Wingless Book Series (book 1) (19 page)

“
What are you doing?” I asked him,
practically falling off the edge of the road.

“
I figured
since
we aren’t getting far driving we can
just sit here until the roads clear,” he said, staring out at the
water and rocks. I stared too, not knowing what to say. “Is
everything alright?” he asked me.

“
I don’t feel wrong. I just, I just
don’t know what to feel.”

“
Okay.” He pursed his lips, looking
at me with a tired expression.

“
Don’t ever think I am upset with
you. It’s just a lot to take in, you know?” I asked, hoping he
understood me.

“
Yeah,” was all he said.

“
I am me. I don’t do things like
that so it’s hard to really understand I guess. It’s like I have a
million questions, but don’t know how to ask them.”

“
You can ask me anything you want,
especially now,” he said, sitting down on the ground.

“
When you touched me, I felt
something. It was almost shocking,” I said, touching my
hands.

“
It’s part of who I am. When it is
time to take someone, I can physically manipulate anything. It’s
sort of electrifying, yeah. It wouldn’t hurt you though,” he said,
pulling me close to him. I took his hand, looking at them for
something, but not sure what. They looked like anyone else’s
hands.

“
You know, I don’t care that you
had to do that. I still think you’re just as beautiful of a person
as before.” I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“
Thank you. I was worried you would
think I was a monster.” He half laughed, but I could tell he was
serious.

“
I would never think
that.”

“
I don’t know, there may come a
time when you do,” he said softly.

Cars whirred by slowly, horns
honked. Even when you died the world kept right on
moving.

“
It’s part of life, dying. Right?”
I asked him.

“
Yeah, that’s what I
gather.”

“
Then why would I blame you for
doing what is right?” I asked him, pulling him into me to kiss him.
He pulled me closer. His hold on the back of my head was tense and
so strong. The wind whipped around us, it was as if nothing was
there as we kissed. Evan didn’t slow down as he usually would and
the moment was so intense. A horn honked once again, breaking us
apart.

“
Let’s get out of here, you’re
probably tired,” he said, heading to the truck in an annoyed
state.

“
Yeah, I guess,” I said, getting
in.

Back at home, there was still no
sign of Kenny anywhere. Evan seemed at a loss of what to do about
this. We settled into the living room and he turned the television
on. The accident at the Festival was all over the news.

“
Today at the annual Cedar Pine
Festival things were anything but festive. Mayor Ridley was
accidentally crushed in a freak accident. Around four o’clock when
crew members were running the Ferris Wheel it collapsed. No one is
certain how this happened seeing all rides at Cedar Pines are
always serviced every couple of days. Mayor Ridley was a well
respected Mayor of Cedar and he will be very much missed,” the news
lady announced.

Evan turned the TV volume down
sighing. “And that’s how it works,” he said, looking
off.

“
Do you think he did everything he
wanted to do in his life?” I asked.

“
I don’t think anyone ever does
everything. You just have to make the most of what time you have,
and he was a Mayor so I am sure he felt accomplished in some
way.”

“
What about his family?” I asked,
suddenly feeling sad. His family probably had been there when he
died. Now they were without a father and a husband.

Evan’s phone and the
doorbell rang at the same time. He motioned me to the door while he
answered his phone. Heading to it, I got an overwhelming fear
that
it would be more of his father’s
goons, but then I knew that Evan wouldn’t be alright
with me opening the door if it
was.

Pulling open the door, I was
surprised to see Vanessa standing there. She stared past me into
the house, clearly surprised at how nice it was.

“
Whoa, never would I expect it to
be you here,” I said, pulling her inside and hugging her. I was
pleased to see her.

“
Well, he clearly does good for
himself. Is this really his house?” she said in awe.

“
Yeah, he and his brother stay
here.” I closed the door behind us, locking it.

Vanessa eyeballed me. “Is his
brother single?” she laughed loudly.

“
No, he has a girlfriend. How did
you get here by the way?” I asked, making my way into the living
room. Evan was no longer in it. I sat down on the sofa, Vanessa
taking her time to look at everything and then sitting as
well.

She smiled. “Gray told
me.”

“
When did you see him?” I thought
that was odd seeing she knew I wasn’t there anymore.

“
I had dinner at the house a few
days ago. Your mom invited me. Is that okay?” She looked alarmed,
blowing her hair out of her eyes as always.

“
It’s fine, but how would Gray know
he lived here? Oh, who cares. How are you?” I asked, so pleased to
see her. Her voice made me feel relaxed and back to
normal.

“
Uh, nothing special going on. I’ve
just been hanging out, went to some parties and whatnot. Parents
are gone for a few weeks.” She trailed off.

“
I’m so sorry I haven’t been around
much, Nessa,” I said, feeling horrible. We had promised to spend
the summer together.

“
I understand. You found an awesome
guy, that’s how it works. I’m sure I’ll do the same to you when the
time comes,” he laughed.

“
Do what to whom?” Evan asked,
coming into the room. Vanessa‘s expression was hilarious. Her jaw
dropped and her eyes practically fell out of her head. Evan
grinned, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“
She’s okay. Evan, this is my best
friend, Vanessa. And Nessa, this is Evan.” She blushed. I never had
seen her blush before.

Evan extended his hand to hers. As
he took it, his expression changed to almost shock. He dropped her
hand, his face going blank, and headed out of the living room.
Vanessa looked at me a little upset.

“
I’ll be back,” I said, hurrying
off to find him. I tapped on the bathroom door.

