Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

jumped at the sound of his teacher's voice. "Tell me how you've managed to have the whole place in uproar after just a week in the field. And that noise . What in heaven's name have you done to the boy?"
    "Sir, I…" The words stumbled. Omar didn't know what he'd actually done to cause such a pickle. He only knew it was wrong. He didn't even know why it was wrong.
    "Oh, lord." The teacher took a long, laboured breath. His legendary patience seemed wrinkled. "What's the first rule, Omar?"
    "Never interact with your subject beyond the state at which you become easily forgettable."
    "How bad is it?"
    "Bad."
    "Sliding scale of one to ten?"
    Omar dropped his gaze to the crystalline floor that sparkled from the light of the heavenly suns. "About fifteen." The teacher said nothing. "I didn't see the warning signs. I'm not sure there were any. Then it was too late. Everything I did to disconnect made it worse."
    "Are you asking for a termination?"
    "No! I'm asking for leave."
    "Impossible. You've barely finished your training. It's customary to actually work before taking time off."
    "Just a year."
    "To do what, exactly?"
    "To be with him."
    "I don't understand. You're with him constantly."
    "I love him. I want to share his life, not as a watcher or a guide but as his lover."
    "Preposterous."
    "Sir, I made a mistake with Jesse. Once I realised he'd fallen for me, I left."
    "As you should."
    "But he broke and so did I. It was so hard to ignore his pain, pain I'd caused, so I went back to right the wrong and now…" Omar shook his head. "Now I realise that he is my life choice. I'm asking for a year so that I can live a human life with him. Don't tell me it's impossible—I know it's been done before—and I'm asking now, begging you to grant me this opportunity."
    "You think I don't know your history. You've always coloured outside the lines. If you go to him, there will not be a place for you here when you return."
    "So be it."
    "You would seriously choose this boy over your life and family here?"
    "I love him with everything I am. I don't know why or how, but he has claimed me for his own and I want to be his."
    "Very well, but you will not be able to return to this world as and when you please."
    "I understand. Sir? Will I die a death as they do to come home?"
    "You will die as they do, but, Omar, I don't know that you will ever come home. These things are beyond my understanding."
    ****
    Jesse heard the phone and pulled the covers further over his head. He ignored the deafening rumble from his stomach; he wouldn't be able to eat anything without throwing up anyway. Four days. Four fucking days and Omar was still a no show. There was something wrong about it. It wasn't the usual dumped at the altar abandonment. Something had changed in Jesse since they'd made love. He was aware of the edges of the world, how they didn't end but rather blurred into other places. It was to one of these 'other places' that Omar had gone. Jesse could feel he was no longer physically in the world. He didn't know how, he just knew it to be truth. If he'd had the strength, he would have followed the bastard. Instead, he was doing the next best thing, hiding his head under the pillow and screaming Omar's name with a previously undiscovered voice inside his heart.
    The energy of the room shifted and Jesse sat straight up. "You're here. I can feel you." Omar shimmered into view in the hall just outside of the bedroom.
    "Jesse, sweetheart. I'm so sorry I've been gone so long."
    "Don't you come near me."
    Omar stopped in his tracks, his face serene. "You don't want me anymore?"
    "You don't get to touch me until you tell me everything. Who… what you are, what you've done to me and why you keep walking away."
    "Never again, Jesse. That's where I've been. I gave up my job to be with you always. I never have to leave your side again."
    "And if I say no?"
    "Then I will have to find a place to live."
    "Why not just go back to wherever the hell it is you keep sneaking off to?"
    "I can never go home. That was the price I had to pay for loving you."
    There was something so genuine, so heartfelt in those words. How could Jesse not believe them when his heart could feel the truth? "You did that for me?"
    "I love you. Didn't I tell you that; didn't I show you it was true?"
    Jesse smiled despite himself. "But you're not human, are you?"
    "I am now. I will grow old with you and die one day, just like you. But not for a long while."
    "Tell me