When The Universe Align

c h a p t e r S I X | | Gabrijela Kavynier

In the private penthouse suite of the Grande Colossal, on the highest level, Gabrijela sat in front of her vanity table ready to start her daily makeup routine. Staring into her bright dark brown eyes in the mirror, she tried to understand why she had been feeling uneasy since she woke up this morning.

Was it the fact that today would be the day where she would be meeting the other rulers of the other kingdoms for the first time? No, that did not seem like it. This feeling in her heart. What was it? Her heart squeezed painfully. Was it anxiety? Was it nervousness? She often felt that way during large gatherings where she would be put in the spotlight. No. This feeling that she felt inside of her was something different from anxiety or nervousness. No. She stared harder at her reflection, trying hard to decipher what she was currently feeling. This feeling was something she had felt every year on the same day for the past century.

As if struck by lightning, a sudden realization hit her. Could it be? Could it be today?

"Con? Con?!" Upon hearing his cousin's panic screams, Conroy barged into his cousin's room without knocking. She was sitting by her vanity table, back facing him. He could see tears slowly welling in her big doe eyes through the reflection of her vanity mirror. Worried that she was hurt, he rushed to her side and kneeled by her as he grabbed her now limp arms on her lap.

"What's wrong Gabby? Are you hurt?" Conroy asked, panic was evident in his voice.

"What date is it?" Gabrijela turned to look at Conroy. Pain and disbelief contoured her beautiful lovely face. Her face had scrunched up into a frown as if trying to will herself not to cry as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.

"It's xx of the 4th month." Conroy replied slowly as he seemed to have slowly grasped the situation. He swore under his breath.

"April xx." Gabrijela whispered under her breath. Even though she had paid no mind to what date it had been, her body and heart seemed to remember; As if her body had been wired to remember, every year on the same day without fail. The dam that seemed to keep her tears in, broke. Hot tears started streaming down her face uncontrollably. Her tiny body, compared to his, started shaking violently as she took her hands away from Conroy's and buried her face in them.

When it first happened, a century ago, Conroy did not know how to comfort his cousin. But over the years, he found out the best way to comfort her was to stay by her side while she cried, until she fell asleep. Even though it was only one day of the year, it was still hard for Conroy to watch her be in so much pain.

Running a hand through his silver hair, he swore once more before picking his cousin up in his arms so that he could place her on her bed comfortably. He laid quietly with his arms around her, like always, as she had her head buried in his chest as she quietly sobbed. All he could do was close his eyes tightly as he laid his forehead on her head, hoping that the day could be over so that she would be back to her usual self.

**

A groan escaped Gabrijela's lips as she woke up from her deep slumber with a splitting headache. Staring up at the gold chandelier of her room, Gabrijela felt the slight warmth on her right side, Conroy had previously laid, which indicated that he had left not too long ago. Moving her head to the left, the gold grandfather clock indicated that it was late afternoon.

She had finally shed all the tears she had in her and no more tears would come out to make her heart, and now splitting headache, feel better. Feeling exhausted and wanting the day to be over, Gabrijela tried to fall back asleep. However, no matter how hard she tried, she could only toss and turn. Sleep did not seem to come as easily now that Conroy, her emotional support pet- cousin, was not here and the damn splitting headache sure did not help either.

As the sun set in the horizon, the room darken. In the silent night with the sound of the grandfather's clock ticking, thoughts of him attacked Gabrijela. No matter how much she tried to force herself to stop thinking, the more her brain played memories of them. She hated how she could not remember what she had for lunch the previous day, but this, useless memories of him, she remembered. Her heart felt like they were tearing apart with each thought of him. His touch. His smell. The way he made her feel. The more her mind conjured memories of him, the more she tried to fight back against them, the more her head spun, causing her to feel nauseous.

Frustrated that the pain seemed to have worsened as time went by, Gabrijela got off her bed and dressed in the first dress she saw in her walk-in closet. A long sleeved dark green velvet dress that reached her ankles with a slit that ran down from mid thigh all the way down to show her strong sculpted legs. Thankfully, a pair of gold heels had already been matched with the outfit, so Gabrijela did not have to think too hard amongst her split headache and throbbing heartache. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was glad that her eyes did not get puffy after crying sessions. Her lips though, they were not so lucky; They had turned from their normal medium lip shade to a purple reddish colour. Gabrijela had a habit of biting her lips in order to hide the sound of her sobs. Maybe it had been a habit picked up since young- before her life, now, where she did not have anyone to rely on while she cried. Even now, after a century, after having Conroy, she could not seem to kick that habit.

With a sigh, Gabrijela went back to her vanity and took out her red lipstick to hide that hideous redness her lips had become.

Checking herself once over in her vanity mirror, Gabrijela quickly turned and rushed down to the Grande Bar of The Grand Colossal, as she felt her heart clench tighter; Almost hard to breathe.

If only I can rip my heart out of my chest.

**

As soon as she stepped into the Grande Bar, Gabrijela welcomed the loud thumping music and dim lighting. The loud music seemed to have loosen the tight clutch of her heart a bit while the dim lights seemed to have helped a little with her pounding headache.

Recognizing the frequent customer, the bartender of the night, Sam, came up to Gabrijela just as she took her seat, on the high chair, in front of the register. She had her right leg crossed over her left as she leaned her throbbing head on her already propped up right first, before shutting her eyes for a bit.

"What can I get you Ms Kavy? Would you like your usual?" Sam asked his VIP.

Today she needed something stronger than what she usually had. Without lifting her head up, with her eyes still closed, Gabrijela shook her head no, as she ordered, "Give me your strongest drink."

Following her orders, Sam immediately went to work and made her a bone dry martini with vodka. As soon as the drink had been placed in front of her, Gabrijela opened her eyes and tilted her head back as she downed the drink in one go. Having not expected the drink to burn her throat, Gabrijela choked at the sudden burn. Tears would have formed in her eyes if she had not just cried her body dry earlier before. Quickly recovering from the first drink, Gabrijela soon called for another with 2 additional shots. And another. And another.

Soon the throb in her head was long forgotten, and the ache in her heart was just a dull ache.