Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

“Being a teenager is
very
overwhelming,” Caelyn said softly.  She was looking at Ron with gratitude.
 “Don’t think I’m so old I don’t remember being one myself.”  She
patted my hair, comfortingly. 

“Mom, you’re not old…” I noticed
she was going back to the oven.  Caelyn liked to cook bacon in the
oven.  She definitely wasn’t a fan of grease splatter.  More
bacon?  Yum.

“Here you go,” she set a plate
piled high between us.  *Way to distract me Mom*…It totally worked. 
I grabbed up a couple of pieces, burning my fingers, but not caring, and then
burning the roof of my mouth. 

Caelyn
laughed.  “Well, there you go!  Maura’s healthy appetite is still
intact!”  I noticed Ron didn’t laugh, though.  He looked lost in
thought.

He was creeping me out, so I nudged
him, hard, with my elbow.  “Hey, snap out of it!  We have studying to
do, remember?”  I shot him an evil look, since it had been his idea.

“Oh yea.”  He shook his head,
as if to clear it and opened his Trig book.  Ughhhh.

Within a half hour though, I found
myself understanding it, so I was actually helping him study.  “Wow, you
must be really great at math.”  Caelyn choked on laughter that she tried
to pass off as a cough.  I shot her an unimpressed look.

“No,” I admitted, feeling myself
blush, “actually, I’m pretty terrible at it.”

“It’s her worse subject,” my mother
interjected.

“Thanks, Mom!”  I shot daggers
at her with my eyes.  “Didn’t you have work to do in your office?” 
She left the room, smirk intact.

“Well, you
are
still in
algebra…maybe you just have a thing for Trig.”  Ron shrugged his shoulders
and went back to the book.

After we finished up with that
subject, we moved on to my English final, which included essay questions on
Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet
.  I tried to voice what I planned to
put on paper, but it was so hard to concentrate, looking into Ron’s dark hazel
eyes.  I wasn’t mesmerized enough to miss his changing expression,
though.  His mouth fell open a bit, but I couldn’t tell if he was
impressed with my argument or horrified at my lack of coherent thought.

“Wow….Maura!” His eyebrows shot up
in astonishment, “just how many times did you read this?”

My detail must have been lacking,
even though I thought I’d been careful to cite enough passages from the
play.  “Oh, I don’t refer back to the text enough?”  My brain went
back over my words, trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong.

Ron was shaking his head,
vehemently, “No!  Maura you practically quoted, word for word, every scene
you referred back to!  Wow!! I wish I had a photographic memory like
that!”

“Are you sure?” I knew I’d never
been much good at memorizing before.  I’d failed my French vocab test,
miserably, a few weeks ago.  He nodded his head, looking at me like I was
being ridiculous.  I mulled this over.  Oh well, I did love
English.  It was my best subject, and
Romeo and Juliet
was a
long-time favorite. 

The rest of the afternoon went much
the same way.  I caught on fast to the subjects Ron was taking in his
senior year classes and, even with the time away from class, remembered all the
important stuff from my own.  A break must really do the brain good! 
Maybe getting a sneak peek at Ron’s course material would help me with my
senior year.

“Wow, Maura, you’re a
Brainiac!”  Ron marveled, “if you keep this up, maybe we can go back to
having some fun this week!”

“Please wait until finals are
over!”  Caelyn’s hearing was far too good. 

But she was definitely forgiven
when she ordered us a Meat Lover’s Pizza for lunch.  I was so hungry, just
like in the weeks past.  *Completely normal,* I reminded myself, *growing
takes so much energy!*  I wolfed down my sixth piece without any further
worry, laughing at Ron for trying to catch up, in vain.

“Here,” Ron pushed his English
textbook at me.  It was open to Poe’s poem, “The Raven.”  “Let’s try
a little experiment.”

“What do you mean?” I queried,
looking down at the text.

“You read over the poem just
once.  Then close the book and repeat back as much as you can remember.”

“Don’t be silly.”  I felt
uneasy about his little test and slid the book back in his direction.

“Come on, please!  I’m
completely envious of your memory.”  He smiled, and my heart softened a
bit, “For me?”

I sighed heavily and pulled the
book back.  “Oh alright.  I still think it’s silly.”  I lowered
my eyes and read over the text slowly, trying to commit each word to
memory.  After I was done, I handed the large textbook back to him.

“Ok, no peeking!”  He hunched
over the book, covering the top edges with his hands, so I couldn’t see.

