Becoming (Chapter Four)

4. There’s More to Life1

“What?” He hissed, looking all around him, as if there was someone listening.
“I said I jumped reality!”
“I know what you said,” he snapped, mimicking my tone of voice, “but we can’t talk about it here. Come with me.”
I groaned. “Little help?”
I could swear I saw him roll his eyes. Now what did I ever do to you? However, he did use both his hands to help me up. It took a lot of energy not to wince or groan. My ankle was throbbing. When did I hurt my ankle? The thought of my spider web episode came to mind.
The boy was already walking away. Thanks for being so polite. I walked after him, doing my best to cover up my limp, and ignored the pain. Careful, you don’t want to faint. My head was still in much pain, but ignoring was easier than the ankle. I didn’t have to walk on my head.
He was easy to follow from the light of the moon, or rather, moons. Every now and then he would disappear into the shadow of a tree, but reappear seconds later. The first few times this happed, my heart stopped in panic, but I eventually just kept walking in blind faith.
Suddenly, he stopped, and I ran into him with a grunt. “Could’ve warned me,” I muttered angrily.
“Sorry,” he said emptily. Gee, thanks for the sincerity.
“Whatever,” I snapped back.
He turned around, fast. “What’s your problem? I just apologized.”
“I’m not the one with a problem! What’s with your oh so heart-felt apology?”
“At least I did apologize! You’re just slowing me down; I would have been at my camp an hour ago!”
“Well then why did you even bring me with you?”
His tone softened. “Because I couldn’t have left you on your own to die.”
I sighed. “Well I certainly can’t walk any faster, so just cut me some slack.”
“Why?” Be more specific!
“Why what?”
He was getting frustrated too. “Why can’t you walk faster?”
I debated whether or not to answer. “Well… um.”
“Well what?” Impatient much?
I breathed in. “My ankle hurts, I have a headache, and my head is pounding quite painfully. So unless you have some Advil, I’m afraid we are not going any faster.”
“What’s that?” BE SPECIFIC YOU IDIOT!
I did know what he meant, but his place-holders were frustrating me. “Advil is a painkiller, a friend of mine at the moment.”
“Umm…. Okay.”
I knew he had no idea what I was talking about. “Never mind, let’s get this over with.”
“We’re here,” he said, as if this was no big deal.
I exploded in anger. “What? You mean to tell me we’ve been arguing over something stupid when I could have been sitting down by a warm fire and sleeping?”
“Well I wanted you to tell me what was wrong, so I could help.”
“You could’ve been more subtle,” I said sarcastically.
“You wouldn’t have told me otherwise,” he stated. He’s got a point there...
“Well, it’s not like there’s anything you can do.”
He hesitated visibly. “No…”
I tilted my head at him. “Hmmm?”
“Well, I could use my ummmm… gifts.”
Magic, huh? Just say it! “Oh?”
“Okay, okay, I can do magic, and some mind-reading, but that’s my weaker gift.”
I put my guard up immediately. “You can read my mind?”
“No, yours is blocked very well.” It’s not like I can block it. “But if you sit down I can help ease the pain for you, if you’d like,” he asked kindly.
“Only if you at tell me your name.”
“If you tell me yours,” he responded.
I crossed my arms, and wondered if he could see my glaring.
He grunted. “All right, my name is Nylan. Now you must tell me yours.”
“Jade,” I muttered quickly. He seemed taken aback.
“Really?” he asked inquisitively.
“No, I just outright lied to you! Of course my name is Jade!” I snapped back loudly, annoyed that he didn’t believe me. Or maybe he thought it was significant. I brushed this thought away though, as if it wasn’t important.
“Ah, well, umm, pretty name, Jade. Now sit,” Nylan commanded.
I sat. “What now? Stand?” He laughed at this, a deep throaty laugh. I smiled for the first time around him.
He got down on his knees. “Can I touch your ankle?” he asked.
“Sure…” I said hesitantly.
“Right or left?”
“Left.”
“This will feel sort of funny at first, okay?”
I blinked. He placed his hand on my right ankle, after pushing up my jean a bit. They were warm and dark against my cold, pale skin. I could swear I glowed in the dark. My ankle vibrated for a few seconds. “Oh!” I exclaimed, surprised.
Nylan tightened his grip, as if I was going to run away. The air around him was tense, and I could feel his concentration. Slowly, my throbbing ankle was no longer giving me any pain. He took his hands away, clearly proud of himself.
“You want me to anything for your headache, or your back?”
“Nah, I’ll live. I’ve had worse.” Much worse.
“You’ll have to tell me that story sometime,” he said, and I knew he would hold me to my word if I agreed. Should you tell someone you only just met?
After a few seconds of thought, I responded. “Okay.”
“Good,” he said as he tossed something at me. I swallowed my scream. It was a blanket. “No fire tonight, we can attract too much attention.” I saw him settle a little ways away from me on a similar blanket. Sleeping on the ground?
“Only one blanket? You said it gets cold!” I asked, quite sure that I would never be able to fall asleep.
“That’s why you’re sleeping near me. Body warmth. You would think you had enough common sense to know that.”
“No freaking way.”
“Ummm…”
He obviously had no idea what I meant. “There is no way I’m sleeping near you. You could kill me in my sleep.”
“Fine then. Do whatever you want.”
“I will.” This said, I found a semi-flat spot under a tree and spread the blanket out completely. Then, lying on half of it, I pulled the other half over me, in a sleeping bag style. There is no way you are going to get to sleep.
I tried to block out all thoughts, and my headache. I really did try, but after at least an hour, I knew I was never going to sleep. It had finally dawned on me that I may not get back, that I would never see dear Laura or Abby again. Were they worried about me? Had they gone looking, panicked when I had not come back?
My stomach was in knots, and the lump in my throat was constricting my breathing. Tears were streaming down, fast and warm. On top of it all, I was shivering so violently that I could not hide my sobs. Please don’t let him hear me.
I tried wrapping the blanket around me, and put it over my mouth to muffle my pitiful crying. How will they know I’m gone? What if they think I’ve fallen off a cliff? My fears and doubts attacked mercilessly. Will they have a funeral? Will anyone even miss me? At that, my sobs shook my body, just as the night my mother was murdered. The triggered memories came back, flooding my brain.2

“Honey, oh my dear Jade, you look so beautiful in that dress. Every guy there will drop dead, just looking into your eyes.” My mother put her hand on my cheek, looking me in the eyes, “That’s why I named you Jade, because of your beautiful green eyes.”
I looked down at my dress, it’s green shimmering form spread around me. “Yes Mama, you’ve told me that already,” I said, wanting to get the night over with.
She sighed. “Honey, there’s more to life than your room. You’ve got to go out there and live. It’s a good thing you’re going to prom; you’ve only got one year left of high school, so have some fun. I don’t need you regretting it later,” she stated, as if I would.
“Mom, I hate dresses, and I don’t even have a date. It’s a bad idea. Besides, you haven’t told Dad, and I know why, because he’d hit me, and you know it.”
She gathered me into her arms. “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this. I’m telling him about the plan to divorce tonight. I planned it that way, so you’re gone, so you don’t have to hear any more yelling. You go and have the night of your life, you deserve it sweetie.”
“Yes, Mama, I will, I promise,” I told her the biggest lie. She looked down into my eyes again, sympathetically, and then she gave me one last hug.
“Goodbye dear, I will see you at midnight, or one. I will be up and waiting!”
She climbed back into her car, carefully. I waved goodbye, watching the black car disappear into the night. I could hear it even after it was out of sight.
That was the last I saw of my mother.3

I couldn’t stop crying, I couldn’t. Just get up and wander into the woods. You’ll die of thirst eventually, or hunger, whichever comes first.
I jumped when the extra weight was put on me. I looked up, but my vision was blurred by tears. I knew that Nylan had put the blanket on me though, but I couldn’t find my voice to say thank you.
I sniffled, and tried to control myself. Wiping away the tears I managed to choke a few words out. “Thanks, but you’ll be,” I coughed, holding back so many tears was hard, “cold,” I finished.
I could finally see him kneeling beside me. “I do not mind the cold, but I do mind not being able to comfort a friend in need.”
My heart warmed at the mention of friend. I did try to stop crying for him, I couldn’t bear to know that he felt the need to comfort me. It wasn’t right.
Nylan did the most unexpected thing. He lifted me up onto his lap, and leaned against the tree, my head on his shoulder. Then, he wrapped his arms around my shivering form. “Are you warm?” he whispered.
I was still shocked at his move. I tried to answer, but I couldn’t stop shivering enough. Goodness, whatever made you so cold? You’ve had much, much worse. “I…I… yes,” I lied.
Nylan sighed and held me tighter. “Don’t you lie to me,” he whispered in my ear.
I kept on shivering, trying not to make him feel awkward, but as soon as I lifted my head away from his shoulder, he took his hand and placed my head back again. “You need as much warmth as possible, Jade, and I intend to give you all that I can.”
My tears were now there because of confusion, and relief. No one besides my foster parents had really done an outright act of kindness like this. This was far from simple, it was almost life saving.
An idea and hope came to mind. “Are you…” I paused, not wanting to seem silly, “Are you Adien?”
Nylan tensed under me. Have you discovered something, Jade? “That’s a subject for tomorrow Jade Reylands.”