Make Believe: A Novella (18 page)

Running up the stairs, I tried to find my way out. I was in a house, one that I had never been in before, and I had no idea where I was. I recognized nothing at all. I made my way through somebody’s kitchen and out into a hallway. I ran to the front door, but it was locked. I turned around and made a mad dash for the living room. Those windows were all locked, too. I was trapped. Looking around I picked up the first thing I saw — a small TV. I hesitated for a moment, then tossed it through the window. Small shards of glass pierced the skin on my arms and hands, but I didn’t care. The pain didn’t even register in my brain. I climbed out the window and fell onto the lawn. I scrambled to my feet, looked around frantically for a clue that would tell me where I was. I sniffed the air. I could smell smoke. I was running out of time.

I ran up the street screaming for help. People stared at me, but nobody stopped to help. Fortunately, I spotted the name of the street and texted it to Aiden.

My phone started ringing almost instantly.

“April, I know where that is,” he said.

“Where?”

“It’s Jake’s old house. I’m on my way. Are you hurt, baby?” he sounded terrified.

“No, I’m OK. It’s Leah! Just hurry, please, and call the fire department, they need to get here now,” I said, then ran back toward the house. “Hurry!”

It wasn’t long before Anthony and Aiden turned up.

“April!” Aiden screamed as he ran to me. He had been crying.

“Aiden, I thought that I was going to die!” I reached out to him and buried my head in his chest.

“I don’t understand how you got out,” he asked me.

“She let me go. Leah, she let me go. She’s still in there. They need to get her out. I tried, I really tried, but I wasn’t strong enough. I left her, I left her!” I said as I broke down in tears in his arms. “It wasn’t her fault, Aiden. She’s just messed up, but she doesn’t deserve this,” I whispered.

“It’s OK, I’ll get her out,” he declared. Did I just hear correctly?

“No, Aiden, the fire fighters will do it. It’s their job….”

“April, they’re not here yet, she’ll die.” He was right.

Closing my eyes, I nodded my head. “OK.”

“Where the hell are you doing?” I heard Anthony shout at Aiden.

“I’m going in to get Leah.”

“Are you crazy! Look at the smoke, Aiden. It’ll kill you!”

“I have to try! What if it was April, or Crystal, or Jess in there? I have to try, Ant.”

“Then I’m coming with you….”

“No way, you’ve got Ella-May.”

“I’m not letting you go in by yourself, and we’re wasting time arguing about this!”

“Anthony please,” Aiden begged.

“I told you that I
will
always have your back.”

“You don’t have to, not this time.”

“I do,” Anthony said, running off toward the house.

“Wait for me, I’ll be back. I love you,” Aiden said before kissing my lips gently.

I watched as he ran into the house and prayed that he would make it back out.

* * *

Only five minutes had passed since Anthony and Aiden ran into the burning house, but it felt more like ten. The fire department was here now. They asked me a load of questions, but my mind was elsewhere.

Just as I felt like giving up, I saw Aiden emerge from the building with an unconscious Leah in his arms.

“Help! Somebody help! She’s not breathing!” he screamed as paramedics raced to Leah.

“Aiden!” I ran to him. “Where’s Anthony?” I asked suddenly realizing he wasn’t here. He looked at me with sad eyes, and I shook my head. “No,” I whispered taking a step back from him.

“The ceiling, it fell down. He held it up so I could get Leah out. He’s still alive. I have to go back for him,” Aiden said frantically.

“You can’t go back in there, Aiden,” I begged.

Smoke was pouring out of the structure, and the smell of fire filled the air. The heat that came from the house was indescribable. Aiden couldn’t go back in.

“I have to,” he ran off before I could protest. I chased after him at full speed, but some of the firemen grabbed him before he could go any farther.

“Get off me! Get your hands off me!” he screamed, still fighting them.

“You can’t go in there. It’s too dangerous!” a tall man in his late forties declared.

“My brother’s in there! I promised him I would go back for him. Get off me!” he shouted. I looked on in despair asAiden went crazy.

Suddenly, the sound of a huge explosion silenced us all. Then Aiden’s scream rang out.

“No! Anthony! No!” he yelled as he managed to break free of the fire fighters holding him back. It was too late; we all knew it.

I was a statue. There were no words in the world I could use to describe how I felt in that moment, but somehow I managed to make my way to Aiden. How? I’ll never know.

“Aiden?” I whispered as he fell to his knees and cried.

“Anthony, oh my....he’s still in there...I was suppose to get him out! He didn’t even want to go in there.” He was in shock. His breathing was erratic, and he was struggling to put together a sentence. “April, April. It’s Anthony...oh...oh...he stayed behind. I let him...I let him stay...April....help me,” he screamed as he cried. I dropped to my knees too and threw my arms around him, holding him up as he collapsed in my arms.

“What am I supposed to tell Jess? What about Ella-May? He’s my brother! My brother’s gone!” he cried, squeezing me tighter.

I put my own emotions aside for a minute because he needed me. I pretended that my heart hadn’t just broken because the truth was it had just been ripped out.

“It’s good to know that you douches actually care about me,” a voice chuckled from behind me.

Aiden pulled away from me instantly and looked white as a ghost when he saw Anthony.

“Anthony?” he whispered, looking stunned.

“Last time I checked.”

Aiden got to his feet and, without hesitation, punched Anthony in the face.

“What the hell was that!”Anthony stood there rubbing his nose.

“For making me think you were dead!” Aiden said as he grabbed his friend and nearly hugged the life out of him. Don’t ever do that to me again, dude. Understand?”

