• BEGINNING


    Tara was waiting out in the hallway for Cassio. She was supposed to come here right after biology. Inpatient, Tara paced down the hall, where was she? They were supposed to meet Darius at the movies for her birthday in twenty minutes, and it was a twelve minute drive from here. Relived to see her sprinting down the hall to where she was, Tara yelled at her to hurry up. When Cassio reached her, Cassio was breathless, as if she had just ran for miles. "And where were you?" Tara asked in a teasing voice. “Well..... I was just going to the bathroom and Eathin stopped me, I swear I didn’t mean to wait so long to get here," Cassio hastily explained.
    “Just as long as we have enough time to get there. But I don’t think you'll have enough time to go into the bathroom and pretty yourself though"
    "oh, uh, he also asked me if he could come, and I said it was fine."
    "um, and you didn’t ask me?"
    "I’m sorry I know this is a big night for you, but you know how much I like him, and I think he likes me too."
    "ok, but you owe me."
    "Oh, thanks!"
    Ok so maybe I was a little mad at her for letting him come with us. At first, but after we got there, it turns out he was pretty useful. When the movie we wanted to see was sold out, he got us into an even better one, and he was funny too. Cassio ended up freaking out over the movie, and almost jumped onto Eathin’s lap. He comforted her; she had been trembling almost the entire movie. I’m surprised she didn’t scream.

    After we got out of the movies, we went to Dairy Queen for some ice-cream. Darious was sweet, he was always sweet. She’d hate to lose him. She could spend a century in his embrace. And the way he tries to keep her happy, he doesn’t like to see her sad, let alone cry. When they were done with their ice-cream, they all went out to the parking lot. Eathin had taken his own car to the movies and to Dairy Queen. Cassio came up to Tara, "hey, would you mind if Eathin drove me home?"
    "no, I don’t, plus it could give me some time with Darious" she replied giving her a wink, and Cassio skipped off to Eathin’s car. They drove off. Tara got into Darious's car and the car roared to life. The car he was driving tonight was a little old, but his car was better!

    He stopped at the park and asked if she’d like to walk with him. She was glad to walk, it was a beautiful night, in fact, she hadn’t seen a more pretty night than this, the moon was bright, the stars were all out, and there was a slight breeze. She had always loved to walk with Darious. They would walk and hold hands, and talk, about a lot of things. They were talking about the movie when he got all serious. He asked her what was wrong with her lately. She didn’t know how to respond, "What?"
    "I mean, you haven’t been acting the same lately, you look tired, and there is a mad look in your eyes."
    Well I was tired, but as to the mad look thing, I had no idea, I mean I don’t look at myself all the time, and I sure wasn’t mad at him. "Well I don’t know, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately."
    "That not all is it?"
    "Well I guess not." She said, a little confused.
    He stopped and faced her. He reached for her chin and tilted my head up slightly so he could see her eyes more easily. "Then what is it babe?"He was so sweet, and his touch sent chills down my spine. The only response she could give him was one she hated, "I don’t know," the hurt in his eyes was slight and mixed in with the other emotions, but it was defiantly there. They sat down on the nearest bench, and he repeated in his soft sweet voice, "then what is it babe?"
    She didn’t quite know exactly, but she didn’t want to leave him there without an answer. She told him that she was probably just catching a cold or something, and she wasn’t getting much sleep either.

    She left it at that hoping that he wouldn’t be too disappointed with her answer. Darious took her chin, gently lifting her face to look at him more directly, and pressed his lips against hers. A cool rush of senses and emotion blasted through her, deepening the kiss. She pulled away a little more than breathless. He wrapped his arms around her, she instantly felt protected, and adored. She sat there wondering what she did to deserve him. She knew he was the best thing in her life right now. He was the one she went to when she had a horrible day at home, when her family totally breaks out into fights that lasted all night, which is almost every day.

    Which reminded her, "I should probably get home, or my dad" she air quoted the word dad, "might freak, over what I don’t know, but I don’t want to add onto it. “She said gloomily.
    "Ya, you’re probably right."
    "Oh, I know I’m right."
    Laughing, they started walking back to the car.

    The ride to her house was quick, despite the urge to jump out of the car and run in the other direction, anywhere. She didn’t want to deal with the family right now, her family, even her mom had changed after mom married the demon in hiding. He may put on a cute cuddly act, but he stole my mom away from me, and I’ll never like him, nor will I ever accept the fact that "he is just trying to be nice". Ever since he came along my family hasn’t been the same, we fight, yell, blame, we haven’t been able to be in the same room and stay calm for more than five minutes. And no one ever wonders what the reason for that is, and when it started. She didn’t like to fight, so she would sit there in the mess, and when the fight didn’t end, she would retire to her room and read. He never had given her a reason to respect him, but she did for her mother’s sake. There were many reasons she hated him, he had almost raped her when she was younger, and she hated him before that. Tara’s dad died when she was five, and her mom changed, then she married this man.

