Ending ELE (ELE Series) (28 page)

Erik gets up from the bench and Virginia pats the seat next to her.
Both Tony and I move to sit on each side of her. She tells us to link arms, which we do.

“
Now, take a deep breath, Willow, and try to remember a time when your mother would have been by herself. It’s often easier that way. If not, any good memory will do. I need you to focus on her. Clear your mind of anything else. Pretty soon, you’re going to see a white light out of the corner of your eye. You are going to mentally move towards it. Let me know when you see it,” Virginia says in a slow and calm voice, much like a hypnotists.

I concentrate on my mother.
It’s not hard at all to remember her smile and loving heart. I focus on a memory that’s more recent since Tony will be with me. I want him to be able to interact with my mother as well. I focus on the time back when we came out of the shelter. I was put in a room to rest and my mother was with me, so was Tony and Mr. Leroy—I mean Lee.

My mother had yelled at
Lee to leave the room and then it was just the three of us. I figured I had a better chance for my mother to communicate with me after I told her about my multiple abilities. We didn’t get a whole lot of alone time after that.

I focus on the way she held my hand as she listened to me talk about what was happening inside the shelter
—and then I see it—the white light that lines the edge of my vision. I mentally move towards it. It takes me a moment to do so, but when I finally figure out how, it goes quickly.

“
Okay, I’m there,” I tell Victoria. I feel her faintly squeeze my arm. “Good girl. Now just follow that through and then, well, it’s hard to explain, you’ll materialize into the scene and everything around you and your mother will disappear.”

I keep my focus on the light and follow it through.
At the end of the light, I see the drab color of the hotel walls come into view. I then see my mother sitting on the bed, holding my hand in hers. It’s very weird to see yourself in third person. I also see Tony standing nearby, looking as handsome as ever and slightly younger. We reach the room in full view and everything but my mother disappears, the background becoming a hazy white. It takes a moment for my mother’s attention to deviate from the old me on the bed. Tears spring to my eyes as she turns her attention to me.

“
Talk to her, but don’t startle her,” Virginia says.

I look to my left and find her sitting next to me in the vision.
Tony sits to my right. I turn my attention back to my mother as she squints her eyes at me. I guess trying to see if what she’s seeing is real.

“
Mom,” I say, my voice breaking, being so overcome with emotion. “Mom, it’s me, Willow.” I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Mom, I know this is hard to understand but we’re from the future. One of the gifts I get much later on is the gift of traveling through time.”

I watch her face as she processes this information.
“If you’re from the future, then why are you coming to see me? Why not just talk to the present me?” she asks curiously.

I think about this for a
moment, not knowing if I can disclose the fact that she is no longer with us. “Mom, I can’t tell you that. But if you’re having a hard time with this, ask me a question. Ask me a question that no one else would know in a million years but me.”

She thinks about this for a moment and then a smile comes to her face.
“Tell me about the first time you lost a tooth.”

I return her smile as I retell the story.
“I lost it while eating noodles. I was so surprised when it fell out onto my plate. At first, I screamed and then I was jumping up and down. You told me the story about the tooth fairy and mine was named Glenda. Then you asked me what I wanted Glenda to bring me for losing my very first tooth. I told you beef jerky and you laughed but said okay. I remember waking up the next morning with a paper bag of jerky and five dollars. I thought I had won the lottery.” I smile at her and she smiles back.

A moment passes before I ask her,
“Mom, can I give you a hug now?”

She opens her arms to me and I waste no time wrapping my arms around her.
I hold her tight, never wanting to let go. I’ve wished for a moment like this for so long. But now that it’s here, I wish for a million more just like it.

She rubs my hair as I cry onto her shoulder.
“It’s okay, sweet girl. I’m right here.”

Eventually I let her go, but not without
tremendous effort on my part. I look into her eyes. I had almost forgotten about Tony and Virginia being with me. I look to Tony and my mom follows my line of sight.

“
Anthony, it’s nice to see you as well. You’re still as handsome and strong as ever I see.”

H
e gives her a soft laugh. “Yes ma’am.”

She pulls him in for a hug;
I guess their formalities of before are thrown out the window.

After they
’ve had their greeting, she says to me, “And this one, I’m not sure if I know…”

I turn to Virginia.
“Mom, this is Virginia. She is here with me because this was my first time using this gift and she wanted to make sure everything went smoothly.”

My mother holds her hand out to Virginia and she envelopes it with both of her hands.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Virginia says sweetly. My mother smiles back at her.

Virginia says to me,
“We should probably be getting back soon. We can’t stay in the past for very long.”

My heart plummets in my chest.
I can’t leave her again—I just found her. I swallow back the tears that threaten to tumble down my face and turn back to my mother.

“
Mom, I just want to let you know how much I love you and that everything is going to be okay.” I swallow hard and my mother gives me another hug.

When we pull away, I notice that Tony and Virginia are not in the room anymore.
It’s just my mom and me.

“
I got married today, Mom,” I say to her, still unsure if that’s too much information to divulge.

My mother puts her hand to her mouth in surprise.

“
I can’t tell you who,” I say, knowing that is the question she wants to ask the most, “but I know that you’d approve. Dad certainly does,” I say.

I can see her eyes dance at the mention of my father
—her husband.

