Remove Ad, Sign Up
Register to Remove Ad
Register to Remove Ad
Remove Ad, Sign Up
Register to Remove Ad
Register to Remove Ad
Signup for Free!
-More Features-
-Far Less Ads-
About   Users   Help
Users & Guests Online
On Page: 1
Directory: 122
Entire Site: 6 & 817
Page Staff: pokemon x, pennylessz, Barathemos, tgags123, alexanyways, supercool22, RavusRat,
03-28-24 07:38 AM

Thread Information

Views
537
Replies
0
Rating
2
Status
CLOSED
Thread
Creator
Eirinn
12-07-16 08:12 AM
Last
Post
Eirinn
12-07-16 08:12 AM
Additional Thread Details
Views: 397
Today: 0
Users: 9 unique
Last User View
04-26-17
Eirinn

Thread Actions

Thread Closed
New Thread
New Poll
Order
 

Dust Trails: of Earth, Chapter Ten

 

12-07-16 08:12 AM
Eirinn is Offline
| ID: 1318687 | 3241 Words

Eirinn
Level: 154


POSTS: 6635/7900
POST EXP: 1300417
LVL EXP: 45886738
CP: 69368.0
VIZ: 1836533

Likes: 2  Dislikes: 0
Click here to go to the first chapter
or here to go to the previous chapter




Chapter Ten

"Embrace the present, face the future, remember the past. For what shall be, is. And the ghosts of the past may never perish."


An alert sounds, waking Rylan from his sleep. Being a bounty hunter for a living prepares a man for just about any kind of dangerous situation one could imagine, and Rylan always stays prepared for any such occasion to befall him at any time. As such, when the alert sounds he springs to his feet, his day clothes still on and his weapon at his side.

After a brief moment, he realizes he's not in any imminent danger, and rather that Taenya has turned up search results that are of potentially great importance. Walking to the front he looks at the holoscreen which already displays the information on Taenya's find.

"This is what you found so important as to alert me so early?" he asks the ship as he reads the information displayed before him. "A Milariman energy source? Come now, do you really think Sanya Irzorwyn would dock in such a place? Not only is it not possible that she would be auto-docked at an incompatible source, but Milarim is easily the most hostile people toward her."

Taenya growls in exasperation, and plays back the recorded audio stored in her memory banks, causing Rylan to laugh when he hears his own voice ordering Taenya to "Scan databases for every known energy source of any kind in this sector" and "activate scanners and scan for any potential unknown sources".

"I see. My apologies, you were doing as ordered." he says with a grin on his face. He's apologizing to a ship, something he never thought he would do. Taenya coos an acceptance of his apology, and this only serves to strike him as even more humorous.

"Alright, let's see. The signal is coming from" he pauses as he tries to make sure he's reading it correctly "Earth? Are you sure this scan is accurate, Taenya?" he inquires, and Taenya responds with an irritated groan. "Okay okay. Touchy aren't you? Alright, head for the destination of this energy source. I don't expect we'll find her, but an energy source on Earth is worth investigating nonetheless."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Heading to the house, Aaron finds himself more ready for some down time than usual lately. Sanya stayed with Lauren today at her request, to help her with some things, and as such, Aaron had to work alone. He used to do so everyday, but since Sanya's been around he hasn't had to very often, and on those occasions that he has it's always been because he didn't have much work planned for the day. Today however, was a very busy day for him and being unaccustomed to doing so much work alone now, he's feeling the effects of it.

Opening the door, he's greeted by two very unpleasant things: first a thin layer of smoke is hanging around and seems to be coming from the kitchen. Next, and the real annoyance, Sanya and Lauren are shouting at each other in the other room.

"Old times are here again." he says as he sighs and hangs his head. "What are you two fighting about now?" he asks as he heads for the kitchen. Before he can receive his answer however, he rounds the corner and bursts into laughter, which he tries his best to mask with a fake cough.

The sight before him is the source of his amusement: Sanya covered in some sort of batter, and Lauren looking more ghost than human with flour covering most of her front.

"So what exactly happened here?" he asks, trying his best not to smile.

"This...woman. She's what happened." Lauren answers, glaring at Sanya. "She's so incompetent!"

"What? More like you're so entitled!" Sanya shouts back then looks at Aaron who's still using everything inside of himself to not show his amusement at the whole thing. "Princess Lauren here expected me to do everything for her while she goofed off doing who knows what."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Well if the tiara fits."

"Ugh I can't stand you sometimes, you know that? You really can be the most aggravating woman in the world!" Lauren shouts as she turns to the counter and retrieves a pan of something that was once meant to be food, but now shows no trace of edibility.

"Yeah I kind of got that when you dumped a bowl of batter on me."

"Because you threw half of a bag of flour at me!"

"That was an accident, and you know it! Why did you get so worked up about something like that?"

"Do you really even have to ask?" Lauren says as she places a hand on her forehead. "I should think it would be obvious that I'd get upset over having flour thrown maliciously at me like that!"

"Maliciously?" Sanya laughs derisively "You're just upset that Aaron saw you looking like that."

Lauren's face reddens, though it's barely noticeable beneath all of that flour. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, you wanted to have a nice dinner ready and be all prettied up when he got here." Sanya teases.

Lauren doesn't take kindly to her secrets being revealed, and before Aaron can stop her, she slaps Sanya so hard that the sharp sound resonates through the room, making him wince.

"Oh you're going to regret that, little girl. I am one woman you don't want to mess with." Sanya says, her voice low and menacing. Doubling her fist she lunges toward Lauren. Her punch lands with enough force to send a grown man to the ground, and that's just what it does.


Sanya and Lauren stare down at Aaron who had stepped in between them and been met with a fist to the chest, the fist that was meant for Lauren's face.

"Aaron!" Lauren cries out as she comes to his side and kneels down beside him as he sits there looking at Sanya "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I didn't see you in time." Sanya says, realizing just how out of control she was at that moment.

"I can't believe you did that!" Lauren fires angrily as she whips her head around to glare at Sanya once more, and rises to her feet.

"Seriously? Are going to try picking a fight with me all over again?"

"Will you two stop it already?" Aaron shouts at the two women who have resumed their toe to toe staredown. Rising to his feet he adds "You're both impossible. You're adults. Act like it."

After a brief silence Sanya speaks up "She started it." she says, a smile tugging at the corners of her batter covered lips.

Lauren responds by sticking her tongue out and the two women both burst into laughter, leaving Aaron staring in bewilderment. What just happened?

"I'll never understand you two." Aaron says as he heads for the stairs. "I'll go get ready for...whatever we'll be eating."


______________________________


After having cereal for dinner since their previous attempt at cooking had been burned beyond recognition, Aaron heads back out to take the crops he'd harvested to the shed. As he reaches the shed and puts the crops away, he hears someone coming up behind him. Turning quickly he finds Sanya standing behind him with a ball of energy in her hands, her arms extended and ready to blast him.

"Move and die, Milariman." she says, her voice cold.

"Get serious, will ya?" Aaron says as he walks past her.

"Didn't buy it, huh?"

"Not for a second."

"Well you're no fun." she replies as she walks alongside him. "Hey Aaron, I've been meaning to talk to you. Do you have a moment?"

Stopping he turns to face her "Is this about the sword?"

"Indeed it is. Care to explain how you can wield the Roaidah like that?"

Wearing a look of deep thought, he remains silent for a moment before answering "No, not really. Thanks for asking though." then flashing a smile, he begins walking toward the house once again.

"I'm serious here, Aaron." Sanya replies, unamused by his answer. "Something strange is going on here. Tell me the truth: you're royalty, aren't you?"

"No. No, I'm not." is all he says as he continues walking without breaking stride.

"You have to be. No one else could produce the Roaidah like that."

"You sure seem to know a lot about Milarim, Sanya." he says as he stops again and looks to the sky. "Is there a reason you're so well acquainted with our royalty's secrets and techniques? Should I be the one asking questions here? I would be justified in being suspicious and doubting you, would I not?"

His words catch Sanya off guard, but she realizes the truth in them. "I don't suppose I could blame you if you did." a few moments of silence pass before she speaks up again "Do you?"

"Not at all. You say you didn't do it, and I believe you. Do you know why I believe you?"

"Honestly I haven't the foggiest." she answers frankly.

"Because I give everyone a fair chance. You don't strike me as a liar or ruthless murderer. If anything you've been the exact opposite the whole time you've been here, so I see no reason to doubt that you're telling the truth."

"I see." she answers humbly "Thank you for that."

"Mmhmm." he replies as he turns and looks off into the black void of the night. "Now tell me, Sanya: which do you believe? Me, or what you've heard from others who've never met me?"

"I believe you." she says, ashamed that she'd accused him of lying to her about his origins. "But can you tell me how it's possible at least? You say you're not royalty, and I believe you now, but how can you wield it?"

"I was a member of the royal guard, or rather, my father was." he explains "I was still too young to join when we left Milarim."

"Wait." Sanya says as the realization of what this means begins to dawn on her "How long ago did you leave?"

A knowing smile comes to Aaron's face "Ten years ago."

"So you were there when..."

