Chp 29
'Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God,' Elena kept repeating to herself silently. 'This is really happening.' She chugged down her fifth cup of water and then closed her eyes releasing the breath she did not realize she was holding. She was sitting in a little waiting room at a clinic anxiously anticipating the results of the test she took that determined how pregnant she was. 'I can't believe I helped create such a miracle.' She could still remember the first night AJ and her made love. It was only a couple of days after he had come home from the hospital. They knew they shouldn't have been, but they couldn't contain their urges any longer. They felt the need to consummate their relationship. They couldn't wait to share their unbelievingly deep and unconditional love and passion for one another physically as well as emotionally. She was very gentle and careful though. She didn't want him to get hurt from getting a little too caught up in the moment. Every five minutes, or so it seemed, she would, umm, stop what she was doing and ask him if he was alright. She chuckled out loud as she recalled the annoyed expression on his face every time she would ask him if he was ok. What a splendid way to ruin the mood!
Suddenly, the creak of the opening door and the quiet footfalls of the obstetrician snapped her out of her thoughts. She stood up from her seat and slowly walked over to the doctor. His smiling face brought peace to her racing heart.
"Miss DiLorenzo," the doctor began brightly.
"Yes?" Elena was so excited. She wanted to know how much longer she would be nurturing the child inside her womb so she could make everyday count and cherish all the memories of her pregnancy.
"You are two---"
"Two? I knew it!" She couldn't hold in the profound joy she felt any longer and was about to bound out the door and shout it out to the whole world when
"Miss DiLorenzo, you didn't let me finish. Your embryo is nearly 11 weeks old. You are two and a half months pregnant, almost at the end of your first trimester."
Elena's breath caught in her throat and she froze in her place. "W-w-what do you mean two and a half months pregnant?"
"Exactly what I said."
"B-but---that's impossible! I've only been with my boyfriend for barely two months!"
The doctor looked at her in confusion. How could half a month totally change her demeanor? "Well, did you have sexual intercourse prior to your current boyfriend?"
Elena wanted to scream out no, but as the painful images of the past came flooding to her mind, she couldn't deny the truth. She began to feel light headed and leaned against the wall to keep herself steady. "Yes," she choked out. The air around her suddenly became suffocatingly thin.
"Ok. Well, the line if a very fine one, although I'm almost convinced that your current boyfriend couldn't be the father of your child considering you haven't been together for the corresponding amount of time of your present gestation period. It's your choice, but I would take a paternity test to just make sure."
Elena's head was spinning. She didn't have to take a stupid paternity test! AJ was the father and that was that! It couldn't possibly be Nathan! It couldn't. She bit back a scream.
"Thank you," she squeaked almost silently and pushed past the doctor and ran out of the building. She wanted to get as far away from it as possible. She jumped into her car and just sat there staring blankly out in front of her at nothing at all. couldn't be the fatherAJ couldn't be the fatherNathanNathan Those horrible words circulated her mind over and over again, tormenting her. A loud sob escaped her throat and the tears cascaded down her face in rivulets of pain. How could she tell AJ that there was a chance that the baby wasn't his? That the precious little life he had already grown to love completely could belong to Nathan? Then he would surely leave her. Why would he want anything to do with the spawn of the demon that had nearly killed him? She wouldn't blame him for hating her. But how could she go on without him holding her, and kissing herloving her? She couldn't. She wasn't strong enough to and she wasn't willing to. She had put him through so much already. She couldn't do this to him. She wouldn't.
After crying uncontrollably for who knows how long, she took a deep breath, wiped her tears away, and hardened her face. She wasn't going to let Nathan win by tearing her and AJ apart. After long consideration, she decided that she wasn't going to tell AJ. Let him keep thinking that it was his son or daughter. That seemed like the best solution. There was no need to complicate things further. After all, she wasn't just going to do it for her and AJ's sake, but also for the baby. She didn't want her child to grow up without a father.
"I can do this," she whispered to herself rubbing away the excess tears in her eyes. "We're going to be a happy family," she stated more confidently with resolution taking over her features. "I can do thisI can do this."
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"Oh thank you so much, Denise, for staying with me! You have no idea how much I appreciate this! I love you!" Elena gushed while hugging the older woman.
