Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(61)

“Just after seven,” he said as his eyes moved to Draven, who was still sound asleep. “Is he in pain?” he asked me.

“Last night, he said he was sore, but nothing past that,” I answered as I sat up. I was embarrassed about lying next to Draven in front of his father.

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” he mumbled.

“How could it be good?”

“When it stops hurting him, that means he’s beginning to accept the darkness that’s coming into him; sore is a downgrade to what he’s been complaining about. I just hope he was being tough for your sake,” Evan answered as he reached to squeeze Draven’s arm to wake him up.

Draven jerked away in his sleep, then sat up, startled, trying to remember where he was. When his eyes met mine, he calmed down instantly. He didn’t seem bothered by his dad being there either.

“Scale of one to ten?” Evan asked him as he handed him a bottle of water.

Draven looked shyly at me, then to his dad. “Twenty.”

Evan smiled. “That means you fought hard; take that as a win, son.” Evan reached in his pocket, then handed Draven two pills and looked at me. “Your mother is looking for you.”

“She’s home?” I asked as the feeling of being in trouble instantly came to me; it then went away as I remembered I was mad at her – mad that she never told me about her light or that my dad was dark and that she knew all of this would explode in my face one day.

“No. She’s been calling you all night, though.”

I didn’t even know where my bag was; I was almost sure I’d left it in Draven’s Hummer.

“Why don’t you two go home, get cleaned up, and get some food?” Evan said as he stood. “You need to get back here as soon as you can,” he warned as he locked eyes with Draven. “It’s gonna take a lot of work to get ready for this concert tomorrow.”

“What concert?” I asked as anticipation rippled through me.

“Thanks, Dad,” Draven said, then stood and reached to help me up.

“What – was it a surprise? I don’t know that it would have remained one; the entire town is talking about Charlie’s Birthday Concert.”

“My birthday is Sunday.”

“Right – so I was gonna surprise you with a concert on Saturday,” Draven said, throwing a dirty look at his dad.

“The concert?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows.

“Maybe. At the very least, a trial run…to see how close we could get.”

Evan’s eyes moved between us, then to the ground. “Just make sure whatever door you open, you know how to close; that’s all I’m asking.”

Draven reached his hand for mine, then pulled me to walk away as he mumbled, “The door’s already open.”

The front hall was full of countless construction workers. They were painting over the school’s old mascots and taking out the old lockers. As soon as they saw us leave the auditorium, a few of them made their way in there to finish preparing that room to safely hold people.

Draven held my hand tighter as we moved through the hall and down the front steps. When I climbed in his truck, I found my bag on the floor board and reached for it to find my phone. It was dead. There was no way for me to know what my mom may have said to me through text or voice mail. I pushed down the fear of being in trouble and held on to the anger I had; that was the only way I’d be able to fight the anxiety that was threatening to take over me.

The early morning was gray and foggy, and you could smell distant fireplaces burning. I reached to turn the heat up in the truck just as Draven did. I smiled shyly at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” I asked as I moved closer to him.

His cheeks flushed slightly; I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or the anger that I knew what he was struggling with. “I don’t want you to worry about me.”

“Too late – I always worry about you.”

“For once, I want to be the one to take care of you. Let me do that before someone else proves to be better at that than me,” he said as his eyes moved to what was once the school’s football field off to the left side of the parking lot.

Curiously, I followed his stare. Though the fog was dense along the dying grass, I saw thousands upon thousands of white butterflies. As if they knew I’d seen them, they began to fly in one large, rapid circle. In the center of them was a tall, lean man. I didn’t have to see him clearly through the fog to know that it was Silas.

“Do you still want to go home?” Draven asked in a low, firm tone.

My gaze left the majestic display that Silas was performing for me and met Draven’s. “I’m going with you - whether that be home or anywhere else.”

He didn’t smile, but I saw relief in his eyes as he reached for my hand. As always, his touch hummed and sent an electrifying emotion through my body. I refused to look at the field as we drove by…I swear I could feel an unbelievable sadness emanating from that direction, but I had no choice but to ignore it; I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but right now it was clear to me that Draven was not only more vulnerable, he was also the one I wanted to be with - now and forever.

As we drove to my house, I shifted through the tracks on the CD he was playing. I knew he always listened to what he was working on as he drove; it helped him think of how to take a song to the next level. I was looking for the song he refused to play for me last night, the one he said that what I was working on would go perfectly with. Every track on the disc was one that I’d heard before.