I ask tentatively, “And you? Why did nothing happen to you? I felt that car slam into you, I felt you brace yourself for the impact.”
I see him shift uncomfortably under my gaze and self-consciously he replies, “The car never really touched me. I imagined us in a large impenetrable bubble.” He stares at me silently and then he says softly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I shake my head in denial. “Can you control people?”
“We are not supposed to.”
“But you can?” I am sure Jayden is using his skills on me, because why else would he have such a profound effect on me.
There is a knock at the door, and I jerk with fright when it resonates through the quiet house.
Frowning as I get up, I wonder aloud, “Who could that be?”
I open the door and find Jayden on my doorstep. He is wearing a black T-shirt which practically moulds to his body and I cannot help it when my eyes scan his broad chest and shoulders.
He smiles sexily. “It’s just me—again.”
Kieran steps out from the lounge into the hall and he asks, “What do you mean, again?”
I open my mouth to explain that Jayden was here the day before, but as the first word leaves my lips, Jayden glances at me reproachfully while he says to Kieran, “I am sorry to interrupt your love-fest, but you said five and it is five now.”
For some reason, I want to tell him there was no love-fest, but I decide to let him believe what he wants.
Kieran puts his arm around my waist affectionately and I look up at him as he explains, “Jayden is here to pick me up. I didn’t feel like walking home.”
Together we step down out of the house, and Jayden turns around to walk to the car. After he gets in the car, he peers at me through the wind-shield. He looks at me deep in thought, while his fingers tap on the steering wheel with, what looks like, agitation.
With Jayden’s eyes smouldering into me, I feel uncomfortable when Kieran turns me in his arms and hugs me close to him. He touches his lips softly to mine. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, okay?”
Softly I reply, “Okay. So, are you a witch then? I was also wondering why you told me that story about the girl and the two boys. Is it related?”
He smiles affectionately. “Always so many questions, but I promise, I’ll tell you everything eventually. I do not want to frighten you.”
I laugh forced. “As if telling me that you can shape things to your will, is not scary enough.”
“It’s not. Not really.”
He lets me go gently and then he walks to the passenger side of the car. When he opens the door, I hear The Script floating out and I wonder if I should download the entire CD to my music player.
After they drive away, I go inside and then I turn on the TV. I lie down on the couch and I stare intently at the TV, while I try to focus my mind on it, trying to change the channel without using the remote control which is lying on the far end of the coffee table—nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Waking from my semi-coma, I hear my mom’s key turn in the lock. I get up quickly to meet her at the door.
When she opens the door, I say, “He sent me a text today and he says he is picking me up at seven on Friday. Please phone him and tell him no.”
“Hello to you too, Heather. Thank you for asking, but yes, my day was as awful as usual.”
“Mom!”
“Just let me get in first.”
I move aside so she can squeeze past me. “So, are you going to phone him?”
She sighs exaggerated and frustrated. “No. You should see him.”
In a childish rage, I stamp my foot on the ground. I have no idea why I just did that. I have not had a temper tantrum since the age of four and she always ignored me when I did, so I do not know what possessed me to even think she would pay attention to me now.
She turns to me. There is a deep frown between her eyes, and she smiles amused. “And now?”
I beg, “Please, I don’t want to see him. He left five days ago and all I get from him is a text message?”
“He phoned me, and he has a nice weekend planned for you. He feels guilty because he left that night without saying goodbye to you. I suppose he feels guilty about a lot of things.”
I follow her to the kitchen, and I say sulkily, “I am not a priest. If he feels guilty and he is in the mood for a confession and the exoneration of all his guilt, he should rather go and speak to one, not me.”
“Oh, Heather,” she sighs. “Just go. You never know, it might be fun.”
I ask sarcastically, “Is she going to be there?”
“I really don’t know. You’ll have to go and see for yourself.”
I storm out of the kitchen. “Ugh! Nobody ever listens to me.”
She calls after me, “Young lady, come here now. If you want to eat, you better come and help me; otherwise you can go to bed and sulk on an empty stomach.”
So, what choice do I have? I have to go back and help her with dinner because I am a growing child and I am hungry.
While we make fish and chips with a side salad, I decide resignedly I would have no choice in the matter, and I will be spending an entire weekend at my dad’s new house. I am not looking forward to it. It would be equal to going away for the weekend to a hotel or guest house, for that matter. I am going to spend a weekend with strangers in a strange house.
My mom and I eat our dinner while watching TV as always and later, after I wash the dishes I go into the lounge to say goodnight to her, because I still want to download that CD and I still have to do my homework.
I lean down to her and kiss her lightly on the crown of her head. “Don’t fall asleep here again, Mrs.”
She smiles up at me. “I won’t. I’ll be up soon.”
I am halfway up the stairs, when she says, “By the way, I made an appointment with Dr. O’Malley for you tomorrow at four.”
“Thanks.”
