FALL (DIMENSION Series #1)

CHAPTER 48

A breeze stirred in the branches, rattling the leaves. I glanced up at the sky, felt the sun on my arms. The forest was magical, but Derek was the one dominating the moment. 

     I looked over at him and got lost on his jewel-like eyes. He had just spoken to me in a way that was intimate and poetic. And yet, I still had no idea how things would be with us in the future. Would we actually hang out together at school? Would he show up for late night visits in my yard? I didn't know. He'd made it clear that he owed Isabelle a duty. And I already knew that they'd continue to be considered a couple. It couldn't be any other way. They were the cool kids and the cool kids always ended up together.

     At school, I was neither popular, nor unpopular. I was a filler of space, another pair of feet walking the halls. I wasn't the kind of girl anyone expected to end up with Derek Nash. And as it turned out, I wouldn't be. At least not in any conventional kind of way.

     The shocking thing was that I knew he was going around with another girl. By all appearances, at least. And I didn't care. I had faith that the story would resolve itself. That this was something—a blip—we'd overcome. More than that: I had the sense that it wasn't his active decision not to be with me. That it was due to his duty to protect her.

     Although I knew that Isabelle liked him, I tried not to focus on that. I thought instead, about my feelings for him. This line of thinking was just one of the many reasons I couldn't ever tell anyone about my true feelings for Derek. I could imagine my mother saying: You're negotiating with yourself Eleanor. You're making yourself accept a compromise that should never be accepted. And there were moments I agreed with that logic, and felt quite ridiculous. But most of the time I believed in what I felt. It seemed that nothing in this world—or any other—could erase the feelings I had for Derek.

     It was all becoming clear to me. Derek wasn't of this world. And he would never truly belong here, no matter how hard he tried. Despite this, I was deeply obsessed with him. And the obsession wouldn't be ending any time soon, I could feel it in my bones. 

     He chimed in, as if he could read my mind.

     "There's so much you don't know about me, Ellie. I'm like a person from a foreign country. My culture is different from yours."

     I nodded.

     "It doesn't matter." And I meant it. I knew I was in for the long haul. No matter what that meant or where it would lead me.

     "When Isabelle saved you—was that how you got pulled over to the other side?" I asked.

     He shrugged.

     "Sort of."

     I noticed that my hands were balled into fists. I was nervous about my next question, but I still had to ask it.

     "So, since you saved me," I said and paused. I was reliving that part of my fall when I could clearly see him. When he morphed from a one-dimensional image to a three-dimensional presence. "Does that mean I'll become tainted in some way as well?" I exhaled loudly. "Does that mean I'll become like you?" I needed to know if ending up in a different dimension was in my future.

     He shook his head.

     "Not if we take the necessary precautions," he said, and his eyes went darker. "But because of me, you've sort of been earmarked. Since I intervened in your fall. So, we'll have to be extra careful." There it was—he had finally admitted to intervening in my fall. And I thought I knew what he was referring to when he said that we'd need to be careful. I thought he meant I should reduce my chances of becoming tainted by not spending too much time with him. But of course I knew better. I'd take my chances, no matter what. I'd continue to seek him out.