Beyond

Chapter 8

Type this into youtube- Most Beautiful Music Ever: "Voyage of Time" by Fired Earth Music

Blaze leaves the room and for a moment I feel like I might collapse, but I don’t. Instead I run out of the room and follow him. I grab his hand.

“Blaze…” there is longing in my voice. He see it and takes my hand and hurriedly leads me towards a series of hallways until we reach a door. He pulls me in and closes it quickly. I do not have time to look around because he begins to kiss me. I pull him in closer trying to believe this isn’t a dream. He pulls away, breathing heavily. I look around and see that we are in his room.

“This is your room?” I say looking around. The room is simple. There is not much but a bed and a desk.

“ Yea, I am not in here much. I usually end up falling asleep in my office.” He smiles sheepishly.

“So why don’t you tell me the questions you have.” He beckons me to the bed and I sit, but he doesn’t sit next to me. He sits in the desk chair. He is keeping his distance, afraid? I try not to get upset.

“Well, what was I like when I was a child?” He grins. He is so handsome. His beautiful bright blue eyes glimmering. He rakes his fingers through his hair and chuckles.

“Not much different than you are now. Stubborn, wild, erratic, and…” he pauses looking at me, “beautiful.” I blush. “You were always ready to help everyone. I remember there was a little girl who was lost. You wanted to go with you parents and the search party so badly to find this little girl. You parents and mine were good friends and asked me to be with you. I didn’t know you then very well. You were 6 and I was 9 at the time. Your parents left and you seemed to be good. You asked me to get you some water and when I came back you were gone. I was so angry, but more I was afraid something could happen to you. I searched for a while, I was beginning to fear the worst, until I found you walking out of the woods with the little girl. She looked like she had seen a ghost, but you were holding her hand and comforting her. Your parents came and you said ‘see I can help!’. I was so sure I would get in trouble, but you took the fall for me and said that you dragged me and gave me no choice. You told them that I did my job and kept safe. But I knew the truth, you didn’t need anyone to keep you safe, you were strong.” He smiles, “just like you are now..” he looks to the side.

“look Ariella, I will let you come with us on this trip, but you have to listen to me. If you have any concerns you have to talk to me. You can’t run off and do irrational things. You have to…” He was sitting on the desk chair at the edge of the bed. I crawled over and pecked his nose.

“I promise. I will listen to your every word. If I have any suggestions or concerns, I will talk to you.. in private.” I say giggling. “Thank you, it means so much that you are trusting me like this.” he rubs the back of his neck and I know he doesn’t like this one bit but he wants me to be happy.

“Tell me more about my parents.”he comes to the bed and lays on it. I sit across from him with my legs folded.

“What more can I say? They were amazing, they were the King and Queen. They were kind and understanding. Everyone loved them, and that’s why Vitrema murdered them.” he says anger in his eyes. I remember my parents, in Viterma. They never seemed like the kind of people who would hurt anyone. I do not know I am crying until I feel Blaze wiping my tear off and bringing me into an embrace.

“I am sorry, I was suppose give you happy memories of them.” he says into my hair. We lay down on the bed and face each other. He tells me stories of my parents. Of the things they achieved and all how they loved me.

I do not know when we fall asleep but I wake up at the sound of a alarm. I panic for a second but it is just an alarm clock, I turn it off. Blaze seems to like old things too. He is fast asleep. I slept in his arms all night. I feel a flutter in my stomach. I watch him for a couple of second while he sleeps, he seems so peaceful.

“Blaze, I think we need to wake.” he groans.

“Just a little longer.” I giggle and give him a peck on the lips but he seizes my lip and kisses me gently.

“I see someone is awake.” he smiles and my heart melts.

“I could wake up like this everyday of my life.” I try to get up but he pulls me back down and I fall on his chest.

“Just a little longer. I am afraid if we get up it will all be a dream.” He looks at me his eyes searching mine. I kiss him again, it feels so natural.

“Could a dream do that?” he smirks.

“I am not sure I felt that, can you do that again?” I giggle and give him a light peck again, but he doesn’t let me go that easily. I like this side of Blaze. He seems so relaxed and so at ease, like in my memories. The last couple weeks have been hard because he has avoided me so much, but this feels like all my confused feelings have finally come to a conclusion. I cared for Blaze I could never forget that. We straighten ourselves up and we go to get breakfast. Blaze takes my hand as we head to the breakfast area.

Many heads turn our direction once we enter. I do not like being the center of attention but I will not cower. The girls who gawked at Blaze before now stared at me with venomous eyes. I ignore their gazes and got my breakfast. Blaze walked over to the table where Ron was.

“I will take Ariella for the day. Please do not be late for our briefing of the mission tonight.” Ron only nodded and gave me a wink.

We didn’t stay in the dining hall. We went to his office where Blaze and I ate together.

“You still like peaches I see… even if they are canned.” he laughs.

“Yes! In Viterma they grew fresh ones, Archimedes would always hide some for me…” I stopped realizing that the memory hurts me. Blaze must see what I am feeling because he comes to me and lifts my chin so my eyes meet his.

“You miss him..” I see pain in his eyes.

“I…” I throw my head down. “I miss him because he was a part of my past. Something I used to hold to dear. It’s only been a little over a month since I left that life. That doesn’t just go away.”

“I know.” is all he says. There is sadness in his eyes. He begins to walk back. I grab his hand.

“Please, forgive me… I..”

“Ariella I am not mad at you. I am sad.. I just wish these memories were shared between us. I wish all this time you and I were making memories and falling.. in love. I am angry at myself… for being so reckless and not keeping you closer to myself.”

I stop him. “Blaze I don’t think you could have done anything. It was just.. something that happened. I know that you didn’t want that to happen. I know.” I hug him tightly. I want his guilt to go away. I do not want him to feel like this when there is nothing to feel guilt over.

“We have to focus on the here and now. We do not know what can happen next.” I say caressing his face. He kisses me and the whole world seems to fall away. I want to stay right here and freeze this moment.