Significance

by Shelly Crane

  He was supposed to room with Caleb at his apartment but that was apparently not gonna work now. I felt bad for him and assured him that if the decision was made for me to go, and I hadn’t decided yet, that he would be more than welcome to stay at the apartment with us. He smiled sadly and said “We’ll see”.

  Eventually it started to sprinkle and we made our way out of the park. Then it started to rain, it was a torrential downpour. He took his jacket off and held it over us as we tried to swiftly walk to my house. By the time we got there I was drenched and dripping, freezing and my fingers were numb.

  “Mags, I’m so sorry,” he said fervently on my porch. “I had no idea it was supposed to rain. It was nice out earlier.”

  “It’s ok,” I said through chattering teeth.

  My dad opened the door behind me and took in the scene.

  “Good Lord, Maggie! Get in here. Kyle, you too.”

  “No sir, thank you. I’m gonna head home.”

  “Let me drive you.”

  “No, no thank you. I’m already soaked.”

  “Kyle,” he said firmly. “I will not let you walk home in this. You get your butt in here while I get my shoes on and then I’m driving you,” he said leaving no room to argue.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Kyle had been in my house many times over the years. Our group used to come here and watch movies sometimes together and we always handed out candy to kids on Halloween from my house. It was a tradition, but no more. This past year was the first year we hadn’t done that since I was in third grade.

  He came in behind me as my father pushed me towards the stairs.

  “You go take a hot shower, right now. I’ll check on you when I get back,” dad said.

  “Ok. Bye, Kyle,” I said as my dad went in search of his shoes. “And thanks.”

  “For drowning you?” he asked smiling.

  “For thinking about me and taking the time to explain things. I really appreciate it.”

  He shrugged.

  “Well, you’re one of us now. It’s only right you know what you’re getting into,” he chimed and smirked.

  I just laughed softly as my father came back in.

  “Let’s go, Jacobson.” He looked at me. “You. Shower. Now.”

  “Ok, ok.”

  As I trudged upstairs, heavy with rainwater, I hoped dad checked on me sooner rather than later so I didn’t have to worry about him coming in to find Caleb in his daughter’s bed.

  Fifteen

  After my shower, I put on my pajamas and went downstairs to get something to eat but my throat was already starting to hurt so I decided on a glass of juice instead and went back upstairs to sit in my chair and wait. It’d been almost an hour since I got home and I was already feeling sick.

  I sighed in aggravation. One little rain and I was gonna have the flu and miss work. I heard a knock on my door and dad peeked in.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine,” I lied so he wouldn’t spend all night checking on me. “Thanks.”

  “How was work?” he asked as he came to stand over me.

  “Good. They gave me this.”

  I showed him the bracelet still on my wrist. He examined it and smiled.

  “Very pretty, what was it for?”

  I was reluctant to say and now wished I hadn’t said anything at all.

  “Graduation present,” I muttered softly.

  Dad hadn’t gotten me anything, barely said anything to me except a muttered congrats and I spent all graduation day doing laundry and dishes while he watched television.

  “Oh,” he said and looked about as shamed as I’d ever seen him. But then fit on a weak smile. “Well, that was very nice of them.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “I’ll have to thank Big John, for looking out for you.” He squatted in front of my chair. “Maggie, I know I said it already but I feel like I need to say it again. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s ok, dad. I forgave you, that means it’s done. Don’t worry about it, you’re more than making up for it now.”

  “And you’re sweet to forgive me but a father can’t just pretend like he didn’t abandon his daughter for months while he moped around. I promise you, I’m gonna do everything I can to make it up to you. I love you, baby girl.”

  I accepted his hard hug and muffled a reply to him.

  “I love you too, dad. I never stopped.”

  “I know.” He pulled back to look at me. “That’s what makes this all so surreal.”

  “Dad,” I protested.

  “I mean it. I expected you to be angry and you were but... I never expected you to forgive me so easily. I don’t deserve you.”

