One step closer
"Mom what are you doing back?"
"Your father had a- feeling that you were going to do something not so smart, and he was right. So I'm glad we did. Brooke Lynn what were you thinking?! Why did you bring that girl here?"
"Mother, we are friends. She's new here. I just wanted to make her feel welcome."
"Brooke, do I look stupid? Do you think I can't see who that was? It may have been 200 years, but I still remember that girl."
"Her name is Vanessa." Brooke corrected.
"I thought it was Isabela."
"That was her name then. You know, before you allowed Benjamin-"
"Stop right there, Brooke Lynn, we didn't allow Benjamin to do anything and you know it!"
"Who did then? You didn't stop him!" Brooke was furious, "you let him-"
"Elaine," Brooke's father's voice rang through the foyer, "I saw the girl leave. Are you coming?"
Brooke’s mother stared at her for a moment, then nodded and turned around to leave.
"You're not to see her again."
"Mom that's ridiculous! We go to school together!"
"You heard me." Her mother left, shutting the door behind her.
Brooke ran upstairs, grabbed her phone, and dialed Vanessa's number.
"Are you home safe?" She asked as soon as the other girl answered.
"I- yes, I am. Brooke, what's goin on?"
Brooke didn't know how to answer Vanessa's question.
"I can't talk about it. Not right now. Will you come back?"
"I dunno, B, I'm real confused right now."
"I know you are, and you’ll get an explanation soon. Please come back over." Brooke pleaded.
Vanessa thought for a minute, “not tonight, B, I’m just too afraid they’ll come back and the whole thing is real confusing. You actin’ like you momma was gonna hurt me or somethin’ like that.”
Something like that…. Brooke thinks to herself.
“Listen, I’ll come back tomorrow, and tonight, we can video chat if you want.”
This cheered Brooke up. They had started video chatting in the evenings a week or two ago and Brooke loved it. Brooke pressed the little icon to turn the phone call into a video chat and got comfortable in bed.
The girls talk about random stuff, and that turned into just looking at each other, and the next thing Brooke knew, Vanessa snoring softly, indicating that she was fast asleep.
~*~
Brooke paced in the living room. She had just gotten the text that Vanessa was on her way, and she had butterflies. What’s going to happen? Should she tell her about their past now? Or should she tell her she can’t see her anymore? She doesn’t want a repeat of what happened last time. At the same time, though, she lost Vanessa once, she doesn't want to go through that again. Brooke was stuck.
The sound of a car in the driveway pulled Brooke from her thoughts. She smiled when she saw Vanessa step out of her car. She looked deliciously tan in her white shorts and a red shirt. The California sun was really doing great things for her. At that moment, Brooke made the decision. She had to tell Vanessa. Today. If she told her, then she would understand everything. If she didn’t believe her, and it made her angry, then maybe she’d never speak to Brooke again, which would make her safe from Brooke’s parents.
“Hi V,” Brooke smiled, opening the door, “glad you made it.”
Vanessa smiled her megawatt smile, almost knocking Brooke off her feet. Brooke led her in the house and Vanessa seemed, understandably, anxious.
“Do you want to sit?” Brooke asked.
Vanessa shook her head. “I wanna know why things were so…..strange yesterday, B.”
Vanessa was serious, Brooke knew that.
Brooke takes a deep breath and holds her hand out, “can I show you something?”
Vanessa nods and takes Brooke’s hand confidently. Brooke leads Vanessa up the stairs to the second floor, down the hall, and up the stairs to the attic. The attic was filled with collections of things they’ve acquired over the years. It was pretty full. There was only one box she was on a mission for, though. The box that held the truth.
“Okay, here it is.”
Vanessa stared curiously at the “1860’s” written boldly on the box.
This bouta be some old shit. Vanessa thinks to herself.
“I need you to have an open mind and I need you to give me a chance to explain.”
Vanessa nods, anxiety curling in her stomach.
Brooke takes a deep breath and opens the box. Before Vanessa could get a good look at it, Brooke got what she needed and closed the lid again. It was a picture, Vanessa could tell that much. Brooke hands it to Vanessa with shaky hands. Vanessa takes it and stares, looking at the familiar faces. Her breath catches in her throat while a hundred emotions run through her, the top one being confusion.
There were two girls, one looked like Brooke, and the other looked like-
“B, she looks like me. Why does she look like me?”
Brooke out the breath she didn’t know she was holding and nodded.
“Because it is you.”
~*~
Isabela laid in her bed. She listened to the rain as it tap tap tapped on the window. Except it wasn’t rain, it was Brooke.
“C’mon, Isabela.” Brooke muttered, “wake up!”
Brooke shook her head, it wasn’t that late, Isabela shouldn’t be asleep yet. She kept throwing the rocks up until Isabela appeared at the window.
“Brooke Lynn!” Isabela squealed as softly as she could, “what are you doing here?”
“I had to see you! Please come down here.”
Isabela nods and disappears, only to appear downstairs pulling on her overcoat. She runs into Brooke’s arms, sighing with content when Brooke catches her and holds her tightly.
“Isabela, there’s a problem. I can’t see you anymore. My parents, they found out.” Brooke didn’t want to say the words, didn’t want them to be real.
“This must be a joke. You have to be joking, Brooke!” Isabel pulled back and looked up at the blonde girl.
“It’s not- I’m not.” The sadness in Brooke’s eyes told the truth, “I’m sorry. I came here so I could say goodbye.”
Isabela holds the other girl tightly, “let’s run away together.” she says softly.
“We can’t do that, they’ll find us.”
Isabela knows that she doesn’t care.
She looks up at Brooke, pouting in a way that makes Brooke just want to kiss her. So she leans forward, staring into the eyes of the woman she loves. As their lips are about to meet, Brooke hears some rustling behind Isabela, but it’s too dark to see. There’s a whoosh sound followed by a loud scream from Isabela. Brooke looks around, unsure what happened, only to see an arrow sticking out of Isabela’s side. To Brooke, it looks like it’s in Isabela’s lung, and from the gasping for air that Isabela’s doing, Brooke knows she’s right.
She lays Isabela down on the ground, the smaller girl remaining quiet.
This is it. She says to herself, I’m dying.
Isabela isn’t sure that Brooke is paying attention, so she musters all of her strength and places a hand on Brooke’s cheek, coming in contact with tears that started to spill from her eyes.
“I love you.” she manages, “I love you, and I’ll find you again, don’t you worry.”
“Isabela, don’t, we can get you help!”
Isabela shakes her head, “it ain’t gonna do any good, Brooke.”
She was dying, they both knew it. So Brooke held her, stroked her hair, and pressed kiss after kiss to her forehead.
“I love you too, Isabela.” Brooke whispered, and as if that’s what she was waiting for, Isabela’s body relaxed, and her eyes fluttered closed.
The love of her life just died right in front of her, and she was ready to kill whoever had done it. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and rage filled her body when she saw who stood there the bow that shot the arrow; the arrow that killed her love.
Benjamin.