The Mortal Fringe (22 page)

"I know what happened" she
says.

I can't make out any words.

"I need you to tell me, Alex. You need
to tell me, get it out."

I can't.

"
I've tried
."

"I'm here, Alex, talk to me" She grabs
my face, her eyes are watery, as mine.

"I'm tired" I finally say after a long
silence "too tired to go on like this, with all this."

"I know.”

I take my time to put my thoughts in
order, she is still staring at me and I know that she won't move
until I do what I should have done months ago. And finally, after
so long, I do it.

I unlock my memories for her, and for
me. I close my eyes, knowing that she will see the same things that
I saw.

A car, my car. Joyful smiles all
around me, and the sound of freshness and beauty. My mother sitting
right next to me, with that everlasting smile, looking at her two
sons. Me and David, my brother, my twin brother.

A bright day, a closure day. We get
in the car and she hands me the keys.

"Go for it darling" she says with
proud voice.

The road, the limitless road.
Leaving behind a day out with them, my family. David's mocking
faces on the rear mirror, mom's constant singing along with the
radio. Life, my life.

A bridge, water beneath us. The
deep blue and green void leads the way as we cross the metal
platform to Fire Island.

"Alex do you want me to drive? We
are never getting home if you do" David's laughter lights up my
heart, and Elizabeth's.

I turn around to give him that
look, the look only twin brothers could understand. Then the bright
day turns black, for all good and bright must become bad and
dark.

I see the car on our back trying to
pass us, but a truck blocks its way and as he tries to come back to
his right, it hits our tail, and I lose control.

Noise, dreadful noise. The car
crosses the lane markings to face a line of endless traffic. I turn
the steering wheel, but not fast enough. I lose control of
everything, and when we are hit again we are pushed out of the
road, over the bridge, and into the deep blue tide.

My unharmed self-looking from the
ambulance window at the wrecked piece of metal that once was my
car. My mother next to me, yelling, crying, constantly
dying.

"He's here!" the shouting comes
from near the car.

She stands up and runs to meet her
desolation. The medics bring David, my brother, on their arms. I,
following my mother, stand up and begin to run towards him, but
some white gloves grab me and forbid me to go forward. I am trapped
against my will, not willing to scream, not willing to move, not
willing to think.

Elizabeth blinks and a tear falls from
her face and onto my hand.

"My mom and I needed to spend some
days at the hospital, she had to be operated. David's body resisted
the rush to the hospital, and somehow the long fall into the ocean,
but once there his cerebral function stopped, and my mom refused to
let him go. "

I bring my hands to my head, I can't
believe it is out, I beat myself. I am free.

"I killed my
brother
." I
am not strong enough to say that out loud.

"It was an accident."

"Then I should be the one in David's
place" I lower my head, I don't want to see her, I can't, I don't
want her pity eyes on me now, that won't change what happened, and
many others have told me that it was an accident, but nevertheless,
it was my fault. "I have never gone to see him. I can't, I couldn’t
bare doing it. I'm terrified of walking into that room, and not
knowing what to say to him, or that he should die the moment I walk
in, letting me know it was, and always will be, my
fault."

We remain silent for as long as we
can, neither of us know what to say next. I just want to end with
this so I say what needs to be said.

"Now the only thing I remember is the
song that was playing."

She caresses my hand.

"Thank you, for freeing me from
this."

She does not answer, she does not even
smile. She gets closer to me and presses her lips against mine, for
a second, and then she moves away.

"You wanted to know what that sign on
the wall meant.”

I nod.

"It means that you are never alone, as
long as someone holds you dear in his heart."

I smile when I hear her words, somehow
they warm my body and soul.

She stands up and walks inside the
chamber, I can see her taking the sign away from the wall, when she
does, it becomes a sharp metal necklace.

"I want you to keep it, as a
reminder."

"Of what?"

She looks at me with a sweet smile on
her face.

"I'm letting you go, Alex."

"What?"

She keeps her eyes on me, not serious.
She is talking from her heart, and everything in her looks
different.

"I can't do that to you, to your
mother…"

I don't want to listen.

"Let me go? And what about you, what
about Mal?" I sound more hysterical than I should, but I can't help
it. The thought of losing her again kills me, I can't go through
that again. Not after what just happened.

"I can take care of both
matters."

I grab her hand, forbidding her to
leave.

"You just told me that you love me,
and now you are leaving me again?”

"Love is not just about holding your
hand, is about knowing when to let go" she looks at me, and those
green eyes don't scare me anymore "you need to go,
Alex."

I look at her, not moving and not
planning to do so.

"Have you never been told that love is
a pain in the ass?" That's her way to put up with
things.

"No, I haven't" I say
firmly.

"Well, it is.”

I don't want her to talk anymore so I
move forward and kiss her with all the love I can find in
me.

"But it is the only pain in the ass I
am willing to die for" she says looking at me and then at the
wooden box in the middle of the garden.

"Me too" I say
unconsciously.

CHAPTER 32

Lights are off, the room is silent and
all troubles are away, for now. I look at Elizabeth standing near
her soul and I can't believe what she has done for me, and what she
is willing to do. Letting me go means losing everything, and no
matter how hard I try to convince her not to do it, she won't
listen. But I do understand why she has decided to do it, and I am
thankful, I just hope she could be with me, end this right now and
just live a normal life, if that exists.

