The Boy With Death's Touch

Fated to Know You

I rode my bike home, pedaling quickly because of the overcast clouds ahead. I was focused on beating the rain as well as the fact my thoughts kept finding their way back to her, Elowen Adley. She said we were going to be friends as if she was so sure of it. How could she be so sure? The only thing I was ever sure of was our endings.

With the thought of her, thunder cracked open the sky and rain fell. I was ten minutes away from home and I pedaled harder, though it wouldn't make a difference. I was going to be drenched either way. I rode my bike faster, nothing but the sound of rain hitting the pavement and the turning of my pedals encompassed me.

And then I saw her.

And I nearly flipped my bike over because I wasn't paying attention to a pothole in the road.

And lightning struck.

And I realized it was fate.

She honked at me, inside of a sleek silver sports car. I got the idea she came from a really wealthy family. She had only looked about seventeen so I doubted she bought it herself.

She rolled down the windows, "Noah Blake! Get in the car!"

I stared at her like she was speaking a language I could not understand. Moments passed and I realized I hadn't said anything back. I just shook my head, not even able to mutter the words.

"Yes! Get in now! You're going to be sick!" She yelled at me, like she was my mom and I was her small, disobeying son. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. "Noah Blake!" she yelled again, obnoxiously.

So I hopped off my bike and walked towards her car slowly. She popped the trunk open and I hesitated, my wet muddy bike would ruin her trunk. Though, she had insisted, so I put the bike in anyway, shutting the trunk top. I walked slowly around to the passenger seat already regretting everything I was doing.

"God, you're going to make my seat all wet and gross." She immediately whined as soon as I got in. I couldn't look her in the eyes, the embarrassment I was feeling was plastered on my face. "I'm kidding, Noah. Lighten up."

She extended her hand as if to touch my shoulder and I forced myself as close to the door as possible. I looked stupid. I was an idiot. It was as if she had a contagious disease and I was fearing for my life.

"You are seriously strange." Elowen Adley looked at me in bewilderment, then drove off.

"Aren't you going to ask me where I live?" I asked her when I realized we were getting near my neighborhood.

"No." She said nonchalantly. My heart beat started racing and my head started spinning. This girl was something else, someone I never thought I'd encounter. I felt dizzy, scared.

"You're abducting me." I said.

"Am not! You got into this car willfully." She protested.

"Yeah, after having to hear you yelling at me to get in!" I spat back, though it came out extremely lighthearted. A little too lighthearted. She giggled and kept focused on the road ahead. I started biting my nails, a habit I acquired after the twentieth death I saw. It was a few weeks before my mother's death was coming.

I brushed past a lady in the grocery store, who had three small kids piled into her cart. She was going to slip while mopping and she'd hit her head. She was going to die from internal bleeding. I snapped back into reality with my index nail in my mouth. It became my go to habit for dealing with anxiety.

We stopped at an old Mom And Pops diner called, "Gretel's" though the second E's light had gone out so it read as "Gretl's."

"You're so uptight. I got that from your aura back at the hospital. This is my place to come and relax and think and so I had to take you." Elowen Adley said to me seriously.

"Auras?" I looked at her in disbelief.

"Yeah, I've been practicing. My mom was a Wiccan and I found some of her old journals a few months ago." She told me as she unbuckled her seat, getting out of the car. I hadn't ever met a Wiccan before. I guess there was a first time for everything.

As we walked into the diner a bell rang. We were greeted by an old lady, probably in her 60s, who was plump and wore her gray hair in a ponytail. Her skin was dark and smooth, like melted chocolate. "Elowen Adley!" She looked happy to see the girl next to me.

"Gretel!" Elowen Adley exclaimed with just as much enthusiasm. "I missed you."

"We missed you here, too. Belgian Waffles?" She said knowingly.

"Two this time. Do not forget the extra strawberries on top!" Elowen Adley winked at me as if she had just gotten me the best deal ever. I followed Elowen Adley into the seating area and we sat at a small table for two, right near a window. We had a view of a street that lead to nowhere.

"So, you know the owner?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. My eye caught on a big rock that she wore around her neck like jewelry.

"She's my childhood best friend. My mom always brought me here every Sunday morning. I get the same thing every time." She replied to me, giving me complete eye contact.

"That's a nice... rock." I said.

"Gemstone." Elowen Adley corrected. "It's an amethyst. My mom's favorite. It's meaning is healing. That's what I do, I heal people." I smirked. She thought she was going to heal me? I didn't need healing, I needed a miracle. I needed to be reborn and I needed to be reborn as anyone else. Anyone normal.

"Is that what you're trying to do?" I blurted out, the words coming out harsher than I anticipated.

"Yes, Noah. That's what I'm trying to do. You look so sad." She admitted. Once again I felt embarrassed. I ran my hands through my blonde hair, noting that it was nearly dry now.

"You're not going to have any luck. You can't help me." I told her.

"Watch me." She said, her eyes flickering as the clouds parted and the sun shined through the window. I didn't reply, it was a losing battle.

Gretel came to the table, wearing a purple striped apron and bearing our hot plates in her hand. "Your orange juice will be coming right up! I almost forgot!" Gretel exclaimed, scurrying off. Elowen Adley giggled then sighed.

"Gretel is getting so old. It's a shame." She said, as if getting old was the most terrible thing in the world.

"Being elderly is one of the greatest gifts. Not everyone is allowed that opportunity." I said to her, our eyes locking.

"My mom would be relieved to know she died young, if you can know things in the afterlife. She always said to live fast, die young. It was her motto. She was youthful up to the day she died. It would of been a nightmare for her to ever reach her middle ages." Elowen Adley said to me.

"How did she die?" I asked, not prepared for what I'd hear next.

"Drug overdose." Elowen Adley said plainly. We sat in silence then, Gretel coming back with our orange juices. We ate for a while in silence. Each bite of the warm, fluffy Belgian waffle I had was chewed slowly. I savored it as if this was my last meal on Earth.

"My mom died too. From a car accident." I told her, breaking the silence.

"Then it all makes sense. It's fate we'd meet. We share the same pain. You know, similar pain attracts people like magnets." She said before stuffing a big bite of pancake into her mouth.