Chapter 16
Gabriel had been put to many tests in his short existence. He had survived extraordinary circumstances, contended with a ferocious enemy and survived an assassination attempt. He had also loved for the first time, a phenomenon he was constructed to never experience. Navigating the winding roads of Harbingers Falls, he relived each exhilarating moment spent with Melissa and, despite the dire circumstances he suspected that prompted his return, he was thrilled. His heart pounded wildly, threatened to beat out of his chest. The excitement inside him was electric. He felt lightheaded, elated. The moment he’d awaited for five long months was finally upon him. He’d dreamt about it, saw her face vividly in his memory, but couldn’t wait to see her in person: her clear, emerald eyes, her full lips, her lengths of golden brown hair. Every part of him hummed and buzzed excitedly. He would wrap her in his arms as soon as he saw her, inhale the sweet scent of her skin before holding her at arm’s length from him and looking at her, enjoying her every feature.
Turning on to Blackstone drive, Gabriel James could not think of anywhere else he would have rather been.
“You’ve been really quiet,” Yoshi observed.
“Just thinking,” Gabriel replied.
“Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Seriously, it will.”
“I don’t know. It’s been so long. I can’t wait to see her. But what if,” Gabriel’s voice trailed off.
“What if what? What if she’s with someone else?”
“Well, yeah. You know that’s what I’m worried about.”
“Listen, from what you’ve told me, that’s highly unlikely. She loves you and you love her. All you need to do is see her. Once you’re with her, you’ll see that nothing has changed. Her feelings will be the same as they were five months ago. Trust me.”
“Yoshi, I have to admit, it’s kind of hard to argue with someone when he’s just told you exactly what you want to hear.”
“I’m not telling you what you want to hear. I’m telling you what I sincerely believe to be true.”
“So, you really think nothing’s changed?”
“Well maybe something,” Yoshi said solemnly.
“What? What do you mean? What do you think will be different? Tell me!”
“Well, it’s hard to say exactly. It could be any number of things. For starters, her hair may be different. I’ve read in several gossip magazines that girls often cut their hair when they are sad. Melissa may have chopped all her hair off.”
Gabriel exhaled sharply, relieved, and then said, “I don’t care if she has buzzed all her hair off, she will look just as beautiful to me. And don’t believe everything you read in gossip magazines. Not all American girls are like the starlets you read about. Women and America are really misrepresented by those kinds of magazines.”
“Hey I like my Tattletale Weekly! I’ve learned a lot of useful stuff about popular culture from them,” Yoshi said. “Wait until we get to her house before you judge my information sources. She could have a purple Mohawk for all you know.”
“I doubt it, Yoshi.”
Yoshi did not offer any further opinion. Instead, he sat silently in the passenger seat of Gabriel’s rented Jeep Cherokee as they drove up Melissa’s street.
“How can you possibly be calm at a time like this,” Gabriel asked and grabbed Yoshi by the arm.
“Hey, eyes on the road! You don’t want to see her for the first time in five months wrapped around a tree do you?”
Yoshi was quiet for a second then added, “I’m happy for you. I’m happy you’re finally going to get to see her.”
“Thanks, man. I can’t wait. And I’m nervous as hell.”
Gabriel could not stop smiling as he drove up her hill. His face began to hurt from doing so as her house came into view. He slowed to a near crawl as he approached and felt a familiar feeling of excitement surge in his stomach before he noticed that her bedroom light was on. Eager to see her, he parked the Cherokee four houses away.
“Is this her house? Where’s the big tree you told me about?” Yoshi asked.
“No, this isn’t it. We passed it.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. We’re going to walk to her house, cross her property and climb the tree to her window.”
“Wouldn’t the front door be easier?”
“Well, yes, of course. But I’m guessing her father is home and would not be too thrilled to see me after what happened last time I was here, how I just took off and left Melissa to deal with the police and everything. And how I hurt his daughter.”
