Heal Me

Chapter 22

"Damon... Where are you-"

"Just shut up and walk!" he snarled at Evangeline, making her quirk an eyebrow in surprise. And still, his grumpy attitude somehow put a small smile on her face. But she did as he said and just kept walking.

When they got to Damon's house, rather close to the park, he unlocked his car, which was parked in the driveway, and nodded to Evangeline to hop in. The look on his face was stern and his moves somehow brisk; it was as if he was about to do something he did not really enjoyed. She noticed that but kept quiet, as he told her. But it was hard because she was experiencing all sort of emotions: excitement for finally finding out his story, worry for how sad it could be, hesitation and fear for the moment when she would have to tell him as well...

But she would rather find out now and be done with it, than having to wait anxiously for the inevitable.

~

"Uhm... wait here. It'll only take a second." Damon cleared his throat and avoided Evangeline's gaze, his hands trembling as he got the key out of the ignition. He got out of the car and forcefully shut the door, making Evangeline flinch. Was it really that bad? What could make Damon act like this?

So she looked out the window and saw Damon heading to a rather small flower shop, its facade painted in milky white and with blue curtains covering the windows. It resembled a small-town shop from Greece and it was beautiful. Yet what did he have to do with it?

Evangeline fumbled nervously with the zipper of her bag until he came back, 10 minutes later. And when he did, he brought fresh, cold air into the car once he opened his door. He was carrying a small bouquet of red crimson roses that looked as if they had just blossomed in front of their eyes. Their petals were full and flawless, perfectly laced through one another, bending backwards around the edges and forwards towards the center, spiralling gracefully to protect the small bud. And the color was so rich and deep that it made her wonder if their  fragrance was the same.

"Do they smell?" she asked shyly, peeking up at Damon to see him slightly frowning at her, as if he didn't understand what she said.

"Oh..." he realized after a second or two and put the roses near his nose, inhaling their soothing, spicy scent. "Uhm... yeah. It's nice." Damon said, his lips forming a thin line, and pushed the bouquet towards her. She did the same, relishing in the wonderful fragrance of the roses.

"They are lovely!" she exclaimed, accentuating every word. But then she noticed that they were thornless, which struck her as very weird. Looking back up at him, Evangeline saw the right corner of his mouth twitch upwards into the shadow of a smile.

"Here..." he said lowly and carefully got out of the bouquet a very dark red rosebud, completely thornless, just like the others, and offered it to her. She involuntarily let out a small gasp as a light blush covered her soft cheeks.

"Thank you..." she murmured as their gazes locked and gently took the rose from his hand, their fingers touching each other tauntingly. Damon drove off to wherever he wanted to take her and Evangeline smiled lovingly to herself as she smelled the rose bud again and swirled it around her fingers for a good couple of minutes before she got a hairclip out of her hair, instantly letting a stray of it fall on the forehead and then cover a rather big part of her face. With the corner of his eye, Damon silently watched her place the flower behind her ear, securing it with the black hairclip, and pushing the unwanted hair out of her eyes.

"I look like a gipsy, don't I?" she suddenly chuckled and went to remove the rosebud but Damon stopped her with a simple 'mhmm' and a shaking of the head.

"I haven't seen gypsies wearing jeans and light pink sweaters." he answered and kept his eyes on the road, his face still stern but his blood turning just a bit warmer and running just a bit faster inside him. Damon did not know why, though.

She just smiled sheepishly and left the flower behind her ear.

"Are you... uhm... scared of me?" he gulped as he asked a couple of moments later, but not looking at her.

"What?" she snorted, visibly amused. "Of course not! I mean... yeah, you brought me almost in the middle of nowhere without telling me why and at this point I should be freaking out. But I'm not. I trust you." she said clearly and looked out the window, ignoring his flinch. But he was so surprised... her reply was like a slap in the face, but the kind of slap that is refreshing like a Summer rain and that makes you wake up.

He wanted to think about it; to wonder why she believed in him so much and why she said she would never leave him... but he was not given the chance as he saw from the distance that they were almost there. And as Damon switched to a lower gear, his moves somehow possessing a sudden annoyance, Evangeline directed her attention to the road ahead and noticed a small, modest entrance made in stone and a little green board with something written on it, but she could not see what.

Yet, as they got closer and closer to it, it became clear to her. Evangeline's muscles clenched, her enchanting eyes widened in shock and her breath got stuck in her throat, where a painful lump formed, as she distinguished the words written on the sign: 'Woodlands Cemetery'.

"Damon..." she croaked silently and yet so desperately, turning to look at him.

A death... the death of a loved one... was that what he was hiding? Was that the dreadful thing that stole his smile and his laugh and washed the color in his soul?  

"You wanted this." he suddenly replied harshly, feeling the same bitter, salty tears forming in his eyes. And with that, Evangeline kept quiet once again, shocked and yet curious to find out more and more...

He kept going at a very slow speed along the lonely alleys of the cemetery and finally pulled over. They both got out of the car without another word and she blindly followed Damon until he stopped, staring with a pained expression at not one, but two plaques, one smaller than the other. While he just stood there, overwhelmed by the emotions washing through him that were now stronger and more aching than ever, she lightly stepped closer.

Evangeline did not know why this was happening to her, but her lower lip was trembling and her insides were aching as well. Their hearts were gracefully dancing a waltz of sorrow and grief through unspoken, needless, worthless words and deep, hot breaths in the November air.

Gulping, she turned her head to look at Damon then followed his gaze and faced the two white marbled plaques. Slowly and painfully, Evangeline let her eyes tumble upon the inscriptions; on the smallest one it read:

'In Loving Memory

Daughter And Sister,

Caroline Marie Williams

July 6 2013 ~ July 8 2013'

She shuddered at the thought of a baby dying at only 2 days since she was born, but finally forced the tears out of her eyes to be able to read the second, bigger plaque:

'In Loving Memory

Daughter, Sister, Wife and Mother,

Edith Williams

March 21 1970 ~ July 6 2013'