Honey, I'm home!

"The Dark Stranger" © VeGirl 2014

When I come to, the first thing that hits me is the smell of damp moss. I draw in lungs filed with the rich aroma and then a smile grazes my face. Like a fool I lay there with my eyes still closed but with a silly grin plastered on my face.

By the smell I know I have found my way back. The pungent forest smell is soothing and the pain in my heart ease. It has been a hard couple of weeks.

Birds chirp and I open my eyes to catch a sight of them. It wasn't the bright yellow Western Tanager I expected it to be, but rather a Robin.

Robin's don't live here.

My smile widens as a light drizzle falls softly down in me. God how I have missed seriously bad weather. The next minute I start to shiver as I realize I am still dressed in the angelic gown.

It is time to get up.

My smile widens as I get up and realize our fall must have been successful. A strike of horror shoots through me as I wonder if we have reached the right destination or if we have landed in... say... Denmark.

Anxiously I look around.

The drizzle is chilling me and I know that I have to get inside and get some proper clothes on. The spot where I lay is charred and black, but I don't look back; I hurry into the forest and quickly find a path to follow.

To find cover is getting more and more urgent as the drizzle turn into rain. Soon my gown is soaked and thoughts about Miss Wet T-shirt flicker though my mind.

When I exit the forest and find small houses I am shivering quite heavily. The surrounding is somewhat familiar to me and I strain my mind to figure out where I might be. In the distance I see a huge yellow building that is very familiar. This is where Vincent took me that first time I fell; the building that was a monastery.

I am home!

With a warmer heart I hurry the well known distance to my house; Vincent and my house.

Darkness is starting to surround me and I long for his arms more than ever. When I reach the house it is engulfed in darkness.

He is not here.

I almost stop with cold heart, but the wet clothes urge me to get inside so that is what I do. The door is locked as it was the day we left, but I know where the spare key is and swiftly unlock to get inside.

I shake violently as I close the door behind me and call out his name. The house is eerily silent and with heavy heart it is clear that he is not here.

Irely or desperately I tear the gown off and drop it on the floor while I almost run up to the bathroom and turn the shower on. While the hot water slowly warm my soul I remember Aoleon. Horror strike me as I think about how she is laying out there in the darkness with nowhere to go. I quickly lather and rince and get out if the shower.

With no time to wallow in grief over Vincent, I scurry to the closet, get dressed in no time and grab whatever I can find for my friend.

With an umbrella over my head and a blanket on my arm, I hurry out the door soon thereafter. Without hesitation I mentally call for Esme and head for her house. It is quite close and I am eternally grateful for remembering my way.

'Esme, are you up?'

'Sam, is that you?'

'Of course it is, I need your help!'

'You're back!'

'I am; can I come in?' I reach her house as her lights flicker on and without hesitation I simply walk inside. "Honey, I'm home," I joke as I her feet hurry down the stairs.

"Sam!" She throws herself into my arms almost tipping me over. "I'm so glad you're back."

Surprised I notice that her voice is choked and it is contagious. "I'm fine, but I have a friend who is out in the rain," I squeeze out.

"A friend?"

"An angel."

Esme gasps and pushes me away. "You took someone with you?" She stares at me with a strong grip on my upper arms. "You took someone here?" she almost yells and it is a weird reaction since we were both in tears seconds ago.

"She fell when I did."

"You took someone with you?" she repeated her question with even more anger. "You can't take anyone here, are you crazy?"

"I didn't take her here; she wanted to leave!" As I mentioned earlier, the anger is contagious and we glare at each other like two bulls. "I don't understand how anybody would want to stay there anyway."

We stand there for a long while, glaring at each other, then she abruptly hug me hard again. "I'm so glad to see you again," she choke out and I can't believe how emotional I feel; it is like a rollercoaster.

"I wasn't gone that long."

"Yes you were."

I stand there staring mesmerized at her, but like a popped balloon I remember Aoleon and I urge Esme to follow me. "Can't we talk on the way?" I am anxious to get to my friend. "She hasn't been on earth in a very long time and I think she needs us the second she wakes up." A silent wish that she hasn't woken up already slips through my mind.

"Yeah, I'll just..." Esme turns and I realise she is in her robe. Within three seconds she returns, fully dressed and with a bundle in her arms.

She has cheated. "It's convenient to know magic." I snicker.

"You said it was an emergency." She glare, but soon join in my snickering as we head outdoor. She snaps her fingers and the rain stops. My mouth falls open in surprise.

'Wow!'

"Where did you land?" She ignore my astonishment.

I have to shake my head to regain my wit. "It was over at the old monastery."

"By the assembly hall?"

"Yeah..." I had forgotten about all the people that had scared me that first time Vincent took me here. "Have you seen Vincent?"

She gives me a wide eyed look that makes my blood run cold. "Let's find this angel first, okay?" She walks ahead of me.

"Has something happened to him?" I shriek.

"No!" She is a little too much on the offensive side for it to sound trustworthy.

