Immortal Light: Wide Awake (32 page)

Just then she felt someone touch
her shoulder. Turning her head to see who it was, she fell into Kat
as she lost her balance because right in front of her, dressed in a
tapered black suit that fit him like the proverbial glove, a
gleaming white shirt, and a slender black tie, was more than the
realization of a dream, he was perfect in every way. Benjamin
reached out and grabbed Lucy by the elbow before she could knock
Kat into the bowl of chocolates she had been pouring over in a fit
of delightful avarice.

“
Careful.” He picked her up with
ease and righted her back on her high heels.

He looked more amazing in a plain suit than
most boys his age could ever look, no matter how much or how little
they wore.

As Lucy felt herself stabilize on her feet
again, she brushed the hair out of her face and managed to
speak.

“
What are you doing here? I didn’t
think you were coming.”

“
It’s funny you
ask, because I got a mysterious phone call today from a strange
sounding woman—I think she might have been choking on something—who
said that …
”
He
looked up to the ceiling and stroked his chin a few times as if in
pensive concentration, “How did she put it? Oh yeah, if I didn’t
show up to the Homecoming dance and ask Lucy Higgins to dance, that
I would suffer a million painful deaths at the hands of the most
vicious individual to ever set foot in Coos Bay. I think that’s
what she said.”

Lucy turned to Kat and growled, “Backup dress,
huh?”

A mouth full of chocolate, Kat indicated to
herself innocently.

Lucy had been set up by a cunning foe, and as
much as she wanted to grab the man in front of her and carry him
away forever, she was going to shift the game by playing the game
master.

“
Well, I’m sorry, Benjamin, but I
came with someone and I’m not about to abandon that date just
because you think a dance with me will save your life.”

Lucy smirked at both of them and folded her
arms.

Kat chimed in before Lucy could enjoy the
moment. “Nah, I’m over you. I found a new date,” she said, then
shoved Lucy directly into Benjamin, who was forced to catch her
once again.

With arms wrapped around her, Lucy
savored being close to him, and as his hands touched her back, she
felt his light flow between them. She was already lost in him, so
when he asked, “May I have this dance?” Lucy obliged and allowed
him to walk her onto the dance floor.

Arm in arm they stopped on
the edge of the large swaying crowd and faced each other. Benjamin
moved in slowly, placing his right hand at Lucy’s waist, he took
her right hand in his left. The energy of the
light
was stronger than ever and
Lucy was incurably lost in it. She looked up into Benjamin’s eyes
and started following as he swayed them in a small circle. She
immediately recognized the motion as a subtle waltz, not having
realized the three-beat time signature of the
music.

“
You must have danced before,” she
said, feeling his prowess.

“
No, not really, I think I’m just
following your lead.” He stayed locked on her eyes as they turned
in a small circle.

There was so much Lucy wanted to
express to him in that moment as they danced the simple steps. She
wanted to tell him that she had been wanting to be with him for a
very long time. She wanted him to know everything. She wanted for
all of it to be real and if it wasn’t going to be real, then she
wanted to make it as real as possible, because twirling there in
his grasp, as illogical as it sounded, she knew she loved him.
Despite what he may or may not have insinuated, she knew he loved
her back. It didn’t make sense, because he had never even come
close to expressing it, except for the kiss in the grove, but she
knew he loved her, too. She could feel it, so she started
small.

“
Benjamin.” She looked at the knot
of his tie as they continued to spin slowly.

“
Yes.”

“
I need to tell
you something, and it might sound weird, but …
”

“
Lucy, there isn’t anything you
could say to me that would sound weird, but I need to tell you
something first.”

“
No, just wait a minute, just let
me get this out or I’ll never forgive myself.”

Benjamin stopped dancing as the
music began to die out. He cradled her chin with his hands, “I want
you to close your eyes Lucy.”

Lucy could feel herself
begin to lose her controlled constitution and fought the frustrated
tears that were imminent. “No, just stop, I need to tell you
something, and I—
”

Benjamin looked her in the eyes. “I know what
you’re going to say, and before you do, I just want you to close
your eyes and listen.”

A single tear sprang from the corner of her
eye. “How could you possibly know what I’m going to
say?”

She wanted to run; she was so frustrated at
how much she felt for him and how much he just refused to feel it,
too.

“
Lucy,” he made sure to have her
attention, “you need to trust me.”

He was suddenly different: his look, his
demeanor, everything about him seemed to transform; he was still
the Benjamin she knew, but she knew this Benjamin from only one
place.

Swallowing hard, she closed her
eyes as the solitary tear cascaded down her cheek. She felt
Benjamin’s hand again at her waist. All was black as she did what
he had asked and listened. A familiar song had started. She could
feel the rhythm of the clean metallic sound of guitar strings and
her body instantly wanted to move to it. The first words of the
song came and she knew every one.

Is that your song I hear playing;
‘Cause I’m feeling it too.

The darkness began to soften. Words and music
filled her mind; she anticipated every line of the song;

Does it take all direction,
control over you?

She began to feel every note
of the music in her body, every beat, and she felt
Benjamin’s
light
flow into her. It wrapped her in magical warmth from head to
toe.

When you sing do you slip away
back to the place in your mind?

Let our love be the one thing you
won’t leave behind.

The darkness was becoming brighter
and brighter, Lucy felt herself drifting when the first chorus hit
and Benjamin softly whispered in her ear, “open your
eyes.”