"It's not a problem, dear! Believe me, I know how hard it is to get things done while you're expecting. Especially if it's a little AJ. Ooh that boy seemed to had been doing gymnastics inside of me!"
Elena laughed and accompanied Denise to the comfortable living room where they sat down and talked about motherly things.
"Was AJ really a little troublemaker?"
"Yes he was. He still pretty much is! Looks like you're in for quite a handful!"
"Oh I wouldn't want it any other way. I can't wait until the boys come home. Brian's wedding is something I am so looking forward to! Jen is such a sweetheart!"
"That she is. And so are you." She placed her hand on Elena's shoulder. "I couldn't wish for a better woman to be in my Alex's life." Elena felt the tears brimming her eyes. Denise's teary gaze then fell onto Elena's enlarged abdomen. "I still can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother. Come here, honey." Denise pulled her into an embrace. A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart. She gently separated herself from her arms.
"I'm not that great," Elena muttered sadly. 'I'm a lying bitch who let herself get pregnant by a bastard and probably will end up hurting the people she loves most in the world.' Elena winced at her own thoughts. She didn't mean for them to be so harsh, but more regrettably, they were true.
Denise noticed her complete change of mood. "What's wrong?"
Elena nodded her head and sighed. "Nothing. It's just my hormones taking over. Don't worry yourself. Everything's fine." 'Everything's fine.'
"Well, ok, if you say so. I don't mean to bring up bad memories, but what's going to happen to Nathan?"
"Oh he'll be rotting in a prison for a very long time. Convicted for two accounts of attempted murder and kidnapping, among other things, got him 40 years. He would've received life in prison if he had been found guilty for the murder of his ex-wife, but because of that stupid double jeopardy rule, he got off easy."
Denise raised an eyebrow. "You think 40 years is getting off easy?"
"Yes. I think he should've been given the death penalty." Elena sighed and then rubbed her stomach. "You're a very lucky baby. If things didn't go as miraculously as they did, you wouldn't have been here."
Denise smiled and then joined her in the little talk. "Lucky indeed. A little angel's watching over you, love." Neither knew how right they were. "So do you know what it is yet? I hate calling him or her it."
"No, we decided that we want to be surprised. But I got to listen to the little heartbeat. It was so beautiful."
Denise felt herself get teary-eyed again and laughed. "I'm such a mess. I wish I could hold the little darling already. I miss having a baby around. It's been so long. I'll be around the baby so much, he or she will get sick of me."
"How could anyone get sick of you? Now I know where AJ got his great personality from."
"Why thank you, honey. Between you and AJ, I'm sure the child will grow up to be such a wonderful person with a strong sense of individuality. I just hope she or he doesn't want a tattoo at age 2. I'd like to see AJ explain the 69 to his kid." Denise chuckled while Elena suddenly grew quiet. This was going to be harder than she thought.
The phone's shrill rings distracted her from her remorseful pondering. She gave a silent thank you and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, babe. How are you feeling?"
Elena smiled into the phone and then mouthed 'AJ' to Denise. "I'm alright. The back pains are starting to come in. I'm getting pretty big. What's up?"
"The usual routine. Same thing, different day. I just wanted to check up on my two, possibly three, favorite girls. Is my mom there?"
"Yeah, you want to talk to her?"
"I will, but first I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind."
"Now why would I mind? I miss you like crazy."
"I miss you, too. Don't worry, only a few more weeks and then I'll be home so we could spend every waking moment together. Just the three of us."
"I can't wait."
"Me neither. I still can't believe we're going to be parents. It's like a dream. I know it's happening, but I think I still haven't grasped the reality of it yet."
"I feel the same way even though the proof is right here in front of me blocking my view of everything else. Next time you're having the kid."
"Even if I could, I don't think I'd be able to handle it," he laughed. "I don't know how you ladies do it."
Elena looked down at her lap and then sniffed. "You're going to be here for the baby's birth, right?"
"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for anything!"
"Good because I don't think I'd be able to do it by myself. I need you there with me. Promise you'll be there?" Her voice came out shaky and she could already feel the hot tears trickle down her cheeks.
AJ was startled by her sudden explosion of emotion. "Hey, I promise. I swear on my life. Are you ok?" he asked her concerned.
