FORBIDDEN CH. 8
Saturday March 14, 2009
It was all so beautiful. The lights were dim, the Jacuzzi bathtub was full with water, and the edges of the tub were sprinkled with rose petals. There were scented candles everywhere, but they were not yet lit. I looked to Addam and he waved his hand and the candles were glowing and letting out scents that were so amazing. I could smell freesia, rose, orange blossoms, french vanilla, and more that I couldn't explain.
This was a surprise. He walked over to the tub and turned on the turbo jet. He turned on a CD that had all of my favorite songs, and some of his. I wasn't showing any reaction so he might think that I didn't like it. He was turned away from me, facing the bubbling water. I turned him around to face me. He didn't look that ecstatic anymore. I reached up on my toes to kiss him. My arms were around his neck like a boa constictor, holding him to me.
In between kisses I whispered, "Addam I love it…….But not as much as you. Thank you…..So much." When we pulled away, he was smiling a crooked, brilliant smile. "This is all for you my darling. You get to be up here resting while I will be napping downstairs." I frowned. I didn't want him to leave me. And I especially did not want him to have an uncomfortable nap on that lumpy couch. "What's wrong Eva?" He asked.
"I want you to stay up here with me. You have been stressed out all week too, you deserve this as much as I do. Come one, you can borrow one of Jason's never worn swimsuits." I took his hand and tried to pull him in the direction of where we kept the swimsuits. He followed willingly enough. "You can wear this plaid on. Go put that on while I go put mine on. You can change in that bathroom if you want, it doesn't really matter." He nodded and I left the room to go change clothes. I was really happy today. Addam was so sweet. I don't know why I ever regretted falling in love with him.
I was dressed in an aqua colored bikini. My hair was tied up in a pony tail and held up with a clip. I walked back to the bathroom. Addam was ready, and I was dazzled. The dim lights and candles made him look so…so….words cannot explain it. He was beautiful. His brown hair was toussled, his skin looked radiant in this light, he was so gorgeous. It was so hard to think around him. I slowly walked in, knowing that I looked like a blank piece of paper next to him, and knocked over a candle. He caught it before it touched the ground. I blushed deep red. He chuckled and came over to me. He grabbed my waist and pulled me over to the water-filled tub. There was steam coming out of it. He stepped in first and then I did. It felt good on me. It unknotted all of the knots in my back, and I did relax a bit. Addam looked relaxed too. I was sitting beside him with his arms around me.
"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." He whispered to me in my ear. I could feel his cool breath on my cheek. I breathed in his scent and my breath caught right there in my throat. Having him, this close to me like this was so nerve wracking. I was scared that any one movement would scare him away. I stayed still in his arms, unmoving, like a statue. He stroked his lips across my jaw line to my chin, and down my neck. My hand flashed up to hold a handful of his hair. He looked at me and I looked at him. His eyes burned with passion. I could not tell what was in my eyes. All I knew was that I loved him. This love felt dissimilar from the books and movies. We gazed at each other like that for a while. His face was now in level with mine. He kissed me fervently. His lips fit the shape of mine perfectly. I had never turned him on this much.
All of a sudden, the water felt too warm, much, much, too warm. I was sweating. I pulled away for a breath. When Addam open his eyes, they were a deep crimson. He was staring at the water, looking at his reflection. "I'm sorry." He whispered. He looked dejected again. He moved slightly away from me. I looked down and saw something on my arm; it was a burn. I lifted it out of the water and examined it carefully. It was light red and now burning so badly, it felt cold. I looked up at Addam and immediately knew why he was mad at himself. I looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry," I whispered now. "I'm so sorry that I am weak and vulnerable. I'm so sorry that I can't protect myself from dangers that are on my tail, chasing me until I am dead. That way you wouldn't have to worry. That way your life would not be in danger. I wish that I could fend for myself like that, but I can't." I could feel the sobs blocking my throat, keeping me from saying anymore. The tears were threatening to fall over, every second, every moment. Addam looked remorseful. He reached for my hand. He touched my arm and his fingers on the spot where it blazed cooled it. It felt stone cold.
All of a sudden, I heard the garage door open. Jacob must have been home, or maybe Jason and Kristin. I heard a door close and someone say, "Hello? Eva, are you home?" Jacob was early. I looked at Addam with a panicked expression. He was already out of the tub and fully dressed. How did he do that? His hair was wet and dripping on the floor. He got down on his knee beside me and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Thank you." He mumbled. He lithely jumped out the window above my head. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted to spend more time with him, without his powers or my vulnerability getting in the way. That one kiss we shared was so amazing, so astounding, I couldn't even think correctly. My heart beat briskly every time he breathed on me. He cleared my mind of everything ruinous and filled it with the infatuation of him.