"Tell me," I command and the sound echoes as we head into the foiliage. "Esme, has something happened to Vin?" My voice is now cracking.

"No," she sighs. "But you've been gone a long time and I haven't seen him."

I furrow my brows, but no one sees it in the dark. "How long?"

"Ten years."

"Ten years?" I yelp.

"Yes."

"I can't have been gone ten years!"

"Time passes differently in different realms."

I stop right there and stare at her with my mouth hanging open. This is new information for me.

"Come on, we have to get to your friend!"

Once again I shake my head slightly and head on forward to find Aoleon. Irrational I wonder why people shakes their head to snap out of a certain chain of thoughts as we follow the path into the wood.

'Would you please stop it'

'What?' I send surprised, but notice her humorous tone and realize I must have projected it to her.

"Call for her instead," she says with a snicker.

'Yeah right' I think and focus on finding that certain line between her and me while I call her name. We finally reach the spot where I fell and I keep calling for Aoleon internally without result.

What if we can't find her? What if she is badly hurt? What if she fell somewhere else?

'Would you stop worry?' Esme snicker, grabs my hands and tells me to clear my mind. I take a deep breath and focus as I am told. I can feel the magic surrounding me and the hair on my body stand in attention as the air between us start to crackle.

As if I instinctively know what to do I call her name internally at the same time Esme does and far away we hear a whimper.

Both of us opens our eyes and look in the direction we heard the weak whining. We instantly head in that direction while I am astonished over what happened.

'It was a simple locator-spell' Esme sends. 'Focus on your friend now'

'Yeah right' I think startled and keep sending out signals through the channel we used in heaven. 'Aoleon, where are you?' I send worriedly. 'We're coming to get you'.

Our line crackle. 'We?' She sounds terrified and our connection pops like a soapbubble. I am immensely relieved.

"Get the connection back," Esme hisses.

'Aoleon?' I send startled by Esme's request. 'I have to find you, please say something'. We keep the pace up as we head towards her first signal.

The morning is coming closer and the birds is greeting sunrise. It is a cacophony of sounds that I figure must be overwhelming for my angelic friend. After a good while she answers my desperate calls and it is a lot easier to find her. Both Esme and I realize that we have passed her and have to turn back to finally find her curled into a ball with her eyes wide in horror.

"Aoleon! Finally!" I throw my arms out but she recoils. "It is just me; Sam." I try to thread carefully around her, but she is even more shy than before.

"Make it stop!" She holds her hands over her ears and I can see that she is shivering from cold.

"Let's get you inside." I throw a blanket over her back and lay an arm around her shoulders and tries to support her the best I can. "You're freezing cold."

"Is this really earth?" Aoleon is on the verge of a good hearty cry as she struggle to get in her feet. "This damn gravity, I forgot about that," she mumble.

Oh yeah, gravity! I had hardly noticed, but I take it that she had had her head in the clouds way longer than I had.

Esme reaches out to help sturdy my friend and she recoils and glare wildly at her.

"Aoleon; this is my friend Esmeralda," I try to explain. "We're gonna take you to my house now." Internally I scowl myself for talking to her as if she is mentally challenged. "You'll be warm there." Her eyes indicates that she trust me and she accept that we're helping her.

Slowly we walk along the winding path to get out of the forest. "So, Vincent haven't been around?" I ask confused.

"No, I have tried to get to him, but nothing..."

I try to process this information in my head. "Has it been ten years?" I can't believe it.

"Yes, time travels in different cycles in different realms." She sighs with a sad expression.

"But he left before us... way before us," I whine. By now I start to panic, desperate to find him. "He was thrown out, I fear."

"Thrown out?"

Aoleon stumbles and am about to fall and we have to focus on the task at hand as she tears up a small wound and freaks out from the pain. "What is this place? This must be the great punishment!"

"Calm down! You were the one that wanted to come, right?"

"You should have stopped me!"

Esme and my eyes meet and I can see in her eyes that she agree with the whining angel that stumble forward.

Eventually we reach my house and we get out if the pattering rain. On my couch is Aoleon placed while I hurry upstairs to find a lush robe and Esme focus on getting a fire in the hearth.

"What is this smell?" Aoleon frowns as the flame starts to pour smoke up into the chimney.

I am about to regret my decision to take her along, but I do my best to calm down and show some compassion. "You can't believe his much I have missed this smell..." I pull in a deep breath while I help her get the wet gown off and then get the robe on to get the temperature up. Surprisingly enough she is not the least shy to get naked and I am the one who almost blush as I hurry to wrap the robe tighter. With a towel I start to rub her long hair and when she stops whining, she looks like she even enjoys this treatment.

"So you say it was a while since Vin' left?" Esme is looking bemused. "Was he thrown out?"

"I don't know; all I know is that one day he wasn't there anymore and my so called father said he left." I sighed. "Did I say that they are engaged in procuring?" My tone of voice might have been a little on the sarcastic side.

Esme furrowed her brows.

