The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (106 page)

It was hours later, after
Hyun and Derek had talked for a while. They had cleaned up the
mess, the consequence of their little scuffle. After, they’d talked
about home, family, everyone and everything they missed. They
wrapped themselves in robes and then blankets as the temperature
plummeted even more with absence of the day. They lay there,
playing a game of “Guess the Movie”, each of them saying a line
from a well-known flick, while the other had to guess where it
originated. It was after they’d eaten some snacks and joked in the
dim light of the battery-operated lanterns they had placed around
their living space. After they had grown tired and decided to turn
in for the night. They had turned off all the lights and finally
said good night to one another.

It was after Derek had
fallen into a deep sleep, that Hyun heard her return, walking on
the balls of her feet, trying to hide the fact she was
still
crying after all
of this time. Hyun heard her sit down upon her designated sleeping
area, and struggle for a bit, trying to take off her shoes. A few
minutes later, she scooted back and crawled deep into her
bedding.

Time seemed to stretch for
the Korean teen as she waited for something else to happen, but
nothing did. Hyun wanted so much to get up and climb under the
covers with her, wanted to put an arm about her and tell her
everything was ok. She wanted so bad to whisper in her ear that she
cared, that everyone cared, that together they could make it
through anything. She wanted to remind her they had once been best
friends, almost sisters, and would be forever. She wanted to let
her cry on her shoulder, so it could all come out, so she could
begin to heal, to grow beyond what had happened to her, whatever it
might’ve been.

This was what she would
have done three or four years ago. She would’ve crawled into her
friend’s bed and she would’ve had all the answers. But, that wasn’t
the case now. She didn’t know how this Kimberly would react. Too
much had gone between them, too much of the world had touched
Kimberly. For the first time in her life, Hyun felt sheltered,
pampered, and naive.
I am a spoiled bitch!
I’m the one who had sufficient insulation and thrived. I was the
one who had the right conditions to succeed.
For some reason, it pissed her off, because Kimberly had been
right. She was a rich girl on a pedestal. She was one of the
privileged few who didn’t have to get her hands dirty from the
ubiquitous residue of humankind. Her parents had taken care of
that, but had Kimberly’s parents done the same? What disaffected
form of existence had led to their child to be harmed in such a way
it had somehow marred her for life?

What happened to you, Kim,
my friend, my playmate, my schoolyard buddy?

She heard her sobbing just
above human hearing, long wracking sucks of air. They were quiet,
drawn-out whimpers of loss.

“
You just don’t
understand. You just don’t understand. You just don’t
understand…”

Hyun had never wished for
anything more. If she could, she wished, above all else, that she
understood.

Kimberly’s private litany
drove her to sleep after a time, but she would awake later on and
remember everything like it had happened only seconds
before.

We will find the way,
Kimmy, you and me. We will find a way, because I won’t rest until I
find the real you.

Her dreams took her once
again.

~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼
}>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

No, Definitely Not
Him

Day Four, Sunday, 3:38
am…

It was here…

I’VE COME FOR
YOU!

She attained the pathway,
her legs aching now as the lactic acid in her muscles began to work
against her. It was the inevitable pain all runners felt when
they’d over-exerted themselves. Though, she was sweating profusely,
as if she had been sprinting for hours, something had changed and
she could feel it now – around her, in nearly all places, even
within – cold: stark, lifeless cold, a chill unlike anything she
had ever felt before. It was iciness, full with malice, overflowing
with hate. So intense, it almost made her cry out in
fear.

{No, not this
again,
she felt herself think, though she
knew not why.
}

She rocketed up the second
set of stairs and almost staggered into the doors and banging her
head, instead of opening them. She knew this cold; this
ever-growing absence of warmth was directing all of its deep, black
emotions at her. It loathed her. It despised her very existence. It
wanted nothing more than to smear her like a bud across the surface
of the world, scrub her existence clean from space and
time.

“
RICARDO!!!”
she shrieked as she
wrenched open the right hand side door. The same the teenage boy
had gone through only moments before. She plunged headlong into the
structure. Darkness surrounded her at once. She slammed the door
shut, trying to figure out what to do next, where to go, where to
hide. It was just outside the doors now, she was certain of
it!

{Stop, you have been here
before, don’t go in. It is all wrong in there!}

“
Ricardo?”
she implored, listening
intently for a reply, but nothing followed, only silence and
darkness.

She turned to the left,
knowing the building went furthest in that direction, taking no
more than half a step when she bumped into him, her forehead
rapping against his chest. From above, she heard him grunt
slightly.

{But it’s not
Him!
}

“
Oh my
god, Ricardo, I’m so glad I found you,”
she said, not moving away from him. Instead, she brought her
arms up to hug him around the midsection.

The boy didn’t reply, but
brought his own arms to hug her back, giving her a firm squeeze at
first, that settled into a warmth embrace a moment later. He
sustained it. She returned the gesture. Almost immediately, she
felt safe, felt It retreat, pull back, hesitate, as if It were
suddenly wary, as if Ricardo made It unsure, doubtful.

