Wingless Book Series (book 1) Page 13

  “I am so sorry!” he said.

  “Stop,” I said, touching my head with my hand to feel if he had pulled any hair out. It was all still there, just tender.

  “This is all screwed up. I’m sorry. I knew-“

  “I said stop!” I yelled at him, crying some more.

  Evan looked at me slightly confused at my tone and tears. “What, Eve?” he said softly, coming over to me. He didn’t touch me, just waited for a response from me as to what to do.

  “I’m not upset with you, I’m upset with Kenny. He left you to deal with this, and because of him, I had to deal with them. It’s not your fault. When you find your brother, I know you will do what you need to, but don’t be mad at yourself. At least we are still alive,” I said, letting out a breath in between sobs.

  Evan took me over to the couch. I sat down without a fight, clutching a pillow. “Do you want me to take you home?” he asked out of nowhere.

  “No.”

  “I don’t feel like I was there for you. I should have killed them,” he said to himself.

  “This wasn’t the time to be trying anything, they were here to do a job and I don’t think it would have bothered them to kill us both.” I laid my head on the pillow, trying to calm down. I wasn’t mad at Evan and I wasn’t in fear of my safety. In any other circumstance, Evan would have been the top dog, but in this one, there was no way. I slowly realized he had been hit and turned to survey his head. He had a large gash on his already bruised face. I touched it with my hand and he winced.

  “Let me clean you up,” I said, wanting to help him. He shook his head. “Evan, let me clean you up. Will you please stop feeling bad about it? I’m fine.” I pulled him to me, kissing him, trying to forget what had happened for a few seconds.

  Finally, he kissed my forehead, touching my face. “I don’t know how you put up with me.”

  “I don’t know either, but I do because I care about you,” I said.

  He rested his head on my shoulder. “I care about you too, Eve.”

  Chapter 17

  Festival

  Morning came very quickly; there was still no sign of Kenny. Evan gave a few calls to various people he thought Kenny would contact, but it was a lost cause. Every one of them said the same thing- that they hadn’t heard from him at all. Tony had contacted Evan as well. He’d made it a point to tell him it was very important that Kenny be found soon. Evan kept quiet about what Kenny had said before he left. He was unsure what he was getting himself into by keeping this from Tony, but he wanted to give his brother a chance, and he didn’t want the guilt of being the one who got Kenny killed. I thought about that constantly, Evan would feel bad, but all in all, Kenny had dug his own grave.

  Evan was already awake and not in the bed like usual. He made quite some noise as I finally came to. I rolled over, looking at the time. Seeing it was noon, I sighed and threw the covers off of me. The house was so quiet with it being just him and me in it.

  Suddenly, Nessa popped into my head and it dawned on me that it had been a long time since I seen or talked to her. I started to feel bad. She probably thought I’d left her. I grabbed my phone off the night stand, calling her.

  “Hello?” she asked, a rather annoyed tone to her voice.

  “Hey,” I said, still half asleep, yawning.

  “Yeah, I heard you moved out with some guy you barely knew. I went by looking for you and they all filled me in, told me how you left and haven’t called in almost a week.” She didn’t seem too happy about it.

  “Basically, yes. But you know me, and I don’t just up and do something unless I really want to.”

  “Yeah, I know that. I just hope he is a decent guy. And hot.” She seemed to be easing up on me pretty quickly.

  “He is. And I want to get together soon. Maybe in a few days we can hang out?” I asked, hoping she was still willing to tolerate me. I had no one else besides Evan to count on.

  “Sure, you know no matter what, I am always here. I figured seeing your parents were so spastic, that meant you probably were fine.” We laughed. “So tell me about him,” she gushed into the phone.

  “Um, he is tall, muscular, really gorgeous and so sweet. I don’t know, it’s easier for you to just meet him for yourself,” I said, starting to get flustered. I wasn’t one to try to get all giddy about things.

  “Okay, well give me a call back when it’s a good time to come see you.”

  I felt relieved knowing she was still willing to talk to me; it made me feel better about it all.

  Evan came in the room in better spirits. “So, sort of have a question. How do you feel about festivals?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and poking at my toes. “And how do you feel about going along while I, um, work?”

  I leaned forward to kiss him good morning before answering his odd question. “I like them and I don’t know what that would entail.”

  “I just need to be in the right place at the right time,” he said, shrugging.

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you that. I think the best way to fully understand this is to just let you see how it happens,” he said, cheerful.

  It was hard to imagine anyone cheerful at the thought they were about to end someone else’s life. “I really don’t know, but yeah, I’ll go,” I said.

