Read Online Made to Love by DL Kopp - Free Book Online Page B

immediately, and I ended
up doing the near-splits outside of the window.  My lady
business didn't appreciate this.
    I threw out a few choice
words that I hoped were eaten by the wind and righted myself. 
My dad was patiently hanging there.
    “ Ready?” he
asked.
    “ For what?” I shouted
back.
    I soon found
out.
    He swung dramatically in my
direction, but on purpose this time.  I could see his fingers
were starting to slip, and my heart raced.
    I waved my hands. 
“No, no!”
    But he flew through the air
toward me.  I squeezed my eyes shut and contemplated – for
less than a second – about ducking back inside.
    What I actually did was
take the impact of his midair flight and turn toward the
window.  We both crashed inside, my dad on the floor and me
against the glass, across the room, and down half of the stairs in
the tower.
    I lay twisted on the stairs
in a pool of my own blood.  I didn't know how serious it was,
since I wasn't in much pain, but I wondered if I was going to
die.
    That could be
interesting.
    The world faded to black as
my dad screamed my name.

Chapter
Twenty-Two
     
    I entered a realm of light
and beauty.  And not alone.
    Under my legs was the most
beautiful golden creature I had ever seen.  It made me wonder
why unicorns were usually depicted as white; the yellow color of
the one I was riding was one of the most glorious colors I had ever
seen. 
    He nickered, and I caressed
his mane. 
    “ You pretty thing,” I told
him.
    He bared square
teeth.  I slid off his back and fed him an apple from a tree;
it looked like we were in my apple orchard, which had brilliant
sunlight making it glow.  The sort of sunlight Oregon rarely
got, of course, but if this was the afterlife, then it was going to
be how I wanted it.
    As if on cue, a shadow
appeared at the end of the orchard.  Octavius.  He was as
beautiful as ever, even more beautiful in contrast to the pure gold
around him.  It was as if his imperfect perfection was made
more perfect being surrounded by traditional perfection.  He
walked forward, and the leaves from the apple trees showered around
him, making a carpet of white for him to tread upon.
    “ Hello,” he sang. 
“Who's your friend?”
    I pat the unicorn's
neck.  “I don't know, but isn't he pretty?”
    Octavius grinned. 
“He's nothing next to you.”
    I flushed.  I didn't
agree, of course, but even I felt somewhat improved by the
surroundings.
    This had to be
Heaven.  There was no other explanation.
    There was a crunch behind
me, and I spun.  The white dress I wore spun with me, almost
in slow motion.
    A boy my age stood on the
other side of the unicorn.  He was familiar, but different,
and I realized: Byron.  But not as I had seen him, tortured
and nearly naked; he was whole, and his skin was pink and glowing,
as if this was how he was meant to be the whole time.
    “ Calliope,” he said. 
His voice wasn't as musical as Octavius's, but it was pleasant all
the same, when he wasn't wracked with agony.
    “ Byron,” I
said.
    He smiled, and warmth
spread within me.
    I had never been happier in
my life, surrounded by all the men I loved.
    Which meant, of course,
that it couldn't last.
    I fell into darkness once
more, and with it came pain and the feeling of being ripped, like I
would never be whole if I was away from the golden
place.
    Death was my home.  I
knew that now.

Chapter
Twenty-Three
     
    My eyes opened, and an
angry black sky stared down at me.
    I was moving away from
it.  It took me a minute to recognize the sucking, rushing
sensation in my stomach as the sensation of falling.
    The world moved in slow
motion.
    I flung my hand out. 
There was a window just beyond my grasp, my father reaching for me,
his mouth opened in a silent scream.  All I could hear was the
roaring of thunder that could have just as easily been my thudding
heart.
    I tried to scream, “No!”
but there was no breath for it.
    Something jerked my
leg.  Flipped me over.  And still