Unraveling of Avery Snow, The

by Sloat, Christy

  Finally the nurse came in and she pulled him off gently. “It’s time to let her go now, Adam,” she said to him.

  He sat up and took one last look at my body.

  “She left a long time ago. She is standing with me now. With her hand on my shoulder,” he told her. She gave him a puzzled look. “She is waiting to leave. It’s okay Elsie, you can go now.” He spoke to the air. A smile came across his face and I kissed his head. I walked to my Deliverer and she cradled me in her arms one last time. This time I wouldn’t fight with her to let me say goodbye to him. I knew he would be okay without me. He only wanted my happiness; his didn’t ever matter. Not in this lifetime or the last. Once I was in her arms I recalled that he was my twin soul, my Affinity. And we had been reunited in every life. Our love was one to last lifetimes. We would always be together, no matter who tried to keep us apart. Every obstacle would be torn down, for we would never part.

  He let go of me as the last words of our memory sounded in my head. For we would never part. But I did let us part. Right then, I let him go. He left my house and walked out of my life. Maybe forever, maybe not, but I didn’t try to keep him here. I closed my door and watched him walk to his car through my peephole. I let him walk away from me.

  What was I doing? I did love him. I have always loved him. Even when I loved someone else I had a love for him, causing turmoil inside me and hurting my heart. I thought I could fight it, but I couldn’t. I still can’t. When we kissed the first time I should have never left. When we held hands that day in the river I should have never broken the bond. I should have never let him walk out of my house.

  I opened the door and went running into the rainy night.

  “Wait!” I yelled to him before he reached his car. “Landon, wait. I …”

  He stopped and turned. “You?”

  “I love you, too. I have in every lifetime. I always will, and I can’t fight it anymore,” I said as the rain drenched my face. My vision was blurry but I thought I saw him smile. “I came out here to forget, hell, I ran away, okay! But no matter what I got over and whatever I forgot, your face I could always see as clear as day. Everyone else faded away, but your face didn’t.”

  “Because you love me?”

  “Yes, because I love you. I don’t care what Heaven thinks about us. I know we are meant to be. Because our love can last lifetimes.”

  “You’re letting it be me?” he asked.

  “Yes, I am letting it be you that I am with—” He didn’t let me finish. He crushed my lips with his and I wrapped my arms around him. That feeling of emptiness went away and I felt at home in his arms. Finally!

  We could be together and no one could keep us apart. My void for him earlier was filled now as we kissed in the rain. It was cold, but we made it warm with our mouths. An explosion of warmth caressed my lips, traveling all the way down to my feet. He picked me up and carried me into the house, slamming the door behind us.

  As he undressed me and brought me into the bedroom I shivered from the cold and from the loss of his body with mine. He lifted me and gently laid me on the bed. He took off his clothes and his body was thin, but I knew why now. He was sick without me. Now that we were together he would be fine. He would shave his face and get some rest. And he would be back to normal.

  He lay next to me and caressed my face. I have never felt so comfortable with anyone in my lifetimes.

  “You’re so precious, Avery. You are the most important thing to me in my life,” he said as he played with my hair.

  “Shut up and kiss me,” I told him.

  

  The next morning I awoke next to him and smiled. I was finally with him and it felt damn good. I didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone or letting anyone down. I was free to make whatever choices I wanted to now. He rolled over and the sunlight hit his face.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “Yes, it is a good morning.” He pulled me on top of him and kissed me passionately. I wondered if this feeling would ever go away between us. It wasn’t likely. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be with someone like him until now. Now I knew we were a perfect match.

  His phone buzzed loudly on the floor. “Wanna get that?” I asked.

  “Nah, let it go to voicemail. You’re more important.” But the phone kept buzzing.

  He finally got it and answered. He smiled at me as he talked to the other person. Suddenly his face went pale.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. He didn’t answer

  “Where is he now?” he asked the caller. “Okay, we’ll be right there. I’m with Avery, of course.” He hung up and looked at me gravely.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  “It was Ianni. Dallas has been in a motorcycle accident. He is in the ICU.” He grabbed his clothes and got dressed. “Come on, we have to go back to California before it’s too late to say goodbye.”

  “Wait, it’s that bad?” I was in shock. Only moments ago we were in each other’s arms and everything in the world was all right.

  “Avery, he might not make it,” he said with tears in his eyes.

  I hurriedly got dressed and tossed a few things into a small bag. Finally I grabbed May, rushed outside, and put her in Landon’s car.

  We set off for California, and as we drove there, we held hands. We were not going to let each other go. No matter what would happen to Dallas, we would be strong for one another. And we would be strong for Dallas.

  

  “Lillith!” Gunther screamed. He stormed into her quarters as she was dressing.

  “Excuse me; can an angel get some privacy?” She went about her duties as his face grew hotter. He was extremely angry about something, that was clear, but Lillith didn’t have time for his dramatics. Landon remembered her and she was going to see him. First to slap him for putting her through what he did, then to kiss his stupid face.

  “Lillith, please tell me you had nothing to do with this. I can’t bear to think that one of my own betrayed me,” he said while she ignored him completely.

