First of its kind

5

Sophia

It feels warm all of a sudden. I open my eyes and see myself laying on a field full of flowers, with the sun shining on me and warming me and there are only few white, poofy clouds floating in the sky. Only few talking animals and this place would be straight out of a fairytale. Am I dead? Am I dreaming? What happened?  These and few other questions started to worry my mind and soon after, the blue and calm sky was taken over by stormclouds, covering the sun and with thunder echoing in the distance. Ok, so I must be dreaming. But what happened? I remember getting into a car and leaving James behind... "Hello my darling," said a familiar voice behind me. I got onto my feet and turned around just to see James standing right infront of me. "YOU!" I started, my voice filled with pure hatred. "No, please, let me talk," he hushed me, lifting his hand a little. "You can yell at me or slap me or kick me or run away from me or do whatever you see fit. But only after you listen to what I have to say" I stood there, frozen, waiting him to say something more, but he stayed silent. After what felt like hours, he proposed to sit down and talk peacefully. I sat back on the spot where I was laying before, looking at James. It was actually the first time in months, that I really looked at him. I never noticed he had small wrinkles around his ice blue eyes and there was also a bit of grey sneaking into his golden ash hair. Was he really getting that old? Part of me felt pity, but other part just wanted to claw his eyes out for the things he had done to me. 

"Sophia," he began softly, "My dear Sophia. I know it's not easy to convince you that I'm not a bad guy, but atleast let me explain why I have done the things I did and I hope you would think before cutting me off completely. Remember that day three years ago? The day when I called you to see the house for sale? I remember it like it was yesterday. You even broke your favourite mug." James paused for a moment, giving me a weak smile. "That house, it wasn't just a building to me. To me, it was a place where I could raise my children, should I ever have any. And that idea made me posessive, gently said. I didn't want anyone to hurt my family or tear us apart, that's why I sort of manipulated you into losing your friends, because I was afraid they would start giving you some advice and strong suggestions about raising our children. And moving away was the best part of it. Or atleast it seemed that time. You see, because then, it would have been just us, bringing the best out of our kids. No strangers to crush their dreams and imagination. They would've been truly free. Remember how we planted that fern when we moved in? And later on you worked endlessly, creating the most beautiful flowerbed I have ever seen. We were simply in love and everything seemed to go well. But then something changed and I was worried about you. You could even say a bit paranoid. I was afraid you would get into an accident or being hurt in any way when you left the house, that's why I did not let you go alone. You see, there is something I haven't told you, because when any of my family members did, others thought them crazy or freaks. Long story short, our family is gifted and I was blessed with a hightened sense of smell." I couldn't remember when I opened my mouth, but there I was, staring at him with my mouth ajar, wondering if he was serious about the smelling part. "See? Now you think me crazy too," he stated. I quickly closed my mouth and shook my head. "No, I don't, but it is a weird thing to hear." "Please let me continiue. And in case you were wondering, you smell like fruits. I'm not sure if it's your shampoo or soap, but I've grown addicted to it and I panic when I can't find your scent in the air. Almost a month ago, there was something different about you and I realized, it was your fragnance. It had a hint of lilys mixed in. At first I couldn't tell why was it so, but after thinking long, I came to a conclusion which, in my opinion, is the only option. You're pregnant, and that scent of lily is coming from the baby."

 "Isn't that something," I replied with no emotion, "you thought I am pregant and you took it as a permission to keep me locked up in the house? In my own bedroom?" "Yes, I mean, no. I just wanted to keep you safe, but what I did was wrong" James started to sound desperate. "Please, if you would let me..." He never got to finish his sentence because the ground underneath us started shaking. Why did I have an earthquake in my dream? And then everything went black and I fell into darkness...

