• Fading Isolation

    MaryAnn

    Love…is a word that no human can really wrap their minds around… none can really tell you the true definition, although some claim to know… The heart is said to feel love…people willingly “give” their hearts away because of it… Hearts break, shred, tear, petrify, and even sing, yet they all remain within our chest cavity… The mind protects the heart and the soul from the very things that it knows will hurt them, so in theory… the mind is our heart in a way; it is the one that makes us feel the way we do about a person… it will also isolate the being from facing their worst fears…
    She lightly planted her backside on a woven beige chair at the local Italian restaurant, the one that served meals outside… It was Venice, Italy, after all… To her, it was a very romantic place, and everyone was with somebody…except for her… Heaving a deep, strained sigh she cradled her blistered feet, for she had walked here from the next town over…Marielle Genevieve Adriana Payne, most people just called her Eve, cursed the man that insisted upon meeting here, of all places. “Stupid Gabriel Leo Alexandre Hunter…!” She mocked, imitating his velvety British accent that entranced her so… She brushed the dark chestnut veil, her curly locks, and saw the very person she was looking for… “Gabriel! You’re here!!! I was looking for you-” She was cut off by Gabriel’s chuckle, “Yeah, after you were finished picking at me!” He laughed exuberantly and took a glance at Genevieve, seeing the mortified look on her face, the one that said ‘He was there?’ he quickly reassured her, “I’m kidding, I don’t care! ...Or at least I won’t…if you will do me a favor…” He added distantly, hoping she would bite his bait that he laid out ever so obviously. “W-what?! I’ll do anything!” She leapt from her seat; hands clasped together, and her eyes pleading. “Please?” The sound she made with even the slightest shift had now been magnified by her aggressive move; for she wore coins on her sandals...she had an artist’s soul. Many aspects of her appearance pointed to that theory. Today, she sported a conservative t-shirt that said pictured a blue whale chanting “Save the Humans!” Her black cargo capris and bag off-set her pale blue shirt, complementing her ice blue eye. Her eyes...they were Gabriel’s favorite feature about Eve… She was dichromatic, meaning her eyes were not the same color. In her case, one eye was a dark chestnut, like that of her hair, and the other, a pale blue. Gabriel had to look away from Eve so he could think straight. “Baby-sit my sister, Mary Weather, for a few days… I’m going out to look for a job… I will escort you to my house-that’s where she lives. Will you?” He looked up to her and forced a half grin, trying to sway her to his will… He was positively sure that he’d thrown her into some sort of comatose at the sight of her expression…. “Um… Eve?”
    “Huh?” She jumped, her eyes reverting to that of a normal focused state than that of a glazed one “Sorry! I was- Just…” She fell silent. Yeah, that’s what I’ll tell him, “Sorry I spaced out because I tend to get a teeny weeny bit entranced when you speak, especially when the words from your lips are that of “escort” and “my home.” That’s what I’ll tell him for sure… That won’t creep him out! She laughed at her self and slowly nodded as she agreed to the proposal. “I’ll stay with your baby sister...how old?”
