Free See How She Runs by Michelle Graves Page B

died,
I knew that I had to come back into the picture. That first night
you came into the bar, I immediately knew it was you. The same hair
as your mother, the same eyes as your father, and the same sense of
lightness that seems to cling to you, I knew. But you were so
different from the last time I saw you. I did not watch you grow
up, I couldn’t or I would have aged as well. So I got reports from
Grams and from everyone else. I knew how well you did in school,
and all of the little events that made up your life. But I was not
witness to you. Just the events." He got up from his chair and
moved toward the kitchen. I could see him weighing his next words
and wondered what would come next.
    “Izzy, I do have the memories of a little
girl, a bright ray of sunshine. You were always so happy as a
child. I think that I only ever saw you cry twice. But the you that
came into the bar, you aren’t the same person. You had not lost the
sunshine, but you were grown. You were a woman, tempered by loss
and tragedy. Your brightness not gone but dulled by a life of loss.
Even right after you lost Grams and came down to the bar, you still
had a sense of optimism that I would have recognized anywhere."
    He walked back over toward me and placed his
finger under my chin tilting me to face him.
    “Make no mistake Izzy, I do not see you as
the child I left." He looked at me a moment longer with a fire
burning in his eyes before releasing me and heading out the door
once more. I could swear that I heard him mutter something about
complications before he left.
    Alone with the unspoken promises in Kennan’s
eyes, I was forced to distract myself with something mundane like
the dishes. I stood up and moved into the kitchen, taking my plates
with me. As I got to the sink, I was struck by a wave a nausea so
strong I doubled over, dropping and shattering the dish . Just as I
felt the wave of nausea subside, my head suddenly felt as though
every synapse was firing simultaneously. I yelled out as the
overwhelming pain threatened to pull me under. I fell to the floor
as my consciousness slipped to somewhere far away.
     
    **********

TEN
     
     
    There was screaming. Everywhere I looked
there were people running, horrified. I looked around and saw that
I was standing in the middle of a highway. Directly in front of me
was a bridge, or at least there used to be one. In its place was a
yawning chasm breathing fire and smoke. The wide gap was
accompanied by a cacophony of wails that spoke of unimaginable loss
and horror. I attempted to talk to the people surrounding me, but
it seemed I was but a phantom in all of the chaos.
    I got confused. Why could no one hear me?
How did I even get here? I yelled as loudly as I could in an effort
to attract someone’s attention. How could I be saved if no one
could even see me?
    I moved to the edge of the chasm and looked
across to the other side. There, standing in all of the wreckage,
with a smile upon his face, was Xavier. He looked across the divide
and smiled. His smile chilled my blood and seeped into my soul,
turning it to frost.
    Then he whispered, “Tell me where you are.
You can be with your mother once more. Don’t fight me, Little One.
We don’t have to be enemies."
    I had no time to think how I could hear his
whisper across such a great distance. Instead I turned to flee. My
only concern was getting as far from him as I possibly could. As I
ran, I glanced back behind me to make sure I was not being
pursued.
    I ran into something solid that wrapped its
arms around me. I screamed out, sure that Xavier had caught me.
    “ I’ve got you, Izzy. Come back to me,"
the wall said.
    I looked up to see not Xavier, but
Kennan.
    “ It’s not real, Izzy. It is but a vision.
Calm yourself and come back to me. Reach for the now. You can see
it. Just reach out and grab it.”
    I looked around, trying to find what he was
talking about, and I saw a glowing path. It was like a stream,
flowing through the vision. I