She stood there, immobile,
letting the tainted cold seep from her body. She listened to the
steady thump of the boy’s strong heartbeat resound in her ears,
continuous, almost lulling, something she could count on, rely
upon. She could feel his large hands stroking her back, massaging
various muscles, caressing her curves and contours as if he were
memorizing every part of her. Like he wanted to know the way she
liked to be touched. He was searching for a response. She melted
against him, warm now, safe again. Her hands rubbed along his
spine, then to the long, stringy muscles of his back.

{It is wrong! It is not
right, he is too tall. How many times do I have to say it, he’s too
goddamn tall! Why can’t you tell, why can’t you remember? It has
not been that long since the last time, Marianna, you should know
better! It is not him!}

She noticed, she could see
a little. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the refracted light
within the building. She saw she was standing in a library. Books
and shelving surrounded them in all directions. Tables and chairs,
with small desk lamps as well. She could make out color of
Ricardo’s flannel shirt. It was mostly dark blue, but had
crisscrossed stripes of black and green on it, her cheek still
resting upon the soft material. She could see he was wearing black
jeans and black high top sneakers.

A strange thought suddenly
flittered about her consciousness.

Had Ricardo grown since
she had seen him last?

{No, you idiot, it’s not
him. It’s someone else. Get away from him! You don’t know him. You
don’t know what he is like!}

This made her go stiff in
the boy’s embrace. She pulled back abruptly, expecting to see the
dark, broad features of the boy she had left behind in Arizona. She
was stunned to find nothing of the sort!

The boy in front of her
was at least six inches taller than Ricardo. He was lanky and long
limbed. His face was much narrower than she recalled. His hair was
dark and short. His eyes matched those of her lost boyfriend,
because he was Hispanic in heritage, but still, he looked nothing
like Ricardo.

“
Who…who
are you?”
she mumbled, taking a half-step
back. Her left hand had somehow remained clasped within
his.

He smiled knowingly at
her, as if he had known she would ask that question and was being
patient, waiting for her to get over her discomfort, her
confusion.

“
Who are
you?”
she asked again with a little more
force.
“Have I met you
before?”

He said nothing, but shook
his head in the negative.

She thought for a moment,
the fact she still held onto his hand forgotten, lost in her
befuddlement. She let the silence stretch, her mind racing over the
possibilities. One actuality stood out more than all the
rest.
I feel like I should know him, as if
I do already, and yet… I’m sure I’ve never laid eyes upon him
before.

{Oh god, why do you have
to like him so much? Why does he make your heart jump in your
throat every time you lay eyes on him? You are not supposed to feel
this way about a complete stranger! Crap, you’re acting like a
slut!!!}

He gave her hand a quick
shake, prying her from her thoughts. Her eyes peered into his,
seeing he was pointing behind her with his chin, toward the door.
She turned at once, fear suddenly blossoming.

Both of the doors were
open. No, they’ been thrown asunder with incredible force. They
were splintered and cracked, imbedded into the walls on either side
of the threshold. She hadn’t heard a sound.

She saw it, a face of
roiling cloud, its eyes glowing red, eyes she’d seen before, months
ago, high in the sky, dominating the heavens for a second, before
it had vanished.

{It was on Interstate-40,
we had been driving, my whole family on the move from Holbrook,
Arizona to Los Angeles, California. Good god, it seemed like a
lifetime ago, maybe it had been a different person altogether.
Maybe, it…}

He cupped her chin,
coercing her vision away from the hideous vision glaring at them
from the large doorway. She gazed at him as he looked down into her
eyes with a soft, gentle look of his own.

{Wait, what is
this…?}

He upturned her head so
she could look at him more directly. She didn’t resist. In fact,
she encouraged the intimacy, basking in the familiarity of his
touch. She let her body melt into his, feeling warm in the pit of
her stomach. He was so handsome, though he didn’t seem like the
type of guy who flaunted it, used it to his advantage. To her, he
merely was what he was.

He bent down, his
shoulders hunching as he moved forward.

She felt with her hands,
again upon the small of his back, push him forward even more, into
her, a building pressure, a needy clutch between them. She could
feel the
maleness
of him growing, firming.

{What the hell is this?
This is not how it is supposed to happen!}

She felt his other hand
come up from the side, reaching up through the roots of her hair to
the nape of her neck. She shuddered with delight. No boy had ever
touched her with such a smoothing, confident caress. She exhaled,
mentally surrendering. Unaware they were there, her inhibitions
fell way. She knew right then, right there, even with the horrid
monstrosity screaming at them, though it made no sound. Its’ mouth
was shaped into a macabre looking “O”, but nothing issued
forth.

She ignored it. She knew
she wanted more of him – all of him.

{NO, no, no, I don’t know
him! I don’t want him! I don’t want his lips on mine, his body
against me!}

They kissed. It was a
long, slow exploratory meeting of their lips and tongues - tasting,
sharing. It was a wonderful first time. She felt her heart burst
open and reveal itself to her, flushing her chest, her neck, and
her cheeks.