Okay, so this is my first try at Don Juan DeMarco. Just a little warning before you begin reading: If you don't like love and romance, don't read this! It's all it is.

Think it's all I'm gonna say now. Read and enjoy!

~ Miss Sofie

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Chapter I - Bewitched

Do you know those days when the sun is so strong that it heats up the air so much that all you can do is dream about lying on the beach sipping to cool drinks? And though it's not even noon yet, the air is so sticky that you want to take showers every ten minutes? It was one of those days, and I had been dreaming of ice cream since I woke up in the morning, but instead of having one, I was fighting to swallow a bite of my bacon-and-egg pancake in my aunt's garden.

I took a large gulp of the milk in the glass next to my plate, trying to make the pancake go down easier, but the milk had gone rather warm in the late morning sun, and now both the milk and the pancake threatened to come up again.

"I gotta…" I said and covered my mouth with my hand as I got up. My mum sent me a worried look, but she kept talking to Aunt Caroline.

I ran inside and found the bathroom, but of course the door was locked, and as it was the only bathroom in the house, I had to think fast.

Right when I thought that I'd throw up on Aunt Caroline's new carpet with big yellow, pink, and purple flowers, the bathroom door opened and my cousin, Edward, came out. The poor six-year-old had no idea of why I pushed him rather violently into the wall on my way to the toilet. The next thing I heard was Edward crying his mother's name.

"Good Heavens, child, what is wrong with you?" I heard Aunt Caroline say behind me. "What did Eddie do to you?" Silence. Then: "Are you sick?"

I didn't answer, but Aunt Caroline's voice was softer as she brought me a wet washcloth.

"Here you go." She said and handed it to me. "Do you want a glass of water?"

I heard her fill a glass with water from the faucet, though I hadn't replied yet. It was not because I wanted to be rude, but throwing up is the worst thing I know and it always makes me feel like dying. A little exaggerated, I know, but I can't help it.

Suddenly the bathroom was filled with people. Women. Mum, Grandma, Aunt Nicole, Aunt Petra, and, of course, Aunt Caroline. They were all talking to me, but, fortunately, they didn't expect me to answer.

"I think I wanna go home." I said after recollecting myself a bit.

As soon as I had spoken the words everyone suggested whose husband should drive me home. Both George, Peter, Carl, and Rick could drive me home. They just didn't know that yet.

"I think I'll just walk." I said to everyone's disappointment.

"But Christina…" Mum said. "You're not well!"

"It's just the heat." I replied. "I don't think I can go by a car that's hot from being parked in the sun all morning."

"You think walking is better?" Grandma asked sharply. She sounded as if I was stupid.

"If I take the shaded route through the forest, it will be." I replied a bit annoyed. They treated me like I was a ten-year-old. I was twice as old!

In the end they let me go after making me drink plenty of water. Louisa, my sister, gave me a piece of chewing gum because I had thrown up, which, later, I turned out to be very grateful for.

~

It took me around fifteen minutes to reach the edge of the city. I was kind of proud of that, as it was a rather long way and I was wearing high heels. I had never been fond of high heels. I only wore them on special occasions, such as Aunt Caroline and Uncle George's anniversary today. They celebrated it untraditionally with a brunch in the garden. I must admit that I appreciated to have an excuse to leave the party early. I wasn't so keen on family gatherings at the moment. The thought of getting a family of my own one day was rather repulsive to me.

Anyway, I reached the small forest that edged the city on the eastern side. Or…I hadn't reached it yet. First there was a big road that had to be crossed.

No big deal! I had crossed roads alone since I was only five years old, and this one wasn't any different from the others. It's true! It wasn't! It was the weather that was different. It was the heat. It made me step right out in front of a car.

The car, a black convertible of some sort, stopped with a screech less than an inch from touching my right leg. I was paralyzed. I didn't even blink as the young man driving the car shouted at me.

"What the hell are you doing, stupid b****?!" He shouted while backing a little. Seconds later he wheeled past me, almost driving over my toes in his hurry. I was still paralyzed.

