Cursed

I may one day regret telling Kieran those three words that have always been deemed so strong by everyone who encounters them. But for now, I couldn’t keep from telling him because there was a deeper part of me who wanted to bind him to me with anything I could use. Part of me had wished that he didn’t say it back so that I wouldn’t be so convinced that he would run away with me in the blink of an eye if I so much as asked.

It was endearing yet I couldn’t ask him to abandon his current life to come be with me just so I won’t be lonely. But then again… he wants to be with me. However, it always feels like a better deal, a better human will come along and sweep him off his feet and he’ll realize that all of this hiding is annoying and will leave me after he deems that I was just an annoyance, an inconvenient part of his life.

Then, I’ll just have to make up my mind to savor this feeling with him right now so that I can remember it for the rest of my life if I have to. I don’t want to be with anyone else anytime soon. I can’t say for sure that I’ll never love someone again if Kieran leaves me, but I know that I would be so broken-hearted that I wouldn’t know what to do anymore.

But he said he loved me back and that was all the mattered. And somehow, I felt like I would never let him go even if he wanted to leave me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I pulled Kieran into the bathroom with me after school when everyone was already filing out so that I could kiss him. It was the only place that was safe so far. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shailey’s dad suddenly showed up out of nowhere and asked us what we were doing.

I pressed my lips to his and tangled my fingers gently into his hair. I was so tired of hiding our relationship and having to worry and fear everything we did together. I wished I was just a human so badly sometimes.

“I’m tired of this,” I whispered into the crook of his neck before kissing the skin there as well.

He pushed me lightly away from him. “Of what?”

“Of this constant fear. I can tell it’s stressing you out too…,” I mumbled, intertwining my fingers with his.

He rested one of his hands on my cheek for only a moment before letting it fall and he leaned in close, only an inch from my lips. “We could run away together.”

I reeled back, scared of what he said. I didn’t want either of us to have to drop our lives and start a new one while living in fear that we might be caught at any second by Shailey’s parents.

“No, we can’t. We have families, you have friends,” I told him, stroking his hair while giving him smile; a smile I hadn’t meant to make sad.

“Finn,” He whispered before grabbing my hand. “We’re about at that point in our lives where we begin our own families. Lingering on that matter… it… it’s not helping.”

I supposed he was right. We were both eighteen now and seniors in high school and we were both graduating in a few months.

“But we’d never be safe!” I cried, tears pricking my eyes. I held my hands up to my face so that Kieran wouldn’t see them fall, even though covering it was just as obvious.

“It’s okay, we’ll be with each other. That’ll be enough,” he told me, his voice low and soothing. It gave me chills almost.

It made me feel sinfully better. I loved it when he said that, but it made me feel like such a bad person that he was willing to give up everything to be with me.

I wrapped my arms securely and lovingly around him with my lips to his ear. “I love you,” I whisper.

“Claiming your love in the bathroom yet again, Finnegan?”

I chuckled lightly into his ear. “Of course.”

“But I love you too. So, so much,” he reciprocated. It made my heart jump and soar. I loved it. I never knew that I would get to tell someone that I loved them and that they would say it back to me. I just wanted to protect him from everything that Shailey’s family could dole out. I just wish there were some way to hide from them…

“Kieran,” I say suddenly. It completely slipped my mind that my aunt went through about the same thing. I couldn’t believe how stupid I was being about this whole thing. How had she married a human? There had to be some way around it, and she had to know. “Tell your parents that you’re coming with me for the night.”

“Wh-what? Why?” He questioned.

“I… might have found our solution,” I told him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After the drive, I found myself looking at a small log cabin. The address was exactly right. Well… address as in how my parents knew to find her since her house wasn’t quite on the map.

Would Kieran and I have to live like that if we really ran away together? He grabbed my hand and gave me a small smile. He probably knew what I was thinking.

I knocked on the door and was hastily greeted by my aunt. She looked down at our latched hands. I might as well not hide it from her since I was going to ask her help anyways.

“Henry! Finn’s here! And he brought a friend!” She yelled into the house. She hustled us into the house, which was surprisingly well-kept and had electricity and most likely running water.

As soon as her husband appeared, he looked us up and down before smiling a sad smile. “I think I know why you’re here.”

Then my aunt dropped a pan. “Wait... what? Finn you… and he…,” she sat down before looking back at us. “You know how dangerous this is, right?”

We both quietly nodded.

“When you asked me about being attracted to a human, I didn’t know you’d take it this far,” she sighed. “However, that doesn’t matter. Your boyfriend is a real cutie. No doubt your parents love him.”

“Of course they do! I’m the best!” Kieran shouted.

She gave a smile before saying, “You know what you’ve gotten into, right, love?”

The smile disappeared from Kieran’s face before he nodded solemnly.

“Well, what do you want to know?” Henry asked from the other side of the table.

“We… want to know how you two are able to be with each other,” I spoke up.

“Oh… now that would span into an epic poem,” she laughed. “However… I was just very very lucky. My tracker, guardian, whatever, was a good friend and I begged her to let me be with Henry. She completely supported my decision. Of course, she was punished by the higher-ups for refusing to keep track of me. I regret not being able to do anything for her… but I know she’s well and good now. We write each other occasionally.”

“Shailey wouldn’t let her parents kill us, right?” Kieran asked. “Maybe she…”

“We can’t ask her for that, Kieran,” I said, my voice wavering. To know that our only shot was to hope and pray that Shailey would have enough heart, guts, and stamina to stand up to her parents wasn’t comforting at all. But there was still the lingering hope that she might...