"I was there when they accused you of killing the king, yes. In fact that's why we left, my grandpa, dad, and I. We were among the few who didn't believe it. We felt that you were framed by prince Kovlar as a means of ascending to the throne in place of his brother. He knew you'd had encounters with the royal family before, and one in particular that turned violent. We suspected that he used that encounter as a springboard to propagate his slanders."

"I see. Then how did the king die?"

"Kovlar killed him."

"You seem awfully sure about that."

"Knowing prince Kovlar, it seems like the natural conclusion."

Knowing prince Kovlar? Did that imply that Aaron knew him personally? She wants to know, but she's afraid to ask for fear of seeming to doubt his story. Now is not the time to ask further questions.

"Well anyway" Aaron breaks the silence "we should probably hurry back before Lauren misses us."

Nodding in agreement, Sanya starts back to the house with him. As they arrive, she heads to her place while Aaron goes on to his. She for one wants to make sure that Lauren doesn't find out that they had been together while they were away, lest she ask questions about their discussion. Lauren has no idea about what Sanya's life before coming here was like, and Sanya wants to keep it that way.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, Sanya slips inside in stealth mode. Closing the door as slowly and silently as she opened it, she turns and heads for her room. Still slinking through the house as quietly as a mouse, she passes by Lauren's room. The door is ajar and she sees Lauren in her bed fast asleep. Thankful, she tip toes on to her room, but as she heads for the bed she stumbles over a pair of shoes that she had left sitting in the floor, and falls with a loud thud. She grimaces: there goes her cover. Lauren will be in here any moment to check it out. Scrambling into her bed she waits for the visit, but nothing happens. How had she gotten away with that? She doesn't know, but she isn't complaining.


Lying in her dark room, Sanya stares at the ceiling as she ponders the conversation she just had with Aaron: he trusts her and believes in her innocence, at least to some extent. That should make her happy - no one has ever shown such confidence in her. Instead she can't help feeling just the opposite: sorrow overtakes her every thought and feeling. She knows she's just going to disappoint him. It's too late for her to be innocent and clean, and he's going to learn that sooner or later. Closing her eyes, she prays that it'll be later rather than sooner.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lying on her bed, Lauren looks out her window. What had Aaron and Sanya been doing out so long? Aaron has a large plot of land, but the walk to the shed and back shouldn't have taken that long. And what about Sanya? Why had she even went with him when he was carrying it all himself anyway? Then Sanya came sneaking in like that, thinking she got by without Lauren noticing. Something is up, and Lauren intends to figure out just what it is.


________________________________


After a few hours of lying awake and trying to figure out what was going on, Lauren finally falls off to sleep, but her dreams are once again plagued by her recurring nightmare of being chased by the mystery figure. After waking from the troubling imagery of her nightmare several times, she finally gives up on getting any rest at all and peels her blankets back, bracing herself for the rush of cool air as she does so.


Sitting up she sees the clock: 4:33 AM, only fifteen minutes later than it was the last time she awoke from the nightmare, and thirty five minutes later than it was the time before that. Between her trouble falling off to sleep last night as she worried about what Sanya and Aaron were hiding from her, and the nightmare plaguing her every time she started actually managing to sleep, she barely netted a total of a whopping hour and a half at best by her estimation.


Rising to her feet she grabs her clothes for the day and shuffles across the shag carpeting of her room and into the hallway. Passing Sanya's room she hears nothing. She must still be sleeping. Lucky woman.
As she reaches the bathroom, Lauren changes out of her night clothes and brushes her hair to smooth it down after getting quite the nasty case of bedhead due to the constant tossing and turning from her nightmare all night long. Once she's managed to get it looking presentable, she heads for the door, grabbing a glass of orange juice on her way through the kitchen. Her stomach is growling out a complaint about it's emptiness but she decides to wait until the others are up to eat. Until then she'll just go for a walk or something. Anything to keep from having that nightmare again.

As she exits the house, she sees something that she hadn't expected at this hour: Aaron sitting on the porch, his legs bent in front of him, extending over the edge of the porch that rests less than a foot above the ground. His feet rest on the snow covered ground before the porch and his arms rest on his thighs as he stares up at the night sky silently.

"Oh, good morning." Lauren offers from across the way, but he doesn't seem to hear her. Walking closer she offers again "Good morning." but still no response.

He's clearly quite absorbed in his thoughts, but what are they about? Whatever he and Sanya were hiding? Or perhaps life out there among the stars he's staring at? She doesn't know the real him that well anymore, and she could certainly never guess what was going on in his mind now, and that hurts. She's determined to find a way to reconcile her differences with both Aaron and Sanya somehow, and now looks like as good of a time to start as any.

