A Unique Kind of Love (27 page)

Annabelle took a deep breath and continued. I could see how hard this was to say.

“On our graduation night, it was also his birthday. There was a huge party and everyone was there. Leo had gotten completely drunk. I wasn’t completely aware of my actions, because I was a little tipsy. He took my arm and dragged me to his bedroom. We started kissing, but he went too far. When I pushed him away, he got mad. I didn’t want to… you know. And I told him. He suddenly started uncontrollably hitting me, slapping me. That’s when Adam came in and got him off. A couple of weeks later, Leo went back to America and I never saw him again.”

By now, she was fully crying. I offered her a tissue from the box that was on the table. She gladly took it and wiped her tears away. I took my phone and tapped a few buttons and showed them to her. She smiled a little upon seeing them.

“
I’m sorry for everything that happened. He’s nothing but a complete asshole for hurting you that way. He doesn’t deserve such an amazing person like you.”

“Thank you, Liam. You’re truly the best cousin in the world, no; you’re like a brother to me. And I’m really sorry for everything that happened to Lena. It was all my fault and I’m sincerely sorry,” she said.

“
It’s okay
,” I mouthed, patting her hand.

Belle glanced at the time and frowned. It was 7:00. Well, three hours could pass by like a blow of the wind.

 “I’ve got to go, Mum’s going to kill me if I’m late for dinner.”

Just as she packed her bag and was starting to walk away, she turned to me with compassion in her eyes.

“Aren’t you coming? She hates eating without you.” Her eyes begged me to go.

“I’ll be there,” 
I mouthed, nodding.

“Okay, bye.”

I looked down at Ellie, who was peacefully sleeping in my arms. She was so beautiful, innocent and simply amazing. Her strength was inspiring, for someone her age. In the space of the last couple of months, we’d grown a lot closer.

We spent a lot of time together, other than the babysitting. Sometimes, when it would be snowing outside, we’d go to the park and dance under the snowflakes. It made me happy to see her laugh or smile. I tried to help her family as much as I could. Scarlett needed all the help she could get because of school, a job four days of the week, taking care of her sister and doing everything her mom used to do was too much. Her dad helped, but not as much. He worked a full-time job, trying to drown the sorrow of losing his wife.

From time to time, when Ellie was asleep, she’d wake up crying. She had dreams of her mom and nightmares where “her mom wouldn’t answer her.” It broke my heart to see her like that, but there was nothing I could do than hug her and sing to her. My voice seemed to soothe her and she would sing along. She had a pure personality and I knew that she would grow up to be a strong woman.

I blinked several times to regain focus.  I stood up and got out of the hospital, pushing my thoughts away. I put Ellie in the back seat and buckled her safety belt. As I started the engine, I reached for my pack of cigarettes, but almost immediately refused to take one. I wouldn’t let any smoke infiltrate her lungs.

As I drove, I thought about something.

These days, I realized that there was another reason for my attachment to that little girl.

Serena.

My younger sister, Serena, who died. She was only five. I was the one who could calm her down, other than my mom. I loved seeing her smile or laugh. She was ticklish. At that time, I imagined an older version of myself threatening boys to take care of her and to never hurt her. I was excited for her to grow up. I used to actually 
look forward 
into having silly fights with her. Because hey, that’s what siblings do, right?

Stop thinking about her.

A single tear ran down my cheek.

I lost my sister for a birthday gift.

I lost my parents in an airplane.

I murdered them.

I killed them.

It was all my fault.

The words resonated in my head, as my heart ached. Another tear escaped my eyelids, but I wiped it away. I didn't want to get into a car accident.

Suddenly I remembered the words Lena had said to me a few months earlier. They were vague, yet so clear in my mind.

“It isn’t your fault. Your mom, your dad, Serena and Grandma Darla are looking down on you right now, guarding you. They will always be in your heart. They wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

I remembered her promise that she’d never leave me.

Oh, how I hoped that promise wouldn’t be broken.

26

Legos and Kisses

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

~
From a Headstone in Ireland~

Liam Christopher Black

February 14th.

Valentine’s Day.

I ran a hand through my hair, perfecting it. Taking a look in the mirror, I smiled a little. I was wearing a new gray sweater that had been lying in my closet for ages now and dark blue jeans. I slid my jacket on, finalizing the look I wanted. My hair had been impeccably combed to look a little messy; I knew Lena liked it better when it was down. She had taken a certain liking to ruffling it and laughing at my frustrated expression while trying to fix it. I found myself smiling at the thought of her.

I remembered buying the bouquet of red roses, her favorite kind of flowers, this afternoon from the florist so I could bring them to her. They were currently in the car though, waiting to be by a certain beautiful girl’s side.

