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Dancing with Death

Chapter Two.

"What do you mean how do I know she is dead?" I swallowed the ice cream I had just eaten, completely confused as to why he would ask me that.

"I mean exactly what I said, Sweetheart. How do you know she is dead?" he questioned me once again, taking a bite out of his ice cream cone.

"That is not something you just ask someone!" I fired back. "I was at her funeral you jerk! This is not something to joke about!"

"Okay, Okay...." He put his hands out in surrender. "I'm just saying..."

"Okay then, big shot, how do you know exactly, huh?" I cocked my hand on my hip, and shot him daggers.

He grinned. "You humans are so naïve, it's absolutely ridiculous." He stared at his ice cream cone, deeply thinking about something. A faraway look was on his face, and I wondered what was making him smile so brightly to himself.

Little did I know he was thinking about the past, strangely of when I was young. Precisely of one particular moment.

It was after school. I was six at the time, and my "boyfriend" Jasen Breyman was walking me home. He was one of those kid crushes that we called a boyfriend. I remember the one time he gave me a ring from one of the candy machines from one of my favorite food places in town.

"Catch me if you can!" he cried, poking me in the side and running down the sidewalk. I laughed as I chased after him. My pigtails flew behind me as I ran with my backpack bumping against my back with each step.

Finally, I caught up to him and poked him back exclaiming, "I'm faster than you!"

"No you're not!! You're a girl!" He shouted, crossing his arms.

"So? That just makes me better." I reasoned, sticking my tongue out at him.

He shoved me to the side and I fell forwards, scraping my knee on the sidewalk. "You meanie!" I yelled, my knee starting to burn with pain.

I immediately stopped when I heard his voice. "Hey baby, what happened?"

It was Peanut Butter.

I pointed to Jasen as I rolled over on my behind.

"Is this boy the reason for your displeasure?" he asked, disgusted as if he had just seen something nasty. I didn't know what that meant, but it sounded as if he was asking if Jasen was the one that made me upset.

Normally Peanut Butter was my secret. Nobody else could see him he said, except for me. He told me it was because I was special. I liked that I was special to him. He leaned down, getting close to Jasen's face. All of a sudden, he put on a fearful look, and Peanut Butter grinned in response.

"You haven't been messing with my special girl, have you, boy?" He used that voice that always made me confess without thought. By the time Jason was about to answer, he was shaking in fear. "You wouldn't be coming on to her, would you?" Peanut Butter's voice got more strained as he added, "If so, I might just have to do something about that." His jaw hardened behind his dark hood.

That was all it took before Jasen shouted an apology my way and sprinted home.

"Well, that didn't take long, huh, Munchkin?" he mused, looking in the direction Jasen took off.

I shook my head in agreement as he kneeled by me where I still sat. "Are you okay?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Yeah I'm okay." I lied, pulling my knee closer to my body.

He gave me a you-can't-lie-to-me look. He then said, "Let me see," and left no room for discussion. Still, I shook my head. Peanut Butter narrowed his eyes and repeated, "Aspen, you had better let me see."

I hated his stupid nicknames, but it made my heart lurch when he called me by my actual name. He had a habit of only calling me that when he was angry or frustrated with me. I didn't like it when Peanut Butter was upset with me. It made me upset too.

My pigtails fell around my face as he crept closer and slowly brought my leg out from beneath my chest. After I finally looked at it, it wasn't too bad, but a thin line of blood was leaving a trail as it streamed down my leg. Peanut Butter pulled out a handkerchief and lightly dabbed it on my leg until the bleeding slowed. Then, after glancing up at me, he bent down and brushed a kiss across my knee. He took me home after that, and we watched a movie.

Then there was the other time when I tried to make breakfast. Nobody else was home, and I had woken up wanting to have some food. I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Hmmmm... I tapped my finger on my chin and opened one of the drawers. Inside sat cake mix just waiting to be baked.

I climbed up on the counter and swung open the door with all of our plates and bowls. After jumping down, I grabbed the milk, chocolate chips, cookies, ice cream, fruity pebbles, cereal, peanut butter, and water, not knowing what actually went in the mix and set them all out. Then I grabbed a big spoon and poured all of the ingredients into the bowl and stirred it into a big glob.

