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                                                                                                                                       P R E F A C E

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HE IS REAL. I DON'T KNOW IF I'M JUST HAVING A 

beautiful nightmare. He is so beautiful. Like a Greek God leaning against a line of pillars with his glorious coat and a band around his head. But suddenly, everything changed. Blackness surrounded me and the coat of the beautiful, glorious God changed into a black cloak.  He walked toward me; his face still beautiful and pale. His eyes very perfect against it's black tint. In that moment, I all do but froze. He got nearer and nearer. 

      In an instant, he's already in front of me. He bent and placed his face to the left side of my neck and I could feel his cold lips touch against it. I shuddered a little. Then he slowly opened his mouth, exposing his fangs. I can't think of anything to do. Instantaneously, he buried his teeth to my neck.

                                                                                                                                                                      1. S T A R T

            

MOM DROVE ME TO THE AIRPORT WITH TIM. I'M THE ONE WHO DECIDED TO leave them because mom's always with me~ taking care of me of course~ and because of that, she wasn't able to travel with Tim. 

      I want to give them their long-desired privacy so, I end up deciding whether I'm gonna stay with mom forever and not give her what they both desired or I'm gonna stay with Gil~my dad~ and let my mom be free to do what she want. I chose the second option, not thinking twice. I don't want mom to suffer anymore. I guess she deserves some rest and peace of mind, though I'm not doing things that will make her upset but still.

      We sat into the lines of chair while waiting for my flight. It's so boring so I took out my pride and prejudice book ~of Jane Austen~ out of my backpack and red it. Books make me so happy, like they were the responsibility that I can't ever skip to do throughout the day. I can feel mom's stare at my face, and I didn't care at all.

      "Ella?" mom whispered, it's so obvious in her voice that she's gonna cry.I put my bookmark from the page I'd left and returned the book into my bag.

      "Mom, it's alright. I'm gonna be fine. Don't worry." I said, brushing her hair with my hand.

      "But I don't want you to leave," this time, tears started to flow in her cheeks.  "Please?" she added, pleading.I handed her a tissue.( I always bring a tissue if mom's with me because sometimes she cries in public. I wonder if she doesn't get embarassed.)  "Me too, either." I said.

      "Then why're you gonna leave me?" she said while wiping her tears. "You don't ne~"

      "Shhhhh," I put my two fingers to pinch her lips. "Mom, I need to leave because Gil might need me there. He hadn't seen me for a while too. Gil's might... be missing me so much."

We're quiet for a moment. Then Tim broke the silence. (I forgot that Tim is with us).

      "Ella, wish you good luck and take care of yourself, okay?" I thought Tim didn't care the decisions I'm gonna make but it's a thoughtful of his. And I also think, from what he had said, that supposed to be my mom's line and I think mom also thought that  because she looked at Tim with one eyebrow raised, like she's gonna say that "that supposed to be my line".

      "Yeah. Thanks Tim. You too. Wish you good luck and take care of yourselves, okay?" I said the word 'yourselves' emphasizing the 'ves' because I know that mom's gonna cry a lot and mope around the house when they got home. "Don't let mom mope when you got home, okay? I expect you to take care of my mother and make her as happy as she deserves it, understand?" my tone implies something, like a threathening.

      "Yes. Your wish is my command." he said.

      "Tim, let me clear that to you. It is not a wish, it's a command that needs to be obeyed effectively." my threatening tone didn't still vanished.

      "Yes. I understand. Let's see what I can do."

      "No. Do what you need to do."

      "I promise."

      I let my eyes wander through the wide space of the airport because I don't want to cry and give mom reasons to not let me leave. I stared at the clock as it's hands slowly tick by the second. For the best of my knowledge, we got here thirty minutes early, but time seems to slow. Fifteen minutes left on the clock. Fifteen minuets left to see,for the last time,my mother.

      There are a lot of things going on on my head,what would Gil expect me to be?, what would mom do if I leave her here?, what future is waiting for me  there?,but I will just lock it up on the small part of my head which has a secret little drawer for all the problems that is going on right now. All I can do right now is to be with my mom and let her not to worry about me. All she needs to do is relax, be free and happy, that's all I would wish.