“When you put it that way, I can see why you’d want to avoid him. He’s probably not a big fan of yours,” Yoshi replied. “It sounds like the tree is the best route.”
They both climbed out of the Jeep Cherokee and began walking up the steep incline of Melissa’s street. Each residence was uniform in construct, only subtle variations in choice of shutter color or siding hue differentiated them. Composed predominantly of working-class residents, the members of the Blackstone Drive’s community dutifully maintained their property. Gabriel noticed that each lawn they passed had been mowed, flower beds were meticulously upheld, and shrub shapes were maintained. The overall landscape was neat and orderly, a refreshing departure from the unpredictability and, at times, unruliness, that defined the environment of his previous habitat.
“All the houses are exactly alike,” Yoshi commented.
“Kind of,” Gabriel agreed.
“Is that how all neighborhoods are in America?”
“No, not all, but who cares, really? Look over there, look what this neighborhood has that’s unique,” Gabriel said pointing to the eastern-facing houses that bore odd numbers.
Beyond the odd numbered houses, the sun hung low in the sky, almost disappeared into the horizon, its vanishing light a faint glow in the west.
“I see. Sunsets for one side of the street, sunrises for the other. Interesting,” Yoshi said but didn’t seem interested in the least.
Gabriel believed his friend would have been happier in a less suburban setting, one with tall buildings and bright lights. But Yoshi’s entertainment was not his foremost thought. Furthermore, he was far too distracted to entertain such thoughts. Everything around him shimmered and thrived.
The air smelled sweet and green with hints of lemon grass and lavender scenting it. Everywhere he looked, something bloomed. Daffodils, tulips and magnolia lined driveways, cherry blossoms and early azalea blooms made debuts in front yards. Blackstone Drive flourished with signs of spring.
Gabriel, like the street he treaded upon, was awash with hope and vitality.
And then he saw her house. The light of her bedroom lamps cast a faint golden glow onto the garage that shelved below it. He felt his breath catch in his chest, couldn’t believe he was actually standing underneath her room, that he would hold her in his arms in a matter of minutes.
He looked beside the house and smiled. The mature oak looked bigger. Though he was sure it hadn’t gown taller in the last five months, he knew it grew wider. With an abundance of leaves that assumed a fluorescent hue in the light of early evening, the oak looked considerably fuller, robust. All the brightly colored leaves intertwined in an elaborate web of boughs reaching and stretching upward, outward. He marveled at the majestic guardian of the Martin home, and eagerly wanted to climb it.
As if reading his mind, Yoshi spoke.
“It’s been a while since I climbed a tree,” Yoshi said slightly embarrassed. “You think I can get up there?” he asked and pointed to the lowest branch which was several feet taller than he.
“Sure you can. You were born and raised in Motuo,” Gabriel encouraged. “Remember? No electricity. No supermarkets. You hunted in the wild.”
“Thanks Gabriel, but I really don’t need a pep talk. The problem
is less about my abilities–which are superior to yours, by the way–and more about the fact that I can’t even get my leg to the lowest knot.”
“First of all, those things on the tree are not knots Yoshi, their called galls and they occur when a tree is recovering from an injury or stress; it’s like a lump of scar tissue.”
“What, now you’re a tree doctor or something?”
“No, I just learned a lot of stuff when I was with Terzini. He wanted me to be well-rounded, well-informed.”
“With useless information, I guess.”
“It wasn’t useless. You learned something just now, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Yoshi answered slightly exasperated.
“Are we going to do this or not, because there’s a gorgeous girl just a tree-climb away who I’d like to see rather than stand here and argue with you.”
“Fine, say no more,” Yoshi agreed and rubbed his chin as he looked again to the enormous oak.
“I’ll give you a boost,” Gabriel promised then stooped and offered his interlaced fingers for his friend to step upon.
Yoshi stepped into Gabriel’s hands and hoisted himself up onto a sturdy outstretched branch. Once he was confident that the branch could uphold his weight, he stood up and looked down at Gabriel.
“This thing is huge,” he called. “What kind of tree is this?”
