"ANNIE!! The hell were you two all night!?"
Rebekah jumped into the arms of her older friend, who hugged her with a small laugh. Karl watched as the eyes of the gang turned to the couple, who had finally walked through the door of the hideout. Wolfgang raised a brow to him.
"Alright children, you got some explaining to do" he said.
"Bite me, quirkface" the percussionist retorted.
"Come on you two" Florian said, somewhat exasperated with their quarrelsome behavior. As usual.
Anneke looked to Rebekah. "Rekah, get Miss Andy on the phone. Pronto. I need to talk to her." The younger girl nodded and called up Andelina back in Vienna.
"Andelina? ...hey, how've you been? ...yeah, uhm... Anneke's got a bit of a dilemma to ask you about. I'm putting you on speaker, alright?"
On that note, Rebekah turned the speaker/videophone on. A moving image of Andelina came on the screen. "Alright, is this thing on?" the Viennese Clandestinian asked. She then saw on her phone screen the faces of the gang.
"Suh-weeet!! Hello there, Anneke, how've you been?"
"I've been well, danke" the resident goofball replied. "Listen, I sort of have a question... for you. I met this particular person last evening at a park--she wore a cloak. Had me give something to Rekah, which I still have in my locket."
"What was so strange about her, Annika?" Andelina asked.
"She... she looked like you, Andy" Anneke replied. "She gave me this to hand to Rekah--" She then took out the Mizpah coin. "It was this she wanted to give me to Rekah and Wolfgang."
The woman gasped. "That was... I recognize that coin."
"She said her name was Rinalee..."
"--Rinyalena!? My own Rinalee!?"
The young lady blinked back tears. "You mean... the child I met... who wore a black cloak..."
"Did she wear a white outfit with stars on it?"
"Yes. She did, Andy."
"What were the stars' color? Did her cloak have any lining..."
"The stars and the cloak's inner lining were blue. And there was a cross... between her eyes..."
Andelina's eyes overflowed with tears. "You've met her... you've been blessed... all of you..."
"What happened!?" Rebekah asked, running to the phone.
"Annika has met my daughter, and my child has a gift for you."
Anneke smiled as she handed the Mizpah coin to Rebekah, who looked at it. Wolfgang joined the two, looking to the phone's screen.
"...I remember... she wore this all the time" he asked.
"She wanted you and Rekah to have it" the goofball explained. "She saw no further reason to wear it after her death, so she gave it to me to deliver it to you two."
Rebekah hugged her friend. "But you're even more blessed!! You got to meet Rinalee!! And how often is it that we are blessed with the sight of angels!?"
"She's right, you know" agreed Andelina. Anneke smiled.
After the conversation, Elizabeth looked to her childhood friend. "I just noticed... how different you look without your braids."
The friend blinked and looked to her. "Oh... yeah... well... let's just say Karl had his way with the braids last night" she explained with a wry half-smile.
Her best friend smiled. "Well, you do look rather lovely without 'em."
Meanwhile Florian explained that the wheel on the train was fixed but it would take another day to fully set. Which meant another day in Venice, which was fine for all involved. After the meeting, the gang, in couples, dispersed to prepare for the day. And that meant a much-needed shower for Karl and Anneke, which they took separately to primp and pretty up.
Later on in the afternoon Johannes found her way back to her room in the hideout. For the most part Ralf was concerned about picking up stuff for the trip back on the Trans-Europa and talked more to Florian on the Übermittler, while all she did was walk alongside him, holding on to his hand that held the bags of what-not. Trying to talk to him became hopeless and, quietly, she let go of his hand and found her way back to the hideout--all while Ralf concerned himself over the train and the conversation with his best friend.
Lying down on her bed, she tried to sleep, looking back on all she had gone through so far. Before she'd met Ralf, it was her, Elizabeth, and their two best friends Anneke and Rebekah. Now the girls had apparently found themselves boyfriends. But even then Johannes had found herself to doubt whatever it was that she and Ralf had found in each other. He could see. She couldnt. But he was kind and caring enough to understand she was blind, that the odds of sight were well against her. It wasn't her fault that she was born blind, he noticed.
Yet, her fears were that she was a bit more "high-maintenance" because of this.
"Fräulein Johannes!? Are you here!? Are you alright!?"
Ralf's voice echoed through the hideout as he returned after sunset and, putting away the stuff he had found for the gang's trip on the train, he looked around. Taking off his coat and tie he hung them over a chair in the dining room and walked around, his eyes on alert and top two buttons loosened after a long day outside. Finally he noticed the door to her room was open. Quietly he walked in and closed the door, then turned to see the young woman asleep, turned on her side, facing the window. Her back to the door.
"...Fräulein Johannes?" he whispered softly. When she didn't say a word he lied down beside her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her. Yet still she didn't react. It worried him. How could a young blind woman, so unnotable no matter what had happened, suddenly cause a semi-human being to go weak in his resolve?
"Johanna... please... speak to me" he whispered in her ear. Giving up at last on the effort he spoke no more until she moved, her eyes still shut in slumber, to turn over on her side so that she faced him. What he saw and finally noticed about her blew him away.