"Are you alright?" A male voice asked from somewhere behind me. "Miss? Are you alright?"

I neither answered nor turned around to look who was addressing me. It was the shock stopping me.

"We have to get you off the road." The man said and someone, probably the same man, grabbed my arm.

As he tried to make me walk, a sudden, deep pain struck my right leg around the place where the car had almost hit me. I tried to take a step, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. I would've fallen if it wasn't for the hand holding me.

"Doesn't look too good, but we still have to get you off the road!" Though I still hadn't looked at the man, I noticed the accent with which he spoke. I couldn't tell from the accent where he was from, but it was probably somewhere south of here. Somewhere south of the States.

"Hold on!" He said and put an arm around my back. Then he bent down and put his free arm behind the hollows of my knees. I was wondering what he was doing, when I felt him tipping me over. A moment later I was lying in his arms getting carried off the road.

~

"How's this?" The man asked. He had put me down onto a low stone wall which separated the pavement from the forest.

"It's fine, thank you." I replied and realized it was the first time I had spoken since I left Aunt Caroline's place. Then I looked at him for the first time and had a minor shock.

The man, who turned out to be not much older than I, had straight, black hair to beneath his ears, though not as far as to his shoulders. He wore a golden ring in each ear, but they didn't make him look gay. His mouth was rather small. Some people look angry because they have small mouths, but this man's small mouth only made him look serious and, maybe, a little sad.

His eyes, which seemed to be the best part of his face (though the rest wasn't bad at all), were dark – almost black – and I couldn't help being drawn toward them. But this wasn't what started me. What started me was the thing around his eyes. A mask. A black mask. It looked very much like the mask that my childhood hero, Zorro, used to wear. I recalled having a mask like that at home from sometime many years ago, when I had dressed like Zorro at a costume ball.

"I'll see if I can find a phone somewhere and call an ambulance." Zorro brought me back to the present. I realized I had been staring rudely at him, but he was polite enough to pretend he didn't notice, though I knew he must have.

"An ambulance? Why?" I asked having forgotten about everything but Zorro.

"Your leg." He said with a nod and a worried look at my right leg.

I looked down and saw blood running from a hole in my jeans. There had to be a hole in my leg as well, then, I thought slowly realizing why it had hurt so much before and why there was a constant throbbing inside of it.

"You should try to hold it up, if you can." Zorro said followed by an: "Excuse me? Sir? Do you have a cell phone?"

I lifted my right leg to rest on the gray stone wall, but it was a very uncomfortable way to sit with my left leg still touching the ground. I moved both legs back and forth a few times before I decided to leave them both resting on the wall. I still wasn't comfortable, but it was better. When I looked at Zorro, a small smile was playing on his face. He was waiting to get through to the control centre, and so he didn't pass any remarks.

I watched him again, and this time, as he was a little further away (though only a few steps – I would've been able to touch him if I had tried), I noticed he was wearing a cloak. A black cloak. It made him look even more like Zorro, and it made me curious. He had to be an interesting person.

While he was standing there, telling whoever was in the other end of the line to send an ambulance, something kind of strange happened. A small bird, I think it was a sparrow, landed right next to his foot. It picked at the ground for a few seconds, until it hopped onto his black boot, and from his boot it flew up and landed on his elbow. Though he was still on the phone, Zorro stood still letting the bird explore the fabric on his arm. The man, from whom Zorro had borrowed the phone, watched the bird in amazement, until he reached out his hand to it and it flew away. The expression on Zorro's face showed nothing but concentration on the conversation he was having on the phone.

I was bewitched by this strange man, whom I had known for less than five minutes. Well... known about for less than five minutes. I still didn't know him, but for some reason I was glad Louisa had given me that piece of chewing gum!

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Sorry 'bout the sparrow-thing. I couldn't resist. I won't make anymore allusions to Pirates of the Caribbean. Promise! Review if you please. I'd be pleased!

~ Miss Sofie