The endless flat plains whizzed passed the window as the bus drove along the highway into the vast country that was the Kansas state. Green-tinted clouds prophesied the approach of a big storm, but the driver nor the passengers seemed to pay Mother Nature's warning any mind, too focused on their mediocre lives; all except one traveler, who watched the clouds closely from her window seat, knowing the type of change they would bring to the towns they would touch.
Her name was Eleanor Hallowae, her family called her Eleanor, but those she deemed as friends called her Ellen. Escape was on the bus for reasons like was leaving behind the big city of Metropolis, the family she had made, and all that had been her life there since coming to that city. She would miss them dearly. The woman turned her fixed gaze from the sky to the framed photo in her hands, the three faces smiling back at her. Their timeless happiness mocked her hasty decision in leaving, but then she had to remind herself of why she had to leave.
It wasn't because she did anything wrong, oh no. It was something that she did right in every sense of the word. She had saved a man's life, but in doing so brought her unwanted attention to the public. History had proven itself over and over that when too much attention was focused on her, misfortune befell her life.
She closed her tired eyes and tucked her things away in her red velvet carpetbag, then let a dreamless sleep consumed her conscious that was broken by the loud whistle of the driver's microphone. She glanced out the window as the bus pulled up to the small bus station, and the driver announced the destination on the loud speaker.
"Good afternoon, folks. We have arrived in Smallville. All passengers getting off be sure to check under and above your seat for any carry-on luggage. Be sure not to leave anything behind, and once again, thank you for choosing Red Hound. We hoped you have enjoyed this experience."
Ellen pulled on her pair of vintage brown leather gloves and buckled the clasps around her wrists, then moved down the aisle, being mindful not to bump anyone with her bags to the door. From the moment she stepped off the bus, she did not need to look up at the clouds again to know that they had grown darker in its green tint. The storm had followed her and it was going to hit soon. '
I must find shelter quickly before the storm hits.' she thought to herself, heading over to the restrooms to relieve herself. As she pushed open the uni-sex restroom door, the wooden frame thumped and she heard a sharp cry of pain from behind it.
"Oh, Excuse me!" She apologized quickly, easing the door back slowly to reveal a young blond man holding his face. "Are you alright?" she asked, her black brows furrowing in concern.
The boy rubbed his head and nodded. "Yeah, I'm..." he paused as he looked down at the woman waiting for him to finish his sentence.
She was so beautiful. Her figure was tall, thin, but well built and her skin was fair and flawless. Her sharp lips were parted in concern, and her hair flowed in the strong breeze in black waves, so black her hair looked almost blue; he could tell it was her natural color by the dark eyebrows furrowed over her gorgeous eyes. At first, he thought they were the same color, but on closer inspection he noticed two distinct hues in each iris. Her left eye was green, like walking through the woods on a summer day; and the pupil was wreathed in gold. Her right eye mirrored the gold flecks of the other eye, but surrounding it wasn't the warm green tones, but a sharp piercing gray rimmed with black.
This woman was absolutely stunning.
He felt his face become hot and swallowed thickly. "It's alright, don't worry about it." The boy said, clearing his throat and adjusting the sack on his shoulder.
She gave him a relieved smile and reached into her pocket. "I'm sorry that happened. Here, let me make it up to you." She pulled out an old compass, something she had with her for a very long time and held it out. "Please, accept this as an apology. I do not have much money with me right now, but this is an antique and could be worth much," she said, pressing the navigational tool into his hand.
The young man's eyes widened in surprise and shook his head. "No, that's really not necessary. I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
Ellen would not take no for an answer, this compass belonged to him now. It needed to be with him though she didn't know why. "Please take it. Consider it a going away gift, then."
"How did you know I was leaving?" he asked, puzzled.
She smiled knowingly and gestured to the paper in his other hand. "It says so on your ticket."
The young man looked down at his ticket and blushed again. Right, he should have known that. He studied the compass given to him. It was old but it still worked and was in very good condition, not to mention beautifully crafted.
"It helped me when I was lost and unsure where it was safe to take the next step. I have a feeling it will help you," she said, then moved out of the way so he could get out of the bathroom. "Better hurry, Whitney. You don't want to miss your bus."
Whitney looked up at her and then at the bus and nodded, tucking the compass in his pocket he hurried along. "Right, thank you." He halted when he got to the bus and whipped around but she had disappeared. How did she know my name?
"Sir? I'm going to need your ticket." The driver's voice snapped him back from his thoughts and he handed over his ticket, then got on the bus that would take him to the army training camp.
The storm arrived sooner than Ellen would have liked. She would have preferred if she had found shelter before the winds tried to carry her away, its invisible force knocking into her willowy frame. The storm roared loudly, like a freight train's horn, in her ears, and picked up dust that stung at her eyes painfully. Yet she pressed on, determined to get to the shelter before mother nature had her temperamental way with her. She looked up at the green tinted sky and watched as the three funnels fused themselves into a monstrous form of destruction and debris.
Ellen moved towards the ditch and stopped suddenly when she heard something along the wind. It wasn't the normal shriek of the wind but of a pair of human lungs. A girl calling for help. Ellen began to look for the poor human through the storm. There. The magic in her eyes pierced through the distance of the fields to the funnel as it raised a truck from the ground and Ellen's horror she could see a girl trapped helplessly inside, completely at the mercy of the storm. The woman set her jaw and made one movement to go to the girl's aid, yet something unexpected happened.
A man appeared beside the funnel, he had not been there before, unless Ellen's eyes had been clouded by a glamor. He was young in appearance, muscular and tall. She watched with enraptured gaze as he charged into the tornado at a speed only her eyes could follow. He moved up into the winding currents with such direction and confidence, it was as if willing his body to the vehicle by an invisible force of magic.
No. This was magic. Magic in its most raw and natural of forms. A form she knew all too well. Ellen felt her heart beat with excitement and a word of praise for the spirits and Creator fell from her lips.
She was not alone.
After centuries of solitude, uncertainty, and fear; she was alone no more. Her mind was bubbling over like a caldron with so many questions she wanted to ask him. Whoever he was.
Clark...
The wind whispered his name in her ear.
"Clark," she repeated. It was an old name, likes hers; coming from the Old English word cleric: a seeker of knowledge.
Ellen was brought out of her discovery by a piece of what might have been a barn door, slam into the ground near her position. It was time to go. She knew that the man would be alright, not by what she had just seen but from the blessed instinct of her adopted family.
Ellen continued her way with a quicker pace until she found the shelter she sought. A culvert pipe in the roadside ditch. She hurriedly got down in the ditch and shoved her bags first inside and then crawled into the large concrete pipe.
And not a moment too soon.
The storm roared like an invisible monstrous thing, thundering like a train overhead. Debris from the county rained down from the sky outside of her shelter, but Ellen was untouched. The stone shell around her was strong and gave her silent assurances of safety from layers of earth and rock. Her ears rang painfully as the sound of the storm echoed on the walls of her shelter.
With nothing else to do, she pulled her music player from her pocket and stuck the earbuds in her ears, the foam tips muffling the loud noise nicely; then she pressed play. Pulling her hood over her head, she let the intoxicating voices of Van Canto carry her away to a peaceful place in her mind. She closed her eyes, relaxing her mind into a meditative state like sleep.