I could hear Jacob creeping up the stairs. Once I was sure Addam wasn't coming back, I yelled, "Up here Dad." He knocked on the door first and asked if he could come in. I replied yes and he slowly came in. "What are you doing in my bathroom?" He inquired. I looked up at him with a fake happy expression. "Well, I felt really worn out so I decided to take rest. Is that okay?" He slightly smiled and then left the room.
I sunk back and sighed. The pain in my arm came back without Addam here. I took the remote that controlled the lighting, turned off the lights and then blew out the candles. I wanted to sit here in the dark for a while. The pain that overwhelmed me with his absence was piercing. The water seemed cold without him here. I closed my eyes and sat there in the dark, thinking and wallowing in my sorrows. Why was this so hard? Why was it so hard just to have a normal relationship? It was so easy for us to fall in love, so easy, and now it's so hard just to be in love. Every time he touched me, I started to see black spots in my vision. Every time he spoke I could not help but be dragged in to the conversation.
Everything about him invited me in. The look in his eyes when I came into view was so lovely, so divine; my heart would stutter and stop for a second. I was dying every second and he had stopped growing all together now. Being with him was killing me. I knew that one day I would have to leave, or he would, because we both knew it was too dangerous. I drew myself into this relationship knowing that that would happen. I couldn't think about this any longer. I let the water sink and turned on all the lights. I picked up the towel off the ground and headed to my room.
I slept dreaming about something that pained me. A troublesome memory. I saw my mother in this dream; she was as beautiful as ever. She and I were walking in a park, talking. She was holding my hand. Her brown eyes matched mine and so did her curly dark brown hair. She looked pale, much paler than I did. While walking with her I saw a few images. Images of when I was only one and she was still alive. She watched with me, tears welling up in both of our eyes. She was pushing me on the swing. After I got a good head start, I tried to jump off. When I did, I scraped my knee. While I was watching, I felt my knee. It burned and bled. The scene changed and now we were on a street in the middle of the night.
The cars were going by quite fast and I found myself sitting in the back of my mom's car. She was driving and the one in the back seat with me was almost crying. I suddenly realized what was about to happen. This was the night of my second birthday. This was the night my mom died. I could see the headlights of the truck that the drunk driver drove. He was getting faster and faster, closer and closer. I waited for it to happen and when it did, I screamed. I screamed for my now dead mother.
I woke up then. The tears were streaming down my face and I was propped-up with my knees pulled to my chest. I was sobbing hysterics. I had never felt this panicky before. The pain that came along with this dream or nightmare was agonizing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. It was she. It was my mom. She was transparent and she looked the same as when she had the accident. She wore the same blue blouse and jeans. Her hair was tied up and she looked depressed. I gazed up at her without actually seeing her. Was this also a dream? The door opened and when it opened, she disappeared.
Was today Saturday? Jacob came in and behind him were Addam, Jason and Kristin. I realized that my screaming must have woken up Kristin and Jason. Jacob had to work so he probably heard while leaving. I had no idea why Addam was here, but I'm glad he was; I needed to talk to him. Jacob looked just as panicked as I felt. I had just seen the ghost of my mother. It was the worst encounter I had ever had. I sat there, thinking about what I had just seen - my mother, Emilina, in her ghost form.
Jason and Kristin were both yawning and Addam looked horrified. He looked from my face to the spot where Emilina was standing. Did he see her too? I wiped the sweat off my forehead and tried to even out my breathing. "Why are you all in my room?" I asked breathlessly. Even though I knew the answer, I had to ask. Jacob was the first one to speak. "I heard you scream and I thought you were being kidnapped. I was about to leave and then Addam was at the door so when I let him in you screamed. Now I am in here and you look like you just saw a ghost. You look pale white; all of the blood from your face is gone. Are you okay, are you sick, bad nightmare, or are you pregnant? Please don't let it be the latter." I smiled at that last comment. He always joked around like this.
He got noticeably tense. "Dad, it's none of that. Can I just talk to Addam alone for a second?" Jacob and Jason looked at Addam heatedly and hesitantly left the room. Kristin followed in a daze behind them. I realized when Jacob asked me if I was pregnant, Kristin gave him an irritated look that told him to watch out.
I smiled vaguely when everyone left the room. Addam tentatively sat down on the edge of my bed. "Addam I just-" He nodded before I could get the full sentence out. "I saw." He whispered. "Eva, seeing a ghost is not that great of a sign. Was that your mother?" He inquired. I slowly nodded while getting up off the bed. "No wonder I knew her from somewhere. Did you know that your mother and Genevieve went to the same High School? They were best friends, but then your mother married Jacob and Genevieve went to college with Nicholas" He made quotation marks with his hands around "Went to college."