"Yeah," she sobbed. "It's just these damn mood swings." 'And this damn overwhelming guilt.' It couldn't get any worse.
"I'm not going anywhere. I swear I'll be there for the baby's birth and everything afterwards. I wish I could be there right now to see you and your beautiful pregnant self. I'll always be by your side and in our child's life. Nothing will stop me from that, not even touring. I've learned from my own dad's mistakes and I'll be the best damn father I can be. I promise you that and forever."
Then againElena's heart felt like it was going to burst. She didn't deserve him. How could she keep up this facade with him being so heart wrenchingly honest and loving? "I love you so much," she choked out in between sobs.
"I love you, too. Please stop crying," he pleaded gently.
"I can't," she squeaked.
"You're going to make me cry and then the guys will never let me hear the end of it."
"I'm sorry."
AJ sensed that there was something wrong. It was more than just mood swings that was making her cry. "Is everything ok over there? Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Elena's throat suddenly tightened. "W-what?"
"I don't know. I just feel like something's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. Everything's fine."
"Ok, but if anything's wrong, you know you can tell me---"
His legitimate suspicions were getting to her. The sweat beads rolled down her forehead and her breaths were coming out in quick little puffs. She was the kind of person who would crack under pressure. Elena's repressed feelings of guilt unexpectedly came out in one sudden burst of anger that was aimed at the wrong person and at the wrong time.
"NOTHING'S WRONG! Why would I lie to you?!" she snapped.
Shocked, AJ couldn't figure out what to say to her for a while. He didn't mean to upset her. "I wasn't implying---I'm just worried, that's all. I'm sorry," he finally replied quietly.
She could hear the hurt in his voice and felt like kicking herself. Why did she snap like that? And at him of all people? She squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled exasperated. The last thing she needed now was more guilt. "No, AJ, I'm sorry. I'm just---I'm just under a lot of stress right now. Please forgive me?"
"Umm, yeah, listen I have to go now. Tell my mom I'll talk to her later."
"No, AJ, you don't have to go. I'm sorry. Please stay?" she begged him on the verge of more tears.
"It's not that. Really. I just have to go. I'll talk to you some other time, ok?"
"Ok," she sighed, her voice quivering.
"Bye."
"Bye."
After hanging up the phone, Elena put her head in her hands and cried. When Denise entered the room and saw her, she immediately sat down beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong?" she asked her, worry emanating from her question.
Elena hiccuped and hastily wiped her tears away with her hands. "Nothing."
"Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?"
"No really, everything's fine."
"Sweetheart, just tell me when you're ready, ok? I'll be more than ready to listen."
Elena nodded and hugged her. Then she rose up from the couch, quickly made her way into her room, and closed the door behind her, leaving a very baffled Denise alone in the living room.
Denise was just about ready to call AJ and get the story from him, but decided against it. When Elena wanted her to know, she'd tell her. So she sighed and simply sat there by herself wondering what could've happened.
AJ just stared at the phone silently. He ran their conversation over and over in his head trying to pick out anything that could clue him in as to why she had gotten so upset when all he was trying to do was look out for her well-being. Sure, being pregnant wasn't the most comfortable state to be in and it made you moody, but there was something more. He could feel it. Over the years, he had learned to trust his instincts.
A soft knocking sounded at his door. His gaze didn't waver from the phone. "Come in," he answered robotically. The door opened a crack and Kevin stuck his head in.
"You know, I could've been a crazed fan."
AJ continued with his blank stare until Kevin's voice pulled him out of his daze. "Yeahhuh? What?"
Kevin arched an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe. "Practicing your telekinesis?"
AJ looked at him confused. "My what?"
"Nevermind. What's up?"
AJ's eyes diverted to the ground and he began twisting the blanket of his hotel bed around his fingers. "Nothing."
"That's a lie."
"How do you know?"
"You're doing that weird twisting thing with your blanket. That's a tell-tale sign that something's bothering you."
AJ looked at his hands and realized he was doing it. He immediately stopped and lied back against the headboard sighing. "You know me too well, Kev."
"It's my job." Kevin strolled in and took a seat across from him. "You want to talk about it?"
"About what?"
"Don't start."
"I'm serious! I don't even know what's going on!"
"Well what happened that put you in such a stupor? I know you tend to space out sometimes, but that was just downright weird."