Taking a seat next to him quietly she fixes her gaze on what seems to be the same area he's looking "Good morning, Aaron."

Without so much as turning to look at her he replies "Good morning." his voice emotionless.

This could be harder than she'd thought.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asks.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Why not? Nightmare? Not tired?"

"Just couldn't."

"Well that explains it." she replies dryly, but he seems oblivious to her presence still. "Aaron, is something wrong?"

That did the trick. Turning to look at her he smiles comfortingly "No, everything's alright. Sorry to worry you, I just couldn't rest last night."

"Hey, what are you two doing up so early?" Sanya calls as she steps out of the house, a thin blanket wrapped around her to shield herself somewhat from the cold wind.

"Couldn't sleep." Aaron says and rises to his feet.

"Why not?"

"Just couldn't." Lauren answers as she stands up and smiles at Aaron who somewhat surprisingly catches the joke. "Well if we're all up anyway, I might as well whip up some breakfast."

"Yeah, wait up and I'll join you." Sanya tells her as she walks toward the house, casting a worried look at Aaron as she passes him.


_______________________________


Finishing breakfast, Lauren excuses herself from the table and heads to the sink to begin cleanup. Meanwhile Sanya and Aaron both head for the door to begin work for the day, not that Sanya plans on just working, no, she needs to have a talk with Aaron too.

"Oh uh, Sanya?" Lauren calls, casting a glance over her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Could I ask you to stay here with me today? I have to, uh" she tries to think of something to say without sounding suspicious "I need your help around here. That is, if you can spare her help today, Aaron."

"Huh?" Aaron's confusion is apparent "Sure, I don't mind. She's free to do whatever she chooses. Besides there isn't much to do today really."

An apprehensive look on her face, Sanya halts for a moment and debates within herself before deciding she has no real choice here. "Yeah. Okay."

"Great." Lauren says with a smile, which makes Sanya even more uncomfortable. What does she have planned?


The room remains silent until after Aaron closes the front door behind him. As she hears him leave however, Lauren turns around and looks at Sanya who is still standing in awkward silence, looking like a nervous child on their first day of school.

"So, what happened?" the words Sanya had hoped Lauren wouldn't ask are precisely the ones that come out of her mouth. Is it too late for her to disappear?



Click here to go to the next chapter
Click here to go to the first chapter
or here to go to the previous chapter




Chapter Ten

"Embrace the present, face the future, remember the past. For what shall be, is. And the ghosts of the past may never perish."


An alert sounds, waking Rylan from his sleep. Being a bounty hunter for a living prepares a man for just about any kind of dangerous situation one could imagine, and Rylan always stays prepared for any such occasion to befall him at any time. As such, when the alert sounds he springs to his feet, his day clothes still on and his weapon at his side.

After a brief moment, he realizes he's not in any imminent danger, and rather that Taenya has turned up search results that are of potentially great importance. Walking to the front he looks at the holoscreen which already displays the information on Taenya's find.

"This is what you found so important as to alert me so early?" he asks the ship as he reads the information displayed before him. "A Milariman energy source? Come now, do you really think Sanya Irzorwyn would dock in such a place? Not only is it not possible that she would be auto-docked at an incompatible source, but Milarim is easily the most hostile people toward her."

Taenya growls in exasperation, and plays back the recorded audio stored in her memory banks, causing Rylan to laugh when he hears his own voice ordering Taenya to "Scan databases for every known energy source of any kind in this sector" and "activate scanners and scan for any potential unknown sources".

"I see. My apologies, you were doing as ordered." he says with a grin on his face. He's apologizing to a ship, something he never thought he would do. Taenya coos an acceptance of his apology, and this only serves to strike him as even more humorous.

"Alright, let's see. The signal is coming from" he pauses as he tries to make sure he's reading it correctly "Earth? Are you sure this scan is accurate, Taenya?" he inquires, and Taenya responds with an irritated groan. "Okay okay. Touchy aren't you? Alright, head for the destination of this energy source. I don't expect we'll find her, but an energy source on Earth is worth investigating nonetheless."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Heading to the house, Aaron finds himself more ready for some down time than usual lately. Sanya stayed with Lauren today at her request, to help her with some things, and as such, Aaron had to work alone. He used to do so everyday, but since Sanya's been around he hasn't had to very often, and on those occasions that he has it's always been because he didn't have much work planned for the day. Today however, was a very busy day for him and being unaccustomed to doing so much work alone now, he's feeling the effects of it.

Opening the door, he's greeted by two very unpleasant things: first a thin layer of smoke is hanging around and seems to be coming from the kitchen. Next, and the real annoyance, Sanya and Lauren are shouting at each other in the other room.

