The Beginning (The Life 1)

I took my time eating as I listened for the tread of Victoria’s stomp down the stairs. That girl hates mornings and anything to do with them. She’d come bounding down the stairs with bare minutes to spare before we had to leave, bellowing for me to come on, or she’d leave me. This morning was no different.

I got up and put my dishes in the sink while Ella shooed me out the way she does every morning. “I keep telling you I can get that; there’s no need for you to.” I’m not sure which is more heartbreaking, the look of understanding in her eyes or the fact that there’s nothing she can do about what’s putting that look there.

It took all of ten seconds for me to figure out what gift dad had given Victoria the night before. They were shining in her ears. No, they weren’t mom’s, but they were nice. Round diamond studs that did do something pretty to her face. She flung her neck around enough to give herself whiplash in a bid to show them off to me.

You see, I was to wait until my twelfth birthday to get my ears pierced so I could wear mom’s earrings, but after that debacle, dad had forbidden me to get them pierced in a show of solidarity with his wife. In all fairness, Victoria’s ears had already been pierced since she was a young child, whereas, in my maternal family, the girl was given the option when she reached an age when she could decide if she wanted to put holes in her body. I’d have done it in a heartbeat to wear something of mom’s to be that close to her again.

“Aren’t they gorgeous? Dad got them for me.” My gorge no longer rose at the sound of her calling him that, but this morning I was doubly thankful that she had something else to focus on other than what had transpired the night before. It’s not like her not to pick apart the fact that I’d been drawing his face. Or it could be that she was so certain he’d never look in my direction that she felt no threat.

“I still haven’t forgotten what you did. I’m sure you told Gabe something awful about me; that’s why he hung up when I called.” She turned a furious look my way, and it was all I could do to keep the look of glee from showing on my face. I was dying to ask but knew I would get nowhere, but just seeing the furious look of disappointment on her face was enough to soothe my hungry heart.

That feeling carried me through my morning classes and well into the lunch hour. I won’t lie and say I didn’t look around in the slight hope that I might catch a glimpse of him, though to be honest, in all the years we’d been going to the same school, I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened. Oh well!

Once again, I snuck one of my many sketchpads from my locker before heading off somewhere I was sure to be alone. I’m not sure why I headed in the same direction as the day before. Maybe subconsciously, I thought that Victoria wouldn’t hunt me down the same place twice, or perhaps I just wanted to run into him again. Or maybe Victoria would be too preoccupied flashing her new earrings to care.

It’s not like she torments me every day. Even Satan takes a day off, I guess, though the two of them seem to be trading off days with one another since we were about six or seven. Whatever the reason for me heading back to the isolated spot I’d been so excited to find before Victoria descended the day before, I felt my heart rate speed up as I entered the clearing surrounded by trees that led into the forest this area is known for.

GABRIEL

I knew the second she showed up. I didn’t know at first that it was her, but I knew someone had entered my space. I turned my eyes in the direction of the sound, ready to bring down the wrath of hell on whoever dared and saw her. I should’ve known it would be her from the prickling sensation along the skin on my arms and back. I’d only felt it once before, the day before, with her.

I watched her sit then look around before settling down with her back against a tree trunk. It was then I noticed the book in her hands when she flipped it open and started to draw. She was engrossed in the page and I in her. That hair of hers drew my eyes time and again as the sun rays lit it, and I felt that same odd sensation in my chest again, same as yesterday.