Her bright face was slightly pale, her long wavy black hair adorned with flowers that were strewn about in the wind. A black longsleeved corset top decorated with lace and ribbons, black skirt that reached to her ankles to match. Her black boots did justice to the outfit, which in itself did justice to her as a whole.
Ralf looked her over in a small case of shock. This usually wasn't what she wore!! he thought to himself; Usually it was her black and red coat, gray skirt. But not... not this. How'd he not notice what she wore? How could he? Was he that overly concerned with Florian that he completely forgot about her until he noticed she was no longer walking beside him?
But she didn't speak a word, nor did she open her eyes.
Soon his feelings got the better of him and, his arms still wrapped around her, started planting kisses along her cheeks and jaw, down her neck and along her shoulder. He never meant to have neglected her the way he did earlier. He didn't mean to; he didn't want to. And he'd gladly surrendered his entire being to her if she but dared to say the word. Yet even without her asking, he'd willingly do it, because he loved her dearly.
Finally she opened her grey, lifeless eyes and, as his kisses trailed along the side of her neck again, wrapped her arms around him and held him to her tightly. In her heart she felt his remorse for the way he acted to her during the day. Noting her reaction Ralf looked up at her, trying to find the eyes. But he gave up that effort and kissed her along her ear.
"Johanna... I'm sorry... I'm sorry" he whispered softly, unable to say anything else. Yet not another word was needed as she closed her eyes and, her mind and heart serving as the eyes she never had, trailed a hand along to his neck, and then along to the collar of his shirt. Mental reminders replayed a bit in her head, and she took note of what her fingers ran through. But he also took notice and trailed a finger to her hand.
"What is is, Johanna?" he asked quietly.
"I would've hoped... that I could at least find some way to hand you half of my heart... so that at least you have a heart beating inside of you" she answered, her voice calm and her mind and heart least bit concerned with her well-being. But Ralf knew better than to let Johannes jeopardize her own life just because she loved him.
"Johanna..." he whispered, unable to think of what else to say. Giving up whatever words would've been spoken he had her lie on her back, then lied on top of her and held her tightly to him. She too held him tightly, her hands gently clenching his shirt. Finally, he spoke again.
"Fräulein Johannes... I told you once before, I'll tell you this again" he spoke softly. "I have a heart. It beats inside of you.
"I'm sorry I left you a bit worse than just by the wayside. I didn't think you'd just quietly up and head back here on your own. When I noticed you weren't beside me, I panicked for a moment because I was worried of what might've happened to you.
"I am so sorry, Johanna..." he mourned sadly.
But Johannes wouldn't worry herself over this as she held him tightly again and ran a finger to find his mouth. When she had done so she tried to kiss him, but he held her hand in his and rested her head against the pillow again.
"It's okay, my love, it's okay" he whispered, "I'm here."
"...and I believe it," she replied. But whatever more words she had died when his lips pressed onto hers and stayed there. She blinked for a moment, the shock lightly surging her every nerve, but then the shock subsided and, what was a moment of What the hell just happened!? became a moment of peaceful and unspeakable bliss. Sure, this was meant to happen to anyone, or so she thought. But the longer the moment lasted, the more she realized that he proved she no longer had the longing to be alone, that her fears that no one could love a blind woman were meant to fade to misery's dust and ashes. A small but warm smile graced her mouth as the kiss lingered, and she realized in her heart that, truly, he loved her so much more than anyone else he'd known... that his heart, or at the least his soul, rightly belonged to her, as her heart rightly belonged to him.
Ralf finally broke the kiss to catch his breath, his eyes fixed on the gray eyes that adorned the face of the one he loved. Johannes just smiled, her heart feeling a little bit light.
"Can I confess to you something, Johanna?" Ralf whispered in her ear.
"Yes, please tell me" she requested gently.
"I've finally realized that I love you very much" he said softly before planting a kiss on her ear.
"And I love you just as much" she admitted, still smiling, as she turned her head to kiss his lips. But he held her face with one hand, her body draped in black with the other hand, and kissed her cheeks before returning to her now slightly pink lips. The smile stayed upon her as she held him to her. Hours would've passed, the rest of the gang would've had dinner and talked some more until they went to bed. All of this would've happened, and Ralf and Johannes could not have even noticed, not even if all the world stood still. For the moment, the world outside her room wouldn't matter.
Midnight crossed through as the two finally spoke again.
"Remember when Rebekah asked about how often is it that we are blessed with the sight of angels?" Johannes asked.
"Ja, I remember" Ralf answered. "Why?"
"Because these past couple of months, I've felt I've been with the dearest angel that I could've been blessed with, and I'm blind!" She smiled warmly.
"Who, mein Fräulein Johannes?"
"You, Ralf."
Her heart tweaked with kindness, a sleepy smile crossed her beloved's face, and he kissed her forehead. Wrapping their arms around each other, the two whispered "I love you", closed their eyes, and went to sleep.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment