Waking up for Dahven was the hardest thing for her to do. All she wanted to do was to lie in her bed and never get out of it again.
She just wanted to pull the blanket over her head and hide from all the pain, the confusion, the hurt, the anguish, the frustration, the hatred, the betrayal, and this harsh thing called love.
She would do anything just to get away from it all. Just to be free of emotion. Be numb so that she could live the rest of her life in peace.
There was a small knock on her door. "If you want me, too bad!" Dahven yelled out groggily.
"I have some very good news." Arie’s voice called back.
"Unless everyone is dead you don’t have any good news." She bit out sharply as she sat up in her bed and stretched.
She heard him laugh. "Well, not exactly. But they are no longer here." He replied.
Dahven was in mid-yawn when he gave her this great news. Granted it wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it was still something to rejoice about!
Getting up and walking slowly to the door, she unlocked it, then opened the door. "Are you serious?" She asked unsure if she should trust him enough to believe him.
He flinched from the distrust in her voice and eyes. "Yes." He said clearing his throat. "They are all gone."
She crossed her arms, "Why’d they leave? I thought that they were going to make my life a living hell for another week." Still unsure if she could believe him.
"They left early, because I had some news to give them about Essence and I." Arie said softly.
"Is she pregnant?" Dahven asked vapidly, making a disgusted face.
He smiled. "No. She’s not pregnant. But I wouldn't mind all that much if she was."
She rolled her eyes, "Then what is it that sent them all away?"
She needed to know in case if they ever came back so that she could run them off again.
"Umm, you might want to sit down before I tell you this." Arie said nervously motioning for her to go and sit at her desk.
Placing her hands firmly on her hips, Dahven stepped into his face. "Just tell me!" She said angrily. Actually scared of what he might say. Of what he might do.
Arie took deep breath, and a small step backward. "It’s no one’s fault." He started slowly.
"Just tell me already!" She growled impatiently.
"Essence and I are getting a divorce." He blurted out suddenly.
Dahven was taken back by his out burst. She stared at shock. "What?" She asked shakily.
Arie groaned, "We realized that we are too young to be married. We just tried it out to see if it would work out between us. Who knows, maybe in a few years from now we’ll give it another shot." He said shrugging.
"Another shot?" Dahven asked incredulously. "Was your marriage just to prove fact to an opinion?" She asked loudly.
Stepping in to hug her. Dahven screamed and jerked away. "Don’t touch me!"
"Don’t." She said more calmly when he backed away again. "I don’t know you anymore." She shook her head roughly. "I don't know anyone anymore. And at one time I thought I knew you all really well. Now I see I don’t you at all." She stated softly.
"No, Charm." Arie snapped. "You do know me. You just refuse to!"
She shook her head in disagreement. "No. When Kasha and Syrus had done what they did, what they did to us, we promised to each other that we would never end up doing it also. You married Essence. You told me that you loved her."
"You don’t even know what love is, Charm." Arie retorted more harshly than he had meant to.
She stared at him before nodding. "No, I guess I don’t." She agreed pensively. "Because I thought that when you loved someone you never wanted to be apart from them. That you never wanted to wake up and not have them right there at your side. That you couldn’t even face a single day without them holding tightly onto your hand; that you would rather die than hurt them or lie to them." She whispered.
She gave a weak laugh, "sill me. I even thought love was where you trusted someone so much that you stopped jumping to conclusions. Stopped thinking the worst first, and instead waited for the explaination."
She smirked, "pretty dumb, huh? Guess I got too caught up in make believe than reality."
He stared intently at her. Seeing that she was no longer his kid sister who always cringed when someone would talk about love or relationships. She knew exactly what love was.
And she had never got it from the people that she should have. He thought sadly to himself before he went to try and hug her again.
But Dahven backed away, "I tried, Arie." She resolved softly. "I tried to love, respect, and honor my family." Then she shook her head once more. "But I can’t do that when they do all the stuff that I am against. When all they do is lie and hurt."
Arie walked away and Dahven slammed her door shut. She slid down it and cried into her hands.
She had once wanted to love everyone in the world. To hold on tightly to them all. But how could she, when everyone she loved only seemed to hurt her deeply.
After a few minutes of crying, Dahven moved to shower and change; she wanted to rollerblade in the park. To try and figure everything out that had happened lately. To try and make some sense of it all.
