Fateful night
It was a dark and rainy day in the large city. The skies were blanketed with thickening rain clouds. The streets were bustling with crowds of people. Each one of them minding their own business, trying to continue the same routine that each one of them had created to make their lives much easier. The ruffling rain had not affected the flow of traffic, everything ran like clockwork for time and time again. A middle age man in his late twenties ran through the crowd attempting to get home as quick as he could.
"This is unbelievable. It seems like everything is working against me so I can't get where I need to get" He thought.
The crowd seem to thicken and the rain beat harder than it did a few minutes ago. As the gentlemen fought through the compelling forces, his long lavender hair flopped back and forth hitting the people, he had just passed, in the face.
A little female voice squeaked out to him, "Xander".
The man did answer but continued to press on through the crowd.
"Xander.." she tried again, but still he didn't answer the voice.
She gave it one more attempt before giving up on him, "XANDER!" she ranged out into his ear, but of course no one else but him heard this voice.
He responded with a agitated tone, "What! What do you want Naomi?"
"You don't have to yell at me, I am right next to you. Geez.. Anyways, I wanted to ask you a question" she pleaed to him.
"Alright, what is your question that you wanted to ask me?" he replied to her.
A few moments passed before Naomi asked him the question. She was trying to gather her thoughts before she spilled her thoughts onto him. While he waited on her, he stopped for a moment in the crowd and looked around his surroundings. He tried to judge what the distance was between them and their destination.
She cleared her throat, and spoke loud enough for him to hear her tiny voice, "Xander, I want to know why do you rush home every time there is a bad rain storm?"
He let out a sigh, as he knew the answer quite clearly but he didn't want to answer it at this time. She had asked him for the answer to why he always finishs up what he was working on and rushes to his home.
He reveals his secret to the little one, "Alright, I guess it is time for me to tell you this sad story."
She stays silent for him to spin his tale, he walks off to the side of the street into a damp alley lane.
He pats his hand onto the trash can lid, as he gives her some instructions "Sit here as I share something with you, that I haven't told any one else."
The little green fairie creature exposed herself from deep within Xander's hair. It had been hiding inside of it the whole time, to stay out of the other human viewing range. She had flown gently through the air and landed gracefully onto the trash can lid. She sat herself on the edge of the trash lid and placed her hands onto her lap.
Xander started telling his story, " Alright, here I go. Seven years before I met up with you, it was when I first found May, she was about ten years old. It was late in the evening, the rain had continued for hours but it wasn't as bad as it is now. Instead of taking my normal path home, I had decided to go through the park that time. I had stopped for a moment at the wishing fountain that was in the middle of the park. I tossed a coin into it, making a wish before hand."
Naomi interjected her statement, " What did you wish for?"
Xander answered her with a scold, " I was just getting to that."
He resumed his normal tone as he continued his story, " I had wished for someone that I could love, someone that I could share everything that I had to share with. You get the idea already, so I'll move on. Within a few minutes, there was a trembling cry not to far from where I was. I dropped all of my belongings and ran toward the source of it. What I found was something that I wasn't expecting. There on the ground was a child crying her eyes out. There was no one around the child tending to her or even showing any emotions to it. For the most part, everyone was ignoring her to their fullest. I walked closer to her and noticed there was something next to her. I had knelt down next to her and gave her a look over to see if she was hurt. There was no visible physical wounds, but I had asked her what was wrong. She had told me that her parents had abandoned her and left her there for someone else to deal with. The expression on her face was sad and touching, it made me feel like I was responsible even though I had no correlation with her or the events that created her predictament. I told her carefully that I would look after her untill they found suitable parents for her. She agreed and told me her name was May. I told her my name and she was delighted to stay with me. I asked her what was in the box next to her and she told me it was some clothes that she had grabbed before her parents put her onto the street. Since that day, I swore on a oath that I made to myself, that I would never leave her alone on days where the weather was really bad. I'll tell you why, I made that oath. Everytime she is alone on a day where the weather is bad, it makes her remember the time she was abandoned. She feels all of the bad emotions over again, and I try to be there to comfort her and help her remember that she is not alone anymore. I'll always be there for her. That is my story and my oath. What do you think from what I have told you so far?"
He pauses to catch his breath and let Naomi put forth her opinion. "I'm surprised that you have known May for so long. Now, I see why you have been so close with May for the last 4 years I have been with two of you. Something I don't understand yet, are you just her guardian angel or is it much more than meets the eye?"
He opens his mouth to answer, but stops for a moment to think about his answer. Then he answers the question, " I am both, I vowed to protect her from any danger that presents itself to her, but also my feelings for her have grown much more than I thought they were. I originally plained to become some what of a parent but more of a friend, but it didn't work out like that. If you hadn't notice since you have been with us, her feelings for me are quite mutual. We share everything and anything, there is nothing we hide from each other."
He pauses his remark and listens for a moment. The echoes of the rain droplets make more of a roaring sound out on the main street.
"It sounds like the rain is picking up the pace and is making more of a impact on the city. Lets hurry up and get home, okay?" He suggested.
Naomi replied back to him," Alright, I can see it in your eyes that you really want to be May right now. So lets go!"
She flapped her little herbal fairie wings and drifted into her hidden spot in his hair. Xander and Naomi left the alley and rushed as fast as they could back to their home.
