Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

and grabbed my hand.
    “ I need sleep and I suggest you try too.”
    I let him drag me to his room. We climbed on top of his bed. He turned the lights out and lay beside me on the bed.
    “ How’s things with Alise?” I asked tired of my ridiculous life.
    He laughed. “Oh man, your sister is crazy. I have no idea what to do with her. It’s like having a two-year-old around, and you know how I feel about other people's children in my house. She touches things and breaks them. She has to be doing something at every second of every day. I seriously think she might need Ritalin or something.”
    I burst out laughing.
    He turned to look at me with a serious face. “Aimee, I’m not kidding. She broke my vintage Luke Skywalker, it was in the box still, and she took it out and broke it. She said it was an accident, but I think she misbehaves on purpose, to start fights with me.”
    He had hit the nail on the head. I chuckled feeling sorry for him.
    “ You can't choose who you love; I’m a prime example of that.”
    “ Do you love him, Aimes, even after he left you in the hospital, lied to you about what he did for a living, and let Jaime die?” Blake’s voice wasn’t cruel, he truly was curious.
    I felt close to tears as I spoke, “When I’m with Shane I feel so in love with him, but when I’m with Aleks I feel in love with him too. I don’t know what to do.”
    He sighed. “Aimes, love is supposed to lift you up, not bring you down. If you are obsessively in love with this guy, then you need to end it. No relationship that’s healthy puts the other person above you. The relationship that ends all of the good things in your life is the wrong relationship. You’re choosing the wrong guy if you love Aleks.”
    “ Look at you Mr. Love Guru.”
    He laughed. “I saw it on Dr. Phil.”
    I closed my eyes. “I do love Aleks, but not as much as I love Shane. I wish I didn’t love Aleks at all. I truly think, that if he’d never come along, I would have found my way to Shane naturally. I would be happy right now, instead of dying alone.”
    Blake pulled me onto his chest and kissed the top of my head. “You’ll never be alone, Aimes, not ever. Besides you can see ghosts now, you're good.”
    I whacked him in the gut and snuggled into his armpit.
    “ How’s Giselle?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.
    “ She’s great, as far as I know. Her body has accepted the liver with no problems. Alise said your dad was there again today to see her. I guess him and Shane stayed in the city a few days. She’s doing amazing. Your dad doesn’t even worry about you though. He believes that lie about you being at the celebrity liver clinic. I knew it was bullshit, the minute your sister told me about it.”
    “ Yeah, I couldn’t believe that weirdo was able to trick my dad. Of all of the people in the world, I would not call gullible. He bought it though—it was strange.”
    “ I was scared you were dead or something and he just couldn’t cope with it.”
    I hugged him tighter. “I would have haunted you a little, you would have known.”
    He laughed. “Yeah, I expect you to haunt me when you die.”
    I felt so happy for Giselle. If anyone deserved a happy ending in all of this nonsense, it was her.
    I fell asleep quickly.
    I woke many hours later to an empty room and daylight streaming through the huge windows.
    The room was warm. I felt re-energized and invigorated. I didn’t know how to respond to waking without the feeling of wanting to go back to sleep. It had been so long since I’d been healthy and not depressed. Sleep had been my companion over the course of the last ten months.
    Blake was gone, which worried me. I climbed out of his bed and walked to the family room, hoping I would find him at the computer.
    He was nowhere to be found in the basement. I climbed the stairs, hoping his parents were still in the city, or at the very least, on a vacation somewhere. I didn’t think I could face his chipper and perky mom, not after everything I'd been through.
    Blake’s house was completely empty. I searched every room, starting to feel panicked. I sat on the peach leather couch in the front room. I watched out the front window for him to come home with my sister, dad, Shane, or worse. I assumed he had panicked when he woke and ran from the house, thinking me either crazed or drugged out.
    I sat there for a long time not moving. I noticed my lack of need to move. I wasn’t restless or fidgeting; I