Gravity (21 page)

"Other thing?"

Violet
blushes.

Oh!
My face is burning up. Is she talking
about mating? "That explains a lot."

"I don't know
anything about our kind. I'm afraid Red will have to explain things
to both of us."

I
like the way she smiles. It brightens
her face. If only she did it more often. “What about Alex and
Dash?”

“It’s the same with them only they inherited
different aspects. Dash and Alex are more cerebral ours is more...
primal.”

Ours? She just admitted it! But then that
means... She's primal too. That's what makes me tick. That's what
makes me want to devour everyone. It's sick. What about her? I
watch her chin rise to greet the warm sun. My gaze travels to her
neck. The urge to sink my teeth in makes my heart race. If she was
closer, I think I could lose control easily.

"Is that why you're always farther away?
You're afraid of me because I'm dangerous?"

S
he lowers her head. "I'm
not afraid of you." She ties a stray thread around her finger.
There’s more she wants to say as she chews her lip.

She's
afraid of something.
"You said I look like him." I
confess.

She
smiles slowly in a way that makes me
wish she sat closer so I can take in the details better.

"Yeah
, you really do. But
your eyes are different." The corner of my mouth twitches into a
smile, which I hide from her with my hand.

"Why does his
eyes look so...," I try to explain but words escape me.

"Beautiful?"
She swoons
. "The way his eyes
change color."

"It's so
unreal. I've never seen anything like it."

Violet's face
slowly goes from a happy thought to sorrowful pout within seconds.
What did I say wrong? Oh, that's right... he's missing. "You must
really love him?"

Violet nods.
"Yes, I do. Very much." She folds her hands.

I
wish she'd talk about me that way;
but I'm nobody and Red is...
amazing
. Even though it
was a dream when we met, there was something magnificent about him.
A part of me wants to meet Red in real life, but the another part
wants to replace him. I look like him. I want to use
that.

"We'll find
him." I say just to make her smile. Part of me doesn't mean it at
all.

Alex

I wake to find
Dash next to me with a puddle of drool dampening my clean bed
sheets. I shove him off the bed. Dash hits the floor with a loud
thud.

"Ow!"

I stare down at
him. Dash rubs his side.

"Dude, totally gay!
Why are you still here? I thought you'd leave afterwards."

"I was tired."
Dash furrows
his brows. He
combs back the hair that covers his eyes.

"Jesus, your
bedhead is horrible. Get a haircut."

"You saw
everything right?"
Dash grabs
his sneakers.

"Yeah, but why
did you stop? There had to have been more." I rubs my
eyes.

"I got tired and fell asleep. Plus it stops
when he leaves. There's no more after that."

"
When he leaves? I saw up
to when Grey jumps. I got to tell you. It was a nightmare. I think
I was possessed."

“We can go over it
again. I don't mind."

"Grey and Red
were close but why doesn't she talk about him. Grey was her
boyfriend. She didn't seem torn between them. It was obvious she
loved Grey. I'd read her mind but it has holes, like, memory loss
or something."

"I think the
holes in her memory have to do with the trauma Red was 'fixing'.
Dash grabs his glasses off the nightstand.

"Fixing what?"
I rub my head. "Wait, is this another book?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Dash stands. "Red took her
memories away. If Red can go into her mind and take away her
memories, what else could he do? It seems he hid a lot from
her."

"
He did what? How many
books did you read? I thought this makes two." I point the
journal.

Dash averts his
eyes. "I took a glance at some of the others."

He scans books and
that counts as reading somehow to Dash.

"
Red can do a lot more
than what we saw." He pauses for a moment but hesitated, to say any
more like it's a secret between him and Red. "So, what are you
doing today?"
He changes the
subject.

"If you think
we
're hanging out you are
sadly mistaken my friend." I leave my bed to check my reflection.
In the mirror, Dash lowers his head, and rakes his hair. This kid
is always lonely. Even with a large family, he has no one. He
doesn't have any friends. He spends a lot of his time on his own in
his room, drawing picture of naked chicks and calling it
art.

"Whatever."
Dash grabs
the journal and his backpack. He expects this kind of an answer and
shrugs off the let down like it's the norm.

"Wait." I roll my eyes. "We might as well
grab something for breakfast."

He
tries to fight a smile. I hear the
celebration inside of his head like he finally got what he always
wanted—a friend to talk to.

***

Dash

I
finish my pancakes, trying to fill
Alex in on what I've read thus far, but it doesn't keep his eyes at
the table. The cute redhead named Laurie, waiting on us, distracts
him again as she passes to take another table order.

"What do you think about the whole roof Grey
thing?" I place my fork down.

Alex's eyes follow
Laurie as she makes her way across the diner.

"Alex!" I kick
him from under the table.

"Ow! I'm
listening. It's just a lot of story to take in." His gaze
reluctantly makes it back to the table. "Remind me again, Grey came
back fine after the jump, right?"

"Right. Don't you think it's weird that Grey
came back fine? What happened to the thing that was in Red?"

"
I wouldn't call it fine.
You said he flipped on her. Maybe it went into Grey." Alex rubs his
forehead. "But Red scanned him. He was reading fine. I don't know.
I would need to see for myself."

"Yeah, maybe you can pick up more
information."

"That Grey guy didn't seem so bad, but from
what you told me he seems... off... " Alex trails off as Laurie
comes back to fill their mugs that don't need filling. She seems
interested in him since her eyes never meet mine. He displays a
charming smile I've seen him use on Violet. It so fake I want to
point it out to the stupid girl. At least Violet isn't as bad as
Laurie. Though, he gets her to bite her lip. I wish I had that
effect on girls—especially Violet, but without being fake. He pulls
his eyes away from Laurie when she walks away.