  “Gunther, give me a break! Gosh. I didn’t know anything. He played me as well as he did Avery.” She pinned her dress together. “I can’t lie and tell you it doesn’t please me.” A smile crept up on her face at the thought of how well Landon had kept the secret. She was a tad proud of how devious he had been. But then again he only kept it to protect Avery. He was a strong Affinity. That was more than obvious to all of the angels. No one had ever seen such a strong human before; one that could survive a memory shaving.

  “Gunther, you asked for me?” It was Amanda. She was standing in Lillith’s room as well.

  “Can’t anyone tell I am dressing here?” Lillith snapped. No one seemed to care about her privacy at this time. This was huge news. Amanda rolled her eyes at Lillith and faced Gunther.

  “Yes, Amanda, it seems that Landon Cooper has somehow been the only human in existence to be immune to memory shaving,” Gunther’s voice boomed. “And I simply do not know what to do. We must hold a council meeting to discuss our options.”

  Amanda bit her nails impatiently before giving her two cents on the subject. “If I may, sir, why must we do anything? It seems that Avery and Landon are happy to be reunited.”

  It was possibly the smartest thing Amanda had ever said in Lillith’s opinion. She hated to admit it though.

  “Yeah, why can’t we just leave them alone for once? We are always trying to keep them apart. It seems like such a minor thing,” she declared.

  Gunther gave Lillith a look that could kill, but then nodded his head. He had finally seen enough of these humans for now. They had other things that were more important at the present time.

  “Fine. We shall not do anything at this time. But we must track down the Dark Guide and make sure she doesn’t do any more damage than she already has,” he concluded.

  “Who, Sarafe? She won’t touch them again. John has an eye on her,” Lillith said with assurance.

  “No, actually he do
esn’t. She just rammed her car into Dallas’ motorcycle while Ianni was on it with him,” Gunther informed the angels. “Luckily our Ianni is fine. But I am not so sure about Dallas. It seems we may be seeing him sooner than we would have hoped.” He turned and walked out of the room, leaving the two Spirit Guides alone. They looked at each other in shock and dismay. It was the first time they were ever speechless.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Circumstances

  We arrived at the hospital before visiting hours had ended. Thankfully the drive down wasn’t awkward. We caught up on each other and what we missed in the past few months. Landon had found a house to fix up and sell in California. It was, as he said, “Worth all of the work.” I listened to his plans and stared in awe at the Landon I missed. It was crazy to see that he was back to normal and had been all this time. We hadn’t really talked about Dallas. I was sure he knew that I still had feelings for him, but my feelings were not as strong now as they once were. Something deep inside me told me I belonged right where I was, with Landon.

  We walked into the hospital and the first person to greet us was Ianni. She was a mess. Her face was tear-stained and she could barely talk. I hugged her and realized she was bandaged from her shoulder to her wrist. She winced once I grabbed her. I let go immediately.

  “What happened to your arm?” I asked.

  She shrugged and grabbed Landon, pulling him aside. I could still overhear them from where they stood.

  “How bad is it, Ianni?” Landon asked.

  “Bad. I hate to be the one to tell you all this, but he is in a coma,” she said, her voice shaking. “His injury to his brain is so bad that they induced a coma. She came out of nowhe—”

  “Who?” I interrupted, just as much a part of this discussion as they were. I hadn’t even had time to process yet why Ianni was here at all. Until now. She was with him. She was injured because she was on the motorcycle with him. “Ianni, who came out of nowhere? Why are you hurt?” I knew the answers, but my mind had a slower time to process.

  She bit her lip and answered, “Sarafe. She hit us on the bike. We were driving down Main and she came out of nowhere.” Her eyes watered. “I don’t know how I survived; the impact was so strong. I woke up on the ground and Dallas was lying unconscious.”

  “Where is Sarafe now?” Landon asked, his temper building.

  “I have no idea. She hit us and took off. When I woke up she was gone,” she cried.

  Sarafe tried to kill them just like she promised me she would do. Why did I think that she would just go away? But one thing I had learned about her was she was a coward. She always ran away. She ran after she hit me and after she came after Ianni and me in the parking garage. She never stayed to fight. It gave me an idea for later, but now I had to focus on the here and now.

  Landon walked towards the front counter and asked for Dallas’ doctor. He was family and they would tell him everything. I waited patiently with Ianni as she sobbed quietly next to me. My anger towards her hadn’t reached full affect yet, but I was getting there. She was dating my ex. It was something that was a strict no-no with girlfriends.

  “Avery, please talk to me,” Ianni whispered.

  “How can I talk to you?” I started. “You’re with my ex. It’s just weird, not to mention something friends never do. Why couldn’t you stay with Beau?” I stared at her with my tired eyes. I hoped she understood what I was saying without having to say it.

  “Why though? Why can’t I be with him?” she asked. She apparently didn’t understand what was so weird about it. So I had no choice but to inform her.

