Chapter 23: Twenty Three

“Hey hey,” He sandwiched my face with his now gloved hands. “It’s not your fault. It’s me. It’s what I am.”

“Which is?”

He shook his head and leaned his head to the side. “I was hoping to hear some of your theories first.”

His voice was full of encouragement. He wanted me to find out what he was. I also knew what he wasn’t telling me, he was forbidden to tell a human what he was.

He smiled. “We should go.”

I was confused. “We still have to work on the programme.”

“Well princess.” His tone was back to the teasing tone I’ve grown to love. “While you were enjoying your beauty sleep, I finished the whole thing.”

“Oh.”

A breeze swept through the room, I shivered and extended my hand, giving him back his jacket.

Instantly I felt cold without it.

He took it and wrapped it securely around my shoulders.

“But…”

He held up his hand to stop me.

I gulped.

We walked out to the parking lot in silence. “Are you sure?” I asked motioning to the jacket.

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

“You must be freezing.” I complained. “I can’t nurse you back to health if you catch a cold.” I continued in worry.

“How old are you, Beth?”

I frowned, not sure where he was going with this. “Sixteen.”

“Are you sure?” he snickered.

I was afraid to answer.

“You fuss a lot. More than my grandmother does, and she’s really old.” He teased.

I rolled my eyes.

We stopped by our cars and said our goodnights. It was hard to turn my back to him. He waited until I was in the safety of the cap to climb into his.

It was raining by the time I arrived at Janice’s house. I shrugged out of the clothes I wore at school, remaining only in Bradley’s jacket as I started with dinner after my shower. My mother whistled when she walked in.

“Ah.” She praised. “That’s not yours.”

Flames kissed my cheeks.

“Elizabeth.”

I shook my head. “Is macaroni and cheese good for dinner?” I side-tracked her.

She smiled knowingly. “Yes, I’ll bake some sweet potatoes for my lunch tomorrow.”

“EW.”

“Miles was here this morning.”

I glanced up at her.

“He took Zack.” She was trying to hide her smile; she'll be able to drink more freely with Zack gone. She won't have to worry about a kid or that social services would be back again to take her son away and this time they would give Uncle Miles full custody.

“Oh?” I was worried. My mother and Uncle couldn't be under the same roof without causing chaos.

“He should be fine with Miles, right?” She didn't sound concerned, rather I could detect relief in her hoarse voice - a product of heavy drinking and smoking. If only she'd get rid of me too. I imagined her saying to herself.

I was actually glad that Zack was with uncle Miles. At least he would be taken care of, loved. “Yes.”

Supper was a quiet event with Janice, when she was doing the dishes I took the stairs two at a time, a packet of chips hugged under my arm. I felt giddy.

I opened the pack of Doritos while I waited for my second-hand laptop to flash me the familiar search engine. The screen popped up, I sighed and typed, very fast, adrenaline pumping in my veins. I needed to finish my research for science and then find out what Bradley was.

I ran out of data. I skipped to my mother’s lounge-turned-bedroom and knocked loudly on the door.

“Come in.”

I pushed the door open. My mother lay on her stomach with her legs swinging in the air.

“Mom,”

“Yes.” She asked, looking up from her Life Magazine.

“Can I borrow your modem?”

“Check in the top drawer.” She said. “I don’t know where it is, I haven’t used it in months.”

I smiled. “Why buy a laptop in the first place?”

“I’m not old.” She said in a light tone.

“I didn’t say you were.” I said, rummaging through the drawers. I found it in the bottom shelf. “Your face does all the talking.”

“What, no.” she sat up quickly, running her hands over her face. “I need to have a facelift and maybe…”

She was panicking. I laughed. “Whoa, mom, stop. I was only kidding.” I smiled. "And besides you can't afford it."

She stared at me suspiciously.

“Seriously mom, you look great.”

She wasn’t convinced. “Elizabeth, you never joke.”

I frowned. Was I always serious? Bradley had said so; uncle Miles usually said it too and now mom. “I really was joking.”

“Strange.” She said. “You’re changing.”

“That’s my cue to leave.” I announced. “Thanks mom.”

“Elizabeth.” She called.

I looked back at my pretty mom.

“I never did tell you…” she hesitated, looking anywhere but me.

“Mom?”

“I love you too.”

I tried to smile through my heavy heart. “You don’t have to say something you don’t mean.”

“I have no reason to lie.”

“You really love me?” I asked in disbelief.

She frowned. “How could I possibly not?”

I couldn’t hold the rush of emotions surging through me. It was the first time she’d told me she loved me in five years.

Tears rolled down my check.

“Goodnight.” I said.

“Night honey,” That was the closest thing to an emotional conversation I have ever had with Janice and I locked the memory away in the depths of my heart. We both knew she would never admit that again.

Wonders of Supernatural creatures – I read aloud, I’d picked out the book from its rank, and it was rather more promising than the others. I had locked my door afraid of what Janice might think if she caught me doing this. Surely I was mentally disturbed to even consider that there were things out of the ordinary in the small town of Margate.

The first page was filled with promising lists of reliable websites. I browsed through the pages, making sure I missed nothing.

The creatures were listed in alphabetical order. I clicked through each one. I gave up, it was no use, and the list of folklore was extremely outrageous.

I sighed dejected and hungry.

BRADLEY

I wrote, hoping he’d read it when he came over tonight. My messy handwriting was an embarrassment compared to his perfect, immaculately neat calligraphy. I shook my head. Bradley was definitely far too perfect. Everything about him was inhuman, his beauty, his voice, his body… I gulped. I certainly didn’t need to dream about him again tonight. I’d been doing it every day and night and my dreams were becoming dangerously scary.

Please wake me up the second you read this. I have something really important to share with you, and no it can’t wait until tomorrow after school.

Beth.

I lay in the dark for two more hours waiting up for him, to pass time I pulled my black duffle bag from under the bed and unzipped the left side pocket. I fished for my IPod smiling in anticipation when my hand wrapped around it – the smile instantly vanished the second its hideous pink face caught my sight. Jessica had given it to me on my thirteenth birthday despite her knowledge of my revulsion for bright colours – if she wasn’t so important to my uncle I would’ve chucked it out of the window. For the next hour I listened to my favourite bands shuffling through the nineteen and eighteen century music. My uncle did say my choice in music was rather eccentric.

I rolled to my side and welcomed unconsciousness.

A light tap on my shoulder woke me up in the middle of the night.

“Hey.” Bradley whispered.

“Hey.” I answered, stifling a yawn.

He played absentmindedly with a strand that had fallen loose from my hat. My heart gradually crept to hyperventilation.

“What could be so important I had to lose sleep over?” he asked, his eyes never leaving the strand intertwined between his fingers.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” I asked, motioning with a side nod to my hair.

“Mm.” He agreed absentmindedly. “It’s almost orange. It’s really beautiful”

“Only in the moonlight,” I said.

We sat silently for a long minute.

“”Bradley,” I asked

“Yes princess.”

I chickened out. “Can I offer you something to eat?” I asked instead.

“It’s the middle of the night.” He reminded me. “And besides I don’t eat foods with salt.” He smiled. “…unless you want to see fireworks.”

“Literally?”