Corruption

"Mike?” Candace called again, a little louder this time. I looked down at my forearm, at the raised scares on my arm, then up at the moon. I felt Candace’s presence behind me, but I didn’t turn around. Her hand lightly grazed by back, making me jump by from the light touch. Turning around, I smiled, seeing the pajamas she was wearing. “I gave you those.” Her pajamas were yellow, with fruit on them.

She copied my actions. “I gave you those.”

Puffing out my chest, I said defiantly, “You couldn’t stay away long, could you?”

She didn’t answer me, nor cracked a smile. Going over to the railing, she looked out at Aiden’s house, then up at the moon. Her face turned hard as she glared up at it, her eyes showing hate. Her gaze went from the moon, to the light up garden. Her face softened as she looked at the winding paths, and the small bugs flying around the lights.

Candace hopped onto the railing, her body facing me. I turned so I was staring at Aiden’s house. I noticed a curtain was moving as if in a breeze.

The moon shone of the scares of my forearm and I looked down. Aiden had been right. I really don’t know anything about that day. I was unconscious for most of the time. The only thing I knew, was that Candace and I had been severely injured one minute, and Candace had been healed the next.

“So do you have any plans for this summer?” Candace asked, breaking the silence.

I glanced at her in the corner of my eye. “No, not after I leave here.”

“Me either. This summer is going to be pretty boring.”

I sighed. “Yeah.” I bit my lip, trying to think of how I could ask Candace what I wanted to ask her. I had had so many questions about that day, but Candace never seemed up to talking about it. I had accepted that, accepted that I wouldn’t be able to know anything for awhile, but I was really starting to get tired of being the only one in the group not knowing what had happened to us all.

"And next year we will be seniors. I can't believe we are almost there. We made it through eleven years of bossy teachers and bad school lunches." She laughed, but it did nothing for my overactive mind at that moment. I still bit my lip, thinking if it would be okay if I asked her about that night.

“Do you want to tell me something?” Candace asked, shifting on the railing.

I turned my head slowly, giving myself just a few seconds more to think. Leaning on the stone railing with one arm, I said, “Yes.” That was it. I knew I wanted to tell her something, and I knew what that something was, but I didn’t know how to say it. I need to think about it.

I scooted closer to her so I could read her expression. She seemed to be waiting for more, but I really didn’t have anymore yet.

“Are you going to tell me?” I finally asked, and I was sure that she didn’t understand my question, but I couldn’t clarify what I meant. I wasn’t even sure what I meant by that. She looked confused as she pondered over my question.

“I don’t know—what you mean.” She finally said, her face scrunched up in confusion.

“About before,” Another short and confusing answer. I was starting to confuse myself. Seeing she was still confused, and not knowing how to explain what I wanted her to tell me, I extended my arm toward her, showing her the five scares that ran down my arm. She stared t them, never been able to see them before. I always kept them covered up because if someone asked me how I got them, saying I don’t know never went well with people.

“How did I get these?” I whispered. “Why did I get these?”

Candace’s eyes shifted from my extended arm to my face. She seemed uncomfortable, shifting here and there on the hard stone railing. More questions came into my head, I didn’t hold them in. “What did that woman want with you?” I asked remembering that child that had tortured Candace. “And why you?”

Candace did not answer those questions either, only tore her gaze away from me and looked down at the garden below us, shifting her body away from me. I grabbed her arm and twisted her back, making her look at me. She seemed scared and upset about the topic, but I did not stop. “Please Candace. I want to know. I need to know."

Candace looked at her swimgind feet, then the sky, then back at the garden. Anywhere but me. "She wanted the book."

Finally breaking through, I softened my voice. "Why?"

She shifted again, taking a few seconds to answer. "Because it holds powers?"

"What kind of powers?"

"I'm not sure." She said, looking at me now. I only had them for minutes. They were strong ones too." Shifted before continueimng. "I loved it, the feelof them. The power and sese of self control it gave me, it was almost like a high." His were almost speaking to me, asking me to understand.

"You had the powers?" I asked, stunned by the thought of it.

"You don't remember?"

I shook my head. I really didn't remember anything about that day. That was why I was asking all of the questions.