"I called Elena to know if things were going well and she freaked out on me."
"What did she say?"
"She sounded sort of, I don't know, shaky and I asked her if everything was ok. She insisted that it was and that it was just her mood swings. But I could feel that there was something deeper troubling her. I kept pressing on the issue and she finally snapped."
"Oh. Well that happens. I could recall a couple of incidents where Staci almost bit my head off. I guess I called at the wrong time of the month," Kevin snickered.
"But this was different. I can't explain it. But it's really bothering me."
"Being pregnant isn't the easiest thing in the world. Thank God we'll never have to know that first hand." Kevin's attempts at humor were not working. AJ was staring out the window thoughtfully. "Well, if it's bothering you that much, I could call Staci and ask her if she knows anything."
"I appreciate it, Kev, but I don't think that would be the best thing to do. The last thing I need is Elena finding out about me making you probe into her problems. I don't want to have to rely on other people to tell me what's wrong with my girlfriend. Besides, maybe it is nothing. Maybe I just pushed her too hard or annoyed her or something. She can get pretty irritable sometimes. Especially now."
Kevin squinted his eyes and scrutinized AJ's features for a moment. "I can tell you don't believe that."
A long pause followed. AJ looked at him with sadness in his eyes. "You're right. But what else could I do? I can't force her to talk to me. I know how aggravating it is when someone's trying to make you talk. And she's twice as stubborn as I am. I'm just going to have to wait until she's ready to tell me."
"I wish I could help you, but I'm even more clueless than you."
"I know. Thanks anyway."
"I didn't do anything, but you're welcome. We should get to bed now. Another day, another show. See you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Kevin stood up and walked out the door. He stood out in the hallway for a little while. He hated not being able to help out his band mates. Of course, he couldn't possibly have the solutions to everybody's problems, but still. Releasing a hopeless sigh, he plodded back to his own room.
'What's going on? Everything was going so well. My life was finally going the way I planned it. Is there a rule that says that when things are finally looking up, something has to happen to bring everything back down?' AJ dejectedly thought to himself. Maybe he was over reacting, but after experiencing all the traumas in his life, he had come to learn that when he felt that something was going to go wrong, it usually did. He closed his eyes and prayed to God to not let anything happen to Elena or their unborn child. Then he slid under the covers and after a couple more hours of lying awake worrying, he finally drifted into a troubled sleep
'Oh my God, how did I get here?' AJ cautiously stepped over the piles of decomposed foliage and around the tombstones. His eyes took in his environment. There were graves as far as the eye could see. The sky was a sickening charcoal color and storm clouds were settling in, floating across the blood red full moon. The owls were hooting and the winds were howling, singing their haunting arias.
"How do I get out of here?' He started walking straight ahead not knowing where to go. Everywhere you looked, there were cold gray stones protruding from the earth. Flowers from long past visiting loved ones lay rotting on the gravesites sending a stale foul odor into the air. The stench of death. If he didn't get out of there soon, AJ was going to puke. He already felt incredibly nauseous. The icy gales nipped at his bare arms. It wasn't only the cold that made him shiver, but also the dreary desolate atmosphere surrounding him. But what did he expect? He was in the middle of a friggin' cemetery! A faint crowing sounded from far away. But the more AJ walked down the weed covered paths, the louder the shrill cries became until they were right above his head. He looked up and saw a flock of ravens fly over him. That was not a good sign. And if that wasn't bad enough, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed in the distance. Droplets descended from the angry heavens and splashed against his pale skin. He closed his eyes and tilted his face upward, hoping that the cool rain would soothe his anxiety and make him feel better. After a few moments, he gasped as the realization dawned on him. The drops of water were not cool and soothing at all. They were warm and viscous. Too think for water. He sensed a metallic taste in his mouth and immediately spit it out, his eyes flying open. He slowly looked down at his hands. Crimson rivulets streamed down his palms and arms. His white shirt was soaked in red. His eyes widened and his hands shook. He ran his fingers though the sticky hair that was plastered to his head. More red. It was raining blood.