    After a last goodnight kiss from Darious, she walked to the steps that led up to the door of the two story house. When she got inside she found her brother sitting on the couch, very engaged in his video game. Her sisters were fighting over something stupid, and there was no sign of her mother. And her father was probably working. She went to her room and closed the door. She sat on her bed and reached over for the notebook on her dresser, and started to write about her day on the next open page;
    The morning classes passed quickly, and lunch was normal. I got my lunch and went to sit down by Darious. After we finished our lunch we went out to the field. He threw a football to me, but I didn’t want to play. So we went for a walk, and settled in a spot under a bug willow. Its braches reached out over us protectively, and shielded us from the bright sun. We talked for a while, and then the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. We walked hand in hand back into the building. Walked down the hallway we kissed, hugged, and separated to different classes. The rest of my classes were a blur, going by fast. And then at the end of the day I waited by the lockers for Cassio. I was a little mad that she wasn’t there so we could get to Darious at the movies. It had turned out that Eathin had stopped her and asked her if he could come with. The movies were fun, and then we went to Dairy Queens. We had finished our ice-cream and we all went home. Cassio was dropped off by Eathin and I went with Darious. He stopped off at the park, and walked for a while, deep in conversation. Then he asked out of nowhere what was wrong with me lately. I had answered that with it just being a cold or something, I hadn’t noticed anything different with me. He kissed me tenderly, I love how he is, his touch, gentle, yet very desperate, kind of. He is so sweet and wouldn’t pressure me about anything if I didn’t want to do it. He understands, and I feel as if I could stay with him forever, in his embrace, protected by my guardian. smile After that she fell into a deep sleep.























    Tara

    After a good night of sleep Tara was ready for the weekend to start. She went through her health class they were learning about Nutrition drugs sex/abstinence how to stop abuse i.e. sexual harassment, and because she wasn’t all that interesting right now, it past by not so fast. English and Math were the longest classes of the day. And then there was my electives, electives went by fast; she sat there occasionally taking notes. Lunch she and Darious went out and hung out with some other friends. She was in a daze for the whole day. It felt like she was an outsider watching what was going on, and it was all in fast-forward. Fine arts, foreign language, science, and humanities, none of it seemed to phase her perfect movie of life.

    When the bell rang signaling the end of the day she went to her locker to put all her things in, and was swept up into Darious's arms. "So how is my sweet?" he asked in a curious voice. Laughing, she shifted in his arms and kissed him, soft and quick. she answered him with a hug, "I feel great, and now that your here I’m feeling even better." she loved how he could come up to her, and no matter what mood she was in, make her laugh. They went to Darious's car, and he drove her home. She kissed him for what felt like forever, and climbed the stairs, turned around and watched him drive off.

    Tara woke up sprawled on her floor. Not even questioning why, she got up and got dressed. After getting dressed she went in the bathroom, brushed her teeth, put her makeup on, and went down stairs. No one elts was up, so she cooked some eggs and bacon. Hoping that she could force everyone to have a nice day, she made coffee too. When her mom came downstairs she took some of the food, and coffee. She didn’t say anything, or even notice Tara. Her dad was already at work, and her sisters were at practice for cheerleading.
    After cleaning the dishes, the living room, and downstairs, also weeding, and watering the back yard, she went to her room and laid down on her bed. Tara picked up her cell phone and unplugged it from the charger. She had three texts, one from her sister ranae, another from cassio, and one from Darious. He had asked her what she was doing. She called him, and before it even started to ring she started to think. Hmm, I need a job, and maybe I could get that new hair product, that commercial was so mouthwatering…
    She hadn’t noticed Darious on the phone till he cleared his thought, clearing her physco babble as well.
    “Hello?” he said again as more of a question than an answer.
    “Oh, uh, hi, I’m sorry.” She said apologetically.
    “Are you okay?” he asked, the concern apparent.
    “Yep, I’m great!” she said, glad to hear his voice again. Darious said that he had to go to work and that he would call her as soon as he could. Tara closed her phone and re-plugged it into the charger, she didn’t bother to check the other messages. Not realizing how tired she was till she had to fight to keep her eyes open, she curled up in her bed and let them close.