The sooner I get rid of the shadows looming over me, the sooner I’ll be free of this feeling of foreboding. Despondently I wonder if he will be prescribing me with a set of spectacles. I suppose if they are stylish, I can make them look fashionable. Besides, wearing glasses is better than having a panic attack every time the shadows appear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
After a dinner of pizza, Jayden asks Kieran, “Did you tell her our mother was the witch who put a curse on us?”
“No. Obviously not. She would be appalled if she discovered I have lived for over three hundred years and I am actually a sorcerer by birth, a descendant from an original Witch”
“Does she know the story you told her was about her?”
“No. She is starting to put the pieces together though, and I would prefer it if she did it slowly by herself.”
Kieran opens his computer and then he clicks on a new link, one he has not opened before.
Curiously, Jayden asks, “So she knows, I am the one she has to choose to make this stop?”
As the webpage opens, Kieran looks up at Jayden. “No, she does not, and you won’t tell her because we have an agreement.”
It is an elaborate webpage with a lot of texts, and soon Kieran is engrossed in what he is reading.
Jayden walks out onto the patio into the cool, crisp night and he sits down on the swing. He rocks himself back and forth gently. He considers despondently that the clues they were both following up today was worthless and did not help them to find a spell to break the curse.
After centuries of trying to convince Heather she should love him, she has always ended up choosing Kieran, although originally, he was destined to marry her.
Why, though?
Is it because he always assumes she will realize she loves him without him having to tell her he loves her first?
Is it his pride getting in the way?
Sometimes he wonders if she really did love him all those years ago, and this is possibly the reason why she now never chooses him. No. He always denies this. He
knows she loves him; he can see it in her eyes when she looks at him.
He should tell her.
Even though Kieran is younger than he is, and he feels an instinctive obligation to keep him safe, it does not mean he should always stand back and let Kieran have her, while he implores her with unspoken words to love him.
Distracted Jayden walks past Kieran, dangling his car keys on his finger.
Kieran looks up from his computer preoccupied. “Where are you going?”
“For a drive. Why? Do you want to tag along?”
Kieran looks at him suspiciously for a long moment and then looks back at the computer screen. “Buy milk while you’re out there.”
Jayden’s reply is the slam of the door and the roar of the car engine. Jayden does not intend to buy any milk.
When he arrives at Heather’s house, he stops the car angled across the driveway and then he gets out of the car determinedly.
Only after he knocks on the door, does he realize he should probably not be here at all
Firstly, her mother will not be impressed and secondly, what if Heather chases him away?
He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees it is Heather opening the door. The light inside the hall silhouettes her.
She frowns when she sees him, and then she glances across her shoulder to the upstairs landing. While she turns back to him, she steps out of the house. She pulls the door closed behind her but keeps her hand on the handle. She whispers, “It’s late. What do you want?”
Unsure of himself, he steps away from her. He decided to tell her he loved her. He was going to tell her the complete long story dating back to Salem. He knew she probably would never believe him, but he had to try. However, now he has second thoughts and considers maybe it was not such a good idea, at all.
“What do you want?” She asks again.
“I wanted to know, um, if Kieran told you about magic.” He could think of nothing else to say.
She frowns deeply, the furrows edged into her forehead. “Yes, he did and so what, it is not such a big deal anyway. I am sure he fooled me with the trick he performed with the rose, and he made it all up. You cannot change things around you with just a thought.” She stops her monologue and then asks, “Hey, don’t you want to lend me your CD. I tried to download it, but my signal is so slow tonight.”
“Which CD?”
“The Script”
Smiling amused, he asks, “You like their music?”
She smiles back. “I do. Weird isn’t it, you and I have something in common.” She has the feeling he wants to say something, but the moment passes.
Walking behind him, as she follows him to his car, he stops abruptly. She walks into him just as he turns around to her. His hands wrap around her arms instantly as her palms push against his chest instinctively.
She looks up at him questioningly. “What are you doing? I thought you were getting the CD?”
Silence. Everything is weirdly quiet.
She insists in a hushed tone, “Don’t use magic on me!”
He smiles seductively as she tries to pull away from him, but he holds onto her arms more determinedly. “I thought you didn’t believe in magic, and besides, I am not allowed to use magic on people. I do not do black magic.”
She hisses, “You are. I can feel you trying to influence me right now.”
He smirks suddenly. “Is that what you believe? Do you think that weak feeling you get in your knees when you are with me, is me putting a spell on you?”
She gasps insulted. “I do not get a weak feeling in my knees when I am near you. In fact, I cannot stand you.”
They step away from each other in shock.
Immediately she apologizes, “I did not mean it.”
He steps further away from her, dropping his hands from her arms. “Well, if that is the case, I am afraid you may not lend my CD.”
Turning away from her, Heather realizes she does not want him to leave, not like this.
To be honest, she does not really know how she feels about Jayden. He is exciting and thrilling, and he does make her knees weak whenever she sees him.