“I couldn’t get out the same way you did, but somehow down there I managed to find another door. I got the hell out, and then boom!”

“I thought you were dead,” Aiden said.

“I know, but I’m not. Did you actually think you could get rid of me that easily? I’m like the Terminator! I just keep coming back,” he laughed. Aiden and I laughed too as we looked at our crazy friend.

“And it’s good to see you alive too, I might add,” Anthony said, slinging his arm around my shoulders and squeezing tight.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you. Oh, and I’ve been meaning to tell you that if I had ever had a brother, I would have wished that it was you,” I said, smiling at him.

“Really?”

“No, but in my moment of facing death my brain came up with some crazy things,” I giggled.

“Nice! I see he’s rubbing off on you,” he said gesturing toward Aiden.

“You three will need to be checked out,” a fire fighter interrupted.

“Sure, can we have a minute?” Aiden asked.

“Yeah, check me first,” Anthony said, leading the way to the ambulance.

“Hey,” Aiden said, pulling me toward him. “I thought that I’d lost you.”

“You didn’t,” I smiled.

“I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“It doesn’t matter now, I have already forgiven you, Aiden.”

“This could have all been avoided if I had just told the truth.”

“Stop, this isn’t your fault. It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, this was always her plan. You can’t blame yourself. I don’t even blame her. In a strange way, I understand her. She needs help, and I need you,” I whispered, leaning into him.

“I need you, too,” he said as his lips brushed against mine.

“I spent the last few hours trying to figure out what was real and what was fake, so don’t hesitate, just kiss me now, for real.” And he did. He kissed me, and in that moment, I had no doubt about what was reality and what wasn’t. This is as real as it gets.

“I love you,” he breathed, his lips still touching mine.

“I love you, too.”

Epilogue: Ten Months Later

APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW

“Hey, why are you shaking?” Dad asked, holding my arm to steady me.

“I’m nervous,” I whispered as I continued walking.

“Why? I thought that this was what you wanted?”

“It is, but it’s just different. I’ve always wanted this, and I just don’t want to mess it up.”

“You won’t.”

Today was the day — my wedding. Looking at all of the people who came here today to support us made me smile. I could hear the wedding song playing as I walked carefully, making sure not to step on my white dress. The dress had definitely been worth all of the shopping trips Crystal and Jess had dragged me on. It was strapless with diamante patterns covering the bodice. The bottom was long and flowing like a dress a princess would wear. The tiny details, silver stitching, and matching gloves made it truly exquisite.

I stopped half way down the aisle, allowing my dad to hand me over to Bob. I had two fathers whom I loved very much, and I wanted them both to give me away.

“Are you crying?” I chuckled, stealing a glance at Bob.

“No, I just have some dust in my eye,” he replied, making me smile. He was crying. “I can’t believe you’re actually getting married. I feel like I’m giving away my parental responsibilities,” he said softly.

“To Aiden? That would be a bad move,” I whispered, smiling at him.

“True.”

As I looked up, my eyes met with the one man who could make my stomach feel like it was trapped in the middle of a tornado. He was made for me, and there was no denying it.

Aiden stood at the front of the church in his black suit looking every part the man I know he is. He is beautiful. There really is no other way to describe him. I love him in a way I can’t explain. What Aiden and I share is special. We aren’t just two separate beings coexisting, we are one, and today, we are sharing this fact with the world.

“Wow,” he gasped as he looked at me, making me blush.

Even though there were so many faces looking at me, smiling and crying, I had only eyes for Aiden. No one else, just him.

“Take care of my girl,” Bob said, placing my hand in Aiden’s.

“Always.”

“Hey,” I whispered.

“Hey,” he smiled at me. “Ready to become Mrs. Daniels?”

“Without a doubt.”

* * *

I was giggling excessively as I thought about Aiden carrying me over the “threshold” as he liked to call it. He also hadn’t stopped calling me Mrs. Daniels since we said the words, “I do.”

“You can put me down now,” I giggled as he fumbled around in his pocket for the hotel room key.

“Hell no! I’m putting you down when I’m finished with you, and that may not be for a while,” he said, winking at me.

“I think you have been spending way too much time with Murphy,” I chuckled.

“As much as I’d like to blame him, that was all me,” he smiled as he managed to finally push the door open with me in his arms.

I couldn’t stop smiling. I probably looked like a crazy person with a permanent smile tattooed on my face. I was so stupidly in love, it was probably quite sickening to most people watching, but I didn’t care. Aiden and I had run over a whole load of potholes during our time together, but somehow we just kept on getting stronger.

Most people would see what happened with Leah as a bad thing, but I didn’t. To me it was a blessing in disguise. That poor girl was damaged, and now she was locked up as a result. I wanted to help her, but I am not the person to do that. I just pray she finally finds her peace and can move forward in life. I’m thankful I’m still here. Coming that close to death made me take stock of all the things I often take for granted. It made me see all of the stupid things I get mad about, and the things I forget to tell people everyday like “I love you.” I can’t afford to forget because the truth is, time is short, and it’s also limited. We don’t get a forever in
this
life, but we have enough time to create something beautiful, and that’s what I want to do. Every moment, every opportunity, I want to create something spectacular, starting with this man holding me.

“Wow, we’re in Hawaii,” I chuckled.

“Correction, I’m about to make love to my
wife
in Hawaii,” Aiden said.

“How long have you been waiting to say that line?” I giggled.

“Way, way too long,” he said, placing me on my feet. The feel of his lips on mine sent an instant volt of electricity through my spine. “I love you, April,” he whispered against my lips.