Shifting Fates

Sunday school and service pretty much progressed like normal. However, Rondrio could only half-focus on what was being taught. He had noticed Mom return soon after the beginning of service but didn’t see Kaname. His hands felt clammy. Avoiding a shark was simple. Don’t go in the water. An out-of-control truck risked endangering not only him but anyone else around him at the time. What was the best way to avoid this? Kaname hadn’t even told him the time it would happen. Where was she anyway? Before he knew it, his pastor had called for the benediction. Service had never flown by so fast before. As he stood with everyone else and bowed his head for the last prayer, he silently hoped it really wasn’t his last. Rondrio chatted briefly with friends as people gradually left. Dad was always the last to leave because he made sure all the lights were turned off and all the offices were locked before checking the main entrances. The delay gave Rondrio enough time to take a seat on one of the back pews and silently contemplate going home. He hunched over, tightly clutching his Bible to his chest. This couldn’t be his last day! He choked, trying to hold back tears and ignore his sweaty palms. Harshly wiping his hands on his jeans, he muttered, “What am I gonna do?!” Hearing footsteps approach across the carpeted floor, Rondrio quickly wiped his eyes clear before looking up at his dad who asked, “You ready?” With a forced smile, Rondrio nodded. “Yeah.” As ready as he could be anyway. Inhaling deeply, Rondrio stood and headed for the vestibule while Dad turned off the last lights in the sanctuary. When Rondrio stepped from the russet carpeting to the hardwood paneling in the vestibule, his eyes fixated on a figure standing beyond the double security doors and at the bottom of a dozen, granite steps that led to the parking lot. He pushed open one of the security doors, prompting her to turn around at the sound of its creaking hinges. Traffic zoomed past on a highway nearby, filling the silence between them. A light wind blew through, assaulting her hair as well as attempting to wreak havoc with the knee-length, white dress she wore. A cropped, stonewash denim jacket that barely draped below her chest partially concealed the upper portion of the dress. However, the tail of the fluttering dress displayed a black flower pattern that nearly matched the color of her hair. She almost looked like a different person with it on. “Where were you?” Rondrio asked while descending the steps. The question came out more gruff than intended. He had to keep his tone in check this time. Kaname acted like she hadn’t noticed and instead focused on controlling her hair so she could look him in the eye. “I couldn’t go in there… Thought lightning might strike me down or something.” The small smirk she wore while saying that last part disappeared almost as quickly as it came. The door slammed shut behind him. Rondrio stopped on the bottom step and glanced back at his dad locking the security doors. He didn’t really want to have this conversation with Dad around. “Dad, could you go on without us? I wanna talk to Kaname for a little first, and then we can walk home.” Kaname inhaled sharply. His dad paused at the top of the steps. His gaze drifted to Kaname before returning to him. Rondrio couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking. Since they hadn’t told his parents about last night’s dream, he hoped his dad would just go along with it. As his dad approached him, Rondrio felt his heartbeat quicken. “You have thirty minutes. Not a second longer.” His dad’s firm hand rested on his shoulder. “If you’re not home before then, I’m coming back to get you.”

Kaname watched Mr. McMillan leave them for his car, the last one parked in the lot. She couldn’t help but think Rondrio’s parents strange. It didn’t make sense how much they trusted their son. Clearing her throat while watching the vehicle head east on the narrow road leading away from the highway, she looked back at Rondrio. The way the boy stared back at her… Something was heavy on his mind. “You don’t seriously believe the lightning thing, do you?” Looking off towards the highway, Kaname still fought with her hair. “After everything I’ve been through… I’m not even sure I believe there is a god.” After a moment, he smirked. “Oh, there is. No other way to explain why I’m puttin’ up with you.” He made her crack a smile, but that wasn’t what was on his mind. Even she could tell he was beating around the bush. But she didn’t want to force him to say whatever it was. Not right now anyway. If nothing else, she wanted him to be as calm and in control as he was yesterday at the beach. Still, he hadn’t moved from that bottom step. Was he finally keeping his distance? It was going to happen eventually. She was a walking plague. “I screwed up,” he blurted out. Her eyes widened slightly in his direction. “I screwed up what I was tryin’ to say this morning.” His left hand clenched tightly into a fist at his side while he continued. “I told you to stop runnin’, and yeah, that’s mainly because I don’t wanna die. Not yet anyway. But… when I said it, it was also because I want you to stay.” When he started walking closer and her body turned to face him completely, Kaname was shocked at being so wrong about him. “You’re a pain,” he said, which swiftly brought a frown to her face, “and you’re dangerous to my health. But after being separated from most of my friends thanks to high school and then this weird fire stuff… it’s kinda cool to be able to talk with you about it.” Kaname inhaled. A sudden siren arose somewhere not too far away that got their attention. She couldn’t make out which direction it came from, but she didn’t want it to make her forget what she was about to say. “You’re as weird as your parents.” Folding her arms across her chest, her eyes could have shot daggers at him. “The fire visions are weird, but you’re surrounded by people your age all the time who you can talk to about this! You’re not harming anyone! Nothing is stopping you from making new friends and having a somewhat normal life… except me.” Kaname scoffed and shook her head. It wasn’t like she could just go to school and have friends like an ordinary girl. They would all die, and she’d become an outcast all over again. “No sane person should want me to stick around and make their life a living hell!” “What about your living hell?!” Rondrio shouted back so loudly that she jumped. “What sane person would want you to stay like this?! I don’t want you to keep running from town to town! That’s no way to live!” Why would he get this upset over her? “You barely even know me,” she pointed out while backing away from him. “Why should you even care about anything other than staying alive?” Rondrio placed his Bible on one of the steps, quickly closed the gap between them with a brief jog and before she knew it, held her face in his hands. “Even if I die, you do not deserve to live this kind of life!” She couldn’t break her gaze from his if she wanted to. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she didn’t want to. Kaname wanted his words to be true, but she had been through this before. Her dreams always… She gasped. Her dreams! The touch of Rondrio’s hands against her cheeks. She suddenly grabbed his wrists. “I remember!”

