Escaping Death [Watty Awards]

Chapter 10-Gabriel

*Merry Christmas Eve! Well, here is the next installment of Escaping Death :) I hope you guys like it!! Don't forget to comment, vote, or even fan if you are not one yet :)) Happy Reading! :]

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Chapter 10-Gabriel

On the ride back to Gwen’s house, it was quiet.  There was a silence that had fallen upon us both.  It wasn’t an awkward silence but instead it was content.  There wasn’t anything that either of us could say so we just withdrew into our own thoughts.  I saw from the rear view mirror that Gwen was deep in thought as she gazed out the window.  I wondered what kind of things she was thinking about but I didn’t want to break the sense of peace I felt in this moment. 

I turned on the stereo and the song Almost by Bowling for Soup blasted from the speakers.  Immediately, I reached over and turned down the sound to an accommodating level.  I felt like my skin was on fire and realized that I was embarrassed from the ear piercing of the music.  If Gwen wasn’t here I would have turned it up all the way but I didn’t want to make her deaf.  I saw from the corner of my eyes that she had a small smile on her face.  Great, now I probably seem like a loser who likes to rock out in their car, I thought.

She started to softly hum along to the song while she looked out the window.  I kept on thinking about the time when Gwen and I were kids.  Gwen’s voice had been beautiful that then and I wondered if it still was.  It had to be.  I remembered when we had a school play back in the seventh grade.  The theater club decided to do a re-enactment of “The Little Mermaid” and Gwen was picked to play the role of Ariel.  She had to wear a big red wig that made me laugh when I saw her.

“What’s so funny”?”  Gwen’s voice brought me back to the present where she was sitting next to me and looking at me with curious eyes.

I focused back on the here and now and said, “Nothing.”  I tried to suppress the laugh that was on the edge of my lips.  The memory had been so real that it was difficult to forget it.

She looked at me inquisitively but didn’t pry.

God, how beautiful her voice was when I saw the show opening night; it was the night that I fell in love with her.  She was such a great actress and she played Ariel with such precision and soul that I felt like I was seeing the movie.  I wanted to lean over to Gwen right now and ask her if she continued to act.  I wanted to ask her if she still sang and if she could sing to me right now.

But I couldn’t.  I couldn’t begin to ask about anything in the past because she doesn’t remember that I was part of her past; I erased that.  That’s the disadvantage about all of this.  I had to start over, slowly earning her trust again.  Slowly, letting her know that she could rely on me.  She had to trust me on her own terms and not because of a spell.  I couldn’t just keep casting spells left and right.  That would make her into someone that she’s not.  It would make her into a Gwen that I wouldn’t know.  At least, I knew who Gwen was but she just didn’t know me.

As we pulled up in front of her house, I noticed that there was a car parked in front of us.  There was a man and a woman in front of Gwen’s house saying their goodbyes.  There was no doubt in my mind that Gwen saw it too.  Then, the man turned forward and I saw his features.  He was Gwen’s father and the woman he was with was not her mother.

He leaned in and kissed the women feverishly.

Gwen leaped out of the car, slamming the door in the process, before I could say anything to her.  “What the hell are doing?”  She screamed.  I cut the engine off and got out of the car and went over to the passenger side of the door.

Mr. Hampton turned his face toward his daughter.  He was embarrassed at her outburst but also caught off guard by his daughter’s presence.  “Gwen, I will not-”

“No!  How could you do this?  How could do this to me?  How could do this to mom?”  She shouted.

I was leaning against my car watching the scene unfold and I didn’t know what to do.  I was just a few feet behind Gwen and the thing I thought I should do was go to her and try to calm her down.  Mr. Hampton didn’t even take any notice of me and I didn’t do anything to try to get his attention towards me.

“Why?”  She whispered.  Her voice cracked as she spoke that one word.  I’ve never heard her sound like that.  She was heartbroken and something inside me felt compassion for her.  I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry.”  Mr. Hampton walked over to her and reached out to put his arm around her but Gwen jerked back.

“No!”  She yelled.  “Don’t touch me.”  She back up and bumped into me and she didn’t move away.

That’s when Mr. Hampton took notice of me.  “Who are you?  What are you doing with my daughter out so late?”  He questioned.  He was taking his anger and directing it to me.  I was about to answer him but Gwen responded before I had a chance to explain.

“You have no right to know.  After what you have been doing!  You can’t tell me what to do.  You haven’t been part of my life for months.”  Her voice was low and full of malice. 

Her words had stirred something inside of him and hand physically stung him.  There was pain and guilt in his eyes.  This wasn’t the way he wanted his daughter to find out about this.  He stood stunned by the words she had lashed out, those words that were poison to him.  He looked back at the woman and gestured her to come and stand by him.  Her eyes were wide with shock and she stood frozen not wanting to move from her spot.  He didn’t beg her to come to him so he walked over and put his arm around her.  “Anne doesn’t have anything to do with this.”  He said defensively.

“Like hell she doesn’t.  She’s the reason you abandoned mom and me in the first place.”  She snapped back.

Reaching to touch her shoulder, I turned Gwen around and lifted up her chin.  “Gwen, let me take you inside.  Please be rational about this.”  I pleaded with her.  She was shaking and her jaw trembled with the threat of tears spilling down her face.  She was on the verge of tears and my words were the solace that she needed.  I put my arm around her and lead her toward the house without any protest from her father.  His shoulders were slumped forward and Anne had her hand on his back; a reassurance that she was still there for him even after what had happened with his daughter. 

Gwen opened the door and we found Mrs. Hampton in the doorway.  Her eyes were rimmed red but she quickly wiped the tears away, afraid that Gwen would see.  But as Gwen saw her mother there like that, she fell into her arms and they both began to cry. 

I silently left them alone and walked out the door.  I passed Mr. Hampton and he gave a glare that I could not fathom.  I felt the urge to talk to him but I didn’t that it was a wise choice to make.  I also wanted to be with Gwen after what had happened but she needed her mother, they both needed each other.  I unlocked the car door and drove home, thinking about what I could have done to prevent this but coming up empty when I knew that this was inevitable.