- - -
Kaleb went into town and stopped his motorcycle in front of a diamond store. Alright…I can do this. What would a blind girl want on an engagement ring?
He walked in and immediately a girl at the counter asked, "Can I help you?"
"Um…yeah…I need to buy an engagement ring." Kaleb smiled and added, "My problem is, she's blind…so she wun be able t' see it…"
"Well, congratulations and I don't think it will matter if she won't be able to see it…she'll love it either way."
"Alright, then…I want a really pretty one."
"This one's my favorite, right here," The girl pointed to a white-gold three-stone ring in the glass. Kaleb looked at it for a while and then walked around the store and looked at every one, then came back, "Yeh, that's my favorite too…I'll get it." The giant bought the ring and stuffed it in the front pocket of his jacket. He patted it, got back on his bike and drove to the Mansion. Parking his motorcycle in the garage, he hopped off and walked through the door into the entry hall. His girlfriend stood at the top of the stairs and asked to oblivion, "Maximos?"
"Yeah darlin'?"
"Hello," she smiled and tapped her walking stick on the stair in front of her, stepping down slowly until the bottom of the stairs were at her feet. She ran into Kaleb and said, "Oh, hello!" Telia ran her hands up his chest to his neck and then pulled his head down to her level and kissed him . "Hello," he whispered down at her, practically doubled over.
"Hi," a voice said behind him. He turned around and saw Aaron…a face he'd not seen for almost two years.
"What d'ya want?" Kaleb growled, "Y' better get away from here b'fore I make ya."
"No," The small man glared up at the giant with fire in his eyes. An image flashed into Kaleb's mind. His fathers body, headless on the floor…blood all over himself and the room…his life collapsing around him…Telia slipping away from him, breaking his heart…a pain in his heart…but no...That wasn't a hallucination…the pain was real…he pulled himself out of the mirage and looked down at his chest…the hilt of a knife was protruding from it.
"Oh…" He choked, "Oh no…n-not…now."
"KALEB!" Telia shrieked when she heard a thump as he fell to the floor, "What's wrong, what's wrong? Aaron! What did you do?" The blind girl dropped to her knees and felt Kaleb's face. His breathing was slow and shaken. She felt down from his neck to his chest and felt a wet spot…she felt lower and there was a stick…not a stick, it was padded…Oh no. A knife. He was too heavy to lift and check if it went all the way through and she wasn't strong enough. But it was obvious…she could feel his heart slowly beating it's last just by touching the hilt of the knife. He was dying. "Kaleb…Kaleb, baby, are you gonna be okay?" She asked, trying to push away the thoughts creeping into her mind. Tears were streaming down the black-haired girl's face, sliding down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.
"Telia…Telia, can I ask y' somethin' girl…My last…request," The giant gasped, "Please?"
"Yes baby, anything," One of Telia's tears dripped onto his face, and she wiped it off hastily.
He reached for her hand and said, "I can't kneel to ya, girl, but..." He coughed again, pulling the box from his front pocket and finished, "Will y' marry me?"
Waterfalls flowed from the girl's eyes as she nodded, "Yes, baby, I will…of course I will."
"Then kiss me, girl…it might just restart my heart," He smiled for a moment before bursting into a fit of coughs. Telia could smell the blood on him as she leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. The kiss was slightly intensified when Kaleb weakly lifted his arm and rested his hand on the back of her head, pushing her lips harder against his. As he pulled away from the kiss he looked at Telia with a mix of utter pain, love and sympathy, "I'm so sorry, girl. Please dun hate me fer leavin' ya like this. I love you so much. My heart….it's breakin' 'cause I'm breakin' yers." He coughed painfully and gasped to renew air in his lungs.
"No, never hate, my giant. Never hate. I love you like I could never love another"
Aaron gazed in on the whispered conversation; hate and jealousy were drawn on his face so clearly that no smile could ever cover it. At last, Kaleb smiled, "Thank ya, girl…that's all I needed before…"
"Before you die," Aaron cut in.
"Ah, yer still here, eh?"
"I wanted to watch." The gray-eyed man smirked.
"Then watch, coward," Kaleb coughed.
"I—" Aaron started, but Telia cut him off, shouting, "Aaron, just leave!"
"No."
"Telia!" Kaleb wheezed, "I love you, Telia. I love you and…Here," He slipped the ring on her finger and said, "Goodbye, love," His last word was his last breath. Telia heard it well and let out a wail and a sob, "No! Please no…"
Aaron smiled broadly and said, "The climax of the life of Kaleb Maximos…and I got to see it. And do it!"
Telia sobbed and grasped the knife poking out of the lifeless body of her fiancé. She pulled it out and stood up. Her voice dropped to a low undertone, grim and deadly, "And you'll die for it." The blind girl stabbed the knife forward, feeling it pierce her opponent. He looked down unexpectedly and said, "You missed my heart...That's my arm."
"But this….this is your mind." She replayed all of the hallucinations, mirages and horrible images that he had previously sent to peoples minds. He screamed and held onto his head, the knife still in his arm. Telia reached out and grabbed her walking stick and shoved it as hard as she could toward his throat. She knew where that was because she could hear him. It went all the way through, hitting his spine on the back and breaking it in two. He died instantaneously with horrible thoughts in his mind that he had haunted people with during the entirety of his life. It was over for him.
Telia once again fell to her knees and lay down against Kaleb's chest and letting out a hoarse sob. She heard steps coming down the stairs and then a gasp. She heard many heavy thuds against the wood on the staircase and then the heavy German accent of Nightcrawler, "Telia…What has gone on here?" She sobbed and shook her head, "I…Kaleb's dead, Kurt…he's dead."
"Oh, mein klien Telia…" Kurt didn't bother to pick up his books, but ran down the stairs. He squatted next to Telia and stroked her hair gently, "Shh, darling…shh..." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Henry? Yes, this is Kurt, we have…some bodies." After Hank's voice exclaimed something Nightcrawler added, "And a broken heart of a very sweet young girl."
- - -
Telia sat, in all black at the cemetery. The funeral was over, but she couldn't move. She had been crying for an entire week and no more tears would come. Chrysalis approached her from behind and placed her hand on her sister's shoulder, "Telia, come on. Let's go."
Telia felt the ring on her finger and said, "Chrys…He asked me to marry him. Just before he died…his last…his last words…they were, 'goodbye, love.'" She sobbed dryly and said, "That was the worst moment of my life. Hearing his last breath. I can't...I don't want to hear that ever again."
"I can understand that, Tel, I'm sorry. I can't know how you feel because I've never lost that greatly. I don't want to even feel that ever, but…you have to keep on going, Telia."
"I know. For him, I must."
"Yes."
"Alright," Telia sighed and rose. She turned around and walked with her sister to their car and followed the rest of the cars to the reception.
- - -
A month later, Telia was sitting on her bed, holding a shirt of Kaleb's in her hands. She smelled it and said, "Oh, I miss you, baby…"
Her eyes widened and she looked up…
No.
Her eyes stared up at nothing, but he was there. Her giant was there.
"Kaleb..?"
- - -
The End
