Forever And Never

"Ha, I don't think so..." I giggled as I ducked behind a huge, old tree which was drooping in the glittering sunlight. I put my back to the rough trunk of the tree and put my hand over my mouth, repressing any more laughter from coming up. When I stood there for a few seconds, but didn't hear anything, I peaked around the tree curiously to see what was happening.
Immediately, I was swooped up so quickly that I could hardly even see, and I laughed as his arms wrapped around me and his face was buried into my hair. I screamed, though not really scared, then I chuckled as he walked forward away from the tree, and I was forced to walk backwards as to not fall.
But, nevertheless, the back of my foot caught on a conveniently placed root sticking up from the grass surrounding the tree, and I tumbled down, taking him with me. I fell on my back, and he landed beside me to my right on his side laughing loudly and trying to snake his arms around me.
I noticed a small grass stain on my white dress, and said "Look what you did, August!" I pointed to the mar upon the fabric sadly, but I couldn't help but laugh with him as he moved closer to me. He put an elbow in the grass and rested his cheek in his hand and observed my dress.
"Sorry about that," he said with a beautiful smile and his eyes shining magnificently. His face was close to mine, only a few cruel inches separating us from each other. Thinking about closing the gap, I smiled and he said: "I'll buy you twenty more dresses. Or rather, why don't you just go without a dress for a little while?"
His hand found mine and he laced our fingers together as I replied, "You would like that, would you?" I grinned, and could feel my heart burning with love for him. I wanted nothing more than touch him, to tell him I loved him, anything to get this wonderful feeling out.
He must have felt it also, because he leaned in and kissed me lightly making my breathing stop, and my stomach flutter. It was so powerful I wanted to cry, I couldn't believe such a feeling was possible.
He pulled away, and I noticed that there was bright, red blood smeared on his right cheek. I giggled and wiped it off, not thinking anything of it till I pulled back my hand and found that it too had blood on it. I stared at my hand for a second, confused at the site, then wiped my hand on my already ruined dress. But as I did, I discovered that It too was covered in the crimson liquid, as was the ground around me, and the the grass and leaves. I looked around horrified at the sight, for it seemed that it was coming from the ground.
"No..." I said, but it sounded like someone had whispered it right in my ear, and soon I was laying awake in my room, my eyes wide open and a small shock of fear running through my chest. I lifted my hands up to my side to see if they were covered in blood, only to find that they were clean along with the rest of me and my entire room.
It had just been a dream, much like the countless others I'd had night after night almost all involving August in some way. I sighed, starting to calm down again and sat up, looking over at Raven who was still asleep about a foot or two away from me. I hadn't woken her up, so I was glad, but I noticed that there were tiny specks of sunlight seeping through the foil over the window in the bedroom. I realized it was morning and almost immediately after coming upon that discovery, I noticed that I couldn't feel Ramsey in the apartment.

With a smile, I stretched and gathered all my things for my morning routine of shower, hair, and make up. I felt around for him as I walked across the hall to the bathroom, and as I took my quick, five-minute shower, and once I was out blow drying my hair. I fixed my hair the way I wanted it and applied some make up, the whole time searching for his presence moving about in the apartment. I slipped on my clothes that I'd picked out and smiled with my happy conclusion: Ramsey had gone to work this morning, apparently trusting me and Raven enough to leave us unattended.
Once I was in the hallway, I peaked into the bedroom to see that Raven was awake, lying lazily in her bed on her back. I stepped away and advanced into the living room where, sure enough, the bedding on the couch had been folded and put away, and Ramsey was no where to be found.
I smiled, a strange feeling of happiness coming over me as I stood at the base of the hallway. Of course I liked Ramsey, but he was coddling me and Raven a little too much. I understood that he was concerned with us, but I knew that I couldn't go outside unless I wanted to hurt someone. Plus, he needed to work to get money so he could support us. Sitting here and being paranoid over nothing wasn't going to keep food in the kitchen.
With the confirmed knowledge that Ramsey was indeed not here, I glided back into the room find Raven starting to get up out of her bed. She stopped and looked at me, a look of curiosity at first, then a knowing smile.
I nodded happily, "He's not here." I grinned, knowing she couldn't feel him either.
"Finally!" She practically yelled, throwing her arms into the air and embracing our new found freedom. I smiled at her as she paraded around the room for a few moments, before saying: "I guess I should call him?"
She stopped and looked at me, "Why?"
"I don't know, just in case he's not at work and is dead in an alley somewhere." I shrugged and almost laughed at my reasoning, even though it was kind of true. But I guess mostly I was trying to seem like I cared about him so maybe he'd open up and tell me all the things he was keeping away from me. Maybe if I could be more like Maribelle, he'd be more willing to talk to me.
Raven only laughed and said, "I guess, if you want to."
She offered me her phone, but I decided to use the one on the charger in the living room. A long, black cord led from the outlet in the wall to the old, blue slider phone sitting on the table at all times if I ever needed to call Ramsey. I sat down and took the phone off the charger, found his number, then pressed call.
It rang for a few moments, till he answered: "Yes, Nicolette?" I could here a lot of noise around him, much like I had when I'd first called him after my transformation. I still had no idea where he was, I assumed maybe Branch wood but I really had no way of knowing.
"Hi," was all I said, having not come up with anything better.
"Is everything alright? No fires?"
"No no, it's great I just wanted to call and make sure your alright." I was trying my best not to stutter, since I knew how stupid I sounded just wanting to check up on him like he was a child.
He laughed warmly, and I was happy to see that he was in a good mood. "Well, I'm fine. I haven't been staked or anything, so I'm perfectly healthy." He laughed more, but stopped and I heard a familiar voice in the background saying something like 'Hey Ramsey, who are you talking to?' I instantly knew it was Maribelle, and wherever he was we was with her.
Ramsey quickly answered, "My student," then turned back to our conversation, "Hey, Nicolette I need to go alight?" I could hear Maribelle's voice in the background saying something, but I couldn't make it out and pay attention to what he was saying at the same time.
"Okay..." I said, not really knowing how to reply to the situation. Of course he'd rather be with Maribelle than me, considering that she was probably way more fun than I was, and could actually leave her home. But I didn't know they were actually friends outside of work or wherever they were.
Ramsey said bye and hung up, and I brought the phone from my ear and down to my lap. I couldn't decide what to make or Maribelle, or how I was going to feel about her. From what little I knew of her, I could already tell that she was better than me.