Geoffrey had happily taken over cooking duty. Emily decided to wait until later to ask whether he had been in her room. She walked up to him and kissed his cheek. He laughed and kissed her back without taking his eyes off the stove.
"What do you think?" She asked, showing off the jeans and t-shirt.
“Much more comfortable than the dress,” he answered.
She shook her head and looked into the pan.
“Do you need me to get you anything?” She asked.
“I would rather you stay in here for now.”
She grabbed two plates and handed them to him. “You are still worried.”
He nodded.
“What kind of animals live around here?”
He smiled, “Things impossible to describe. I’ll show them to you one of these days. They are not too friendly towards foreigners, but I have learned to live in my little corner, and they live in theirs.”
“How big is this planet?” Emily asked.
“It is actually rather small. It is about three fourths the size of Earth. I will walk you through the planets we can access from here. You should know them.” He said.
“Can I access them?”
“Yes. I have a feeling you are a lot more like me than you know.” Geoffrey said.
He took the plates and put them on the table. They ate in silence.
“I want to see more.”
Geoffrey sat eating almost as if he was ignoring her comment. Emily was about to tell him off when he finally spoke again.
“It is not a bad idea.” He said. “It will get us away from the farm for a little bit. That might not be a bad thing.”
“Is that why you were in my room last night? Are you worried about me?” She asked.
“I was not in your room,” Geoffrey answered. “I would never invade your privacy that way.”
“Right,” she answered. “You undressed me when I arrived.”
“You were very ill, and your clothing was wet. It would have killed you to stay in them.”
“I saw the file you had on me in the basement of the cabin.” She said quietly.
He sat in silence, looking at his empty plate for a long time. "This is not how I would have liked to show you that room."
He stood up, took their plates to the sink, and looked out at the barn. "I am glad you are safe."
“I am looking for an apology and an explanation of why you were stalking me,” Emily replied.
He returned to the table and sat next to her, pulling both chairs, so they were facing each other. "Yes, I have been looking for you for quite some time. You saw the other women. They weren't you. To find you, I had to do a lot of research. I imagine it feels like stalking, but I don't want to explain everything yet. I promise it will become clearer with time. I wish I could have spared you Tom's death. Maybe I should have acted sooner, and brought you here. You were so young. You are finally past thirty. I could have waited another ten years, but then there might be a few more Toms, and I know it broke you."
"You have a peculiar vision of romance."
Geoffrey looked at her sadly. "This isn't quite a romance. I promise you there will be plenty of time for romance. You and I are not…"
Emily focused on her hands to hide her disappointment.
"You and I are as part of each other as any two people can be who are not related. Your story is my story, and my story is your story. It is both meaningful and powerful. Yes, I am in love with you, as much as you are in love with me. It is not a romance as such. Please don’t make me explain more now.” He stood up and looked out the window again towards the barn.
“Did you get hurt? Did the intruder hurt you last night?” He asked.
“No. I didn’t notice someone had been in the room until this morning. I thought it was you.” She walked over towards him and also looked at the barn. “Who?”
Geoffrey kissed her gently, “I’ll take you to find the answers you want. I am going to keep you safe. I have been waiting too long for you to come into my life.”
He stepped out of the house, leaving Emily looking out the window, confused. She watched him head to the barn and look inside. He came back out a little while later and looked around the barn. As he was walking towards the house, she stepped away from the window.
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Journal 1
Tristan woke with the sunlight hitting his face coming from a small window in the barn loft. He didn't expect to oversleep, because Geoffrey and Emily would be awake. He climbed down the stairs and looked outside towards the house. He saw them standing by the kitchen. Emily gave Geoffrey a kiss.
Tristan waited until they stepped away from the window, hid his stuff, and stepped out of the barn. He went into the nearby forest to wait. As he was stepping into the shadows, he saw Geoffrey step out of the house and walk towards the barn. He couldn't believe his eyes. Geoffrey was in perfect health. It was as if what he had witnessed the night before was all a dream. Tristan doubted for a moment whether he was not lying in the desert somewhere dying, and this was a hallucination. It definitely felt like one.
He waited until Geoffrey had left the barn again, before running back for his stuff. When he went up to the loft, he saw his things lying in the open. Geoffrey definitely must know someone had followed him. By all logic, Geoffrey must realize it was him. He sat down to put his stuff into his backpack. When he sat down, he realized the floor was no longer vibrating. Geoffrey must have turned something off. He carried his things down and looked around. There was a door in the back. The door was locked and impossible to pick, so he returned to the entrance and waited. Tristan imagined Geoffrey would confront him.
Instead, he saw them packing up to go somewhere. Tristan had to see where they would go. He couldn't lose track of them. They were doing such ordinary things like chatting and laughing. Well, Emily was chatting away. Geoffrey just smiled every so often. She looked excited. That made him angry again. She had no right to feel joy. He thought about the night before and decided it had been a mistake not to act. He was here for a reason, and he had every intention of succeeding in his mission.
