Chapter Eight: Timeless by Rosaline Saul
Eventually, I reach the noisy hustle and bustle of the coffee shop. I go to the counter and pick the fattest slice of cake. The chocolate cake is sold out, so I settle for vanilla instead. I ask the girl behind the counter for a large coffee as well. With my arms pushed into the carry handles of my shopping bags, I carry my food on a tray and then I navigate the stairs carefully. I go up to the next level and I pick a table by the window so I can look down on the people hurrying past.
Jayden decides to walk into the village. Kieran left early
to go to school, and he is bored with the only three channels on the TV.
While he walks through the narrow streets, Jayden wonders if
they let Kieran into school and if they accepted him as a student there.
Although Kieran is only sixteen years old, the wisdom and insight, which you
only acquire after many, many years of living, shine brightly in his eyes. The
things his eyes have seen make them look older than the sixteen years he is.
Many times, he himself has caught a dull glint in his own eyes, which would not
fit a typical eighteen-year-old boy.
According to Kieran, a person can find anything on Google,
so with the help of this search engine he is sure they will find a way to stop
this going-in-circles continuously. He cannot bear it anymore that Heather has
never reached the age of seventeen. Her life always stops at sixteen. Her soul
must be so tired by now, and the only way Jayden could possibly make his
decision of not convincing her to love him worthwhile, is to make sure she ends
up happy. History has proven again and again that she will not choose him, so
what would the use be of trying?
He walks through the village and then he starts to cross the
pedestrian bridge toward the modern mall on the other side of the river. He
imagines he sees her, but he dismisses the idea. How many times before has his
mind fooled him with a vision of her? He continues looking at the girl walking
toward him, and then as she comes closer, she looks at him for a brief moment.
Immediately he recognizes her. She looks different, but he recognizes her
eyes—the windows into her soul.
His eyes light up and a grin tucks at the corners of his
mouth. He stops and holds onto the railing of the bridge. As she walks past
him, he turns and leans with his back against the barrier. He watches her walk
away and a small smile curls his lips amused. She looks pretty with her black
hair-do. He wonders if Kieran even recognized her with that pink jacket and
midnight black hair. Her grey-blue eyes are still the same though, and her rosy
cheeks are flushed from the cold wind.
He wants to follow her. He wants to start a conversation
with her, the urge so strong it pushes him away from the railing. He takes a
few steps and then he remembers he is not supposed to do this. He is not
supposed to get in the way of Heather’s future, the possibility that this time
she could eventually turn seventeen. He made a promise to Kieran.
He starts to feel as if he is losing against fighting to go
after her, so he breathes in deeply, and no longer in the mood to buy anything,
he walks back the way he came through the centre of the village and he goes
home. He has always only endured his existence in the times when she has been
somewhere else other than living.
When he gets home, he climbs up the stairs to his room.
Irritated, he looks around the room. Typical of Kieran to choose the bigger
room and now Jayden is stuck with the box room.
He pulls his laptop from the heap of clothes in the corner
of his room, and then flopping down onto the bed, he opens the computer.
Clicking on the Internet icon, Google automatically loads as his home page. He
types ‘Curses’ and clicks the search button.
He is working his way methodically through the links, when
he hears the door open downstairs. He calls, “I hope you brought dinner.”
“I
did. Chinese.”
Jayden grunts as he moves the laptop aside and gets up off
the bed. He is sick of Chinese, but he is hungry, so he goes downstairs to the
kitchen anyway.
In the kitchen, he looks at Kieran for a moment, taking in
his dark mood. “I take it things didn’t go as you planned.”
“She
was not at school today, and I stayed there all day in case she would come.
After school, I even walked all the way to her house. Nothing.”
“Maybe
she decided to take the day off.”
Kieran sighs frustrated. “I said she was not at home.”
Shocked Jayden glances up from the brown paper bag and stops
searching its contents to see what Kieran bought. “You knocked at her door?”
“I
did. I do not know what is wrong with me. I need to see her.”
Amused Jayden wonders, “If she had opened the door, what
would you have said?” Kieran shrugs, while Jayden continues, “You should really
learn to be patient, brother.”
Not sure if he should mention it, Jayden takes a container
from the bag and walks toward the lounge. He says casually over his shoulder,
“I saw her today.”
Kieran stops dead in his tracks. “What?”
Jayden turns toward him, and he smiles. “I said, I saw her
today.”
“When?
How? Did you speak to her?”
“Today.
I walked past her. No.”
Kieran takes a container from the bag and then following Jayden into the lounge, he sits down on the chair. “I don’t understand.”
Jayden smiles amused. “She probably just took the day off. She didn’t know of your plans, you know.”