      There's no time to waste, so I started talking comfortably with mom again~so she won't be depressed and bored('cause Tim's not talking to her)~ and this time, I feel time pasts so fast that I didn't noticed. The announcer reminded us that we need to ready for my flight, so we exchanged our goodbyes and promised each other that we're going to do what we need to do. Mom said that if I didn't feel comfortable with Gil, I can go back to her and I said Yes (I crossed my fingers at my back because I want to give Emma a lot more time to spend with Tim even if I won't feel comfortable with Gil) I'll deal with that. And that did it, mom burst into tears. Again. So I need to get outta here so I won't cry also. I hugged her and kissed her at her forehead and I wiped her tears. We said "I Love You" to each other then I walked away. I peeked at her one last time and waved at her and I can see that she's still crying, so I mouthed an 'I Love You' and turned my back to her. 

            

      Leavenworth, a tiny town in Washington~ has a population of one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine. 

      It is very cold than it is in  Miami. Thanks to mom that she packed some cold-resistant clothes with me. 

      The small version of electric billboard in Lake Wenatchee State Airport indicates that the temperature here is nine degrees celsius. I guess, I know now why I don't prefer to be with Gil. This is way colder than Miami.  

      Gil fetched me at the airport with his cruiser ~'cause he is the sheriff of the town~ and helped me to put my things on the trunk. He kissed my forehead and hugged me; and whispered "Miss you Elle" and when he released me, I said "Miss you too, dad." 

      I used to visit here in vacations to be with Gil but I wasn't able to visit Gil last vacation because I had my first job and I want to do it. In that very moment, I already decided if I'm gonna move with Gil or stay with Emma. So I started to save some money for my expenses here in Leavenworth.

      We remained in silence as Gil drove to his house but silence seemed to bother him so he started to ask me about things.

      "So... Elle, I didn't notice that your hair has red in it," I think he just wanted to break the awkwardness, because of all the questions that he can ask me, that senseless one had slipped from his mouth.

      "Yeah. I think so. It's natural. I didn't dyed it. Didn't you noticed it when I was here?" I saw his expression and I decided not to talk again. Something bad might slip from my mouth.

      "So how're you feeling? Are you hungry or thirsty or sleepy?" 

      "No. I'm fine. I'm just tired," My first statement is not completely true but the tired-thing is utterly true. I am so exhausted from the flight.

      He continued to ask questions about my "summer job" and all about my highschool life.                

      "Do you have a boyfriend left there in Miami? I'm sure a lot of boys are tripping their way just to ask you to a date," he laughed teasingly but the worried face masked his entire face.

      "Of course not! I didn't have any boyfriend ever!" My face flushed pink, but I tried to mask my face with a stop-asking-me-more face.  "And I'm only seventeen... But there are some trying to court me," Now my face flushed brilliant red and I saw Gil frown and already guessed what he was thinking. "Hey, it's not what you think. I didn't answer any one of them. I don't like them." I smiled slightly at him, reassuring things.

      "Okay, okay. So how's Emma?" he asked, staring at the road. His jolly mood disappeared and his face went blank.

      "She's sort of... fine," I hope Tim's doing his job to make Emma happy. "She's just really sad because I left her. But I think she understands." 

      "She might be mad at me. She might be thinking I forced you to leave her." 

      "Of course, not. I already explained why I'm gonna leave her for a while. She also made the same assumptions as with you, but I said that you have nothing to do with the reasons, though I told her that you might be missing me, but it's not enough for her to blame you. Don't worry. At least, I'm here. Aren't you glad that I'm here?" I explained... and asked.

      "Definitely I'm glad you're here. But I was suprised by your instant decision. Yeah, I really miss you a lot," He agreed. "But what is the real reason that brings you here? You can tell me anything, honey. Trust me."

      "What I told mom is the real reason. There is nothing more." I really wasn't planning to tell Gil what is the real reason. I know him. He tells everything to mom.

      "Really? Okay, fine. I'm just gonna wait for the moment that you're gonna tell me why," he smiled.

      I didn't realized that we're already on the house because outside, the fog was thick as cloud and it is blocking the the surroundings. Then unfortunately, it started raining. We rushed to get the bags and ran into the porch of Gil's house. I didn't notice that he's still wearing his police duty belt.

      He got the key out of his pocket~with his other hand full of boxes labeled as "Ella's stuffs"~ and opened the door. He first got inside the house and opened the light. I walked next to him and observed the room. It doesn't changed. The living room's wall was still white and the ceiling was bright yellow. The couch's still didn't changed. It's still the antique, cozy, brown sofa that I left last ten years.