    “Twenty-one.” He stated simply as he began to walk north, to the outskirts of the village. “You will still help? She may be older than you thought, but she still needs someone to watch over her… Gre- I’m not there” he said, covering up almost saying “Grey” by saying “I’m” a little too quickly to hide the fact that he almost revealed his secret…that he wasn’t who he said he was… “So… will you be?” He stopped to glance at Eve to see if she was trailing along…surely enough, she kept pace… at his heels, anyway. That didn’t seem to bother him, if he wanted to plead for a job somewhere; he’d have to do it without the constant worry of Mary Ann’s world crashing around her… Sometimes he thought that it was silly to even think of trying to fabricate a likeness of the real world, only… the one Mary Weather lived in…was a fabrication… How could he tell her? When would be able he tell her…again…that their mother was on her deathbed and…this was her last time to tell her…goodbye, for Grey was the only one who could penetrate the girl. He, Gabriel, was only partially him, but maybe a stranger, someone MaryAnn has never met, would shed hope…
    “Will you take me to your house?” Eve prayed for a yes…but…wishing is futile for her, the wishes she made…never came true. “No!” He barked. “…I meant no.” He shook his head bitterly. That’s the way to treat a guest…especially when it’s Genevieve… “I will show you the house from a distance, and from there you shall walk to the door. Knock, and proceed to walk in. It doesn’t matter that you two haven’t met, she won’t care. I am not able to accompany you because things are slightly chilly between the two of us, understand?” He stated coldly. Chilly…just wasn’t the right word… Eve nodded. “Yes. I understand.” Gabriel stopped, smiled faintly, and pointed to an old, off white ante-bellum home. “There. That’s it.” He said, pushing the girl beside him in his home’s direction. Odd, most people would walk their guests to the door, but these were special circumstances. “Oh, o-okay… Here goes nothin’!” She laughed nervously, as she strode into darkness; the only light was the feeble rays of Gabriel’s not too comforting words. “Be sure to tell her that Grey will not be staying at the house for awhile, oh and keep up the garden!!!” Joy filled Genevieve for the split second that Gabriel’s voice rang in her ears; she turned to smile, but ended up scowling…because he’d gone…
    The family seal rested upon the brass knocker, a Ram…in fact, the Ram that represented the seemingly perpetual wealth that resided in the banks…under the Hunter name… Eve coward below the goat’s head, what was she getting her self into? “Helloooo? Is anyone hoooome?” She cooed, playing along with the fact that she had to baby-sit a twenty-one-year-old. She entered… To this day, without a doubt, Eve will never regret her decision to open the door...
    A bare home awaited her… Genevieve couldn’t believe her eyes… All was there was…was…modest furniture…nothing hung on the walls… so it was terribly…bare. She found a petite girl sprawled out on the couch with a knitted blanket for warmth, soundly asleep. This girl, almost her age, looked on the verge of kneeling over in an instant! Her milk white skin shown in the dim lighting of the room, giving off a metallic sheen. Her hair, the same color. Eve stared, her eyes fixated on the being before her. It was a certain guarantee that this girl’s face had never experienced the warmth of the sunshine, and quite possibly…the light of day.
    “Momma…” Mary sniffled rather pitifully, immersed in her nightmares.
    Eve’s heart ached, she had had those types of dreams too…and she hated it. With the mindset of good engraved upon her soul, she made her way to the kitchen to prepare a meal for the mirror image of herself years ago…
    “There!” Genevieve beamed, wiping her brow. “Done!” She added the spatula to the pile of dirty dishes as she triumphed over her defeat of poor cooking skills. Eve didn’t think to ask Gabriel what his sister ate… so…she cooked anything she could remember the recipe to, which ended up being mostly sweets… “Yep. I’m a junk-food junkie.” She teased herself, arranging the chocolate chip cookies on a crystal platter…
    MaryAnn awoke to the warm enticing scents of many desserts mingling about her the queen, Leia, was here…and there was an unwanted visitor in her kingdom… Leia silently moved toward the intruder, the time to confront them had arrived… “Explain yourself, scum.” Leia breathed as her pale icy hands closed around the girl. Eve gasped, her hands flying to her neck, where hands from seemingly nowhere grasped. “M-mary Weather?” She stuttered. “What the crap?! What’s wrong?” Eve clenched the hands around her, twisting them to where she had the upper hand. “I will not hurt you, so you need to CALM down!” Eve glared into the ghostly girl’s face, all compassion she had once felt, had now gone. “I’m…not….MARY WEATHER!!!” Leia shrieked, thrashing about. Once she realized that this person in front of her was just about as stubborn as herself and wasn’t going to let go anytime soon, she slumped down… defeated. “Who sent you here?” She heaved a forced sigh of surrender, her voice still possessing a painful shrillness. “Marielle Genevieve Adrianna Payne… And you?” She said, ignoring her question. She smiled as she tried to catch her breath. “Leia.” Was the reply from the girl in her hold. “Great. That’s a start… Now tell me…Leia…would you mind if I stayed here for awhile? I can cook…! I can also keep company since Ga-Grey has to be away from you. He cares enough for you that he doesn’t want you to be lonely…”
    “I guess that would be nice for the queen to have a playmate that isn’t bought. Besides…I want to go to the market!” She flashed a smile. “Let go of me, please?” Leia laughed nervously. “Oh, yeah, sure! Whatever you need! Sorry.” Eve apologized, helping “Leia” up to her feet. In that moment, a bond was formed, one that could never be broken…

    A knock sounded through the hollow house, “Who is it?” Genevieve called as she tried to juggle near burning cookies and the guest. “You know?! Open the door.” Gabriel ordered. It had been months since Eve’s first day at MaryAnn’s house, and Gabriel and herself had devised a plan to meet Eve once a moth to bring supplies…it was working great! “Oh! It’s food! …and some one I’d like to see…” She added under her breath. “Hello…delivery man…” Eve giggled as she opened the door to greet Gabriel. “Here.” He handed her several bags of assorted food items. “I’ll need a few more days…okay?” He hesitated, waiting for a lecture, he’d said that last time… “Okay…Be back soon…!” She cooed. He waved farewell, winking at her as he turned to leave… “See ya soon!” He called. She snorted in return, “Sez you.” He laughed, throwing her a small package. “Alrighty then…bye…”
    “Bye…” She sighed, closing the door. “Hey, Eve? What did the delivery man bring?” Leia asked as she removed her earphones so she could clearly hear her friend speak. “Um…I dunno… Food…and… something else…mail, I think.”
