Trapped in the Afterlife

Chapter 18- First Child, Last Maybe

I am not your tormentor, Tammy. I only do what your summon requires of me.

I recognized the voice of my Silent Guardian. I was being given control again. I gladly welcomed the focus as it swallowed me from inside myself. My limbs tingled as sensation returned to me. I thanked the guardian mentally before letting Jolianne lead me back to Cecilia and Yohan's camp. I tried to engrave as much of her into my mind as we walked; who knew how long I'd be stuck like this and even if I now did remember my own mother, Jolianne was Emma's mother.

She kissed my cheek once we reached the front door to the cabin and turned to go back to her own camp. I turned and with a sudden smile, I let myself in without knocking.

"Hey!" Cecilia exclaimed, moving her eyes rapidly between the board game on the table before her and me, she looked hyper. And possibly drunk. "Join! Join! Join!" She continued, this time adding full-hand 'approach' gestures with her left hand.

The smile grew and I made no resistance to her plea. Yohan tipped his head up from the hand of cards her was holding, he winked, he grinned and reached out to move a pion on the board. I burst out laughing with him as soon as Cecilia began her tantrum.

I joined in easily. It felt nice to be with these people that I remembered now. It only took a few hours before Yohan and I were left alone with a passed out Cecilia on my lap.

"Emma?" Yohan said my name as a question and I lifted my head from watching Cecilia sleep as I stroked her hair. "Tammy?" I turned my head to look at him curiously.

"Yohan?" I said his name like he was and he turned to look at me.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened because of my family. You... your family... the Morels... this is wrong." He spoke softly but i heard the sincerity in his voice. And as he gazed at me, I couldn't hold back the smile that grew on my face. "You're..." he gasped and moved quickly but softly from the couch to get Cecilia off of me. After he placed her back comfortably down, we stood there face to face. My face felt warm and nice, the smile wouldn't melt away and I gave in to the impulse of wanting to kiss him.

He stiffened in surprise but his hands quickly found their way to my waist. I felt his inner struggle through the twitch of his fingers; give in to temptation and lose control of the current gentleness or give in to desire. Suddenly his fingers tightened where they were and from there I knew the gentleness battle was lost. He slipped more and more into the kiss, the control going from me who had initiated it to him as he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips.

We'd never been together and my only kiss so far had been from Jay. But this felt right. Comfortable. Real. He received no resistance from me when he began a trek from the small living room to one of the bedrooms.

The next morning was greeted by slight awkwardness as Cecilia walked into the room, hung over and lost only to find us wrapped around one another and barely covered by the beds' sheets. "OH MY GOD!" she exclaimed, the door hitting the wall accompanying the early-wake-up-jolt.

The first thing I noticed was my lack of feeling. The Silent Guardian had taken over again during the night. Yohan jumped at the abrupt sounds and in his gracefulness, ended up falling off the bed... leaving the blanket on the bed. This earned another 'Oh my god' from Cecilia before she finally made the right decision of turning and leaving the room. We were left in the silence of the bedroom but we could still hear Cecilia's repeated 'Oh my gods' as she went about the cabin.

"So uh... Good morning, Em-Ta..." Yohan's eyes landed on me and instant sadness took over his face. "Or Silent Guardian I guess.." he sighed, pushed himself up from the floor and went around the room to start dressing. My vision followed him around the room although my body was also in the process of getting dressed. I heard him sigh and he stopped everything to press his forehead to the wall. I only barely heard what he whispered, but I caught enough drifts of sound to understand what he was saying: I didn't even get a chance to tell her I loved her. I felt a sort of warmth run through my mind. I, too, Yohan. I, too.