Authors: Kelly Coughlin
Epilogue:
Killing Me Sweetly
“Do you really think that I should do this?” Henry squeaked for the hundredth time just in this hour.
“Yes.” We groaned. Henry crushed several rose petals while he shifted the bouquet of crimson roses to his other arm. He tugged on the bottom of his shirt nervously.
“Amy, are you absolutely positive that she will like this outfit?” He peered out from behind the corner to snatch a quick glimpse of the small ice cream parlor.
“Henry, would I send you out in an outfit that didn’t look good on you? Not that there’s much that doesn’t look good on you or everyone else in your family,” I grumbled. Ty tightened his arm around my shoulder. He lowered his head down to snare me in his gaze.
“Pat, what do you think?” Henry murmured. Patrick scratched the back of his head skeptically, stepping back to get the full view of the ensemble. Henry was the statuesque male model in a long buttoned down light blue shirt that complemented his eyes nicely, with faded jeans, and sandals. Channel couldn’t have done better.
“I don’t know Henry. You know I’m not good with the ladies. Or dating of any kind for that matter.” Patrick sighed heavily. Henry’s eyes glistened with his nervous energy. He shifted the roses again. I took them out of hands trying to fluff up the smooshed ones.
“Ty?” Henry asked desperately.
Ty tilted his head back and laughed his loud breezy chuckles. “Come on Henry. Do you really have to ask? You know I’m going to agree with whatever Amy thinks is best. She is after all a girl, an
d knows them much better than I could ever dream of. I trust her completely.”
Henry groaned loudly. “You’re probably right. I just wish we had a normal girl to take advice from—Ouch! Do you have to ruin my outfit?” He playfully rubbed the spot that I smacked. Truthfully it probably only felt like a cloth brushed against him.
“Henry, we have been through every outfit, and combination in your, and each of your brother’s closest. I spent five hours examining each individual piece, and we went with the very first choice! Now I have seen how much you really want to do this. So help me I will drag you in there by your hair if I have to. It’s now or never.” Patrick and Ty grinned wickedly at me. Henry sighed nervously, but started to shuffle over to the parlor.
He took a deep breath, before flinging the door open. We shuffled in quietly behind him for moral support. Not to mention we were just plain curious. Katie (the ice cream twit’s name) stiffened when she saw us. She immediately pretended to be busy even though we were the only ones in here.
Henry hesitantly approached the counter, the roses casually strewn across his arms. Katie’s face flushed bright red with embarrassment and anger. “Do you think he has a shot?” I whispered. Patrick nodded his head before replying.
“From the rate that her palms are sweating and the acceleration of her heart beat I’d say that she is more happy than angry to see him again, especially in such a nervous condition.” I stared wide-eyed at both of them.
“You know all of this? I mean, you can hear her heartbeat, and see her palms sweat?” My mind frantically sifted through all the times I’d spent with them. The realization that they knew every simple human reaction was overwhelming. I cringed internally at what they might have thought about me.
Patrick winked at me. “We can hear her heartbeat yes. But you have to remember that water is a piece of us. We could sense a lake, or stream of water miles away. It’s just an instinctual pull for us.” I nodded nervously. I still wasn’t used to having Patrick speak willingly to me, much less answer my questions without a negative metaphor leading back to my weaknesses. I guess he might have finally forgiven me for accidentally hurting Ty. I leaned closer to him, trying to block out all images of Ty’s face twisted in pain.
Henry cleared his throat loudly, turning our attention to the scene at hand. “Katie, I really need to talk to you.” His voice flowed out smoothly, like a river with no obstacles. She couldn’t help but flush bright red at this gorgeous surreal boy’s plea.
“Yes. I’m listening.” She stammered. She tried to sound angry but it mostly came out in jumbled nervousness. She flicked her brown hair behind her shoulder.
“I just want to say that I know you have noticed that it’s been a while since I got your number and I didn’t call. I am sorry for that.” Katie’s head almost snapped off with the speed that she turned to gaze wide-eyed at Henry. He continued as if he didn’t notice.
“I know that it is no excuse, but I have been very busy. I am leaving town tomorrow, going to Texas with my brothers.”
He paused to examine her reaction. Her wide eyes flooded with the realization that she was going to lose him. Even if she didn’t know him that well the attraction felt just being near them was almost overpowering. I should know. Her hand instinctively covered her mouth.
“Yeah, I know it’s sudden. But it’s for the best, really. My brothers need me and I wouldn’t think about leaving their sides. It will be fine though. You deserve so much better than I could ever give you. I can see that you are an amazing girl, and I do regret not being able to see that for myself. At the very least you do deserve these.” Henry casually handed the roses over to her like he had been doing things like this all his life. I couldn’t get over the ease which he and his brothers could do just ordinary human tasks, and pull them off with a flourish. It was so aggravating that I couldn’t do that.
