“Rain, keep her safe,” Agatha says with worry.
I smile. “I will.”
Ami wraps her arms around my chest and my heart skips a beat. Though I know we’re just going out for a ride and to explore, I can’t help but think of her holding me for the duration. My face flushes red, and for the moment I am glad she can’t see me. Before Agatha notices, I wheel the horse around and head out onto the white plain.
Pressing my heels into the horse again, I push him into a quick trot and then a gallop, heading in the direction I had seen the speck. I periodically glance over my shoulder, checking my distance from the house. Every time I do, I see Ami smiling uncontrollably.
When the house is nearly gone from our vision, a speck in the distance, I slow and begin laying down the first rope in a line to lead us back. Looking forward again I’m certain I see the spot I’d identified earlier. Farther from the house, I only trot the horse to advance. I keep the end of the first rope in sight, its dull color clashing against the white, as the house becomes invisible. When that rope becomes difficult to see, I lay another rope down pointing to the first one, all the while the speck on the horizon grows larger.
Ami tugs on my shirt and I look back. Her smile has dissipated and fear is in its place. I grasp her hand against my chest and smile to reassure her. She presses her face into my back as I continue.
Following the pattern of dropping rope, I notice the speck is becoming larger and I can make out the shape. It’s a house. I try to talk to Ami but nothing comes from my throat. I’m transfixed with fear, as this hadn’t happened previously, but to keep Ami calm I put on a brave face. I tap her hand. She looks up and I point. While the horse trots along a strange sensation falls over me as I recognize the house. It’s ours. More importantly, it’s the other side of the house we left from, as if we went full circle in this void.
Well that’s highly disappointing. I wonder how long it’s been to them since we left. Here I was hoping for something a little more exciting than our own house. So much for adventure.
There being no point now to lay down any more rope I put the horse to a full gallop. We near the grass boundary, but something is off. The grass is brown, not green, and the color of everything else is more faded than the white light was making it previously. As we enter the safe zone Ami cries out.
“We’ve been gone too long! The house is still here!”
We jump down at the same time and I tie the horse off at the well while Ami runs inside. With the time distortion outside the perimeter running at an unknown rate, the length of time here may be as she fears; I begin to worry when Ami calls out and no reply is heard.
“Mother? Mother where are you?!”
Running inside, Ami is already moving through the swinging door to the kitchen and I call out as well.
“Eve? We’re back!” I shout and it seems the sound is dull here also.
Just like outside, the colors are off; it’s degraded, as if the house has been sitting for a long time. Hearing Ami stomping up the stairs underneath the house it’s only a moment before she bursts from the kitchen and runs down the hall toward her mother’s room. Her eyes are teary and though I know she needs me right now, I feel the need to search too.
At the top of the stairs, I walk to Eve’s room. I push the door open and it creaks. In the bed lies a skeleton about the size and build of Eve, uncovered and dusty.
The house didn’t shift through time, but why? How long have we been gone? If only a skeleton remains, what hope do we have?
It sinks in. An overwhelming despair falls over me as I come to the realization it’s now just Ami and I, alone and stuck here. Ami wails from downstairs and I sprint to get to her. Speeding around the wall separating the stairs from the main hallway to find her, we collide. She sobs and I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her like a shield while her tears soak my shirt. It’s moments before I notice my own tears falling down my cheeks. Collapsing to the floor we both cry. My thoughts burn at me for an endless amount of time.
Now I understand what the princess meant. My future is bleak. Not only are Agatha and Eve gone, but they must have died of starvation, or perhaps dehydration. Now Ami and I will have the same fate. Time for us has literally run out.
I scoot us toward the wall, my back aching for support, and Ami climbs into my lap. She coils her body into me, her face pressed into my collarbone, and I rock her gently. The sobbing stops and the tears no longer fall, allowing an uneasy silence to consume us.
I’m surprised when Ami wraps her arms around my neck, cranes her head up, and presses her delicate lips into mine. I kiss her back and we become lost in an act of desperation. She turns into me and we kiss with passion which lasts until we need to breathe. Even after catching our breath, several more soft kisses are exchanged.
“I’m sorry,” Ami apologizes. “I…”
“Shh, it’s okay,” I pull her in tight and we rest.
Ami breaks into sobs again once in a while, and I soothe her by rocking and stroking her hair. With the realization we are going to die here at the forefront of my mind, I’m struggling to just be at peace with it because I’m with her. But my mind still wants to escape, to find a way to survive.
What about Evalyn? She would still be here right?
“Ami, get up!” I tell her with enough urgency to shock her out of crying mid sob.
“What?” She hiccups and looks up at me scared.
She jumps up off of me, and helps me stand. My legs have fallen asleep, but I push through the pins and needles feeling to bound up the stairs two at a time. By the time I’ve reached the top, enough feeling has returned to my legs so I might run without falling face first. Sprinting to the back of the second story hall, to Evalyn’s room, I bang heavily on the door and yell.
“Evalyn! Evalyn are you there? Evalyn can you answer me?” I shout.
“It would make sense she’d be here,” Ami states, taking up a spot next to me. “But what can she do for us?”
