A Destined Death (14 page)

I shrunk back and took another deep breath, telling myself that it was just the wind.

“Elizzz-a-beth…”

“Hello?” I called, slowly stepping up the stairs and into the room. No one. The construction workers hadn’t touched the attic either, and the copy of Wuthering Heights remained in the open window. “I am losing my mind,” I grumbled.

“Wear me… Listen to my story…”

I threw myself backward, causing my head to slam into the plaster. I lost my footing and crumbled onto the floor. It was silent after that, which was good. Because if that box had said one more thing I would have jumped in my car and kept driving until I hit Portland. When I made it to my feet, I stared at the box, squinting, daring it to talk.

I took extra time to recover, reassuring myself with the fact that at least it was only a ghost item and not a ghost. Was that better? The box
read:
Lissa Longcamp, Commissioned 1990, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The
earrings inside matched the necklace and bracelet. I put them on expecting something painful, but when there was nothing, I felt almost hopeful.
Maybe this one didn’t die.

“What do you mean? Are you all right?”

I cringed at the interruption. I never thought I’d feel irritated to hear Draven’s voice. “Go away. I’m reading.”

He chuckled.
“Goodnight, Elizabeth.”

“Goodnight.”

I waited a few minutes before I settled into the bed. “All right, Lissa Longcamp, let’s hear what you’ve got to say.”

A girl, who wore a smile from ear to ear, danced in place in the middle of a crowded concert hall. Loud, heavy metal music pulsed as her short punk hairdo bobbed to the beat. When the guitar solo started to play, she stopped moving, and her face went blank. A moment later, she turned to see Draven standing ten feet away.

He watched her but when she spotted him, he looked away, pretending to enjoy the music. She shoved her way through the crowd and went straight to him, taking his hand. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. Ignoring his surprise, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

The scene closed and reopened with her alone in a bedroom, staring at the “camera” as if she were waiting for it to turn on. After a minute, she put on a large witches hat and pointed to her head like she was playing charades. She pushed out with her hands, and the camera backed away to reveal the three pieces of matching jewelry that lay on the bed. She pulled out a wand and made a circling gesture over each one, and then she looked at the camera again and pointed to her head.

Next, she walked straight up to the camera until her face was only inches away. “Watch for the signs, Elizabeth. You must watch for the signs!”

I awoke with a start and immediately replaced the earrings in their box. Lissa knowing my name and talking directly to me was downright freaky! Not that anything else in my life had been normal since Draven started giving me jewelry.

I stumbled down the stairs to my new office and typed the story out, feeling confused. The message, though apparently well thought out, wasn’t clear. I didn’t know what she was trying to tell me. What sort of a sign was I supposed to watch for? Was it some kind of warning? Could she be trying to save my life?

Shaking my head, I tried to unclutter my clogged mind, but that worked as well as trying to get out of a locked cage without a key. It was the first jewelry dream that hadn’t ended in death, which was refreshing but I needed to know what happened to her. Instinctually, I tried to look her up online but realized that I didn’t have the internet yet. It would have to wait.

A loud, blaring noise in the yard pulled me away from my desk and outside. The owner of the horn got out of his truck and walked toward me with huge eyes and an agape mouth. “Wow! I saw all those trucks pull in here yesterday but I’d never have guessed they’d get it all done.”

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“I bet that cost you a pretty penny,” he said, crossing his arms over his bright red polo shirt. 

I looked away uncomfortably. “I suppose it did.”

“Well, how’d your first two nights go?”

“Fine,” I returned, giving him a bright smile. “What brings you here so early, Tommy?”

“Oh, well…” he said, looking down at the ground. He dug his sneaker into the ground like a shy child. “My dad wanted me to spend the day on a tractor but I told him I’d promised to help you get settled. I hope that’s all right. It’s gonna be a long summer if he keeps trying to work me to death.”

I laughed restlessly. “Actually, it’s perfect timing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I need to go to town. I want to fix up the yard so I can take some pictures for my mom, and I have a feeling I’m going to need a ton of gravel to fill those craters in the driveway. I don’t think Hecate can carry too much of that.”

“Hecate?”

“Oh, my car. That’s her name.”

He let out a low chuckle. “Did you name the house too?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, keep me posted.” His words reminded me that I needed to message my mom. “When do you want to leave? Watertown probably has the best prices around here. They have a Menards.”

“I just need to shower and text my mom. Is fifteen minutes okay?”

“Sure.”

Hi Mom. Things r gr8. No net yet, will have 2 settle 4 txt 4 a while. xoxoxo. Bye.

Once showered, I dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans and found Tommy in the garage, playing with an old BB gun.

He looked through the scope, a large grin on his face. “I was wondering where I’d left this. It’s been missing for over five years. We used to play cowboys and bank robbers over here when my cousins came to visit.”

Somehow, I easily pictured him as a playful child. “What side were you on?”

Tommy smiled proudly. “Well, I was a bank robber, of course.” His exaggerated eye roll made me laugh. “Do you shoot?”

“What? Guns?”

His smirk almost covered up his laugh. “Yeah, guns. A rifle? Or a pistol?”

“Oh, no.”

“You want to learn? We could go shooting sometime.”

“Maybe,” I replied uneasily. I wasn’t sure how I felt about using a firearm. Being from the city, guns had always scared me. From the diner alone, I’d heard countless stories about gunpoint muggings, and in the back of my mind, I always feared being held up. 

