Chapter 25
Melissa and Gabriel quickly ducked out of sight as Eugene restarted the car and switched on the headlamps. The headlights passed across the neighbor on the opposite side of her house, not Miss Harriet’s, but she and Gabriel moved away from the window just in case.
“What do we do now? Do you think he saw us?” Melissa fretted.
“Who? Who do you think saw you? The cop?” Alexandra asked.
“That was no cop; that was Eugene,” Melissa told her friend.
The color drained from Alexandra’s face. “Eugene, I thought he was dead. He can’t be, he can’t be back,” she stammered. “It’s impossible.”
“What’re we going to do?” Melissa asked again.
“We can’t leave,” Yoshi offered. “That Eugene guy could be anywhere. He could be at the bottom of the hill waiting for all we know. No one would be suspicious of a parked patrol car. If anything, they’d be grateful for it.”
“Yeah, unless they knew what was driving it,” Alexandra said in an unsteady voice.
“I agree with Yoshi, it’s too risky to leave. We should stay here until we figure out what to do,” Melissa agreed.
“And what, hang out with the dead old lady?” Alexandra asked in a shrill voice.
“I’ll run upstairs and find something to cover her with,” Yoshi said.
“This is insane, all of this,” Melissa said rubbing her temples.
“I think you’re right, Melissa,” Gabriel began. “We should stay here for a few hours, at least until it’s completely dark out there, before we consider leaving here. Then I’ll get my car and pull it up to the end of the driveway and everyone can jump in. I want to limit our exposure.”
“I don’t want you to go alone. It’s me he’s after.”
“Eugene is after both of us.”
“Then we should go together.”
“I don’t want to put you at risk.”
“I’m already at risk. And alone, I’m a sitting duck.”
Gabriel sat quietly and seemed to consider her point.
“I was alone for five long months. Anything could have happened to me while you were gone,” she added.
The words floated from her mouth. She heard herself speak them but felt as though someone else was commanding her word choice. Melissa had not planned to ever address the misery she experienced during Gabriel’s five-month absence, her pain had been her own and not his burden to bear. Seeing him burst through the door of her neighbor’s house, realizing that he’d returned, was one of the happiest moments of her life thus far, one she’d been dreaming about. She had wanted nothing more than to tell him how much she loved him, how much she’d missed him. She did not want to be critical of him or speak harshly to him, but the thought of separating again–even briefly–sparked a feeling in her she’d pushed down for several months: resentment.
“Terzini and I had a deal,” she heard Gabriel say.
“Evidently, he was not a person who could be threatened into backing off or he didn’t feel you would ever follow through on your threat.”
Melissa heard her own voice. It sounded foreign, as if it belonged to someone else, the accusing tone; the anger. She did not want to hurt Gabriel, it was the last thing she wanted to do. She did not want to drive him away forever.
“I know you’re angry with me. You have every right to be. I never thought Terzini would resurface. I thought having his laptop with proof of what he’s been working on would be enough. I never would have left if I thought you would be in any type of danger.”
“Jesus people! This is like some nauseating soap opera As My Stomach Turns or something. I think I’ll go upstairs and see what Yoshi’s up to. You two work your shit out. We have enough to deal with without you two arguing!” Alexandra interjected then stomped up the staircase in search of Yoshi.
“She’s right,” Melissa conceded. “The last thing I should be doing is giving you a hard time. You scared away that creature that kidnapped me and tied me up. And I know you never would have left if you thought I was in danger but it was hard for me when you left.”
Gabriel’s shoulders slumped, his posture assumed a position similar to a person who had just been punched in the stomach. She did not want to hurt him. That was never her intention. But surely he had known she was far from happy when he left. He had known how strong her feelings were for him; she had told him, professed her love for him. He possessed superior DNA and clearly processed information more thoroughly, more rapidly, than the average person, yet seemed shocked to hear that she’d had a hard time in his absence. She found his reaction perplexing, frustrating.
“I’m sorry, Melissa. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Well how did you think I would feel? Did you ever once think about my feelings when you were God-only-knows-where doing whatever it was that you did while you were gone? You hardly ever called or emailed or texted me, it was like you fell off the face of the Earth. I thought maybe you’d met someone else and moved on!”
“Moved on? How could you say that? How could you think I would want anyone but you?” Gabriel asked, pain etching his features and lacing his every word.
“The problem was that I didn’t know; I was in the dark, about everything.”
“It had to be that way, Melissa. I never wanted to leave. You think it was easy for me?”