After an hour, a million questions, and zero answers later Dahven was more confused than ever. If that was even possible for her to accomplish.
She started to blade around in the center of the park. She was thinking about going to Isaac and hers secret hiding place. She was debating it when she thought she saw Isaac.
Without even thinking about it, Dahven bladed as fast as she could away from him and towards their secret hiding place.
Hoping that he hadn’t seen her. She rested up against one side of the small cave. Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths she felt herself relax a little and slightly calmed down.
Trying to pass the time, Isaac walked humbly through the park. What to do. What to do. He said more than asked.
It was out of the corner of his eye that he thought that he saw Dahven rollerblading like mad to get away from something. "Probably me." He grumbled.
"Well, only one way to find out." He said after a few seconds as he pushed off going after her.
Noticing that she was taken the path to their secret hiding place, he didn’t know if he should go in or not.
Choosing the former, he headed over to the entrance of their cave.
He saw Dahven leaning up against one of the sides and smiled to himself. She looks so peaceful. He thought regretfully to himself, knowing he was about to disrupt it.
Feeling someone looking at her, Dahven snapped her eyes opened quickly.
And was startled to see Isaac staring back at her. "Oh, you did see me." She mumbled looking away.
"D _ _." He started. Then remembering their conversation last night, he quickly replied, "Dahven." He took a deep shaky breath. "Please, just hear me out."
Dahven turned her head back to look at him. "I’m tired of listening, Isaac. All my life, all I’ve done was listen. And to tell you the truth, I’m sick of it." She said then she looked away from him again, hoping to give him the hint.
Not taking it, Isaac gently placed his index finger under her chin and pulled her to face to face his. "I need you to listen one more time. Then you don’t have to listen to me anymore if you don’t want to."
"Please." He pleaded when she didn't answer, nor move.
Resigned, Dahven nodded, then removed her chin from the touch of his finger and looked at her hands in her lap as Isaac crawled into the tiny cave in front of her.
"What I did was very wrong. You didn’t deserve that. Not even just a little bit. But after I had done it, it was too late to take it back. Both of the things that I did." He started nervously.
He took in another deep shaky breath when she made no comment. "Dahven, all that I know is that living without you is hell and so painful that I can’t bear it or even understand it. I try to, but I don’t. The only thing that I could think of what it was, was actual and true love."
Dahven’s head snapped up quickly. Giving him a look of pure disbelief.
Isaac nodded his head in understanding. "I know, I know. I was like, ‘this can’t be true love. I’m only seventeen. What do I know about it?’"
Dahven looked back down at her hands. Hurt by his confession that he couldn't love her as she loved him.
Then Isaac cupped her face and chin in his hands gently. "But then I realized that it is love." He said searching her eyes for some emotion. "I do love you, D." He said softly.
Staring up at him, Dahven felt a wave of emotions sweeping over her. When love overpowered them all, she kissed him. A a sweet and searching kiss.
Then, all of a sudden, Dahven pulled back, and she placed her hand over her lips.<>
Isaac stared at her. Afraid that she wasn’t going to forgive him and that he would miss out on loving her. "What?" He asked staring into her eyes. Looking for the answer.
Scared that that was his last kiss that he would have to remember her by.
"Isaac," She started placidly, "evidently I don’t know what love is. All we might have had was just strong feelings for each other." Dahven said quietly.
Isaac shook his head fervently. "No, it wasn and it’s not, D." He said putting his forehead to hers. "Every morning I wish that I was waking up beside you, I wish that I could hold you to my side, your hand in mine everyday." He smiled weakly, "And I wish that I could shield you from any hurt and all of the pain that anyone or myself could inflict on you." He said gently.
She was crying. Out of sheer happiness she was crying.
"All I wanted was for you to trust me. For you to always hug me and say that everything will be all right when in actuality everything is all wrong. I wanted you to always be there for me when I needed you the most, and to always say that you love me." Dahven whispered to him.
"I love you, D." He said quietly. "And I'll do all those things for you. And more. Just don't say goodbye. Don't walk away from us."
She watched his eyes, making sure to look for love.
It was there in abundance. "I love you, Isaac." She replied before kissing him.
It was forever and painless.
Even though Dahven never did have the fairy tale life that she had secretly wished she did have, she did have herself that silly happy little ending that everyone wants in their own life.
And even though you will get burned by the fire of love, you will freeze without it's warmth.