Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) (12 page)

When I first entered the room, the crib and the dresser had completely drawn my attention. It wasn’t until Mom’s colors flowed through them that I even noticed the double doors.

I went over and took a good look. On the face of each door were engravings like the ones on Mom and Dad’s urn. It was pretty obvious the doors were not an entrance to a closet.

I grabbed the handle, looked over to Aunt Grace for her permission, and then opened them. They connected my aunt’s room to my Mom’s old room. I walked through them and instantly felt her there. Before I took in anything else, I looked up. There, just like in my room in Hewfawe, was a mural that was almost identical to the one Mom and I had painted. Mom was swirling around the one here on the ceiling.

I walked into the center of the room and took notice of two windows facing the front yard. Under them was a long, wide wooden bench with beautiful purple plush pillows atop it. I turned, taking in the rest of the room. In the center of the room was a bed positioned directly under the mural.

“Your Mom and I would lay here for hours staring at the ceiling. We planned our futures in this room,” Aunt Grace revealed. I turned to her and noticed Mom swirling around her. Aunt Grace was oblivious to her presence. Hudson and Jen then entered the room and stood beside Aunt Grace. They stared up at the mural.

“Wow, Jace, it’s almost the same,” Hudson said, looking up at the mural. I watched as the gust of colors—Mom—drifted over and swirled around him.

“They’re almost exact,” Aunt Grace said.

“Your Mom and I painted this when we were young. Of course our parents helped us, but the positioning of the symbols and the colors were all your Mom and I. We were given free rein to paint it the colors we wanted. Green was one of Ria’s favorite col
ors. When she was young, she also had terrible dreams. Our parents wanted us to paint this so when she went to bed, the last thing on her mind would be the symbols, and they’d be the first things she’d see when she got up.”

“This is amazing. I can really feel her here. Can any of you?” I asked.

“I think we can all feel your Mom here. This is where she grew up. There are a lot of memories here,” Aunt Grace said, crossing her arms around her waist as if to hug herself, embracing the memories of her own childhood.

Of course, I was waiting for someone to say, ‘
Uh, yeah, Jace, she’s all over the room, can’t you see her?’
But that didn’t happen. I went over to the bed and lay down on it. Instantly, Mom was swirling above me and all around me. I was again in a time zone of my own. I looked up at everyone else in the room who were oblivious to the beautiful life force which was dancing about before them. Jen came over to the bed and laid down beside me. As soon as she did, Mom hovered above us.

“It’s amazing. It’s just like the one in your old room,” Jen said.

“No. It’s close, but nothing like it,” I said. “The one in my room was Mom and I. This one—it was Mom and Aunt Grace. A time I never knew anything about and things I never dreamed of. This was all Mom’s—”

“So, you guys ready to move all of your bags to where they need to go?” Aunt Grace asked.

I sat up on the bed and smiled.

“Yeah, I am.”

We all left the room, Mom included.

An hour later, Jen and I were in my room when she caught me off guard.

“Do you think what happened in the gas station is going to happen again?”

“I don’t know. It completely scared the crap out of me,” I said as a chill ran down my back. I turned to Jen with a burning question of my own.

“Are you and Hudson more than friends?”

At least she tried to look a little bit surprised by my question. It was so obvious to me over the last couple of hours seeing them together that I really didn’t need an answer from her to verify what I already knew. But I still waited for her to answer.

“I could try and tell you no—but I promised you when we started being friends that I wouldn’t lie or keep things from you that I didn’t have to,” she said slowly. “So, here goes—at first, no. There was nothing between us. But as we got to know one another, we… we started to talk and just found we had a lot in common.” She looked at me. But I didn’t look back, I just kept staring at the ceiling.

“I like him. Jacey, I like him a lot. It just happened.”

“How long?” I interrupted.

“What?”

“How long? How long have you been using me to get to Hudson?” I declared.

“I…I never used you. I didn’t even know Hudson until months after you and I started hanging out.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me about the two of you? What’s your
reason
for keeping it a big secret?” I asked.

“I—well, more like we, didn’t want you to think exactly what you’re thinking now.”

“You know I’d have been able to handle things better if you guys would have just trusted me enough to tell me about everything when it started. I’d never keep something like this from you. He’s my brother…ewwww… and you’re supposed to my best friend. I’m having real issues with people I care—” I stopped, sat up, and turned to faced her. I was now full out yelling at her. “Jen, I’m having real issues with everyone keeping things from me lately… You were the one person I
thought
I could trust and not worry about keeping things from me, too!” I finished.

Jen sat up while I was screaming at her and waited until I was finished to answer.

“The reason I didn’t tell you wasn’t because I wanted to keep things from you. I didn’t tell you because I thought I’d lose you as my friend. Jacey, it only started within the last couple of weeks. Every time we thought of telling you, something happened. I was going to tell you this weekend. You have to know that I don’t think of you as just a friend. I think of you more as my sister than as my friend.”

When Jen stopped she was flushed with emotion. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she was on the verge of crying. I was silent, taking everything in she had just said when Mom’s presence came swirling into the room and around Jen.

Jen was oblivious to her presence. Mom’s colors moved from circling Jen over to me. I closed my eyes and went into my own zone. Being with my Mom in this form was something I now found myself looking forward to and needing. The feeling I was getting from Mom indicated Jen was being honest with me and was like I had always felt—part of my family.
I wasn’t going to second guess what I felt…not anymore.

Mom’s essence left the room and the conversation with Jen continued as if it’d never been stalled by my
Star Trek
time warp moment.

“Jacey, I would do anything to go back and tell you when it first started, but I didn’t even know it was happening until after it did. Does that make any sense at all?” Jen pleaded.

