Vanished (I LUV U.) - Abide With Me Book 1

Chapter 6 - A Kiss To Make You Remember

 Introduction: Who will Zenzu choose: Alaya or Mia? Perhaps he needs a little bribe to pick...

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Chapter Six - A KISS TO MAKE YOU REMEMBER



June 3, 2011

Zenzu tried extending his arms to balance himself on the stepping stones. If he wasn’t careful, a fast-flowing river with rocks harder than his own head would be waiting.

“So my blade reacted because of two years of separation?” Zenzu asked, trying to reach the last stepping stone.

The janitor nodded. “And, because you let go of it while you were flying through space-time, you are at my mercy.”

He didn’t anticipate how slippery the stones were. The fifteen year old flailed his arms, but the river was suddenly rushing towards him. He opened his palms and pushed his hands outward. The shiny stones at the bottom rose from the river and caught him in the air. “Whew,” he breathed. “Too close.”

The janitor appeared on the other side of the river. He looked up at the night sky. There weren’t a lot of stars tonight, not with the bright haze of the Hostelry subdivision coming from the horizon. “After all the pain you’ve been through, do you still believe in God, Zenzu?”

“Of course I do!” Zenzu replied, levitating the bed of stones towards the riverbank. Slowly, he tilted it until his feet touched the ground. He flailed his arms towards the river. The stones then formed a line and dropped back into the water.

“Good,” he said. “You need to trust Him more than anyone else now.”

Zenzu let out a chuckle. “No sweat, man! It’s not like my breakup with Zyra is going to…hurt my abilities.”

“Zenzu!” a squeaky girl voice called from the distance. Zenzu scanned his surroundings, but the hedges were too tall and thick to let him see anything. He looked to the janitor for answers, but when he turned, he was gone.

Suddenly, Mia jumped out of the hedge and wrapped her arms around him in a tight, almost suffocating embrace.

“Hi!” she said with enthusiasm.

“Uhh, hi,” Zenzu said with less enthusiasm.

Mia’s energetic mood slipped away. “Why aren’t you excited to see me? You said come here on June 3 at exactly nine o’ one in the evening! Kinda’ weird you gave me an exact date, but-”

The fifteen year old scratched his head. “Really?” he said. “Since when?”

She was about to answer, when a clever smile appeared on her adorable face. “I get it. You want me to refresh your memory!”

“No, Umm, uhh-”

“Don’t worry. I can fix that!”

Before he knew it, Mia pulled his head in Their lips joined together. A wave of romantic sensation hit Zenzu’s body from his feet up to his head. It was the sensation he never thought he’d miss. As they kissed, he noticed Mia’s sweet-smelling baby powder. Her lips tasted like strawberry lip-gloss. Zenzu just couldn’t make himself want to let go.

Then, Mia slowly pulled her lips away. She looked so beautiful with long, flowing black hair. Her beige overcoat made his heart swell. And her eyes, those cute green eyes; they restored hope that someday, the hurt of his breakup will fade away.

“So? Do you remember now?” she asked with joy.

Zenzu was still recovering from the most sensational kiss of his life. He couldn’t move or speak or even breath. Mia had to nose-kiss him just to snap him out.

“I…don’t remember.”

Mia’s joy turned into worry. “Don’t you remember? June 1! We met in the main hall! You looked so sad - really, really sad. You said you missed me. Then, you said you loved me. Don’t you remember that!?”

The janitor appeared behind Mia. Zenzu tried to get his attention, but the man wouldn’t budge. He just stood back, watching them talk.

“Listen, umm, Mia. I don’t remember telling you to come here. In fact, I just got here! The last day I saw you was in March. I never saw you again until now.”

Tears started rolling down Mia’s cheeks. Her sobbing couldn’t overshadow the loud thumping of her broken heart.

“Though I loved your strawberry lip-gloss, umm, err, you know… I don’t… l-… You know what I’m talking about, right?”

“You said you loved me,” she whimpered. “You said you loved me!”

Mia shoved him back before running through the hedges, weeping. Zenzu turned to the janitor, clueless and furious. “What just happened?”

“You’ll know someday, Zenzu,” the janitor said. “But now is not the time to think about that.”

“Tell me!” he yelled. “Tell me what happened!?”

The janitor put his finger on his lips. “God’s plan is complicated, very complicated. That’s why I ask you to trust Him more than ever.”

“I can’t trust Him if He doesn’t tell me what just happened!”

Zenzu wished he had kept those words inside his mouth. He took deep breaths, each lowering his frustration. And then, in a shamed voice, he said, “Sorry.”

“Don’t say ‘sorry’ to me, Zenzu,” the janitor said. He pointed up to the sky.

The fifteen year old knew what he meant. Zenzu closed his eyes and whispered, “Sorry, Lord. Sorry I said that.”

A smile appeared on the janitor’s face. “Not as easy as you thought, wasn’t it?”

Zenzu nodded.

“Oh, look,” the janitor said, looking at his imaginary watch. “I bet Alaya’s missing you already!”

“It’s been eight minutes,” Zenzu said. “You think Alaya’s going to miss a guy who ruined her wedding day?”

***

June 3, 1497

A calm breeze swept the Hachen Village. Everyone was getting ready to turn in for the night.  One by one, the torches were snuffed out by the wind.

Anita tossed and turned in her bed. The soft animal pelts couldn’t calm her Highness’s mind. Not even her two white pillows stuffed with the softest feathers in the Village could help. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she was about to do. Her conscience and envy battled for a long time.

 When midnight came, her mind was tired of arguing. Anita slowly closed her tired, tired eyes.

But faint noises from a nearby tepee kept her awake. The princess jumped out of her bed, rubbed her eyes and slowly crouched towards the noises’ source.

She parted the tepee flaps and saw Alaya’s former dwelling. The people of the Hachen Village, just like any other Village near the Pyramus River, were very superstitious. Ever since Alaya was cursed, no one dared touch, or even pass by, her tepee.

With Anita, it was a different story. She hugged the ground and bravely crawled towards her atz’s tepee. The more she got closer, the more the noise got clearer. They sounded like drawers opening and closing, and clothes being tossed around. Anita knew no one here was brave enough to conquer their fear of superstitions and enter the cursed place. That is, except her and…

The sound of a dagger being pulled out of its sheath alerted the princess. She jumped to her feet and ran towards the tepee’s entrance. But when Anita arrived inside, no one was there. All that were left were half-opened drawers of Alaya’s dresser and a soiled white bridal outfit on the ground.

Anita looked on to see a big hole in the tepee canvas.  Through it, she saw a shadowy figure running into the palm forests.

Alaya.

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