****

Inside the hardware store, Tommy came to life. He asked the salesman all the right questions and brought up things I hadn’t even thought of yet. He knew everything about lawn mowers, tools, and even convinced me to purchase a ladder, just in case. Several bags of gravel, a picnic table, a porch swing, and dozens of colorful flowers later, we had the truck packed full. He let me pay for his gas, and then he stopped at a recycling and wrecking company on the way out of town. They agreed to pick up the junk cars in my yard by the end of the day.

“You know you’ll never get through your yard with that little mower,” he said as his truck bounced across my driveway and backed up to the garage. 

“Hmm, are you saying I should have gotten that machete?” 

He laughed and slipped his arm across the top of the seat where it touched my shoulder. “I’ll bring over the tractor tomorrow after those cars are gone. It shouldn’t take more than a few swipes around the house, and you’ll be able to mow the rest by hand.”

“That’d be really great. I’ll pay you, of course.”

“Fine.”

His smile seemed a little too meaningful so I jumped out of the cab, not ready to find out where his hospitality was headed. Pulling and dragging, I started unloading the truck. He followed suit, lifting the heavy objects and setting them in the garage effortlessly.

When the bed of the truck was empty, he approached me again. “Listen, I’m leaving this fall but I’m not gone yet.”

What could I do? I smiled like an idiot, my expression saying all but “whatever do you mean?”

“I like you, Elizabeth.”

“I like you too, Tommy. You’ve been very nice and I appreciate it.” Polite and friendly was all I had the patience for. He was a kid, after all. Good looking, yes, nice body, yes, but still a kid––and he wasn’t Draven.

“So, do you wanna go out sometime?”

“I’m sorry, Tommy, but I have a boyfriend. He’s thinking about moving here soon.”

“Oh.” He looked down at the ground again, making circles on the cement floor. “We’re still gonna go shooting though, right?”

“Sure.”

Tommy kissed my cheek and then raced out of the yard like a getaway driver. Shortly after, the flatbed arrived, and one by one, the driver and his sidekick skillfully pulled each heap onto the trailer. Unfortunately, with the cars gone I could see all the debris that littered the yard. Sighing, I started to clean up. Picking it up kept me busy until dark, but I liked the work. Normally, I did my best thinking while I worked but today I found myself distracted.

I imagined seeing Draven everywhere. He sat on the porch with me and watched as the cars were towed away. He stood beside me while I picked up the trash, then he sat across from me, watching me eat my burnt TV dinner. I knew it wasn’t healthy to obsess that way, and if anyone knew, they’d probably lock me up and throw away the key. No one knew though, so I let it slide.

Tommy showed up the next morning to mow down the tall grass and help me fill the holes in the driveway. When he left, I finished the mowing and planted the flowers. The day was productive, and by dusk, my yard was successfully transformed into a beautiful piece of land. 

“You look like you’re twenty miles away,” Tommy said when he stopped by after sunset. “So what’s wrong? Are you getting lonely already?”

“A little,” I admitted, handing him three twenties. “Thanks again for all your help. Can I get you a TV dinner or a soda?”

“No time for the dinner, but I’ll take a pop. Thanks.”

I handed him the soda and sighed. “I’m trying to figure something out.”

He laughed. “That’s easy. Start at the beginning and walk through it.”

Surprised by his answer, I gawked at him curiously. “Is that guy talk, 101?”

“Nope. Learned that one from my momma.”

“Really?”

“Yep. That’s what she tells my dad every time he gets drunk and can’t find his keys. ‘Course she only says it to keep him busy until he sobers up.”

I giggled. “She sounds like a smart woman.”

“She is.”

“It does make sense,” I decided.

“Well, I better get going,” he said as he stood. “The old man threatened to add to my chores if I was gone for more than a half hour. Thanks for the pop, Elizabeth.”

“Anytime.” I waved to him through the screen before I shut and locked the door for the night. When I thought about Draven returning, I unlocked it.

On the bed in my new bedroom off the living room, I scanned the pages of my journal and read through everything I’d ever felt about Draven. I used words like beautiful, intriguing, and mysterious to describe him several times.

As I read further, I remembered the things he’d said to me about the dreams and my past lives. I hadn’t thought too seriously about that or his supposed immortality because it seemed so impossible. My brain couldn’t accept them as real so instead of trying to deal with it, I’d sent him away––out of sight, out of mind.

Was it possible that we’d shared past lives? Could feelings carry over through lifetimes? Could love?

He told me that he knew me, and he grew irritated whenever I told him I didn’t know him. He admitted to waiting for me, and to granting my wishes for most of my life. He looked only four years older than me, but his emotions were real when he described his relationships with those women. If it weren’t true, how could he still have their jewelry?

I had to accept the fact that he was immortal. I sighed. Where did that leave me? Human, fragile, and destined to die young. It wasn’t fair.

Not wanting to think about it, I shooed the thought away. I still didn’t know how he traveled without a vehicle and generated fresh clothing out of thin air.

Pulling my computer onto my lap, I opened a new document and typed:

What I know about Draven Blackrayne:

When I look into his eyes, I feel a peaceful happiness that cannot be explained by any rational thought process. When he’s gone, I feel suffocated with loneliness. I barely know him but at the same time I feel like I’ve known him my whole life. His touch warms my insides, and his kiss makes me ache for him. When he tells me he loves me, I feel it in my soul that he means it. My life had no meaning until the day he walked into it. Is that love?

****

A loud banging in the middle of the night irritated me tremendously. The wind had picked up, and an unknown object beat wildly against the side of the house. Wearing a mid-length white nightgown, I pulled myself out of bed and stumbled out into the warm night to see what it was. A shutter on the attic window swayed in the wind, scratching the paint around it and threatening to smash the window. Unfortunately, the window was too small to fix it from the inside.