I grabbed Jen’s hand and looked at her. “I know Hudson, and I know you. Neither one of you would hurt me on purpose or use me. I just don’t want any more secrets when it comes to the two of you, all right?”

“Does that mean you’re okay with it, I mean, okay with us?”

“It means I love you both and yeah…I guess I’m okay with
it
—” Before I could finish Jen grabbed me into a bear hug. “Hey, one more thing, I don’t think I could handle the two of you being all gushy with one another around me.”

Jen lifted two fingers up and held them over her heart. “Scout’s honor, we won’t.” She laughed as she finished.

We both got up off the bed and started to put my stuff away. It took about an hour and by then we were both starving. We headed to the kitchen to see what we could pick at. The smell of freshly baked blueberry muffins met us as we entered the kitchen. We came around the corner and Hudson and Aunt Grace were sitting at the kitchenette.

“Hey, how’d everything go?” Hudson asked nervously, looking back and forth between Jen and me.

“I’d have to say you made an excellent choice, Hudson, but Jen, on the other hand…” I teased and laughed as I saw the look on his face. Embarrassment, defensiveness, and something I hadn’t seen on Hudson before, a fierce devotion when he looked at Jen.

“Jen told me. It’s all right, I’m okay with it—the only thing—no more secrets.” I gave my most stern don’t mess with me look.

“No more secrets, Jace, I promise. You know I’d never do anything or keep anything from you to hurt you, right?”

“Hudson. I know you—you couldn’t hurt a fly on purpose. Now, I smell blueberry muffins. Are there any left for us?” I asked, looking at Aunt Grace, who hadn’t said a word since we came into the kitchen. She got up and went to the counter and came back with two steaming cups of hot chocolate and two blueberry muffins.

“Do you think I’d let Hudson eat all of them? I wouldn’t have heard the end of it,” Aunt Grace said as she put a cup of hot chocolate and a muffin in front of me and Jen.

Jen sat beside Hudson at the table and it looked right. As I was thinking it, Mom came into the room and swirled around Hudson and Jen. The feeling emanating from her was peace, love, and belonging. She disappeared as quickly as she appeared once I figured out what she was trying to convey.

“I think Mom and Dad would approve,” I said out loud without meaning to.

Hudson looked at Jen and smiled. “I think so, too,” he said.

Chapter Ten

Exploring your way
Finding new ones
Surprising yourself
Surprising others

W
e finished our snack and took our hot chocolates into the living room. As we picked a place to sit, Aunt Grace went to the mantle and placed her hand on the urn.

“It’s nice to have them home, even like this,” she said.

“When was the last time Mom was home?” I asked.

“I think you were about two years old the last time Ria was here.”

“Why didn’t we ever come back?” I asked.

“That’s a really long story. But I do promise you, I will tell you the whole story soon,” Aunt Grace offered. The phone rang and she jumped up to get it. “Back in a second guys.”

“What time is it, anyway?” Hudson asked.

There was a clock hanging over the mantel indicating it was 12:30 a.m.

“Wow, time does fly when you’re having fun, eh?” Jen said.

“We should all get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be another busy day,” Hudson said, getting up.

“Why do you think it’s going to be busy?” I asked.

“I was hoping to go out and explore the town. I’d like to see where the high school is.”

“Good idea. Jen, I’ll see you upstairs when you’re done down here.” I went over to Hudson and gave him a hug. “Say goodnight to Aunt Grace for me.” I called back as I went up stairs. I figured I’d give Jen and Hudson some time to themselves. I wanted some time to myself anyway. As I was passing through the kitchen, I heard Aunt Grace in the sunroom on the phone.

“Eve, we should be by tomorrow. Are Bronson and Vincent going to be there?”

My heart went into overdrive. It felt like there were a hundred butterflies in my stomach and I could feel my face redden.
What was that?
I thought to myself. I turned and took the stairs two at a time up to my bedroom.

This time I went in through the bedroom door and not through Aunt Grace’s old room. I closed the door behind me and sat on the bed. I’d been holding my breath since taking the stairs two at a time. I needed to let my heart rate slow and take a few breaths.

The feeling which prodded me to run was lingering on the outer edges of my mind. I lay down on my bed and stared up at Mom’s mural. Why I’d just had the reaction I did was a mystery…as I racked my brain trying to rationalize why I was feeling this way, I came up with the excuse of accepting this was now my new
home
.

I was going to have to face a new school, new people, and a new life, this time, without Mom and Dad.

“Mom, I miss you,” I said out loud. I lay there for a while, playing the day’s events over again in my mind—leaving home, the onyx-eyed girl, the new town, my new house, Jen and Hudson. I pulled my comforter up around me and snuggled into my new bed. Before long, my dream colors were dancing around behind my eyelids.

I was walking down a pathway in a forest, which appeared to be an old roadway. Beautifully matured trees hung over the trail and were swaying in unison to a gentle breeze. The overgrown roadway had long green grass growing in all directions. I glanced up into the sky and shielded my eyes from the sun. Its light was shining off the leaves and lighting the particles dancing around in the air as I walked though them. I was completely alone.

I walked for a while, enjoying the serenity of the path until it opened up into a meadow. There were large yellow sunflowers and huge white daisies throughout, and in the far right corner was a huge oak tree with an old wooden swing hanging from it. It was swaying with the leaves from the light breeze. I walked into the middle of the meadow and spun around a few times to see if anyone else was there. No one. I was able to completely relax and took a seat in the plush green grass.

A sudden childhood memory came to me and I lay back, staring up into the sky like I used to do with my parents and Hudson. The sky was brilliant, clear in spots with puffy white clouds strewn throughout for as far as the eye could see.

“That one looks like a lion, don’t you think?” a familiar voice said from beside me. It was Mom. She was lying there and staring up into the clouds with me.