Ending ELE (ELE Series) (12 page)

With my little brother taken care of, I run towards their fort. The chaos of the
snowball fight ensuing behind me gets quieter as I near the edge of the opposing team’s fortress. All is too calm for me to let my guard down. The biggest question of all is—where’s Tony? I try to send out some feelers to listen for thoughts or feelings coming from him, but I get nothing.

I stop
stealthily at the edge of the fort with my back against the snow-bricked wall. I listen but hear nothing. It’s now or never. I brace and arm myself with two snowballs before turning the corner. The flag is only a few feet in front of me and nobody is around to protect it. I tiptoe as quietly as I can towards the pole, excited to be so close. I reach my hand out to grab the blue flag.

“
You’re cute when you’re trying to be sneaky,” Tony says. He’s so close to me that I can feel his breath on my neck and it sends a delightful shiver through me.

I raise my hands in mock surrender and slowly turn around to face my not-so-much
enemy. I look up into his eyes, which are swirled with a handful of colors that he’s been using for the game.

He gives me a
breathtaking smile that is hot enough to melt the fort to the ground. “So, you want my flag?”

I nod my head impishly.

“And you expect me to let you just—take it?” he asks in a mischievous whisper.

I nod my head
again, biting my lip. My heart has picked up its pace and the heat has filled my cheeks. How is it that Tony can make me melt like this still? I wonder if the intense attraction I have for him will ever settle with time.

“
That’s very doubtful,” he says, answering my private thoughts. He pulls me into a kiss that warms me from the inside out. I lose myself for that minute we are so close that nothing can pull us apart. Our hearts are beating at the exact same rhythm and I know then that they are connected in a way that could never be separated. I’m left breathless when he pulls away just enough to whisper in my ear again. “Please don’t be mad.”

I pull my head back
, confused, and that’s when I hear something rustling behind us. I turn around to see Marya tying our red flag just below their blue one. She is blushing from being an obvious witness to our intimate moment.

I turn and glare at Tony but my
heart’s not really into it. Instead, I laugh and push him to the ground, using my strength. Dropping down above him, I start shoveling snow all over him. I try to push some down his jacket and we end up wrestling on the ground playfully in an all-out snow fight. I can hear my team members booing and Tony’s team members whooping and hollering. All of a sudden, the fort is being busted down as my team starts pulling it apart. I use my telekinesis gift to burst it apart and snow bricks go flying into the air. We all laugh and hit each other with snow in every which way. Nobody cares whose team they’re on. It’s every man for themselves as the front yard is filled with chaos.

After another twenty minutes of our anarchic snow war, we run inside chilled to the bone. Carrie is ready for us as we enter. Towels are laid out on the floor so we don
’t slip on the melting snow that drops from our outerwear. We dress down from our outside clothes, greedily sip hot cocoa, and slurp the hot ramen that she spoons out into our bowls.

Everyone
’s eyes are so alight with giddy excitement and happiness that it’s so easy to forget all that is wrong in our worlds. For one day, everything is right. Everything is good as it should be. We are kids like we are meant to be. Even the adults look ten years younger.

We
spend the remainder of the day playing our favorite childhood games and by the time it gets dark, everyone is exhausted but happy. For dinner, we have spaghetti, which is one of Sebastian’s favorites. He smiles as he slurps up a noodle loudly.

“
This is one of the best birthdays ever!” he says. Then his eyes grow sad for a second. “I wish Mom were here.”

My dad pulls his chair closer to him and puts an arm around his shoulder.
“She is. She’s watching you from the best place in the world—Heaven.”

Not hearing our change of conversation, Carrie comes to the table with a cake that holds five candles.

Sabby nods his head and looks to my dad. “Do you think if I use my wish to bring her back, it would work?”

My dad
’s mouth drops and his eyes turn sad. He looks to me and then to Carrie, not sure how to answer that. How do you tell a child that those kinds of wishes are impossible?

I try to help.
“Are you tired, Sabby?”

He looks at me confused because my question makes no sense.
“A little.”

“
Do you ever feel sad?” I ask.

“
Sometimes,” he answers, furrowing his eyebrows.

“
What if you were in a place that you never got tired? Or you would never get sad? Instead, you would always feel happy; you would always feel healthy. What if every day it was the perfect temperature, the sun always shined on you, and you were able to bask in it to enjoy every ounce of life because you had no fear, you had no concerns, no worry, nothing to trouble you? What if anything you ever wanted was at your fingertips in this place?” I ask.

His eyes brighten.
“Like this cake? I could always have cake?”

I nod my head.
“Yes, you could in this place. Would you like that, Sabby?” I ask him.

He nods his head excitedly.

“Would you ever want to leave a place like that?” I ask him.

“
No.” He shakes his head, still slightly confused with where the conversation had gone.

“
Well, Mom is in a place like that.” My throat chokes with emotion. “You wouldn’t want to ask her to leave such an amazing place, would you?” Tears fill my eyes, threatening to spill over.

His eyes water as well. A barrage of emotions flickers over his face. He wants two things. He wants his mom for him and he wants his mom to be happy.
“So I shouldn’t wish for her to come back to us?” he asks me, unsure of himself.

I shake my head sadly.
“No Sabby. We should let her be happy. Instead of wanting her to come down to us, we can look forward to the day that we go up to be with her, forever.” I want to say so much more, but how do you explain everything to a five-year-old child?

“
When would we go up to be with her?” he asks. A flicker of recognition suddenly crosses his face and he looks sad again.

