Chapter 8 Greatest Story Ever Told

After talking with Anna, I left for Serenity’s room to prepare myself for the Alpha meeting after dinner.

I sat at the edge of the bed and sighed.

The whole day had been so dramatic. According to Anna, even Siam had a moment of weakness. I didn’t ask for the details. I know how important privacy was to Siam- seeing he hardly gets it before much more now that he is a king.

I looked around the room, the sun was setting outside, and the room was lit by the late rays of the sun and shrugged. When I turned around, I caught something glitter by the corner of the room.

I tipped my head sideward, and its glitter again, so I walked up to it and saw that it was a glass stone that was set on the tip of a pen that was set on top of a leather notebook that I never noticed before.

I picked it up and flipped through the pages, and then I stepped back and saw a couple of dried petals fall on the floor. I knelt and saw that they were cherry blossoms.

I sat down on the floor and picked up the flowers, and set it on the first page of the notebook, and that’s when I saw the writing.

The first thing that caught my eye was Serenity’s name. That’s when I realized what it was.

Her diary. I thought.

Should you even be holding it? Josephine asked, a little bit snappy for my liking.

Well, obviously not. I answered.

Then put it back.

No. I said.

That’s private, Eric. She snapped again.

A mate does not keep anything from her mate. I argued.

It’s called a diary for a reason.

These are her thoughts, and if our minds are in sync, then I am not intruding.

Eric. Josephine says sternly.

Josephine. I said back.

Fine, ask for your own death. She says. My wolf growled along with her.

If I don’t read it, then I would go insane and die anyways. I said with a shrug as I stretched my legs out into the floor, opened the lamp behind me, turned to the next page, and started reading.

“I have this dream…

Where I’m standing in a middle of a field, it’s dark and cold… I could barely see anything around me, nothing to hear, no scent, no life…

One would think that it’s a beginning of a nightmare, but not for me…

Unlike other people, I like the dark. I don’t know why I can’t explain it… I just do.

For me, it represents a beginning and an end.

It’s calming and peaceful.

It’s like when you close your eyes when you pray or kiss the person you love. The darkness helps you remember every feeling of that moment.

A moment of pure bliss.

And what I like about it the most is that even if day breaks, or when a single ray of sunshine or moonlight cuts through that darkness, it just makes everything better.

It does more than brighten the world. It lights your heart and yourself.

You see the beauty that surrounds you, the life that compliments your own, and the everlasting love.

In my dream, the first thing I see is a wide field full of assorted flowers. Its beauty is breathtaking.

Then I feel the warm breeze slowly engulfing me with life.

Then they arrive, the people I love and who love me unconditionally.

That’s when I stand up and walk up to them, sharing a moment of normality and satisfaction.

Then I know that it isn’t a dream.

That in reality, all these are at arms' reach. In fact, I know I am holding it already. I just have to see through all the complications.

Then the light becomes more than the reason for me seeing. It's also why they see me.

Slowly a drizzle of rain begins. We laugh and run off to seek shelter. We run apart, but in my heart, I know we remain together.

One person in particular stays with, the man standing in front of me, stretching out his arm, waiting for me to take his hand and run off with him.

And I take it without second thoughts or fear.

The rain begins to fall hard as we run across the field towards the woods that promises nothing but darkness.

Again, I was not afraid of it.

Not before, especially not now that I was with him.

As we run, I stare at his back, his hair that was wet and sticking unto his face, his arms that had warmed me, his hand that held me with a promise of never letting go.

We enter the woods, and slowly, we're both blinded. But he held my hand tight, pulled me close, and wrapped his arm around me as if losing me will be his death.

I smiled and rest my head on his shoulder, engraving in mind that moment that there was nothing more for me to ask for but for time to stop or maybe forever.

Then I begin to wonder…

Wonder why we fear darkness, yet we tend to close our eyes when we see the truth…

When we pray to our Creator…

Or when we stand there, held in the arms of the one we love.

What is in the dark that makes it mysterious?

That’s when I wake up.

I lay in bed thinking of that dream… of my moment in darkness with him.

That’s when I realize what the answer to my own question is.

That the dark isn’t always a haven to everyone, that when one stands in that blinding space of darkness, you don’t know what to expect, unlike in reality, when your whole life is planned and laid in front of you, waiting for you to accept and live it as it is.

That’s when dreams become better than existing.

But that is not reason enough to not want to live, cause in the first place, your dreams are there for you to continue living and hoping to find that moment… that blissful moment in your dream.

For as you continue to live, you dream.

And the same goes for you to continue to dream as you live.”

I reread this again and again, imagining that it was Serenity who was reading it to me. By the fifth time of reading it, I already had a smile on my face, thinking and hoping that I was that man who was holding her as my life depended on it, cause it does.

And I guess that was my dream.

