Gabriel – the messenger and communicator
Hunter.
It hadn’t been fair that Allison and I lost so much of the time we could have been together. We could have been happy since the day I returned from my surgery. But instead, I spent a great deal of time nursing my broken heart because I thought she had moved on without me. I thought she didn’t keep her promise to wait for me.
But we were both victims of Anderson’s lie and treachery. He was so desperate to have her, he resorted to stupid methods to get her attention.
I remembered when I was trapped in the cabin with Allison, I was still so angry… at her… at Anderson… at the world. I was harboring all these ill feelings because I couldn’t accept the fact that I went through all the trouble of a corneal transplant for her, only to find that she was already dating somebody else.
But in spite of my anger, I wasn’t able to stop myself from kissing her, holding her in my arms. I knew I may only have that one chance, and I didn’t care if she belonged to Anderson. I saw an opening… a shadow of a chance… I grabbed it!
But then, she mentioned something that didn’t seem to add up. She said that Anderson saved her from the potheads one night she was headed home and that was why she felt so indebted to him, she couldn’t bear to hurt his feelings.
How many pothead assaults could she have had? Because I remember doing exactly what she said Anderson did for her! I saved her one night. I risked my life and would have gladly given it, if it meant saving hers.
She sounded so convinced—without a doubt—that it was Anderson who fought off those guys to protect her.
I didn’t say anything even though I wanted to take her back immediately during that day at the lake house. I needed to be sure first. But it took all my self-control not to punch Anderson’s teeth down his throat and cripple him, because I suspected he had been lying all along.
For days, I drove around the area where Allison was attacked, hoping to find those guys again. And yesterday, in an abandoned alley, I found them, drinking and getting high in broad daylight.
“Who are you?” one of them asked when I approached them.
“If you know what’s good for you, you would stay the fuck away from us,” the other added.
“I’m not here for trouble,” I said. “I just want to ask you something.”
They looked at me from head to feet and then one of them said, “Ask and then leave!”
I took my phone from my pocket and scanned my gallery for a clear picture of Anderson.
“Do you know this guy?”
They both looked at the screen and stared at Anderson’s photo for a long while. I watched their expressions for any sign of recognition.
“Wait…” one of them said. He stared at Anderson’s photo intently and then his expression changed as if something clicked inside his brain. “Wasn’t this the guy who paid us a hundred bucks to deliberately attack a girl so he could swoop in and pretend to rescue her?”
The other looked at the screen again and then he nodded. “Oh, yeah. Rich kid. Handsome. But didn’t know how to ask a girl out properly.”
“Seriously?” I asked, hardly believing my ears.
“Yes. What a wimp!” They both laughed.
“Like who does that, right?” one of the guys said in a mocking tone.
“How much did he pay you again?”
“Fifty each,” one of the guys replied. “Are you here to ask us of the same thing?”
“Of course not,” I smirked. “Thank you for the information, though.” I placed two one hundred-dollar bills on top of their table. “For answering my questions.”
I walked away from there, seething with anger. I hunted down Anderson. I couldn’t wait to beat him black and blue for the trouble, danger and fear he put Allison through.
I waited for him in school but he was a no-show. I went to his house, but it didn’t even look like anybody was home. I would have waited for him longer but I had to be outside the bookshop at nine. I was waiting for her every night, making sure that she had a safe ride home—even when she was with Anderson. I always waited outside the bookshop at closing time, like it had been part of my daily routine.
Since we got back from the lake house, her aunt had been picking her up. I followed them home, ensuring that both of them got home safely.
Finally, this afternoon, I found Anderson dining alone at Burger Inn. He didn’t go to school again.
I stood in front of his table, staring at him. Wrath was written all over my forehead in bold letters.
He looked up from his food and stared back at me evenly. He let go of the burger in his hands and then he shook his head. He didn’t ask me anything, as if he already knew… this confrontation was long overdue.
“How do you want to do this? Here or outside?” I growled.
He looked around. The restaurant was almost empty, save for a few older people dining and chatting over newspaper and coffee.
He stood up from his seat. Then he replied, “Outside, Vaughn.”
I followed him, bawling my fists to control myself from dragging him out by the collar.
We stood in the almost deserted parking lot.
Finally, he turned to face me. He took a deep breath and said, “I have something that belongs to you.”
