Again, I hesitated.
“I won’t tell him, Killian. I promise.”
“Magdalena Michaelson.”
“She’s not French?”
I shook my head, and a smile stuck to my lips and hot cheeks. “Her family is from the US.”
Mum hugged me, appearing as relieved as I that she wasn’t tied in any way to Uncle’s business. “I’m so happy for you,Killian. Maybe someday, you both can run… together. America is so big. He—”
“He what, Mum?” The fact that she wouldn’t complete the sentence fired up my fury. I wasn’t an idiot. Uncle was forcing Mum to stay with him somehow, and things had gotten worse for her. I just didn’t know how, and she refused to tell me what was really going on.
“He won’t find you over there.”
I hugged Mum again. “Oh, Mum, Idolove you. You’ll come with us. I would never leave you behind.” I said the last sentence while looking in her eyes and holding her hand, and to my very core, I meant it. I’d find a way to sneak her out of that hellhole. “Just like you never left me.” Her embrace was tighter this time.
“My sweet little man. You’re all that matters. Don’t worry about me.” I could hear the tears she held back.
That afternoon, I picked my suit. The women at the shop wouldn’t stop gushing over how “elegant” I looked as they modified it to fit perfectly on my body. I had thought it was too much, but Mum insisted. “If you’re going to wear a suit, then wear it right.”
She sat on a comfortable chair, watching me, drinking tea and eating biscuits one of the ladies had served her. Sometimes, when I would blink over to her, I’d see so many wrinkles on her tired, sad face; other times, she looked as gorgeous and young as ever.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are no words, no letters. So many have taken the impossible task to describe love, to put it into words, but what no one ever tells you is love warps time.
Asaten-year-oldkid,there was only so much I could do. I had fooled our teacher into thinking this was just a simple school project about different cultures around the world, and the other students into thinking this was a way to get us lemonade, cake, and extra recess time. They all fell for it. But I was very aware we were still surrounded by enemies. I never dared trust any of them.
Even at my age, I knew that the amount and way I needed her was not normal. I knew I had to hide the intensity of my affections so I wouldn’t end up in a psych ward.
Like in fairy tales, on the best day of my life, I conquered all my fears and did the impossible to seal the promise of forever with my queen.
In our spot in the gardens, under a magnolia tree, I granted her atinywindow of how much I loved her.
“Magdalena, my angel, I promise you will never doubt my love and devotion to you for the rest of my life. I promise to always be your friend, who you can trust, and to love every version of you,” I vowed. Those were the few words that tumbled out of my mouth while I swam in her dark, mysterious brown eyes. In the end, it was nothing compared to how I really felt. What I should have done was give her the notebook I’d filled with paragraph after paragraph about the way she had saved me every single day since I’d met her and the way she made me feel.
What I really meant was:
Magdalena, without you, I would’ve certainly already died. Every time I’m with you, you bring me back to life, you keep me from diving into the darkness, from burning down the world around us.
When time and space were first formed, you and I were created from the very same star, then torn apart, shattered to dust, and scattered through space. We were meant to be together, and instead, we endured lifetimes apart. But my love for you defies everything. In this lifetime, physically, we’ve only known each other for three years. In my heart, it’s been the briefest three seconds.
Existing in your absence, my angel, is so cruel, so unfair. What we’ve spent staring into each other's eyes, the number of your smiles, blushes, the time I’ve spent listening to your voice, your giggles, none of it has been enough. It could continue happening forever and would never be enough.
Marry me, my angel, be with me for at least the rest of this life.
Thepartydownstairshadthe music louder than ever. Earlier, I’d run to my room to alleviate the stabbing to my ear drums and locked the door behind me. Looking out the window, I saw the roundabout at the front of the house full of cars. We’d never had that many people before. I sighed, put on my headphones, and focused on finishing my homework, then read a book to fall asleep to.
The light was still on when a clicking woke me. With my cheek on the mattress, eyelids only half lifted, I watched a man walk into the room from behind the giant menacing rug. He had the head of an elk's skull, with tall antlers and an opened black robe over his naked body. His dick was hanging down. All my alarm bells went off.
“What are you doing here? Get out!” I yelled, pointing toward the wall he’d just come out of, but he only turned his head on its side. Then my fear peaked.
Get out! Run!Get out!
Get out! Run!
Get out! Run!Get out! Run!
Goosebumps rose all over my body, along with the hair on the back of my neck. Despite the appendage, his mannerism wasn’t that of a human. It was a monster. I swallowed hard.