He would need food if they were going for longer than a day. The kitchen had an entrance in the back of the house. Some food would be left behind. He stepped out, carrying his pack and circled the barn so they wouldn't see him. Leaving the backpack on the ground behind the barn, he walked through the forest so he could approach the house from the back. As he stepped into the kitchen, he kept an eye on Geoffrey and Emily on the porch. They did not see him. There was no refrigerator in the kitchen and wondered where they kept food. He found a cupboard with several loaves of bread, so he took one. He also saw a few vegetables and took some as well. He stepped out quickly, returned to the barn, and waited. It was not long before they headed down the hill in a completely different direction from where Tristan arrived.
He waited until they were deep in the forest and followed. They traveled further and further into the woods. Tristan continued behind them. He was getting tired as if he was walking in a very high altitude. The oxygen levels were different on a new planet. Still, he couldn't lose them, because he would never get back to the house on his own. Death was the only viable future if he ended up alone.
The heat was getting to him as well. He was sweating as if he had run a marathon. The water would stay in his pack until it was absolutely necessary. What the hell had he been thinking? They came to a clearing. Tristan stayed behind a tree and waited. He felt something hit him from behind and send him sprawling. He looked around to see what had hit him. It was a monster. The beast was about ten feet tall and looked like a mix between an elephant and a horse. It was hairy. There was no trunk, but it did have huge ears and huge feet.
Six more were headed his way. He lifted himself off the ground with difficulties and ran away from them into the forest. He stayed there unmoving as he watched them approach Geoffrey and Emily.
EB26392
Journal 1
When Emily saw the hu
ge animals heading her way, her words failed her. They were magnificent. She was definitely in a different world. As they approached, Geoffrey came up behind her and pulled her toward him. Their bodies were touching.
"Don't say anything," he whispered. "Just stay close, and you should be fine. They have a dreadful vision, but a rather magnificent sense of hearing."
“Will they bite?” She whispered back.
"They will trample you if they feel you might hurt them. If the animals don't sense you as a threat, they will leave you alone."
Geoffrey kept his arm around her waist, holding her close. She relaxed into his arms. She looked up at him and saw he was smiling.
“What are they called?” She asked.
“No idea,” he answered. “I have never seen another species with verbal language here. I don’t know what they call each other. I call them forest pachyderm.”
“Not very original,” she said.
He laughed. “No, I guess not.”
“Are there birds? Snakes? How many animals are there?” She asked.
"There are more animals than I could count. Most are pretty peaceful. Some fly. There is one pretty nasty one. It is the most amazing hunter I have ever seen. It tracks from far away. Their patience is amazing." He said and looked around, smiling at something.
“What’s so funny?” She asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
The animals went past them and disappeared back into the forest. Geoffrey took her hand and led her in the opposite direction.
"We might see one as we approach the portal. The beasts love cliffs for hunting. I hope you are not frightened by heights." Geoffrey said.
“How high?”
“Really high,” he answered.
Emily wasn’t going to admit that she was actually terrified of heights. The concept of exploring the universe through portals was going to get her through the fear. She wouldn’t miss the opportunity. They came out of the forest and stood at the edge of a cliff. It was very high. Very, very high. It was impossible to see the bottom. Mist covered everything below her as far as she could see.
Geoffrey was standing at the edge, looking around. She walked up to him and looked down. She grabbed on to him as she moved towards the edge. He looked down at her and smiled.
“Ready?” He asked.
“For?”
He pointed to a narrow path that went down. Emily sighed.
“Is that the only way?” She asked.
“We could use ropes and go straight down,” he answered.
“Let’s go,” she said. “You have a really dark sense of humor.”
He laughed.
“Keep your eyes open. If you see a giant animal flying towards you, then run.”
She saw he was earnest. Emily decided she was going to walk down and would stop her brain from imagining any type of animal. She was not frightened of walking the streets of Los Angeles on her own at two in the morning, but this was something else.
The path was narrow. It was barely wide enough for Emily to walk carrying a pack. Geoffrey walked comfortably along the edge as if he had done this his whole life. She placed one hand on the wall, and the other reached towards Geoffrey's pack. It was comfortable. He was home, while she was practicing the art of freezing all thought processes so she wouldn't panic. She was not going to admit her fear to anyone. It would be dumb. She wanted to see the worlds Geoffrey had to offer, and this was the only way to do it.
About an hour into the walk, Geoffrey turned into the cliff. There was a cave hiding behind a jagged edge. As soon as she was within the cave, she felt she could breathe again. She took her pack off and sat down.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
She looked at him.