Kieran though, feels safe and the day he held her in his arms after she told him her sad, sorry story about her mom and her dad getting divorced, she felt protected by him.
“I am sorry, Jayden.”
His back is still turned to her, and he shrugs his shoulders as he pulls his car door open. “Too late,” he says. “No CD for you.”
She sighs exasperated. “It is not about the CD.”
He climbs into his car without another word. Looking across his shoulder, he backs out of the driveway, and he does not even glance in her direction as he drives away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
While I watch him drive away, staring blindly at the red taillights until they disappear around the corner, I have an epiphany. I realize this is why love never lasts, because girls always choose the exhilarating and heady relationship over the safe and secure one.
I turn toward my front door determinately and decide I have just learned the most important life lesson I might ever need to learn. This is the answer I have been looking for, as I realize love never got lost between my mom and dad, it was just never really there. It was an imaginary, weak in the knee’s kind of love. I will never make the same mistake of choosing wrong because the initial excitement will fade as life is filled with other things like work and babies, but safe and secure will always be there.
The week following up to the visit with my dad passes uneventfully. I dismiss the idea of witches and magic as silly superstition. I convince myself I did not really hear the crunch of metal and I did not feel the car knock into Kieran when he saved me. It was only my vivid imagination.
Every morning on the train, I stand closely next to Kieran and he twirls his arm in mine and then wraps my fingers through his. At school, we spend every possible moment together, we give each other suggestive looks whenever we glance at each other, and we smile at each other meaningfully. After school on the train, I sit snuggled in closely under his arm as he drapes it over my shoulders. I tell him about my apprehension about going to see my dad, and he convinces me I will be okay, that it will probably turn out to be a fun weekend. He persuades me that my dad loves me, although deep down I must wonder if he really does.
The optometrist tells me my eyes are perfect. I have twenty-twenty vision. Yet, the shadows which are starting to surround me on a permanent basis, become darker and nearer. No longer do I only see them in my peripheral vision. I can see them straight on, face-to-face. I think about suggesting to my mother that I go see our GP, but I do not want to worry her unnecessarily, she has enough problems at the moment.
I try not to think about Jayden. I do not know why it bothers me that he could be, probably is, upset with me. It should not be troubling me at all.
ON FRIDAY, MY MOM AND I are standing in the kitchen, and she smiles at me reassuringly when she says something rather profound, “Remember, everybody is looking for that one thing to make them happy.”
I look up at her with a puckered brow.
She continues, “Your dad and I thought we found that something with each other, but it wasn’t something we could cherish forever, and we were never willing to fight for it. Although your dad found somebody else, it was not entirely his fault.”
“Yes, but how can you stop loving each other? I thought when you told somebody you loved him, it is supposed to be forever, and you cannot tell just any boy you love him. You have to feel it deep inside of you.”
She smiles sadly as she agrees, “That’s true, but sometimes it isn’t so easy. Your father and I had a whirlwind relationship.” She grins as she recalls a memory. “I suppose we did love each other in the beginning, and we probably got too serious too soon. Besides.” She smiles at me. “How could we not have loved each other when we created you?” She hesitates for a moment. “Your dad and I stopped loving each other a long time ago, although I must admit he did, in a w
ay, break my heart when he said there was someone else, he had met another who he thought he could be happy with. A tiny, little piece of me was still relieved it was eventually over, but there will always be another tiny part of me that will always love him.”
“I suppose when I’m older, I’ll get it.”
She laughs nervously. “Just remember, your dad is still trying to find his feet in his new relationship, so do not be ugly to Shirley.”
How can she accept everything so easily? I exclaim, “Shirley! Is that her name?” I could have added a few four-letter adjectives, but my mom does not tolerate foul language.
My mom gives me a look. A look I know well—one of those looks which require no words.
Seven o’clock sharp, I see my dad’s car headlights glare through my lounge window curtains.
I sigh deeply. “He’s here. Unbelievably he isn’t late—the one time I actually wanted him to be late.”
She moves toward me as I move closer to her. She hugs me tightly to her. I take after her, she is not very tall, but I am still a head taller than she is.
When I let her go, she gives me an encouragingly look. “You’ll be okay.”
“Are you walking me to the door?”
“Not tonight.” I look at her and I can see something that almost looks like fear in her eyes.
“Okay, Mom. Please do not sleep in front of the TV every night and look after yourself.”
She laughs humorously. “Yes, dear.”
I pull my bag from the kitchen counter, and I feel sad leaving her at home all by herself. Before I walk out of the kitchen, I say, “I love you, Mommy.”
She rushes to me and gives me another quick hug. “I love you too, Heather.” She smooths her hand over my hair, as she says, “You are not going away forever, and I will see you on Sunday.”
I walk out the door and then turn back to make sure the lock is latched.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Timeless (ForNever) Page 8