Crimson Echo (20 page)

 
          My near brushes with death had certainly taken a toll on my emotional well-being. I
should
be feeling some semblance of urgency regarding my impending doom. A wave of emotion is what I expected, what I longed for now— to feel the good or the bad, to give me some sort of peace as I spiraled at an alarming rate toward the forest floor. Maybe my mind was still up on the ledge and it hadn’t had time to catch up with my body yet.

            Still nothing, just the constant thudding of my heartbeat, gravity pulling me downward, the open air swishing thro
ugh my ears and crawling between my fingers— it seemed like an eternity as I fell through the air, but still, I couldn’t compel myself to look back at the ground. The only one that could give me peace in that moment was Kane. I forced my eyes open to look at him one last time and he turned as if I’d called out his name. Fear erased the smile on his perfect, beautiful face. Then he jumped.

            The stinging pain of nausea swirled around in my stomach as I thought about how much I would miss Kane. His laugh, his eyes, his smile, and the way he smelled, the way he cradled me protectively against his chest— I would miss that most of all. Then
a warmness that I had forgotten about caught my attention. It was trickling through my hair and stung as my hand involuntarily shot up toward my hairline. I stared at my hand and whimpered. It was red and sticky and was already beginning to clot.

            Kane leaped off of the ladder, pushing himself with all of h
is might away from the tower as he dove like an Olympic swimmer toward me. The wind rippled through his black hair and his face was fierce, determined. My mind hadn’t registered what he had done until it was much too late. The horrific sight of Kane flying through the air to join me in death, plunging head first only made it that much worse.

“Kane, no!”
I shouted, but it was too late. This was suicide for him and I was not okay with the idea of that. Selfishly, I wished to live through this accident, only to be with Kane in the end.

            My chest ached as I watched Kane
descend from the red water tower. The rush of emotions that wouldn’t come for myself now flooded me entirely at the thought of losing Kane. He was the brightest light in my life and I couldn’t watch it flicker out. There was no way he could save me— we were both plummeting to the earth’s surface with no means of a reprieve. It was over.

 
          Then as if like a mirage, he shuddered and his entire body erupted in brilliant, blue flames— the most magnificent, vibrant shade of blue I had ever seen. And then he was gone. I blinked my eyes furiously trying to get a hold of myself, trying to bring him back into view, but all my efforts failed. He was gone and I felt so alone. The air felt emptier without him. All I needed was one more glimpse of his face and I could gladly take my death sentence.

            As soon as I had given up all hope I felt something tugging at my waist, pulling me deeper i
nto the forest. It was like a cement block had been tied to me, dragging me down into a liquid abyss. The acceleration at which I was being propelled slowed and it was like I was drifting peacefully through the air. I couldn’t bear to open my eyes for fear it wasn’t real.

“
Just take a deep breath. This may be a little uncomfortable for you.”
His voice sounded like a classically trained hand running across a piano. His ghost had come to be with me when I took my last breath— to usher me into the pearly gates, hand in hand, just how it should be.

           I did as he asked and sucked in a swell of air into my lungs. Another shimmer of blue light appeared and then everything went black as night. It was my last curtain call and I had just bowed and exited stage right. I only heard the faint thudding of my body hitting the ground, but I couldn’t feel it. I was unaware of time and space— it was only a distant memory to me now, as distant as my time on earth and now it was over.

“Tristan, can you hear me?” My angel’s voice sang. It was only an echo in the corner of my mind. I couldn’t find the direction it was coming from, I was too detached from this body now.

“I need you to wake up now,” he begged. “Please don’t leave me.”

            I wanted to reach out and touch him. I wanted tell him everything would be fine now, that we could be together for all of eternity. I needed to kiss him to convince him that everything would work out in the end, but I couldn’t feel my arms. My body was lifeless and I couldn’t find any of the muscles or tendons. I was a prisoner in my own body.

“I knew this was a bad idea, I should have never brought her here.” Kane sighed.

“There’s nothing we can do about that now. Is she breathing?” A woman’s voice asked close by. Her voice was lighter and more ethereal than Kane’s, but still just as beautiful.

“Just barely,” Kane whispered. “What should we do?”

“We need to take her to the house or the school—

“And then what? We don’t have
that kind of time.” Kane yelled, cutting her off.

“Well maybe you should have thought about that before you got involved with a human!” He
r words were harsh and I could already imagine the hurt that was painted across Kane’s face. I wanted to look at him, to smile at him and tell him we were going to be just fine, but still, I couldn’t find my eyes in the dark abyss.

“She’s so much more than that.”

“Yeah,” the woman scoffed. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

            As they continued to bicker somewhere off to the side I focused all of my energy on finding my body again.
The harder I concentrated on feeling my heartbeat in my chest and the pulse throbbing at my wrists, the easier it was to feel whole again. I focused on my eyes, but they were so heavy. I returned back to the thudding of my heart and felt my hand twitch. Something rustled a smattering of leaves near my head and then I felt warm breath on my face.

“I think she’s waking up,” Kane whispered. “You should probably go now. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“Kane,” I heard my voice murmur, but I didn’t feel my lips move. “Where are you?”

“I’m right here beside you.”
He held my hand in his. “Just stay there for a minute until you get your land legs back.”

Keeping my eyes locked on him I smiled sheepishly without saying a word.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, brushing his warm fingers along the side of my face.

“
Ah,” I felt the searing pain at my hairline again. “My head is aching.”