As she lifted her eyelids, she saw
Benjamin in front of her, holding her, the music still prominent in
the air, but as she blinked, she saw that there was no longer a
crowd of dancers and the fabric ceiling and all the lights were
gone. Under her feet she felt something she hadn’t felt in a very
long time. Staring into Benjamin’s luminous green eyes, she began
to cry tears of joy. She was back; she was in the grove and
Benjamin, her Benjamin, the one and only Benjamin, had brought her
there. It was real, and as the chorus of the song ended and the
music began to build into the next verse, her true love stepped
back and bowed to her. She smiled and laughed, tears streaming down
her face and curtsied. Upon the gesture, Benjamin took Lucy by the
hand, wrapped her up, and as the second verse began, he pulled her
off her feet and the two began twirling around the grove in large
swooping movements.

How I long just to hold you; and
see you let go as we dance;

I know you’re reminiscing;
through our romance
.

The movements felt natural to her as he let go
and spun her in his hand. She somehow knew every step, and she
realized she was actually in her true love’s arms dancing better
than she could ever have imagined.

Lucy began to reciprocate
the
light
Benjamin was pouring into her and the dance began to move
more fluidly; the motions were bigger, the turns and spins were
more graceful, and the lifts were beyond elegant.

All the notes in time make a
melody.

Night into day, can we move onward
from here,

Where we can stay on and on
attached to the memory?

I know you can feel it, let it
take you there.

The more Lucy put into the dance, the more she
felt as one with Benjamin, and she suddenly felt the texture of the
ground change to something softer. As they spun, she looked down
and verified what she already knew: they were standing in sand. She
had brought them exactly where she wanted to. They were at the bay.
In two quick steps, Lucy stepped out of her shoes and felt the sand
on her feet, the wind and sea air in her face, and Benjamin in her
arms. The music was still prominent on the wind and Benjamin raised
an eyebrow and grinned, realizing what she had done.

One more twirl and they were
back in the woods. Lucy laughed as they spun and she pulled them
back to the beach. Benjamin immediately responded, taking them back
to the grove. They were dancing one foot on the sand and one foot
in the forest as the music began a crescendo into the bridge. Lucy
had never felt joy the way she did hurtling in and out of
their
havens
. The
colors of the two golden sunsets blurred together and Lucy just
stared into Benjamin’s eyes as they turned around and around
together.

The drums and
instrumentation were reaching a climax. Lucy focused all of her
concentration in those whirling moments on Benjamin, and by the
last words of the song, there was no more distinction between
his
haven
and
hers. They had become one in that moment and the ocean tide rolled
into the trees and grass, and ferns grew out of sandy
shores.

We have been captured
again;

A new time and place;

To make a million new
memories.

The music climaxed in a torrent of drums,
guitars, strings, and vocals, until in one moment the music and the
dancing stopped and Benjamin held Lucy in his arms. All she could
do was hold on. There was no force on earth that could have pried
her from Benjamin’s embrace.

He leaned down, placing his lips next to her
ear, and she closed her eyes. In the blackness she heard him
whisper, “That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

When she opened her eyes, she was
still in his arms, but they were back on the dance floor. Though a
new song had already started, the floor was empty. She hadn’t
noticed that hundreds of eyes were focused on them. Becoming
suddenly aware, she simultaneously realized that they had all seen
the dance and that it, everything from her dreams, was all
real—every ounce of it was real. She clasped her hands to her mouth
and inhaled in disbelief that what she had wanted more than
anything for months had actually happened. She didn’t know how to
process the emotions she was feeling, and she certainly didn’t have
the words. In that moment she realized that more than anything she
needed air.

Her head began to spin and she held up a
finger to Benjamin. “I’ll be right back,” she told him, as she
turned to find the exit.

She heard Kat’s voice behind her
as she started to run out. “Lucy, are you alright?
Lucy!”

Lucy just ran until she breathed in the cold,
damp coastal air outside. Her lungs took in as much as they could.
She turned the corner of the building and walked slowly as Kat came
running behind her.

“
Lucy, what’s the matter; are you
okay?”

Lucy gave no response.

Kat was amazed at what had just
transpired during the song. She had watched her friend dominate the
dance floor with the man of her dreams, and suddenly she was
outside, having run out on that miraculous moment.

“
Lucy, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t
have called him; it was stupid of me.” Kat put her hands on Lucy’s
shoulders in the cold air.

“
It’s real, Kat, it’s all real. He
just told me.”

Kat was confused by what Lucy was
saying, but then she understood.

After the initial moment of
shock, she was able to respond, “You mean …?
”

“
Yes. It’s all real.”

“
He actually told you?”

“
He didn’t say it exactly, but,
yeah.”

Kat was a little skeptical. “Are you sure
that’s what he meant?”

Lucy looked her in the eyes, “There is no way
he meant anything else, trust me.”

Kat looked into Lucy’s face,
glancing from one eye to the other. She could see that Lucy truly
believed what she was saying. Kat exhaled and hugged her
friend.

“
I believe you. I do.” She stood
cycling all of the information in her mind. “But, Lucy, if that’s
what he told you, then why did you run out?”

“
I don’t know; I just had to get
some air.” Then it struck her how it must have looked to Benjamin.
“Oh no, is he still in there?”

Lucy turned back toward the
gymnasium doors to go find Benjamin when she felt something dark.
It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, like a shadow had
passed over them, and it sent a shiver up her spine. Standing up
straight she was suddenly and acutely alert, scanning every shadow
in the quad.