"I can hear
you, remember?" Alex
grips his
coffee mug.

"I
haven't forgotten."
I
grin.

Alex stirs his
coffee. "I think that the journal is
n't showing everything. It felt like I was being
rushed through the whole thing. Did you speed read or
something?"

"No. But I know
what you mean." I put my fork down. "I don't like not knowing
everything. It bothers me that Red could be filtering what we read.
It’s genius and it’s annoying."

"None of this
is logical;
it's all fairytale
magic and shit." Alex sips his coffee. "The deeper we go the
crazier it sounds. What else can Red do?"

Red can do a
lot. I don't
want to share it
with Alex. Things I saw elsewhere. Things I don't think were meant
to be shared. I have a gut feeling it's for my eyes
only.

"I can't see
your thoughts as clearly when you think about the journals. It
kinda freaks me out."

"It's probably all
cryptic like the journals, right?"

"Yeah, all
mathy and shit." His eyes squint just trying to see into my mind.
I'm glad he can't see everything.

"Stop thinking
about it, it's actually hurting my head. Feels like I’m in
school.”

I
snicker until he's is distracted once
more when Laurie makes another appearance with two pieces of
pie.

"On the house,"
s
he says leaning in close to
Alex. "I hope you’re hungry." She bats her lashes at him. I'm
pretty sure she had unbuttoned the top two buttons on her waitress
uniform to reveal her fleshy cleavage. Alex and the waitress eye
fuck each other for a moment, like a private conversation is taking
place. I try to look away but there's nothing but the damn pie.
Laurie finally leaves the receipt in front of him. His eyes follow
her backside as she walks away.

"Alex, what did
we agree to?" I push the pie away.

Alex snaps back
to the conversation like Laurie doesn't exist. Surprising, he picks
up where they left off. He's been paying attention.

"Violet. She's
what we all want, right?" He simply says, f
lipping over the receipt. His smile is a devious one.
He digs one finger into the pie and puts it in his mouth. "You pay
for this and I'll handle the tip."

I look
at the receipt as he leaves the
table. In large girly handwriting, Laurie leaves a message when
she'll be getting off. Alex goes through the same door Laurie had a
moment before. I pay for breakfast, but he still hasn't come back.
I go to check on him and find the door locked. I press my ear to
it. It sounds like Laurie has gotten off early. From the sounds of
her moaning voice, Alex is leaving a generous tip.

Alex

The crumpled
sheets and pillows in the center of the bed are obvious—the bed was
slept in. The room reeks of the other guy—Grey. Did she sleep in
his bed? Dash would know just by looking. Why did this guy leave
her? Why would
I remind Violet
of this guy? Maybe it’s because he loves music just as much as I
do; or maybe it’s something else. This guy was her real boyfriend,
the one she had fun with. The one she... I look away from the bed.
I hate the bed.

I
saw through Red's envious eyes the
love they had for each other. Not being the one that she reaches
for hurts like hell. It ripped a hole in Red and I felt it. To
recall the rooftop scene makes me envious. This guy loved her. Did
she do it with him... here? Dash will have to cough up that info
later. I gaze out of the windows to the dark view of the forest.
Creepy as hell.

I turn to the music collection. This guy has
good taste in music. Maybe that's why I remind her of him. I grab
an LP off the wall.

The door creeks
open.

Violet stands
awkwardly in the doorway.
Her brown curls are tied back.
It's the first time I notice her bare neck. That's where
Grey's
necklace
used to be; the one Dash told me
about.

"Oh sorry, Vi. I couldn't find you so I—" I
place the LP back on the shelf. "It's just his music collections is
massive and the vinyl... God, he's got some rare stuff."

"It's fine, Alex." She doesn’t mind that I'm
looking around or even touching the music, but the room itself is
Grey. She doesn’t want me to ruin anything. I can see the sadness
in her eyes as she approaches the bed and sits. She doesn't come in
this room much, but when she does, she cries in the pillow in the
center of the bed. She’s the reason for the unmade bed.

Her hands skim the sheets and she begins to
cry.

"Vi," I sit beside her, I don't hesitate to
place my arm around her. I don't care what the rules are. I know I
shouldn't because she's triggered or something. I touch her. My
skin feels like it wants to connect with her. I would if I had more
hands. She doesn't seem to notice because she's thinking about
Grey. I don't like seeing girls cry. The first thing I usually do
is take advantage. Touching is consoling and consoling makes them
feel they can trust me with their pain. Of course, I know the right
things to say and the right way to touch. But Violet is different;
for some reason I can't go all the way.

All I know about her is from what Dash told
me from Red's journal. Even when I had first seen her in my dream,
the image Red had forced into my mind, I instantly felt something
for her. I have a feeling she's more to me than just a hybrid girl
I'm helping. The music box without the prongs to make music I
recall from my dream, I have to fix it for her. What does it mean?
That part of the dream doesn't make sense. The part where Red said
to trust Violet is all that makes sense to me.

I rub her shoulder as I listen to her
sniffle. The last time I rubbed a girl’s shoulder like this was so
she would be coaxed into having sex with me after her mom died. I
let my arm fall away from her. I won't do that. Not to her.

I listen to Violet's mind as she recalls
moments I had only saw in the journal. Grey is her boyfriend and
she misses him so much. The new vision the repeat of pulling off of
her necklace is something that torments her. I'd try to sympathize
with her pain, but I don't know how I should feel. Part of me is
happy she doesn’t have that guy in her life. I'm hoping we'll never
get around to finding Red.