Melissa had never considered his feelings, just assumed he was fine wherever he was. She deemed herself worthy of little esteem, guessed he’d distracted himself with something or someone else. Worry and loneliness had transformed and assumed an uglier hue. It had been replaced with jealousy and uncertainty. Self-doubt had pervaded her thoughts allowing for a seed of irrational suspicion to grow to a field of distrust in herself, and in Gabriel.
“The hardest thing I did was leave you. I thought about you every single day. Don’t think for one second you were alone in feeling isolated and frustrated. I missed you so badly it actually hurt to think about you. I was halfway around the world in one of the remotest places on the planet with no access to phones and Internet connection. There wasn’t even electricity where I was. I had to travel for days just to get to a village that had modern conveniences. The times I called or messaged were carefully planned and executed trips. But it was worth it just to hear your voice and know you were okay.”
His words stung, though he clearly did not intend them to. He was merely vocalizing his side of their separation. She had never considered it, was so busy picturing him surrounded by exotic women more befitting his company than she, as beautiful as he and far less virtuous than her. Notwithstanding the earliest days of their good-bye, she never envisioned him sad without her. She only saw her own pain, her own loneliness.
“I had no idea,” Melissa whispered.
Tears began to burn her eyes. She blinked several times to clear them but her efforts failed. She started to cry.
“I’m so sorry, Gabriel. I was so selfish. I never thought you would miss me. I mean, look at you. You could have any girl on the planet. I just thought,” she sniffled but was interrupted.
“You are beautiful, Melissa and definitely not lacking in any way other than self-esteem, maybe. But I don’t love you because you’re beautiful, though it doesn’t hurt,” he smiled mischievously. “I love you because you are kind and funny. You’re smart and much tougher than you give yourself credit for. I love the way your cheeks turn bright pink when you’re uncomfortable. I love the sound of your laugh. I love that you can accept me for what I am and how I came to be. Melissa, no one can compare. You are the girl I love.”
Melissa looked to Gabriel. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she felt her cheeks flush. Gabriel smiled at her.
“There it is,” he said and brushed the back of his hand across her blushing cheek. “You have nothing to apologize for, Melissa. You didn’t leave.”
“Kiss her already, you big girl!” Yoshi calle
d from a room upstairs.
Alexandra laughed out loud, “You’re a funny little bastard!”
“No pressure or anything,” Gabriel said uncomfortably then cupped her face in his hands. He stared into her eyes and she wanted nothing more than for him to press his full lips against hers, to feel their softness, their heat.
“You think he finally kissed her?” she heard Yoshi ask Alexandra.
“Who the hell knows? Knowing him, he’s writing her a sonnet or some corny thing like that,” Alexandra answered.
“We hear you, you know!” Melissa shouted up to them.
“Why are we friends with them exactly?” Gabriel asked nervously.
“Beats me,” Melissa answered.
Melissa’s heart pounded in her chest as she contemplated reaching up and tangling her fingers in his russet-colored locks and crushing his lips with hers, kissing him passionately enough to compensate for the five long months she missed out on kissing him. Her hands trembled at the thought of doing something so bold, so presumptuous. She felt her cheeks burn with deeper color.
Gabriel ran his fingertips down her arms and took her hands in his. She felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise and quiver as if charged by the power of an electrical storm. Goosebumps dimpled her exposed skin.
Without thinking any further, she pulled him toward her, stood on her tippy toes and took his face in her hands. Dizzied by anticipation and anxiety she brought her lips to his, felt his breathing. She closed her eyes and tried to force the nervousness from her mind and simply listen to what her heart ordered her to do. Before she followed through on her endeavor, he wrapped her in his arms, leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
The world fell silent for several seconds. Monsters and rogue geneticists ceased to exist. Crass, sassy friends disappeared. Dead neighbors did not linger and killers posing as cops vanished. She and Gabriel were the only two people in the world for that period of time.
But all too soon, reality reared its head and their dire circumstances were illuminated once again.
“I’m guessing the silence means you two have kissed and made up,” Alexandra bellowed from upstairs. “That’s all well and good but we still don’t have a plan to get out of here.”
Gabriel’s arms relaxed around her. He did not fully release her rather he allowed his arms to fall and loosely encircle her waist. He drew his mouth away from hers and rested his forehead against hers. She knew their kiss was over but was reluctant to accept the distance between them nevertheless.
“We do need to get out of here, Melissa.”
“And do what exactly?”
Gabriel did not answer right away. He took a step backward and looked directly in to her eyes, the cobalt of his irises seemed to deepen, darken.
“Kill Eugene,” he said levelly. “We need to kill Eugene.”
Dark Reality 7-Book Boxed Set Page 164