The Mortal Fringe (24 page)

We get on the plane, Abigail looks at
everyone in the most suspicious way, thinking that each one of the
souls on board are here only to haunt me down. After she is done
checking every corner of the aircraft, she lets me go forward to my
seat.

"Stay here, don't go anywhere and make
sure that you don't do anything stupid."

"Like what?"

"Like standing up and disappearing
from my sight."

"What if I need to go to the
bathroom?"

"What?" she smiles and goes back to
the magazine. "Just freeze. You will have plenty of time for
bathrooms back home. After all, that’s all you humans do,
right?"

Her offensive comment has no effect on
me, I actually pretend it did not happen. I know that Gods think
too much of themselves and too little of everyone else, so I am not
surprised to hear her opinion. I just lie back and close my eyes.
If I'm lucky, I'll sleep through the whole flight.

I am not lucky.

My eyes are closed but I see things
that I'd rather not see.

Everyone in the plane have turned
into corpses welcoming me to my new life, a life between life and
death, of eternal sorrow. Far away, I see Elizabeth waving at me,
her dress full of blood. My blood. She is looking at me with the
old memory of a smile. She looks older, much older. I look at her
bare feet, covered with blood and almost turned into stone. She has
been there waiting for me for an eternity. Then I look at me, I
lower my head and I see the blood pouring of my chest, I don't feel
the pain, I only see the life going away.

I put both my hands around the
deathly wound, but I can't stop the bleeding. I look above, to the
lights of the monstrous venue that has hosted my dreams for so
long, and they shut down slowly, one after the other. No green eyes
this time, just the rest of the dream, the bit that I have never
seen before, the bit in which I finally die, alone.

Suddenly, Elizabeth is holding my
hand and pressing the wound on my chest with the other. She looks
at me with the same reflection of a smile.

She brings her lips to me and
kisses me softly.

"We only fall together" she
whispers into my ear.

And then she dies with me. One
holding the other's hand. Not letting go.

I wake up.

"Good, for a moment I thought I would
have to wake you up."

"Where are we?" My mind is still
dreaming, but the light coming through the small rounded windows
wakes me up quickly enough to go back to being myself.

"Landing." she says.

She offers me some water; I drink
small sips until I empty the bottle. She does not need to know
about my dream. No one needs to know, that will be something I will
hold on to as my last memory with Elizabeth.

When we reach the terminal I look
around for the taxi station, or the bus ticket office. But Abigail
stops me before I get any of both and leads me to the parking
door.

"You don't suppose I will let anyone
else drive us home, right? Elizabeth made me rent a
car."

We look around the Parking lot,
there's plenty of cars but Abigail does not look happy about any in
particular. Eventually she stops randomly in front of
one.

"That's it."

It is a mesmerizing car, a black BMW
that looks brand new. I am even scared to get close to it. I don't
like cars, let alone one that is twice regular size.

"Are you sure it is this
one?"

"Well, that's the one I
like."

The one she likes?

"Wait, what do you mean?"

She gets near the door, and opens it
without a key or anything that could be used to open a car's
door.

"God's take what they want, and I want
this car. Just get in, will you?"

Reluctant at first, and for a long
while, I get into the black beast that she has just stolen and we
set our way home, my all-time home. I can't believe I am so close
to normal life again.

The engine does not make a single
sound and the car moves as smoothly as a feather in the wind.
Perhaps Abigail is using some of her God's gifts to drive, but I do
not feel scared, and that's quite a milestone.

The quiet and beautiful town of Bay
Shore, where I have lived since I was a small kid appears in the
distance and I feel my heart moving inside my body. Being so close
is weird now. I never thought that I would feel this way, I feel
half a stranger now.

The red tiles of my house shine with
the sunlight. I can see my mom working on the little garden we used
to keep in the front yard and that we just forgot about after the
accident. It's nice to see her working on it again.

Abigail stops the car. I take a deep
breath.

"
Here I am, whish me
luck
." I
know she won't answer. But I need to share the moment, the feeling,
with her.

I open the car's door slowly, thinking
about the last time I was here, how I closed Dick's car door and
left, thinking that I would be free from all the worries that made
me leave in the first place. Now I realize I was wrong. I should
have faced my fears when I had the chance, but of course, if I had
not left… I would have missed out.

"Oh my God!" my mother shouts when she
sees me step out of the vehicle. She throws away the spade and runs
towards me shouting and jumping, all at the same time. She jumps on
me and hugs me as hard as she can. I am sure I can hear her
sobbing, but I don't care, not this time. "Let me look at you" she
makes me turn around as if I were a top model. "I can see that
eating has not been an important part of your student's
life."

"Mom, really? I just got
here."

"Oh sorry, sorry" she hugs me again "I
can't believe you are finally here, thank God you called to let me
know about the misunderstanding! I was not going to be home until
tomorrow."

"What?"

"You know, about your tickets being
booked for the wrong day?"

Thank God indeed, I think while
looking at Abigail, who is now getting off the car.

"Oh and who is that?" My mother asks
in that voice, half way between a sweet smile and a FBI
interrogatory.

"I'm Abigail, Ms. Stills. Your son's
girlfriend. "

"My what?" I scream
unconsciously.

"Girlfriend" she holds my hand so
firmly that I think she will break it in half. "He is still
recovering from the long flight."

