We stop near the kiddies play park and then we lean across the shiny, silver barrier and look down at the murky water in the river. The swans swim toward us eagerly for scraps of bread.
Glancing back at him, past my shoulder, I see him already looking at me. His face is full of concern when he says softly, “You look sad.”
I step back from the barrier surprised.
He asks quietly, “Why?”
I look into his greener than green eyes and then the words burst out of me. I tell him everything. I do not really know him, but I tell him about my dad. I tell him about the constant fighting and bickering. I do not tell him how I believe love is lost. As I continue my monologue, he looks at me forlornly, it is as if he actually understands my deep, deep hurt.
Embarrassed, I stop talking and he steps closer to me. He folds his arms around my shoulders and then he pulls me into him gently. I go, and it feels right to be in his arms. He comforts me, and when I move away from him, I do feel better.
“Let’s get something to eat. Are you hungry?”
“I know this nice place in the village,” I suggest uncertainly.
He takes my hand into his and silently we walk back toward the village. We turn away from the river and walk up a steep road, which will bring us into the centre of town. As we walk past the shops, I tell him where he can buy the best bread rolls, the latest CD’s, and rent the cheapest DVD’s.
As we walk past the old tower and broken-down archway, which used to be the entrance into Drogheda, a very long time ago, I see a shadow swoop toward me from the corner of my eye. I flinch when it looks as if it is going to crash into me. Looking in the direction of the ruins, I see nothing that could have caused me to cringe. I could have sworn there was a darkness that crossed across my peripheral vision.
Feeling unexpected apprehension, I let go of his hand and start to cross the quiet road. “Let’s walk on the other side.”
He starts to follow me and then I see a car roaring toward me. It speeds at me. Everything around me slows down.
I hear Kieran scream, “No. Heather.” His voice sounds far away as if I am in a void of emptiness. He grabs me around my waist and twists me around, away from the car.
My legs twirl awkwardly through the air in front of me. I hear the screeching of tires on black-top. I feel the impact of the car, the scrunching of metal. I feel the strength and tautness in his muscles as he braces himself against the force of the car hitting into him. I feel a blast of wind in my face as a dark gloominess wash over me. It lifts my hair away from my face and takes a breath with it.
Then everything speeds up again and the surrounding noises seem too loud all of a sudden, it shudders into me. I feel Kieran’s arms still wrapped around me tightly and I twist around anxiously.
A young man climbs hurriedly from the driver side of the car. It looks as if he just got his driver’s license, he must have turned eighteen only a month ago. He screams worriedly, “Are ye all right? I am so sorry. I did not see ye there.”
I look down and there is only a hair's breadth between the front of the car and Kieran’s leg.
Kieran steps away from the car unharmed, with me still in his arms. “No, worries.” He smiles sociably. “You stopped in the nick of time. You should drive more carefully though; you could have killed me.”
The driver of the car walks to the front of his car and wipes his hand disbelievingly over the unscathed paintwork. He says apologetically, “I swear ye weren’t there. You just appeared out of mist. I swear it on my life.”
Kieran steps toward him. He loosens an arm from around my waist and holds his hand out to the young man. The man reaches to him and they shake hands. Kieran says, “No harm done, then.”
He turns me in his arms, keeping his one arm around my waist and steers me up the hill again.
I look at him anxiously. “I cannot believe we are still alive. That car barely missed you, it stopped just in time.”
He sighs deeply but says nothing. He looks uneasy and nervous, and he avoids looking at me.
When we reach the coffee shop and I see the busy flurry of everybody inside, there is not an empty seat, I feel reluctant to go in. After what just happened, I needed somewhere quiet to process my thoughts, since we could have been dead. More so, I could have been dead, if Kieran did not jump in between the car and me.
He suggests, “Would you rather like to get something to eat at my house? It’s just up the road from here.”
I nod my head in agreement. The initial shock is starting to dissipate and now questions are starting to crowd out the awe and wonder of this apparent miracle. I can swear I heard the crunching of metal and I am sure I felt the car slam into Kieran.
We walk away from the coffee shop, my hand twined into his.
I turn to him as we turn up a cobbled alleyway. “I could have sworn that car knocked into you, yet there was not even a dent in it, and you are okay.”
I see him struggling with himself. His face is clouded over with doubt and indecision. He says, “We’re almost there.”
We walk through the busy Saturday market, and I have to look where I am walking not to crash into other people, so I look away from him. I have the distinct feeling he is hiding something from me.
When we reach his house, and after he unlocks the door, he lets me walk in and then he follows me in. I wait in the foyer for him while he closes the door again.
After he takes my coat from me, he drapes it over the banister. He smiles and says, “Come, sit down.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I follow him into the lounge. It is a real royal dump. The large plasma television fixed to the wall above the fireplace and the brand-new leather lounge suite looks out of place.
My eyes fix onto a body sprawled across the large three-seat leather couch. The pair of black eyes from this body looks up at me in stunned surprise.
The owner of the pair of black eyes stands up hastily, and I cannot help noticing he is only wearing a pair of black sweatpants, hanging low on his hips. In an instant, I observe his arms, his firm stomach and his strong shoulders.