He couldn't scream. The horror was so great that when he opened his mouth, nothing would come out but labored breathing. He wanted to run, to escape this hell, but his legs would not move. The thunder continued to crash and not too far in the distance, he thought he saw the black silhouette of a house. With hope returning to him, he finally found the strength to run. He fled through the cemetery, zig zagging his way around the labyrinth of tombstones and memorials. The only thing in his mind was to find shelter from the bloody downpour. As he neared the house, the lightning illuminated it revealing the dilapidated and weather worn exterior.
He was almost there. He could almost see the doorknob. Looking back, he saw that he was no longer in a graveyard, but in the middle of a dark eerie forest. Just the same, the gory torrent continued to rain upon the unearthly world he was helplessly trapped in. Suddenly, AJ felt himself being pulled back. Something got a hold of his shirt. "NOOOO!" He thrashed about trying to free himself from the deadly grasp. He didn't want to turn around to see what had gotten him, but for him to fight it, he had to know what it was. Taking a quick glance behind him, he saw that it was merely a gnarled old oak. His shirt had entangled itself around the obtrusive branches. Even if it was only a tree, it's twisted appearance and arm-like limbs that seemed to reach out for him struck pure terror into his heart. It looked like some Satan sent demon from the underworld.
He struggled to break free. Finally, after exerting one burst of pure energy, he tore himself free and continued to fly through the haunted woods, leaving behind a single scrap of cloth dangling in the tree. An eternity seemed to pass before he finally reached the stairs. He scrambled to the porch and slammed into the splintered wooden door. He frantically pounded on it and screamed for help.
"HELP! PLEASE LET ME IN! PLEASE!"
No one would answer the door. Panicking, he tried turning the knob. It was locked. He peeked through the windows but couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black inside. Not a single living thing stirred.
"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" Still nothing. He was just about ready to break a window when the front door suddenly creaked open. But nothing greeted him on the other side. Only blackness and silence. He cautiously entered into the foyer. "Hello?"lo-lo-lo-loHis voice bounced off the walls. "Is anybody here?"here-here-here-hereThe echoes totally creeped him out. He heard the door slam shut behind him. "Oh shit!" He ran back and frantically turned the handle. It was locked again. Now he was trapped inside the scary old house. But it was better to be locked in rather than out, right? Somehow he doubted that. He suddenly regretted setting foot across the threshold. 'Well, as long as I'm here" With his senses in full alert, he began to explore.
The floorboards creaked under his feet as he made his way towards the back of the house. He had only taken a couple of steps when he realized that he couldn't go any farther. He furrowed his brow in confusion. "What?" An invisible wall hindered his progress. He brought his hands up to the glass-like barrier and pushed against it. It wouldn't budge. "What the hell?! Ok, this has to be a dream. That's the only explanation for this freakiness. What am I saying?! This isn't a dream! It's a fucking nightmare! I have to wake up! Goddammit, will someone wake me up!" he shouted. The only response he got was the sound of his own echoes. "Argh!" He was definitely screwed. He just sighed and then shrugged. "Well, since dreams can't hurt you..." He started ascending the cracking stairs. When he finally reached the upper level, he found himself staring right at himself. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and shuddered. His once white shirt was now scarlet. His whole body, including his matted hair, was covered in blood. "God, what a fuckin' nightmare! How the hell am I going to get out?! When will the torture end?!"
He continued to stare at his own countenance when he realized something. "Hey! That's my mirror!" It was the exact same mirror he had hanging at the entrance of the hallway on the second floor of his own home! He looked down the corridor. As a matter of fact, the whole second floor of this house was exactly like his! Even down to the zebra print chair he had sitting by what he assumed to be was his bedroom's twin. He took a peek inside the opened door. "Holy shit!" It WAS his bedroom! This actually WAS his house! "Uh oh, I don't think this is good. Not good at all." He slowly walked further down the hall. He heard the sound of voices coming from a closed door near the end. He recognized the noise as being the TV. That would make sense. It was the recreation lounge. He cautiously opened the door a crack and peeped in. Someone was sitting in "his" red leather couch watching what appeared to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
'Interesting choice,' he thought to himself. 'Uh oh, what's this?' He witnessed the television change channels by itself. The person on the couch sat motionless. But even though he could only see the top part of the head, he could tell it was a woman. The TV finally stopped at VH1 just as Show Me The Meaning came on. AJ rolled his eyes and groaned. He couldn't even escape it in his nightmares! "Hello?" he called out. The person didn't stir. "Listen, whatever this is, I want out. It's really freaking me out and I don't like it," he stated wearily. She didn't move. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your little TV viewing time here, but---" He stopped abruptly in mid-sentence and gasped. AJ stepped into the room and went closer to the still figure. The light from the TV illuminated her face. A face he knew. "Elena?"