"We don't have much further to go in the cave. You should begin to feel the effects of the gate at any moment." He said, looking into the darkness. He then turned and walked towards the entrance of the cave. He looked out as if he was waiting for something. "Maybe we can wait just a little bit."
“What are we waiting for?” She asked.
"I thought you were tired," he said. Again, Emily knew he was lying. She thought about confronting him but thought better of it.
She picked up her pack from the ground and started to walk into the cave without him. She had not gone beyond fifty feet when she felt the earth tremble. Her body felt as if it was being ripped in half. It didn't frighten her. She knew it would be over before long. She forced herself to walk forward. The earth continued to move, but she felt in more control. Emily realized she was calm and surrounded by darkness. She stopped for a moment. Her body was floating in the nothingness. It was both wholly black and full of swirling lights. It was both everywhere and nowhere. She felt she could know when to step forward and when to step back. She felt thousands of paths around her like this one. She felt the sound of a million voices in her head at once.
She closed her eyes and listened to it all, and sensed she was one with all of it. It was pure bliss. There was no nausea, no pain, no headache. It was just her in the middle of everything. She felt a hand grasp hers, and she tightened her grip on that hand. She knew it to be Geoffrey. The moment she did, everything changed.
She saw every face on his walls come to life. He was a little boy wearing furs in a barren landscape, and then a young man, beautiful. Geoffrey was hunting and felt both brave and petrified. Emily saw her. She was a beautiful girl, maybe fifteen at most. He was anxious to meet her and be with her. Emily could sense the desperation of a young adolescent, his desperate craving for sex. Emily could tell the girl wanted him. It was expected.
The girl was waiting, and he walked up to her awkwardly. The brave boy was gone, and he was suddenly shy. She extended her hand out to him. Emily studied her perfect face. Beautiful brown eyes. Her skin was a gentle golden brown. Her hair fell like a cascade over her back. She didn't have any clothes on. Her breasts were perfect, and her body was tight from active life. Her hand had the calluses of working life. Yet, Emily could feel Geoffrey feel her perfection. She called him something Emily didn't recognize. Emily was startled.
It should have been evident that Geoffrey hadn't always been his name. Emily could feel his excitement. He took her in his arms, almost afraid he would hurt her. He kissed her lips, and Emily felt the fire within her as it filled Geoffrey. Emily felt fear. She knew the fear, and she knew what would come. Emily tried to let go of Geoffrey's hand, but he held on to her hard. It was hurting her fingers, but she could not escape him. The vision continued.
She saw him move on top of the girl. He couldn't have been much older than the girl. They were two teenagers, and knew each other and were waiting for this moment their whole lives. It was desperately beautiful. Emily heard her laugh and then gasp. He took hold of her harder. The fire began to burn within Emily. Emily could feel the tears pouring down her face. She saw the innocence of Geoffrey, and she wanted to scream at him to stop. She knew she was witnessing the past, and there was nothing she could do. The ending would be inevitable. She watched it happen, and it mixed with her own memories. Grief hit her like a wall of water. She felt she was drowning as she watched the boy look around him in horror. He was screaming, and nothing could calm him.
Men ran into the tent and tried to control him, but he lashed out in rage and ran out. In that instant, Emily felt her hand come loose, and she ran as well.
TJ56823
Journal 1
Tristan saw them turn into the cliff. He cursed and didn't want to go down. Bruised from the stupid animals, he was going down into the unknown. Again, he thought about the stupidity of his actions. Now it was an issue of survival. He couldn't back out. He started the path down the cliff.
Tristan refused to look down. He just kept walking. Tristan did not hear the sound of giant muscular wings coming straight at him. When he saw it, he knew he was in his worst nightmare. It had a grotesque face like a child from a human and a lizard. The body was hairless and didn't have scales or feathers. It was m
uscle. His arms extended like wings, with a thin membrane that spread out from his side. He knew it was a he. It somehow made it so much worse. Tristan really didn't want to die.
Every muscle in the beast tensed as it approached Tristan. Tristan ran down the path as fast as he could, sure that he would be dead in minutes. He felt the animal land a few feet above him, and his body was showered with dirt. It blinded him. He tried to wipe his eyes as he kept running. He slipped and fell hard. He started to roll down the side of the cliff but held on. The animal pushed off the wall, and again he felt the shower of pebbles hit him. His backpack fell into the mists.
It took every bit of strength he had to climb back onto the path. He saw the beast take another dive in his direction. He saw the bend in the track and ran in hopes that he could hide behind the small ledge. He felt the grasp of the claws pulling at his shirt as he turned the corner and went into a cave. His shirt ripped off as he pulled towards the cave with all his strength. The claw let go. Tristan ran into the cave.
Dance of Life: The Belief Chronicles: Book One (Chronicles of a Planet's End) Page 9