"Miss.." I felt somebody gently shaking my shoulder."Miss...!" The voice got louder. "Miss..." Why can't they just let me sleep? "Miss, please wake up. It's almost noon," a male voice declared. The bright light coming from the window made it hard for me to open my eyes properly. "What?" I asked with a sleepy voice, "What's going on? Please let me have five minutes more," as I buried my face into the pillow. Wait. A pillow. Why was my head on a pillow? When did I get to bed? My eyes flung open and I shoot myself up with no trace of sleepiness left. There was a man standing right next to me with his arms crossed on his chest, but he didn't look angry, on the contrary, there was some pity in his eyes and his mouth bent in a sad smile. "What? Where am I? Who are you? How did I get here?" I started shooting questions at him, frantically looking around, expecting James to pop out. "Please calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. We're at an inn, called "Daisy's duty" and the reason we are here is because last night you fell asleep on the passenger seat and that made me too sleepy to continiue driving. So I took a stop here and now I was going to ask you if you would like to eat anything and what would be your decision regarding joining me on the road. But first things first, my name is Marcus. Nice to meet you." The man stuck out his hand for me to shake it. "Sophia," I replied quietly, barely touching his hand and avoiding his look. "Umm...could I go take a quick rinse in the shower before anything else?" I asked the man. "Sure, take as much time as you need, I will be waiting in the dining area. Don't worry about getting lost, it's right down the hall, past the reception and go left." With those words, Marcus left the room and I got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom. Too bad I didn't have any clean clothes for change, but I was happy to atleast wash myself.

 I must have taken a long time, because by the time I walked to the dining area, I saw Marcus sitting completely alone in the empty hall, waiting. When I stopped next to his table, the only thing I could do was to apologize for taking so long. "No worries, miss. As long as it made you feel better. Now, how about you join me so we could discuss what you want to do next?" I nodded, pulled out a chair and sat at the other side of the small table. "So, as I see it, you have three options. Four actually, but I seriously doubt you would even consider that. One, you could join me on the road to my parents' place. I'm sure they would help you figure out what you want to do. Two, I could take you to the nearest police station, you could file an accusation, telling your absolute peapod of a boyfriend kept harassing you. And three, you could stay here, I can give you some cash to pay for the few nights and you will continiue on your own." "And what was the fourth option you don't want to mention?" I asked Marcus. "Well," he hesitated for a moment," the fourth option would be you calling your boyfriend, sort things out and try to make things work." "This... is one of the stupidest idea I've heard," I replied. But he did have a point. There were some things I wanted James to confirm. The last night's dream was becoming a blurry memory, but I remember he mentioned something about smelling. "How about I call James, and then I'll come with you to your pop's place?" Marcus let out a long shigh. "I suppose it is an option. But if you really decide to come with me, then you should know something first. I've never had a girlfriend or any relationships which would actually let me call the woman my girlfriend. And that has turned my mom into some sort of a wedding lunatic, or so to say. What I want to say is that when my ma sees you, you better be ready for some non- stop wedding related questions." He looked down as if he was ashamed of all this. "No worries," I replied cheerfully, "Actually, I could use some positive vibes right now, even if it means I have to pretend to be your future wife," I ended with a chuckle. Marcus looked up hopefully. "So, you don't mind?" "Not even a tiniest bit," I assured him. The man smiled and asked me if I would like to have some coffee. "Yes, thank you. But no food please. I don't think I would be able to eat anything right now, kinda feeling bit nauseous." Marcus stood up and walked to the coffee machine I didn't notice before, tossed in few coins and the machine started vibrating as it was making coffee. That gave me a chance to take a closer look at him without him noticing. He seemed muscular, just enough to let people know he's not someone to be messed with, yet he wasn't bulky. Brown hair and stubble beard framing his face, he reminded me a lumberjack and to make the image complete, Marcus was wearing one of those shirts made out of checkered fabric. Two minutes later, he came back to our table, holding a coffee cup in each hand. Placing down my cup, he looked at me and I noticed his eyes were amber, almost golden in colour. "Daydreaming, are we?" he asked, waking me from my thoughts. With embarrasment, I noticed I had my mouth open. Feeling myself blushing, I tried to focus on the coffee infront of me. "No, not really. Just that..." I trailed off. "It's ok, you don't have to explain yourself," he replied with a chuckle. "So, do you want to call your toilet brush boyfriend now or after having this delightful coffee?"