      I dropped my things on the floor and wandered through the house. The kitchen's wall still has the yellow lines against it's white background. I don't know why Gil doesn't change the colors of this house since mom's the one who asked Gil for permission to paint his house to put some  life on it. Doesn't Gil got sad if he remembers that day? Their very last day of being couples?

      "Emma, who is this calling?" he said, while mom is painting the walls. "There's no name, just number. Do I get to answer this one?"

      "Oh, let me see?" I saw sweats welling her forehead as she saw the number in her phone and she constantly clicked the End button and sighed. She detached her battery from her phone and slightly smiled at Gil to show him that there's nothing to worry about. "It's just... nothing. Like nothing. Why don't you join me to cook for dinner? You can just help me."

      "But it might be important," he jerked his chin at Emma's phone and shrugged. 

      "No. It's not really that important. Just some trying to offer me an insurance." 

      "But we might need insurance for Elle's future. Someday I will retire and you as well."

      "Then there's a lot of next times. We're not that old enough to worry about insurances. Er, let's go to the kitchen please?" She tugged him to the kitchen and started cooking.

      

      I'm only seven when they got separated and I wanna ask Gil about what really happened after their happy cooking session and our overwhelming dinner. I really don't know what happened after we finished our dinner. I only remembered that we were happy then suddenly, the next morning we were horrible.

      Mom asked me if I'm going to be with her if she leaves or if I'm gonna stay with Gil. Obviously, I chose to be with my mom because she's my mom and I'm gonna go with her wherever she goes. I didn't regret to be with Emma because she gave all of my necessities. She's nothing but the best mom of all times. She's just fair, because every vacation she let me visit Gil. And he's also the best dad of all times, though we really don't get that very close, but I can appreciate Gil's effort to be a good dad to me.

      "Dad, why you and mom got separated?" I asked. Gil was observing his fridge, looking for food to cook.

      We were silent for a minute and I saw Gil just motionless, standing in front of the fridge. Like he was staring at nothing. Then he finally opened his mouth and turned his body to face me. His expression cannot be determined. Like he doesn't know how to phrase it. Frown to sad then mad then frown again. Like he'd lost his speech and didn't know what to say. I think I'll need a brief explanation here.

      "Didn't Emma explained you about this?" he asked me, placing his both hands in my shoulders.

      "No. Or not yet," 'cause everytime I'm gonna ask her about this topic, she always change the subject immediately without me even noticing it. "She said that I'll better know it in the right time. I guess now is the right time. Will you tell me, will you?"

      "Ummm, I guess I'll better ask Emma first before telling you." Now he dropped his hands from my shoulers and stared at the floor. "She ought to be informed first."

      "Fine. But I need to know, please. Just to lessen my curiosity," I smiled at him weakly "By the way, you know something good work for me here?"

      "Yeah. Actually, I expected you to be hunting for jobs, so I decided if I can convince Mrs. Stiller to give you a vacant place in her restaurant. And luckily, she's willing to take you as her cashier since her last cashier just resigned."

      "What? Is her last cashier resigned because of me?

      "No, of course not! her last employee resigned because of some personal reasons and Mrs. Stiller's  currently taking her job temporarily since she doesn't have enough employees there. She's happy that you got to replace her as soon as possible, though."

      "Oh, okay. Thanks for finding me an instant job."

      "Your Welcome, honey"

      I climbed upstairs carrying a bunch of boxes. Do I really have that much of things? Or did Emma has packed me up of some nonnecessities from her house? I won't know unless I opened it.

      I saw my room instantly because of the rectangular cardboard hanging from the door that says "Elle's room." I opened the door and  gasped silently. 

      It's walls were still white and it still has the gray spotted curtain that I made when I was in sixth grade; there was a table at the corner of the room and a white laptop on it. The bed was bigger than it is since my last visit and there was a lamp beside it.

      I dropped my things and slumped on the bed. As I said to Gil, I am tired and exhausted. I want to get a sleep but the weather doesn't seem to agree with me. The sound of the heavy rain drops disturbs me. Covering my face with a pillow is helpful, though I can't breath. I'll live. So, I managed to cover my face with a pillow and slept peacefully.

Author's Note

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[SquinklaPsyOps]

I definitely think with the right illustrations you catch the readers attention.