The Death Kiss (Nanowrimo)#wattys2017

Chapter13: The crazy dream

Adrian Jonas Wagon?" I gawked.

He grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Yes, I am Jonas Wagon and you are Gabriella."

I knew he had mistaken me for somebody else. I shook my head in disbelief.

"No, I can't be..."

He placed his hand around me and pulled me towards him, squeezing me in one arm hug.

"I'm not mistaken, sweetheart."

"When you came to know that Gabriella, I mean I was back?" I asked.

"After I became the Grim Reaper, I travelled all around the world." He stared into my eyes.

"But mostly, I visited all the places where Gabriella had lived. I found her childhood photographs in her old house where she was born. So, I knew how she looked like as a baby..."

He paused for a minute, to let me absorb the story.

Then he continued," I saw you for the first time when you were 2 years old and your parents had a car accident. You were supposed to die in that, but when I came for your soul. I came to know that it was my Gabriella. From that day onwards, I followed you around."

I bit my lip.

"Adrian, why have you killed my father and my brothers?"

I was hoping for an answer that would justify his killings. But I knew, he had nothing to say.

Adrian thought for a minute and then spoke.

"Your father had stage 4 Cancer. There was nothing doctors could do to save him. They were waiting for him to die. I just took away his misery."

He stroked his fingers through my hair gently.

"I didn't mean to hurt you Gabriella, I swear."

"I'm Lily. Don't call me that. And why you took away my baby brothers?"

"Your baby brothers had severe jaundice which led to Kernicterus. Their brain was damaged to an extent that it became irreversible. Even if they had survived, they would have been mentally disabled. "

I nodded silently.

I held his hands in mine, and spoke.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Anything, my love."

"I have seen you twice before you joined my high school. What I couldn't understand is the reason because of which you joined as a "Teacher" not a fellow student?"

He laughed," I wanted a fast approach. If I had joined as a student, it would have taken me a long time to get closer to you. I knew, it would have been difficult because you had Chase, and many other friends too."

"Clever thought."

He got up from the bed and picked the butterfly pendant from the dressing table.

"Wear this, Lily."

"Is it Gabriella's?"

He nodded, "Yes, I got it for her. It was the first present I got her, after that green dress. She never took it off. Even when she was being hanged, it was around her neck."

I took the pendant from him.

"Look Adrian, I don't know whether I am your Gabriella or not. But I am in love with you. And I don't want you to love me as somebody else."

"I understand. I love you too, Lily. I don't care whether you are Gabriella or not. All I know is that, I have been searching for you for more than 350 years now." He smiled.