Me Without You (20 page)

Jervais suddenly barged inside the room
and plopped herself on Jonah's bed.

"You have got to tell me everything!"
Jervais demanded.

"Good morning to you too, Jervais!"
Jonah greeted her sister, allowing herself a big yawn and a stretch
of her arms."You've heard me on the phone last night, right?" Jonah
added.

"What did Aunt Judith have to say about
everything?" Jervais asked.

Jonah bent forward and told Jervais in
a low voice as if sharing a top secret, "She didn't seem concerned
at all! It baffles me why."

"But that's her, right," Jervais said.
"Nothing is new!"

"Oh come on, Jervais!" Jonah argued.
"She's usually the one who provokes and stirs all of us to fear.
But with what happened to Jane's room—calm is an
understatement."

"So what are you thinking?" Jervais
replied.

"She did it!" Jonah said
matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Jervais asked, her brows in a
scowl. "Why will she do it? Does she think Jane's the new
healer?"

Without breaking Jane's
confidence since Jervais did not know about the stolen
habak
, Jonah hinted as
best as she could about the jewelry without divulging
everything."Remember the night she visited Jane's room and caught
the three of us—well, there was something there. She looked rather
suspicious to me. And I think she doubted the three of us. She was
probably looking for something in Jane's room."

"Did Jane say something was missing?"
Jervais said thoughtfully.

Jonah attempted to deter the
conversation away. "It was a rather busy night last night—" Jonah
said leaving her sentence for Jervais to fill it in.

"Jane still doesn't know if anything
has been stolen?" Jervais said. To this, Jonah just shrugged her
shoulders silently.

"What about you? Are you still in
character?" Jervais asked.

"What character?" Jonah asked, getting
her brush from the bedside table and running it on her short
hair.

"Juliet!"

"Ha-ha-ha! It's not funny anymore,
Jervais!" Jonah said.

"You bet it's not. Jane told us
everything," Jervais replied.

Jonah had totally forgotten about
Xavier and his near confrontation with Jane because of the
succeeding events that night.

"You know what, all of you are
overreacting to this! It didn't matter to all of you whom I dated
back then. Why all of a sudden, everyone seemed so against X and
me?" Jonah told Jervais.

"You brought it upon yourself, Jonah.
You have shown that you can't handle yourself when you're with him.
That's why!" Jervais answered. "Why do you have to see him
again?"

"It's not that!" Jonah said
hesitantly.

"We've all witnessed how you were
because of that guy," Jervais continued. "You are driving yourself
physically ill and crazy."

"That's not true—" Jonah protested.
"Well, that was before. What is happening now is different,
Jervais. You guys just have to trust me!"

"How different can it be? Jane said you
were trembling all over and you were crazily screaming out her name
like you needed help or something. You looked so scared. What is
all that? You've been there…done that. We've all seen it. Snap out
of it." Jervais said sounding annoyed and hurt at the same
time."I've just been going along with you because I thought you can
already take care of yourself. But I was wrong. So please,
Jonah—stop seeing that guy."

Jonah stared at Jervais for a moment,
wanting so much to tell her about what she saw. And yet she debated
against it. Jervais might think she had really gone nuts. Or she
could be accused of using the woo-hoo stuff to avoid putting the
blame on Xavier which was actually worse.

"I don't know why I still react to him
that way—" Jonah began.

"I don't have any way gentler to say
this, but you may need to start seeing a shrink. These people can
put you under medication, Jonah," Jervais reasoned out.

"I don't need medication, Jervais.
There's another reason which I can't tell you for now, other than
my stubbornness, to see him again, Jervais," Jonah told her older
sister.

"Try me—" Jervais
challenged.

"I don't even know how to tell you
without sounding crazy. But you know I will see him again. And I
doubt it I can even control me not to."

Jervais's shoulders sagged and her
brows were almost connected in one crooked line in frustration. She
uttered slowly, "Then, you leave me no choice but to let the others
intervene about this—"

"No! Please, let me gather my thoughts
and try to piece everything together and then perhaps. I can find
words to explain myself better to you and to others. Just trust me
on this one, Jervais," Jonah begged.

If Jonah's whole family became involved
in her love story, there was no telling if the whole Lively clan
would not match up their own energy. It could mean a bigger drift
for both families. And the wounds of the past especially the ones
shared by Rebecca, her Aunt Judith and Xavier's Aunt Gilda will
resurface.

"Tell me what's on your mind, Jonah. If
that guy has his back-up, you may need one too," Jervais urged.
Although her look registered nothing but skepticism, deep within
her, Jervais considered that Jonah could be on to something
important.

"First I have to meet X again later,"
Jonah said and smiled slyly.

"No way!" Jervais interjected
loudly.

"How else can I gather the info about
things?" Jonah insisted.

"Oh, Jonah—" Jervais warned, "If this
is something I already know in the first place—like telling me you
are nuts about him— you won't hear the end of it from
me."

Jonah stared at her sister long and
hard before blurting out, "This is about the new healer, Jervais.
Don't tell me you know this already?"

"Don't tell me that guy knows who the
new healer is," Jervais inquired looking shocked.

"I think that his Aunt Gilda is the new
healer. And I think X can help me find out," Jonah
answered.

"I think you're not really into this
because of the healer," Jervais said. "You're in it because of the
kissing."

"I am too!" Jonah replied rather too
quickly. But she blushed and admitted to the truth, "Well, the
kissing part is a topmost priority. But discovering who the real
healer is also just as important for me."

