FALL (DIMENSION Series #1)

CHAPTER 24

I stood there and looked at Derek. The sentences he had spoken filled the space between us. I could almost hear their echoes. And I could still sense them spinning around. It was because I didn't want to let them go. Those perfect words he had said to me, about the two of us circling the same sky. It sounded so poetic, but what did it mean, exactly?

      I thought it meant that we were somehow together. On the same mission, maybe. Even though it wasn't outwardly visible to others. It wasn't like we were together in the typical high school way. I wasn't his girlfriend or anything. And also knew that I wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this exchange between Derek and me. Not even Nisha. Like my fall, it had been too strange. I couldn't explain it, and I had the sense he didn't want it discussed. And also that he wasn't from here.

      Of course he wasn't from Colorado. He was from upstate New York. But there seems to be more to the story than his hometown. He seemed different in many ways. He knew things about my fall that I hadn't told anyone and he knew the old songs I listened to. He said some of the things I was thinking, like he could access my thoughts. I knew that he couldn't. But I couldn't explain how he knew the things he knew, and I couldn't explain why I felt this strong connection with him. It was more than teenage infatuation, of that I was certain.

      The sun was lower in the sky now. It glinted off of his eyes, lighting up the specks of gold. I wanted to stay there. With the words of earlier spinning between us, the sun setting on us.

      My phone pinged again and I reluctantly tore my eyes away from his and glanced down at my phone.

      "Your mother?" he asked, and I nodded.

      "We have to go," I said and heard the resignation in my voice.

      "It's best if you go alone," he said, and a shadow crossed over his eyes, turning the specks of gold into specks of bronze.

      "But how will you get back?" I stammered. Why didn't he want to go back with me? I wondered. I was taken aback. I wanted the time with him to last and I wanted him to be present for it. With the same warmth in his eyes of earlier. But I could see I was losing him. The two shades of green in his eyes had merged into a dull-shaded dark green and he seemed to be leaving, to be going elsewhere.

      "I'm sorry," he said and he let out a sigh.

      He sounds sad, I thought, and was surprised. I wasn't expecting this. Even though it wasn't unusual for our interactions to end on these notes.

      "I'm trying to stay here," he said and clenched his fists.

       I watched his eyes go darker and darker. He finally closed them and I glanced down to see his knuckles turning white.

      "Are you all right?" I managed and I could hear the shakiness in my voice.

      "I have to go," he said. "I'm sorry."

      I nodded reflexively. I didn't want to agree to this, to him staggering back as he looked at me and waited for me to open my car door. But I went through the motions because I had a sense that I had to. That he was leaving me and that there was nothing I could do about it.

      "I'll text you," he muttered when I was seated in my car.

      "Please do," I said and stared at him. I knew my eyes would be revealing things. They'd reveal too much. My confusion at how this situation had ended, my desperate need to stay in touch with him.

       I started the car and drove out to the road. I glanced back in my rearview mirror, expecting to see him standing, slightly slumped still, as if the energy had been drained out of him. But he was gone. How was that possible? How could the boy disappear like that?

      I turned on the radio, deciding to forego the Joni Mitchell CD. I couldn't handle more sadness now. I was okay with some stupid pop song. With inane lyrics and a lot of repetition. It would help to numb my own thoughts and feelings.

      I rolled down the window and streamed my hand into the cool evening air. I took a deep breath. I was readying myself for my mother's presence, for her inquisition. I was rehearsing the things I'd say to her. I knew for a fact that I wouldn't say anything about Derek and in my mind I was constructing an alternate version of reality.

      But he kept interrupting my thoughts. I kept seeing Derek in my mind's eye.

     The intensity of our afternoon together continued. Raging inside me like a slow smolder. Never burning all the way out. I wanted to hug him when I saw him. To touch his skin. I wanted to unleash all this love on him. But I controlled myself, I refrained from it. I knew I had to wait for things to move in their own time, according to their own rhythms. So, I couldn't act like I really wanted to. But some things happened. The exchange of those very intense stares that go on and on. Those intense stares that he didn't back down from.

     He was perfect in more ways than I could really describe. He was beautiful of course, and brilliant. And he had those eyes. But it went so much deeper than that. It was like I'd ordered a boy from the past. He knew Joni Mitchell and he didn't like texting and even how he spoke seemed a little dated. Like he might actually be from a different time period altogether, like he might be from the eighties.

     What if he was reincarnated? I wondered. And then I laughed out loud. I'd never been a believer in reincarnation and such things. It was interesting that Derek's behavior and his strangeness had caused me to consider things that had been unconsidered until now. Despite my reservations about reincarnation and that whole line of belief, I already knew I'd find a way to discuss reincarnation with Nisha. She believed in it and she'd be happy to talk about it with me. As long as she didn't know why I was suddenly interested in reincarnation, of course. I could never tell anyone about my reincarnation suspicions. 

* * *

NEXT NEW CHAPTER COMING SOON

Thank you for reading this chapter! Show your support for this story by simply clicking on the little VOTE (star) button.And, of course, I'd love to read your comments too.

Have a great day!