Chapter 28

We drove home silently. I wasn’t completely out of the park. I still had emotion pouring out of me from every pore. Tears welled up in my eyes and I cried as I watched out the window. It was overcast today and fitting to my mood. Rylan said nothing he just let me cry and was there in case I needed him.

                He drove a white authentic Firebird. Well today at least, He was also a fan of cars, much like the Oresons. He had a couple different cars, his favorite was a black bullet bike, but today he drove the car. The clouds above us misted over the car spraying water onto the windshield. The wipers wiped away any residue on the glass. Rylan shifted the car into the different gears, and drove through the winding coastal roads.   

                My hands gripped at my knees as I tried to control a little of my emotion. I didn’t want to seem completely vulnerable. I sucked air in with tiny little gasps, I’d been crying too long. It wasn’t as bad as it usually was though, much like the misty rain was wiped with the black wipers, and the tears appeared on my cheek and slid away with a wipe or the gradual force of gravity. I watched trees and ocean pass by us and breathed in slowly.

                I just wanted to lie in bed all day and drink as much as I could, but I knew that wasn’t an option. I just needed the pain to go away. “You’ll feel better if you get out and do something, I promise.” Rylan whispered. I looked over to him and saw that he wasn’t using his powers. How did he actually know me so well? “I know that after today you’ll probably be more excited about your new found powers than you are depressed.”

                I smiled and wished that was the truth. When we got home Rylan opened the door for me and helped me out, much like Phoenix would. His eyes shot to me and he said, “Please don’t compare me to Phoenix. Think of me as someone new. I’m not him, you can trust me.” I could trust Phoenix too. The only thing he ever did to not make me trust him was leave. Was Rylan actually saying he’d never leave? Stability, what was that like?

We walked up some stairs from the garage and ended up in a different part of the house I’d never seen. It was a stair room. I looked up the stairs and Rylan followed my gaze. “It leads to upstairs. That’s where my bedroom is, and the big deck that looks out over the whole city. It’s quite wonderful at night when the city is all lit up. You’re welcome up there whenever you want.”

                I walked past it and into the kitchen, it was perfectly clean. Again I sat at the counter. I spun around and looked out the window. The waves beat at the white sand below and the raindrops fell lightly making everything so humid and dark. “Do you want to go running?” Rylan was getting some bottled water out of the fridge.

                My mind was telling me to go lay in bed, so was my body, but somehow I just answered. “Sure.” I dressed into some windbreaker type black pants and a white tee. Rylan came to my open door as I was tying my running shoes onto my feet. He threw me bottled water and stepped out from my frame and walked back into the kitchen. He was wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt. His thick calves gleamed brightly and I wished I could have the same shape of leg. He pulled his hair back into his hands and wrapped a tie around it.              

                The curls wrapped around each other and around his wrist as he whipped the pony tail around in his hands. I caught a glimpse of something blue. Two tattoos were printed behind his ears, “What’re those?” They were two different symbols. They were island looking but still really cool.

                He looked at me and I pointed to behind his ear, “Oh my tattoos?” He laughed hard, “They’re both symbols from my island the one on the right means love, and the one on the left means peace.” He smiled, and lifted up his pony tail. There was a strange symbol that looked like a K. “That’s my family’s symbol.”

                He curled the pony tail up and walked around to me, “Ready? I’ll take it a little slower for you. Usually I run four miles.”

He really didn’t know what kind of shape I was in “Beat you there.” I challenged and I ran out of the sliding glass door and down the deck. Rylan was right behind me on my heels for about a mile until I realized what the drinking and drugs had done to my body. I became winded and started losing my breath. I didn’t give up I pushed harder for about another half mile and then I stopped. I put my hands on my waist and gasped for air. Rylan ran up to me, He put his hand on my back as I leaned over and tried to catch my breath.

                “Do you see why I don’t allow you to drink or do drugs? Actually now you’ll be going through detox. I have to get you fully clean before I can teach you your powers. This run will help a little.” I coughed and coughed still trying to get my air running again through my lungs. Dark grey spread out around me slowly, as if turning everything around us black and white. Suddenly we were back home, I was very glad I didn’t have to run those few miles back. That would’ve killed me.

                Rylan helped me to my bed and I laid there like a limp rag doll. I used to run all the time with Phoenix, but I guess I was losing my touch. The light blue room always soothed me when I looked around. It was so peaceful and calm, like the ocean. I guess that’s why I liked it so much. Rylan looked out my window as I tried to regain my strength. “Thank you.” I said through gasps of air.

                “For what?” he didn’t move he just stood with his hands behind his back, holding onto his wrists and looking out to the beach.

                “I guess for just taking me in, giving me a place to go when I had nothing.”

                He smiled and the light hit his face perfectly accentuating his flawless features. “Anything for you,” He whispered so low that I barely caught it. I did and it warmed my heart to know that he cared so much.

***

                The hard part didn’t start for awhile, not for about two hours to be exact. That’s when I went into the bathroom and from then on it became ridiculous. My body shook, sweat poured from off of me, and I vomited multiple times an hour. Rylan sat there on the counter top the whole time. He listened to me whine and cry. I’d scream telling him how I needed a drink that second. He never once caved in.

I hated detox. I’d seen my parents go through it many times. I even helped as much as I could. But I was never on this end. I began to feel their pain. No wonder they never quit drinking, it was too hard.

                Rylan had put a towel down on the ground for me and I used it as a pillow in between stomach emptying spells. Tears welled up in my eyes as the pain returned to my torso. I hated dealing with life and all that it had to throw at me.  Suddenly there was someone else besides me crying. I looked up and saw that Rylan was still sitting on the counter staring at the wall in front of me with his arms wrapped tightly around his curled up knees. Then I looked to the right, it was Phoenix. He was sitting in the bathtub crying.    

                I gasped, “Phoenix?” I asked. He didn’t respond he didn’t even look at me. I was right here and he wanted nothing to do with me.

                “What?” Rylan snapped.

                I sat up and moved to the bathtub and leaned on the sandy rim, “Phoenix what’s wrong?” I asked as sympathetic as I could. There was still no answer, not even an acknowledgement. But he was there sitting in front of me. It was him.

                Rylan jumped up off the counter and followed my gaze, “What’re you looking at?”

                I turned around to him, “it’s Phoenix. He’s crying.” I said and turned back. I stuck out my hand to stroke his cheek like I used to, but my hand went through him and hit the wall behind. “What?” I asked myself. I pulled my hand away and then I put it back. Again it went right through him.

                Rylan’s eyes shone brightly and he leaned down next to me. He was trying to see what I was looking at. Phoenix threw something he was holding and the bathtub disappeared, it turned into a bed. Now I was standing in a room much like a small dorm room but with better furnishings. The walls had dark wood paneling covering every inch of the walls. The bed had a red plaid pattern spread across it in blanket form. There was a dark desk with a laptop sitting on it. In the corner near the door there was a small dark leather couch accompanied with the same type of leather covering a chair. Plaid blankets laid over those too, matching the blankets.

I stood up and so did Rylan, he stayed next to me. We were both amazed at what was happening. I think his was for a completely different reason. “I can’t believe it,” he gasped quietly.

                Phoenix was curled on his bed crying, he still couldn’t see us as we stood right in front of him. He was picking at his nails furiously and sobbing away. He was talking to some other force that we couldn’t seem to see, “I understand, but it’s still not fair.” He hissed, “Why should I have to give him up?” suddenly he went mute but his mouth kept moving.

                “What’s going on?” I asked Rylan.

                “You’re somehow seeing Phoenix, where he is right now. It’s strange you shouldn’t be able to be doing this.”

                My mouth gaped open, “I’m doing this?” He nodded and looked at Phoenix, “Where is he?” I asked knowing I wouldn’t get an answer. I wasn’t even supposed to be seeing him. Why would he tell me where he is? Rylan knew that I would just go after him.

                “You can’t know.” I knew it, but hearing it still hurt. I wanted badly to curl next to him and say that everything was alright. Then I thought. Where was he when I needed him? He left me. Why was he so upset? Standing next to me was someone who really cared about my well being and I was swooning again over this good for nothing.

                “I don’t want to see this anymore.” I whined.

                “I’m working on it, Collin.” Rylan was as confused as I was. He worked his mind feverishly so that he could find the meaning of this strange image. “I need you to relax, let me take complete control of your mind.”

                “What for?” I snapped

                He glared at me, “If you want this gone you have to let me.”

                “I don’t know if I want that.” What was coming out of my mouth?

                “Shiloh,” he snapped.  We both paused.

                I looked at him strange, “Who the hell is Shiloh?”

                He looked down. “Something you’ll soon call your Hero self. It worked didn’t it.” I looked around to see the bathroom again around us.

                “How’d you do that?”

                “Your powers somewhat become your alter ego, and you aren’t fully yourself when you use them. That’s why Heroes are always afraid that they will do something they aren’t fully proud of.” He smiled at me, “Your powers are to protect you and others and when something wants to take it over, like a terrorist, they won’t let it. Not until they know it’s okay or are completely relaxed and submissive. Of course there’s also the chance of someone stronger coming along.”

                “That’s so cool,” I thought to myself, and then I realized where my body was, state wise. I sunk to the floor. Rylan followed me.

                “You aren’t completely out of the park yet.” His hands stoked my shoulders.

                I smiled. “Shiloh, I like the ring of that.”

                Rylan smiled back at me with his perfectly white and straight teeth, “I did.”