Читать книгу Through the Night - Lynette Theisen - Страница 8

“We are ready to begin our next mission. You have been summoned for this significant assignment.”

“I am at your service, master.”

“Your task will far surpass being a mere temptation to the weak this time.”

“I am up for the challenge, master.”

“There is a family who is a pillar in this community. They are constantly helping others and spreading the gospel. Their faith appears untouchable. Fortunately for us, they have a young daughter. You must find her, for she holds the key to our mission. Strip away her innocence and break her unwavering righteousness! Once she has fallen, the rest will be putty in our hands. Now go quickly; time is precious.”

It was the morning of my sixteenth birthday, and my mom was up early making my favorite breakfast. I could tell by the delicious smell, which played the part of an alarm clock and brought an end to my dream. I lingered in my bed a while longer, trying to capture the essence of this very unusual dream. Although to some, it wouldn’t have seemed unusual at all.

I dreamt of driving around in a shiny, new red car with an incredibly gorgeous boy sitting next to me. He had amazing green eyes, jet-black hair, and spoke with a foreign accent. I remember feeling nervous around him and a bit flustered when I looked over at his perfect face, and he smiled at me.

I read once that dreams are our hidden desires or can carry certain meanings. I understood why I would dream of a new car; any normal sixteen-year-old who gets her driver’s license would wish for such a thing. But what seemed odd was the good-looking foreigner on the passenger side. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve noticed good-looking guys before, but this part of the dream intrigued me. Up until now, other than thinking some boys were cute, I never found myself overly attracted or excited about one. I had to wonder if dreams did signify a hidden desire, could it mean that now, with my “coming of age,” my interest in them would change? Honestly, though, boys just always seemed like such a distraction to the girls who flirted with them. I’ve never really had time for any sort of dating relationship with school, church, dance classes, family, and time with my best friend Jamie.

On the other hand, maybe this dream signified that boys might finally find me attractive for a change. I’ve always been a simple kind of girl—like vanilla, I suppose—sweet, yet plain. My dad happens to think I’m the most beautiful honey-brown brunette he’s ever seen, but then again, parents are supposed to think that.

Okay, Renee, enough of the analyzing. Better get out of bed before Mom has a conniption.

As I walked to my closet, an impulse to spice myself up a little more came over me. After all, it was a special day, and maybe for once I wanted to be noticed. Maybe it was time to expand this simple girl’s uncomplicated interests. I mean, I am starting to become a grown-up now, so wouldn’t I naturally begin to change?

As I browsed through my closet, realizing I had a turtleneck in every color imaginable, I knew trying to look more stylish was going to take some work. Though my options were limited, I did have a stash of clothes at the back of the closet that I never wore because they were more revealing than I was comfortable with. My mother had instilled in me at a very young age that clothes serve one purpose: to cover a person up. Every time she saw someone showing too much skin, she would remind me that, “You don’t have to show everything that the good Lord gave you. It’s best to leave something to the imagination!”

I had accumulated a few things from when Jamie and I would go to the mall and she would talk me into buying something that I really didn’t want. “But you look so cute!” she would convince me. I added to the stash just yesterday a jean miniskirt with a sequin pattern at the bottom, an early birthday present from Jamie. She knew I never wore minis because of my “curse,” long, lanky legs I inherited from my dad. Every mini I ever tried on seemed even shorter on me, but I knew this was her way of trying to make me a little more chic.

“Okay, found the bottom, now what to wear with it?”

There were several tops in my “TMS stash,” short for too much skin, that I contemplated. Two of them were for summer, so they were an easy no. I decided on a vintage-style wrap sweater that had a cute satin ribbon that went around the waist. Jamie had given her approval on it once before, saying it brought out my blue eyes. My mother had brought it home from a resale shop in Pueblo, thinking it looked nice. I could tell it had to be very expensive at some point, with its extremely soft texture and dry clean only tag, but she only paid ten bucks for it and was proud of the bargain she found. It landed in the stash because the v-neck showed more cleavage than my comfort level allowed.

I paired them up and thought it was a good match, so I pulled out some thick leggings from my drawer and grabbed my brown leather boots to pull it all together. “Yes… I like it! Mission accomplished.”