I quoted back as much as I could
remember, but felt pretty sure I’d missed a large chunk from the middle. 
But, when I was finished reciting, Ron’s mouth was agape. 

“Perfect,” he breathed, clearly
astonished.

“No way,” I shot back, “I know I
missed some of the middle.”

“But you didn’t, Maura.  You
got every word.”  His voice held a slight tremor, “That’s crazy.
 It’s almost supernatural.”

I started in my seat as if his
words had struck me, like physical objects.

As if on cue, Caelyn came bustling
into the room, slamming a stack of folders onto the dining room table, making
both Ron and I jump in our seats.

“Ok, I think that’s enough
studying,” there was a very strained smile on her face.  “You kids have
been at it for hours!  I think it definitely
is
time for some
fun.” 

A reprieve from my mother was
enough to break me out of my reverie. “Yay!  What do you have in mind,
Mom?”

I just wished Ron looked as happy
for the break as I felt.  He looked miles away again, and I couldn’t help
but curse my own DNA.  Maybe the reason Caelyn never spoke of my father
was because of the freaky characteristics she wished I hadn’t inherited.

Later that night, as I got ready
for bed, something jumped out at me from the mirror.  I was brushing my
teeth, but stopped abruptly when I noticed the difference in my eyes.  Was
this what had startled Ron earlier?  There was a black ring around the
outside of the dark brown irises.  I knew it hadn’t been there before, and
the difference screamed out at me now.  But that wasn’t all.  There
was an eerie ring of color around the ebony pupil, as well, small and thin, so
much it was barely perceptible, but colored a frightening tinge of faint
crimson.

I felt my knees buckle at this
extreme change in my eyes.  True, I had been closely examining my face
when I noticed it, but for anyone familiar, this was impossible to miss. 
I was positive my eyes had been their normal black-brown yesterday.  The
rosiness lurking in the area around my pupil wavered in my sight, as I gripped
the edge of the porcelain wash basin, trying desperately to hold onto
consciousness.

Somehow, despite our spotty
attendance record of the last couple of weeks, Ron and I both managed to pass
all of our finals with flying colors.  Caelyn took us to Olive Garden in
Monroeville to celebrate.  Ron was vanquished by me in a pasta eating contest,
shaking his head and looking me over, saying he didn’t know where I put
it.  We fed each other Zeppoli for dessert, Caelyn trying to look anywhere
but at the two of us.  I couldn’t help but feel guilty for being so happy
near Ron, but soberly remembered our fast-approaching departure and didn’t feel
quite so bad.  Very soon, I would be just as alone as my mother was. 
It was strangely comforting that we could at least suffer together in our new
life in Canada.

I’d kept waiting for Ron to kiss
me, but somehow it’d never happened.  Tonight was no different. 
Caelyn ended up hanging out with us the rest of the night.  We were
watching another horror movie, her brand of entertainment. After I’d fallen
asleep, Ron must have carried me to my bed, because that’s where I woke
up.  My last memory was of snuggling into Ron on the couch.  My
mother had squeezed in close on my other side, making everything so cozy and
warm.  It was one of those rare, perfect moments that happen too infrequently,
causing you to wish they could last forever.

It made waking alone in my bed feel
extra lonely.  I ripped away the covers and stormed down the stairs,
hoping, somehow, Ron would be sleeping on the couch.  I wasn’t
disappointed.  Caelyn had been unbelievably lax about his sleeping
over—always on the couch, of course—and Ron seemed to be grasping at every
possible moment we had left, just as I did.  I felt our time running
out. 

I thought about how strange the
passage of time could be.  The moments you wanted to hold onto the most,
always ended up slipping away, like the tide pulling away from the
shore…constant, unstoppable.  Like the fluid waves of the ocean, there is
no holding it back, no gripping it in your mortal hands.  I could feel the
only life I’d known, and Ron along with it, slipping away while I stood on
shifting, ever-drifting sand.  Tears stung my eyes…but there was the
beautiful smell of bacon coming from the kitchen…

She may not have been happy about
my dating, but Caelyn liked Ron.  Of course she did.  If not for him,
I’d have been a corpse on the bottom of the river, instead of the
pale-as-death, living girl standing before her now.

“You have two hours,” my mother
said, on our last day in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  She turned, but did flash
Ron a smile over her shoulder, before going back into the house to supervise
the movers, packing our U-Haul.

