Chapter Eight

The next day I was awakened by the sounds of screaming children. My eyes peeled themselves open, and my senses were assaulted. I could smell meat cooking, hear little yells of delight and happiness, and I could feel a big warm mass next to me. 

I rolled my head over, and looked into the sleeping face of Larkin. He looked so gorgeous and peaceful, like he would never have another worry in his life. I picked my hand up and began drawing circles on his smooth face. After a minute he began stirring and I saw his eyes slowly opening. I leaned forward and began gently kissing his face.

    I met his smile with one of my own as I caught sight of those blue eyes that had entranced me from day one.

    "Good morning." He whispered, leaning forward for a kiss. "How long have you been awake?"

    "Since your siblings have been running around screaming."

    "So… forever?" He smiles, and kisses my nose. "You're so beautiful." 

We lay there for a few minutes, whispering to each other, kissing each other's faces gently, just enjoying each other. I had been through hell to get to him, and it felt silly to not appreciate the little things, like waking up next to each other. 

    Eventually his siblings began pounding on his door, demanding his attention and help with the cows.

    "Are you going to help me today?" He asks as he sits up in his bed and crawls over me to sit on the edge. He grabs a shirt of the floor and pulls it over his head and I sigh a little at the disappearance of his amazing body.

    "Help you with what?" I too sit up, and he hands me my clothes. I think he senses my hesitation, because he pretends to look for something on the floor while I get dressed. Even though we just shared the literal most personal experience you can share with another person, I still felt weird about him seeing me naked in the daytime. I'm grateful he understands me. 

"Well, the kids are supposed to milk the cows and collect eggs every day but they usually do a pretty shitty job of it. Plus, I kind of want to show you around." I nod, and we both stand up. I feel a little silly, staring up at him. But he makes me giggle when he wraps me in a bear hug and plants a wet kiss on my forehead.

"First, breakfast." 

After a semi tense breakfast of runny eggs and meat with lots of overly excited kids and Larkin's bitch mother, we head out into the morning air. It felt weird to not know the time, but if I had to guess I'd say it was eight. 

"So, where are we going?" I ask as we walk outside. At least four other kids follow, running ahead of us, swinging around buckets and baskets and playing some made up game with no rules. 

"The barn. It's only a half mile that way," He says, pointing. 

    If it was possible, I think Larkin's home looked prettier during the day. The sun was clear and bright, the air, cool and crisp. I could tell fall was around the corner. But the sun still felt warm on my face, and I breathed in deeply. There was no smell of car pollution, no busy city sounds or sights. There was no stress. 

    Just Larkin and I (and his dozen siblings) walking through tall grass with dandelion fuzz floating in our faces. 

    "What are you thinking about?" Asks Larkin. I look to his face, and I can see his curiously blue eyes watching me.

"Just… admiring this place." I say, sighing again. "I can't believe I never knew this place existed." I whispered, staring at the baby blue sky.

"I can't believe I never knew about you." I look to Larkin, who is staring at me like I was a delicate ice sculpture. 

    "I'm going to miss it when I'm gone." I say, continuing walking. I can see his siblings are getting a lot farther ahead of us, and realize how much I'm day dreaming.

"Wait…" Larkin stops, and I stop too, turning around. "What do you mean when you're gone?"

I scoff, "Well I have a home, Larkin. I have a job, I have dreams about going to school, I have a mother and a dog and a house. Did you think I would just leave everything behind forever?" I stare at his face, searching for an answer. He looks angry, and a little hurt. "Would you really leave behind everything here for a stranger?" He visibly flinches, and practically spits out the next words. 

"No, not for a stranger. But for you, yes."

I sigh, and seeing his hurt face makes me immediately regret my words. "That's not what I meant, Larkin." I reach for him, but he yanks away and begins walking quickly away from me.

"I know what you meant. I mean nothing to you." And he takes off, chasing after his siblings. I stand there, feeling confused and slightly rejected. 

"Okay…" I say out loud with a heavy sigh.

    Since I don't really know the way to the barn, or really feel like dealing with Larkin right now, I turn around to head back to his house. I stop for a moment and puff up my cheeks. It's either dealing with Larkin, or his mother.

    But right now I'm so frustrated and confused that I actually pick his Mother and begin making my way back.

    "Larkin?" I hear his mother call out as I enter the house a few minutes later.

I appear in the kitchen, where she is on her knees scrubbing at the blood stained floor with a clump of what looks like steel wool. She looks up, and her cheeks are pink and a strand of hair falls in her face. She looks a little beautiful. 

"Oh, it's you." She scans me up and down, and goes back to scrubbing. "Why aren't you with Larkin?" She asks, although I doubt she's actually interested. 

    I shrug, and take a seat at the table, hugging my leg to my chest. "I want to talk to you."

"About?" 

"Well… first of all, why do you hate me so much?" She stops, and sits back on her knees, staring at me.

