The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (102 page)

“
About
everything, I guess. Our situation, all that we still have to do.
About what we are up against, things I’ve heard – a whole slew of
stuff, I guess,” he said, grimacing at the fact he had repeated the
same phrase twice in the span of three sentences.
She’s gonna think I’m a retard!

She seemed to consider
what he said, glancing down to peer into her lap at her hands.
“Yeah that does sound like a lot,” she mumbled for his ears only.
“But why come all the way over here by yourself and worry all
alone? We’re a team right? I’m sure any one of us could help you
work through whatever it is bothering you. That’s what we’re here
for,” she said the last part as cheerfully as she could manage,
which made Anthony smile despite the growing dread in his
breast.

“
Well, some of it is a
little personal in nature and… well, I’m not sure I’d be ready to
blurt out all of my private crap on all of you guys right now.” He
was staring at her when her eyes found his again. Though he was
trying with all of his will, he couldn’t quell the anxiety
rampaging through his mind. He could feel them fill with
it.

Why did this have to
happen? Why now?

Her face lost some of the
animation she’d displayed moments ago with her sunny statement. Her
gaze intensified as she searched his face for meaning,
understanding. It didn’t take long. She realized the import of his
words, his look, and the stiffness of his body as he lay there upon
the furniture pads.

“
You look confused,
Anthony,” she declared, leaning closer toward him.

He ran hand over his
forehead and let it fall back to the surface of the bed. “You can
say that again…”

“
You look confused,
Anthony.”

He chuckled, but didn’t
say anything else. He let his eyes drink in her beauty, her pale,
delicate features, the wondrous luster of the stark, pale locks
framing her elven face.

“
Wanna talk about it?” she
prodded gently, the soft smile he was growing to like evermore
spreading across her face.

“
I’m not sure. That’s why
this whole thing is a little bewildering. I’m of two minds about
talking about it right now...”

She tilted her head to the
side, a silent plea for him to go on.

“…
Especially with you,” he
continued quietly, casting the line in the river Joaquin had talked
about earlier, hoping beyond hope she would take the
bait.

“
With me? Why on earth
would you be worried about talking to me about anything -?” she
stopped suddenly her voice somehow strangled in her throat, her
eyes bulging slightly.

“
Do you understand what
I’m getting at?” he asked, his heart pounding in his chest like a
blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil.

She nodded, her eyes
welling.

He was relieved to see
that she was just as nervous as he was.

“
You’re thinking about
me?” Her voice was mouse-like, squeaky and shook with the beat of
her own racing heart.

“
Yes, Sophie… I’m thinking
of you and I am confused out of my mind.” It was whisper, a faint
reverberation in the air about them, but the effect on her was no
less than a foghorn.

“
By why would I be
confusing to you? I should think I would come across as crystal
clear as Waterford champagne glasses to you. I’m your friend,
right?” she said assiduously, turning to face him more
directly.

“
Oh, don’t misunderstand
me. I am sorry if I didn’t make myself clearer,” he began, sitting
up on his elbows, bringing his face closer to hers. “I know, in my
heart, you are my friend. I have felt that since I first talked
with you outside in the forest. I’m confident there.”

“
Well, what then?” she
implored her eyes darting over every inch of his face, trying to
comprehend how she could have such a negative effect on him, though
she was completely wrong.

“
I don’t
know. I feel as more time passes, as I get to know you more and
have you by my side that…,” he gulped, “…that, there is something
between us I cannot quite explain. Or, maybe I’m just afraid to
explain what I’m feeling inside. It’s all so new and confusing. I’m
so far out a limb here, feeling this and having absolutely no idea
if you do as well.” He could see the fear blossom in her visage for
a second time. His heart sank to his knees.
She doesn’t feel the same… about me…

The guys were
wrong.

“
You are contemplating if
it would be a good thing to like me in a different way -.” It
should’ve been a question, but the way she said it, it didn’t sound
like one. It was almost as though she were talking to herself,
“because you are unsure if I feel the same?”

He could only shake his
head in affirmation. His throat had gone dry. There was no way he
would’ve been able to speak.

She looked at him and let
the last of her mask fall away. It was that veneer she often kept
between herself and boys, because of the way she had been treated
in the past, when she’d stopped being a cute little girl and had
flowered into the female males of all ages had lusted
after.

He was amazed at the young
woman emerging from underneath, filled with such compassion and
love. He hoped, if he could just have a sliver of it directed at
him, he would be the happiest man alive.

“
I feel the same,” she
said and a shudder went through her. She looked like a flag
fluttering before a brisk wind.

“
You do?!?” Again, his
voice had betrayed him and he sounded as he had back in seventh
grade, ripe with pimples, awash with hormones frenetically changing
his body.

“
Yes,” she freely
admitted. “I think I have felt a tug on my heart since I first met
you. You made me feel comfortable in this god-awful place. I think
I began to wish for it to be something more about a day ago and
probably by tomorrow, if you hadn’t said anything, I would be
beside myself with want of your affection.” She smiled into his
eyes and let her hand touch his cheek ever so lightly.

“
But why?” he couldn’t
help but say it. To him, it made absolutely no sense.

