Fallen Tears - Chapter 8

The greatest happiness I have ever known was waking up that night. Ethan was fast asleep, his cheek against my pillow, my head under his chin. It was not his beauty that makes this night one to remember, but a simple fact. He stayed. He was still holding me tight, like he would never let go. Suddenly, his grip tightened. I thought he had awoken, so I wriggled around in his arms, to look at his face. No, he was still asleep, but his face was not peaceful, he was in the middle of a nightmare.

Often, when vampires attack, their victims are sleeping. The vampires from long ago, liked to know what they the humans were dreaming of, it pleased them. So they learned a simple spell, which allowed them to do this. I vostri sogni si trasformano in nella mia realtà. Which loosely translated, means "your dreams become my reality." I never thought it quite fit, but it works. I decided to whisper the words now, and immediately, I was in Ethan’s head, and I saw everything from the perspective of an outsider, looking in.

~†~

"Ethan, I am supposed to tell you to get out of bed, it is time to wake up!" the little girls voice was whimsical, a floating soprano in the wind.

"Alice, I do not want to get up yet! Nineteen year olds must sleep!"

"But brother, today you turn twenty! You may sleep less now! Besides, Anna is here to see you!" Anna? Who is this Anna? This better not be some girl he likes.

Ethan jumped out of bed at the sound of her name. Well that’s inconvenient. But let us see how this plays out, it should be interesting. He ran to his closet, changed into more presentable clothes, and then combed his hair, washed his face and hands. "Alice, tell her I am coming, will you?"

"Yes, brother." She replied, but there was a tone in her voice, she wasn’t going to do as he said. I was going to follow Alice down the stairs, for no one could see me, but then I say the most peculiar thing. Ethan was no longer in a rush to look good for his girlfriend, he was nervous. He sat on the corner of his bed, and rehearsed saying several words, none of which I could believe came out of his mouth.

"Anna, I have something I wish to ask you. I have known you a very long time, will you…" Ethan cut himself short, there were footsteps coming up the stairs. He ran to a drawer grabbed a little box, and hid it in his pocket, before anyone could come in, and then a girl came inside. Well, not a girl, a young woman, and very beautiful at that. Ethan’s eyes lit up, as he stared into hers. "Alice, I thought I told her to tell you I was coming downstairs?"

Anna laughed. "She did as she was told; it was I who came up here, without your permission. You do not mind that much, do you? I mean, I will leave if you ask." Oh, you can leave, all right. Ethan doesn’t mind. You leave him at some point, anyway. Why not make it now, let me watch! Okay, that might have been a little rude, but she couldn’t hear my thoughts anyway. I mean, I wasn’t even there.

"No, do not go. I have somewhere I want to take you. Will you come with me?" Ethan was practically begging. A proposal? With the words he treid saying earlier, he is going to propose to her… but he is alone now! Something must have happened. Did she say no? Did you chicken out or something, Ethan?

"Yes of course! One can only withstand your mother for so long. Where to?" She was joking with him, but I did not appreciate her coquet tone.

"Ah, not that far. I just would like to take you for a walk in the woods, and get away from these infernal relatives." And then he grabbed her hand, and pulled her down the stairs, past people I did not know. I assumed they were family, but not one of them saw him leave, so I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure.

The second that they had cleared the porch, Ethan took off, down the lane, and onto a trail. This pathway was worn, hard and cold earth beneath our feet. I wondered where he was taking her, but I did not have to wonder long.

Past the dirt path, and through the woods, there was an old brick walk, covered in moss and daisies. Ethan was careful not to harm the flowers as he raced along, but Anna was careless, the flowers were crushed beneath her feet. I, followed Ethan’s footprints, but I wondered if I would even leave a trace, considering I wasn’t really part of his dream. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of Ethan for long enough to check, though. The light from the sun that covered us next, was blinding. I was worried, at the moment for my life, thinking that I would begin to disintegrate into thin air. The thought had not struck me sooner, the skies until this point had been cloudy. But I looked above me, toward the heavens, and the clouds were clear over head, and the sun shone brightly as if there were an enchantment of sorts upon the place. The walk had led us through overgrown wildflowers, into a meadow. The brick walk abruptly halted at the edge of an almost perfect circle of grass, with giant redwoods on all sides, the spaces between them filled with undergrowth. At the edges of the meadow grew wildflowers, blossoming, even though the weather was cold and, and the ground dusted in frost just yards away.

"Anna." When Ethan spoke, his body shook. He was controlling is voice to a steady tone, but in doing so, forgot to steady his body.

"Ethan." Anna’s words held no emotion, they were lifeless.

"This was the meadow I took you, the first day I kissed you." Oh, the thought of Ethan kissing someone bedsides myself, just brings me almost to tears. "It was here, when I first told you I loved you." Ethan’s body was relaxing; he was becoming surer of his words, and feelings. "And, my darling, it was this very place where we first made love." He had sex with her? The kissing I can bear. But, Ethan making love to another woman, especially this little wench, is downright unacceptable. "and so, it is here that I have decided to take a leap of love, life, and faith." Ethan dropped to his knees. "Anna, the love of my life, will you marry…?" but he was cut off.

"Ethan, I can’t marry you. I know it is your birthday and everything, but I think it is right to end this now. I loved you when I told you, in this very meadow, so long ago, but my heart has changed. I fell out of love with you."

Ethan was not angry at these words, nor did he cry, or walk away. He stood slowly, and walked over to the nearest tree, put his back against it, and slid to the ground. He closed his eyes, and after a brief moment, he spoke. "You fell out of love with me, and fell into Charles’ bed."

As angry as she was that he had found out, she did not change her tone. Still in her same, seemingly innocent tone, she asked him how he knew.

"I have been in love with you for seven years, and Charles has been my best friend for ten. When you met him, I saw your eyes brighten. And when we made love for the first time last year, you were no a virgin, and you were when we met. You sigh at any mention of him, your eyes glow bright green, and your heart skips a beat. That is what happens to me, at the thought of you."

"Ethan. You don’t understand…" She better not give him some stupid, well rehearsed speech.

"Yeah, I do. I just want to know one thing. For all the years of lying to me, I want one truth. Or is that too much to ask?"

"You only have one question?"

"Yes, but you must answer with absolute truth."

"I promise I will."

Ethan took a large breath, to calm himself down. "Did you fall in love with him, or just…" He paused, trying to find a word, and found one. "Or did you just fuck him?"

Anna was going to fight back, but then she realized it was pointless. "In the beginning I just used him for the sex. But then I fell in love with him."

Ethan was merciful. "Never speak of this again. Tell them that it ended mutually. You do not have to tell anyone of your abhorrent disgrace. Leave me now, and make no point to ever speak to me again. You have taken a silver dagger to my heart, and left me nothing but the shell of who I once was. Go."

She did not need to be told twice. She ran away, down the path. You better run. If I could be anywhere in this dream, besides just watching Ethan, I would shoot you like the rabid, unfaithful dog you are.

I would have continued to curse her, but that was when Ethan started to shake violently. The love of his life, had given her love to his best friend. The next few minutes were all a blur, but somewhere in that time, Ethan obtained a pistol from his room, the same pistol he was going to use to kill himself, that night on the beach. I couldn’t watch this anymore. He was going to attempt to commit suicide; I couldn’t watch this scene twice.

"Realtà."

~†~
One word brought me back to reality, back in my own bed, with Ethan shaking in my arms.