“No…I will not let him do this to me.” She pushed back a lock of long, glossy hair and threw the covers off of her, reaching for a robe. “I will not let Poppi haunt me anymore. I am past that, I’ve moved on. I have to forget everything about the first eighteen years of my life.” She tried diligently to motivate herself, to talk away the doubts as she walked out of the small bedroom and into the combination kitchen/living room. The grimy walls stared at her as she sat down on the couch, grabbing the remote control and flipping on the television.
 

 Gabi slammed her finger down on the button to quickly change the channel.
 

 Another hurried click as she changed the station. “Thank God…” She moaned as the familiar theme to a comedy came on.
 

 “No!!!!!!” Gabi scream, throwing the remote hard. It hit a lamp, and the frail glass shattered, sending the room into semi-darkness, the only source of light coming from the bedroom. She curled up on the couch, tears flowing down her face and burning in her eyes.

 “What’s the matter, Gabrielle, mi hija, you look afraid…not afraid of your dear old Poppi, now are you? Come on, be a good girl…puta…show me your true colors, you can’t hide it. You’re a little whore…Daddy’s little slut…”

 The taunting voice floated into her mind as if he were leaning over her, whispering the words into her ear. “No…no…” She whimpered, tossing her head back and forth. When would this stop, when would the fear go away? Would these scars ever heal? She didn’t think she could take it anymore…night after night, waking up in a cold sweat, immediately afraid that he was going to come for her. Sometimes…sometimes she thought it would be better if she just ended it all…
 
 
 

 “Antonio…help me, Antonio! I need you…help me…” The desperate voice invaded his warm dreams of riding the waves on the sunny shores of his hometown. Out of the water, rising in a white, soaked dress with seaweed clinging to it was his sister. She reached her arms out for him, begging him to save her, to rescue her. He tossed the surf board he had been carrying aside and ran out over the sand. She was right there…right at the water’s edge…just barely out of reach. But as he ran, the space between them grew and grew. It was a never ending journey. With every step he took closer to her, she was that much farther away.

 “I can’t do it, Maria…I can’t…” He shouted in a teary voice. “Too far…you’re too far away!”

 “Antonio, you can…save me…I’m counting on you, Antonio! You’re the only one…” Her voice got weaker as he gasped for breath, his knees giving out as he collapsed onto the sand. Moaning and crying out, Maria reached for him until she had faded too far away.

He shook his head fitfully as tried to stand, but when he finally steadied himself the sand and the water swirled around, spiraling precariously until he found himself in a church. Somber, tear streaked faces peered at him with disappointed gazes. He was in the center of the room, the people surrounding him on all sides. He saw Casey and Mark, their faces pale. Turning, he saw his mother, looking weak as she supported herself in the arms of Ricardo. His older brother shook his head regretfully, his eyes rimmed in red. Antonio started to shake his head again, to deny it all, but when he turned he came face to face with his sister’s casket. Her face was pale and pasty as she wore the same white dress she had been drowning in moments ago, the seaweed dripping with salty water and her hair tangled and damp. Her eyes flew open as she stared at him resentfully. “You could have saved me…if you had tried. But you didn’t try, little brother, and now I’m dead. It’s all your fault.”

“All your fault, T.” Ricardo repeated, and slowly everyone in the room joined in.

“All you fault, all your fault, all your fault…” The taunt continued on as he covered his ears. Carmen broke free from Ricardo and stepped up to him.

"All your fault, all your fault, all your fault…”

“M’ijo…mi Antonio…why didn’t you save your sister?” Carmen said in a broken voice. Antonio backed away, but only closer to the chanting crowd. He shouted for them to stop.

"All your fault, all your fault, all your fault…”

“I didn’t…there was no way…” He called out, trying to make them stop.

“Tony? Antonio?” He awakened to someone shaking him hard. “Hey, buddy, wake up!”

“Wha…Mark…?” Antonio moaned as he squinted in the darkness. He could make out the form of his friend just barely.

“Yeah, it’s me. Another dream?” He asked, knowing the answer. For the entire week that Antonio had been staying with him, these dreams had come every night.

“Uh-huh…” Antonio groaned as Mark turned on the light.

“Well, you have to wake up in half an hour anyway. You have that mysterious meeting that you won’t tell anyone about, right?” Mark said in a teasing voice.

“Yeah…” Antonio wasn’t quite so lighthearted about the subject. This was very serious, a monumental decision for him. It had been five months since his sister’s death, and something had to be done about his state of permanent grievance. Slowly, Ricardo and Ben had already begun to put their lives back together, but Antonio couldn’t seem to do the same. For the first few months, he had avoided the pain by helping his brother and Ben, along with his mother, deal with their own mourning. When they had actually did as he had suggested, and moved on, he had been left with no distraction to keep away his own impending depression. This seemed like the only alternative. He liked helping people, he was already dedicated to his church…so why not? He had nothing stopping him. He would go to see the Archbishop in the morning. Antonio was going to become a priest.
 
 
 
 

The next day, Gabi Martinez left the small apartment she had rented and bought a one way train ticket to Los Angeles, California. She had never been outside her home state, but she needed to get away. As far away from Blanco, Texas as she could. California seemed to be as good a place as any.
 
 
 

 Antonio arrived in LA at 2 in the afternoon, still two hours early for his meeting with the Archbishop. He had no idea what to do to kill the time, so he stopped into a little diner, thinking of the lunch that he had been too nervous to eat.
 
 

 At 1: 30, Gabi’s stepped out of the cab she had hailed after arriving in LA. She was starving, almost broke, and had no idea where she would stay the night, but she felt better than she had in a long time. She had a purpose, something to live for now. On the ride here, she had thought a lot about what she wanted to in California and she had finally decided on something she had dreamed about for years. Her sister. Finding her perfect, untouchable sister and making her pay. Gabi had no idea where her sister lived, or how she would find her, but she knew that she would. As she stepped into a little diner holding a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, she began to plan what she would do. This was going to change her life…forever.
 
 

 Half an hour later, as Gabi was about to leave the diner, Antonio was walking in. She stopped immediately upon seeing him, her heart pounding mysteriously. She shook her head, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. She had never seen this man before, but she felt a strange…connection. She had to work to resist the urge to walk over to him. An image flashed in front of her eyes as she pushed her way out the glass door. Mental pictures of her…and him…that man, together. For a split second, everything was startlingly clear to him. He was her soulmate. Her true purpose in life. Who she had been put on this earth for. Then…the clarity faded and Gabi was left with a vague imprint of something she should have done…but it was too late.

 As Antonio sat at the booth recently vacated by a confused young soul with deep onyx eyes, he glanced out the window and his gaze was caught by the sight of a lost woman, staring down the street as she tried to figure out where she should go. Everything faded into the background as his vision was tunneled into a bright image of her. Smiling at him, kissing him, loving him… He knew at that moment that he had to go after her. He stood, shoving the chair away as he headed for the door. He had to stop her before she left. His whole future hinged on this moment in time.

 “Mister? Aren’t you going to eat?” A waitress stopped him, and his concentration was broken. He shook his head to clear away the cobwebs.

 “What?” He asked.

“Your food. I was about to bring it to you…” She stared at him as he looked at the food she was, true to her word, carrying. He nodded absently and looked around, unable to remember why he had even gotten up.

“Of course…” Antonio walked back over to the booth, confused. What had he been about to do? It seemed so important…he could still feel the urgency of the moment. He grinned humorlessly to himself. Involuntarily, he looked back at the empty street where his destiny had just slipped through his fingertips.
 

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