"They were about to push me into bed with some tall brusky guy with the right pedigree."

"Aurelius isn't brusquey..."

This is my time to knit my brows in a tight line while watching my so called friend of the angelic kind defend the object of my nausea which was erupting and forcing me to oly for the bathroom.

"Well, I didn't mean it like that," she mumble as I return after having throwed up. Her statement makes my glare ease up a little. "I just..."

"Are you warm?" I interrupt her and she looks surprised at me.

"...yes?"

"Good, then I can go change." I am on my feet surprisingly quickly and motion for Esme to do the same. "Do you need dry clothes?"

She smiles. "Yes please."

I turn and walk out of a bemused Aoleon. As soon as we reach the bedroom I turn towards. "Was she really defending that creep?" I hiss vehemently.

"Why did you get so worked up over that?"

I stop in the middle of a step and glare at her. "I'd rather not be raped." Suddenly my tears start to flow. "Where is he? Is he hurt?"

Esme put her arms around me and I feel safe there. "We will find him, I promise."

* * *

After a confusing night's sleep, I start to feel as if I am a parent to little toddler in the shape if Aoleon. My eyes feels like it has a pound of sand in them when dawn comes. "Please sleep a little longer," I beg her but in just a short while she is tossing and turning in the bed next to me.

Eventually I give up and got out of bed. "I'm gonna get us some breakfast." I sigh. "...and a whole bucket of coffee for me," I murmur under my breath as I drag the feet under me.

Almost still sleeping I whisk the pancakebatter but as soon as I start to fry them, the delicious scent that spreads throughout the house is making my mouth water and despite the delicious dinner that Esme had sneezed out if her sleeve last night, it feels as if I haven't eaten in ten years. The coffee is smelling absolutely delectable.

I am standing there already sipping coffee and munching pancakes by the stove when steps down the stairs alert me that my friend finally has awakened from her last slumber.

"Good morning." I smile at her and load up some bacon on my plate. If any of you are wondering how the refrigerator can be filled with fresh egg, milk and bacon in a home that has been empty in ten years, join the club. I wondered the same when I remembered the twinkle in Esme's eyes last night.

"Good? Morning?"

I force myself not to sigh. "Yes, perhaps we need to go through what pleasantries is mandatory and what they stand for." I smile. "This is what we say in the beginning of a day, when the sun rises."

"But the sun is still, it is the earth that moves."

I am willing my body not to react with irritation and anger. "I thought you said that you had been down here on earth before; you claim that you are no pure-bread."

Aoleon stops and stare at me and I know I have hit home. "It is a little hard to adjust," she murmur.

I take a deep breath. "I get that."

"How come you don't have any trouble?"

"It feels like it has only been a few weeks at most; certainly not ten years." I load a plate with pancakes that I trickle maple-syrup over and serve with bacon which I put on the table for Aoleon to enjoy. I do the same with a plate for me while motioning for her to sit down.

She is careful as she watches my action and tries to mimic it. Her stomach gives away a loud rumble and she looks surprised down at it. I have to stop myself from smiling wide. "What you're feeling now is hunger and that is absolutely natural. You need to eat." I take a sip of coffee and chew down another piece of bacon. My body is slowly adjusting even if the gravity is affecting me.

My friend is sitting there in my white thick robe and slowly adjusting to this life. She is looking thoughtful as she is chewing slowly looking as if she is trying to analyze the taste as if it was a wine.

"Do you want more?"

She looks up at me as if she is surprised that her plate is empty. "Yes."

"Yes please," I correct her, but smile wide as my back is towards her.

"Thank you."

Surprised I turn and watch her.

"Thank you for helping me adjust," she says to my big surprise. "I thought this would be the easy part, but I don't remember what to do. I don't remember this life at all."

I fill her plate and sit down by the table watching her eat more. "I suppose that is perfectly normal. When we are sent back here on earth for another life we are sent as babies and get a couple of adults to help us get the hang of it." I think of the recycling of souls in a way I haven't done in many years.

We eat in silence as we are both busy contemplating life. Suddenly I am surprised to find our mental connection silent. The connection that was busy before we fell is no longer active. How strange, and how good; this way she doesn't have to know every time I smile or sigh at her odd behaviour.

I have to talk to Esme about that.

* * *

It is extremely hard not to smile as I watch the horror in Aoleon's face when she holds up the jeans before her a while later.

"I'm supposed to wear this?"

"Yes." I gesture at myself, for her to realise it is not a prank. "We have to blend in," I explain for her what to do and she is sitting there on the side of the bed and pulling the jeans on. At least I have got panties on her.

"This is so uncomfortable," she whines and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing out loud.

Luckily her need of a bra is really not necessary because that might have been a challenge for me. Eventually she is properly dressed and we can get out of this house to get started with the search and rescue-mission of my beloved Vincent.

* * * * * *

Hello there my fabulous readers,

How would you portray somebody who comes to this earth and experience everything for the first time?

Love, VeGirl

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