My mom looks at both of us, with her
mouth wide open. She suddenly starts screaming again.

"But that's wonderful!" She jumps on
Abigail "you must stay with us for the holidays!"

"It will be a pleasure" She bends over
me and kisses me "I could not imagine a second away from
him."

CHAPTER 35

"What the hell where you thinking?" I
yell at Abigail once we get into my deserted room.

"My job is to make sure that nothing
happens to you, I had to find a way to stick around."

"And you could not find another way?
Did you actually have to use that one?"

"I could have gone with probation
agent, but I guess it would have been worse for you."

"Just shut up" I close the door behind
my back and walk downstairs, leaving Abigail on the room, or so I
think, because when I get into the kitchen she is helping my mom
with the groceries.

"I'll be happy to help you Mrs.
Stills."

"Oh please, call me Louise, I'm not
that old."

Abigail blinks at her, and I feel like
I am about to vomit.

I try to look at anywhere but at them,
I blank my mind and try to picture myself lying on my bed back in
Barcelona, waiting for Elizabeth to come around. Although that
never happened, it is perhaps one of the best memories I could die
with, only thinking about that makes me strong enough to watch time
go by.

"
This is going to be too
complicated
"
I tell her, and I hope she is thinking the same.

Minutes become hours and days turn
into an everlasting eternity. Everything seems to be wrong, I don't
fit in here anymore. My mind is still too focused on what I have
left behind and even though that it's been a week now I can't help
but wonder why is it that she sent me away. She can't obviously
hide me forever, she sent me to my own house, so hiding me is
obviously not her intention. It doesn't matter how much thought I
give to the situation, she is not here, I am, and I need to do my
best to seem as good as possible, I don't want anyone to worry
about me.

Abigail is always around, I rarely
have a moment to myself, and she does not even let me go outside
without her. It feels so embarrassing that I have not set a foot
outside since last week.

I am so reluctant to let go of these
lasts months that my suitcase is still in my room, packed. I fear
that if I do open it, and empty it, everything will be officially
over, and I am not ready for it, not yet.

My mom is constantly cooking for me
and Abigail, she seems to have missed cooking for me –as much as I
have missed it myself– I am happy to see her so alive, so full of
energy. She visits David every day, but I still can't go, I don't
think I will ever be ready for that, we were told that it was
basically impossible for him to wake up, but I keep hoping, I still
need to apologize, one more time.

Grandpa is rarely out of his room but
when he is he just keeps telling old stories to Abigail, I wish I
could tell him that she is older than him and probably has more
interesting things to say about life than him.

"Don't you think it's about time that
you forget about the whole thing?" Abigail's voice comes into my
head without invitation and takes me away from my
thoughts.

"I think I will stick around to it for
as long as I want, thank you."

"It will be worse, don't you see
that?"

I try to ignore her, but I can't, I
turn to her and face her, unwilling to surrender.

"I can't give up on her."

"You will have to, it was her choice
to let you live, little thing. You can't have her."

She is right, I guess. Elizabeth has
given me the chance to continue with my life, away from all this
craziness. She has risked so much, even her own life and right to
join her people, but I still need her beside me. Her company has
kept me going, and when she was not around I used what I learned
with her to go on. I am sure I will get over this, eventually, but
without her it's going to be more difficult.

"Then what do you propose I do?" I
keep my voice low, hoping that she won't hear me and so she won't
give me any piece of advice.

"That must come from you, but the one
thing I know you need to do, is unpack. You are not there anymore,
you are here, back to normal. Don't be stupid, boy. Don't waste the
second chance. "

She stands up and walks out of the
room. I think she is giving me some time to myself, she knows I
need it. After all, she is also capable of thinking about other
people's needs, not just her own.

I put all my thoughts in order, take
my time to witness every moment as a floating picture going through
my head, repeating some of them, making sure they will never go
away. I feel something cold in my chest, the necklace Elizabeth
gave me. I take it as a sign, as if Elizabeth was trying to tell me
something. But I can't pretend for any longer, Abigail is right,
that part of my life resides now in the past. I get on my knees and
unzip the suitcase that holds so many memories.

I put everything on my bed, some
clothes need to be rewashed, because they smell funny from all
spending too many days inside the suitcase. I empty it slowly,
stretching on the moment of saying goodbye. I had not realized of
how many things one can gather in just a few months: clothes,
stupid things that I will never use, CD's, a book ripped off in
half... So many things that will just be gathering dust from now
on.

I take the pile of clothes downstairs.
My mom and Abigail look at me and for a moment I think that they
are about to clap, as if they had been waiting for me to unpack for
ages.

"Leave that over there honey, you have
kept it in your room for a week so I don't think you need it right
away, do you?" that is my mother's way to say that she won't be
cleaning the clothes anytime soon, as a sort of punishment. If I
need them, I will have to do it myself.

The days go on, I keep thinking about
everything but I try to hide it from Abigail. There had not been so
much life in this house since before the accident, and I am
starting to enjoy the combination of Abigail and Louise, they make
funny jokes that sometimes are a good get away from my thoughts and
fears.

We have had big lunches and dinners
from the day we got back. I have seen relatives that I had not met
in years, and everyone seems so happy about me and Abigail, I guess
she is playing a wonderful part, because I am not too much into
pretending that we are a couple, no matter how hard she tries to
insist.