    “From who?”
    “…M-my…bro-other…?”
    “Really? What’s his name?” Leia inquired, stuffing freshly baked cookies down her throat.
    “Did those burn?” Eve gestured to the cookies.
    “Don’t change the subject.” She said flatly.
    Eve rolled her eyes in defeat. “Gabriel Leo Alexandre Hun…” She stopped, frozen in fear, for not a soul could speak of Leia’s blood kin…especially her brother…
    “That’s my brother!” Leia gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth even as she spoke the words that revealed her true identity. A painful series of pricks full of long awaited tears prodded at the back of her eyes, and her feet began to take over for the mind that was frozen. She ran to her room, knocking everything she could. Gabriel Leo Alexandre Hunter…Mary Weather Ann Hunter…memories…sweet, sweet childhood memories…
    “Wa-ah! Bun-Bun!!!”Mary cried, jumping to the prize held by her older brother. “Give him back!!!”
    “Give him back..!” Gabriel mocked, holding the rag doll higher out of MaryAnn’s reach. “Why don’t you make me?” He challenged the girl before him, sticking his tongue out at her. They continued like this for several minutes before a soft, wispy voice caused them to freeze. “MaryAnn, Gabriel. Stop what you are doing immediately.” Leia, their mother, demanded. “Gabriel. What are you doing?” She cocked her head to the side while jutting out her hip and placing a hand on it, letting them know she meant business. Gabe gulped. “Uh-I…” His voice split into two octaves. “I wuz jus playin’…” He mumbled, hanging his head in shame.” Well, why would you do that? I don’t think your sister thought it was funny. When I die…you’ll be the one who will be taking care of MaryAnn. And until then, you need to be nice to her. Leonardo is no longer here, so she will be the only family that you will have left. Every one else has left us too…” She trailed off, her eyes watery. “You’re only saying that because Daddy left ‘cause of you!” He threw the doll to the ground. “Why would I want to take care of someone I hate?!” Gabriel glared up at his mother then turned his gaze to the cowering child called his sister… “I’m leaving!” He screamed, running into the house. “Wait! Dabriel?”Mary Weather pleaded, chasing after him.
    Once inside, Mary found her brother slinging his suitcase down the hall, only to run after it once more. “Dabriel? Do oo ate me?” She stifled a cry. Mary’s speech impediment caused some people to misinterpret her, but…he’d known her since she’d been born, so decoding her speech wasn’t a difficult task for him. “…” He sighed. “No…I don’t hate you, Mary Weather.” He sat his suitcase down. “I could never hate you…” She rushed to him, arms open. “Ooooh! I wove oo budder! Oou’re de bestht!” She looked up. “If I tink dat oors de besthst budder, am I de besthst dister?”She asked, her eyes sparkled hopefully. “Yes… You’re the best.”    It was all a distant memory now…one that Mary…Leia…had to forget. Everything could never go back to that childish blissful time. One day…it all changed, and she had no control over it. She had felt so hopeless… That feeling never really went away…
    Eve cringed as she heard the inner struggle within MaryAnn come to life and invade the outer world. Her cries pierced through the silence of her answer…and lack of questions. Why did I do that? Eve thought bitterly.
