Me Without You (24 page)

"Brice will be a great company for
shopping," Jervais said, sporting a wide grin in her face. She
clapped her hands together and took a mouthful of her bacon, her
cheeks bulging on their sides.

"No— his credit card will be," Jonah
chimed in and laughed along with Jervais who was choking on her
bacon.

Jonah was tapping Jervais from behind
when they both heard the trademark stiletto steps of their Aunt
Judith heading for the kitchen. Before the two of them can prepare
for their exit, the old woman was already standing just outside the
kitchen looking at them both aghast.

"Good heavens!" Aunt Judith cried out.
"Take that thing off your head!"

Without realizing that Jonah was still
wearing the black scarf, she felt for her head and took it off just
as her Aunt Judith instructed. She rolled it awkwardly in her haste
to get the scarf out of Aunt Judith's sight.

"What's wrong with the scarf, Aunt
Judith?" Jervais asked boldly. "It's fashionable now a
days."

"Fashionable my foot? Not
when I have seen flies everywhere and a dead black moth and a dark
sky. By then, it is no longer
fa-shio-na-ble,
" Aunt Judith uttered
sarcastically. "But a black scarf is a black omen."

Jonah and Jervais both
peered at the open window and saw that the sky was indeed dark.
Although it could mean nothing but a rainfall in the horizon, Jonah
remembered the strange knowing that entered her mind when Hugh gave
her the
habak
. It
was the knowing that something terrible happened or will happen
which echoed within her once again.

Jervais drank the last of her orange
juice and gathered the plates including Jonah's. She placed them on
the sink.

"We're off to Brice's place to give
back the scarf to him, Aunt Judith," Jervais announced.

"Brice?" Aunt Judith asked looking
alarmed. "The black scarf belongs to him?"

"Yes, Aunt Judith!" Jervais
said.

Their Aunt Judith went to stand by the
sink which was near the window and said no more. She looked
outside. She placed one of her hand on top of the counter sink and
tapped once or twice.

Jervais left the kitchen silently. She
looked back at Jonah and motioned for her to get going. Jonah
followed behind her. However, Jonah cast a look at their Aunt
Judith, who turned right at that instant to connect with her
directly in the eyes.

Brice…
Jonah had felt it. She felt the strong presence of Brice right
inside the room. It was so real—like he was just standing right
next to her that she could feel the warmth of his body next to her.
But could a person be in two places at the same time? How can he be
here when he's somewhere out there? Unless, it was his
spirit…because he was —dead!
Jonah
shuddered and hurried along in step with Jervais.

Twenty minutes later, Jervais was
looking for a parking space just outside Brice's apartment. At the
foot of the building, there were about thirty people gathered in
circle.

"What's going on?" Jonah asked. She was
getting nervous by the minute. Still holding the scarf in her hand,
she bit the end of it to keep her from getting into the edge even
more.

Jonah and Jervais were almost in a run
when they finally got out of the car. They went to where the crowd
was and elbowed themselves to see what the fuss was all about. With
much effort, they were able to pull themselves inside the circle.
In front of them was Brice. Fr. Ulysses was kneeling lowly at his
side.

Jonah gave an earsplitting howl when
she saw Brice. He was lying on his back on the ground. His left arm
was behind him looking disfigured. His left leg was curled at an
angle that looked impossible for ordinary reach.

But it was Brice's face which tore at
Jonah's heart. He was obviously in so much pain as he cringed. The
lines on his face were even trembling as he flinched. His eyes were
directed towards the zenith. There was a mixture of what looked
like tears and a little bit of blood falling off towards his
ear.

Jonah threw herself beside Brice.
"Brice!" she cried, allowing her tears to flow freely.

"I hur— so mush!" Brice sputtered.
"God, I hur—"

"Has anyone called 911?" Jonah screamed
out.

"Yer mm—" Brice said. But he stopped
speaking all of a sudden. His breathing also stopped. Even the
pulsating movement in his neck ceased as well.

"Brice?" Jonah uttered in a terrified
voice. "Brice?" she asked one more time.

Nothing…

Without thinking, Jonah put both her
hands above Brice's chest. However, Jervais was quick enough to
take both of Jonah's hands and dragged her away from Brice. Jervais
recognized what Jonah intended to do.

Jonah tried to break away from Jervais'
stronger clasp. She wriggled her hands and kicked the air. At one
point, Jonah knew she had hit Jervais hard on her leg. Then, two
muscular arms held Jonah from behind. Without stopping to resist,
Jonah was nevertheless, helplessly dragged back to where Jervais
parked their car.

It was Hugh who carried her all the way
to the parking lot. Xavier was there too. Jervais joined them in a
little while.

Jervais went directly to Jonah and
hugged her tight. They both cried and cried in each other's arms.
They only stopped when they became too tired and too weak to carry
on.

After a moment's pause though, Jonah's
anger surface."Why did you stop me? I could have healed him," she
lashed out at Jervais.

"And seal your fate in front of these
people?" Jervais answered. She, too, was getting angry. "What were
you thinking? I was trying to protect you from turning yourself
into a circus."

"At the expense of Brice's life,
Jervais?" Jonah asked.

"He would have wanted it, too." Jervais
uttered. "Can you not see him? Do you think he was that selfish not
to protect you?"

"You're wrong! Brice would have wanted
to live," Jonah said and looked towards where Brice was lying. She
broke into a run towards him.

However, Hugh was quicker than Jonah as
he yet held her in place and dragged her back to the car the second
time. Jonah slapped Hugh's hands, hit him by the chest and kicked
his shin.

"Gosh, that had hurt!" Hugh muttered in
his breath. He shoved Jonah towards Xavier, who took her in his
arms.

"Jonah, you can seal your fate as a
healer by giving life to a dying one," Jervais said in between
gritted teeth. "Brice is dead! Can't you see?"

"I could have healed him—" Jonah said
weakly. Encircled in Xavier's arms, Jonah saw a rush of weak,
grayish light coming out from Xavier's body. Then, she sensed her
body weakening and saw Xavier curled up in his bed and crying. He
was talking to himself. The scene was familiar.

Jonah felt like slipping away. Her body
was exhausted. And her thoughts were a jumble of Xavier, the sight
of Brice and a glimpse of the black car just like Rebecca's leaving
the area.

As if a black scarf covered Jonah's
eyes, everything turned dark.

The Secret of the
Earth

Clad in black, each of the Blood
siblings kept to their own. Traditionally, family members huddled
together during funerals. But for the Blood family, they were
seated in different corners during the service. Although, they were
all present during the ceremony, except for Jemmah who was still in
the hospital, nobody really spoke to anybody about anything. Even
Aunt Judith had not spoken to the siblings.

There were only about twenty people or
even lesser who attended the service which was given by Fr.
Ulysses. It was a very solemn and heartwarming service. Even the
priest could not help shed a tear or two in between his homily. Fr.
Ulysses had mentioned that he knew and became close to Brice at one
point.

Jane had given the eulogy which was a
simple remembrance of Brice as a sibling. The speech did not fail
to drive Jonah and Jervais to tears as they both remembered Brice's
funny, childlike and brotherly ways.

When Jonah cast her gaze to where
Jerone and Jenssen were seated, she saw them wiping a tear or two.
Jonah also looked over to where her Aunt Judith was. Even with Aunt
Judith's black attire, nobody would have guessed she was attending
a funeral. Aunt Judith had looked as if it was just a regular day
for her. She was still her stiff self, looking as if she just
wanted the whole thing to be done and over with.

Jonah felt angrier at her Aunt Judith
by the minute. She couldn't help but suspect the old woman was
really involved with the terrible things that were happening
around—from Rebecca Blood's death, to Jemmah's freak accident and
then Brice's death. Although, the police were not ruling out the
possibility of suicide, there was an initial report that Brice was
thrown off the building.

