle closed her eyes in anticipation.

  Suddenly a light appeared through the rear window and reflected in Haden’s pupils. Those were headlights. “Ah… party’s over. Daddy’s here,” Haden said as he let go of her. Humiliated, Michelle jumped out of the car in less than a second and began walking. Haden followed her with the car, telling her that he didn’t need to force himself on her or anyone else for that matter. People only did what they wanted to do. “You will come to me, because you want to, and the faster you get it over with the faster you’ll start feeling better.” The tires screeched and the Audi disappeared into the blackness.

  Michelle had never met a guy that was so arrogant. But with all those women throwing themselves at him, herself included, how else was he to view himself? It made sense. Michelle thought about Elliot and how strikingly handsome he was, and wondered how it was that he kept himself grounded. Maybe he was just hiding it real well? After all, compared to Haden he had lived for thousands of years, and who knows how many women had thrown themselves at his feet? Elliot definitely had a spark of arrogance; she had seen it before. Michelle came to the conclusion that the only difference between the two was that Elliot was used to all the attention and tried to appear more refined, while Haden was drunk with his allure and made no attempt to hide it nor excuse it.

  Vilna’s voice sounded very rough on the phone and Michelle considered that she must have cried even more after she left that night. She told Michelle that she would definitely be too ill to drive to the festival the next morning, but that they’d go on Sunday. She also said that seeing Adi looking so happy without her made everything so much worse. “I love him and I want him to be happy, but I wanted him with me,” she said, her voice disappearing with the last syllable. Michelle knew exactly how she felt, and confided that she felt the same towards Elliot. Vilna then asked her if Haden had asked about Adi, and Michelle tensed up. She almost asked Vilna if Haden had said anything about her, but realized that that would be a mistake. Vilna warned Michelle never to mention Adi around her brother, even asking if she herself said anything about him while she was drunk. She hadn’t seen her brother since the night before and she was concerned.

  Michelle fumed when she heard that Haden hadn’t returned to take care of his sister, but underneath that concern, she was also hurt that he had obviously gone straight to some other woman’s bed after he tried to get with her. She couldn’t believe that she almost let him kiss her!

  After she hung up the phone, Michelle found her parents in the back yard hanging laundry with Eranka. The radio was blaring tunes in Hungarian and everybody seemed to be in a great mood. “I don’t understand why you guys aren’t tired?” she asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

  “Maybe its because we’re so young,” her father teased. In truth, her parents had only gone to one club the night before and were safely tucked away in a romantic hotel about an hour later.

  “We’ve decided to head out to Austria for the weekend. I’m sure you’ll love it,” her mom said while shaking out a large sheet. They were planning to take a train across the Austrian border to Vienna, as it was only a three-hour trip, and the next day they would head over to Linz. They had completely forgotten about the weekend festival that Michelle wanted to go to.

>   “Don’t you want to see Austria?” her mom asked.

  Michelle wasn’t going to lie. “Not really. And besides Eranka is staying here. It’s not like I’ll be all alone. Eranka was not going to get involved. She told Michelle’s mom that she would be fine one way or the other because she had lived alone for many years. Michelle also pointed out that the girls had decided to attend the festival for one day only, meaning that she wouldn’t spend the night anywhere and would be back that same evening.

  Later that afternoon after eating a strange meatloaf with hard-boiled eggs in the middle of the slices, Michelle went up to her perch to rest. While going through her duffle bag she found the tiny charm bracelet that Eranka had sent for her when she was born, and decided that it would make her happy to see that she had kept it all those years.

  Michelle found Eranka in her bedroom doing crossword puzzles. Her door was only cracked and Michelle wasn’t sure if she should knock and disturb her. “You come in, Michelle,” Eranka said, her back still to the door. Michelle quietly stepped into the bedroom. It was the only room in the house that she had yet to see. There were two matching twin sized beds in the middle of the room and, not surprisingly, every possible surface was covered in quilted fabric. Even the lampshades looked like doilies.

  Eranka sat in a large armchair with at least five crossword puzzle books on her knees. She took off her glasses and placed them back in their holder. “Do you do puzzles like these?” she asked, looking up. Michelle sat on the edge of the closest bed and opened her hand to reveal the tiny red string of the bracelet. When Eranka saw it she clasped both her cheeks in amazement, much like a little girl would do. “Let me see it,” she said, reaching out her hand. Eranka scanned every tiny detail of the bracelet. “Yes. They are all still here. I almost forgot this, can you believe? Do you know how many generations these have been in our family?” she asked, handing the bracelet back to Michelle. Michelle looked at the cute little animals and the other charms.

  “You mean they’re not newish?”

  “Oh no,” Eranka said, this time quietly. “My father gave it to me because I was the baby of the family. He told me he got it from his mother, who got it from her great grandfather. They are all real gold, the duck and the turtles, everything beside the string. I bought it to replace the old one.”

  “Wow!” Michelle exclaimed, “Maybe I shouldn’t wear it then?”

  Eranka told her that she should definitely wear it because it was meant to bring good luck. “What good would it do anyone sitting in a box?” she asked. Michelle put the bracelet on and smiled. Eranka told her that she didn’t think that the actual gold had too much value, but that the charms were ancient; that’s what her father had told her when he gave it to her. Michelle was reminded that Rion had also been very interested in the bracelet. Could he have seen something like it before?

  “Where did it come from, originally?” Michelle asked. Eranka waved her hand in disregard.

  “I hear many stories through the years. One was about someone in the family winning it in gambling, and one time I hear that it was always in our family and people give it to whoever they feel is very special.” Michelle blushed.

  “But Eranka, you gave it to me and you didn’t even know me. Maybe I should give it back to you to give to someone else in the family?” Michelle asked, feeling unworthy of the little gift.