“Renee, come and eat, sweetie!” my mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

“I’ll be right down, Mom.”

I turned on some tunes and eagerly got dressed. Instantly feeling a little more feisty, I began prancing around the room doing the whole model walk thing, pretending to pose for the paparazzi. I even blew a few kisses in the air to an imaginary crowd, all while laughing and having a good time.

When I finally stopped and peered into the full-length mirror to get a better look at myself, a wretched thought of narcissism crept in and gave me some doubts about my wardrobe choice. Seriously… just yesterday, I was fifteen years old. How would one day make that much of a difference?

Figuring my parents were anxiously waiting on me downstairs to wish me a happy birthday, I removed any doubt about my flashy look from my head and decided to go for the new me.

I quickly brushed my teeth, pulled back my hair in a brown headband, and ran downstairs. My mouth was already watering before I even made it to the last step.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart! I can’t believe it. My baby is really growing up,” my mother said as she pulled out my chair and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She’s always been very affectionate. Her whole side of the family is, really. My dad, on the other hand, is more reserved, so I guess they balance each other out.

“You’re not gonna start crying, are you, Mom?” I sighed. With every passing birthday, she would always get so emotional.

I saw a tear disappear into her right eye. “No, dear, I’ll wait until you’re gone before having my emotional fit! Now, eat your German pancakes before they get cold.”

“Where’s Dad? He’s usually here before I am, reading his daily dose of The New York Times,” I said as I took my first bite of the scrumptious blend of egg-battered pancakes dripping with butter, lemon juice, and a dash of powdered sugar, which only complemented the pure maple syrup poured on top.

With a hint of mystery in her voice, she replied, “Oh… he had to go to the office early today. He has a potential new client who wants to meet with him first thing this morning.” Daddy was one of three lawyers in town. I personally thought he was a genius, graduating from Harvard in the top ten percent of his class and all. He never let it go to his head, though. He would help anyone, whether they had one dollar in the bank or a million.

“Do you want some OJ or milk to go with your breakfast?”

“Um… I’ll take the OJ.”

I watched her pour some juice in a small glass with a big smile on her face. Something has her keyed up. She’s never this happy to wait on me hand-and-foot.

My mother is very smart, too, only in a different way. She’s smart with people and has a gift of making others feel good. I love how she’s always the first to volunteer at church or school functions, and that she’s an amazing cook. As soon as she hears someone is sick, she’s at his or her front door with a pot of hot, steamin’ stew. For as long as I can remember, she has said, “God blesses everyone with one talent or another; it’s up to us to bless others with it and use it for His will and glory.” I’m still trying to figure out what mine is.

“Hurry up, sweetie, or you’ll be late to school. How is your science project coming along?”

“I’m almost finished. I just have to add the finishing touches, and I’ll get the extra ten points for turning it in early.”

People have told my mom since I was little that I had an old soul. I remember overhearing Mrs. Livingood, our neighbor up the road, telling her in church one day, “That Renee… she is so mature and responsible.” I was only six. I remember wishing someone would just say for once, “That Renee… she’s such a pretty little girl.” Maybe my early maturity was an only child syndrome; who knows?

“Don’t you think it’s a little cold to be wearing a miniskirt?” she questioned. I’m sure she was really more shocked with my choice of wardrobe than concerned about my getting cold.

“I thought I’d go a little spunkier today. Just the mood I’m in I guess,” I said, trying to play it off like it was no big deal. Even so, I could tell she thought it was a bit much, or rather not enough, for school. She bit her tongue, though, on behalf of this day.

“What time do we need to pick up Jamie for dinner?” she asked.

“Around six o’clock. She has basketball practice until five, but she wants to go home and take a shower before going out.”

Jamie was a very athletic girl and quite the opposite of me. We met in the third grade when a group of girls were making fun of me for wearing glasses. “Look at the four-eyed nerd,” shouted Beth Middleton while the other girls just laughed… all but Jamie Baldwin.

She said, “Leave her alone! What did Renee ever do to you? She’s one of the nicest girls I know, and I’d much rather hang around someone who’s smart and wears glasses than someone who has to poke fun at others to make themselves feel better!”

I couldn’t believe how tough she was. Beth was the most popular girl in our grade; and everybody wanted to be her friend—everyone but me, of course. I was everybody’s friend and no one’s at the same time.