“Remember?” His face went from deep frustration to utter confusion in a blink. “The other dream! Go get your Bible!” she commanded while reaching down to snatch the black heels from her feet. Kaname beckoned for him to hurry and started down the narrow road. “What ‘other’ dream?” Rondrio asked after running back to her with his Bible in hand. Holding her shoes in one hand, she grabbed his free hand with hers. “I had a second dream… one where you were alive!” Kaname pulled him into a dash across the asphalt surface. Her legs still sore, she pushed on while realizing the siren they’d heard was getting louder. She stopped running a moment before Rondrio. They both looked back. A white pickup barreled south along the highway with a blaring police car on its tail. “Come on!” Kaname urged, pulling him again. “Was that the truck?!” Rondrio shouted after nearly losing his balance. “What are you doin’?!” “Trust me!” They ran to the next intersection where she stopped to see which direction matched her death dream. “You were fine in the second dream. You said I saved you by jumping in front of the truck.” Rondrio flinched. “What?! You’re not doing that! And you never said anythin’ about having other kinds of dreams!” “Because I never had any…” She looked up at him, hoping her uncertainty wasn’t showing too plainly on her face. “…at least none that I can remember. But this one didn’t feel like just a dream. It was different from the death dreams, but…” Her vision locked on the road heading south from the intersection, and she could perfectly picture Rondrio walking along it. Dropping her shoes, she pointed down the path and stepped past him. “This is the way you walk home, right?” He snatched her arm. “Hold it! What are you sayin’? You think this second dream is also showin’ you a possible future?” “I think both were showing me a choice.” She needed to believe that. Her dreams started going wrong the moment she met him. That couldn’t have been a coincidence. So, as long as she kept him out of harm’s way… “I think I can choose which dream to follow.” He would not release his grip on her arm, and it was starting to hurt. “What if it was just a normal dream?!” “I don’t even know what those are!” she fired back before wrenching free from his grip. “Just let me protect you from this!” His features softening from anger into shock, Rondrio took her by the shoulders—gently this time—and turned her around to face the sharp edge of a giant blade inches away from her face! Gasping loudly, Kaname stumbled back into Rondrio. He kept her from falling as a towering figure of fiery armor emitting a bright light took one step forward to ensure its sword remained pointing directly at them.

Calmly as he could, Rondrio stepped between Kaname and the brilliant armor. Amazed as he was at Kaname not screaming her head off, Rondrio didn’t want the armor stabbing at her like it did him. The more he stared at the incredible sight nearly five times his size, the more he felt his legs tremble. Kaname tightly gripped his shoulders. “This h-happen every time you g-go to church?” she stuttered. “I wish,” he muttered back, not daring to take his eyes off the sword this time. “The fire seeks you…” The clear, booming voice came from every direction at once and sent a shudder through Rondrio’s entire body. This wasn’t like last time at all. Sweat beaded across his forehead, but he wasn’t the slightest bit hot. Rondrio couldn’t move a muscle. But the sword moved, just enough to point to Kaname. “Guard Selco…” She whimpered incoherently. Glad to know he wasn’t the only one who’d lost control of his higher functions. The armor began radiating light even brighter. Everything grew such a pure, bright white that even with his eyes squeezed shut and hands shielding his face, all Rondrio could see was white. Sweat streaming down his face, he opened his eyelids. At least it felt like they were open. He could still only see white. “K-Kaname?” he forced through numb lips. What did that thing do to them? His legs wouldn’t stop shaking! He didn’t get a verbal response, but Kaname’s nails dug into his arms as she tightly gripped them. Accepting the sting they caused, Rondrio blinked rapidly. It took several seconds and dozens of blinks before he noticed a change. The white gradually faded, returning the area piece by piece. Nothing else seemed to be different. “Fire…” he muttered. Glancing down at the Bible gripped tightly in his hand, he wondered aloud, “What f-fire? Am I goin’ to hell?” “What… is this?” Kaname finally spoke, her voice shaky and weak. Rondrio thought he heard her teeth chatter as well. Her grip hadn’t loosened though, and her head pressed hard against his back. “C-Can’t see…” Her vision hadn’t returned yet? Why did his? “Ssselco…?” That’s right. The armor said to guard Selco. What was a Selco? Sounded like a gas station. “Can you see yet?” Rondrio asked. “It’s gone.” “Really?” Her head lifted from his back, but her nails still made their home in his arm. Fortunately, their sting began to dull. “Everything is still white.” “Keep blinking.” Rondrio waited for her to return to normal, making sure to take deep breaths to calm his own nerves. When she finally released his left arm, he wasted no time wiping his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. It felt like he would dehydrate if he sweated anymore. “It’s fading,” Kaname said and released his other arm. He turned to see her still blinking like mad. “What was that?” she asked. Rondrio shook his head. “Dunno, but I’ve seen it before. It keeps saying the fire seeks me. But what fire?”