  We got dressed and ready to head out to the Citi’s annual festival. It was a large one, everyone in town always raved about it and how it was a historical part of the city. My parents had always attended since I could remember. It was fun when you were a child and into games and rides and all the glitz and chaos. But as I got older, it was something I didn’t care too much for, but was so typical in my life that I couldn’t not like it.

  Driving through town you could see evidence of the celebration, the pride was all around. Signs adorned just about every surface, letting everyone know that the festival was alive and bustling.

  Evan wasn’t saying much, concentrating on the road as he made his way through town. I stared at the side of his head, wanting so bad to know what was going on in it right at that moment. Was he still thinking about Kenny and worrying what would happen with him? Or was he thinking about nothing more than this next victim? Did he feel bad, did he wish there was a way around it? I wondered about this person, if they had any sense of impending doom.

  It’s one of the things you think about when you think about dying-everyone dies. It always scared me to my core to think that, out of everything in life, when it came down to it, you only had one shot at it.

  It was scary to think that it was so precious you better make sure you did all you wanted and treated people the way you should. But at the same time I thought that so many people probably acted the way they did because they figured they only had one life, so why do what was expected?

  Death was a scary thing, but there were times in my life that I was so stressed about something I wished I would die because I was so tired of living. And then I would get over it and wish for nothing more than to never die because I wasn’t sure what would happen next.

  Your parents can teach you about the afterlife and you can follow a religion, but does anyone even know what becomes of us? Do we cease to exist? And if so, how can one bare that? I always wondered if I died how it would feel. It was something so hard to wrap my brain around I just blocked it out and moved on rather than finding a truth or an answer.

  “What happens when you die?” I blurted out in a rush, not looking at Evan’s glance. I gripped the seat hoping he didn’t have a horrible answer.

  “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug.

  “How do you not know? You’re the one person I would think would know that.”

  He laughed softly. “I’m like UPS. I just get the package packed and ready to go; I don’t know who is receiving it.”

  “Does anyone know?” I muttered.

  “I’m sure a lot of people do, I’m just not one of them,” he said, pulling into the lot next to hundreds of other cars.

>   “Do you think if you wanted to know you could find out?”

  He played with his keychain dangling from the ignition pondering the question for a moment.

  He sighed, looking at me until he caught my gaze. “It’s nothing you should worry over. You will make it where you need to go when you need to go there,” he said.

  “What? Do you know when I am going to die?” I was almost sure I was white as a ghost at that moment.

  “No, not yet. I’ll let you know when I do though.” He laughed, getting out of the car.

  “Evan, that really is not funny. Would you really know when I die? Oh, no. Would you have to kill me?” I almost choked.

  “Shhh! And I don’t know. Will you just calm down? It’s not something you need to stress over. When it’s time for things like that to be worked out, all works out.” He grabbed my hand.

  I felt ill. One thing popped into my mind and I started to cry. Long, hard crying that knocked me to my knees. I sat right in the lot by an old pickup truck. I wasn’t bothered by the fact I could be hit or mangled because no one could see me.

  Evan came down to kneel by me in almost a panic. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not,” I cried, sobbing loudly. An elderly couple stared at me with concern and at Evan with disgust, and he ignored them smoothing my hair pulling me up.

  “Eve what is wrong with you? Tell me.”

  “Did it work out for my brother?” I asked.

  Evan looked at me, then the ground, back at me and all over the place. He sighed, studied his hands, and looked at the sky and about a dozen other things before he answered. I could tell he was unsure how to answer.

  “I wanted to take you here to show you how these things work. And I wish you would have asked that at a later time, it’s hard to really explain in words.”

  “Was it meant to happen to him that way?” I pushed.

  “Eve, no, let’s talk about this later.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it later! I want to know if my brother was meant to die and why!” I yelled for everyone to hear, or so I thought at least.

  Evan pulled me close gripping my arm. “Please keep your voice down,” he said tensely as onlookers stared.

  “Fine.”

  “If it was me, no I wouldn’t end someone’s life in that way. And I am sorry for that.” He pulled me through the crowd.

  I guess that was a good enough reply for now. What I gathered from that statement was not much. Evan felt for him I guess.

  We reached the podium where there were speeches from all sorts of people going on. The mayor always showed up each year to meet and greet singers and dancers. Evan watched the crowd intently before moving a little closer. Everything took on an eerie feeling and I shivered. The sun was out but it didn’t feel like it. It was almost like I could see death in the air, hanging over the unsuspecting like a cloud.

  “Do you want to go on the Ferris Wheel?” He asked me, making me come back to reality.