    Hadn’t I been told not to bring up the subject of family around MaryAnn? She looked down noticing the box still enclosed in her hand, between her slip-up and the chaos, she’d forgotten about the package that had been given to her by Gabriel. She carefully unwrapped the gift, anticipating the surprise inside. A letter was enclosed accompanied by delicate platinum charm bracelet. “A wolf? Why in the- Oh…so he…likes wolves? Yeah, I remember that, he told me that wolves were his favorite animals! “Almost like myself…” were his exact words…” She smiled, admiring its beauty…
    “Good morning dear…” Gabriel cooed, gently arousing Eve out of her sleep. She rubbed her eyes. “Good morning, honey. How are you?”
    “Fine, as always when I’m with you…” He smiled. Ever since Eve had accidentally slipped up and mentioned MaryAnn’s brother around her, Gabriel had been able to convince her to atleast recognize the fact that she wasn’t Leia, that she was Mary Weather Ann Hunter. At first, MaryAnn rejected Gabriel and didn’t even want to look at him, but then Eve stepped in…as usual…and blurted that he and she were going together… Boy, was he sure lucky to have her… After hearing that, Mary paused slowly looking back and fourth from Gabriel to Eve as if she was trying to piece something together…and…suddenly...“Oh, my gosh! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! MY BEST FRIEND AND MY BROTHER!!! WOOHOOOOOO-OOOO!” It still hurt when he tried to breathe, she had hugged him so hard… Now, Mary Weather kept checking up on the two of them…and to tell you the truth, neither of them enjoyed it.
    Mary poked her head in the room. “So? How are you two?” She imitated a sort of growling then laughed at her foolishness. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Why would you want to know? Fine, by the way.”
    “Really?” She flashed them with yet another smile. “Good. Be sure to tell her everything. You do the same, Eve. If you don’t, then what if one of you was like a vampire or something, and you didn’t tell the other person, thus putting them in danger. How would the other person feel?” Mary looked to Gabriel with “the look,” the look only a woman can give, the one that makes your blood run cold… “H-how would you feel Eve?” He asked without really thinking, he was still in shock at the fact the Mary might even know. “Me?” She asked. “Out of the loop, unloved, and distant from my supposed significant other…why?” She raised herself out of bed. “Nothing…” He replied. An uneasy feeling settled itself in the pit of his stomach. He knew he had to protect Eve, and he had to do it discreetly… He had to make her hate him…by fighting with her…
    An enraged Eve slammed Gabriel into the hard brick wall that surrounded them. Her grip tightened on his neck as she shouted. “I- Hate- Everything- About- YOU!” She rammed him against the drywall every time she screamed the words that had been bottled up inside for far too long. “Then….how…can…you love…me?” He smirked as he spat the words at her. How could a young relationship like this…end up so twisted? Possibly…the two never really knew each other, that they rushed into things…and this is what happened, or maybe the two were from completely different worlds, worlds that conflicted… Tears flooded Adriana’s eyes as the notion of what Gabe had said sunk in. “…I…don’t…know…” She sobbed as her grasp on Gabriel loosened. She really did hate him…with a passion…
    Why waste time? Gabriel thought. Now was his chance before he was suffocated by a being below him. He swiped at her ferociously with spectacular blunt force…wincing when he heard her yelp. She shied away from him, a pained expression plastered on her porcelain face…
    Thankfully, Gabe didn’t strike her near the neck, and the only place that was severely injured was her wrist…that still wasn’t good. A shrill scream escaped her, not only because of the pain…not really because she was afraid of blood either, no man- no human! - could possibly have inflicted this type of wound. Four small gashes were imprinted upon her arm, each about a centimeter apart, and each incision left differed in length…almost like a hand…no…it was almost like a paw. Eve’s head began to whirl as the idea of Gabriel not being human sank in…
    “What are you?!” She ordered, flinching when his demented laughter met her ears. “Oh, I forgot how pathetically ignorant you humans are.” He cackled, regained composer, and then continued. “Wolf. That’s what I am, and that is what I’ll always be.” He paused, eager to hear a scream of terror from the girl. When nothing sounded, he began again, only this time, you could tell her lack of answer hurt his pride. “No, I am not MaryAnn’s brother, incase you were wondering. I am simply acting as though I am. You see, I was the runt of my pack and when I became- how do I put this? - Out of line…I was overthrown. My pride, and my life… was broken, I had nowhere, no one to go to. Around that time, I found Gabriel…he was so lucky, he had a father and a mother that truly cared for him. I had nothing. Naturally, I tried to show him who was the …dominant one, so I could pose as him. Get rid of the competition, so as to say. I did just that, with a price. I killed him, or at least I could find no heart beat at the time… I knew I was in trouble when I found out that Leia, their mother, knew that her child supposedly died. I was never caught that night as I disposed of the corpse…before injuring myself, like that of the corpses, so that I could fool the poor human family. I assure you that I was authentic in my performance. I had studied the young Gabriel, even though I hate the smell of humans, I decided that this was now my family. I had to stick with my decision.”