    Tara woke up to her mom yelling at Andrew for putting his feet on the couch. She groaned and got out of bed. She could already tell she was in for it. As soon as she got out of the hallway she could see her mom looking in the mirror putting on her earrings.
    “I really don’t know why you wear your makeup inside the house, you’re not even doing anything right now. Where have you been?”
    “I’ve been in my room asleep.” She responded with irritation.
    “And you didn’t think to clean anything, do you know what time it is, its five thirty, you’ve slept your day away.”
    Instead of arguing and getting in a pointless fight, Tara walked away and back to her room. Her mom followed her and opened the door.
    “You know you could help out around here once in a while. Your father works hard for us to have the things we do, and he doesn’t need you taking advantage of that, I don’t care if you don’t want to, you are going to help out around here.” Her mom said in a mean voice. Good thing she wasn’t in the room, because Tara walked up to the door sweetly, then slammed the door in her moms face. No she didn’t like to fight, and do stuff like that, but it felt good to do that. Her mom has been pushing her buttons for a while, and she just sat there and did nothing to defend herself.

    Tara was sick of it, she was sick of it all. She decided to get her jacket, and cell phone, and go for a long, long walk, away, as far away as she could. She started walking, in no particular direction. After walking for a while she realized that she recognized where she was, she was at her and Darious’s favorite park. She didn’t intentionally go there, but she was glad.

    Darious
    Darious called Tara, no answer. He called her again, still no answer. She always answered the second time at least, and if she was asleep she would have woken up and answered. I swear she loves that phone more than me.
    Curious he went to her house to check up on her. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. Tara’s mom answered the door. “Is Tara home?” darious asked. “no, I haven’t seen her for hours, she ran off cuz’ she didn’t want to clean.” She snapped.
    “Oh, well do you know where she might be?”
    “How should I know?”
    “Of course ma’am, thanks.”Darious said in a slight disgusted voice, and turned around, and got back in his car. The car hummed with life, and he set of to look for Tara. He looked in all the places he thought she might be. He went to the park they both loved, and he found her lying under a tree, asleep. Darious picked her up and laid her head on him, he kept her warm, and she used him as a pillow. He messed around with her hair, and watched the sky. The soft movements lulled him gently to sleep.
    The rustle of trees woke him up. It was cold, and Tara was shivering. He got to his feet. Tara groaned, obviously objecting to his movement, He chuckled. Darious picked her up, and cradled her in his arms. He started walking back to his car, when he noticed Tara was awake, and staring at him. He cleared his thought, “are you ok?” he asked a little sad. “Ya, I’m fine.” She answered him, but he knew better, something was wrong. She looked breakable, fragile. She was still beautiful though. Her long brown hair shined in the moonlight, her skin, it was soft. Her slightly pink cheeks, and her gauges hazelnut eyes, with a blue edge, they were entrancing. He stopped walking and bowed his head to kiss her, gently, afraid he might break her.

    When he straightened and resumed his walking Tara asked him how long she was asleep. “Well, depends, I don’t know for sure.”
    “Oh, well I’m still tired, oh s**t, what time is it?” she said while digging through her pockets for her phone.
    “Whoa, stop, calm down, it doesn’t matter, let’s get out of the cold first.” He said keeping his grip firm so he wouldn’t drop her.
    He got to the car and gently slid her through the door onto the seat. Darious walked around the car to the other side. He didn’t know what to do now, she wouldn’t want to go home. Well I could take her home, but then what, when would she go home?
    He got into the car and they left the parking lot. “Where are we going?” Tara said sleepily.
    “ I’m guessing that you don’t what to go home yet, so I’m taking you to my house, or at least the guest house, cuz’ I don’t think that my parents would like me bringing you home.” He explained
    “Oh, thank you, I’m glad.”
    “Well I’m not that rude, plus I don’t need you to hate me.” And maybe I can figure out how to take care of you, and help you, he added in his head.
    They got to the house and he helped her get up the stairs, without tripping. She was so tired. When they got to the house Tara took a shower, and got into one of Darious’s shirts. Darious went into the kitchen and cooked some dinner. After they finished eating Tara crawled into his bed. Darious laid next to her, and played with her hair. “Hey,” he said to get her attention.
    “Ya?”
    “What’s wrong?”
    Tara took a long pause, and finally said, “Well, I’m just stresses out, and I keep seeing things, things that aren’t normal. “
    “Like what?”
    “Well, there are things I like, and there are things that scare me.”
    “Then what are the things you like?”
    “Oh it’s cool. I can think of something and send it to someone elt’s mind, and I can push away the darkness. I can see how much good is in someone, and balance it out, give them a second chance, I have to push away the dark from their mind which is harder, and…” she paused
    “What is it?”
    “Oh, uh, I don’t like how the dark looks, its freaky, and it tries to be absorbed, when someone has absorbed it, they are beyond my help, it grabs hold of them, it’s like a cloud, and it seeps in from everywhere to find a victim.”
    Darious sighed, “Its ok.” That’s all he could say, all he could think to say, it’s ok.