Blood & Winter

Chapter 13 : The End is the Beginning

Before I knew it, the summer had flown by, and fall was arriving in New York. It was late September and the leaves were already beginning to change. I loved looking down on central park through the window of August's apartment. I had the apartment to myself this morning. The four had gone out again to take care of business.
We had fallen into a pattern. I felt like for the first time maybe ever, I had a family. I loved them dearly, and had over the past few months told them pretty much my whole life story. Of course there were things only August knew, and still some that even he didn't. But I felt closer to them all then I ever had before to anyone.

They were often gone. Sometimes all at once, or sometimes in pairs. I was rarely alone, but still, like today, it happened. The apartment felt big, and empty without them. I walked over to the table I had claimed as my own, and looked at the pictures scattered across it. There was an enormous album in the center. There were crystals and ribbons and knick knacks all over the place. Along with several types of glues and scissors. I was making a huge album of all our pictures. Ian had bought me a camera when I had told him I liked photography. We had been at an exhibit of a friend of his, and we had stopped at a camera store on the way home. Over the months I had developed hundreds of rolls of film, and was slowly creating the album.

I sat at the table and my eyes fell to a picture of me and August at the beach.
It was a close up of our faces. I picked it up and examined it closely. Something was odd about his eyes. They were that bright green that I had seen several times over time. I picked up one from the roll I had just developed. It was from the weekend we had gone up to Boston. It was also a close up of August. His eyes were shades darker. Almost black. I picked up other pictures, and noticed that his eyes were different shades in almost all of them.

I shrugged my shoulders, unable to think of an explanation for it and started working on a page. I glued down several pictures, and went about adding things on the page. I must have worked for hours, because when I looked up at the clock on the wall it was already getting dark. It was around five and no one was home yet. Odd.

I got up and walked over to the sink to wash the glue off my hands. I tidied up the table and walked over the fridge. I pulled out some vegetables and made a salad. I threw in some feta and was just sitting down at the table as the door opened.

The four walked in laughing and joking. August walked to me quickly and took me in his arms, and kissed me deeply. I still could not seem to get used to his passionate nature. Getting to know him was a whirlwind of emotions. Every emotion of his seemed more intense than anyone I had ever met. It was true for all of them. I looked into his eyes, and noticed they were again, the bright green color. I looked at the others, and sure enough all of their eyes seemed much brighter. I had no idea what was going on. Before I could even question it, August threw an envelope down on the table.

"What's this?" I fingered the envelope, almost afraid to open it. August was constantly showering me with gifts. Jewelry, tickets to amazing shows, day spas, anything. I had given up refusing to accept the gifts. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Open it." He said grinning at me over the counter. I was sitting back on the stool eating my salad. I set my fork down and picked up the envelope. I opened it and glanced inside. There were several postcards. They were of Ireland. I looked at August in confusion.

"How fast can you be packed?" He looked at me trying to keep a serious look on his face, but his smile gave him away.

"Are you for real? Ireland!" I leapt out of my seat and jumped around the room like a little girl. I threw my arms around him and kissed him excitedly. I looked down at the tickets looking for the date. My eyes fell on it and I looked up at him.