“
What?” he snapped.

“
Let me in,” I said, tapping again.
“It’s me.”

“
What?”he asked me
again.

“
Evan!” I half whispered and half
yelled. I could hear the door unlocking and went in, finding him
leaning against the shower door with the same expression on his
face.

I was silent, staring at him,
trying to figure out why he’d acted like that.

“
That’s your best friend?” he
asked, breaking the silence.

“
Yeah,” I said, growing a little
nervous.

“
I got to tell you something,” he
said, grabbing my hand.

I pulled away from him.

“
Eve, I got to tell you something
and you’re not going to like it but I want to be honest with you,”
he said, grabbing my hand again. He held tight this
time.

“
What?”

“
Sometimes, when I come in contact
with people, I sort of, um, can feel something.”

“
Feel what?” I asked, feeling
horribly ill. My knees wobbled. My heart started racing.

“
When someone is close to you, you
know,” he said, avoiding looking at my glare.

I hit him in the chest. “Don’t you
ever say that about her!”

“
Do you think it’s something I want
to say?” He grabbed my arm, pushing me away from him. “I am not
joking you, and this is quite different. I don’t know when, but
it’s not far off.”

It was so hard to breathe. I felt
as if my lungs were collapsing. I felt faint. Bending over the
sink, I stumbled to find the faucet, turning it on and drenching
myself with water.

Evan rubbed my back. “I’m sorry.
Would you rather I not say anything?” he asked
helplessly.

“
I don’t know
what I would rather,” I muttered, dumping water on my neck, trying
to control the urge to punch him in the face. It wasn’t his fault,
but he still was responsible when it happened whether it was him or
someone he knew that did it.

“
Please, Evan, if there ever was a
time you could do something for me, it would be now,” I said,
gripping the counter.

“
No, there’s nothing I can do,” he
said flatly.

I couldn’t believe him. He acted
as if Vanessa was just another Mayor Ridley. I flew back up,
enraged, and lunged for him, knocking him into the door. He caught
both of my arms before I hit him in the face.

“
Stop!” he yelled, holding them
tight.

“
No! This is wrong!” I screamed as
loud as I could to go over his voice.

Evan’s face got red and he pushed
me into the door making certain he didn’t bump my head. It wasn’t
as if he would have killed me, he knew when it was my time to go
even if he did bash my head in.

I slapped his face, and clawed at
him, seeing red. I didn’t like being restrained and he was
irritating me.

He let go of me, breathing hard.
“I told you, I don’t have a choice in what I do, and I thought
telling you was the right thing to do. I know you’re strong and I
know you can get through anything, so shut up and get through it!”
he yelled.

I didn’t feel like fighting.
I stood there crying. Vanessa was my only close friend. Sure, I had
a few others, but she was like the other part of me. She knew me
inside and out. She knew things that I didn’t even have to tell
her. She couldn’t go because that meant both the people who
I needed most would be gone.

“
You have me and I will be here for
you,” he said in a more composed tone. I stared past him at the
ceiling, the hot tears running down my face. “It’s not anytime
soon,” he offered.

“
When?”

“
I don’t know for sure, but I felt
it. I don’t feel that way unless it’s something that could happen
in the near future,” he said, looking at my expression.

“
Can we stop it from happening?” I
pleaded.

“
Eve, everyone has a time. I’m not
saying I am right about this, but there haven’t been many times
that I was wrong.” He sighed.

“
Yeah, but if I didn’t know you I
wouldn’t have known.” I regretted it as soon as the words came
out.

Evan’s look was horrific. His face
fell. He shook his head, trying to move past me to get out of the
room and I blocked him.

“
I’m sorry,” I said, grabbing his
arm.

He pulled away, moving away from
the door and headed out. He was out the door in a flash.

Vanessa was still there standing
in the hallway. “What is going on?” She asked even more
alarmed.

“
Nothing, it’s just not a good
time.” I barely looked at her.

“
Make it a good time because I will
tell your parents to come get you. That didn’t sound good,” she
said, crossing her arms.

“
It’s nothing you need to concern
yourself over, and you know if it was, I would tell you,” I said,
daring her to do it.

“
Fine, Eve, but why is he being so
weird? He bolted out of the room when he shook my hand.” She blew
her hair out of her face, staring me down.

“
Oh, he just has been having some
issues with his brother and he was just having a moment,” I lied.
Vanessa bit her lip. “I promise it was nothing.” She nodded. “Hey,
maybe we can do something this weekend?” I asked, as she headed to
the door.

“
Yeah, maybe Eve,” she said,
heading out.

Chapter 19

Part Pact

I went to the door, peering out
the window. Evan was standing outside and I was terrified I had
hurt his feelings beyond repair. I wasn’t even sure what to say to
him if I went outside. I hadn’t meant it in the way that it seemed,
I just meant the unknown is better than knowing something like
that. I never ever wished I hadn’t met him.

I opened the door, stepping out
into the night air; he didn’t turn and look at me or anything. I
came up, standing next to him, waiting for a cue to begin talking.
He had none to give.

“
Hey, I want to talk to you,” I
said, out of ideas on how to get through this tough
conversation.

“
So talk,” he said
dryly.

“
Okay, well, I
am sorry if you took
what I said the wrong
way. I didn’t mean it the way it seemed,” I
offered.

“
No, I totally
get what you meant. It’s not hard to figure out when you’re the one
in the mess.” He spit, still not looking at me. He had a wall up
and was not willing to come
out from
behind it.