“You hit it pretty hard. I thought I had lost you there for a minute.
”

“Am I dead?” I looked around confused.

“No,” he laughed. “You’re perfectly alive.”

“
How?”

“I guess I have a lot to explain, don’t I?
” He sighed uncomfortably.

“
I don’t understand. I should be… dead.” I shuddered.

“I saved you.” He murmured.

“What are you?” I stared at him.
“You’re not human, are you?”

“Why don’t I just start at the
beginning?”

I nodded my head without saying anything.

“You
were right about one thing, I’m not entirely human and that’s what makes this whole thing even more complicated. I’ve been hiding this from so many people for so long that I’m not quite sure how to even explain it.”

“You don’t have to hide anymore Kane.” I reached forward and
held his hand. “Can’t you see that I’m not going anywhere?”

He gave my hand an appreciative squeeze and smiled. “You know how some people are Christians, some are Catholics,
some are Jewish and some are Wiccan? Well, if you had to put a label on me, I would side more with the Wiccans.” He admitted, scanning my face for some sign of repugnance. “Though, I’m not necessarily a Wiccan… it goes a little deeper than that.”

“Okay, how much deeper?” I asked apprehensively.

Kane held my hand tighter and his forehead creased into a hard line. “It’s not a religion so much as it is a way of life for me.”

“So what you’re saying is you’re like a witch or something?”

“That’s precisely what I’m saying. I didn’t give you enough credit, you’re quite intuitive.”

“And the nurse at the hospital with the story about the angels that appeared in a blue shimmering light, that was you too
, wasn’t it?”

He nodded his head.

“You healed my burns then?”

“No, I had help. I can’
t heal people, but I couldn’t allow you to go through all that pain, especially when I felt partly to blame for it.” He paused, his expression grave. “I remember looking at you that night in your hospital bed, you were wrapped in bandages and your body lay lifeless. The heart monitor beeped steadily along filling the room with its maddening sound and then I touched your hand and it spiked. I couldn’t help but feel a connection with you, that’s why I made the suggestion that we lend half of Emporia to Echo High— it was obviously for selfish reasons though.”

“Yo
u did all that to get to know
me
?” I tried to keep my tone flat. The truth was I was flattered by what Kane had done just to get to know me.

“It all worked out
amazingly well for me. Though, losing Faith wasn’t part of my plan.”

           
The sharp pain of her loss still stung just as much as it had that first night and I fought back the tears as I tried to form a complete sentence. “Can you tell me who did that to her now that we’re being honest with each other?”

“It won’t make it any easier if you know the truth.” Kane shook his head like he was trying to shake the memory away.

“I don’t care, I need to know.”

“Alright,” he sighed. “Do you remember learning about the Salem Witch Trials in history class? Well, not a lot has changed since then. We’re just a lot more careful with our secret now, but being found out is almost unavoidable since we don’t age. That’s where the witch hunters come in. They believe we’re an abomination and must be
eradicated from the planet. Unfortunately Faith was in the wrong place at the wrong time, having her own natural abilities didn’t help her any either. They sought her out because she had the faint scent of magic on her.”

“Are you saying she really did have… visions?” I asked feeling overwhelmed.

“Her potential wasn’t fully realized yet, but yes she had a promising future ahead of her.”

            The tears I had been trying to ward off now flowed without restraint for my fallen best friend. They say time heals all wounds, but I don’t believe that applies to wounds of the heart, I remembered Kane talking about the loss of his father not too long ago. Sure, the pain lessens over time, but does it every truly go away? The best you can hope for is to be painfully numb.

“Why are you crying? It’s all going to be okay.” He held my face between his hands and stared into my eyes.
“You’ll see her again someday, I can almost guarantee it.”

“No it’s not!” I continued to cry. “
I should never have made fun of her, I didn’t know things like that really existed and now I’ll never be able to tell her that I believe her or that she was right all along.”

“I’m sure she is watching over you
and knows exactly how you feel about her now.” He forced a smile and then leaned in closer. I met his lips with blunt force this time and locked my arms around his neck. I pulled him backward with me until we were both lying in the damped grass. There was a spark between us, a literal spark that flickered when the kiss became more passionate and though it stung momentarily, I couldn’t pull away from him.

“Tristan, wait.” Kane tried to catch his breath. Obviously it was easier for him to pull away. “We shouldn’t be doing this—

            I cut him off and brought my lips back up to meet his again and felt the spark once more. The kiss became more heated and so did he. Kane’s hands caressed my face leaving streams of heat along my jaw and his lips grew warmer. The longer we kissed, the hotter his lips got.

“Kane,” I said as I pulled away from the kiss. “You’re so hot, you’re burning up.”

            I touched his forehead and I was startled by how hot he was. His face, neck, chest and back all felt like they were on fire and I started to get worried. As the rain fell all around us, I stared at Kane as I wondered how high his temperature had risen in a matter of five minutes.

“You’re hot too.” He smiled and then locked his lips with mine again.

I moaned against the
scorching pain and he jumped back nearly twenty feet.

          Looking up to where he landed, I noticed immediately that something wasn’t right. His face looked tortured and his body seemed contorted like he was convulsing as he stood in front of me. His hands shot up and held his head and a scream, a roar escaped his lips. Kane stumbled around in pain as I stayed locked to a nearby spruce and watched in horror.

“Kane, what’s wrong?” I yelled.

“Just stay where you are.” He said through clenched teeth. “Just give me a minute.”