“
What do you mean, why?
Why not?” she asked, playing at putting indignation in her voice,
but it didn’t resound with it.

“
Why not?!?” asked Anthony
with righteous umbrage. “You have got to be kidding me,
right?”

Sophie let her hand drop
and looked at him like he had morphed into a completely different
person.

“
Sophie, you have to be
one of the prettiest girls I have ever met. Why in hell would you
feel anything for me?”

That sunk in and her face
changed entirely. “You think I’m too good for you?” she asked a
shred of exasperation seeping into her tone.

He smiled a fake smile and
nodded, “yes.”

Then, she jiggled with
laughter. “You are too funny, Tony. You sell yourself way too
short,” she replied with a shake of her head.

“
Please, put me out of my
misery now,” begged Anthony. “I’m the guy, seriously?”

She blinked at his frank
question. Then, she thought about the answer for a few seconds.
“Yes. Yes, you are,” she answered with resolve, raising her hand at
him when he tried to speak again, silencing him with her finger. “I
like you. I really do.”

“
Wow,” he shuddered, eyes
fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird.

“
You are so funny
sometimes,” she breathed placing both of her hands on his legs,
giving him a good shake. “I get this feeling you won’t believe me
until I’ve explained every last detail as to why, huh?”

Anthony felt himself
clench in odd places. He could feel his face stretch in at least
four different directions before he answered. “Well, if it’s not
too much to ask?” S
he feels so
good…

She laughed from deep in
her throat, so sexy and provocative Anthony was rapt.

“
It’s simple,” she beamed,
continuing, “rather than chase me, you are content to merely make
things easier - whatever that may be. For the first time in my
life, I feel comfortable enough around a boy, you, so I can be my
true self. Because of this, I think my real feelings were able to
come out.”

He placed a hand over one
of hers, beginning to understand.

This seemed to fortify
her. Already, he was making her stronger than she could ever be
alone. “I like you, because you give me the space and the time to
like you, which most boys don’t. You don’t smother me. You don’t
get aggressive and try to impose your will. You make me feel like
you like me for who I am and not for how I look. Do you know how
refreshing and invigorating that is after all this
time?”

He could only begin to
guess. He shook his head.

“
It is…,” she inhaled
hugely, shaking her shoulders back and forth, “perfect.” She was
gushing, wild with feeling, her heart thudding against her ribcage.
She didn’t care. She couldn’t believe it. For the first time, it
didn’t matter.

He had to smile, the urge
was unbearable. He squeezed her hand, his eyes drinking in the
young woman before him. “So, this is real?” he inquired with his
heart on his sleeve.

“
Yes, it is,” she replied,
squeezing Anthony right back.

“
You want me?” He said it
innocently and entirely devoid of connotation. If he’d thought
about it for more than a heartbeat, he might not have said it at
all.

She didn’t hesitate to
answer.

He was gladdened beyond
belief.

“
I do, Anthony… I
do.”

Their first kiss was like
a low-level, electrical current. They tingled from head to lips to
toes from the magic spreading between them.

It could always been said
of Sophie Reed that she could move a man to do anything, even when
she was an unpracticed teenager. What Anthony Herrera saw before
him on that morning in the Melded World was something he would
never forget.

He would die to defend
it.

It would prove to be an
unbreakable bond, despite the horrors and the separation they would
have to endure in the coming future.

~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼
}>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

Confirmation

Day Three, Saturday, 1:46
pm…

Okaaay, I know use guys
are around here somewheres. I can feel it in my pinché
huesos
, thought Juan Ibarra as he scanned
the ground. Somehow he was able to see it, though it was covered
with nearly three feet of snow. But, that didn’t seem to faze him
one way or the other. His mind was elsewhere, occupied with things
of greater import. He ignored the howling wind and the biting snow,
made hard and unyielding by the deep cold gripping the landscape.
Above him, the clouds roiled with fury, nearly black with anger,
swollen with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of
precipitation.

He paid it no
mind.

He didn’t even glance up.
No, his attention was one hundred percent riveted to the ground, on
the mound of moss-strewn boulders piled high, forming a decent
sized hill. He believed with all of his heart, his son was encased
within, protected from the elements, hidden from the horrid enemy
lurking this place. Where he knew the boy was safe, or at least for
the time being.

His clothes were torn now.
They were wearing out fast in the vicious conditions of the
climate. His hair made wild by days of neglect, the lower portions
of his face covered in a matted, stringy beard. His mustache had
grown too, because he didn’t have the means to shave. He was
unkempt and smelled, reeked was a more apt description of him. He
would agree with anyone who would have said so. Despite the fact
he’d been a well groomed man in the other world, the world wherein
he’d been born. It mattered little.

Andrew. This is about
Andrew. Nothing else matters!

He had to know!

He edged around a few of
the larger boulders, his eyes questing over the ground,
hungry-like, near rabid with feverish concentration. His hands
traced over the now dead lichen covering them, their microscopic
life-forms long destroyed by the onslaught of this unwanted winter.
He sidestepped a fallen log, bending down as far as he could, his
head suddenly out of sight as he plunged it into the snow and
stopped - inhumanly immobile. He let his mind calm.