Beautiful Souls (39 page)

    
              “Bec, listen to me. I know that a lot of what we deal with because of who we are…what we were born into…it’s not fair. You’re right about that. But no matter what has happened, or whatever will happen, I wouldn’t take any of it back.”

    
              “How can you say that?”

    
              “This is our destiny and I wouldn’t change anything even if I could. My mom wouldn’t want me to. She wouldn’t want either of us risking our lives or safety by second guessing our actions and decisions. I’ve come to terms with that now, and I’m ready to get on with my life…our lives.”

    
              My tears slowed. “This wasn’t your plan.”

    
              “No, it wasn’t, but it’s my plan now. Maybe this is how it’s supposed to be.”

    
              “How what is supposed to be?”

    
              “We get to spend our senior years together now, train each other, better each other, fight our battles together, and celebrate our victories together…and now we can cheat off each other on our tests, too.” Leo winked.

    
              I giggled, wiping my runny nose. “You mean you’ll cheat off me.”

    
              “Like I said,” he smirked. “We’ll have the summer to spend together now instead of me spending it two hours away at football camp. We’ll be able to spend our final year of high school together then head off for college next year together, too. You see? Everything is working out, and whatever doesn’t fit then we’ll take it as it comes and make it work. We’ll figure it all out as we go. We’ll make it work, Bec. Everything is fine now, really. We have each other.” Leo intertwined my fingers with his, letting our hands rest in my lap.

    
              “We have each other,” I repeated. “Always and forever.”

    
              “Forever and ever, babe.”

The bus pulled into the amusement park’s parking lot about an hour later. I couldn’t sleep any more after our talk, so I’d spent the rest of our trip reading the book I had thrown into my bag yesterday as an afterthought when packing my After-Prom bag.

    
              Leo had spent the same remaining hour writing messages such as: NERD, BOOKWORM, GEEK, and I LOVE U with his finger on the foggy window next to his seat, then magically transferred the messages from the window onto the pages of my book. Each time I’d turned a page, a new message had been waiting for me.

    
              I paid Leo back for the
‘NERD’
remarks with punches to his arm and with a kiss for the
‘I LOVE U’
.

    
              The bus stopped in it’s parking place, still a great distance from the main gates of the park. The engine turning off awakened most of the passengers from their slumber, and we all filtered out of the bus, single-file, into the bright, streaming rays of morning sunshine.

    
              Thankfully, we had lucked out with the weather this weekend. Temperatures during the month of April in Indiana and Ohio could range anywhere from a freezing thirty-degree day with snow --- not quite normal but not at all rare --- to eighty degrees without a single cloud in the sky.

    
              We had gotten lucky today with a balmy, breezy eighty-two degree day; perfect because the park had just opened up their water slides the previous weekend. When the sun was at it’s highest and hottest, we’d be hitting the waterslides for sure.

    
              Leo and I met up with Emmy and Will just past the entrance in front of the elongated pool of fountains. A park worker, holding a very large obtrusive camera, pushed the four of us together in front of the fountain pool, snapped our photo before any of us had even known what was happening, handed us a card to go view our souvenir at the photo booth, then moved on to another unsuspecting group of visitors before the four of us had even processed what had just happened.

    
              My creepy-factor senses had begun tingling the back of my neck, almost as if we were all being watched. I chalked it up to the so-called photographer taking me by surprise. I decided to ignore the feeling, letting go of the sensation crawling up the back of my neck, and concentrated on sharing a great day with Leo, Emmy, and Will.

    
              The four of us stalked off toward The Monster, Will still half asleep.

    
              The Monster was one of the world’s longest wooden rollercoasters, and it had always been our tradition to ride it first before the line reached a two-hour wait. We made our way through, and approximately thirty to forty minutes later we had finally moved up to the front. Hitting this ride first thing in the morning had definitely paid off, at least when it came to our wait time.

    
              While Emmy chattered on lively, filling the air with more than enough words to compensate for the rest of us, Leo and I remained relatively quiet.

    
              “Something doesn’t feel right,” I spoke closely to Leo, as to not be overheard. Just as planned, the rumble of the incoming rollercoaster had muffled my words.

    
              “I think we’re being watched. I feel it, too,” Leo responded, as we climbed into the front car of The Monster.  Will and Emmy followed, filing into the car just behind us.

    
              The attendant walked up and down the isle, securing our safety restraints before I could think twice about getting off the ride. With a loud clank of the gears, the coaster lurched forward.

    
              Vibrations rang out, filling my senses, as our car caught hold of the well-oiled chains and we were yanked upward one ungentle tug at a time until we reached the peak of the first, giant, wooden hill.

    
              “Do you think it’s a Wizard?” I asked Leo over the clanking of the chains working overtime beneath our car.