“She got us into this, maybe she can come up with something to break us out of this time! Maybe she can reactivate the time vortex!” I continue to bang on the door. “Evalyn, if you can, inhabit my body! Tell Ami what to do!”
There’s no response.
“She’s never possessed anyone but Mother. I’m not sure if she can,” Ami tugs on my arm. “Let’s go check for food, see if there’s anything left for us. Maybe if we give Aunt Evalyn a little time she might make her presence known.”
I huff, not wanting to give up on Evalyn, but nod in reluctant agreement. Back downstairs we head into the kitchen and begin checking for anything which could nourish us. The apple tree and garden are dead. The pantry, the refrigerator and downstairs are all completely barren, as would be expected if people were trying to stay alive as long as they could, but the lack of jars or cans strikes me as a bit weird.
What now?
Moving back to the living room, our attention is redirected to the yard outside and the lack of empty containers becomes the least strange thing to behold. Beyond the window, beyond the yard, the forest has reappeared, though much more dull in color than the last time we had seen it.
“What?!” I blurt.
“How?” Ami exclaims running over to the window, placing her hands on it.
“Did she fix the vortex without us knowing?” I ask.
“There was no quake, no shift, but I don’t see any white!” Ami stares in shock.
Bursting out the door I look all around us and there is nothing but woods. Looking at the horse he seems calm, not like he would be if we had shifted through time, but we are no longer in the void. Both sadness and happiness fight within me, struggling for control. The tears begin to well up again.
It’s just Ami and me now, but are we still condemned to traveling through time or is this our fixed point?
Walking swiftly to the edge of the woods I peer out into the dull brown forest line and something is wrong about it. The colors are still faded. A sense
of dread falls over me just looking out into it. When a glimmer near a tree catches my attention, my heart jumps. I become anxious and breathe heavily.
“Rain? What’s wrong?” She grabs my arm gently.
“This…this isn’t right. We shouldn’t be here!”
Before I can tell her about the metallic object I see, an ear piercing yell echoes through the forest. A darkness from deep within the trees begins racing toward us, traversing the ground at a high speed. The ‘shadow’ yells and wails again. My throat closes up. Grabbing Ami’s hand I turn to run and she follows my lead.
“Rain?! What’s is it?”
We race toward the door. Looking over my shoulder I see him. His ominous and malicious presence hurtles toward us. I can’t do anything but choke back the terror coursing through me right now as Drake barrels through the forest.
He’s going to kill me!
When we reach the porch I shove Ami inside first, and then slam the door behind us. My hands tremble locking it to stop his advance. Drawing the drapes closed I no longer see him but his dark armor, deep red hair, and cold eyes burn my thoughts.
“The other door! Go lock it!” I tell her.
Ami leaves me and I look from left to right, trying to catch any glimpse of him I can, to know where he might be attacking from. He’s nowhere to be seen. My heart is pounding and I can’t stop my rapid breathing. A hand touches my side, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin from fright, but it’s only Ami and she looks at me with great concern.
“Shh, calm down.” She pulls me into a hug.
“I can’t. Drake is…out there. It’s Drake!” I try to explain through my hyperventilation.
“We’re in here, he’s out there. You have your sword and I can get a tool from the basement.” She caresses my chest to calm me.
Nodding I pull away from her hug to retrieve my sword, but it’s missing. I turn the bed over and trash the room but it’s nowhere to be found. Down in the basement we’re a little luckier in finding two hammers, a rake and some tree trimming shears. Though we are now crudely armed, I feel no better. There’s no sound except for our breathing. With a hammer in each hand, I creep to the door separating us from the food store and peer through to make sure it’s safe. The barren shelves allow me to see there is no one waiting for us. A wall blocks the stairway up. It’s a blind spot.
I wave for Ami to come forward and when she reaches my back, I run across the stairway opening to the wall and peek around to see if Drake is waiting for us. He’s not there. I slowly creep around the wall to climb the stairs one by one. With the hammers ready to strike I sneak to the top. There is no sign of him. Ami follows and I slide my back against the wall to follow it over to the door in order to look out into the yard. Still nothing.
“I have a feeling there’s no way he would give up just because of some locked doors,” I whisper while looking over at Ami who is right by my side.
“Then why hasn’t he tried to get in?” Ami asks. “There’s something very wrong here.”
“I think you’re right. Something is wrong but I can’t put my finger on it.” I grab her hand and pull her back to the living room. I peer out the window, finding only the horse in the yard.
“Rain, I’m feeling extremely tired all of a sudden. Let’s rest upstairs – the stairs will act as an alarm.” Ami tugs on my arm, trying to tear me from the scenery.
A few moments pass before I nod at her. In my room again, I have to put the mattress and pillows back in place. We set our tools down on the floor. I shake the blanket, laying it across Ami who has already fluffed the pillow and found her way under the sheet. Closing the door I bring the heavy dresser over to block it, and climb into bed with her. She draws in close, her warm breath seeping through my shirt and onto my chest. I place my arm around her waist and rest my head just above hers on the pillow.