"Addam, before I saw her I actually had a dream. Maybe a nightmare, I don't know. I was literally taking a trip down memory lane with Emilina, one memory was of when I got hurt on the playground, and another was when she died. I was sitting in the backseat with her and she was also driving somehow. I saw the day the accident happened and I was there. It felt like I was really there; it was so vivid so valid, I thought I was also going to die. Addam, I feel scared now. All I know is that she is trying to tell me something. Something that I need to know. Something that she thinks will help her or me or Jacob, whichever. Addam will you help me find that out?" He looked at me, baffled by what I had just said. He stood up off the bed and then something like a book appeared in his hand. On the front, it said something. I couldn't see that very well, my eyes were blurred. When I looked carefully, I saw Emilina's name. Was that her diary? Since when did she have a diary? I took the journal out of his hand abruptly and read the first page. This was from when she was eighteen. She talked about getting out of high school and being with Jacob, I could tell. I read the page from her eighteenth birthday. It read:
Dear Diary,
Today is my eighteenth birthday and let me tell you, it sucks, I hate getting older even though my mother can't. She's frozen at twenty-five forever. I have to lie to my friends and say that I am adopted, even though I am not. It's not easy to cope with all of these lies. I hate it so much. Sometimes I wish I could tell everyone the truth that my mother is immortal, that she is a witch, and a very powerful one I might say. She has this amazing ability to heal wounds that are caused by those dreadful monsters that always want power and nothing else. I wish I had some too, but my father is human. I can't get powers if only one parent is immortal. I wonder if one day when I have a daughter, if she gets the powers that are in my genes. Will she at least have some of them? I don't know, I guess I will just have to wait and see. I really want my mom's telepathic power. She can tap into anyone's power and use it; it's every useful when in a fight. When someone has a vision of the future or something, she can just touch the person that is having the vision or want to see it and then it will come to her. Sometimes she can stop the visions from coming, but they still have to go somewhere so then she gets them. It's cool. I really hope my parents approve of me marrying Jacob. I really love him. He is my life and I would never be able to live without him. I need him so much. I'm just so scared and I don't know how to tell them. Well, bye for now, I have to go cut a cake.
Love,
Emilina Gerard (soon to be Greene)
I stood there in shock. My grandmother was dead wasn't she? She can't have any powers, and this can't be the explanation of why I could heal Addam and why I got the visions he saw. I mean, don't telepaths read minds? I can't do that. Why hadn't Addam told me this? I looked at him then. He understood my expression immediately. I felt hurt, betrayed, and lied to. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. My ears burned with the blood that ran through it. It was an uncomfortable feeling of resentment. I tried to calm down, but it was too hard. Addam set his hands in place on my face and tried to tranquil me. "It's okay, we can fix this. Nicholas and I have a theory on why that happened. It's very simple." He sat us both down on the bed, his sentence not breaking. "We both think that your mother might have been in the room that day. I knew I had seen something out of the corner of my eye that day. I knew that we were not alone. Eva, we need to call your mother so she can explain everything, but doing this would be very dangerous. You see, when calling the dead, we have a very complicated ritual." He started saying the next sentence when out of nowhere Jacob called us down in an aggravated voice. I realized that I still hadn't done anything to help my appearance. My hair looked like a haystack, and my face was dried with the tears I had cried for my mother.
"Addam, you can just go on downstairs, I'll be there in a few minutes." I waved my hand toward the door. He left silently, without a word. I brushed out the knots in my hair and then washed my face as fast as I could. Suddenly, everything just felt black and white, like all of the color had gone away. I felt like everything around me was pushing in, the hairs on my arms stood up and it was cold.
The shower started and out of the fog came a figure, so familiar, so ghostly and translucent. There was a rush of cold air around me and then I saw her for the second time today. Emilina looked as beautiful as ever, even though she was dead. My mother looked so much like me. Her curly brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail, swayed in the heavy breeze.
I knew I should have been scared, but I wasn't. I wanted to call out to her, but I was afraid that she would go away if I did. I watched quietly and ambled toward her. I heard someone turning the doorknob, even though it was locked. I could see the lock twisting and I knew that a magical force was behind this. I knew who it was, but I didn't want to make this any easier for him.
I had so many questions for her, and I didn't want to lose any moment that I could have with her. I reached out to touch her but then realized that I would not be able to. My hand would go straight through her. She looked sad and like she was trapped. Unexpectedly, I remembered a book that I was reading. It was about ghosts, and why they still are on Earth. It was called The Mediator by Meg Cabot. Ghosts usually stayed planted where they are if they had some sort of unfinished business to attend to, if that never happened, they would stay here forever.
What sort of unfinished business did she have with me? The door opened behind me and I felt a rush of warm air touch my frozen skin. How cold could it really be here with Emilina's ghostly presence? The warm air felt comforting and refreshing. I breathe in the scent that came through the door. Was it freesia? Rose? I couldn't quite tell, but the scent was very familiar.
"This is going to be really messy isn't it?" Nicole's voice boomed in the silent room.
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