  “Yeah,” I said, eager to move on. He stood in line quietly eyeballing everyone. I held tight to his hand trying to not seem nervous.

  Once on the Ferris Wheel, it took a long time before they even got it moving. The huge ride made me feel like a little ant.

  Evan sat first, putting his arm around me, he seemed relaxed now. “These are my favorite,” he said.

  “Oh yeah, why?”

  “Peaceful. It’s like nothing else matters when you’re on one,” he said with a smile.

  “I get that,” I said, looking down below at the passing groups of people.

  The Ferris Wheel felt like it was going on forever. I enjoyed every minute of it because I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Evan stared down from his side, tapping his hand on the metal as he watched. There was no noise besides the whirring of the machinery.

  Evan turned, looking at me with an odd expression. My fingers felt numb. I tried to keep his attention, but the sensation was odd. I flexed my hands, flicking them.

  “Are you afraid of heights?” he asked me, holding my wrist to keep me from flailing. His touch only caused more of an electric-type current. In shock, I tried to pull away.

  “Eve, it’s alright. Just pay attention and listen to me,” he said. He touched the metal of the Ferris Wheel and all hell broke loose, literally and figuratively.

  The Ferris Wheel slowly leaned, and then screaming ensued. I myself I screamed, thinking I was about to fall to my death. The buckets we sat in were practically swinging us out of them. Evan wrapped his arm around me and held me in place, covering my mouth with his other hand, his weight pressed against me. I didn’t know how we didn’t fall to our death. Crowds of people were gathered in a tight group below, pointing and screaming as well.

  I couldn’t breathe, it was all so unreal. “Evan!! I’m going to fall I can’t stay like this anymore!” I shrieked.

  “You’re fine, I got you. It will be over in a few minutes,” he promised me, holding me tighter.

  I closed my eyes as more screaming ensued. It all was such loud chaos I truly didn’t understand what was happening. “Evan, I don’t think I can do this!” I yelled again. He probably didn’t hear me over all the chaos. My ears were ringing between screeching metal and people crying and yelling.

  “It’s me, it’s me!” he yelled at me, gripping me even tighter. The Ferris Wheel dropped lower and lower and finally came to a screeching halt on the ground. Police and Fire squads were already on the scene, millions of onlookers were gathered around staring in shock. I was practically hugging the ground. Evan got to his feet quickly, grabbing my arm and bringing me up as well.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him in awe as the majority of the crowd gathered in one large area.

  “It’s done,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the crowds of people.

  “Evan, all those people!” I yelled.

  “They’re all fine. No one is injured. Maybe some scrapes, its fine,” he said, walking more slowly now.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, feeling a little less stressed.

  “I’m absolutely sure,” he said nonchalantly.

  “Who is it?” I asked. I was curious to know who had met their fate.

  Evan turned me to the crowd. “Just listen.”

  I stood still, catching bits and pieces of conversation, and then gasped when I put it all together. It was the mayor. And the Ferris Wheel had, in nicer terms, squashed him like a bug. I didn’t want to see, I just wanted out of there.

  “Can we please just go home?” I asked, feeling queasy.

  Evan agreed, pulling me by my hand through the crowd. The sounds were just too much to stomach. Someone had lost his life and I had never been so close to it before.

  “Eve!” A familiar voice called out.

  I turned to see both my parents. Evan stopped walking. I wished he had kept going.

  “Dad, hey,” I said in shock.

  “Are you okay?” he asked me, touching my arm, looking me over.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quietly.

  “Did you see what happened?” my dad asked in confusion. My mother stayed quiet, barely looking at me.

  Evan and I nodded.

  “Well?” my dad asked us, looking a little confused.

  “The Ferris Wheel collapsed. Seems someone got hit when it fell,” Evan said, acting as if he did not know much. My parents looked even more shocked and confused.

  “Oh, that’s horrible!” my mother exclaimed, finally breaking her silence.

  “Yeah, we were heading out. It’s really chaotic over there,” Evan said, pulling me. My parents nodded in awe and we slipped off, getting back on the road.

  Chapter 18

  The news

  The cars were stopped, barely moving as we made our way through town. You could tell that something had gone down. Evan kept his eyes on the road not talking to me at all. I was fine with that; I needed some time to let this all sink in.

  The whole thing was difficult
to believe, but I truly did believe everything he said, and from now on, I would always believe him. I couldn’t help wondering if this meant he was not human. His touch on the Ferris Wheel was not-he radiated something that I couldn’t even describe. He’d found a way to bring the whole Ferris wheel to the ground; this was not something a normal human being could do. I wondered if it was magic or if he even had a word for it. I opened my window, letting the wind hit me in the face.