“It’s an oak tree,” Gabriel answered readying himself to reach for the same bough.
Once Yoshi was farther up in the massive tree, Gabriel began climbing. His hands trembled as he reached for the first branch. His pulse kept rhythm loudly in his ears. He pulled himself up and lifted his leg so that he straddled the bough first, then moved to a squatting position. He stood quickly, stretched and grasped another branch, and another, and another, until he reached the roof of the garage. Yoshi waited for him at the edge as he stepped from the tree.
“This is it,” Yoshi began. “This is what you’ve been whining about for five months.”
“Please, Yoshi! Stop trying to ruin this for me!”
“Sorry,” Yoshi said sincerely.
They scampered up the length of the garage roof. When they reached the sill of her window, Gabriel peered inside, expecting to see Melissa’s face just beyond the glass staring intently at her laptop computer as he’d seen her do on numerous occasions in the past. He did not see her face. She was not seated at her desk focusing on her computer. She sat on the edge of her bed with her back facing him, her long hair trailing almost to her waist. And she was not alone.
Gabriel moved closer to her bedroom window. With his face nearly pressed against it, he saw that Melissa’s arm was wrapped around a male figure. Thin with a large frame and bristly black hair, he leaned into her, his body resting intimately against her.
Gabriel felt as if he’d been struck in the stomach. He struggled to breathe. His eyes burned and his mouth went dry. He blinked several times to expunge the moisture that accumulated suddenly, unexpectedly, and blurred his vision. He turned to Yoshi who sat waiting with his back against the siding that framed the window.
“Let’s go. This was a mistake,” he said levelly.
“What? What are you talking about? This is what you’ve been waiting for.”
“Did you not hear me?” Gabriel said sharply. “I said let’s go!”
“What the hell’s your problem?”
“Look, Yoshi, I’m not in the mood for your crap right now. Let’s just get the hell out of here. Okay?”
“I don’t get it. Why?”
“You really want to know Yoshi?”
“Yes, I do!”
“Look! Look in the window and tell me what you see!” Gabriel ordered.
Yoshi stepped up to the window and looked in.
“She moved on,” he said apologetically.
“Yes, she moved on! And I am not going to interrupt her date to talk about the possibility that Kevin and his friends were somehow saved by Terzini and sent back to do who knows what,” Gabriel said heatedly.
“All right, all right, calm down. Let’s get out of here.”
Yoshi moved down the garage roof, gripped a branch and descended the oak with dexterity that implied he’d done it hundreds of time. Gabriel moved toward the tree but paused to look over his shoulder at Melissa and her supposed new beau.
In the instant that he did, Melissa and the mystery guest parted. Gabriel turned his body and rested on all fours. He stabilized himself in such an awkward position by carefully tensing his leg muscles and engaging his upper-body strength. He strained to see. He tilted his head to get a better look, then saw the boy’s profile and immediately wished he hadn’t. He recognized the boy with Melissa, and felt as if a dagger had been thrust through his heart. Despite his education and broad knowledge base, he could not, for the life of him, understand why Melissa would choose to be with the boy on her bed. He felt disappointed and disgusted. He did not want her to be with anyone else, least of all the person she was with.
Eric Sala sat beside Melissa on her bed and gazed longingly at her. Eric Sala was the boy she had embraced just seconds ago.
Gabriel struggled with what he was looking at. He could only view Eric as an outspoken member of Kevin’s gang, a jerk and a troublemaker. He could not envision him as someone she would choose to spend time with, much less hug. Eric had been responsible for many of Melissa’s miserable days, had assisted Kevin with his attack against them in the woods five months earlier and had even gone as far as personally assaulting her. In fact, Gabriel’s lasting memory of Eric was of him tackling her to the ground then straddling her while restraining her with one hand, and raising the other to strike her into submission. He could not fathom how his act of violence, added to the numerous verbal attacks, had been pardoned by her, how he ended up in her arms. The situation did not make sense.