    “Then why stay? Why be here, now, instead of just leaving?! Her father’s a-her father! - and has already disowned her, and her mother is a psychopath- who’s terminally ill!” Eve jumped up, ready to fight (with her words…), but the sheer loss of blood was enough to bring her to her knees once more.
    “That is just it.” He said when her eyes met his again. “She was like me, born into a lower class. Sadly, I felt for her… That was the start of my demise. My sensitive nose had gone numb after years of living with the humans…so, it was natural that I could fall in love with you, since I was de-sensitized.” He laughed. “And I realize that that was the worst mistake I have ever made, me with you? Ha!” By this time, his British accent, the very one that hooked her, had faded away…and was replaced with a harsh bland one.
    “Who are you?” Eve mustered, heart broken.
    “Me? I’m Kiba. No last name. I haven’t the need for one.”
    “Really? Huh. Never thought you’d be a Kiba.” She shrugged, her wounds slipping her mind.
    “Yep. I’m a Kiba. This isn’t really what I look like though…”
    “Oh…okay…” She decided that she needn’t ever know what he really looked like. “What are you going to tell Mary Weather?”
    “What am I going to tell her?! …I don’t know.” He sank to the floor, defeated.
    “What are you going to tell me, Gabriel?” MaryAnn said rather innocently as she entered the room, headphones in her ears, a clear indication that she only caught part of their conversation.
    “That I’m making brownies!” He flashed a cheesy smile.
    “You don’t bake.” She stated flatly.
    “You’re right. I don’t. I’m not your brother. I am a wolf… Do you understand?”
    She nodded. “Yes.” She said quite calmly, pausing her CD player so she could listen better. It seemed odd to Kiba that MaryAnn took this…calmly. She never took things like this…calmly.
    She smiled before continuing, “So, you’re saying that my father disowned somebody that isn’t even his child?” He nodded. “Yes but…” He was cut off by MaryAnn’s squeal of delight. “So… If I go talk to him, and I tell him that you’re an imposter, he will take me back?” She trembled at the thought; it was her turn to make amends. “I’ll be back!” She waved, bursting out the door. “Wait!” Kiba cried, realized the probability of Mary Weather coming back…and sat back down. “You need to cover that wound before you bleed to death. Wait a moment.” He walked out of the room, returning with three strips of cloth and some safety pins. “Use these.” He handed them to her when he returned, showing his true self…on the outside. “I’ll go now.” He sighed.
    “Why? …And How?” Her nose shriveled up in concentration, desperately trying to figure out how he could look so…different? His once clear green eyes had turned a dingy gray, and his once silver hair? Now an ash brown. “Oh, that.” He shrugged. “Learned how to do that when I was five. …By the way, sorry about that,” He gestured to her wrist. “I…just wanted every one to hate me when I left, so goodbye wouldn’t be as tough as it is already…”
    “Why in the world would you want people to hate you?” Then it hit her, that undying sense of evasiveness. “Oh, yeah, that’s why…” She laughed nervously.