"You mean you didn't see me?" she seemed a little flustered and upset by the thought of me not seeing her with theses powers she talked about.

"No, I didn't. Why? Were you hot?" I teased. Her cheeks turned red, and she looked away from me. I was glad because I was sure my cheeks had turned red too. Do you still have the powers?"

"No." she said with a sad sigh. "They disappeared with the book. We burned it so no one can have them again."

I looked away from her, trying not to tell her the truth about that. Of course the book wasn't burned. Does she really think that those vampires ould actually pass up onan opportunity like that? No, they would never burn the book. That may have been what Aiden told candace. Hey, that may have been what Aiden had been told. But the book definitely wasn't destroyed.

"Why did she try to kill you?" I asked, trying to get back on track.

"Because she wanted the book." Candace seemed a little more comfoortable talking about it now that the mood had been lightened. "I wouldn't let her know where it was. She wanted me to tell her."

"And you didn't." I guessed.

"No," Candace said defensively, "I had people to protect."

I tracedmy fingers over the scares on my arm. "So why did I get these?"

"Marissa did that." She was uncomfortable again.

"Yeah, but why?"

She whispered, "Because of me."

I sighed frusterated. Now I got it. "So she did this to me so you would tell her where the book was." Candace nodded for confirmation so I continued. "But you wouldn't give it to her. That is why she kept hurt8iing me." I noticed my voice had gone harsh, almost accusing.

Candace had noticed too, flinching away from me. Candace wasn't the one that I was mad at, not really anyway. I was sort of mad at myself. If I hadn't came up to Maine that night, of course I wouodn't have gotten hurt--physically--but would Candace have been better off? What Aiden had said was really getting to me. Maybe Candace had been changed because of that night. And maybe I was the cause of some of it.

But something that close to my heart was that candace let marissa keep hurting me so she could protect the Westcotts. Of curse it was selfish of me to think that way, but I couldn't help it. Didn't she even think to give her the book so she would just let us go? Acting on it wouldn't have mattered, but the thought…

"I'm sorry Mike." Candace said. She had jumped off of the railing and was headed for the door.

"I--" I was about to apologize when Candace stopped me.

"Mike…" she turned to face me, tears now rolling down her face. She cried so much now. She had never been a cryer before she came here. Aiden was right. She had changed.

"I am really sorry Mike. Maybe if I called you back before…maybe if you hadn't come here, things would have been different. Mayso so many people wouldn't have died, maybe more would have. I don't know." She choked on her sobs as she tried to get the words out. I sat on the railing where I was, not sure what to do.

She gulped in a lungful of air before continueing. "I'm not blaming you. I blame myself. It is my fault I didn't call you back when I got attacked by Maryana. You got worried, I get that. When you came, it my fault you got hurt, my fault you almost died. If you hadn't come for me, your parents wouldn't have gottne into a fight. Then your dad wouldn't have left you."

She cried harder now, her breath coming out in spurts. "Everything is my fault. I hurt you way too much and I am so sorry for that. Maybe I should have given the book to Marissa. Then she might not have hurt you so bad, I don't know. I never will know. Maybe I should have let her killme."

I jumped down from the railing and was about to contradict that, the comment making me hurt and angry inside that I had brought this on, but she continued like she hadn't seen me move an inch. "Then everyone would have been happier than they are now. Everything would be back to normal and you would hurt so bad. Maybe I'll do it myself. Then there will be no more drama and everyone will be happy again." She finished, wipping her face with the back of her hand.

Thinking about what she said, I couldn't hold back the tears now rolled down my own face. I had no idea she was so broken and hurt inside. If only I had been here for her, here for her to talk to. And the think of her not with us anymore, dead, under ground somewhere, made me shutter. But I couldn't tell her that. I didn't know how to tell her that. What was I supposed to say now?

I reached for her, but stopped when I saw her face. She didn't want a hug from me. She wanted something else, wanted me to tell her that she was wrong--or was she looking for me to tell her that she was right?

When I didn't say anything, she stormed out of the room, leaving the bedroom door wide open. I thought about what I should do. Should I give her space instead of corrupt her emotions again? Or should I go after her and comfort her to the best of my abilities?

