Toying with Destiny

 PROLOUGE:

The three of us stood outside the open gates and stared into the dark night. Shadows, both light and dark, danced among the tombstones within view making the night take on a life of its own. The sight was darkly moving and if you stared long enough, you might be tempted to forget that this was a place of death, of dreams surrendered, pain relieved by the nothingness that so many believed death brought with it when it came to visit. Destiny knew better. Death sometimes had a unique beauty all its own, but it was dangerous to let that distract you from the fact that it could strike at anytime, and in any setting. There was no need to seek it out by visiting its various kingdoms, when the time came it would find you easily enough no matter where you were. The one great constant of life was that it must someday end.

Those of us sharing this experience perceived it in completely different ways. Cameron, who stood to the far right, represented the part of the population who possessed no sensitivity whatsoever. He believed in only what he could see, touch, or otherwise prove existed. The supernatural world interested him not one bit, and he often laughed at those ignorant or uneducated enough to believe in the possibility of UFO’s, vampires and big-foot. His shoulder length, sandy blond hair blew in the breath of the windy night.is dark blue eyes, and full mouth, promised a depth of feeling that he would never be able share or experience for himself. At 6’2, with large, broad shoulders, and a toned and muscular physique, his fists carried the power of his convictions and he shared that power with other often. Destiny often wondered if his lack of belief caused the barely restrained violence that hummed just beneath his surface, or if his need for violence caused him to refuse to believe in anything that might lead to its eventual restraint.

Jason, who stood in the middle of the two and to her right, represented a smaller part of the population. In life, as in this moment, he stood firmly in the middle. The ability to sense the truth existed within him but was not quite strong enough to take away his choice. Those who shared this level of the gift with him always felt more than the Cameron’s of the world. They sensed the patterns that existed underneath the surface, but all too often chose to let their intellect war with their senses.

Jason  always knew when he was in danger. He was almost able to taste the warning that the breeze carried with it tonight, but he tried to ignore it because his mind told him that his fear was unreasonable. No one liked being in a cemetery after dark, but there was no danger to be found here. The goosebumps were because he had visited too often during the day. The memories of those good-byes were affecting him, not the fact that his life could be at risk or that he suddenly felt as if he should be saying his last good-byes. His imagination was running wild, but he was tough enough to regain control.

At 5’8’, he seemed smaller standing next to Cameron, but that’s the only way in which he suffered by comparison. His dark brown eyes were full of life and laughter. His hair, while cut short, was a great deal more than boyishly charming. Straight and jet black, it was so perfectly kept that women lined up to be the one who got to run her fingers through it’s velvety softness, leaving it tousled enough to let the world know that they had been there.

Lean and angular, he had more than enough muscle tone to make men hesitate and women swoon. With an open heart, and a smile that lit up any room, he never had to worry about spending the night alone yet he never let it go to his head. Kind, gentle and reliable, people loved him wherever he went and though he often took advantage of that fact, he never abused it.

Destiny was small in stature, yet her presence was so large that she immediately became the central focus of any room she entered. With long, straight, dark-blond hair that hung past her shoulders, a figure that was womanly without being voluptuous, and the ability to pick up on the emotions of others without effort, no one who met her ever seemed to forget her. Yet the cause of her beauty was hard to define. She was feminine yet hard, loving but extremely tough on those around her. The darkness and light that exists in all of us, often fought for control of her emotions and more often than not darkness seemed to win. Maybe it was the look in her eyes, a haunted knowing look that said she had experienced more than her fair share of pain but had been strong enough to not only survive but to thrive. Or perhaps it was the fact that her eyes promised a knowledge that others would never possess. Whether that knowledge led to the secrets of life or to dangers that no human should ever face didn’t matter in the heat of the moment. Some people were able to hold you in thrall, even if you knew that giving that person power over you was inexcusably dangerous and that sooner or later you were going to pay the price, it was still a price that all too many were willing to pay.