Heal Me

Chapter 8

A day had passed since she, Damon and Addy went to the park together. Evangeline was so excited and proud of herself for coming up with that last reply that she couldn't stop grinning. She had finally taken the big step towards their friendship. It was now or never... she wanted to see him smile. She was sure it would be beautiful... wide and bright just like hers always was.

But did she have the power to make him feel less alone, a bit more... wanted? Was it even possible to do that to someone who did not even want it?

~

Now that you called me Eva, we are friends...

                        We are friends...

He suddenly snorted loudly inside the coziness of his room. Its tangy smell filled Damon's nostrils as he was lying comfortably in his bed, with his hands under his head and his left leg slightly bent. Staring at the white ceiling, he involuntarily sighed deeply.

He had forgotten how insistent she could be, how confusingly nice to him... He had thought that she was going to talk to him a few times, see that he wants nothing to do with her and leave. It was that simple; it was what he deserved... to be given up on. But it wasn't like it would have come as a surprise for him. Everyone else had left him... so why didn't she?

Why did she want to be his... friend? Did she not know that the fact that he apologized for yelling at her didn't mean anything more than just that?... a regret. He still did not need nor want her presence.  She still was a stranger...

"And nothing more must come out of it." he whispered to himself with his eyes closed. 

But... was it really like that? Didn't he feel at least a bit better when she was with him? Didn't she make his world a bit brighter with her... everything?

Truth is... she was beautiful. But not that perfection that the world brought with the notion of beauty. She was not a plastic doll, cold, fragile, motionless. She was... alive. Yes, that was the feeling he first got when he had met her, the tormenting emotion that had consumed him all along because he had no idea what it was. Evangeline  was alive, unlike him... he could see it in her deep, gleaming eyes.

 ~

She was striding towards the park, crossing her fingers. He had to be there. Evangeline wanted to talk to him. She and her friends had been invited to a Halloween party the next night and she hoped he would join her. Evangeline did not know much about Damon -almost nothing, actually- but she had already realized that he needed to have fun, to let go, even if just for a couple of hours.

Evangeline reached the park, but she didn't spot him. 

"Please be here, please be here... I don't want to complete my stalker image with going to your house." she chanted to herself as she pushed the iron gate. Looking carefully at her right and at her left, she finally saw him among the many grandparents and children enjoying their free time.

Damon was sitting on the very same bench as the first time she had seen him but, as soon he noticed her, he got up.

"No, no, don't go!" Evangeline jogged up to him, waving his hands in front of her. He was staring at her wide-eyed and with his eyebrows furrowed in anger. Why couldn't she understand that she was nothing to him? He was not worth her time anyway...

"We won't be friends if you don't want to, Damon." she hurried to say, although she was lying. Eventually, he would learn to get used to her and then, involuntarily, accept her; in the end, he would see a great friend in her. She just needed time.

"Actually, we will be enemies!" she chuckled and pointed playfully her index finger at him. "And this place will be our proof of hate." Evangeline continued, getting up on the bench as if it was new land that had to be claimed.

"Hmm... What do you say?" she quirked an eyebrow and began laughing... such an innocent, childish girl. Damon simply snorted and shook his head but sat down anyway. Sighing, he began playing with the phone in his hands, running his thumb over it's sides. Evangeline waited for him to say something... a rude reply, a 'leave me alone'... anything. She was in a great mood and she would not let anything ruin it.

"You never change, do you?" he sighed again but didn't turn to look at her.

"No. And to prove it to you... come with me to the Halloween party tomorrow!" she managed to get it out confidently. Evangeline had the heart of a rabbit as she saw Damon shifting a bit to face her.

"What?" he asked with the deepest frown she had ever seen him wearing. She could sense he was on the verge of yelling at her as he did that day; he was  angry and tired of her, she knew it very well.

"Yeah... almost the whole neighborhood is going." she gulped. As much as she wanted to seem casual about it, she couldn't. Evangeline was incredibly nervous.

"And you could go as a mime... It's perfect! You won't even have to talk to anyone." she pointed out and tried to ignore his blazing eyes by looking at the children around them. Damon closed his eyes tightly and tried to calm himself down. Who was she to intrude so much?

"Look, uhm, Evangeline... I have no idea what you want from me, but-"

"I have to leave you alone and all that...right? Believe me, even I think that I'm annoying. Well, then..." she sighed and locked gazes with him. Suddenly snatching the phone from his hands and getting up, she grinned mischievously.

"If you want it back, you'll come to the party." she said and he remained so surprised that his mouth was slightly open.

"Evangeline..." he muttered while glaring at her.

"Damon..." she replied in the same tone, chuckling and fumbling with his phone. "Desperate times require desperate measures, eh? Look, it's easy. Come to the party and I'll give you back the phone." she said and took a step back when he tried to take it from her.

"It'll be fun. There will be ... ugh, all those things that are meant to creep you out. And besides... they say that you need to celebrate Halloween to keep the evil spirits away. You don't want to be haunted, now do you?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"And you don't want to be arrested for theft, now do you?" he shot back angrily. "Just give it back. Now!" he raised his voice and got up as well.

"Oh, okay... I guess you're right. I'm sorry." she whispered and put the phone back in his right hand. Damon looked at it's black screen and frowned.

"You turned it off?" he muttered and pressed his thumb on the button on the side. The screen lit up after a few seconds and he had to type the password. He punched in the combination correctly but the phone didn't turn on. It was the wrong password.

"What did you do?" Damon asked, running his hand through his hair. He was getting impatient.

"I changed your password." she replied, not being able to contain a proud grin.

"How the-... What's the new one?" he shrieked and made her laugh whole heartedly.

"Well, Damon, I can't really remember. But if you come to the party tomorrow night, maybe my memory won't betray me as it does now." she said, satisfied with her plan.

"You have got to be kidding me! How dare-"

" 'You' ? ... I don't know. But I just want you to have fun." she smiled widely at him and said the last words from her heart.

This time, he was really speechless, gazing at her with an emotion Evangeline could not decipher. Perhaps because not even Damon knew what he felt... a raging ocean of confusing feelings inside of him.

Why did she care so much? He had already gotten used to being alone, hurt, broken... why did she try to change him? He was not a diary from which you can rip out the pages filled with dark memories and then pretend everything is fine. He could not be healed, even if wanted to.

"26, High End Street. I'll be there at 9 PM... you know, remembering the code." she chuckled and turned around to leave.