  “No! It’s yours. Why you think I can’t tell you’re special because I’m far away?” Eranka looked at the bedroom door to see if anyone was in the hallway, and when she was satisfied that it was empty she turned back to Michelle and whispered, “We have special gypsy blood in the family. The real Gypsies, not the ones we have today that come from everywhere.” Michelle’s eyes grew big and she leaned in a little closer so she could hear Eranka’s words more clearly.

  “Some women in our family have very strong minds. Do you know?” Michelle shook her head. Her mother had warned her that Eranka might try to say something about gypsies and told her not to pay attention to it. Everyone in Hungary has some story about gypsies in their ancestry, her mother had explained to her, telling Michelle that Hungarians were basically just insanely superstitious. Michelle guessed that Eranka wasn’t any different, but she certainly wasn’t going to hurt her feelings by belittling her stories. Gypsies or not, Eranka had given the bracelet to her with good intentions and she was going to wear it with pride.

  When the black Audi pulled up outside of Eranka’s house Michelle’s heart skipped a beat. What if Haden was in there? Oh please God, she prayed, don’t let him be there. Michelle kissed Eranka goodbye. “I promise I’ll call,” she said to her, “and besides, look at what I’m wearing, nothing bad will happen to me,” she said, showing Eranka the bracelet on her left wrist. Before getting into the car Michelle took a deep breath and prepared herself to act cool, just in case. But Haden wasn’t in the car, and neither was Marika. It was just Vilna, wearing huge sunglasses and smiling from one ear to another. Michelle thought that she looked like a praying mantis.

  “Marika got grounded because she didn’t return home like she said,” Vilna explained. “I think she went home with that guy. Marika sometimes does stupid things, but I love her anyway.” She pulled the car onto the highway and headed east. While Vilna went on about Adi, again, Michelle scanned the car to see if it bore any evidence from two nights ago, but she didn’t pick up on anything. Maybe things weren’t as bad as she had thought and what took place was just a normal interaction. Haden was foreign and older than her, so who knows how those guys act?

  “Do you have your own car?” Michelle asked.

  “Yes. You’ll see it when we get there. It’s not as nice as this one, but it’s pretty good.” Michelle didn’t understand what Vilna meant about seeing it when they got there until about two and a half hours later when she started seeing signs reading ‘Romania’. “It’s where I’m from,” Vilna said nonchalantly when she saw Michelle eyeing the highway signs. “My real home is there, where I lived with my mother.” Michelle still didn’t understand.

  “We’re going to a different country?” she asked nervously.

  “Just cross the border, no problem. Your parents took a train to Austria. Europe is like in the United States, but here we cross countries. Is no big deal.” When Vilna explained it like that Michelle felt a little better, but she still wanted to know about the apartment in Budapest. “It’s Haden’s. He does a lot of business in the city and I also stay there when I go to school. He decided to buy a place rather than throw money away on hotels, and he can leave his stuff there.” Michelle asked what Haden did for a living. “He invests money and has many meetings to go to all around the world. He lived in America for a few years also.” Michelle immediately tried to imagine what Haden would look like in a smart business suit, then felt guilty for thinking about him at all. But Haden was very good looking; it was hard for her not to conjure up his image. Michelle thought about Elliot, and then about Tim, whom she obviously had no chance with anymore. In her eyes Tim was boyish, not a man. Elliot was definitely a man, and so was Haden. Was she growing up too fast, Michelle thought. How could she ever go back to normal guys her own age after this?

  Chapter 15

  Rion had been wandering around the damn festival for hours and he was getting pretty tired of the whole scene. To him, most of the heavy metal bands sounded the same these days. It wasn’t that he didn’t like rock music or even metal, he was just pickier than the rest, especially since he had the opportunity to listen to the best. But in Romania, one couldn’t be too selective. It was a poor country in the modern era and they could only afford so many big names. He had been to the Transylvania Rockathon one time before, when he was dating a beautiful Greek girl. She loved the music and Rion had treated her to tickets and they spent the whole weekend out there. But now he didn’t have a beautiful girl next to him, even though there were plenty to choose from. He was on a mission, and his mission was to find Michelle and warn her to stay away from Hadeno.
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  Rion was already in Europe gathering weaponry when he was contacted about the photograph that Samantha had dropped off at Hekademos just a few hours earlier. Somehow Hadeno’s men had traced Elliot to Willow’s Creek. And even worse, they knew where Michelle lived.

  It happened on Saturday when Samantha went out jogging and saw two young guys hanging out by the Andrews’ front door. She told them that no one was home, so they handed her an envelope to give to Elliot, something that obviously caught her off-guard. They said that they were Elliot’s friends and just happened to be visiting the area. But when Samantha tried to explain to them that Elliot had moved and she had no idea where to, they asked her to keep the envelope, just in case. At first, Samantha didn’t think anything much of it, but she quickly realized that there must be something amiss. How did these guys know where Michelle lived unless Elliot had told them? And if Elliot was in such close contact with them, wouldn’t they have already known that he had moved away? So she doubled back and ran towards Hekademos instead, and dropped the envelope into the Learning Center’s large green mailbox that stood outside the iron gate.

  What Samantha didn’t know was that Elliot’s friends were keeping watch on the school regularly, and that day Kahl watched her drop off the envelope, unmarked except for Elliot’s name written on it. Kahl drove to deliver it to Elliot personally.

  When Elliot opened the envelope and looked at its contents his skin turned white as a ghost’s, and Kahl knew immediately that something was very very wrong. Elliot was staring at a printout of a photo and in it were the images of Michelle and Haden together in some car and they were obviously about to kiss. Elliot crumpled up the picture and shouted in anger, “Hadeno has Michelle!”