“Do you like chocolate pudding?” Jamie asked as we began walking away from the scene. I thought it was an odd question, but this girl just stood up to Beth Middleton for me, so who was I to judge?

“Yeah… I guess.”

“Good! Because it’s my favorite snack, and if we’re gonna be friends, we gotta know everything there is to know about each other.” I looked at her a bit cautiously because I had really never had a best friend before, so I wasn’t sure how this worked.

“That was awfully brave of you back there. Aren’t you worried that she may start picking on you or even worse, start a fight or something?” I gasped.

“Nah! It’s in my blood, you know,” she replied.

“What’s in your blood?” I questioned, rather confused.

“Bravery is, silly. I have a long line of brave people in my family. Did you know that Baldwin means ‘brave friend’ in German? That’s where my great-grandfather is from. You should hear the stories told about him!”

We have been like two peas in a pod ever since then. I now wear contacts.

“Renee, grab your things and let’s go before you’re late for school.”

She was unusually anxious, and I couldn’t help but feel annoyed by it. I’ve never been late to school, a habit she got me into since pre-K, and the roads had been cleared up from the snowstorm yesterday. So what was the rush?

“Okay, Mom. Let me just brush my teeth again so I can get all of the food stuck in my retainer out.”

“I’ll meet you outside, then. I’ll be warming up the car.”

I quickly ran back upstairs to my bathroom and did a quick wash and rinse. I was about to turn off the light and go when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

“This just won’t do.”

I rummaged through my drawers and took out the mascara, which I only wore on very special occasions. “You don’t need that junk,” my mom would say. “You were blessed with thick, long lashes. Don’t go and ruin them.” Her voice resonated in my head as if she were standing right behind me. And for the most part she was right, but the blackness of the “junk” made them really stand out. I carefully applied the mascara to each lash as today just so happened to qualify as special.

I quickly dabbed some pink blush on my pale skin to liven it up some before grabbing my mauve lip gloss to stick in my purse. I decided to just put it on after I got to school so my mom wouldn’t go into complete shock at this new awareness I had of myself.

“Much better,” I said before turning off the light. I ran back downstairs, grabbed my coat, scarf, and gloves, then out the front door, where I was bombarded with shouts of “Surprise!”

Shut up… shut up! Is that really Mom and Dad standing in front of a new red car with a giant white bow? Okay, so it was a 2007 Ford Explorer, but I didn’t care; it still looked good to me! My mouth was stuck in the open-wide position for so long that my tongue began to get frostbite from the cold, wintry day. I could see the excitement in both of my parents’ eyes. My dad, being the kindhearted gentleman that he is, quickly opened the driver’s door and said, “My lady!” He bowed as if I were a princess. My mom couldn’t hold back the tears any more, and they were now flowing like the Colorado River.

I was partially jumping, partially skipping, and running to the car all at the same time, saying, “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this! This is so great. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I can’t believe it!” I couldn’t help but repeat myself as a result of this unexpected surprise. I leaped into the driver’s seat and began playing with every button, knob, and gadget before grabbing the steering wheel to turn it back and forth, just like I used to when I was a kid and would pretend to be driving down the road.

I sat still for a minute to take everything in, to engrave this great moment permanently in my head. I glanced over to the passenger seat to see if this was really real, or if I was still having my incredible dream. In the handsome boy’s place was… was… my mom.

“Buckle up for safety,” she quickly said.

Okay, so the shiny, new red car part of the dream came true, and that was definitely good enough for me. Besides, what would I have in common with an overly good-looking foreigner who I could barely understand anyway?

“What are you waiting for? Put her in gear, and let’s get you to school,” my mom said.

“Uh… Mom? Are you planning to stay in the car all day while I’m in class?”

“No, silly. Your dad is going to follow behind us, and then he’ll bring me back home. We just want to make sure you get to school safely since this is a new vehicle you’re not used to.”

This was so typical of them. They have been overly protective since the day I almost wasn’t born. I am frequently reminded that I am their miracle child, and my soul had to fight to come into this world. They had tried for eight years to have a baby. There was one pregnancy before me, a baby boy, but my mother miscarried in her second trimester. She said after she lost the baby, she prayed every night that God would bless her just one more time. If she could just get a second chance, she would promise to make sure His “gift” would lead a godly life and would do His good works here on earth.