After fiercely rubbing her eyes, Kaname squinted and looked around. “At least the world’s not on fire this time.” She kept squinting as if her vision hadn’t completely cleared. “You know, my dreams completely suck, but being around you is freaking scary sometimes.” “How do you think I feel? None of this started until you showed up.” She jabbed him in the shoulder. “Don’t you dare try to blame this on me.” With her best fake scowl, Kaname pointed a warning finger at him. Then her stomach growled. Her eyes drifted. Rondrio tilted his head. “How are you still hungry after all you ate this mornin’?” “My stomach is none of your business! Let’s just get to your house as quickly as we can.” Inhaling deeply, he looked down the road. The fact that there was no traffic at all comforted him a little. His legs were regaining their strength since the shaking lessened. The siren from that police car sounded a distance away. He believed he could run if he needed to. “You come up with somethin’ better than jumpin’ in front of the truck?” he asked while pointing back at her shoes. “Because I’m still not lettin’ you do that.” While Kaname shakily crouched to pick up her heels, they heard a loud screeching moments before a crash. She stared up at Rondrio. “Is it too much to hope that was the truck?” “Let’s just go.” Rondrio reached a hand back. Kaname swiped her heels and stumbled for his hand. The armor still left her rattled and maybe him too. No way would she be able to run yet. She still speedily walked by his side, both warily leering towards the highway the closer they got to the intersecting street. As soon as they ran past the street sign that labeled the intersecting road “LaBreau Lake”, the white truck roared into view on the highway and swerved onto LaBreau Lake with a loud screech. Kaname gasped and pulled back. In her attempt to run back the way they’d come, Rondrio was jerked off balance a moment before her fingers slipped from his grasp. Yanked in a half-twisting motion, he fell backwards and banged his right elbow and knee against the asphalt in a panicked effort to brace himself. Even worse than the pain spiking through his limbs, he now faced the vehicle bearing down on him! There was no time to move! The truck swerved again in the last moment to avoid hitting him, but its front bumper clipped a nearby telephone pole. A loud pop sounded. The truck lifted off the ground as Rondrio squeezed his eyes shut and shielded his head as if it would do any kind of good. He flinched hard when metal crashed loudly against the ground once, then twice. But not against him. He shouted when glass shards pelted his arms and body. But he only opened his eyes again when agonizing screams reached his ears over a continuously blaring horn. Panting heavily and trembling all over again, Rondrio lifted his head to see the crumpled vehicle on its roof and rocking halfway in the grass next to the road. What he didn’t see was Kaname. “Kaname!” he shouted while clumsily crawling toward the wreck. His knee really hurt when he tried to get his feet under him, but he had to get to her. He had to see if she was okay. When he circled the truck and spotted blood splattered across the grass…

A gentle hand rested on Rondrio’s shoulder. “That’s enough, sweetheart,” Kaname whispered. “Pretty sure you’ve been wasting your breath after you saw me at the church.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it before standing from his seat at the foot of the twin bed. “Besides,” Kaname continued, “you should wait before telling them that part of the story.” Rondrio quietly stepped behind Kaname and slipped his arms around her waist. “I didn’t even know you were still listenin’,” he whispered back. “I always listen when you talk about our past.” With a grin, she reached up and caressed his cheek as he tilted his head to kiss the side of her neck. “I have to make sure you’re keeping your embellishments in check.” “Embellishments?” he retorted in his normal tone. Kaname shushed him. Then she nodded. “Why did you tell them I slapped you at school?” “You did slap me at school.” She turned around and poked him in his chest. “On a completely different day for a completely different reason.” Rondrio paused to think back to that slap. He inhaled sharply when he recalled the reason why it had happened. “Oh, yeah…” he mumbled. Kaname nodded in agreement. “I won’t be tellin’ that story anytime soon.” “You better not.” When the two of them heard a light snore, they grinned at the same time and quietly exited to the hall. On his way out, Rondrio flicked off the light switch, leaving only an orange nightlight to barely illuminate the room. Kaname held his hand and waited until he was completely in the hallway before asking, “Do you regret staying by my side through all the madness we faced?” Rondrio pulled Kaname close and stared into her eyes. “Never,” he whispered. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. A second later, he pulled back and smirked. “Well, we were touch and go the day you set me on fire.” Kaname playfully punched him in the shoulder and smiled widely. “It was just a little fire. You were supposed to be used to it by then.”