Deborah sat in the dark
between Matthew and James, the irony not lost on her. The words left
silent hung thickly in the air between them. It was her choice,
then, she realized, always her choice. But there they sat, waiting
for the silence to be distilled in some fashion. Deborah took a deep
breath, exhaled, and turned her attention to James. Was this a
pattern forming? Why did she feel such a pull to James that
distracted her from any other aspect of her life? This all consuming
force that drove her to reach out to him, endlessly longing,
endlessly being refuted.
“Hey,” was all she said.
He turned towards her, a warm smile spread across his face but pain
deeply embedded in his eyes.
“Hey,” was his response.
Deborah inhaled again, swept away in her heart by the magic pull of
his eyes, understanding her completely.
“So, I have been having
these dreams, like the other night,” she began. James nodded for
her to continue. “And, I think I figured out who that girl is, the
translucent one in the dream.”
She hesitated, waiting for
his response, for him to give her anything. Distracted, she went on,
“I was at church the other
day with Mari and I passed out during the worship part of it, the
singing part. I had this experience, like a trance, and the girl
came to me, then and there and...”
She fell silent, the rest of
the sentence hung in the air, waiting to be spoken.
“Yeah, what did she say,
what did she want?” James encouraged her.
“Yeah, so, I think
that...I think that the girl is...is Eve,” Deborah said, nervously.
Then, she bit her lip, waiting for James' response.
“Really?” was all he
could say.
“I mean, I don't know
really, because I never really met her in life but the thing is, it
was pretty convincing in the dream and you know, she looked kind of a
lot like me, so...,” Deborah tried to explain, hoping for some
answer to break forth.
“Yeah, you guys do kind
of,” James mused. Silence descended between them again, awkwardly.
Finally, he looked over at her, deeply focusing in on her eyes,
hypnotizing her. “So, what did she want? Why is she visiting you?”
“I don't really know the
answer for that,” Deborah began. “But she did say that she
wanted me to find her killer and that...I don't know, she showed me
something but I can't remember really all of it right now.”
“Huh,” was all James
would say. He turned away from her then, lost in his own thoughts,
and sipped his Guinness. Deborah hesitated and turned towards
Matthew. The light from the streetlamp above them hit his red hair
and gave him a halo effect, a magical aura hung about him. She
caught her breath in her throat, uncertain of what to say, uncertain
of her feelings. She released her breath, steadied herself and said,
“Matthew,”she said,
catching his attention. He turned to her, smiling slightly, his eyes
open and free.
“Yeah,” he said,
completely open to her then, always open to her, always would be.
“Look, I just wanted to
apologize about what happened with---”
“Yeah, its okay,”
Matthew interrupted her.
“Really?” Deborah was
confused.
“Yeah, I thought about it
and it was kind of inevitable between you two, there is something you
two have that we never did, so I get it,” Matthew tried to explain.
“Are you okay?” Deborah
wanted to know, touching his arm. Matthew took her hand in his.
“I will be,” he said
holding her hand in both of his. “Live your life, Deborah, and be
happy, no matter what, be that.”
Deborah smiled at him
gratefully and he kissed her fingers, then released her hand.
“I will be,” Deborah
said, catching his eyes. “Thank you, Matthew.”
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