The desperate need to cry had
closed my throat, so I was thankful when Ron said, “You wanna go for a hike?”

I managed to squeak out a, “Sure!”

We drove to a trailhead we’d meant
to come to before, but much of the last week had been spent with Caelyn. 
She was anxious, needy and had been acting very peculiar.  Every time the
phone rang she jumped.  As the move got closer, she fidgeted and craved
constant companionship.  My mother was very unlike her usual self. 

One positive side effect of her
nervous, new mood was constant cooking.  I’d always been the one on
kitchen duty, but Caelyn had taken over with a vengeance.  She must have
read that Atkins Diet book or something, because we had protein, and not much
else, at every meal.  She did try to throw in the occasional salad, but
those were highly unappetizing.  The smell of the green leaves made me nauseous,
and the taste was unbearable.

I was contemplating all of this so
hard, barely noticing when Ron shut the car off.  Mechanically, I got out
and climbed, behind him, up the steep grade that led into the woods.  I
snapped out of the daze I was in, when he grabbed for my hand.  His grasp
was warm and tight, overly warm, telling me my own skin had the
all-too-familiar wintery chill.  But leaving Ron behind was more than
enough to chill the blood in my veins.  Leaving him behind felt like a
part of me was dying.  I let him drag my numb body along, until we reached
the top of the trail.

Now the moment was here that we
really had to say goodbye, I couldn’t bear it.  I sat beside him in the
grass thinking of all the possible could-have-beens.  I looked over at
him, and he was staring straight ahead, his long ponytail trailing halfway down
his back.  Brown silk against the white of his shirt.  I didn’t want
any regrets.  Today, I would do what I wanted and create remembrances,
instead of always holding back.  Reaching up, I slipped my finger under
the band restraining his hair, to pull it free.  It fanned out over his
shoulders, straight and shimmering, hair any girl would envy.  He turned
to me with undeniable surprise in his eyes.  It was uncharacteristic for
me to do such a bold thing.

I shrugged, “I like your hair like
that.”  I refused to apologize for anything in these last moments.

He didn’t smile.  “It’s too
bad you won’t be here for your birthday,” he said sadly.  I suddenly felt
guilty I’d told my mother two months ago we could go ahead and leave before the
date.  But I’d had no way of knowing, I could have had special plans.

He had something in his hand, a
something he placed in mine.  It was a small purple box tied with a gold
bow.  “Happy Birthday, early,” he said.

I felt tears welling in my
eyes.  “You didn’t have to,” I breathed.  The box was from the
jewelry store in the mall. 
I
was the mystery birthday girl!

“Of course I did.  Open it.”

My hand was shaking as I untied the
shiny ribbon.  I gently removed the glossy paper, wanting to save it,
intact, for my scrapbook.  When I finally managed to open the small box, I
found a locket.  The charm was small and heart-shaped.  On the front
was etched a black sliver of moon.  It was ideal—beautiful and
conventional, with a touch of dark mystery.  I loved it.  “It’s
perfect.”

“I know how much you love the
moon.”

Then I remembered its purpose,
pushed on the release and pried it open.  It was empty inside.  I was
disappointed he hadn’t included a picture.  I looked to him with
confusion, holding the locket open, “Did you forget something?”

“Nope.  We’ll put our pictures
in there the next time we see each other.”  He said this with assurance in
his tone.  “And I know we will.”  He locked his near-brown eyes on
mine, “And we won’t have to say goodbye again.”

Had we really only been aware of
each other for little more than a month?  Suddenly it felt like he’d been
with me a much more significant amount of time.  “I—I hope you’re
right.”  I closed my eyes and concentrated on holding back the sobs
threatening to escape.  I felt his breath on my lips.

I opened my eyes in shock, just as
he softly leaned forward to press his mouth to mine.  I’d always wondered
what my first kiss would be like, and here it was, all softness and
warmth.  But there was more.  It was as if my blood started to burn,
threatening to sear through my flesh.  The feeling was on the edge of
being painful.  I tried to tell myself it must be embarrassment, extremely
annoyed that it was stupidly, distracting me from the gentle way Ron parted my
lips with his own. The strange burning ran in curling, circular patterns, as if
it were branding intricate designs on my insides.   A moment later
the intense heat faded away, and I felt calm settle over me.  Ron twitched
in my arms, as if he was now feeling what I had a moment before.  The kiss
became more peaceful.  But that didn’t last.