It didn't exactly look like my mother's cake did, but I figured with all of my favorite foods that it couldn't be too bad. Peanut butter was actually turning out to be Peanut Butter's favorite food just like me, just as well as ice cream. Whenever we went to the store to get something for a meal, he would always make sure to get peanut butter and ice cream. He always got mint chocolate chip, which was both of our favorites.

I touched my finger to my lips, wondering how I was going to turn on the oven. I decided that I would climb up on the counter again after I put my little creation in the oven. However, I didn't know which turny thingy was the one I needed to turn. Mommy had always told me not to turn on the circles on top. She said that they could burn me if I touched them, but I couldn't remember which turney turned it on.

Just as I was about to choose one, I heard someone walk into the kitchen. "Peanut Butter!" I cried happily. "I'm making a cake for you!" I grinned widely and reached up to turn on the stove.

"No Aspen!" he yelled, and I wondered why he would talk so loud. It hurt my feelings. I felt tears prick my eyes (Peanut Butter told me that's what they are called), but I held them back and gritted my teeth. He told me that it made him sad when I cried. I didn't want to make Peanut Butter sad; he told me I was too beautiful to cry.

I guess he knew that he'd hurt my feelings. It seemed like he always knew. He quickly pulled my hand away from the turny thingy, and took me into his arms. I wasn't going to refuse, even though I was quite upset he didn't want my cake.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," he cooed. "I thought you were going to burn yourself." I wouldn't look at him, and instead buried my face into his shoulder. I was trying to be mad, but he made it hard. He wasn't having any of that. He tilt my chin up to see his eyes. "I'm not mad at you, baby. I promise."

He made it so difficult to stay upset, especially when he began to tickle me. "Where's that smile? Huh?" He tickled me on my stomach, and I twisted and turned in his grasp, laughing. "Stop! Stop it, Peanut Butter!" I shrieked as he tickled me one last time in the side. He knew it was my weak point. "Ah, there it is." He smiled and I grinned back up at him.

The memory faded away as I remembered the day he brought me home after Jasen had pushed me. Peanut Butter had carried me home, and now we were in the bathroom. "Now let's fix up that knee of yours," he said. He had already put some of the stuff that he said would clean it out on it and it burned.

"It's not going to hurt, Sweetheart, I promise." I was backing away from him as he got closer with a piece of cloud that he told me was called a cotton ball. It made more sense to be called a cloud, as I had concluded. Then he put something on the scrape that started with a "p" or "per-" or something like that. Peanut Butter told me that it would clean it. I wasn't so sure.

He gave me a hard look, "Listen, Aspen, you need to get over here right now. I mean it."

I just looked at him and kept moving away as he tried to come closer. "It hurts," I whined.

His eyes softened as I plopped down on the bathroom floor, right where I was. "What if we watched Spirit?" he asked.

I perked up. "You will watch it too, right Peanut Butter?" I questioned, wanting him to watch it with me.

"Of course I will, baby girl." he said.

I beamed. "Okay!" I cried as I ran into his arms.

He was right - whatever he put on didn't hurt that bad, especially because he held my hand the entire time. He told me he was sharing the pain and that he would take all my pain away if he could. He said it very softly, but I heard him anyway. I don't think he knows.

After that, we curled up together on the couch. He got me a bowl of my favorite ice cream and we watched Spirit. About halfway through he pulled me into his arms. My back rested against his arm and I leaned into his chest as he rubbed my hair and massaged my leg in soothing circles.

I woke up to find the movie back to the start screen, and Peanut Butter lying beside me making some kind of weird noises as he breathed. He made a snorting, pig-like sound, and pulled me back into his chest. I laid back down and fell back asleep.

In all of my memories, he was what made them great. However, he had never told me how we had met in the beginning.

Little did I know he was thinking of all of the moments we had had together. The funny thing was that I didn't remember ever meeting him, and I even remembered my most favorite memories of my mom. The far memories of him just got increasingly blurrier and blurrier the further I tried to look back at them. I wanted to know why, and why exactly he thought my mother wasn't dead. I had been left in the dark for long enough. Now was the time for some answers.

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