“
There’s so much more that I want to tell you but I can’t—or I’m not supposed to. It can apparently change the whole time-continuum and all.”

She nods her head in
confused understanding and takes my hands in hers, the feeling so familiar yet so foreign. “He’s one lucky man. Just be sure he treats you well.” Her motherly advice, however simple, makes my heart soar. I had missed her so much in the preparations for the wedding. I am just so grateful that I can see her now, on my wedding night. This day is officially complete now.

I realize that our time is coming to an end.
With the difficulty of walking through quick sand, I start to say my final goodbyes. “Mom, I just wanted to let you know how much I love you and how thankful I am that you’re my mother,” I say, careful not to reveal something I may regret. “I have to go now. Thanks for taking care of me.”

She smiles at me.
“Always.” She still seems surprised by the whole visit, which makes sense since I’m lying in a bed in the same room. For me, I haven’t seen her in ages. For her, she hasn’t even left my bedside.

“
Oh, and don’t tell my present self in the bed about this. I may—no, I
will
get freaked out and won’t be ready to hear it.”

She gives me a small laugh.
“Not to worry, your secret is safe with me,”

“
Thanks, Mom,” I say, and I believe her.

With a heavy
heart, I let her hands go and say goodbye.
I’ll see you again soon
, I think to myself.
In heaven, where I’ll never have to say goodbye.
And with that, the vision dissipates and I’m back on the bench, but this time by myself. I look up to find tears in Virginia and Tony’s eyes.

“
Thank you,” I say to them. It goes unmentioned that the thank you is for the few private minutes they allotted me with my mother. I dry off my tears and Tony helps me to my feet. I embrace Virginia in a hug and thank her profusely. I thank Erik the same and they go off to leave Tony and me alone.

“
That had to be the best present anyone could have ever given me,” I say to him aloud.

He smiles and wipes another tear that escaped my eye.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says to me in that deep, intimate voice of his.

I blush and my head drops.
He never ceases to leave me speechless.

“
Are you ready to go cut the cake?” he asks.

I smile back up at him.
“Absolutely.”

***

Claire and Connor are waiting next to the cakes. The bridal cake is gorgeous with three tiers of red-velvet cake with buttercream icing. The groom’s cake is all chocolate and has the look of a white tux detailed in white chocolate on the top. They both look so pretty I kind of despise the thought of cutting into them. Then I come to my senses and grab the cake-cutting knife.

“
Make sure you cut from the top,” Connor says before he snaps his two fingers. I look over to see Alec on the other side of the room, dimming the lights. I get confused as to why they had to do it but just go with it.

Everyone gathers around to watch us cut the cake.
We make the first slice together and I wipe the icing from my finger on his nose. He laughs and wipes it off with a napkin. Both of us cut a piece of each of our cakes, the brides and grooms, and get a forkful.

Connor
excitedly interjects, “Don’t forget the time honored tradition of feeding the other the first piece!”

I laugh at his energy and nod my head in understanding.
I think he’s more excited about the cake than we are
, I think to myself.

Turning my attention back to
Tony, I pick up a bite for him and he does the same for me. We both open wide and accept the other’s morsel.

Mmmm, chocolate
, I think. It’s so velvety and smooth. I could probably eat that entire cake in one sitting, so long as no one watched me.

Tony
, on the other hand, has the most disgusted look on his face as he chews his cake. It doesn’t take him two seconds before he spits out what I gave him on the ground.

My face goes white at his brashness.
What on earth…? But before I can form a thought, he pipes in in my head,
“That’s not cake—that’s pickled beets!”

I put my hand over my mouth but bust out laughing anyway.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what just happened.

I look over to
Connor, who is laughing hysterically. “I told you I’d get you back!” he yells.

Seeing the look on Tony
’s face, Connor bolts in the opposite direction. Tony jumps over the entire table and takes off after him. Connor doesn’t get far with Tony’s speed to his advantage, before he’s tackled to the ground, getting a fistful of ‘cake’ shoved in his mouth.

Claire saunters over next to me.

“
Did you know he was going to do that?” I asked her comically while watching the boys wrestle each other.

Claire just shakes her head.
“Nope.”

We can
’t suppress the laughter anymore. I give her a hug and we laugh in each other’s arms. “Thanks for being the best friend anyone could ever ask for, Claire Bear,” I tell her when I calm down enough to talk.

She squeezes me even harder.
“Dido, super woman.”

~The End~

Eye colors and the abilities they correlate to:

Dark Green
- Ability to read minds and hear thoughts. (Willow’s first gift. Willow’s original eye color: brown. Willow also absorbs other people’s gifts when she is around them for a certain period of time. They still don’t know how this is possible but some believe it’s because she has a bit of Reaper in her. However, there is one major difference between Willow and a Reaper: Willow is still in touch with her humanity.)

Dark Blue
- Ability to heal. (Alec’s gift. Alec’s original eye color: Emerald Green)

Hazel-yellow/green
- Ability to compel people and make them do or believe what you tell them. (Zack’s gift. Zack’s original eye color: light brown)

Purple
- Ability to turn invisible (Claire’s gift. Claire’s original eye color: icy blue)

Brown
- Ability to change molecular structure and walk or pass through objects. (Connor’s gift. Connor’s original eye color- black)