“
You have a long time before that. But if you are good, Sabby, you will see Mom again one day. When that day comes, you won’t ever have to worry about losing her again,” my dad answers for me.

“
Okay,” Sabby says as he stares at the dwindling candles on the cake. Two of them have extinguished. Carrie picks up a candle and uses it to relight the others.

“
What should I wish for then?” Sabby asks.

“
That’s up to you,” my dad tells him.

He nods his head and seriously debates this responsibility. I want badly to listen in to his thoughts and know what he
’s thinking, but I know that wouldn’t be right. Sabby closes his eyes and a second later, he blows out the candles in one very strong breath. When he opens his eyes again, he has a huge smile.

“
What did you wish for?” Lillie asks him.

“
I not supposed to say,” Sabby answers. His face is back alight and no longer filled with a grief that a child should not have to endure.

We go with it and the room returns to its previous jovial atmosphere. After
dinner, we clean up and head into the living room. When Sabby rounds the corner he squeals, “Presents!” He runs to the coffee table, where a few small, wrapped gifts are. He jumps up and down and Lillie joins in with his excitement.

“
Go ahead and open them,” my dad tells him.

Sabby doesn
’t wait. He grabs the first one from the pile.

“
That one is from us,” Alec and Marya share.

Sabby rips apart the
makeshift wrapping, which is really a reused cereal box. He opens it up and finds a disk. He pulls it out and looks at it inquisitively. “What is it?” he asks.

Alec laughs.
“It’s a Frisbee. Have you never seen one before?” Sabby shakes his head so Alec continues in his explanation. “You throw it to someone and it kind of flies in the air. I’ll show you how to use it tomorrow.”

“
Thanks!” Sabby runs to hug Alec and Marya. Then he runs back to the pile of presents.

He opens a present that has a book about dragons in it from Carrie next.
“I found it in the attic,” she tells him. He gives her a hug as well and flips through a couple of the pages, oohing over the pictures.

Connor and Claire give him an old action figure that has a sword and shield. They found it around the house and I try not to think that it may have belonged to a childhood Zack.

Lillie made Sabby a bracelet out of macaroni noodles and string. Sabby gave her a hug and I couldn’t help but think how adorable they are.

My dad
’s present is a little larger. He found a skateboard in the attic and he promises to show Sabby how to use it. However, with the snow, they can only practice in the foyer or perhaps the kitchen. My dad knows that he probably won’t be able to bring the gift with him if we go on the run again, but he figured that teaching him to ride would be more of the gift than the actual skateboard itself.

The last gift on the table is from Tony and me. We worked on it together last night. Sabby
picks up a small envelope and begins opening it. He pulls out two small cards that could easily fit in his pocket. They are made of a thicker cardstock that we found in the office. He turns them over and smiles when he sees the first picture. He turns it around to show it to everyone. Tony drew a small portrait of my family, including my mom. Both my dad and I posed for him last night. He drew Sabby while he was sleeping. His memory of our mom was pretty accurate and his picture nearly brought her to life. It was so well drawn.

“
Now you can keep us with you all the time,” I tell Sabby.

He smiles and runs to give us both a hug. Remembering that there was another card, he turns it over to look at it. His eyes brighten and he smiles in excitement.
“That me!” he declares.

Tony and I
laugh, knowing what the picture looks like. The others ask to see it. Sabby turns the card around so we can all see Super-Sabby. Tony did a great job on the caricature that turned Sabby into Superman.

“
Tank—Thank you!” he says excitedly to us.

“
You are more than welcome. The drawings were your sister’s ideas,” Tony makes sure to tell him.

“
Thank you, Wi...Wello!” He gives me a second hug.

“
Anything for you, little bro,” I tell him, ruffling his curls. I wonder if he will ever get sick of me doing that.

Sabby smiles
big at all of his newly opened presents, then he reaches his hands over his head and yawns.

“
Are you tired?” my dad asks him.

He shakes his head.
“No. I five now. I don get tired.”

We all smile adoringly at him. His little eyelids are heavy. Looking over at Lillie, we see she
’s already curled up on the couch, one little, freckled arm hanging off the side as she sleeps.

“
How about I read you that book?” Carrie asks Sabby.

He picks the book up and clutches it to his chest as he nods, half
-excitedly and half-sleepily. Carrie takes one of his hands and together they walk to the cot of bedding we made downstairs for him. We know there are more than enough rooms in this house, but our family still wants to be close to each other. After all, in times like these, you never know when you will have to rush out into the night. It’s best not to have to go searching for everyone if that happens. The bottom story of the house is also much warmer than upstairs.

My dad rubs his shoulder and stands up.
“I must be getting too old for this much excitement.” He stretches and I can hear his joints pop.

I cross the room to give him a hug and with that
hug, I send some of my healing power into him. He notices it, leans back, and says, “Perks of having a super daughter, huh?”

I shrug my shoulders and smile up at him. He ruffles my hair and much like old
times, his fingers get caught amidst my unruly curls. We both laugh as he pries his fingers away. “Goodnight, Dad.”

“
Goodnight sweetie.” He turns to everyone else, “Don’t stay up too late.”

“
We won’t,” Claire assures him.

“
Mmhm.” He smiles at her and then to Marya before going to bed.

I can sense a feeling of belonging coming from both girls
, who are fatherless. I also can sense that my dad knows now that his family is a whole lot bigger than it was before Project ELE.