Wonder Lost

The Break from Evil

Leo opened his door and stepped out, walking to Isabella’s door. He helped her out, guiding her into the dining room. She rested her head on the table, the stomach pain finally getting to her. Leo went into the kitchen and began to heat up some oatmeal. Leo came back to the dining room, holding a bowl of steaming oatmeal in his hands. She ate quickly and when she finished, Leo took her bowl into the kitchen.

“Are you going to eat anything?” Isabella wondered.

“I ate in the kitchen. What do you want to do now?” She smiled, thinking of something, but she shook her head.

“What?” Leo asked.

“I was going to say, let’s watch a movie, but it just seemed so… normal.”

“And why can’t we be normal for once?” Isabella laughed.

“Because there is an angry man who thinks he killed me on the loose, and it just seems out of place.”

“The ‘angry man’ is being taken care of. And we can do things that a regular couple would do, right?” He helped her out of the chair and led her into a room with a flatscreen TV and a brown couch. He set her down on the couch and turned the TV on, grabbing the remote and sitting down. She curled up next to him as he put on a movie.

Isabella loved the movie. She had heard news about it in Fenraltz, hearing that it was only in Liviette. It was a horror/adventure film called Gruesome. During the sad parts, she nestled deeper into a ball, feeling the soft, cinnamon scented fabric of Leo’s shirt.

Leo wasn’t paying attention to the movie. He was focusing on the fact that Liam was still out there, waiting for a chance to attack another member of the Oasis. Only when Isabella tensed up did he hug her tighter and look at the television, where they jumped at the same time. But after the jump scare, he went back to his thoughts.

When the movie was finished, Isabella sat up.

“So… what’s wrong?” she asked him.

“What?”

“You weren’t even watching the movie half the time, and you seemed… distracted.” Leo sighed.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” he said. “I was just worried about Liam.” Isabella felt her eyes redden: it was her fault for bringing it up.

“No, Isa, it’s not your fault,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

“Aww, Leo!” Isabella said, hugging him tight. “Please don’t worry about this. If you worry, you make me worry. So stop.” He lightly chuckled.

“Okay.”

“Also, I’m not very happy with you.” Leo let go of her long enough to look at her with a confused expression.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I was trying to do something a normal couple would do, which you agreed to, and you won’t even pay attention to the movie!” She bit her tongue, trying not to smile.

“I’m sorry,” Leo said. Isabella couldn’t tell if his apology was genuine or sarcastic. “How’s your stomach?”

“Better. It’s at a 30% of what it was.” She looked at her slim fingers. Suddenly, she felt Leo’s hands covering her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Leo said. He guided her through the Oasis.

“You seem to know where you’re going.”

“I’ve had two weeks of free time when you were at military camp.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Do you trust me?” Leo asked.

“With my soul.” He smiled.

“Then you don’t need to know where we’re going.” He guided her through the Oasis. “Close your eyes.” He paused and opened something—a door, maybe?—and continued to walk. She felt a soft breeze against her hair.

“Are we outside?” she asked.

“Shh.” Isabella sighed and they walked in silence for a while. After a while, the leaf sound disappeared and she could hear feet stepping on soft grass.

They travelled for a while longer, until Leo stopped walking and sighed.

“Isa, take off your shoes and socks, but don’t open your eyes,” Leo said. She did as he asked.

“Open your eyes,” he said. She opened her eyes and saw the vibrant lake in front of her. She was on a small cliff, only ten feet from the water. She took a step back, in surprise, feeling the soft grass in between her toes.

Behind them was a forest with thousands of trees, each one with an assortment of orange, red, and brown leaves. The setting sun cast beautiful rays of pink and purples light into the sky, reflecting off of a lake in the distance. The only green was on the ground, where bright grass was emphasized in the sea of warm colors.

“What are we—" Isabella began, but Leo took this chance to jump into the lake. She looked into the water, where Leo surfaced. He wiped his face with his hand, his wild hair drenched.

“Come on, Isa!” he yelled. “It’s perfectly safe!” She sighed and jumped, feeling the air surround her as she fell, her scream lost in the wind. Then she was in the water, surprisingly warm water, making her clothes drenched. She opened her eyes and saw small, red fish swimming away. Isabella swam up to where Leo was waiting.

“Well?”

“That was fun,” she replied, her heart pounding. They swam for at least an hour, after the sun had fully set and the stars and moon were visible. After Isabella realized it was so late, she swam to the shore, where she lied down in the grass, her feet still in the water. Leo lied down next to her.

“Do you want to go back now?” he asked. She nodded.

“Do you have any towels?” Isabella asked.

