Fate

The Unspoken Bond

They sat in a small, dimly lit waiting room. Melody was watching the clock like a hawk. With every minute that ticked by Avi could see Melody move closer and closer to the edge of her seat.
"Melody, I need to tell you something," he said, keeping his voice as low and calm as he could. He was nervous and scared for Gracie but he was trying to not let it show. He was trying to keep Melody calm.
"What is Avi short for?" She asked. It had been a good 20 minutes since he spoke last and he was honestly getting worried that she was ignoring him.
"Avriel. It's a Jewish name. My middle name is Benjamin."
"Avriel Benjamin." She repeated his name over and over again under her breath as if she was trying to commit it to memory.
"Rose," she said, turning towards him and finally away from the clock on the wall.
"Melody Rose. Beautiful name."
She stared directly into his eyes as if she was searching for something. He didn't know what though. He just sat there and waited to see if she found anything in them.
"I hate small talk. I'm terrible at it," she said definitively, turning her attention back towards the clock on the wall.
"I also hate clocks. They sit there ticking away. They mock you when you wait and laugh when you miss things."
Avi got out of his chair and pulled the clock off the wall. He shoved it under a chair face down and turned to her.
"Tell me," he said. He stood in front of the chair with the clock underneath it and waited.
"Tell you what?"
"Everything. Start from the part where you started running."
Melody went cold. She had never spoken about that time before to anyone. It was like a demon to her that she carried around hoping no one would notice.
"It's not much to tell."
"Tell me anyways. I want to know."
"Why Avi?"
"Because." His answer was definitive and he continued to stand there as he waited.
"My parents went out to get gifts for my 16th birthday. 4 miles from the house they were hit by a semi truck. When I was told I felt like my whole world died with them. I would look around me and see nothing familiar. I felt like I was a stranger in my own home. I was intruding on someone else's life, someone else's memories. So I left. I flew as far away as I could at the time and began my search. When I didn't find what I was looking for I went somewhere else. That's it. Like I said, there's nothing to tell."
"What we're you searching for?" He tried looking into her eyes but he could see that she was trying to stare past him to where the clock use to be on the wall.
"I've already told you. Somewhere I could stay."
"Melody-"
"Dont say it Avi." She had raised her hand as she cut him off as if she was begging him not to press the issue. As if she couldn't bare the words he wanted to say.
He walked over and knelt in front of her, taking her shaking hands in his. She still didn't look at his face. He gently took his hand and placed his fingers under her chin so she was forced to look into his eyes again. He began searching in her eyes like she did to him only moments ago. He could see the sadness, the pain, and even a glimmer of hope in them.
"Stop running. You have found your place here. Stop and listen to me. After I'm done you can start running again if you must."
She waited for him to continue. His fingers under her chin seemed to burn. It was as if they were designed to burn away the pain she had been feeling since she was 16.
"You have found your place to stay with me and with Gracie. We need you just as much as you need us and don't tell me that you don't need us. You wouldn't have come back to Italy if it wasn't true. You wouldn't have went to Japan. Listen-" he pressed his fingers to her lips when she opened them to speak.
"Listen. Please. I know you've been hurt. You were alone in the world until someone took you in and then you were left alone again when they were taken from you. I promise you that you will never be alone again. You have us. You have me. Melody, baby listen. All of those things that happened before was fate leading you here. I'm begging you! Don't run from this. Don't run anymore."
Her thoughts were making her head spin. She had so many questions. So many excuses as to why she couldn't stay but none of them could form into words. The thoughts kept coming and leaving her mind. It was as if her brain was shoving them out like unwanted people at a party. They were thoughts and excuses that made sense at one point but now, in this moment, her brain banished them from ever entering her head again.
"Avriel, I stopped running months ago. I don't think I even know how to run anymore. Please, don't ever give me a reason to learn again. I don't think my heart could take it."
She felt tears roll down her cheeks as she fell into his arms. He held her as she sobbed and could feel her face in the crook of his neck. This is what he had been waiting for. She was...Gracie was....
He couldn't form a complete thought as he sat there on the floor holding her in his lap. She looked up at him briefly before pressing her cheek against his. She felt his beard against her skin and it was comforting. It felt like it was where she was meant to be all along.
"Don't say it Avi. I know. You don't need to say it," she whispered in his ear. Her words seemed to linger in the air around them, comforting in a way because it meant that she knew. She had known all along.
"I will say it to you every day, just not right now. Not until Gracie is with us again. Not until we are a family."
His words warmed her soul. It was amazing to her that someone who was a complete stranger in a lot of ways was also the most familiar person. He was like her missing puzzle piece. The one that she had spent years traveling all over the world the find. He was her person...her soul mate.
She leaned her forehead against his and they rubbed their noses together a few times before their lips met. The passionate kiss was more than just a kiss to them both. It was a promise...a vow...an unspoken bond that will never be broken between them.