    
              “I don’t know, but probably.” Leo sat very still.

    
              My eyes darted wildly, attempting to find any part of our surroundings that appeared to be remotely off-kilter.

    
              “Be still and act normal,” Leo instructed. “Don’t do anything out of the ordinary. We don’t want to tip whoever it is off that we’re aware of being watched. I want to see who’s messing with us and what they want by letting this play out.”

    
              “Is that safe?” I asked, as the rollercoaster crested the top of the first drop. Our car hesitated briefly, teasing us with the impending steep and thrilling fall.

    
              “You definitely know how to defend yourself, babe, and I will never let anyone hurt you. Got it?”

    
              I nodded my head, then we fell.

    
              We fell for what seemed like an entire minute, my stomach sending waves of nausea and butterflies up into my chest and throat. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, sending a queasy, sickening sensation throughout my body.

    
              The coaster finally bottomed out, then it veered sharply to the right, sending us through various levels of turns and spins. I felt dizzy. My eyes couldn’t find our direct path in the spider web of wooden beams and braces.

    
              I heard Emmy’s terrified, fun-filled screams come from behind, filling my ears. The wooden structure of The Monster moaned and creaked from the weight and sheer speed of the coaster while scraping vibrations of metal wheels against metal tracks sent us along our way at a lightening speed.

    
              The darkness of an impending and oncoming wooden tunnel sent a warning tingling up my spine as a chill blew across my worried face. The sudden coldness beat through the flying tendrils of my hair.                    I looked over to Leo. “I don’t like this. Something’s wrong.”

   
              “I know, just hang on.”

    
              My hands gripped the safety bar even tighter than before, causing my knuckles to whiten.

    
              We flew through the entrance to the dark, wooden tunnel at an incredible speed. The blackness instantly consumed everything. I attempted the impossible task of refocusing and acclimating my eyesight to the thick overwhelming darkness with no success.

    
              My grip on the safety bar remained firm. I held on as if my life depended on it when I felt fingers scrap along my collarbone. A pull tugged at my neck, attempting to strangle the breath from my throat as the coaster rushed onward through the shadows of the tunnel.

    
              The pull --- more like a tight, choking grip --- intensified as we sped forward until I felt it spring apart, releasing the deadly strangle hold around my throat.

    
              I placed one hand around my neck, coughed and choked till my lungs refilled themselves with enough oxygen to breathe at a somewhat normal rhythm, but I had never once let go of the safety bar with my remaining white-knuckled hand.

    
              Something was definitely out of place, wrong, missing. I couldn’t figure it out. I no longer felt the same; a part of me was missing, or so it seemed. I felt weaker, forlorn, desolate, and empty. The feelings were somehow familiar, reminiscent of my days before I had been enlightened of the existence of my gifts, of who I was --- am; the mundane days before I knew that I was a Natural.

    
              The coaster whirled around another bend, rocketed forward a few hundred feet, then came to a jerky halt back where the ride had first begun.

    
              One hand still clasped around the safety bar barely set itself free as the metal rod buzzed and jumped, releasing us from our seats, while the other hand still remained clenched at my throat. I looked to Leo for answers. He stared at me, unblinking and awe-stricken.

    
              “Leo?”

    
              “It’s gone,” he spoke quietly still staring at me.

    
              “What’s gone,” I whispered, panic-stricken.

    
              Leo sat motionless, giving no answer to my question.

    
              “Leo? You’re scaring me. What just happened?”

    
              I could hear all of the other riders shuffling around us; riders exited their seats as the new riders boarded. Inconsequential chatter resounded all around us while the chains beneath our seats clattered with the constant tugging of the machine mechanisms, waiting to speed forward yet again.

    
              “It’s gone, Becca,” Leo grabbed my wrist and yanked it away from its semi-permanent home on my neck. “Your necklace…it’s gone.” Leo spoke so quietly, obviously contemplating the gravity of what had just happened.

    
              “What?” I yelled, anxiously grappling every inch of skin near my neck, feeling around the bare area in total panic.

    
              “What happened back there?”

    
              “In the tunnel!” I shouted, realizing now what the strangling sensation must have been. “Someone got to it when we went through the tunnel.”

    
              “Come on you two,” Emmy said. “Which ride’s next?”

    
              “Yeah, man, get movin’. You two already had your turn,” voiced the angry guy next in line for our seats.

    
              Leo grabbed my hand and dragged me hastily from my seat. “Will, we’ll meet you and Emmy in an hour at the water park over by the wave machine. Bec and I are gonna take off on our own for a little while.”

    
              Will had his hands in his jean pockets and shrugged his shoulders, “No problem. We’ll see you guys later.”

    
              I heard Emmy ask Will as they walked off
“what’s going on?”,
then she simply turned to me and waved an uncertain goodbye.