  “Come on, dad. Jeez,” I groaned.

  “Alright, alright.” He kissed my forehead. “I’ll check on you later.”

  “No need, dad. I’m really tired from work. I’m fine. Just gonna head to bed.”

  “Ok. Goodnight.”

  “Night, dad.”

  I waited until I heard his footsteps on the stairs and then went to lock my door. I sprawled myself out on the bed and felt my throat with my hand. It was uncomfortably sore and I was very tired now. I knew I should get up. I glanced at the clock and saw it was still only 9:30. I needed to get up so I didn’t fall asleep when Caleb wasn’t here.

  But that’s not what happened.

  I woke later. I must have just dozed off for a second and I sighed in relief as I looked around and realized everything was fine and the same. I silently chastised myself for being so stupid. I sat up and checked the clock. Yep, dozed. The clock read 9:36.

  I ran my fingers through my hair and checked my phone. I decided I’d read again and wait for Caleb. I twirled a strand of my hair nervously and got about two sentences read when I heard a noise out my window.

  I jumped up excited because Caleb was early. On my way to the window a spike of black hair entered my window instead of shaggy brown. I immediately backed away but he was in the window and closing it before I could think to do anything else.

  Marcus turned to me and smiled sweetly.

  “Maggie,” he said softly.

  “How did you get in here?” I said panicked.

  “The window?” he said and cocked a brow.

  “I’m not dreaming?” I muttered more to myself than him.

  I tried to think, looked around at my room and the clock. Everything seemed normal when my other dreams had been strange and distorted.

  “No. Not a dream. I wanted to come see you myself.” He took a deep breath and looked upset. “You see...your boyfriend and his family broke into my father’s house tonight. They thought we didn’t know. They thought we were planning something with you. It was just me. My uncle and I were messing with you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was jealous. It wasn’t fair that Caleb got to imprint and I didn’t.”

  He shook his head and sat of the edge of the bed.

  “My family was ready for them. I tried to tell them not to worry about it. That it wasn’t a big deal, it didn’t matter. But you don’t tell my old man anything. He was determined that this was the chance we needed to end the Jacobson clan.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked and heard the tears in my voice, understanding what he was getting at and not wanting to hear the words but needing to.

  “Maggie, I’m sorry,” he choked.

  “What? Tell me!” I yelled.

  “He didn’t make it. My father, he- I told him to stop! I told him we didn’t need to go this far but, he felt threatened. He shot Caleb. Caleb is dead, along with his father and a couple others.”

  I fell to the floor to my knees, my legs refusing to hold me up.

  “No,” I breathed.

  “I’m so sorry, Maggie. I never wanted this.”

  “No!”

  My heart crumbled and my lungs heaved violently for air. My ears were ringing and the stars in front of my eyes made me think I might lose consciousness.

  He crouche
d down beside me when I started to sob. But I focused on him to hear every word, I needed to hear it.

  “Shh,” he ordered softly. “You don’t want to wake your dad do you? Look, Kyle brought me here. He’s in his father’s car outside. I just came from their house. Someone had to tell them what happened. He drove me here to tell you. He thought it’d be better coming from me.”

  “Kyle’s here?” I sniffed and somehow got up on wobbly legs, walked to the window and saw the silver Audi on my curb. I could imagine Kyle fuming in agony in the car, feeling guilty because he had wanted to be there. “How is he?” I croaked and grabbed the window ledge for stability.

  “Upset. It’d be better for both of you if you were together. I’m done, Maggie. I’m not going back home to live with that monster.” He stood and turned full to face me again. “I’m sorry. I wish I could take it back.”

  I didn’t know what to say. My heart was beating so fast I could barely see anymore. Everything was blurry and all I wanted to do was crawl under my covers and cry forever. I heard him say my name a few times and it sounded far away before I snapped back to reality.

  “Maggie. Come on. I’ll take you downstairs to Kyle. Grab a jacket, its cold out there.”

