Timeless

Chapter 4

The atmosphere at the bar was intense. The music was great, I could hear the sound of pool balls colliding in the back and general banter and feel good energy filled the place. We went straight to get drinks, Will ordered a beer and after some thought I decided on a beer, too. Once we got our drinks we made our way to the table his friends were all laughing and joking at. I'd known his friends for years but most of them hadn't seen me since they left school and went off to college and by the time they came home I'd gone off to college too. It had been almost 6 years and I'd changed. I'd grown into my once too big eyes and also grew a pair of boobs, too. At first they didn't recognise me but they erupted into disbelief when Will told them who I was.

As the night went on, the banter and the company were good and I was having fun. I made my way to the bathroom to check my makeup and reapply my lipstick. As I walked through the crowd I felt eyes on me, almost sharp enough to peirce my soul. I stopped and turned and in the corner drinking alone was possibly the most beautiful human I had ever laid eyes upon. His eyes were so icy blue that my body almost froze over. I could feel my heart race as he allowed a shy smile to peak from the corner of his beautiful mouth. His hair was dark and shaggy. Like it had been made perfect by accident and he had stubble decorating his chin. He wore a gold ring on his pinky finger and as he gently clasped the whiskey filled glass from the table and raised it to his mouth, he smiled. His face was beautiful with the smoothest skin I'd ever seen and his dark features made his eyes stand out even more. I could feel my breathing getting heavier and once he finished his drink, he stood, grabbed his jacket and left out of the side door, but not before he looked back. His expression hit me differently. I didn't know him, I'd never seen him before, but my body wanted him and I could feel the electricity in the air between us. When the door shut behind him I was pulled back to reality, where the chatter of the bar continued. Who was this man?

The more I thought about his presence the more familiar he felt to me. I had grown up in this town but I didn't remember him. Could he be someone from my childhood? I tried to shake him and enjoy my evening but fearing I couldn't, I decided I wanted to go home. Will's friend Olli offered to walk me home and given that it was pretty late, I accepted. Despite this being a small town, with minimal threat, you could never be too careful. As we walked the streets, probably a 20 minute slow walk through back streets, I felt dizzy. I figured I'd drunk too much and carried on walking when I fell against a wall barely able to hold myself up. I know I wasn't this drunk. I panicked when I saw Olli coming toward me. I felt his grimy, sly hands on my body and after trying to push him away to no avail I decided my next best option was to dissociate myself and wait for the attack to finish. I closed my eyes and waited. Nothing. I opened them to find the stranger from the bar stood in front of me and Olli making his way out of the back street and back towards the bar. What? He turned to me and caught me as I collapsed, then it went black.

I awoke in my bed, with a headache and a dry mouth. The sunlight peaked through the curtains and stung my eyes. Did I dream it all? I slowly stood up from my bed and slid downstairs, feeling awful. I made my way to the kitchen but before entering I heard chatter. It was mom and Will, talking about Olli and what he'd tried to do. My head spun. It wasn't a dream. My breath became deep and panicked as I listened, hearing the occasional word as they whispered...

"drugged... walked her home... almost attacked... stranger that helped" were the words I could make out. What was going on? I walked in the kitchen and all fell quiet.

"don't stop on account of me" I mumbled. " Mom do you have any Tylenol?". She reached for the pills in the med kit she kept in the space in the top of the pantry and gave me a bottle of water from the fridge. As I swallowed the pills, they seemed like nothing in comparison to the pill I was about to swallow from Will.

"hey bug... do you remember what happened last night?" he asked. Yes.

"no" I lied, "why, is something wrong?". I watched the relief fall over their faces. Relief soon turned to anguish though when he realised he had to tell me. I let him walk me through his version of events and I discovered he and Olli got into a fight and he ended up putting him in hospital. The stranger from the bar had come to my rescue, brought me home to my parents and went back to tell my brother what happened. An angel, perhaps? Who knew?