"We must go" Elizabeth claims the
moment she gets near me. -we have no time to lose, I want you in a
plane in the morning.

"Can't you take me there?"

"No, I don't want Constance or Mal
knowing where you are. And I won't be going with you, my cousin
will."

I know that she refuses to come
because it could be dangerous for both of us, for what she has told
me, Constance could sense her anywhere in the world, and if she
found the two of us together, no matter how hard Elizabeth tried to
explain her reasons, I would end up dying.

Elizabeth puts her arm around mine, we
are about to leave.

"I have one more question before we go
back" I ask, not letting her go of my arm. "Why did you leave
me?"

She looks upset, not because of the
question, I can tell, but something troubles her.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?" I ask in a rather harsh
voice, because I feel that she is not trusting me again.

"Because I failed." The look in her
eyes tells me that the conversation is over.

I hold on to her as tightly as I can,
and we disappear into the dark void. It feels odd leaving this
place, for I know that had everything gone according to their plan,
I should have come here only as a drop of silver memory.

Solid ground once more. I open my eyes
and Jay is in front of me, seating on his bed. I'm home. He stands
up and comes closer, but stops a couple of feet away from me, he
tries to smile at me but he can't. I know he feels guilty. He is
about to break down, and so am I, but instead of doing so, he comes
straight at me and hugs me like if we were brothers.

"I'm glad to see you again" I know
from his voice that he is still trying not to show his
emotions.

"Me too" Now I know how it feels like
to call someone a friend, a true friend. I know that they have been
near me all this time, watching over me. I feel bad about
everything I've said.

"Let's keep going" Elizabeth has just
begun to pack up the rest of my stuff, and so is Jay. I try to make
sure that I don't leave anything behind.

Suddenly, I hear a great noise in the
bathroom, like if all my things had just fallen on the floor.
Elizabeth and Jay place themselves in front of me, as a human
shield, rising their hands in case they need to use them. Finally,
the door opens, and a girl, not older in appearance than Elizabeth,
comes out.

"Abigail!" Both Jay and Elizabeth
scream furiously. "Why on earth did you have to do
that?”

"Come on! It's not like I killed
someone" she moves forward. "Oh is that him? Not bad for a human!
Well done sister!" she realizes that Elizabeth is not in the mood,
so she simple comes to me and shakes my hand. "The name is
Abigail."

"Alex."

"What, do you think I don't
know?”

"
She just became a God, let her
be
.”

"Of course, sorry."

"So sister, where is it I will be
taking him?"

Elizabeth laughs, so does
Jay.

"I thought you knew everything" Jay
says, joking

"To the airport, after that you will
make sure that nothing happens to him until past the
day.”

"Understood" she gives me a quick
look, her eyes are tightly shut, there's no need for her to let me
know her feelings for me. I feel that she would wish I was dead
already.

We go on with the packing, although
there isn't much left to pack when I realize that something is not
being taken into account.

"Guys, I have my own
booking."

"Well, do you want us to refund you?"
Jay's voice is still full of irony.

"No, what I mean is that my mom knows
that I should be back by the end of the week, not
tomorrow."

"Don't worry about that" Elizabeth
puts an end to the problem.

After a while I just stop pretending
that I am doing something useful. I look around and I am glad that
even if this is the very last day I'll be living in here, it is
full of people. At least, they being here helps to avoid the
memories of last night to come back. I can't believe she took
Ingrid. I focus on something else before breaking down
again.

Now I have a chance to take a look at
Abigail, and I can't help but wonder if all Gods and Immortals have
their own style, I don't think I have ever seen so many colors in
just one head, or so many different hairstyles. Her clothes are so
smooth and perfectly selected that it almost seems that they do not
belong to that messy head.

"And why is it that I have to take
care of the mortal?"

"Alex" Jay corrects her,
defensively.

"Yeah, well, him" She keeps her eyes
fixed on me, and although the colorful hair blocks off the killing
green from her eyes, I am still intimidated.

"It just needs to be done" Elizabeth
voice is harsh, she does not want the topic to go any
further.

They keep doing their own thing for a
couple of seconds until Abigail feels the desperate need to talk
again.

"Does Constance know about
this?"

"No!" they both shout at the exact
same moment, dropping whatever they had on their hands. "She does
not. And she won't."

There is no further conversation, at
least not about me, nor Constance. Abigail starts talking about how
wonderful her life as a God is, although she misses being up here
from time to time. I can't imagine not missing it, no matter how
beautiful the Atlas might be, I would feel trapped down there all
the time, with nothing to do but living forever.

"You will not believe whom I saw the
other day! Tristan! Remember Tristan? Our brother."

"Yes of course we do, Abigail. I have
not seen him since, is he alright?" Elizabeth looks at me while
answering. "Don't say a word about our little trip."

"Not a word".

"Well dear, he looks marvelous,
although I must say that he looked somewhat sad, such a
pity."

"Well I guess he would be" Jay has
joined the conversation. "I mean, not all bonds grow as strong as
the one he had with…"