Though such a situation had been awkward before, I feel only sadness now as her tears once again wet my clothing. My attempt to console her is futile, but I run my fingers through her hair anyway. Soon enough I’m drifting to sleep. Despite great efforts to stay awake to keep an ear out for Drake, I come to the point of no return. When my eyes close I am called into the land of sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I awake there’s just as much light flooding in as before we went to sleep, despite the feeling we’ve been asleep for hours. Looking down, Ami is still curled into me. I rest my chin against the top of her head and squeeze her in tighter.
What can be done now? We have to venture out to see if we can find food, but Drake could still be out there. Why he hasn’t attempted to enter or do something to the horse is beyond me, but he seems likely to have some sort of nefarious scheme thought up. Maybe he’s trying to starve us out.
We will have to make a break for the horse at some point, maybe find our way to Asta and pick up some food and supplies. Perhaps we can draw Drake that way too, and lose him there.
“Rain?” Ami speaks, startling me and causing my body to jerk.
“Yeah?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She hugs me.
“It’s okay. I was awake, just doing some thinking,” I reply.
“About what we’re going to do?”
“Exactly that. We need to grab to the horse and leave. We’re going to die otherwise.”
She sits up and hovers over me for a moment while we stare into each other’s eyes. Her brown, curly locks dangle down over my face and it seems for a few moments she is going to lean down and kiss me again. Instead she climbs over my legs and stretches. Looking back and forth from the window to me, she’s confused. I sit up and nod at her.
“I noticed it too. The light hasn’t changed.” I comment.
“What is going on here?” There’s fear in her voice.
“I wish I knew, but we shouldn’t hang around.” I stand and grab the hammers. “If he’s here, I don’t want to be.”
She’s upset. I reach my hand out for her to take. She pulls me in and I wrap my arms around her as best I can with the hammers in hand. We move the dresser from the door and she picks up the clippers. I crack the door an inch, keeping my foot as a backstop while we peer out into the hallway. When I’m confident Drake isn’t there, I move from the room with Ami in tow. Looking over my shoulder back down toward Evalyn’s room I wonder again if she’s still here somewhere.
The stairs creak and groan under our feet. I wince with each step. Though I might have been relieved at the bottom under normal circumstances, my flight response is still at its peak. Around every corner I look, I expect Drake to be there, waiting for us. I’m surprised and relieved to not see him within the house. At the living room window I can still see the horse tied off to the well post, as calm as if there wasn’t an imminent danger lurking beyond our border. I half-turn to Ami and she nods.
“When I open the door I want you to run and jump on the horse while I untie him,” I instruct.
“Okay.”
Managing the doorknob and a hammer is difficult, but when I’m ready I raise my other hand and count. When I hit three, I throw the door open and Ami sprints. Right behind her, I grab the rope, fumbling to untie it. Clearing it, I jump on and pull it up as a wailing echoes through the woods. A chill rolls down my spine. My eyes dart back and forth, looking for Drake.
Multiple dark shadows begin to swarm about from the direction of Asta. An army of black shadows race at us. Pacing the horse around this side of the yard, I note whatever the shadows are there’s no way through them. Kicking my heels into the horse’s side and snapping the reins I push him to pick his speed up. We head around to the other side of the house. The shadows near the forest boundary follow us. An opening appears out past the apple tree. I kick my heels again and push him into a gallop.
As he breaks into the unknown we deftly maneuver and dodge through bushes, roots and downed trees. The shadows begin to close in and the forsaken wailing continues. Approaching another opening in the woods
I urge the horse to beat the shadows, whatever they may be, from reaching us.
But where we break out is just as impossible as the white void, and shifting into the woods without a vortex to carry us. The massive buildings of Chas have sprung up before us. I pull the reins to stop the horse in his tracks. Looking back, the forest doesn’t exist anymore. The shadows have disappeared, and instead the house sits visible in the middle of the park of Emma’s time.
“What did Evalyn do?!” I exclaim.
“This is…I have no idea what’s happening here.” Her voice is meek.
Looking back to the streets provides a disturbing sight, one just as terrible as finding Agatha and Eve’s remains. Skeletons litter the streets as far as the eye can see. Death surrounds us.
“This has to be a bad dream,” Ami states.
“This just doesn’t make any sense. There’s no vortex so we can’t really be in Chas right?” I try to reason, mostly with myself.
Trotting the horse into the nearest street, the one Ami and I first ventured down when we were in Chas, we look about and everything here seems like it was in the forest and at the house. The colors are dull and nothing seems right, as if the world is hollow. The air seems stale.
Venturing past familiar places there appears to be no food at any of the vendors. That doesn’t stop me from jumping down off the horse and slowly creeping past a few skeletons to look in the open window of a sandwich shop. Nothing but more skeletons lie beyond the counter. Not even the decaying remains of food exist in their display cabinets. It seems unlikely they starved to death. Turning, my eyes meet Ami’s and I shake my head.
“There’s nothing. I don’t think they just stood here and starved. This was something else,” I tell her. “But that makes it worse. Were they attacked?”
“Maybe Mother and Eve didn’t starve then?” Her question comes out more as a hopeful statement.
Moving back to the horse I put my foot in the stirrup and hop back on. “Possibly, but is any of this real? Things aren’t adding up.”
R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2) Page 3