“Of course,” Leo said, walking to where their shoes were waiting. He tossed her a towel and she quickly dried herself, wrapping the towel around her. It smelled like cinnamon. They sat in silence for a few moments.

“That was incredible, Leo. Thank you,” Isabella said, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her head.

“Are you tired?” Leo asked. She nodded. They climbed walked back to the Oasis, hand in hand.

Isabella went into the bathroom to dry herself completely and to get ready for bed. Leo did the same.

Isabella changed into her usual pants and a tank top. She brushed her teeth and hair quickly but efficiently. When she got out of the bathroom, Leo was waiting at the side of her bed. He looked pale.

“Are you okay, Leo?” she asked.

“Yeah! I’m perfectly fine,” Leo said. He looked at her and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Isabella frowned.

“Leo,” she said. “Are you still worried about Liam?” He shook his head. “Then tell me. I told you that I was in love with you and look where that got us.”

“Isa, it’s nothing. Really. You shouldn’t worry about me. There’s nothing wrong.” Her shoulders slumped and she sat on the bed, looking away. She was hoping to distract him from his thoughts when they watched the movie, but that didn’t work. Then he surprised her with the tree and the lake, but he was still upset. Why?

“You’re lying to me,” she whispered. “This is just like in the beginning of this whole quest when you lied about helping me. When you were really working for Maximus, just to save Lizzy. You didn’t even care abou—”

“Isa, how could you accuse me of that? Yeah, I was working for Maximus, but of course I cared about you! I was in love with you the moment we met! I wouldn’t have surrendered you to him, or purposefully hurt you even if Maximus threatened me. Isa, we went over this! Do you think I’m a bad person?”

“Leo, why can’t you just tell me what’s wrong? You don’t trust me? You don’t think I can handle it? You—”

“Isa, stop! I don’t want to fight with you! Of course I think you can handle it, I just don’t want to bring you into this!”

“Why not? Why can’t you just answer the question?”

“I told you why! I don’t want you to worry about me, too. I don’t want to bring you into my problems! You have enough of your own.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You know, most of those problems are because of you!”

“Stop yelling at me!” Isabella only raised her voice louder.

“Liam is threatening you to get to me and I’m worried sick all the time for you and me! And on top of that I’m fighting with Will and Simon because they don’t approve of you and I’m just defending you and drifting farther and farther apart from them!”

“Then don’t defend me! I never asked you to! My God, Isa, stop yelling! If they don’t approve of me, then maybe we shouldn’t be together!” Isabella’s breath caught. Leo paused. “Isa, I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean that. I—”

“Get. Out,” she said.

“Isa, please. I didn’t mean to say—”

“Get out,” she repeated.

“Isa—”

“I said get out. What do you not understand? Get out! I don’t want to see you!” Isabella said, her voice breaking at the end. She began pushing him out of the room and she slammed the door closed, pushing the lock into place. She expected him to stay there the whole night and apologize or comfort her but he didn’t. She listened as his soft, slow footsteps resonated through the hallway until they were so faint that she could barely hear them. Then she heard a door closing.

She sat on the bed and started to cry. He left? She lost him? Will and Simon were right.

No. They weren’t. It was her fault. She had overreacted and yelled at him.

She wanted to talk to someone. She went to the nightstand and unlocked her phone. She called Simon and listened to the ringing noise. She thought it would go to voicemail after a while.

“What do you want, Bella? I said I’m sorry.”

“Simon, I don’t know what to do,” she said, her voice breaking.

“Bella? What happened?”

“We… we broke up,” she whispered into the phone. There was silence on the other end. “We… we got into a huge fight and then I started talking about how I always defend him because you and Will don’t approve of him, and then he was mad at me for being mad so he said that maybe we shouldn’t—” Isabella had to pause. She didn’t want Simon to hear her cry. She took a moment to breath. “And then I told him to get out and basically pushed him out of the room while he was apologizing and he… he’s in his room now.” More silence. “Simon? Are you there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. The thing was muted,” he said. He sounded like he was smiling. “Sorry, I just celebrated.”

“Simon, this is serious!” Isabella said, her voice breaking again. “I want him back, Simon! I don’t know what to do! That’s why I called you!” She heard faint laughs. “Fine, if you won’t help me, I’ll just find someone else.” She sighed. “And I thought my own twin would be here for me… I guess not.”

“Wait, Bella,” Simon said, still clearly smiling. “I—” Isabella hung up. She took a shaky breath.

That night would probably be a bad time to apologize or talk to him, just in case he was still mad. The morning after would probably be good. But what if he woke up in a bad mood? Ugh, this is so hard! she thought. What would Will say? If this were Meg and him, he would probably be the first to apologize for saying it. But what if Leo, like herself, thought that it was her fault?