She had the very same eyes he loved to stare into, the very same lips he enjoyed to tenderly kiss, the very same sight he lived to wake up to every morning and the last thing he wanted to see every night. The very same woman that was carrying his child. But something wasn't right. She never once blinked. Her eyes did not move from their fixed gaze on the TV.
"Elena?" he tried again coming around the sofa. He noticed that her eyes were glazed over. "Elena, what is it? What's wrong?" She still didn't do so much as flinch. The fear was rapidly building up inside him. "What's---" The second he put himself in front of her, he felt his heart stop. Blood trickled down the corners of her mouth and dribbled over her chin. Crimson droplets glistened in the corners of her unwavering eyes and slowly slid down her ashen cheeks leaving behind the tracks of ghastly tears. Horrified into a stupor, he couldn't help but follow the streams of blood that trailed down her body and led to a gaping hole in her stomach. Her abdomen had been completely torn open. Her entrails hung loosely over her tattered flesh. Blood and other unidentifiable bodily fluids still gushed forth and were splattered all over the floor. Her placenta lay discarded and mangled beside her. It was like a cesarean gone grotesquely wrong. He felt the acrid bile rise to his throat and he clasped his mouth shut to keep himself from spewing it. He quickly turned his head away only to be met by an equally horrific sight. The tiny carcass of the yet not fully developed fetus that had been torn out from its mother's belly had been flung to the ground. It lay in a puddle of amniotic ooze, its membranes sticking to the wooden floorboards in a disgusting spider web-like formation. Looking at its poor little face, you could see how it already resembled an infant.
Grief-stricken, AJ frantically nodded his head at the horror before him. Elena's vacant stare bore into him. Squeezing his eyes shut as the tears cascaded down his face, he fell to his knees and let out an anguished, ear-splitting scream that pierced the silence. "NOOOOOOOO!!! GOD, WHY?! WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!" He fell down onto his elbows and just wailed mercilessly. He didn't hear the footsteps approaching him from behind. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. The last thing he felt was the blade of a knife enter his back. His body jerked back as the sharp metal twisted inside him. Every thrust of the knife made his dying body jolt involuntarily. Finally, the dagger was ripped out of him and his lifeless body fell forward and came to rest at the feet of his dead girlfriend and beside his deceased child.
"Well look at that happy family!" sang an evil voice from the darkness. It then cackled wickedly and started fading away. The sardonic laughter lingered in the house as the music video on the television continued to play like a sick soundtrack
"Show me the meaning of being lonely
Is this the feeling I need to walk with
Tell me why I can't be there where you are
There's something missing in my heart"
AJ's eyes flew wide open. He parted his lips slightly to release the cry that was trying to make its way out of his body, but no sound would come out. He wanted to move, but he couldn't. It was as if he was chained down to his bed with no chance at freedom. He was paralyzed in body and mind, frozen in fear. It suddenly became hard to breathe. He felt a pair of invisible hands choke him. He began gasping for air. It was either a severe anxiety attack or a specter that was squeezing the life out of him. He knew it was the first and tightly closed his eyes shut. He drew in a deep breath and attempted to regulate his breathing and clear his mind. 'It was only a dream. It was only a dream,' he silently repeated to himself, trying to calm his throbbing nerves and racing heart. It was only a dream. He even knew it was a dream while he was dreaming it. But still. It was so vivid. It was so unimaginably terrible. Why did he have to see that appalling image of his family savagely murdered? It was enough to drive a man insane even if it wasn't real. Never before in his life had he imagined such repugnant visions. The only thing that had come remotely close to that were those feelings of remorse and self-valuelessness during his deep depression that manifested themselves in his nightmares. But his friend was dead, so it was somewhat natural for that true-life incident to haunt him. But why Elena?
