Supernatural Ability

I woke up before six in the morning. The idea that I'd been granted a full month of vacation still has not sunk into my head, because by the time the clock ticked seven, I took a cold shower and got ready for work, only to see a printed picture of my face pasted on the door of the hospital with the caption, "BANNED. DO NOT LET INSIDE." I went back home with a frown on my face, cursing Hunter's name, for I know that he is the only person who would do that after making me stay at home for thirty days!

"Hi," a voice said, and it made me jump. It was Riley, and even though I have not yet asked how he knew I would be here, I already have guessed that it was, again, Perez who told him. Riley did mention that he's got a very reliable source. His arms were crossed, his lips curled up in a smile, and he looked more refreshing than the morning sun. "Is there anything you would like to do? I figured you'd be bored here all alone at home."

He asked me that as though he had not said anything that had bothered me and almost got me killed. Perhaps his good friend did not tell him about that incident, but I wondered if Hunter spoke to him about the things that I told him yesterday. But then, if he had, that would be the first thing that Riley would want to talk about. His porcelain white hands dug into the pockets of his pants, and his hazel brown eyes looked down at me with pure glee and excitement, yet it makes me mad that he is acting as if nothing happened. I brushed my shoulders against his and went inside my home.

"Did I do something yet again?"

I scoffed, stopped, and glared at him. "Are you seriously asking that? Have you forgotten about what you told me that day?"

"Oh," he said. "That."

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "That! I was waiting for you to call me, Riley, and even if I admit that I lost every ounce of courage that is within me to ask you about it then and there, if you really cared for me, you would have spared some time to explain to me whatever you meant by that." Riley walked toward me; his footsteps were loud and his touch was warm as when the sun rays hit your skin. He held my hands, and I heard him breathe out again. Then he pressed his forehead against mine, but my eyes remained on the ground.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Just like you, I was scared. Now that you've learned who I really and truly am, I am terrified. This was not my plan at all, Katarina. I wanted for the two of us to be in love and be a normal couple like everybody else, but now we cannot ever be like that. I am not normal, Kat, and now you know that."

"Even so, you are the one that I love, Riley. I do not care whether you are normal or not." Riley pulled me into a tight embrace, his arms around me so squeezing my little self that I needed to tap on his back to let me breathe.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into my ear. I felt his warm lips on top of my head, a sigh came out of his mouth as his hand rested on the back of it, and he leaned against it. "I will tell you everything, Kat. I promise."

"When?" I asked, breaking away from the hug and looking at his beautiful hazel-brown eyes, searching for the answer that I wanted to hear and the words that his mouth could not let out. I tugged on his shirt on his waist and repeated, "When, Riley? When are you going to tell me everything? I do not want to know just a part of the story again, Riley; I want to know every little detail. I need you to not leave out any tiny bit of it."

He brought me into his home once again, saying that what he wanted to show me was something that no one other than me could see. I thought immediately that it had to do with how strange and unnatural he is. Although I won't deny that I felt nervous and scared, I decided not to run away, as I had already told him that I wished for him to tell me all that he had not shown or told me yet.

By the time we arrived at his home, there was Shanaia, who was standing and leaning against the door frame, as if waiting for us. I gave her a smile, which she returned and went back inside. I glanced at Riley and asked, "Have you been living with her since the day that the both of you entered this world?"

Riley nodded his head. "We've got no other choice but to stick together; until the day comes that we can finally return to the world we are from, it would be dangerous if anyone ever got to know who we really are, and she thought it'd not only give us trouble but we might spend the rest of our time here looking over our shoulders, feeling unsafe, that someone might put bags over our heads. While it is true that we are humans, like the rest of you, people from this era might not think of it that way."

I agreed to every word that he said; one would really think it ridiculous that they are two individuals who came from the future. It is not impossible that they would want to take them to their labs and examine them. Riley knew about how dangerous his journey could be and how he could lose his life along the way, and yet no one, not even Shanaia, could stop him from finding the truth behind the mystery of his clan—the Martins clan. And I wish that when he finds it, it will be a good memory, and his coming here is all worth it.

Riley brought me into his room. I hesitated at first; this is going to be the first time that I'll ever enter a man's bedroom, but then Riley assured me that he'd keep the door open for as long as I am in there, and he said all that with a gentle smile. He held out his hand for me, which I gladly took as he guided me to sit on his bed. Turning around, he grabbed a small box from the table that seemed to be his working desk. He looked at it for a few seconds before a sigh passed through his pink lips. I wanted to ask if there was anything wrong, but Riley spoke: "This is something that I took with me when I came here." He carefully took off the lid and placed it ever so gently on the palm of his hand. Riley showed it to me.

It was a marble, a shiny one, where there were two digits inside that said: 97. I turned my gaze to him, and Riley was quick to catch on as he said, "This gives me the ability to be able to leap through time. If I wanted to go back in time, I could, but I can never go into the future."

I tilted my head to the side. "Then how can you go back to your world if you cannot use this marble to go into the future? And couldn't you go back to where you are from if only... you would kill me?"

Riley puts it back into the box and onto the table without making a single sound. He drew out another despairing breath as he nodded his head. "That is right; but I have no intention of doing that." Riley looked outside through his window and continued, "There is a place in this world where a portal to my world would open, and there, Shanaia and I can go home. However, the portal may destroy half of the city; that is how dangerous it can be."

I gasped. "When... When is this portal going to open? And where?"

"That... I have no idea. All that we can do is wait."

"Then, what does the number 97 mean inside the marble?"

"That indicates how many times I could go back in time."

"You've already done so three times; is that correct?"

Riley nodded. "I did it the first time I saw you." I flinched; this sudden confession was uncalled for. "You would have died if I had not," he continued. "You were already submerged into the water, drowning, and that was when I decided to do it. I went back a few hours before you were into the water; that was how I was able to save you."

So my dream... My dream, where I was drowning, was true; it really did happen. I was supposed to die, but Riley intervened.

"And the others?" I shook my head after asking. "No, no, I wouldn't want to hear it any more. I'm sorry."

"I met you again." I looked into his eyes. "You were in college, with bags underneath your very beautiful eyes; your head was in a state where you did not even know what day it was; your hair had not been brushed for days; and yet, I could never look away from you. You were the most beautiful woman my eyes had ever seen." I blushed, turning away. "Just like that," he remarked, and my stare went back at him. "You turned away from me like you did just now and left."

"Really? I did? Had I not noticed you?"

Riley shook his head. "I was on the street opposite from you. But I did not want you to leave my sight just yet; so I used it again. Just so I could take another look at you and this time, closer."

I was at a loss for words. I could not even think properly. This was the first time that a man's words had an effect on me, or perhaps it could be that the person who said them was Riley, whom I had been loving for so long now, and that was why they were getting into me. Of all the men who have tried to win over my heart, I have never received such a heartfelt confession, and none has ever moved me like Riley did.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked. "That my feelings for you are real? Once you were just the child whom I saved from death and next the woman whom I had fallen deeply in love with when I met her again."