    “…Yeah,” He said, sharing a laugh too. “Now that you know my reasons, I should go, tell MaryAnn for me…y’know…that I left…”
    “…Alright, whatever you think is best…” She surrendered her case, knowing that the efforts would be futile. She opened her mouth to speak again, only to find that someone else’s words took place of her unspoken ones.
    “Stop. You’ve no right to leave when we have unsettled business to attend to…” A shadowed figure growled. “Have you forgotten? You didn’t even try to bury me?!” Gabriel smirked as he stepped into the light. Eve forced herself to not throw up, as did Kiba, it was a horrible sight to look at…h-his…face…it was blemished in an unspeakable way… A long, jagged scar ravaged his snowy skin. It started at the temple and continued to travel off to the right, straight into his right eye, causing it to sort of veer to the left. To Eve, the sight was sickening, but it was also…morbidly captivating… An irresistible urge came over her; she had to touch it… Gently, gently…oh, so gently, Eve… Eve thought as she raised herself from the ground to extend her reach out to the man before her. “Eve…” Kiba warned, his eyes flickering back and forth from Gabriel to Eve. “Be careful…”
    “Oh, Kiba, stop, he’s fine!” She waved him off as her index finger made contact with the real Gabriel’s face. Gabe somberly smiled. “Sweet dreams…” He said as he firmly set his hand upon her shoulder, ready for the fall… She looked at him, confused… In an instant, her face contorted, and a cry escaped her. She dug her nails into Gabriel’s arm as if to let him know a fraction of what she was going through…with that, she fainted, slumping in Gabe’s arms, out cold. Kiba sprinted to Eve’s rescue, “WHAT DID YOU DO??!” He demanded as he pushed him away to get a better look at the unconscious girl.
    “At the moment, she is reliving my most dreaded moments in my life, the one where you used me as canvas to create this…” He gestured to his disfigurement, “Nice work Picasso…” Sarcasm dripping from his words. “It was the only way to keep her from getting harmed…” He knelt down so he could help the wolf carry the dark-haired girl to a bed. Once that was completed, Gabriel stepped in front of Kiba. “Now, dog, let’s get down to business…” He smirked. “Yes, but…first…how did you transfer your memories…to Eve…?” Gabriel sighed. “How did I know you’d ask that? …When you tried to kill me, you transferred your blood into my bloodstream…creating…me.” He stared at his imposter with hard eyes. “Oh… I’m sorry…” Kiba’s shoulders slumped as he coughed up an apology. “That was a me a long time ago… I’ve changed. I really thought you were dead… That’s why I stayed with your sister. I grew attached to her; I just could leave her alone…everyone else had left her, I couldn’t! I just couldn’t! Do you understand?”
    “Yeah… I just wished that I could have grown up with her too…” He shook his head sorrowfully. “But that ship has sailed. I can no more reverse time than I can turn water into wine. I reluctantly accept your apology… I guess…” He scuffed his feet against the beige carpet signalizing that he was uncomfortable conversing with the boy who robbed him of his life.
    “Then all we can do is wait. Wait until MaryAnn comes back from her father’s house…” Kiba rubbed his eyes. “I’m gonna go wait by Eve. She might wake up screaming, and I need to explain what she saw in her-your- memory…” He blinked several times before leaving the room, and leaving the unwavering tension between himself and the person he’d played for over thirteen years.
    Nothing tied his stomach in knots more than the sight of Eve’s face contorted in such a way that you would think that the person in her dreams was physically torturing her…and they were… The memory of his unspeakable actions had been buried out of reach for years. He was on the opposing side, the one that everyone considered evil. It shook him to the core just to think of it and he wasn’t even the victim! Kiba couldn’t imagine the type of anger intermingled with fear that would be engraved forever in Eve…all that hate…directed to him. He knew he deserved everything that was coming to him, but deep down…he really did love Eve… Did she really love him? If she did, that would all soon change…as soon as she woke…
    Gabriel’s memory through the eyes of Eve.
    “You’re going to die, human. You will die pitifully, just like the others…” Kiba growled, exposing his ivory fangs. Maybe this will scare the punk enough so I won’t have to go through with this… He thought…
    A searing pain shot through my entire being as I lost sight in my left eye. I screamed, not knowing what else to do. An iron tasting liquid filled my mouth and traveled down my front side. The endless throbbing pain faded into an unbearable burning sensation. Then…I…slipped into…the oblivion…
    Eve awoke screaming then saw her antagonist. “YOU?!” She backed away from him, a newly instilled fear residing within her. She fingered the side of her face lightly, just to make sure.
