The Last Healer

Chapter 20: Alexander

Chapter 20 Alexander

"You exist? Really?" A voice sounded from the hedges, laughing at me. My fists clenched with frustration as I realized how bad I messed this up. Of course she ran away, that was the creepiest thing that anyone could have said. I knew that she never saw me before, she never knew I existed, and she sure as heck doesn't know who I'm supposed to be to her.

"Oh come on, it could have been worse." The voice chuckled. My eyes shot towards the bushes, debating how I could shut him up.

"Oh, shove off." I grumbled after a moment, knowing that he wasn't going to.

"Nah, no fun." He laughed. "I mean, think of it. You could have kissed her. Though, she might have slapped you, which would have been fun for me to watch."

"Nicoli, will you shut the hell up?" I snapped as I whipped around to where the voice was coming from.

"I will if you can find me."

"You're in the hedges."

"But where in the hedges?" His cocky voice was really irritating, which wasn't new, just worse after my moment of stupidity.

"I'm not in the mood right now." I snapped. I turned my back to him and looked out at the entrance, a small part hoping that she'd come back. "You may find it hilarious, but I kind of just royally messed up with, well you know, the person I'm supposed to be with!"

"Oh, relax." Nicoli's voice chuckled as he stepped out of the hedge across from me, a giant grin on his face. His short blond hair had a few twigs in it and a few leaves stuck to his earthly colored clothes. "You're her Drawer, you'll be fine."

"Just because I'm her Drawer doesn't mean I'll actually get to be with her!" I groaned and collapsed on the ground. My arms lifted up and covered my eyes, blocking out the sun and Nicoli.

"Come on, you didn't screw up as bad as I did with Andrea and now look at us!" His voice shook with laughter. "You never know, maybe she will come back tomorrow."

"I doubt it. I know I wouldn't."

"So go and find her?"

"And say what?" I demanded. My arms fell to the side and I stared up at the clouds. They came in different shapes and sizes. Some looked like flowers, others like horses, some were other kinds of animals or plants. I sighed again. "What? Am I supposed to say 'Oh, hey, I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm your Drawer and I didn't think you actually existed since I never found you and I've been Drawing you for years. I hope you can forgive me, fall in love with me, and marry me so we'll make sure destiny has its way.'"

"Sounds good." He sniggered and nudged my side with his foot. "Except, you know, you're supposed to tell her parents you're her Drawer and not her. You know, the law."

"Yes, so her parents can force her to choose me."

"Well, at least you'll know you'll get to be with her." Nicoli shrugged. "Hey, maybe we should introduce her to Andrea, sounds like a good idea."

"A Fire and a Water being friends?" I snorted. Propping myself up on my shoulders, I glared up at him and he winked. While it did happen, I couldn't see Andrea, a spunky daring kind of girl, wanting to spend time with someone who could barely say anything that she wanted to say.

"Hey, we got the Protector and Tracker friendship going on, why not a Fire and a Water?"

"How about Andrea is a little..." My voice trailed off and he cracked up laughing.

"Psychotic?" He suggested. His arms wrapped around his stomach as he shook from laughter. "Well, she really is eccentric, isn't she?"

"Well, so long as she keeps you out of trouble." I shook my head and smiled, knowing fully well that Andrea could and would keep him out of trouble.

"Of course!" He collapsed on the ground next to me. "Just last week I was going to go do something stupid and wouldn't listen to her."

"What happened?"

"She shot a fireball at me. Gave me a nice big burn on my a-"

"Well then!" I coughed and shot up. "I think I should go get ready for work now." In all honesty, I just didn't want to hear where Andrea burned him. If it was anything like last time, it wouldn't just be telling me about it, it'd be showing and I was not in the mood to see it.

"Aw, come on." He laughed again and shoved himself up to stand next to me. "You know, you could ask for my help."

"With?"

"Your lady." He sung the words and I knew he was being as obnoxious as he possibly could to irritate me.

"Forget it." I told him. The last time he tried to help with anything, it just got a million times worse. The last thing I needed was to get myself in any more trouble thanks to him. I was in enough trouble on my own.

"Come on, you know you need it. You're gonna be hopeless around her for ages!"

"Doesn't matter, just forget it."

"Even if she's afraid of you?" He sneered, his arms crossed in front of him, and his eyebrows raised. "I mean, I don't know about all girls, but most of them would be absolutely terrified if some random person came up to them and said 'you exist?' to them."

"Alright! I screwed up! Happy?"

"Immensely." His laughter exploded next to my eardrum and I groaned.

"And what exactly do you think I should do?" I demanded.

"Show her why she shouldn't be afraid of you?" He suggested with a cocky grin.

"And how do I do that?" I kicked a stone and it went racing down the walkway and crashed into the fountain with a soft thunk. "She's afraid of me, probably never talk to me again, and, even if she does, I'm still going to be that creepy guy who knows her but can't explain why."

"Well, maybe destiny knew you were going to mess this up and it was all part of them plan?" His hand rested on my shoulder and gave it a small shake. "Come on, just be yourself, she'll come around."

"If I ever talk to her again, fine. If not, well I guess even destiny can be wrong." I shrugged his hand off and walked away. "I'm heading to work." I raised my hand in the air for a sign of farewell and made my way out of the garden. My hand rose to my shirt and dug into the inside pocket. My fingers brushed against a small thing of parchment; I slipped it out of my pocket and flipped it open to look at last week's picture.

It was almost like I knew she would be wearing purple when I met her. The small figured girl stood tall, staring out at the picture, her brown hair caressing her face, and her purple dress tight against her waist. A small smile played on my lips as I stared at Ariella's face. I was glad that I finally found her, now I just have to get her to fall in love with me.