It Begins With Us

39.

Ryle:

'Alba loves someone else more than she loves me. She's just like everybody else. Why does everyone around me always love someone else more than me? Alyssa loves Lily more. Lily loves Atlas more. And now Alba, she loves whoever this guy in her diary more than me. Why is it never me?'

We sit silently and then I pull my hands out of hers.

"If you're going to lie to me, at least try to make it believable." My voice is so low I can barely hear myself.

"Ryle, trust me." Alba tries to grab for me as I climb off of the bed, shrugging her off. "I've never lied to you!"

She tries and I fight the urge to hug her. I yank a shirt on and quickly stock out of the room. She follows me out to the front door and I quickly kick my barefoot into my shoes.

"Ryle, please, just wait." She whispers as I step out the door.

I turn and look at her, standing in the doorway in just my shirt. Her eyes watery and her lip wobbling. I slam the door shut, my heart pounding wildly. I can't stay here and be sure that I won't hurt her again. Where should I go?

'Time travel, she says.' I think looking up at the sky as I walk down the street. 'Her mother would know.'

-

I walk into Mrs. DeTamble's room, my hands shoved deep into my jacket pocket. She turns to look at me, her eyes knowing and I wonder if she knows how I hurt her daughter, I wonder if she can see it in my eyes. I quietly stalk over and sit down on the chair beside her bed. The last time I sat in this chair everything was just getting better, everything was going to be okay.

"Don't you wanna know why I'm here?" I whisper. "Like this?"

Her eyes flick from my eyes to my lips and back. For a moment there's a flash of panic, of loss.

"You must have had a fight with my daughter." She replies. "And now you're here to complain and nag."

That gets a sarcastic laugh out of me.

"She says she can time travel." I snicker but the moment her eyes darken my heart drops into my stomach.

"And?" She says softly, my head is swimming.

"You're both crazy?" I suggest and she snorts, just like Alba.

"Only slightly." Mrs. DeTamble looks away and out the window.

"How am I supposed to believe this?" I ask carefully and she shrugs.

"You either do or you don't." She says with a daze. "Alba's not a liar, no."

"Can she show me?" I ask staring at her.

"No." She whispers. "She gave it up, for me."

"Perfect." I mutter and her head snaps over in my direction.

"I see you have no trust in my daughter's honesty," she chides scrunching her nose, "or her strength."

That makes me raise my brows.

"I don't-" I start, but she cuts me off.

"Alba is not as fragile as you'd think. If she sees you doing or saying something wrong she'll tell it to you right there. Whether you're a stranger, her boyfriend," she gives me a look, "or her mother."

Her eyes glow when she says so. I can imagine Alba telling her mother off respectfully.

"That's because you're her mother, of course you wouldn't think she could do any wrong." I argue leaning back and she leans in.

"Young man, do you know me? Do you know Alba? Were you there the twenty five years of her life that I raised her by myself?" She rapid fires at me and click my tongue.

"By yourself?" I ask and she gives me a stiff nod.

"My husband is a time traveler. That is where she gets the ability from." She says and I keep from groaning.

"That's not all Alba gets from him." She smiles and I perk up. "She also gets her way of loving from him. Never lets people go, she always fights for them."

My heart constricts and I remember the night of Marshall's party.

"She's always stayed on the front lines of life, never falling back, never retreating, never surrendering. Always fighting." She carries on and I take a deep breath.

"Is there anyway at all that I can see, just anything?" I ask desperately, my mind just can't comprehend.

"Fine." Mrs. DeTamble huffs.

"Take this." She hands me a key, I take it from her and she frowns. "This is the key to the apartment above where you're staying. There will be a box of video cassettes and a VCR. Watch the one that has Alba's name on it twice. There's only one like that, you won't be mixed up."

"You'll see, and when you do, you'll know." She says looking me right in the eyes with a frightening smile.

I set my shoulders and stalk out of the room and all the way back.