"Hate, is a strong word. But to be truthful, I don't trust you." I cock my head at her, prompting her to continue. "I think you and Larkin are rushing into things, and I think you're both going to get hurt. I think you don't know enough about this land, the people and stories in it, or about Larkin to know if you belong here. I think you left home for a boy you barely know, and I think that's silly." I nod, but don't speak. " I want Larkin to have everything, including an epic love, and I think, no, I know, you are not the one he's going to be with for the rest of his life. I think you are just a phase." She huffs, and returns to scrubbing the floor. 

    "Why don't you think I belong with him?" I ask, my heart feeling heavy.

"There are stories, there are legends. And I chose to believe they have some truth laced in them." I nod, and stand up. I say nothing, just walk out the front door. 

    Outside, I close my eyes, and I breath. I feel the feel of sharp morning air burning my lungs, I smell the woods and the grass and the flowers. I listen to the birds and the bugs buzzing around. 

"How could you toss our daughter out like that? And with the knowledge of what could happen?" Comes a familiar voice.

"No, no, no. I simply told her if she left she wasn't coming back. Which is true because I knew if she found that place she wouldn't want to come back." It's my mother speaking. She's standing in the kitchen, facing me and talking to a man, who I cannot see because he's facing away. My mother looks disheveled, worried, and panicked. 

"You should have called me sooner. It would have been easier to get her to stay than to bring her back." The man shook his head. His voice… it sounded so familiar. 

It sounded like the voice that used to read me stories when I was bored on weekend nights. 

The voice that gently woke me up for school. 

That told me I was his baby bear.

"Dad…?" I whispered. Suddenly the man whipped around, as though he had heard me. He didn't look at me, but his eyes were searching almost right through me.

"Dee is here." He says to my mother, whose eyes are wide and searching as well.

"How? I'm not dreaming?" She asks, stepping forward closer to him.

"She's more powerful than I ever thought she would be." He mutters, more of talking to himself than to my mother. The fact that my mother and him both knew I had powers made me burn with rage.

"Dee, I need you to listen to me." He says into what looks like empty air to him. He's aged some, he's got crows feet around his eyes and smile lines. But I can still recognize those almond shaped eyes and that tuft of light brown hair.

"You look old, Dad." I say jokingly. He chuckles, and I can tears in his eyes. 

"Dee, please come home. Your mother is worried about you."

"She's the one who sent me away." I spit out, the betrayal still fresh.

"Dee…." He sighs, rubbing his temples like he used to do.

"Delilah?" 

I hear Larkin saying my name in real life, and I think my dad does too because his eyes grow tight and panicked.

"I have to go." I say, and turn away. 

"I will come for you, Dee." Says my father before I wake up.

"Delilah are you okay?" Larkin's strong hands are shaking my shoulders slightly, and an earthy smell is coming off of him. 

    My eyes snap open, and  realize I zoned out in the middle of Larkin's front yard. He is staring at me with wild eyes, filled with worry. His mother is behind me, pressing her hand to her mouth and scrunching up her eyebrows.

My father is alive.

I think about how that could be. 

He was dead? 

I can't focus on the questions Larkin is asking me. All I can think about is my father.

I think about his closed casket funeral. I mean, supposedly he died of a heart attack, so why would it be closed casket? I don't think I ever really saw him when he was "dead." And he always seemed healthy to me. He was always going on runs and we were always going adventuring in the park trails.

    I was only a child when he "died." How could he leave us? 

"Delilah, your heart is racing." I look into Larkin's worried eyes. 

"My father died when I was a child." I say, looking away from him. "And I just had some sort of weird dream about him talking to my mother right now. But… it wasn't a dream? Even my mother was confused because she said she wasn't sleeping. Which pisses me the fuck off that she knew about my powers... " I shake my head, trying to focus.

I look back at Larkin, whose eyes have wandered from me and are meeting with his mother's.

"What does this mean, Larkin?" 

"It means we need to get to the elders. I have no answers for you anymore." And then he's brushing past me to his mother. He turns back to me one last time,. "Please, go inside, Delilah. I must speak to my mother." I nod and go inside, although I feel slightly annoyed about being left out of the conversation that is about me. I stand in the middle of the kitchen, my mind racing.

"Ik moet haar naar de oudsten krijgen, ze droomt in de gedachten van mensen als ze niet in slaap zijn." I cock my head towards the door, trying to understand. I know it's no use though. They're literally speaking an entire different language.

    I feel frustration bubbling up inside me. All around me, people talk about me like I wasn't right there, like I didn't matter. Like the fact that I had no idea what was going on with me was irrelevant. First with my mother telling me if I went to get answers I wasn't allowed back, and years ago with my father making the choice that I didn't need a father anymore and running off to do god knows what. And Larkin and his bitchy mother were discussing me while I sat in the next room waiting like a good dog to be led to some old people who supposedly had answers. They would probably take one look at me and do the exact same thing.

I was starting to think I was going to have to get answers myself I didn't want them laced with lies and manipulation.