I decided to go after her, knowing that not going after her would only result in something horrific. When I came to her door, I saw her on her bed, staring at the picture of me and her. The room was dark except for the light coming in from the door I was standing in. She held it for a short seconds, then threw it as hard as she could towards the door. It fluttered in the air, they gently floated to the ground.

She saw me in the doorway, and turned her body away from me, showing me her back. I went and sat down next her. I thought about reaching for her, touching her back, or holding her hand, but thought against it at this moment. "Candace…" I said quietly, wanting to apologize.

She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand again, still with her back to me.

"I'm sorry.' I said.

She shifted, her back still to me.

"I just didn't know what to say to you." I admitted, wondering if complete honestly was key right now. After a moment of silence, I got up from the bed and sat on the other side of Candace so she was facing me.

She looked down at the comforter placed on top of her bed, and started to play with a loose string.

"Candace…" I began again. Putting my hand on Candace's knee in a comforting gesture, she pushed me away, and turned her body slightly away from me. I grabbed her chin fiercely, tierd of sdtaring at the side of her head. "this is not your fault.." Once I grabbed her face and brought it close to mine, her eyes started to fill with tears again and spill over. I immediately let her go, thinking it was because I had grabbed her. When I let her go, she didn't look away from me like I thought she would have done.

"Yes it is!" she said, shaking her head at me. "I was the one that left you in Georgia. I hurt you."

I put my hand on her knee again, this time, able to leave it there. "No," I said, shaking my head as she had. "It's mine."

She did not answer, but looked at me with her big grey eyes. I decided to continue and explain what I meant by it. "You aren't the one who did it. It was me. I was the one that started to like you that way, making it grow." I grabbed her hand, looked down at the ring on her finger, and couldn't help but smile. Rubbing my thumb over the band, I continued. "If I had given you the ring, you wouldn't have known that I liked you. If you didn't know I liked you, you wouldn't be beating yourself up about it."

"I'm sorry Mike." Candace said, looking down at our hands.

"It isn't your…" I began, then better of it. She wasn't going to believe it wasn't her fault. That was just who she was. I sighed, getting a little frustrated with this conversation. "I forgive you." I said, just to make her happy.

Candace let go of my hands, crawled up to the top side of the bed, and snuggled underneath the covers. Not looking at her, I got up from the bed and headed for the door.

"Mike?" she called. Turning around I saw she was patting the other side of the bed for me. I smiled weakly at her, then headed back towards the doors and closed them. I climbed into the king size bed, and snuggled up close to Candace. We use to share beds when we were little kids but now that we had gotten older, we just stopped doing it. It was nice to be in here now.

"I'm glad you're here." Candace told me, leaning her head against my chest. I breathed in her wonderful scent, closing my eyes, wanting to do more than just sit here with her. "Tell me about the rest of the school year." Csandace said quietly, "Wht happened while I have been away?"

I took a deep breath and started to talk about everything that I could think of think of. The prom at the end of the school year, Casey Adams puking on her date, Nathan James punching the gym teacher for giving him a 'C' in the last semester. Candace laughed halfheartedly at some, but mostly just listened about all of her old classmates. When I had nothig else to say on the matter, she asked another question.

"What about you? What have you been doing?" she asked with a yawn. "Tell about home life." And I did. I talked about when I got home from Maine, and all of the things that were said. Then I talked about my mom and me and how we were getting along withoutmy dad. Of course my mom really wasn't gettig along, but I didn't tell Candace how bad she really was. There was no need to worry her about something that she has no control over.

When I was finished talking about that, I felt like I had been talking for hours, but Candace didn't let up on the questions. "So, you haven't spoken to your dad since?"

"No…" I said, tierd of this topic.

"We have a lot of things in common." She said, yawning again.

"I think you should get some sleep Candace. You are really tired." I took Candace off my chest, even though I really didn't want that to happen, and I put her on her own pillow. Her eyes were closed already when she said, "I'm not tired."

I layed down on the bed, and watched Candace for awhile. She was so peaceful. Her breathing slowed, and she was eventually sleeping soundly. I decided that it would be best for me to do the same. Closing my eyes, it didn't take that long for me to fall asleep as well.