Child of Freedom
Chapter 8- Love
I took off my hat and shoes as I entered the bedroom and plopped down on the swan bed. It was so soft that I nearly drowned in it. I started to giggle like a little girl; I couldn't help myself. I stood up warily on the bed and jumped once. It was a light jump, but because of the soft, springiness, of the bed, I jumped several inches into the air. I started to jump up and down on the bed. As a child, I had been forbidden to jump on my bed at home, and I couldn't resist doing so on the springy mattress of this one.
After several long minutes, I stopped jumping and sat down on the bed. I was feeling a bit breathless and slightly light-headed. I giggled crazily. Lynaea cooed from her basket, and I stood up slowly. I came over and picked her up.
Erik came in just then. I smiled at him. He seemed to be looking at me strangely.
"Is something the matter, Erik?" I asked, concerned.
He seemed to realize where he was and shook his head. "Uh, no. I just came to ask you what you would like for dinner."
"Whatever you make will be fine," I said. Then, as an afterthought, I added, "Except beans, or chili. I don't want you two men stinking up the place. Otherwise, the owners will have to send someone down here to fumigate." I smiled and put Lynaea back in her basket. I made a mental note of going shopping for a bassinet as soon as I had the time.
"Alright," Erik smiled at me. I didn't think I had ever seen him smile sincerely before. I had only seen him smile at others either mockingly, or cruelly.
"I like it when you smile, Erik," I told him. "You look good when you smile." Erik's smile fell from his face at my words.
"I'll call you when dinner is ready," he said shortly and turned to leave.
"Erik," I called as he made for the door. "Wait." Erik stopped and stood with his back to me. "Erik, are you all right?" I asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," he replied curtly, and put his hand on the doorknob.
"You don't seem fine," I said. Erik's hand rested on the doorknob. "I'm worried about you, Erik," I began. "You've been acting strangely lately."
"I'm fine," Erik repeated. Then he added as an afterthought, "And I'm not the one who's been acting strangely." His voice rose slightly.
"Yes, you are," I corrected. "It seems that every time I try to comfort you, you shrug my words off and tell yourself that I'm only saying it to be nice or something like that. I'm beginning to think that you like being miserable." I put my hands on my hips for emphasis. "Don't you want to be happy?" I asked softly.
"I can never be happy like this," Erik said bitterly.
"Erik," I said, "You need to realize that life is not always going to go the way you want it to. Bad things sometimes happen to good people." I looked at him with concern. "And you need to realize that beauty is only skin deep. Those people out there who are so pretty," I pointed in a random direction. "They may be pretty, and everyone may love them, but that love isn't even real. People love them because they're beautiful, not because they're nice, or smart, or fun to be around. Those people, they don't even love themselves." I took Erik by the arm and turned him to face me. I was a little surprised that he didn't resist. But when I saw the hopelessness in his eyes, I knew why.
"Erik," I whispered. "You have been given the opportunity of a lifetime. You have the chance to be able to know how people really are. You get to know if a person is superficial, or if they care about you because of who you are as a person, and not about how you look."
Erik looked down at me sadly. "You don't know what it's like to be ugly," he said. "People see what they want to. They don't give themselves a chance to know me before they run from me in terror." I thought I saw tears in his eyes, but the next moment, his eyes were dry.
"Erik," I said. I put a hand to his left cheek. "Did I do that?" Slowly, Erik shook his head. "If I can appreciate you for who you are, then what makes you think that other people can't?"
"Gee," he said sarcastically. "Perhaps it would be my face?" He pointed to his mask.
"Erik," I said, sitting him down on the bed. Then I sat down beside him. "The only way you would ever be able to change the way you looked would be if you lived in the twenty-first century."
Erik's eyes gleamed suddenly and he grabbed my shoulders. "Do you still have the time machine?" He asked. Desperation was in his eyes, and his face loomed close to mine.
-
Erik looked at Rebecca, fervently hoping that she still had it.
"No way, Erik." She said, putting her hands up in front of her for emphasis. "There's no way I'm going to let you use the time machine. You could end up sleeping with the cave men." She shook her head vigorously.
"Please," Erik begged. "Please, let me have a chance at a normal life." Erik's eyes were pleading. "I want to get married," He said suddenly.
"Excuse me?" Rebecca asked, misinterpreting his meaning.
"I want fall in love and get married," he said. "I want to be a real person with a real life. I don't want to be a freak anymore!" He was shaking all over. Erik didn't yet want to consciously admit it, but he loved Rebecca, and he wanted to be normal, so she would love him too.
"Erik," she said. "If you went to the twenty-first century, you wouldn't have anymore peace than you do now. In fact, you would probably have less. Besides," She added. "I don't remember any of the combinations anymore."
Erik hung his head in defeat and released Rebecca's shoulder's. "Hey," she said, lifting his chin. "It's not the end of the world. I'm still your friend." She smiled at him.
Erik said nothing. He lifted his hand to stroke her cheek, but let it fall before it even reached her. He hung his head again. Nothing she could say or do would make him feel better.
-
I lifted Erik's chin again. For some reason, my heart was pounding in my chest with nervousness. I looked Erik in the eye. His green eyes sparkled with sadness. My eyes traveled down his nose, which was very nicely shaped, and to his mouth. I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his.
He seemed shocked by my actions and quickly pulled away. I looked at him and I saw the surprise in his eyes. But I also saw a tenderness there that warmed my heart. Erik put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me full on the mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and the kiss deepened.
My head was reeling with an emotion that I couldn't name. The kiss had me so confused, but instead of trying to sort out my thoughts, I stopped thinking about why I was feeling what I was feeling and just let him kiss me.
-
Pierre was sitting at the table in Erik's kitchen and he was feeling very frustrated. Erik was acting all macho and it was pissing Pierre off. He was also very hungry, and Erik had forbidden him to even attempt to make any food.
It wasn't that Pierre was a weenie or anything like that. Oh, no. It was the fact that Erik was so tall and intimidating. He thought that even the bravest knight would be frightened of Erik.
Pierre was getting even more frustrated than before, so he left the kitchen and went to find Rebecca. Maybe she could talk some sense into that bully.
As he neared the bedroom where he thought he had seen Rebecca enter, Pierre heard voices. It was Rebecca and Erik. He put his ear to the door to listen.
He heard a bunch of mushy stuff that Rebecca was saying to Erik about how he shouldn't feel bad about his face, yadda, yadda. It gave Pierre a little satisfaction to know that Erik wasn't as macho as he acted.
Then Pierre heard something that nearly made his head fall off. He heard Rebecca say to Erik, "The only way you would ever be able to change the way you look would be if you lived in the twenty-first century."
Erik's response to that was the thing that really surprised Pierre. "Do you still have the time machine?" Erik asked. Pierre wasn't able to pay much more attention to their conversation. His head was reeling with what he had just heard.
After several long moments, Pierre realized that the two people behind the door had grown quiet. Then Pierre heard Rebecca say, "It's not the end of the world. I'm still your friend." Then everything was very quiet.
Pierre couldn't take it anymore. He had to know what Erik had meant about a time machine. Pierre opened the door very suddenly and stopped short. There, sitting on the bed, was Rebecca, and she was kissing Erik! How dare that monster touch Rebecca! He would give him a piece of his mind!
A/N: I hope you liked that. It's so romantic! Review, please!