I patted the pocket of my jacket, sensing the 
Tiffany’s 
box. The box held a beautiful necklace with a silver snowflake as its charm. Without a doubt, it was that day with the first snowfall. I could’ve gone with just an ordinary heart charmed necklace, but I chose this one because it reminded me of one of the most memorable days in my life and the day she and I had almost kissed for the first time. That day was the one I’d realized that I liked her. I realized that she could light up my whole world with just one tiny laugh or smile.

I had this tiny speck of hope that maybe; 
just maybe 
she’d wake up today.

You watch too many movies, bro.

Shut up, don’t ruin my mood. And don’t call me bro, I’m 
you, 
idiot.

You do realize you just called yourself an idiot, 
bro.

Ah, sometimes, I had this urge of repetitively banging my head against the wall; my thoughts could get 
really
 annoying.

Even though she was in a coma, I wanted to make her happy and render this day special somehow. All I knew was that if she were awake, she would smile joyfully and hug me. My heart ached at the thought of her, wrapping her arms around me once again, something I’ve missed so much.  I wanted to hold her in my arms, with the feeling of knowing that she was safe and sound. I wanted to listen to her talk to me about her day, or rant about how she was going to ace that test or—

You’re only hurting yourself by thinking about her
, stop.

Unexpectedly, my phone vibrated and started ringing. Ed Sheeran’s voice was blasting in my ears.

“But if I kiss you, will your mouth read this truth, Darling, how I miss you, strawberries taste how lips do, And it's not complete yet, mustn't get our feet wet, cause that leads to regret, diving in too soon, and I’ll owe it all to you oh, my little bird, my little bird.”

Wait a second.

This was Ellie’s house’s ring tone; she would call me from time to time, when she wanted to talk or when she couldn’t sleep. She was the only one who ever called me; the others saw no purpose in doing so since I never actually 
talked
 to them. Whenever Adam, Belle, Catherine or even Tori needed something, they simply texted me. But the thing was, it was 7:45 and it was dark outside. And that I know of, Scarlett was home today. The private high school, she attended had given her vacation today and she refused my offer to take care of Ellie. So it’s abnormal that Ellie’s calling 
now, 
it’s also almost her bed time. It was Tuesday, I had no school because they decided to give us a free day and I was determined to spend the night with Lena. A few extra pillows have been always available and I would just sleep on the chair, by her side.

I took one look at the screen and affirmed my hypothesis upon seeing a smiling picture of Ellie. I pressed the green button and held the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I said expecting Ellie’s smiling voice to talk on the phone.

“LEE-YUM!” exclaimed her voice, but instead of it being bubbly and giggling, worry and fear were written all over it. I furrowed my eyebrows in concern.

“Ellie, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” I heard two hiccups in the background, signaling that she had been crying.

“Scar’s scaring me! She’s not walking properly and she’s screaming weird things!” She sniffled, her voice shaking. I took the keys and turned all the lights off, except one lamp in the living room, which faced the door.

“Okay, calm down. What else?”

“She’s holding a weird bottle and she’s drinking a lot of it and she keeps on crying and saying mean things! She’s also saying bad words, like fu-“

“Okay, okay. Where are you now?” I locked the front door and headed towards the car.

Her voice trembled and I could literally 
feel
 how scared she was. “I’m hiding behind the couch.”

“Is your dad there?” I asked, trying to keep my calm. I started the engine, and was already out of the driveway. The phone was placed on my lap, on speaker mode.

“No, he’s at work.”

“Uh-huh. Ellie? Stay right where you are, love. I’m coming, alright?”

“Okay Lee-yum. Are you going to hang up now?” she questioned and I could see her clutching Mr. Teddy, who, ironically, was her favorite teddy bear.

“No, just stay on the line until I’m there. If anything happens, you tell me.”

“Mhm. Lee-yum?”

“Yeah?” I said, concentrated on the road and mentally cheered at how empty they were at the moment. At this rate, I could reach her house in less than five minutes.

“Will you be my Valentine?” This brought a small smile to my lips. Only Ellie would ask you such a question in the middle of a situation like this.

“I’d love to, you beautiful little girl.” She giggled a little and I immediately felt better knowing that I made her smile. I finally reached her house, and pulled in the driveway. The roses were on the seat beside me, I bit my lip and shook my head a little.

I promise I’ll see you tonight, Lena.

 I took one rose from the bouquet and held it with my left hand. Afterwards, I locked the door and took the phone off speaker.

“Ellie, I’m here,” I said, possessing a bad presentiment about this.

“Good, I’ll open the door for you.”

I opened my mouth to prevent her from doing so, but the dial tone signaled that she’d hung up on me. I walked to the front door and waited, impatiently tapping my foot on the 
Welcome 
carpet. I just hoped everything would turn out to be okay. If my theory was true and Scar was wasted, this could get into a very long night. I knew I couldn’t leave without making sure they were both okay. I might even take Ellie with me for the night.