"Humor me, Jonah!" Jervais said. "Most
eighteen-year-olds—and you are definitely not an exception— don't
give a damn about having the power to heal the world or having
immortality. More often than not, this age bracket even think of
killing themselves because life becomes a bit unfair at this stage.
I even know of someone who would welcome a tsunami with open arms
just to end life's misery. Even Brice mentioned last night how his
life seemed monotonous and without a purpose. I should know because
I have contemplated a lot of times about death rather than living
forever. You see—"

"Oh, come on, Jervais," Jonah said,
reaching out for Jervais' hand and squeezing it lovingly. "Please
don't say that!"

"The thing is—only the likes of your
mother, Aunt Judith and that guy's Aunt would be interested in
living forever because they see death around the bend. Besides look
at your mother and Aunt Judith—they looked like life had robbed
them off something. Your mother didn't even know how to love us.
You can just imagine how many kids she had had in her lifetime.
Each of us has become part and parcel of a miserable pattern in her
motherhood. And that guy's Aunt, she doesn't even go out of her
fortress. I bet she had had enough sunlight in her lifetime to last
her forever. Those bunch are unhappy people." Jervais continued.
"Come to think of it, do you ask yourself about death? If you want
to live forever? It is not a regular subject of discussion, you
know. Who would kill somebody to be cursed with forever? Who wants
to live forever? I think it is stupid for Aunt Judith to assume
that the power of the healer is most coveted."

"Jervais, we can say that because death
seemed like a distant reality for us. But what about X? He is sick.
Although, we don't really know what he's going through. I mean, I
don't have any idea what kind of reality death is for him. But I
would presume he is one of those who would value life more because
it will soon be taken away from him. For someone whose death has
been marked, I bet another day is like forever." Jonah said. The
room began to swirl around her as tears were dangerously hanging by
the brim of her eyes. She wiped them off before they fell on her
cheeks." I bet those who love him dearly will willingly kill
somebody to be cursed or offer their own lives, if they can give X
another day."

"If you say it that way, then I am in.
We are now the Bloody-Duo," Jervais announced, grinning. She
embraced Jonah comfortingly.

Jonah hugged Jervais back happily.
Finally, she felt bold because somebody will be with her through
her plight. Even if Jervais perhaps did not really get it, having
her around to talk to was everything Jonah could ask
for.

Then Jervais released Jonah and said,
"So what's your plan?"

"Well, I was planning to lure X into
telling me if his Aunt is the new healer," Jonah said.

"Wow!" Jervais whistled. "That's a
sophisticated and secret-agenty type of a plan. Why don't you just
tell me you are going to ask that guy directly if his Aunt killed
your mother?"

Jonah giggled. "Okay, fine—so I don't
have a grand plan! Not yet anyway!"

"Will you live forever for X, Jonah?"
Jervais questioned. The Bloody duo just looked at each other
silently, both absorbed in their own line of reasoning.

The New Healer

Actually, it was Gilda who instructed
Hugh to meet Jonah when she learned Xavier was seeing her. Gilda
had cunningly maneuvered Xavier and his mom to meet a healing monk
from Tibet.

Gilda presumed Hugh will be able to
persuade Jonah to tell him anything she knew about the new healer
than Xavier would.

"Our dear boy Xavier is in love with
the girl. I think our dear boy Xavier knows something which he is
not telling me. He is probably protecting the girl. If that is not
the case, then he is just too smitten by her to concentrate on
finding out information about the new healer. His so-called love
will castrate him off his sensibility." Gilda told Hugh. "You, on
the other hand, are just starting out. Whatever it is, you need to
have it nip in the bud."

But here I am…and my own
senses wouldn't cooperate…Damn! If I had my own way, I wouldn't be
here
…Hugh thought. Well, it was the more
logical part of him reasoning he would want to be somewhere else.
But the better side of him, whatever it was, was secretly glad he
was waiting for Jonah.

It looked as if Hugh was always waiting
for her ever since the day he met her—waiting for her to wake up
from dozing on his front porch steps, waiting for her to arrive at
their designated meeting places and waiting for her to notice
him.

It had been long since he last saw her
alone. If it hadn't been for the lame excuse he made up about a
program that will qualify him for a coveted internship in medical
school, which she naively accepted, then he would still be seeing
Jonah and feeding her information about Xavier.

In truth though, he was too scared to
get even closer to her…because the more Xavier got better everyday,
the more he was helpless to fight off his true feelings for Jonah.
For some reason, he felt like betraying Xavier.

Although Hugh understood pretty well
why Xavier had to leaver her without a word when he learned he was
sick, and in fact if he were in the same situation, he would have
done the same thing there was not enough excuse why Jonah had to be
hurt that way.

A soft tap on his shoulder made him
turned around."Hi," Jonah's voice cut off from behind
him.

There she was. Jonah was smiling and
looking at Hugh excitedly. He quickly stood up and escorted her
outside as she made a hasty and awkward genuflect down the
aisle.

"I can't believe it's you," Jonah said
when they were outside the Church. She stood on her toes and
reached out for him in a big hug."I didn't get much time to talk to
you at the pond."

"It's okay!" Hugh said delightedly,
returning her embrace and not letting go off his hands on her waist
long after she had ended the hug.

"So, what are—" Jonah said obviously
trying to divert the awkward moment.

"X sent me," he answered, welcoming the
change of the subject matter, and tucking his hands to himself.
"Mom brought X to an alternative healing session. He wasn’t sure
how long the thing will take, so he sent me to tell
you—"

Excuse…another
well-fabricated excuse.
Hugh
thought.

"It's okay!" Jonah said and flashed
Hugh another smile.

"So, how are you two?" Hugh asked
before he could stop himself.