Jonah was more convinced of a foul
play. Not because she had a glimpse of the black car which followed
her and Hugh before she passed out the day Brice died, but also
because of her Aunt Judith's omen and odd behavior. And Brice would
not have tried to commit suicide by jumping off from the third
floor when he could have jumped from the highest
landing.

Worse of all, Jonah felt guilty for not
having saved Brice when perhaps she could have—if indeed she was
the new healer. She still could not understand Jervais' point of
view, no matter what angle she considered. Brice could still have
been saved if she was the new healer and Jervais did not prevent
her.

After the service, Jane had invited the
people to have tea at the mansion. Everybody was dawdling across
the room conversing, paying the Blood family members their respect
and having tea and Jane's little goodies.

The urn that carried Brice's ashes was
placed in a tall table that was beautifully adorned with white
African violets which Brice, himself, grew in his apartment. There
was also a recent photograph of Brice with his pouting lips and a
smile that was about to burst any moment.

Jonah broke out from the crowd and went
nearer the urn. She was carrying the black scarf with her ever
since the service. She neatly placed the scarf near the urn and ran
a finger to outline Brice's face in the photograph.

"Hey," a voice said from behind Jonah.
"How are you holding up?"

Jonah turned around and saw Jervais.
Jonah felt funny because it was the first time a sibling spoke to
her ever since Brice's death.

"Okay," Jonah said.

"About what happened—" Jervais started
to say.

But Jonah cut her off and replied, "I
don't want to talk about it, Jervais!" Then, she turned around to
walk away.

Jervais stopped her by the arm and
said, "I'm sorry! Not for what I did. But that it hurt
you."

Jonah jerked away from Jervais and
moved towards the direction of the door where she saw Xavier and
Hugh entering.

"Hey!" Xavier said, meeting
her.

Hugh just nodded his head in Jonah's
direction. Then, he scanned the room uncomfortably, until his gaze
fell on Brice's urn. Then, as if sensing trouble, he muttered
between his breath, "Uh-oh!"

Both Jonah and Xavier turned to Jane
who was scurrying in their direction. But Hugh stepped in front of
both of them and met Jane before she could approach Jonah and
Xavier.

In a louder than usual voice, Hugh
said, "Ms. Jane, what a lovely speech you did during the service! I
was totally moved." Hearing this, a few people had turned their
attention to Jane.

Although, Jane had a half-frozen smile
on her face with her eyes still on Xavier and Jonah, she politely
returned the compliment, "Thank you, er—are you a friend of
Brice?"

Before Xavier and Jonah could hear
Hugh's reply, they walked towards the door and exited the mansion,
without being noticed. As if in agreement, their feet carried them
towards the woods…to their pond.

Hugh was only able to escape Jane's
interrogation when Jervais joined them and pulled Jane towards
another group of people, introducing her to some of Brice's friends
and colleagues.

Thinking that Xavier used the car to
take Jonah somewhere, Hugh's closest guess would be the Church, he
rounded the back towards the pond to find an easier route
home.

Meanwhile, Jonah and Xavier found an
empty spot near the pond. They sat and continued not to speak to
each other. The day was brighter and hotter than usual. And it did
not help that they were both wearing uncomfortable
clothes.

Xavier took off his jacket and his tie.
He ran a hand through his head, wiping the perspiration away. He
wasn't wearing a bonnet. Thin hair had already started growing and
forming a shadow like a second skin to his scalp. Then, he
unbuttoned his shirt down to his chest. When he moved, Jonah was
able to glimpse the gadget on his chest.

"Does it hurt?" Jonah asked, caressing
her own chest.

"You mean my Port-a-Cath?" Xavier
replied. "It's more uncomfortable in my head. If I don't think
about it, I don't even feel it."