Katie whispered her thanks to Henry. “Well, goodbye then.” Henry said. He quickly leaned over the counter to brush his lips against her cheek. All she could do was stare. Henry turned to smile at her before heading out the door. We followed him, stifling our giggles at the poor girl’s reaction.
Henry bounded straight for the ocean, not bothering to check if we were following him or not. When we got to the shore Patrick waved us off. “I’d better go check on him. You two go enjoy yourselves. It’s your last day here.”
“We appreciate it Patrick, thank you.” Ty said cordially. He grabbed my hand in his, pulling me towards the crashing waves. I wanted to see how Henry was faring, at the same time I didn’t want to miss one single moment of our time alone. No telling how things would end up in Texas.
We strolled slowly down the shore, neither of us feeling the need to speak for a while.
Since the first moment that I laid eyes on Ty my life has been turned upside down. All the preconceived notions I held of the world were shattered, in their place stood a new vision of the world. It was no scarier than it had been before I understood it. When I was with him I felt strong. Just being with him made me feel like I was intoxicated with happiness.
He was killing me sweetly with all his love. All the anger and rebellion I felt when I first arrived here had washed away. I was reborn, full of all the love and acceptance in the world. I was a new person, and I was looking forward to starting a new year with someone that I loved very much.
“It’s real you know,” I whispered softly. Ty turned towards me, his left eyebrow arched quizzically.
“
What is?”
“Atlantis. I found it, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. No wonder so many people spend their whole lives searching for it. It’s worth it.” Ty snorted.
“You’re absolutely right. But I’m worried. I’m worried that we found it too early, that we are too lucky. I will fight until the end, but I won’t let anyone take this from me, from us, willingly.”
“I know that I still can’t remember the old memories that we shared.” I looked down in defeat. “I’m willing to make new ones. One day when I’m strong enough I’ll look at the old pictures of us. Just not now.” He hugged me closer, until we were just watching the waves and nothing else. It was hard to fathom that this would be the last time we saw them for a while.
“Ty Oceanus?” The airport attendant inquired. He nodded solemnly. The bleach blond attendant turned back to his driver’s license that said he was eighteen years old. She stared in disbelief. I bit my lip nervously. It was Ty’s idea to be able to attend school with me. I don’t know why on earth he would want to ever go back to high school but he just answered simply, “Because you are there.” And you can’t argue with that kind of logic.
Finally the woman waved us through shaking her head. When we were out of ear shot I whispered. “Oceanus? Is that actually your last name?” I had seen the list of false identities that the brothers used to stay hidden from humans when they purchased unusual items, such as large amounts of ocean water, or bait, but never had I seen that name.
Ty grinned. “The last name given by my father can’t be spoken by humans because there is no written alphabet for humans to even begin to decipher the sounds of my name. So my mother gave us this last name.” He chuckled darkly. “I keep waiting for a human to discover it in some ways, but hoping they don’t in others.”
He laughed again at my blank expression. “Oceanus is a part of Greek mythology. He had the upper body of a man, though with horns, and the lower body of a sea serpent. He represented the unknown bodies of water and what lurked beneath them. My brothers and I believe that he may very be the first sighting of a merman.” He became lost in his own thoughts.
“Oh. Well that’s fitting.” I smiled back. Of course it would be something like that. Leave it to Ty and his brothers to be imaginative. The sapphire necklace jingled lightly around my neck as we walked forward.
“Amy are all the girls like you in Texas or are there going to be some normal ones for Pat and I?” Henry inquired as we walked to the terminal. I glared angrily at him.
“I understand why you came, Ty. But why did you have to bring these other two jerkwads with you?” I grumbled angrily. Ty laughed, and Henry stuck his tongue out at me.
Patrick was the only one that answered. “Well, we couldn’t very well let twits like you and Ty go off all by yourselves. Do you know what kind of mayhem that would ensue after you two?” He pretended to shudder in horror. I smacked him with my purse.
“Did you just call me a twit?” I breathed, muffling a smile.
“Hey, if the bathing suit fits…” He trailed off.
“Pat, shut up.” Ty and I said together. I laughed under my breath. I dug in my pocket until I found what I was looking for.
“I have something that belongs to you. I’m sorry it took so long for me to return these.” I beamed sheepishly at Ty. He looked in my open hand before he burst out laughing.
“My sunglasses.” His lips pulled back into a smile. “At least you took good care of them.” He tilted my chin up to kiss me on the lips. “There now, I can forgive you.”
We boarded the plane without ever looking back.