    “I can explain… I was in a…” He stopped himself from continuing…it would be useless to try and reason with her in a state like this. “I’ll be back.”
    “I’m gonna call the cops on you for identity theft and assault.” Eve stated coldly grabbing her cell phone. “You’ll be locked away for so fast, you won’t know what hitcha.” She smirked hitting the talk button.
    “DON’T, WHDDYA THINK YER DOIN’?!?!?!!!” He snatched the device away from the girl and slammed it against the wall. The broken pieces still lay upon the floor. The pieces of their lives scattered about, never to be retrieved…without the will to change…and the will to love… “Don’t you ever do that to me!” He growled. “Do you have any IDEA what they’d do to you if you were me?! I wouldn’t just go to jail, I’d be perpetually tortured!”
    “Fine.” She breathed, releasing her anger in a single breath. She looked up to him, her eyes cloudy with sorrow. “How could you…?” She choked on her words even as she said them. “I…” Kiba stopped. “I had…issues back then…I was angry…and he was the easiest target. I never knew that it would end up like that, we can’t even stay in the same room for long…” He stated mournfully. “Where is he?” She questioned the man before her she thought she once knew… “In the living room, asleep on the couch.” He cocked his head toward her destination. “May I tag along?” He whispered, knowing that he was about to tread on dangerous ground. Eve staggered into the living room, nodding as she left.
    It was a sickening sight to see the damage he had left behind. How he himself had inflicted so much damage upon one person. How he had royally done in a potential friend. The true Gabriel, the one that lay upon the couch, possessed the same pale complexion as his sister…his mother too. Dark silver hair gently fell in cascading curls around his round face. He was so angelic, but that beauty was crudely interrupted by a painfully long scar. Blood-red and stretched, it consumed the entirety of his face. He was no longer…human…it seemed. Kiba had to look away from the boy that he had tortured so long ago… The pain on the on the other end was just as bad…
    A single tear fell onto the fallen angel’s face before her. She had seen through his eyes, she had lived through the experience. She knew his pain. That same urge she had felt earlier returned with a new fire. She had to touch…she had to see… It was unclear to Eve why this man’s deformity intrigued her so…all she knew was that the feeling would go away. She lightly touched his ailment only to jump out of her skin. “Aaah! Stop!” He recoiled, pleading…screaming for relief of the horror the haunts him into the only place where he can escape reality. Kiba flinched…nothing could’ve hurt worse than that. Eve’s throat ached, she knew that fear…she knew that plea. “Gabriel! Gabriel! Wake up! …It’s over…” She cried, desperately trying to wake him. “Wha? What?!” Gabriel jumped. “…Eve…? I-it’s over?” He sighed contently, smiling up at her. “It’s over! It’s over…”
    “Yeah… I’ll make sure that won’t happen again…” Eve glanced at Kiba’s contorted expression. Her blood ran cold at the thought of how he might be feeling right now.
    Mary Weather opened the door only to see three people staring at her…she didn’t need that. She had just gotten over her tears. “So? How did it go, MaryAnn?” Kiba probed her gently. “Yeah, what happened?” Gabriel and Genevieve said in unison. She sniffed a reply. “Nothing. It was a waste of time going over to his house. Now I know what a monster he really is… He left mother, married a girl who’s a little over my age, and disowned his children and denied us our money!”
    “Sounds like a mid-life crisis to me…” Eve interjected thoughtfully.
    “Thank you. That’s really what I wanted to hear…” Mary said sarcastically, putting emphasis on the really and the wanted. “I only came here to tell you I was okay. I’m gonna go…somewhere…” She choked on her few last words as tears overcame her ability to do much else. “See ya.” She waved half-heartedly, closing the door behind her.
