chair I am sitting in and starts nudging my shoulder with his foot, wanting to sit down in the chair with me. “Come on, Ryanne. Get up.”
“You can’t make me,” His eyebrows rise. Giving me a look that says challenge accepted, he smiles down at me and raises his hands, fingers pointed outward in the universal tickle signal and starts moving towards my exposed stomach. I kick my feet back and do a backwards flip until I am sitting on the ground facing the chair I was just sitting in.
“Never mind, I think I’d rather watch a movie.” Liam leans down, picks me up, and sets me in his lap since there are no available seats anywhere else. “You know, that was pretty rude.” I whisper to him.
“You just have to threaten to tickle Ryanne and she’ll do anything,” says David.
“Don’t get any ideas, buster.”
He just smiles at me. “Already have some.” Emma looks at me like she knows what I am going to do and gets out the chair to sit on the edge of the couch. I gather up a small strand of energy and visualize knocking the chair that David is sitting in backwards. I thrust the energy strand with the visual imprint towards him and wait for the scene to play out.
When he realizes what I am doing, his smile falters. His chair tilts backwards and while he tries to move forward to counteract the movement, he still falls. He lays on his back for a couple of seconds surprised, before he starts laughing. Once everyone hears his laughter, they join in. Getting up, he returns the chair to its proper position, sits down, and stares at me. “Well played, little one. Well played.”
Liam shakes my shoulder, “You’re devious.”
I turn my smile on him, “I know.”
An hour later, a movie is put in and everyone’s attention is on the screen. “It’s so sad that they kill his wife at the end of this movie. He doesn’t remember her. The poor hot mutant,” says Emma. She has a crush on Hugh Jackman.
I feel something brush against my stomach and look down and see Liam holding the flame necklace that he gave me. I still haven’t taken it off. “My mother made this for me.”
“Really?” I whisper back, intrigued. I turn so that I’m facing him. I can feel a story coming on. Liam doesn’t often share personal information about himself. He isn’t an emotional guy. The only thing I really know about him is that he has an older brother named Bragden.
“Yeah, she used to make a ton of jewelry for everyone. It was one of her many hobbies. She made this leather bracelet that I’m wearing too.” He holds up his wrist so I can see. The tanned leather is braided into a complex pattern, intertwining in a zigzag formation. “She gave me this necklace when I was ten years old. She passed away a month later.”
He isn’t looking at me, but at the necklace, seemingly lost in his memories. I reach up and start to bring the chain up around my neck, to give it back to him. His mother made it for him and him only. She made the necklace with her love, intending for him to always keep it on it him as a token of that and as a reminder of where he came from.
“You take it back. I can’t keep something like that. You’re mother gave it to you specifically.” Grabbing my arm, he halts my progress.
“Ryanne, I didn’t tell you that to get the necklace back. I want you to keep it. She would have wanted me to give it to you.”
“Why?”
“Growing up, my mother used to tell me to cherish life. Think of a candle flame. It burns bright, but slowly dies out. When it’s burning bright, it represents living life to its fullest. Each flicker is an obstacle that is overcome. In the end, the flame slowly wanes. You have to make the most of what you have when the flame is brightest. You never know when the flame is going to be blown out. Life is short, but it can also be beautiful. It’s a symbol of hope. Candle flames take away a small portion of darkness, giving the slightest bit of illumination in the darkest of times.”
I watch his face as he speaks. Despite the roughness in his appearance, there is softness underneath. Under all the black hair, is a guy who had to grow up