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He continued, "I buried my parents in the cemetery nearby with Bobby. He took care of everything. He said he owed it to my mom. The places she worked at checked in after a few days, but I told them she died of fever, just like Bobby had told me to say. Nobody cared enough to investigate more, so it was all under the rug.
"I don't remember how I told Amy that our parents were dead, but by the time she turned fourteen, all the bad memories were forgotten. Time passed. Bobby took care of us for a few years, then he disappeared." Xavier shrugged. "Still don't know where he is."
Giselle licked her lips, praying that the story ended here.
"I'd saved that knife and the gun. I needed something to protect my little sister with if the time came. I didn't hope for it, though. Because life was good. I'd started working in a restaurant as a waiter. Amy had her friends in her school. It was working out."
Giselle managed a smile. She wanted to meet his sister.
He pursed his lips, stared at the ground for a while, and exhaled in defeat. "Life was good until that one night. We'd thrown a bachelor's party for a friend at the beach that summer. It was gonna be a bit wild. So, I left her home. She told me she'd spend the night studying and that for once, I should just enjoy myself without worrying about her."
His eyes snapped toward Giselle, taking her by surprise.
"When I got back home that night, I didn't find my sister! What I saw was a dead body. Her clothes were shredded. Her skin... She was bruised so..." He squeezed his eyes shut, his body shuddered, and he grunted as if he was experiencing physical pain. "...so..." His breath quivered. "She was bruised so bad that I thought for a moment maybe a fucking animal had attacked her.
"I buried her without a word. The very next day, I got to know who did it. Don't ask me how. You don't wanna know." He exhaled. "It was a group of low-life sons-of-bitches who were visiting my village that summer.
"Humans can be brutal, no?" asked Xavier, a strange glint of madness in his eyes. "The tourists didn't have anything to lose, either, they must've thought. They were going to leave Aquaville soon, they must've hoped."
He shook his head. "Do you know how hard it is for a brother to take his sister in his arms, and lie her down in her grave?" His eyes questioned her.
She shook her head but barely.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm a vengeful person, Giselle. Do you know what I did?"
Giselle gulped and stared into his bloodshot eyes.
"I took the same gun, the same knife, and I made their mothers cry over their dead bodies. I didn't care who was waiting for them to return from their shit tour. Maybe their sisters were expecting them home soon. I didn't care. They had killed mine."
Giselle inhaled sharply. Her eyes filled up with tears, a battle raging within her. He stood up and walked a few steps to maintain a distance.
"I moved from Aquaville. I came here. All of my money was spent in the process," he said, his body shivering with an exhale.
Giselle stood and watched his back, her heart hammering.
"I met Stewart. I didn't have a job. So, he introduced me to his gang. I wasn't in my right mind. I didn't know what I was signing up for. And... Well, you can't leave the gang once you join it. So..."
He fell silent. He didn't say anything. Giselle stared at his back for what felt like a year, not daring to utter a word.
Xavier whirled around, eyes burning with emotions she couldn't comprehend. "When I saw you in that park for the first time," he said, "I got back the reason to live.
"You were just...there. You were reading your book. I couldn't stop looking at you. It unnerved me. I went back to Stewart's house and just slept instead of killing myself. I don't think it was an important moment for you, but when you looked up at me and our eyes met for the first time, and you gave me a small smile, you undid me. You saved my life."
Giselle stifled a gasp.
He said, "I don't know how. I don't know why. All I knew was that I needed to keep visiting that place every day in hopes to see you once more. When I understood the pattern, I'd wait an entire year for you to visit, only so I could steal glances at you for those few days."
He walked toward her and stood when he was inches away. "Then I saw you in that field, but it wasn't your time to visit, and you were crying. I watched you. I knew I shouldn't have. But I knew the pain. So I offered you my hand. You lit up my soul when you took it, Giselle." His chest heaved. His voice dropped to a whisper as he said, "I don't think I can survive if you leave me, especially now that I've held you."
Giselle closed her eyes, the tears slipping down her face, and let out a sigh. She couldn't leave, not when he'd stripped himself bare for her, not when he confessed she was his savior, not when she was his only thread of hope. She looked at him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and placed her cheek on his chest.
"I love you," said Giselle.
He positioned his right hand on her head under his chin and left on her back. "I love you, too. More than you know."
"You swear?" she asked.
"Yeah."