He gives me a long, unhurried look, and he smiles slowly, brilliantly. He keeps my eyes imprisoned with his, and I feel captured by his gaze, a gaze filled with promises and silent desires.
Kieran breaks this exhilarating moment between us by shouldering past him. “Put on a shirt, Jayden,” Kieran stresses as he walks past him toward the dining room.
Jayden pulls his face sourly and smiles at me, as if we are sharing a joke. His smile is not quite a smile. It is half a smile, half a grin, hinting at amusement, confidence and mischief.
I feel my face grow warm as he moves toward me. He is mere centimetres away from me, but he might as well have touched me, judging by the way my heart speeds up in my chest.
He stops when he gets next to me and lowers his head down to me. I can do nothing but look up at him. His eyes are dark, changing rapidly as a cold wintry day could turn into a bright cloudless sky, the wind trailing light and shadows across the earth.
Kieran calls my name from the kitchen.
One corner of his mouth curls up slowly and he says quietly, “Welcome to our humble abode, Heather.”
I step away from him. I whisper, not trusting my voice not to croak when I speak normally, “Thank you, Jayden.”
He moves away from me and distractedly I walk toward the double door separating the lounge from the dining room.
In the dining room, the entire wall between the dining room and the kitchen has been removed and the kitchen and dining room form one big room.
As I walk into the room, Kieran smiles widely. I look into his green eyes, and the last minutes melt away as if they never happened.
“What would you like to eat? Name it and I will tell you if we have it or not,” he asks.
He ends up making us croissants with ham and melted cheese.
We sit down in the lounge and I sit on a single chair, which sucks me into its comfort, with
my legs folded in under me. The oiliness from the melted cheese on the croissant drips down my fingers as I lean over the plate to take a bite.
I finish chewing what is in my mouth and I ask curiously, “Where are your parents?”
Kieran replies, “On holiday in Spain.”
I see Jayden glance at Kieran amused as he walks back into the lounge. He is now wearing a loose black T-shirt with the black sweatpants. His feet are still bare. He lies down on his back on the couch where he was when I first saw him. He is facing me, and he looks across the room at me pensively as he folds his arm under his head on the armrest. The corners of his mouth curl up ever so slightly in the most seductive smile I have ever had the pleasure to witness. His eyes look away from me, and strangely, I feel disappointed. His brow furrows as he looks up at the television.
He presses the play button on the remote control, and I see he is watching an action movie, the hero in the movie diving and rolling on the ground to avoid being hit by an entire magazine of bullets raining down on him.
Although I am hungry, I cannot eat with him in the room, so I sit with the half-eaten croissant pinched between my fingers and watch the movie with him.
Kieran breaks the tension in the room. “Heather, would you like to sit outside for a bit?”
Eagerly I reply, “Yes. It’s nice and warm outside.”
I stand up and then I follow Kieran to the kitchen. I glance toward Jayden, and he is looking up at me. Maybe I am only imagining it, but he looks sad as he looks at me. His dark eyes look miserable; it is almost as if they are trying to tell me something—begging to be understood.
In the kitchen, Kieran takes my plate from me. “You hardly ate anything.”
I take a croissant from the plate, and smiling I say, “I’ll eat this one outside.”
He puts the plates on the kitchen counter next to the basin and then he pulls the sliding door to the back garden open. We walk out onto a wooden patio with a wooden bench and one of those large swings in the corner.
“I have never seen one of these in real life.” I laugh delighted as I walk toward the swing.
I sit down onto it carefully. Kieran sits down next to me, and he starts to push his legs backwards and forwards slowly.
“This is very relaxing.” I sigh. I turn toward him. “I have a feeling you do not want to talk about it, but I cannot understand though, I felt that car slam into you and I heard the metal crunch.”
“I cannot tell you everything. Not because I don’t want to, but because I am not allowed to.”
“Not allowed by who?”
He smiles sadly. “That is the part I cannot tell you.”
I frown and take a bite from the croissant still pinched between my fingers. While I chew, I look across the garden at a crow sitting on the wooden fence, hidden in the shadows of a large ash tree. It feels as if the crow’s beady eyes are staring at me fixedly and it gives me the chills.
Kieran follows my gaze and his shoulders drop despondently when he sees the crow.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
He starts quietly, “Let me tell you a story instead. This story begins a long, long time ago in the village of Salem. Have you heard of this village?”
I nod my head yes, my mouth still chewing. I want to remind him this is the place he joked he used to live in somewhere in the sixteen hundreds, but I feel too self-conscious to talk with my mouth full.
He continues, “It started so innocently. A small group of girls from Salem was playing with the idea of witchcraft, playing around with naive divination. Then one of the girls started feeling guilty, so she imagined she was really being possessed by an evil being. This was brought to the attention of the village council, but neither one of the girls obviously wanted to confess. However, as it progressed, each girl had no choice but to point out the witches who supposedly possessed them and told them to perform these hideous acts of fainting and dancing in the woods at night. They picked someone they did not like; someone they had an altercation with at one point or another. They accused innocent women of being witches and then panic and fear spread throughout the village like a wildfire. People were pointing fingers at each other and soon half the village was locked up in jail or being sent away to go on trial in bigger towns and cities. Nine women accused of being witches were eventually burned in the village of Salem.”