  I sighed. “You’re sleeping with someone I slept with. That’s just gross and now I have a strange feeling about it all. It’s girl code that you don’t sleep with someone’s ex, Ianni.” Her face paled at my words. It only confirmed that she had slept with him, which made it even harder for me to sit here with her.

  “We are in love, Avery. I know it’s hard to understand, but it’s true,” she started. “You both were over each other, or so I thought. He asked me to go with him to New York and I did. Beau had just dumped me and I took it pretty hard. Dallas asked me to go with him to see the new restaurant opening.”

  “So you … what? Went to New York and fell in love?” I was being harsh, but I couldn’t help it.

  She covered her face with her hands and cried. I wanted to console her but I didn’t. I had to give this time. Right now the person that mattered was the one in the coma.

  I left her sitting in the waiting room and I went over to Landon as he spoke with Dallas’ surgeon. All I heard as I approached was: coma, head trauma, and prepare for the worst. Landon stood strong as the doctor left, but once he was behind the doors, he turned and fell limply into my arms. I held him as he broke down. His quiet tears stained my shirt, but I didn’t care.

  “Where is he now?” I asked. He caught his breath and dried his eyes.

  “He said I can go in after an hour or so. Once they get him settled.” I nodded like I understood, but I didn’t. None of this was understandable. We sat back down and waited to see him.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came out and let us know we could see him. Ianni had fallen asleep in the chair across from me. I shook her and she woke up. I could see the bruise on her shoulder peeking out from her bandage. Even if I was upset with her, I was happy her injuries weren’t as bad as Dallas’.

  Landon’s mom, Lisa, was here now and she and Landon were the first two allowed back to see him while Ianni and I waited in a different waiting room for ICU patients.

  “Are you ever going to forgive me?” she asked me. I purposefully and stubbornly avoided her gaze. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. “Come on, Avery. After all, you and Landon are together, right? Don’t I get to be happy?”

  “I don’t know what me and Landon are right now. All I know is he came out to see me and he told me he never forgot me, even after the memory shaving.” I told her everything that had happened. She needed to know what was going on with us, and for a moment I felt like I could see Dallas and Ianni happy together. Then I realized that a part of me still loved him. It was very possible to love two people because I did. Even though I let our relationship die that day in the forest, I still loved him.

  “So the shaving didn’t work?” She wasn’t exactly asking me, she was more pondering how it could have happened. “I foresee a visit from Lillith very soon and she won’t be very happy with Landon once she sees him.” I hadn’t thought about poor Lillith. She had been struggling to get Landon to remember. I thought she might have taken the loss of his memory the hardest. He must have really tried hard to ignore her. That couldn’t have been very easy.

  “Avery,” Landon called to me from a door. “You both can come in, but one at a time.” I looked at Ianni sitting like a ragdoll with no purpose and told her to go in first.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. I only nodded and she went in with Landon. The door shut behind them and I sat alone.

  I went outside to check on May, who still slept silently in her crate. Getting in the car, I pulled her out and cuddled her to comfort myself. I finally got the chance to let the tears fall from my eyes. I couldn’t do it before because Landon was there. How was I to let the emotion play out when we had just admitted we loved each other? That even though I was with Dallas my soul ached for him. Like it had once before.

  The outcome then had been just as tragic as it was now. It was so terrible when I left him that he hung himself in the barn. Now I left and he may die because of me; because of a Dark Guide who is literally hell bent on killing all of those I care for. Yeah sure, the circumstances are different, but the ending may still be the same. Dallas will die and Landon and I will live with regret.

  Chapter Thirty

  Stuck In Between

  Landon rapped on the window and I jumped. I had fallen asleep with May in the backseat of his car. I rubbed my eyes and opened the door. He looked ragged, but he still gave me a smile.


  “Hey, I went to find you and I got worried,” he said as he climbed in with me. “Are you okay?” His cousin is in a coma and he asked if I was okay. I smiled at him and nuzzled his neck.

  “I’m fine, just tired,” I murmured sleepily. He rubbed my back and sighed. He knew I was full of crap, but I couldn’t sit here and go on and on about my problems. Not with Dallas in the state he was in.

  “Avery, what happens to us now?” he whispered in my ear, giving me chills. “What will happen once we leave here? Do you want to be with me?” I laughed at him, not because he was being humorous, but because I wondered the same thing.

  “I don’t mean to laugh, but I want to know the answer, too. I just don’t want to assume that we will be together after this.” I hoped that he understood what I meant. He leaned into me and kissed me with sadness on his lips. I felt his anger towards Sarafe and his love for me at the same time. I didn’t want to rush into anything like I had before with Dallas. Look where that got me.

  “Avery,” he said as he pulled his lips from mine. “I am not going anywhere that you’re not. I hope you know that I meant what I said last night. I love you and I would never leave you unless you ask me to.”

  “I just need time to make sense of all these feelings inside me. I love you, I do, but I can’t make any plans until …” I couldn’t say the rest.

  “Until we find out what will happen to Dallas.” he finished. I nodded because it was the only response my body could make. I didn’t know if I could be strong enough to see Dallas die. I had lost my mother and my friend Lucy, and now I would lose Dallas.