All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 12: Ashes to Ashes

Music Track List:

RUH - I CALL YOU FATE, SOME CALL YOU GOD

***

Emma's POV

Gabriel and I ate our chili cheese dogs under the night sky, seated on a barren cement planter between the hot dog stand and the busy road. He had insisted I get mine fully-loaded like his, and I acquiesced, willing to try anything at least once. In reality, I think he just wanted the opportunity to tease me about how sloppy I looked eating this impossible meal.

I didn't even want to think of how my breath must smell, and I became suddenly conscious of not talking in his direction least he be blown over by the smell of garlic and onions and sauerkraut.

"So," I began with my face slightly turned away from him, "You eat here often?"

"No," Gabriel replied, tossing his napkins into the trash bin a few feet away, "First time."

"I thought you said this was our place," I teased, my eyes wide and flirtatious. "Or were you being prophetic? I don't know that I like it that much."

"But you like me that much," Gabriel said with a smirk.

"Oh? How can you be so sure?" I mocked.

"Force of habit," he said, regarding me with serious half-lidded eyes. The skin on the back of my neck and shoulders began to feel prickly under his stare...as if we were entering forbidden territory. I wanted to press what he meant by that, but something held me back. Was it fear? Or... a dim memory of something I knew I wasn't supposed to know? 

I simply nodded and ate the last bite of my disgusting food, trying to force myself to swallow it all the way down. I don't know how Americans can eat this shit.

"I feel I should explain," Gabriel began, "I said I haven't eaten here before, but I have been here before. At least this precise geographic location...for lack of a better term."

I turned my head away to discretely wipe my mouth and face and teeth with my napkin before gracefully turning back to him. His hooded, hawkish eyes were looking off into the distance, and he seemed very far removed from both me and the city night. Staring into them, I watched as the rush of dark storms, dancing with hot lightning, rolled across his irises, and wondered at what those eyes were actually seeing. I quickly glanced up and noted there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 

"Some places, Emma," he said gravely without turning my way, "...are very special. Have you ever stood on sacred earth with your bare feet planted firm on the ground, listening to the soil, as silent witness to all the things that have befallen on that very spot where your toes wiggle into the cooling dirt? And as you stand there, soul stripped naked, you witness the blood shed, the battles won, the hearts broken, and the new ones born all at the same time, all from that very spot where your soles touch the soil. And as the earth bleats to you the flood of memories all happening before, and now, and in moments to come, you feel fleeced of your power as time itself is consumed and devoured by the humble mud at your feet."

It took me more than a moment to realize that Gabriel had stopped speaking and was studying my face, for I had closed my eyes while he was speaking, and had felt very present in the vision he was painting. It was as if I had been transported, and I felt my own soul dissolve into the dust with my thundering heartbeat now occupying the groaning and writhing ground where all life ends and begins. And that was all that remained of me.

"I thought you were a scientist not a poet," I finally managed to whisper, feeling my heart hammer in my flesh and pump blood and oxygen again.

"Can't a man occupy two positions at once?" Gabriel asked with a light-hearted, challenging smile. I thought back to the sensation I'd had earlier of being in two places at once, or two people in the same space in time. But then I decided he meant metaphorically, and I was too embarrassed to bring up the subject of my former freak-out lest he be reminded.

I backtracked instead. "It's just that...for an atheist you seem to be very..."

"Supernatural?" Gabriel finished my sentence with a wicked grin.

"I'm not saying you're godlike, don't put words into my mouth," I laughed, bumping my shoulder against his, surprised at how hard and muscular it felt. Well, perhaps, a little godlike. "What I mean is," I began again, "You come across as..." I struggled for the right word, "very...unscientific."

Gabriel laughed out loud and I realized it was a poor choice of words. I hung my head down into my hands, blushing.

"Would it help if I wore glasses held together with duct tape, or a pocket protector in my shirt?" Gabriel asked with mirth in his eyes.

"That's not what I meant," I answered sheepishly, and he hugged his arm around my shoulders.

"Emma," he began low in my ear, "It would be a mistake..."

Gabriel stopped abruptly, and I finally heard what he must have already felt buzzing in his coat: his cellphone ringing. He looked at the screen ID, and then answered. "I'm literally ten minutes away. Are you expecting me so soon?" A pause, and then: "No, I already had supper," Gabriel looked at me with a knowing smile. "See you shortly."

"I guess this is good night," I sighed.

"No. Come. It won't be that long," Gabriel said, rising and grabbing for my hand, which felt very small in his.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I rose, and Gabriel replied, "Why, we are already here!"

I looked up and noticed that we were standing in front of the campus. How is it that I had not noticed before? It was then I realized that being with Gabriel felt like being in a vortex of space in which the edges of the world had melted away.

And my eyes clouded at trying to understand the reason for it.

///

A/N

Wow! Over 5000 reads in one week! So amazing guys! We are so proud to feel your support and love of the characters.

Another short and sweet chapter. However, since the next one is short too, we will be launching Chapter 13 as a bonus chapter at the beginning of next week.

Cheers!

And please vote, comment and fan!! Takes only a moment but is very meaningful to our team! YOU ARE THE BESTESTS!! <3

~C

***

Like All Your Fates? Show your support for the creators:

Follow:

Read Carrie's other books on wattpad on her personal account: http://www.wattpad.com/user/CarrieCutforth

or check out her other projects on http://carriecutforth.com

Read Jim Martin's novel Young Americans here: (you can read the first 20 pages for free): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EY6MP4

//

All Your Fates © 2012 Carrie Cutforth, Jim Martin and Tom Liljeholm. All Rights Reserved.