I turn to him until I am sitting sideways on the swing. He stops the motion of swinging as I pull my knees up onto the swing and fold my arms around my legs. I rest my chin on my knees. He smiles affectionately, as if he recognizes this is a comfortable position for me, especially when I am mesmerized in something. There is no way he knows though. It is impossible.
He continues while he looks at me, his green eyes smiling amused, while his face remains serious, “There was this girl, let’s call her Heather.” He smiles apprehensively.
I smile acceptingly. “Sounds like a good name.”
“And two brothers, let’s call them Kevin and John.”
“No. Not John, my dad’s name is John.”
“Okay, we’ll call him James. Heather was also one of the girls playing with divination and unbeknown to her when she pointed out the old woman who allegedly possessed her, she never knew this old woman was an actual witch. As the old woman burned at the stake, she started talking in a strange voice. The wind came up, the clouds gathered ominously in the sky and lightning crackled on the outskirts of the village. A whirlwind twirled around Heather as she stood in the crowd around the burning stake. It pulled her hair up and away from her face. Kevin was standing next to her and he actually saw Heather levitate momentarily before she collapsed onto the ground.”
He looks at me anxiously and I motion for him to carry on. “Go on. Don’t stop.”
“Now, Heather was engaged to James—deeply in love. They were due to get married in a fortnight from the night the witch accused by Heather was burned at the stake. The old witch cursed Kevin, James, and Heather. She made Kevin fall in love with Heather, with an all-encompassing love, which will last many centuries. However, Heather was in love with James at the time, and James was deeply in love with Heather. Because both the brothers now loved Heather, the old witch made it so that Heather will have to choose between the two of them. However, should she choose Kevin, she will die and then her soul will be recycled, while the two brothers remain immortal, waiting for Heather to return. If she chooses her true love, James, the curse will be broken. Kevin, though, does not want her to choose James, because the love he has for her burns within his soul, so he always manages to make Heather choose him, hoping beyond reason they would be able to break the curse.”
He stops talking and I look at him astonished. “Wow, is that true? I bet you saw it in a movie, we should watch it.
He turns toward me, smiling sadly.
I insist, “Although that is a very interesting and sad story, it still does not explain what happened earlier today.”
“It is getting dark and we should probably be going in. There is a chill in the air.”
As he says the words, I feel suddenly cold. I move my legs away from me and I put them on the ground, my knees feel stiff from being pulled up so long.
I stand up tentatively, and Kieran holds onto my elbow. I turn to him and he is standing very close to me. I say insistent, “I am not going to let you get away with not telling me what happened today.”
He laughs softly, deep in his throat. “I promise I’ll tell you what I can.”
I lean into him. “You only intrigue me even more.” I do not know if it is the twilight glow from the setting sun surrounding us, or if it is the story of everlasting love, he told me, but something makes me lean into him even more. I brush my lips against his. He feels warm and safe.
I stand there looking up into his eyes and they are solemn and serious. I wonder why he looks so sad. As his arms come up and his hands wrap around my upper arms, I lift my hands slowly and put my palms against his firm chest. His arms slide around my waist
and he pulls me into him gradually. He brings his head closer to mine and then he touches my lips with his. Feather soft at first, but then his kiss becomes more insistent and firmer.
I succumb until I feel a persistent pushing and prodding against me. I open my eyes and it seems as if the entire back garden is filled with a dark, hazy fog. It does not feel like innocent mist though, it feels evil and I begin to feel frightened.
Moving away from Kieran hurriedly, the shadows around us melt. The dark gloominess remains around the boundary of the garden though, just hanging there. It looks as if it is alive, as it swells and withdraws like something breathing. Worriedly I consider I should go to an optometrist because there might be something wrong with my eyes.
I say nervously, “I better get home, it’s getting late.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Turning away from Kieran toward the door, a movement from the upstairs window makes me look up and into the dark, brooding eyes of Jayden staring down at me pensively. Hastily I look back down, pretending I did not see him.
When we walk into the house, Kieran smiles thoughtfully and then he lets my hand go after he gives it a gentle squeeze. He says as he walks down the hall, “I am going to ask Jayden to take you home.”
I hear him go up the stairs. Awkwardly I walk to the lounge and sit down in one of the chairs.
A while later, they both come walking down the stairs and Kieran comes into the lounge to call me. He holds my coat for me while I slip my arms into the sleeves.
As we wait for Jayden in the hall, Kieran stands close to me and keeps his arm draped over my shoulders. I slip my hand around his waist and I stand on my toes so I can whisper in his ear, “I am sorry for interrupting our kiss, but I keep imagining I can see things.”
He turns his head toward me, smiling affectionately.
I am about to touch my lips to his again, when Jayden comes back into the hall, jingling his keys with a dismal smile.
Timeless (ForNever) Page 5