A little over a year later, her prayers were answered. My mom did everything by the book. She ate all the right foods, she never took any hot baths or showers, she stopped polishing her nails and getting her hair highlighted, took her vitamins daily, and she prayed every single night for God’s angels to keep me safe. I wasn’t due until April 4th, but my mother’s body began to reject me, just as it had done to my unborn sibling. She went into labor on February 17th and began bleeding profusely while trying to push me out. I wasn’t cooperating, though, because my umbilical cord had wrapped around my neck. Dr. Lazaro gave instructions to all of the medical staff for an emergency C-section. Thirty minutes later, the announcement was made.

“It’s a girl.”

The nurses quickly took me to the other side of the room so they could thoroughly check me over and know exactly what they were dealing with. I only weighed 3.9 pounds, but to everyone’s surprise and relief, I was miraculously healthy. I was a little blue at first from the cord choking me, but the odd color quickly went away after I took my first solo breath and began to scream at the top of my lungs. The doctors and nurses couldn’t believe it. My mom said I only screamed and cried for about a minute or so and then quieted down as if I were being comforted by someone. She has always told me that God must have sent a very special angel to watch over me.

And here I am, sixteen years later, on my way to Custer County High in my new Explorer with my mom in the passenger seat, having her little emotional breakdown because her baby is growing up. And I’m okay with that.

“Thanks, Mom! I love you so much.”

She looked at me with her hand to her chest and whispered, “I love you too, sweetheart.”

I was at my locker getting organized for the day. School would be in session in fifteen minutes, and I had a paper due for honors English that I needed to go over one last time. I tried to concentrate on it, but I was still pumped from this morning’s surprise. I was anxious for Jamie to get here so I could tell her all about it, knowing she would be equally as excited. She usually didn’t show up until just before the bell rang.

I looked at my watch, and there was still time to kill. I know. I’ll go wait out on the front steps for her, I thought, finding myself extremely eager. Jamie kept a magnetic mirror on her locker, which was right next to mine, so I dabbed my lip gloss on, then headed outside.

As I was waiting, freezing half to death, wishing for once she would just get here early, the wind suddenly picked up. It shook all the snow off the seemingly lifeless trees, sprinkling a million flakes onto the ground like powdered sugar. It was quite beautiful, actually, reminding me of the snow globe Grandma J gave me for Christmas when I was three. My mother said it kept me entertained for hours; I would shake it up over and over then watch the snow gently settle onto the tiny village while it played “O Holy Night.”

I remember there was a beautiful angel watching over the village, somehow suspended in the air, and engraved on the bottom an inscription read, There is no fear in love. It became a little tradition for me every Christmas to take it off the shelf it sat upon, wind up the music, and shake it over and over. When I was older, Grams told me that she had that snow globe since she was sixteen. Someone very special gave it to her, and that’s why she wanted to pass it down to me. When I accidentally dropped it on the tiled floor two years ago, it shattered all over the place. I cried for hours.

The whistling wind grabbed ahold of my red scarf, which wasn’t properly wrapped around my neck, taking me out of my reminiscence. It swiftly tumbled toward the parking lot, but I wasn’t about to go chasing after it; that’s for sure. That’s when all of the commotion started.

What’s going on? I thought as I saw everyone looking over to the south side of the parking lot. There was an unfamiliar vehicle pulling up into the student parking lot, one that apparently seemed to impress every single guy in school who hadn’t gone inside yet. It was a black BMW “crotch rocket”… whatever that means. The only reason I knew that much was because I heard Brandon Grinn say, “Hey guys, check out that dude on the crotch rocket!” As he studied the bike closer, he was even more impressed. “Dude, I’ve never seen the BMW K1300 in person before. He must be crazy taking that beauty out in this freezing weather.”

Yup, crazy… that was my sentiment exactly. But who was I to judge? I was more excited to see Jamie pull up right behind him. She quickly told her mom bye and ran up to see me with a “what are you doing outside” look on her face. I was about to explode with excitement and blurt out the good news when the commotion started all over again, this time by the female species.