He suddenly felt the dread build up inside him and a very bad feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. "No," he breathed still frozen in his place. "No!" He struggled to regain the function in his arms and legs. They felt unusually heavy. Finally, after a while of squirming about and willing himself to move, he jumped out of the bed and clumsily grabbed for the phone nearly dropping it in the process. "No no no no" With his hands shaking so badly, he didn't know how he ever managed to dial the right number. Ring after ring passed with seemingly no intention of ending. "Oh my God, pick up the phone. Someone please pick up the phone," he prayed on the verge of breaking down.
Riiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiing. "Ugh." Elena turned over to her other side and stuck her head under the pillow, hoping that who ever that was calling her at such an ungodly hour of the morning would just stop and let her return to her peaceful sleep. Riiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiing. "Grrrr!" It sounded like the person wasn't going to give up anytime soon. She rolled back over to her other side and opened one eye to glance at the clock. The neon green numbers read 3:42 AM. She snarled and reached out for the phone. "This better be important or else someone's gonna die!Hello?" she groggily muttered into the phone.
AJ was so relieved to hear her voice. She was ok. A little grumpy, but otherwise well. Strangely, he found himself not being able to speak. He wanted to tell her how infinitely happy he was, well actually there wasn't a word in the whole English language that could describe how he felt, to know that she was alright. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her a thousand times over. But he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.
"Hello?" No answer. "Hello?!" she exclaimed into the phone annoyed.
Not knowing what else to do, AJ quickly hung up and just stared at the phone bewildered and distraught. Why didn't he say anything?
The dial tone rung in her ear. Elena growled loudly and slammed the phone down into its receiver completely vexed. "People really suck!" she hissed repositioning herself on her bed and snuggling under the covers. "It's a good thing I fall asleep fast or else there would've been hell to pay!" Within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, she drifted back into her slumber.
'This can't be good.' AJ looked up at the ceiling and ran his fingers through his hair sighing in frustration. 'Things can't be going wrong now. Not now.' He glanced out his window and saw a plane flying across the orange-streaked indigo early morning sky. Just a sliver of the new rising sun could be seen out in the horizon. He grasped the silver cross he always wore and tightened his grip on it, hesitating for a second. 'It's the only way.' He opened his door and creeped out into the hallway towards the room adjacent to his. He rapped on the door and waited quite a while before someone finally answered it.
Kevin's tall brawny figure appeared in the doorway. His hair was all disheveled and his sleep yearning eyes were drooping. "Yeah?" he yawned. He didn't like to be woken up at the buttcrack of dawn for no apparent reason and probably would've grumbled a colorful word or two if it wasn't for the distraught expression on AJ's face. "What's wrong?" he asked with worry ringing in his voice.
"KevinI have to go."
The loud obnoxious chiming of the doorbell startled Elena out of her sleep. She curled her fingers into fists and growled through clenched teeth. At this rate, she was never going to get any sleep! She lazily got out of bed, slipped on a robe, and walked out of her room. The ringing persisted. "I'm coming, I'm coming, chill out!" she groused descending the stairs. "It's eight in the fuckin' morning on a Saturday!" She unchained her front door and swung it opened ready to give the person on the other side a piece of her mind. "What the hell do you---" She bit her tongue as she stared in shock at the sight before her.
AJ ran through the door and took her into his arms. She was about to say something but he silenced her with a passionate kiss that left her breathless.
"Uhhhh"
"Elena, I love you more than anything!"
Her heart melted at the lost little boy look on his face. "Oh, AJ, I love you, too---"
"I missed you so much!"
"I missed you, too, but how did you---"
"I just had to get here! I couldn't be away from you any longer! It was unbearable!" he babbled on excitedly.
"I'm glad you feel that way, but aren't you supposed to be---"
He wouldn't let her get a complete sentence in.
"I never want to lose you!"
"You're never going to, but what---"
AJ got down on one knee and took her hand into his own. "I didn't have any time to find a ring, but I'll let you pick one out whenever! Elena, will you marry me?"
Elena covered her mouth and gasped. She felt her eyes start to tear and she smiled widely from ear to ear. She didn't even have to think twice about her answer. "YES!" she squealed jumping on him. He picked her up and twirled her around hardly able to control the profound love and happiness he felt.
After he set her back down on her feet, they kissed once again and laughed wiping away each other's joyful tears.
"Will you marry me next week?" he panted.
Elena's jaw dropped to the floor.
Chp 30
Chp 28