“If you’re talking about my girlfriend, I demand that you return her at once!” I fumed.
“Look, Vaughn, I didn’t know she was your girlfriend. I didn’t even know you knew each other until I read her diary.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What diary?”
“She keeps a diary… a collection of letters she wrote for you,” he replied. “I… I have it.”
“Why would she give you that diary if it was meant for me?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t. I… I took it from her bag that night you were trapped in the cabin.”
Bam!
I punched him on the jaw as hard as I could.
“That’s for stealing from her!” I bellowed.
Bam!
“That’s for trying to steal her from me!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
“And those… those are for paying those low-lives to assault her so you could fake-save her!” I shouted angrily. “Do you have any idea of the danger you put her through?!”
“I know, I know!” He spat blood on the ground. He held his jaw in pain. He didn’t even try to fight back. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would go that far.”
Bam!
“How selfish and stupid are you?” I growled. “Why the fuck would you do that?
“Because I love her! I couldn’t get through to her. She had been so… so evasive. She wouldn’t accept anything from me… no matter what I do!”
“I love her too. More than you could ever love her, but did you see me endangering her life?”
“I know! And I said I’m sorry!”
Bam!
He fell down on the ground.
“Stand up, Anderson! Fight back!” I demanded. “Let’s settle this now! Man to man! Fight me!”
He held a hand up in front of me. He furiously shook his head. “No, no. no!”
“Stand up!”
“Fuck it, Vaughn! I don’t want to fight you! Even if I wanted to, I’ve seen how you kicked those potheads’ asses. I know you have a freaking black belt in martial arts. I’m not stupid!” he said, almost in a scream while he staggered to his feet. “I know what I did. And when I read your diary, I realized how much she loved you. I know now why no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I do… I could never steal her away from you. You can beat me up all you want. It wouldn’t make a difference.”
He sounded desperate. I might even say that he was about to cry. But he was right. Even if I beat him to the pulp, it wouldn’t change the things that happened in the past months. It wouldn’t bring back the time I lost with Allison.
“Where’s the diary?”
“I returned it to her,” he replied.
“As in you hand-delivered it to her?” I asked, suspiciously. I couldn’t trust a word that came out of this scumbag’s mouth.
He shook his head. “I went to… CRC. I left the diary there and then I left a message on her locker to tell her where to find it.”
“Where in CRC did you leave it?”
He gave me a hard look, then he replied, “In… in your garden.”
Bam!
He almost lost his balance with that punch. “What the fuck was that for?”
“For going to our garden!” I spat back at him. “You desecrated it, just by stepping foot on it, you filthy scumbag!”
“I’m sorry, okay? I was gonna tell you, too. So you could go there and finally tell her the truth.”
“Say what? You want me to tell her what you did?”
He bit his lip, refusing to answer.
“You son of a…” I aimed for him again, but he shielded his face with his arms.
“Stop it, you freaking war freak!” he screamed. “I will do it! I will do it!”
“You will do what exactly?”
“I will be the one to tell her, okay? Happy now?”
I shook my head. “You will not get away with this so easily. She deserved to know the truth—straight from your filthy mouth!”
He took a deep breath. “But I’m leaving for Germany tonight.”
“I’m sure you would be able to find the time!” I snarled at him one last time and then I turned to leave.
I went straight to CRC. I didn’t know how Anderson would tell Allison about what he did. If he wouldn’t, then I would. I just wanted to get to the diary first, before somebody stumbled upon it and it got lost to us forever.
Memories came flooding back to me as I walked the path towards our garden. For some moments, I closed my eyes and remembered the hundreds of times I walked it with the aid of nothing but a walking stick.
I came back to this place only once since my transplant. After that, I couldn’t come back here anymore. There were far too many memories of Allison in this place. And it killed me every time to think that she was with somebody else.
I was relieved when I found a brown leather-covered notebook safely sitting on top of the table. I opened it, my hands slightly shaking.
I read the title on the first page, “Letters to Hunter.”
I remembered before I left, I asked her to write a diary for me so I could read it when I return.
I felt like my heart just broke inside my ribcage.
She had kept her promise.
I took the diary and climbed up on the bench to sit on top of the table, facing the lake.
I flipped through the pages and started reading the words that she wrote for me.
Dear Hunter…