Her head was spiraling. If Leo didn’t want to talk tomorrow, she wouldn’t chase him. She would do what Meg would do, which would be to wait for Leo to apologize.

But would that be mean? She knew it was her fault. Why would she wait on Leo to apologize? Because he would say sorry, she thought. Leo would apologize if he’s ready, even if he didn’t do anything.

Isabella was angry. She was mad at herself for yelling, mad at Simon for being so selfish, and mad at him for bringing up a breakup. Well, now he got his breakup. Simon was happy. Will was probably happy. Everyone was happy except for Leo and her.

Isabella changed into shorts and wiped her sweaty, teary face. She had little breathing spasms from crying, but she lied down in bed and managed to fall asleep.

Will appeared in her Lobelt with an I-told-you-so face.

“Is Leo treating you well?” he asked, fake sympathy surrounding his question. “I thought I heard some tension.” Isabella’s lip quivered and Will’s smile immediately vanished. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was that—”

“Both you and Simon are awful. I’m in so much pain and Simon’s laughing at me and you’re making jokes?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll help you.”

“Thank you,” Isabella said.

“So I don’t know Leo, and I was just wondering, did he want to break up with you?”

“I don’t think so. I think it just… bursted out or something. Same thing happened when I started yelling at him.”

“Okay. Wait for him to apologize. He’s the one who said you should break up. And, believe me, I’m not trying to be unfair to Leo. It’s what I would do.”

“I know, Will.”

“If he doesn’t apologize tomorrow, then just give him time. You should get some sleep now. The Oasis members should be back by this afternoon. And feel better, Isabella. I’m sorry for joking.”

“It’s okay. See you later.”

When she woke up, she was clenching her teeth from the pain in her stomach and carefully unclenched them. She had begun to get a headache from it.

She woke up in a terrible mood. She was angry at Leo, not herself. She tried to blame herself, but she couldn’t see the innocence in Leo’s side. She tried to breathe, but her anger didn’t subside.

It was half past ten. Isabella went into the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth. She fixed her hair without brushing it and walked groggily down the stairs. When she got to the dining room, she saw Leo at the table, looking at her. Her face reddened and she walked into the kitchen.

As she grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, her stomach jolted. She doubled over and dropped the bowl, shards of glass seeping into the floor.

Leo ran into the room. “Isa, are you okay?” He put his hand on her back but she brushed it off.

“Don’t… touch me,” she muttered. “Get me… a painkiller or something.”

“Isa, come with me. I’m not leaving you here.”

“Leo, now is not the time for your companionship. Get me something. I’m not moving.” Leo ran out of the room. Isabella managed to stand up straight and sat on the counter. Her anger increased. She was mad for being so mean to him when he was helping her, but all of the anger was directed at him. It’s not his fault, she thought. She tried to forgive him, but for some reason she couldn’t. Maybe it was because she blamed him for her mistake. Maybe it was because he hurt her when he said it. Whatever it was, she was still mad.

Leo came into the kitchen after a while and handed her a green pill and a bottle of water. She quickly took the pill and water and sighed. She looked at Leo, who looked at her.

“Leo,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.” Leo wrapped his arms around her as quiet tears escaped from her eyes.

“Why are you apologizing? I’m the one who started this whole thing.”

“I’m an awful person. I was mad at you, when I should have been mad at myself. I’m the one who pushed you to tell me what was wrong.”

“Isa, you’re the perfect girlfriend. I’m not even mad at you. You just wanted to know what was going on. And I can tell you if you want to know. I… you know I didn’t mean what I said. It just came out. But I wanted to say that I really didn’t mean to offend you in any way.”

“I know, Leo,” Isabella said. “I’m sorry, too. I really shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“So...” Leo said.

“So...” Isabella repeated, looking into his golden eyes.

“We’re good now?” Isabella smiled and nodded. “Can I kiss you?” Isabella smiled wider and he pressed his lips to hers. She missed having the scent of cinnamon surround her as she slept next to him. She missed the soft stubble on his cheeks. She missed the feeling of his lips on hers.

“I missed you,” she mumbled in between the kiss. Leo smiled.

“Listen, Meg, I really have to talk to you!” they heard Simon saying. They abruptly pulled away, much to their consent, and listened. Footsteps shuffled around.

“Simon, I have to go soon!”

“It’s about Will!” The footsteps stopped.

“What is it?”

“Will wanted you to have this. Here.” Isabella opened the door a crack and saw Simon give Meg a shining diamond ring.