Within ten more minutes, the gentleman and the herbal fairie arrived at the house. Xander pushed the doorbell ringer but there was no answer. He waited a minute and ranged the doorbell again, still there was no answer from the house. He was getting very worried about May, he was hoping everything was okay. He puts his hand into his pocket searching for his house key. A puzzled look bewilders his face as he continues to dig deeper into his pocket. He pulls his pocket sleeves inside out and there is no keys. Suddenly the answer dawns to his mind.
"Thats right, I was rushing out of the office and I left my key ring back at work", he said aloudly "Naomi, if you could squeeze your body in through the mail drop slot, you can then unlock the door. Will you do it for me?"
She gave him a quick nod joined with a pleasant smile, he smiled back at her. It wasn't long before she tried to squeeze herself through the narrow mail slot.
"Help, I'm stuck!" she shouted.
He put his hand up against the mail slot and gave Naomi a nice swat on her backside which was more than enough to free her from her entrapment. Shortly after there was a clicking sound from the other side of the door.
Naomi yelped back at him after saying ouch really loud, " The door is unlocked, come on inside the house."
He gave a half smile and opened the door to find something unusual but he was expecting it. The entire house was in complete shroudness, he reached over to the wall and flipped a series of switches which none of them worked. He called out to May, but there was no response to his call. A bolt of lighting struck the night sky completely illuminating Xander's house but only temporaily. He visualizes a mental map of the entire two-story house. He thinks of rooms layouts and possible obstacles that he could trip over, he ignores it and walks through each of the rooms looking for her. Every now and then a lighting bolt emits enough light to illuminate the current room he was currently in. He searches high and low of where his love could possible be. He hears a intesifying yell for him, he bolts himself across the house with great speed tripping over random items that were knocked on the ground. He pulls his momentum to a complete stop at his bedroom doorjam, there he sees a figure crawled up in a fetal position on his bed. Naomi is floating next to the bed frame, while signaling for him to come closer to May. He walks rather quickly over to the bed and leans over the side of it, he takes a deep look at her to see if she is awake or asleep. Everytime a bolt of lighting strikes, she trembles with fear and then returns back to her fetal position.
He calls out to her, "May. May I'm here." He sits down on the side of the bed, but turns his upper torso so he is facing her.
He reassures her with confidence, "May, I am sorry for running alittle late, but I am here for you and I will always be by your side when you need me the most. Please speak to me."
He encompasses his eronomus hands around her young and silky hands.
He continues speaking, "You are not alone or abandon, you are surrounded by your family. Thats all you need is your family, to love and support you. "
She looks deeply at him, tears trail down the side of her face. She takes a deep breath and cries worse than she was before he said his comment.
He comforted her, "May! I'm sorry. I didn't mean your actually family. I had meant the family we have here you, Naomi, and me."
She paused her crying for a moment, she shifted her expression from scared and angry to a happy, relieved emotion, her nose sniffles as she reveals a smile at him.
"Thank you so much, and from now on I'll remember what you said to me. You will always be with me in a special place inside of my heart. I love the both of you so much. Every day when it is time for you to come home, I get so anxious to greet you and find out how your day went. I could careless if I died right here and now, because this is my heaven. Being able to spend each and every waking moment with such a wonderful people like the two of you." she told him.
The both of them stay quiet as they lean toward each other to share a special kiss.
"Zack wake up!" someone said.
The couple moves closer to each other unaffect by the statement.
Again the it said, " Zack Wake up!"
Just right before the two lovers could make a connection, anything and everything disappeared from sight.
"Come on Zack, you fell asleep again. Wake up! We need you now." said a femine voice.
Zack sits up shaking his head wondering what had just happened. He is in a room surrounded by computer terminals and cubicles, a woman stands up behind him telling him something but he doesn't pay attention.
He mumbles to himself, "Where am I... what is going? What happened to May and Naomi...It couldn't have been.. It was so real."
The woman interjects herself into his monologue, "Zack, what are you talking about. Who is May and Naomi and what was real?"
Zack finished his monologue, " It felt so real, I mean everything seemed like it had actually happened and I was living the life of a private detective."
He lets out a sigh, as he realizes who he is and where he is.
The woman speaks again, " Are you even listening to me? Hello Earth to Zack! Come in Zack!!"
Zack spins around in his desk swirl chair, he looks up but only to find a fiery red headed woman looking at him. "Oh hello Jessica."
Jessica responds back to him in a more furious tone, " I stopped what I was doing, to lend you a hand. I woke you up so the boss doesn't find you and fire you on the spot for sleeping on the job again. Then you ignore me and mumble some stuff about some random people. All you have to say is "oh hello Jessica"? Thats the thanks I get.."
Zack apologized, " Look, Jessica I am extremely sorry for doing that to you. I haven't been sleeping well at home. Here let me make it up to you, Jessica. I'll take you out where ever you want to go eat. How does that sound?"
A surprised tone resides in her voice, " Oh wow! You really mean? So is that a date?"
He gives a nod to her.
Then she continues what she was saying, " Alright, I am going to hold that to you. Tonight is the night for our little dinner date and I want you to tell me all about your fantasy dream girl. Alright?"
He smiles to her, " I'll pick you up around 7p.m. How does that sound?"
Jessica replied, "Thats perfect!"
The both of them smiles and Jessica waved good bye and the two went back to work until check-out time.
The End
-Gregg Brown