Author's Assistant's Note: Hello readers of P.R., who has entrusted this story to me in the mind boggling form of oversea text messages, which are a pain in the rump to decode, btw. This chapter in particular took exactly seventeen texts, each substantial in length, as my good friend's dear internet access is next to zero at the moment. As for me, well, Phoenix so affectionately dubbed me The Firebird's Apprentice, as it were. Lucky me, busy busy busy and pulling out the stops for this weird hobby of Phoenix's, which I still don't understand. It's even confusing to me to call Phoenix by her pen name, but Phoenix vehemently insisted I hid Phoenix's gender, age, and most of all name. Can you say, Internet-Creeper-Phobia? Go figure. So, all in all, this is the conglomeration of texts and a few fillers I added in (don't tell P.R!) to complete this chapter:
Chapter Eleven:
Alice stood alone in the garden, giving a cursory glance to the clusters of trembling flowers around her. The wind whispered through the trees beyond the castle and she closed her eyes, feeling the mid morning sun upon her skin. Thin snipping chirps reached her ears and she felt Edward sit beside her along the stone edge of his Hand sculpture. For a while they sat together, each silent as the other, as if waiting for each other to speak.
"You should go," Edward said suddenly, as if realizing it himself, "And talk to him. You should make sure he's okay."
"You're right." She sighed, opening her eyes and placing her hand in the smooth leather of his palm. "I'm scared, though."
"Why?" He asked, gazing at her with his soulful dark eyes.
"I… He's never raised his voice with me," Alice struggled to fight the tears, which made her throat small and choked her words, "Let alone frightened me like that. You don't understand, Edward. He didn't even look human."
"Not everyone does." He whispered, lowering his gaze.
"Edward," Alice gasped and caressed his face with her free palm. "I didn't mean it like that!"
"I know," He said, his lips frozen but his eyes lighting up, "Go."
Nodding, Alice wiped her misty eyes dry and left her safe haven, and the man who watched her go with dark, searching eyes.
Alice reached the cul-de-sac at the foot of the mountain with skipping steps, eager to reach her uncle, feeling his pain well up in her chest with each step. Her movements were so focused, so fervent she hardly noticed when another body began to match her step, striding beside her.
"Hey there, Alice."
Snapping her head to the side, she felt her heart leap to her throat as Bart gave a greasy smile.
"Don't you have some other girl to stalk?" She grumbled, refusing to show the intimidation she felt lingering in her quickly freezing limbs.
"Why?" He grinned. "It's so much more fun to watch you."
He wouldn't dare pull something; she reasoned logically in her head, there were neighbors all around, gardening, leaving for work, kids playing outside in the sun. No, he wouldn't with all these witnesses. To them, all Bart was doing was going for a swift walk with the new girl from school. It seemed so innocent, Alice thought with disgust, but what would this community think if they saw Bart, or all the scum here, for all he was?
"What's the rush?" He sneered, grappling for her elbow, which she kept at bay with skilled agility. "I thought you liked hiding up there?"
Stopping suddenly, Alice glared at him so fiercely she watched his eyes wince ever so slightly.
"You stay away from me!" She barked, catching the attention of the few neighbors stationed at their lawns. "Just stay the hell away!"
Bart seethed as several housewives shook their heads disapprovingly at the boy. His face reddened and he gnashed his teeth as she stomped up her driveway, head held high in the air. Wrenching the door open, she slammed it, but instantly remembered her sole reason for returning home in the first place.
"Michael?" She whispered to the dark house, clutching the hallway wall for support.
"Alice?" Came the feeble reply from the kitchen, or rather from the sun room.
Sliding into the light, Alice shut the sun room door behind her, basking in the warmth leaking from the windows above. Michael sat slumped over in the white wicker chair Alice had picked from the furniture store when they moved here. His black eye was still swollen with streaks of deep purple and the whites of his eye were a sickening red, causing Alice to flinch. But what brought tears to her eyes was the hollow look of utter devastation in his eyes. They were empty, like he were a porcelain doll, she thought to herself, approaching him with caution.
"I'm so sorry, Alice." He whispered hoarsely, rising with shaky legs.
When his desolate eyes met hers, Alice launched herself forward, enveloping him tightly in her embrace, feeling his tears slip down to splash upon her scalp.
"Me too." She mumbled into his fantastically loud shirt, her own tears streaking down his tan leather jacket.
She had always loved his eccentric sense of style, something Portia always resented herself. Now it didn't matter, Alice thought, she was gone and Michael was, in a way, a free man.
"I knew what was going on." Michael breathed suddenly, whispering so low Alice barely caught it.
"What?" She gasped, backing away enough to watch his watering face, twisted in pain.
"Yeah," He sniffed, wiping his nose like a toddler on his sleeve, "I knew it. I just… I didn't wanna believe it. Tha's all."
He sat back down and Alice left to fetch a bag of frozen peas, folding it in a dish towel and letting him press it to his eye. Sitting beside him on the floor, she rested her head on his knee while he whistled and old song, brushing her hair with his free hand.
Closing her eyes, Alice smiled and felt her heart's pain ebb away ever so gradually.
"I remember that song," She muttered almost sleepily, "You used to sing it whenever I… whenever I had nightmares."
She had meant to say 'Whenever I missed my mom', but did not have the heart to say it.
In response, his voice, thick with emotion, began to sing along with the words, even as his heart broke before him. "So maybe we'll fall, before we take flight. Maybe you're all I've got to lose. They say it's all grey, but we see it white. And, if I'm lo-ost, thank God I'm lost with you."
Alice whispered along, but could not dare to sing aloud. She watched as snatches of dust, lit glorious gold by the brilliant sun, danced before her eyes in the shards of slanted light. Michael sang and sang and sang on until the rumble of his stomach disturbed her sleepy daze and she stood in a fit of giggles, venturing to the kitchen to make some egg salad sandwiches; Michael's favorite.
Firebird's Apprentice Note: Sorry for the briefness of it all, but that's what were Phoenix cut it off. Go figure. But good news, looks like Phoenix won't have to be extending the stay in the Pacific so Phoenix should be back somewhere around two weeks from now. Took me all night to post this bugger, so enjoy it! Blah.