I flipped through the pages and saw that she had written about all of us, like by chapter. Siam was first, then Liam, then Anna, Jake, and then Aaron, then her parents and Uncle Luke.

I flipped through it, excited to find my name, to see what she had written about me.

As I reach the end, I began to worry, still not finding anything about me. Even Cam and Mama Ellena were in her diary. Where was I?

I shrugged when I came to the end of the pages she wrote in.

There was nothing about me.

Could she have forgotten?

Did she doubt that I was coming home for her?

I checked on the dates of her entries and saw that she started writing days before her abduction.

She probably was really bored here.

I sighed and closed the diary, concluding that she must have been abducted before she could start to write about me.

I shrugged and stared at the notebook again. Only then did I noticed a crease on a page near the end, as if something round was put in between those pages making that eye-shaped mark between the pages.

Like a pen.

I then flipped to that page and saw the marks that the cherry blossoms had made on that page. As if it was artfully placed there to leave its mark of life in the pages. I flipped to the next page and saw my name.

Hope sparked in me, but then again, the page was blank.

What the…

I was about to flip through the next page when three more pressed cherry blossoms fell on my lap, this time coming from a few pages forward.

I turned to that page and saw her scribbles.

“This is pretty stupid to start my first entry somewhere at the end of a notebook, but I knew there was much to tell about Eric.

I have so much to say about him, but I can’t really put it into words.

Not even love or life can compare to what I feel just thinking about him.

His absence is heartbreaking. I will say that much.

So I guess that’s one reason why I don’t know where to start.

But if I have to collect all my thoughts and emotions of him right now, this is what I would be saying…

*I wait in time for you,

Trying to figure out

where you have gone

trying but not succeeding.

Trying.

Hoping.

Longing for you,

hurting for you

It's been too long

It’s too much to endure

I wait in time for you,

when I stand, I fall again

when I sleep, you never leave

when I eat, I see your face

I wait in time for you

I hear you whisper to me

I hear you sing to me

it’s so painful

it’s so much to place.

The wall I had has broken down

has given up

because when I try

I crumble down

I wait in time for you.”

I reread that poem over and over again like I did her first entry.

This time, her words overwhelmed me. She wrote this especially for me, and I didn't care whether she had plans of letting me read or hear this. I knew that the pain I was going through with her was worth it, not that I want her to be in physical pain, but I know that when the time comes, I will see her.

She was probably in more pain than I am. Who was I to complain when all she does is take it in and protect us.

Reading her diary that entry knowing that she was willing to wait and endure everything without me… I knew she would come home.

She will come home to me.

And I’ll wait even if it takes more than a year or a decade. ‘Cause I know now that our love was more than just from the mating.

It’s between us- our very souls are meant to be together, our mind linked, and heartbeats for each other.

Those thoughts alone ignited me with hope and assurance- one that I should have never asked for in the first place.

I smiled and looked around the room, it was already dark outside, and it seems like it had been hours since I started reading.

Are you happy now? I hear Josephine, still not happy with what I did.

Not yet. I said as I stood up and ran out of the room.

“Anna?!” I called out as I ran all over the house. “Anna!”

“Eric?” Anna stepped out of the library, “What’s wrong?”

I ran up to her, smiling, still holding the diary.

“There’s nothing wrong,” I said, then I reached for her and twirled her.

“Woah, easy there, happy feet.” I hear Jean say behind her. “You’re carrying a fragile cargo there.”

I laughed and set Anna back on her feet, “Sorry, Anna.”

She laughed and waved her hand, “If it means to see you this happy again, Eric, twirl me all you like.”

“Hey, no twirling the pregnant woman.” I looked behind me and saw Siam walking up to us as he runs his hand through his hair.

“What is the commotion here?”

This time it was Cam coming from upstairs. Behind her was Jake, who was watching us slowly.

“Seriously, we were told to rest, didn’t we?” Aaron stomped down the stairs with a sleepy face. “A little louder I’m pretty sure you would have woken up Liam too.”

“What is going on, Eric?” Anna asked.

I shook my head and smiled, “I just wanted to know something.” Anna raised a brow, “Did Serenity ever played an instrument or had a favorite instrument?”

“Sure,” Jake says casually, “the piano.”

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded, “she was crazy about it when we were kids and went crazier when she discovered Maxim.”

“Thanks!” I said and ran off to the music room.

“Where are you off to now?” Jean asks.

“Music room!” then I stopped and turned to them, “Can I be excused from tonight’s alpha meeting?”

“I’ll do something better.” Siam says with a grin, “I’ll cancel it for you.”

I frowned, “You don’t have to. “

“If it’s to see you running and laughing about,” Siam says with a smirk, “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks.” I turned and ran off again.

“What are you up to, Eric?” Cam shouted.

“Nothing!” I shouted, “I’ll see you tomorrow! Good night!”

With that, I closed the music room shut and stared at the grand piano that stood in the corner of the room, calling unto me.