Already Gone

Chapter 7: Moon and stars

There was an eery feeling that hung over Liberio that night. While most of the folks in the town were able to sleep it off, Liesl was wide awake. Her mother tried to be gentle and offer her kind words of advice, but Liesl didn't want to hear anything sweet. She wanted to feel angry, she knew she deserved to be filled with rage, yet she couldn't even form a fist tight enough to shake at the world. She pleaded with herself to be able to form just one angry thought about Zeke but there was no luck to be had. There was agony to be had over being such an emotional person. Instead of rage, everytime she thought of him tears pricked her eyes and she pulled her pillow over her face. Letting out a gut wrenching scream that made her ears ring, but was silent to everyone else.

"Liesl!" She swore she heard as she pulled her pillow toward her face yet again and allowed her tears to soak through the fabric. "Liesl!" She heard once more. Reluctantly she slid out of her bed and slowly crept to her window, opening the blinds and peering out in to the dark night. Down below Zeke stood there in a long white hospital gown with a familiar pair of glasses on his face that reflected the light of the moon.

"Liesl! Please come down!" He shouted loud enough to awaken the entire block. If Liesl was a different person she would have shut the blinds and drifted off to sleep, but she wasn't prepared to let her new wounds heal. She swallowed her sadness down like cough medicine and quickly opened her window before he called out once more.

"Shh! Are you crazy?" She spoke just loud enough for him to hear her. Of course he was crazy, but just as she was crazy enough to open her window, Zeke was crazy enlightening to stand under it.

"Come down!" Zeke yelled back a bit quieter this time. Liesl's face contorted in to an expression of confusion, her room was on the second floor of her house, going downstairs to leave would definitely awaken her parents and cause much more trouble than any of it was worth.

"So you are crazy?" Liesl answered her own question, trying not to chuckle. Zeke flung his arms out and laughed as if he hadn't a card in the world.

"So what if I am? Liesl jump, I'll catch you." The words came out of his mouth so effortlessly as if he was just asking her to take her first few steps, as if he hadn't just walked away from her hours ago, leaving her behind. Liesl looked down at him and felt the sadness come up like bile.

"I'm afraid that you won't," Liesl stammered knowing that she alluding to something more than leaping from her window. Zeke didn't drop his arms, instead he stepped closer to her window and held them higher up.

"Liesl, I will always be here to catch you." Zeke's voice trembled a bit and he then stood on his toes and outstretched his fingers like he was reaching for the sky. "I'll change the world so that at every gate we walk through, we can walk through it together, Liesl I will always catch you." He seemed different now, and it wasn't just the glasses.

Something about Zeke seemed entirely foreign. Liesl's body hung out the window and despite the quiver in her voice it was clear she wasn't turning her back on him, he wasn't trying to persuade her to come back to him . Instead it felt like he was warning her about about something, trying to instill his love despite his fear for the future, but she was too blind to see it.

"Zeke—"

"Liesl, I will catch you," Zeke reassured her.

"I know you will," she responded and quickly slid over the windowsill so her feet dangled out, and then without even hesitating Liesl dropped from her window. She crashed against Zeke as he caught her bridal style in his arms, almost falling down to the ground.

"Being completely honest I really didn't think that was going to work," Zeke laughed and let Liesl climb out of his arms.

"Why are you here?" Liesl questioned. Zeke shrugged his shoulder and began walking down the road that Liesl's house was on.