Read Online See How She Runs by Michelle Graves - Free Book Online
Authors: Michelle Graves
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me
under his arm like he had a thousand times before. This time there
was no comfort. I felt cold and hollow. Even as he kissed me on the
head and shut the bedroom door I felt empty. I dreaded what sleep
might bring.
**********
EIGHT
That night my dreams were filled with images
of my childhood: my father standing in the backyard smiling with a
friend; an entirely too-tall man with tattoos pushing me on the
swing; my mother smiling down upon me as she reads me a bedtime
story. All of them were an accumulated parade of phantoms, long
forgotten.
The last memory transported me back to the
trunk of the car, where my head was pounding, and I looked around
to see nothing but blackness. I could feel the trunk pressing down
towards me as if it would crush me at any moment. The air tasted
stale and I heard voices.
“Promise me you will take her and protect
her. Promise me, brother. It is the only thing I can think of. They
are after her, not Moira."
“Rest, brother,” a familiar voice replied.
“Your suffering is over now. I will find her and I vow to protect
her."
I heard a final, deep sigh as my father drew
in his last breath, and the trunk opened with a screech of
reluctant metal. I blinked up at the face of a man that I knew all
too well.
I awoke with Kennan shaking my shoulders. He
was broken out in a cold sweat that mirrored my own. He looked at
me with haunted eyes.
“Enough Izzy, enough," he barely breathed as
he rested his forehead against mine.
All the while, I struggled to pull myself
back to the present. No wonder I was terrified of closed spaces. I
still felt the residual fear of being trapped in that stagnant
place. I shuddered as I finally released a breath I did not realize
I was holding. I looked up into his eyes. This man so familiar and
so foreign, and I truly did not know what he was to me. I averted
my gaze and tried to pull myself together as he sat up.
I remembered his words from earlier. He
dreamed what I dreamed. So he was there with me. He saw my morbid
parade of happiness that was taken away too soon. Of a family
robbed from me by greedy men. I looked over at the clock and saw
that it was five am.
I was officially twenty five, and it was
officially the worst birthday ever. I sat up on the bed as Kennan
moved his mountainous self over to make room for me. We sat in
silence for a long time. I could feel him staring at me, waiting
for whatever I might say.
So, I said the only thing I could. “What
now?”
“Now we train, Izzy. Now I teach you how to
keep yourself from going mad with the visions that will start
coming. Now I teach you how to defend yourself so that if something
happens to me, you can take care of yourself. But first, I feed you
breakfast.”
We looked at each other a moment longer,
those same uncertain feelings and unsaid thoughts passing behind
our eyes. Neither of us was willing to venture into that territory.
Instead, we came to an unspoken truce. He was my Guardian and I was
his Seer, for better or worse. I giggled at the thought, causing
Kennan to look at me with questioning eyes.
“I was just thinking, we are together until
death do us part, for better or worse. Just the other night I was
making fun of Marky, yet here we are. Just as committed. Oh how I
wish I could eat my snarky comments now. Universe one, Izzy zero."
I let out another snicker as I made my way to the bathroom before
Kennan could say anything.
I freshened up quickly and moved myself
toward the kitchen. There I found Kennan placing two plates on the
table that were piled with eggs, bacon, and buttery toast. Sitting
on the table was a present wrapped with a beautiful green bow. I
wrapped my green sweater more tightly around me as I sat down. I
still had not come to grips on how exactly to reconcile the two
Kennans.
In fact, it was getting harder for me to
stay mad at him. In all of the ways that mattered, he had always
been there for me. He saved me from that hellish trunk all of
under his arm like he had a thousand times before. This time there
was no comfort. I felt cold and hollow. Even as he kissed me on the
head and shut the bedroom door I felt empty. I dreaded what sleep
might bring.
**********
EIGHT
That night my dreams were filled with images
of my childhood: my father standing in the backyard smiling with a
friend; an entirely too-tall man with tattoos pushing me on the
swing; my mother smiling down upon me as she reads me a bedtime
story. All of them were an accumulated parade of phantoms, long
forgotten.
The last memory transported me back to the
trunk of the car, where my head was pounding, and I looked around
to see nothing but blackness. I could feel the trunk pressing down
towards me as if it would crush me at any moment. The air tasted
stale and I heard voices.
“Promise me you will take her and protect
her. Promise me, brother. It is the only thing I can think of. They
are after her, not Moira."
“Rest, brother,” a familiar voice replied.
“Your suffering is over now. I will find her and I vow to protect
her."
I heard a final, deep sigh as my father drew
in his last breath, and the trunk opened with a screech of
reluctant metal. I blinked up at the face of a man that I knew all
too well.
I awoke with Kennan shaking my shoulders. He
was broken out in a cold sweat that mirrored my own. He looked at
me with haunted eyes.
“Enough Izzy, enough," he barely breathed as
he rested his forehead against mine.
All the while, I struggled to pull myself
back to the present. No wonder I was terrified of closed spaces. I
still felt the residual fear of being trapped in that stagnant
place. I shuddered as I finally released a breath I did not realize
I was holding. I looked up into his eyes. This man so familiar and
so foreign, and I truly did not know what he was to me. I averted
my gaze and tried to pull myself together as he sat up.
I remembered his words from earlier. He
dreamed what I dreamed. So he was there with me. He saw my morbid
parade of happiness that was taken away too soon. Of a family
robbed from me by greedy men. I looked over at the clock and saw
that it was five am.
I was officially twenty five, and it was
officially the worst birthday ever. I sat up on the bed as Kennan
moved his mountainous self over to make room for me. We sat in
silence for a long time. I could feel him staring at me, waiting
for whatever I might say.
So, I said the only thing I could. “What
now?”
“Now we train, Izzy. Now I teach you how to
keep yourself from going mad with the visions that will start
coming. Now I teach you how to defend yourself so that if something
happens to me, you can take care of yourself. But first, I feed you
breakfast.”
We looked at each other a moment longer,
those same uncertain feelings and unsaid thoughts passing behind
our eyes. Neither of us was willing to venture into that territory.
Instead, we came to an unspoken truce. He was my Guardian and I was
his Seer, for better or worse. I giggled at the thought, causing
Kennan to look at me with questioning eyes.
“I was just thinking, we are together until
death do us part, for better or worse. Just the other night I was
making fun of Marky, yet here we are. Just as committed. Oh how I
wish I could eat my snarky comments now. Universe one, Izzy zero."
I let out another snicker as I made my way to the bathroom before
Kennan could say anything.
I freshened up quickly and moved myself
toward the kitchen. There I found Kennan placing two plates on the
table that were piled with eggs, bacon, and buttery toast. Sitting
on the table was a present wrapped with a beautiful green bow. I
wrapped my green sweater more tightly around me as I sat down. I
still had not come to grips on how exactly to reconcile the two
Kennans.
In fact, it was getting harder for me to
stay mad at him. In all of the ways that mattered, he had always
been there for me. He saved me from that hellish trunk all of
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