Jamie’s attention quickly shifted from me to the strikingly handsome “motorcycle dude” who just took off his black, shiny helmet. It was like he was in some shampoo commercial or something. He shook his head back and forth to get his dark brown hair out of his eyes, and it miraculously fell back into place. He then took off his mysterious, dark glasses and looked around, as if he were looking for someone he knew. His long muscular legs lifted off the black and charcoal gray cycle. He pulled his right leg all the way over so smoothly, almost in slow motion. With helmet tucked neatly under his arm, he began to walk our way before suddenly stopping a few steps from his bike to pick up my scarf. I gasped for a moment, but realized he would have no idea that it belonged to me. Darn… I really liked that scarf, too.

As he continued to saunter our way, I couldn’t help but notice his sultry green eyes, which were complemented by his dark skin tone and chiseled cheekbones. He walked with such grace, a coolness that was far beyond Custer County High. His black leather jacket was unzipped, showing his plain white t-shirt. He didn’t need anything fancy to make a better impression among 403 high school students that were in complete awe of his very presence. Note: there are 404 students at CCHS. I was more annoyed than impressed at this inhuman, godlike creature that took the attention away of my best friend just as I was about to tell her the most exciting thing that has happened to me in my sixteen years of living.

“Uh, hello! Earth to Jamie. Come in, Jamie!” I uttered while snapping my fingers in front of her eyes to help her out of her stupor.

“Oh, sorry Ren. Hey… cool outfit!” she said when she recognized the skirt she gave me. “So, what’s up?” She continued halfheartedly, as she was trying to take her concentration off of model boy over there. Ren was a nickname Jamie gave me after becoming my best friend. She’s the only one who has ever called me that.

“Did you forget what day it is?” I asked, somewhat agitated. I’m not really the attention-seeker type, but we’ve both always made a big deal out of our birthdays, so her lack of interest kinda hurt my feelings. Surely the excitement of turning another year older doesn’t start to go away when you’re sixteen, does it? I thought that wouldn’t happen until the big 3-0.

“Of course not, Ren-Ren! It’s Tuesday, and we’re gonna be late for class,” she said with a huge grin, knowing good and well that wasn’t the answer I was looking for, and tugged my arm to walk with her into the building.

“Well, I guess I won’t be giving you a ride to school in the mornings in my new car, then!” I growled with a similar grin back at her.

“No way! Seriously? Your parents got you a new car?”

“Well, it’s not exactly new, but I love it! It’s a 2007 Explorer. My dad made it a point to tell me that it’s a 4X4 so that I never get stuck in the snow, or at least have less of a chance of that happening! It’s got leather seats, tinted windows, and an awesome six-disc CD player,” I went on and on excitedly.

“That’s so cool! Let’s take it for a spin around the parking lot at lunch,” she suggested.

We really weren’t supposed to leave the building during school hours, but my excitement got the best of me, and I thought, What harm could it be to take it for one spin? We’ll still be on school grounds, right? I hesitated as a second thought of rule-breaking crossed my mind. What if we get caught? My parents would be so disappointed.

I must have shown my doubt on my face because the next thing I heard was, “Come on, Ren. It’s a special day. It’ll be okay. We’re not doing anything bad.” She convincingly said, eyes half rolled.

“Okay… I’ll meet you at the lockers at a quarter to twelve then,” I replied, eager for the adventure.

It was third period, and Mrs. Moran was finishing up her lecture on the Roman Empire.

“Your next assignment is a three thousand word essay on a famous Roman Emperor of your choosing. It will be due one week from today. See you tomorrow, and be ready for a quiz on today’s lecture,” she announced.

The whole class sighed simultaneously at the news. I grabbed my books and was the first one out the door. I rushed down the stairs, accidentally bumping into people along the way and having to give several apologies. Finally, I made it to the locker corridor. Jamie wasn’t there, yet, so I put my books in the locker, grabbed my lunch, grabbed her lunch, and waited. Where is she? I wondered after a few minutes passed.

My excitement made me an impatient person today. I looked at my watch and it was almost noon. Hmmm… maybe she thought we were going to meet by the doors leading to the parking lot. I started to walk around the corner when I saw them.