  I followed his instructions numbly and went to my closet to grab my black hoodie. I didn’t even change out of my cami and green sleep pants. Just slipped on my flip flops and let him open my door and lead me downstairs. I passed the clock in the hall and saw it was 9:51 now. My dad must have been asleep because the house was quiet and dark. I didn’t turn on any lights just followed him outside.

  The car was on and idling with its lights off. My porch light was on and it made the misting rain seem to sparkle in the dark. I wrapped my jacket tighter around me. The rain felt good on my hot swollen face but I knew it didn’t matter. The crying wasn’t gonna stop anytime soon.

  How do you go on without your soul mate? We’d barely even gotten to be together and now he was taken from me without warning and without cause and something inside me was missing. Not only was I upset and hurt and broken.

  I was angry.

  A new desperate sob caught in my throat and Marcus looked back at me in sympathy.

  “Come on, Maggie. Let’s get you out of the rain.”

  I nodded and stepped off the walkway and towards the car. I looked back at my dark house and knew nothing would ever be the same again. He opened the door for me and I hesitated.

  I don’t know why but I did. I just felt like getting in that car made it official or...maybe that Marcus seemed to be hurrying me along. I wondered why. I once again examined the possibility of this being a dream but it couldn’t be.

  Everything was too real. I peeked inside the car at the driver, Kyle, but he was turned away from me with his head buried in his hands.

  That’s when I knew something was not right. I knew Kyle and even if his uncle and cousin were dead, he’d never just sit there. He would have gotten out and greeted me if nothing else. He would be worried about me, knowing how I’d feel about my soul mate being gone and most important of all, and the thing I should have noticed before, he would never have sent Marcus in my house to get me knowing how I felt about him. And that meant that the story about Caleb being dead was probably a lie too. Hope soared in my chest.

  I tried to stall without being obvious. The blood in my veins screamed for me to run. I decided to play it off easy.

  “Oh. I left my phone. I need to grab it so I can reach my father later or he’ll freak and call the cops or something,” I muttered and rubbed my eyes, trying to seem like I was just upset and forgetful.

  “Nah. You can use mine. It’s ok. Come on, let’s go.”

  “No, I’ll just grab it really quick. I don’t know any of the numbers because there in my phone, so. It’s right by the door.”

  I turned to go and he grabbed the hood of my jacket, yanking me back and slamming me into the side of the car.

  “Dang. We were so close, Maggie. So close to the easy way.” He came right into my face but didn’t touch me. “What gave it away, huh? I was about to shed tears if that’s what it took to get you in this car. What was it?” he asked mockingly.

  The driver got out and came around the car as I stayed silent. He was a young guy like Marcus, one of them from the movie theater that day that I went with Kyle. He smiled at me when he took his place beside Marcus.

  “Get in the car, Maggie,” Marcus barked. I shook my head no. “I’m prepared to feel the burn of the offense mark to get your pretty little behind in this car. So. Easy way or hard way?”

  I just stood there and looked at them. I had no way to get out of it, none at all. I glanced between them several times and when he sighed, I knew my stalling was over.

  “It hurts you too, doesn’t it? Do you really want to do this?” he asked as he stepped forward another inch, almost touching me.

  I stayed silent again but remembered something Caleb had said to me about calling to him. That if I was distressed, he could tell and would know something was wrong and come running. So I did. I yelled his name in my mind loud and long.

  Caleb! Help! Caleb!

  “Alright.”

  He grabbed my arm and I felt the burn and jolt of revolt on my skin. He winced and gritted his teeth but held on as he tried to push me into the open car door. I attempted to pull free but he tightened a grip and pulled harder. So I kicked him in the shin and pushed off the door to run. He howled, grabbed my wrist and gave me a red hot glare that would scare any man.

  Then he reached his free arm back and slapped me across my cheek.