    Once outside, she could release her disappointments and her fears and sorrows in one single song. It was her way of coping. “Sometimes life seems to quiet into paralyzing silence, like the moonless dark…meant to make me strong… Familiar breaths of my old life…change the color in my eyes… Soon he will perforate the fabric of the peaceful flyin’ by… Sorrow last through this night…I’ll take this piece of you, and hold through all eternity… For just one second I felt whole…as you flew right through me…” Sorrow. Her song, it seemed. She loved the song so much…she slept to it. Her song. Her way to cope. Her saving grace…her isolation was fading…
    “She really seemed tore up about her father…” Kiba commented.
    “Yeah, well, she’s like that. She is the type of person to deal with things on her own. She will be fine.” Eve confidently filled the men in on her famous intuition. “Okay, Eve…” Kiba laughed, rolling his eyes. Still, he knew she was right, as many years he spent living with MaryAnn, he should know… “Eve.” Kiba said solemnly. “Will you stay by my side, knowing what had passed between Gabriel and me?”
    “Somehow I just knew you were going to ask me that…” she smiled briefly before locking her gaze with his. “Kiba, I think I love you, but why would I jump into a relationship with someone I barely know?”
    “I can respect that.” He nodded in agreement. “I’ll try to be honest.”
    “As will I…” Eve flashed a smile. Everything would work itself out…in time.
    Mary stifled a sob. Nothing would go her way. Everything used to…but that was when she would pretend. She could…would no longer continue doing that. She had to face the fact that her father took evasive action when mother’s health went down south… That he ran away at the first sign of trouble in their relationship. You had to wonder, how many families are ruined when people walk away. How many children are scared for life once they figure out that their father or mother won’t come back. She had let herself roam into the village. Wow... I haven’t been here since Christmas with Genevieve! They had went to the small town and bought each other gifts… Say…I remember what Eve gave me! MaryAnn pulled a delicate platinum chain with a heart-shaped locket. “She told me to place the pictures of the people I love the most, so I will never be alone… A constant reminder that people love me, and I am never alone…” She recited perfectly. Her eyes filled with tears once more as the notion sank in… “I’m loved… I’ll never have to deal with things on my own… I’m loved!” She cried joyously, bouncing from foot to foot because of the sheer excitement. “Mother…” She stopped, dazed and venerable. She had never been so unguarded… “Mother!” Then it clicked. Her mother wouldn’t be able to stay in this world much longer… She needed to see her now.
    Mary burst through the hospital doors. She grabbed a nurse and screamed an order of: “What room is Leia Hunter in?” When she didn’t reply quickly enough, MaryAnn shook her vigorously. “WHERE?”
    “Um…I…uh…” The girl murmured.
    Mary Weather’s nose flared and she shot a deadly glare at the poor woman. Fear traveled through the core of the girl held captive by this new stranger. “428B Level 3” She stammered. Mary released her, smiling brightly. “Thank you!” She raced down the aisles, pushing everybody healthy out of the way. This visit was long overdue… She paused at room 428B, her mother’s room… She pushed open the door, “Mother?” she asked meekly, looking ‘round the room. A slender woman sat upon the bed. “Gabriel?” She inquired, pushing herself upright. “No… It’s me…Mary weather Ann…” She said softly, humbled by the emotion pouring out of her. That was just fine to her… She didn’t care if she was crying, that was something Mary was accustomed to. “MaryAnn?!” Leia beamed, raising herself out of the bed.
    “Yes…!” Mary said tearfully.
    “Come here, child!” She held out her arms, anticipating the long overdue embrace. “I thought you’d never come! I love you dear…”
    “Oh, momma!” Mary cried, throwing herself into her mother's arms, and into the embrace that would forever change her life.

    Love…is a word that no human can really wrap their minds around… none can really tell you the true definition, although some claim to know… The heart is said to feel love…people willingly “give” their hearts away because of it… Hearts break, shred, tear, petrify, and even sing, yet they all remain within our chest cavity… The mind protects the heart and the soul from the very things that it knows will hurt them, so in theory… the mind is our heart in a way; it is the one that makes us feel the way we do about a person… it will also isolate the being from facing their worst fears… All people share the ability to love one another… Everyone also has the ability to shut themselves out from the world. Love will coax them out of their hermit state, showing them the true light of day. Love is pure. Love tells no lies…and love will always fade the isolation of the isolated…