Jamie had apparently gotten sidetracked once again by the crazy model dude. I saw her smiling and twisting her hair around her finger over and over. Ugh! An obvious sign she was very impressed with him. She was naturally more of a flirt than me and usually instigated all of the conversations with the guys when we would go see a movie or go to Pizza Madness. She was undoubtedly a pretty girl, with a tiny waist and muscular legs from cheering and sports, but her self-confidence is what I think was her best feature. She could walk into any room and smile from ear to ear, showing off her overly white teeth, and capture the interest of everyone in there. She’s only ever had one serious boyfriend, though, which ended with heartbreak—his, not hers.

I walked up and cleared my throat to interrupt her conversation with the new student.

“Hey, Jamie. Whatcha doin’?” I casually asked.

“Ren! Sorry I’m a little late, but Mr. Lender asked me to show Kyran around. It’s his first day, and we happen to have first period together.”

She looked at him and gave another flirtatious smile. Gag. I just looked at her, silent, not really sure what to say or think at this point. My lack of response kept her talking.

“And I had to take him to his other classes, too. It would be rude of me to let him get lost on his first day, wouldn’t it?” she said in her nicest possible voice, trying to convince me of her good stewardship.

Of course, she didn’t think of how rude it would be to diss her best friend when they had plans together. Even so, I could see exactly why she had an interest in Kyran. There was an aura about him that was very magnetic; it was more than just his handsomely, devilish good looks and the fact that he was a junior.

As I tried to nonchalantly glance over at him, our eyes locked for a second. I quickly turned to Jamie and said, “How good of you to help out the new guy. Now can we go? We only have thirty minutes left for lunch.”

“I hope you don’t mind…” she started to say.

No, don’t say it… please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.

“… but I invited Kyran to come along with us. I would hate for him to eat all alone in the cafeteria,” she said so deviously.

Oh, mercy. I couldn’t look like the bad guy here, so, of course, I said, “Sure, if he really wants to.”

I looked right over at him, with more confidence this time, and said, “We’re just taking a quick spin in the parking lot. It really would be kind of boring for you, but if you really want to come, that’s fine with me.”

I tried my best to make it unappealing to him. Surely this macho guy wouldn’t want to be seen taking a spin in the parking lot with a couple of sophomores, would he?

“I would love to come,” he said in a thick, pacifying accent.

That was the first time I had heard him speak. I should have known he wasn’t from around here. Who else in their right mind would drive a motorcycle in this kind of weather? He held out his hand to me and properly introduced himself.

“I’m Kyran. Bello fare la tua conoscenza,” he said as he gave a slight bow.

Completely caught off guard by his other language that sounded so beautiful with each unfamiliar word spoken, all I could do was stand there with a dazed look, unsure of what I should say back.

“That means ‘It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance’ in Italian,” he said, perhaps hoping to actually get a response from me this time.

Still stunned by his exceptional manners and mature appearance, I held out my now sweaty palm to shake his, and said, “Oh, I’m Renee, it’s nice to meet you, too.” I released his hand as quickly as possible.

We walked out to my car, and the original excitement that had consumed me earlier came back as we approached my new SUV.

“Well, here she is,” I announced.

“Sick!” Jamie cried out excitedly. “Can I drive?”

“No way! I’ve only gotten to drive her once. Let me break her in some more before you start trying to take the wheel. Besides, you still have two more months before you get your license.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at me. I tend to be a little motherly sometimes. As I hopped into the driver’s seat, she climbed into the middle of the back.

“What are you doing?” I asked, surprised at her latest move.

“I’m being a ‘gentlewoman’ and letting Kyran take the front seat,” she said with a playful grin.

“Certainly no gentleman would allow you to do such a thing. Please, Jamie, take your place up front,” he said indulgently in his soft, comforting voice.

“Yes… please take your place up front,” I concurred, with my eyes widened and head cocked. I was giving her “the look.”

“Absolutely not. I’m already back here; so let’s fire this puppy up and go!” she insisted.

Too much time had already passed, so I gave up trying to argue with her and put the keys in the ignition, revving up the engine as if I were going to race someone. Intuitively, I looked over to the passenger side where Kyran was sitting, smiling right at me.

Odd, I thought, it is just as I had dreamed.