  I’d never been hit before, and didn’t care for it but, I assumed it probably hurt worse that it normally would have because I got a zing through my cheek to warn him off as well as the pain from the slap. My vision spotted for a second with white hazy stars. It felt almost like I’d blacked out and then regained consciousness. He was still pushing me into the door and I just refused to take it. I started screaming, in my mind and out of my mouth.

  “Shut up!” Marcus yelled.

  “Shut her up and get her in the car, now!” the other guy yelled louder.

  I was surprised no one had come outside to see what was going on yet.

  “Help! Let me go! Help!”

  No use. No one peeked or looked and I couldn’t fight him any longer. Just as he placed me in the car door I remembered something. Something triggered, rather, in my mind. A flash of something crossed before my eyes and I found myself doing some strange roundabout kick thing and saw Marcus go down to the grass on his back.

  “What the-” Marcus said as he looked up at me in disgust.

  “Quit messing around! Get her in the car!” the guy yelled and came around to help. He grabbed my arm and jumped back, screaming as I felt the jolt ripple through my skin. “Ah! Crap! You weren’t joking, man. That frigging hurts like hell.”

  Marcus jumped up at the same time that I sprung from the car. He came forward and my mind took over. The first flash vision I saw was a punch and then a block. Then another of a back hand punch then a side kick. I had no idea what they were called but I knew exactly what it was.

  Karate.

  Kyle’s father had taught me karate that day and I was skeptical but no more. It was amazing. My brain was literally teaching me karate as I went along. And when Marcus reached for my arm, I used it on him. It was like watching a movie. I didn’t control it, I just did it.

  I heard screeching tires from behind us and peeked to see a black car and a SUV slam to a stop on the curb across the street but I didn’t stop fighting. Couldn’t.

  When I looked back, Marcus was on the ground and his friend was coming for me again. He wrapped his arms around my middle from behind and yelped at the pain from my touch but held on as he tried to drag me to the open car door. I saw Marcus get up as I heard yelling and slamming doors behind me. I knew this was it.

  I drop kicked the guy’s shin with my heel and he threw me to the ground as he yelled. I scra
mbled up and threw my leg up into the air as my top half went lower. I kicked him square across the face and he went down hard with a grunt and curse onto the grass. Marcus cursed too and took off running, leaving his comrade behind and the Audi’s tires squealed as he peeled out. The driver of the black car took off after him in the same flurry.

  I turned to see Caleb, his father, Kyle’s father and several others running towards me.

  “Caleb,” I said and saw everything go dark as I fell in sudden exhaustion. Warm arms caught me and hugged me tightly to a warm body, burying my face in his chest. “Caleb.”

  “I’m here.”

  “You’re alive,” I squeaked and muffled. I started to cry in relief. “You’re ok.”

  “Of course I am.” I felt the push of his mind peeking in mine, the fuzzy tingle. “Ah,” he said with sudden realization and his tone changed from relief to anger. “That’s how he got you out here. He told you I was killed by his father...and you believed him.”

  I opened my eyes to peek through my hair to see others standing over us as he held me in his lap on the ground. A couple of them were loading Marcus’s friend into the SUV while a couple others searched my yard and the street.

  When I turned my face up to look at him, Caleb pushed my hair back and kissed my forehead. When he leaned back he growled and several others made similar noises of anger, groans and grunts.

  “He hit you,” Caleb growled angrily.

  I touched my cheek, forgetting. It burned when my fingers brushed it. I imagined I had several of those marks all over me from the way they both fought to get me into the car. And of course, they were gonna see them sooner than later.

  “Here.” He took off my jacket and almost exploded with anger at seeing all the black hands, fingers and grab marks all over my arms and hands. His whole body shook and he stared at me with wide eyes and disgust written all over his face. At first I thought it was because they’d touched me. I was tainted or something but he shook his head and held my cheek in his palm, covering the black mark from Marcus’s swift hand. “No. I’m disgusted because they hurt you. I wasn’t here, couldn’t get here fast enough and they hurt you.”