"Old times are here again." he says as he sighs and hangs his head. "What are you two fighting about now?" he asks as he heads for the kitchen. Before he can receive his answer however, he rounds the corner and bursts into laughter, which he tries his best to mask with a fake cough.

The sight before him is the source of his amusement: Sanya covered in some sort of batter, and Lauren looking more ghost than human with flour covering most of her front.

"So what exactly happened here?" he asks, trying his best not to smile.

"This...woman. She's what happened." Lauren answers, glaring at Sanya. "She's so incompetent!"

"What? More like you're so entitled!" Sanya shouts back then looks at Aaron who's still using everything inside of himself to not show his amusement at the whole thing. "Princess Lauren here expected me to do everything for her while she goofed off doing who knows what."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Well if the tiara fits."

"Ugh I can't stand you sometimes, you know that? You really can be the most aggravating woman in the world!" Lauren shouts as she turns to the counter and retrieves a pan of something that was once meant to be food, but now shows no trace of edibility.

"Yeah I kind of got that when you dumped a bowl of batter on me."

"Because you threw half of a bag of flour at me!"

"That was an accident, and you know it! Why did you get so worked up about something like that?"

"Do you really even have to ask?" Lauren says as she places a hand on her forehead. "I should think it would be obvious that I'd get upset over having flour thrown maliciously at me like that!"

"Maliciously?" Sanya laughs derisively "You're just upset that Aaron saw you looking like that."

Lauren's face reddens, though it's barely noticeable beneath all of that flour. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, you wanted to have a nice dinner ready and be all prettied up when he got here." Sanya teases.

Lauren doesn't take kindly to her secrets being revealed, and before Aaron can stop her, she slaps Sanya so hard that the sharp sound resonates through the room, making him wince.

"Oh you're going to regret that, little girl. I am one woman you don't want to mess with." Sanya says, her voice low and menacing. Doubling her fist she lunges toward Lauren. Her punch lands with enough force to send a grown man to the ground, and that's just what it does.


Sanya and Lauren stare down at Aaron who had stepped in between them and been met with a fist to the chest, the fist that was meant for Lauren's face.

"Aaron!" Lauren cries out as she comes to his side and kneels down beside him as he sits there looking at Sanya "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I didn't see you in time." Sanya says, realizing just how out of control she was at that moment.

"I can't believe you did that!" Lauren fires angrily as she whips her head around to glare at Sanya once more, and rises to her feet.

"Seriously? Are going to try picking a fight with me all over again?"

"Will you two stop it already?" Aaron shouts at the two women who have resumed their toe to toe staredown. Rising to his feet he adds "You're both impossible. You're adults. Act like it."

After a brief silence Sanya speaks up "She started it." she says, a smile tugging at the corners of her batter covered lips.

Lauren responds by sticking her tongue out and the two women both burst into laughter, leaving Aaron staring in bewilderment. What just happened?

"I'll never understand you two." Aaron says as he heads for the stairs. "I'll go get ready for...whatever we'll be eating."


______________________________


After having cereal for dinner since their previous attempt at cooking had been burned beyond recognition, Aaron heads back out to take the crops he'd harvested to the shed. As he reaches the shed and puts the crops away, he hears someone coming up behind him. Turning quickly he finds Sanya standing behind him with a ball of energy in her hands, her arms extended and ready to blast him.

"Move and die, Milariman." she says, her voice cold.

"Get serious, will ya?" Aaron says as he walks past her.

"Didn't buy it, huh?"

"Not for a second."

"Well you're no fun." she replies as she walks alongside him. "Hey Aaron, I've been meaning to talk to you. Do you have a moment?"

Stopping he turns to face her "Is this about the sword?"

"Indeed it is. Care to explain how you can wield the Roaidah like that?"

Wearing a look of deep thought, he remains silent for a moment before answering "No, not really. Thanks for asking though." then flashing a smile, he begins walking toward the house once again.

"I'm serious here, Aaron." Sanya replies, unamused by his answer. "Something strange is going on here. Tell me the truth: you're royalty, aren't you?"

"No. No, I'm not." is all he says as he continues walking without breaking stride.

"You have to be. No one else could produce the Roaidah like that."

"You sure seem to know a lot about Milarim, Sanya." he says as he stops again and looks to the sky. "Is there a reason you're so well acquainted with our royalty's secrets and techniques? Should I be the one asking questions here? I would be justified in being suspicious and doubting you, would I not?"

His words catch Sanya off guard, but she realizes the truth in them. "I don't suppose I could blame you if you did." a few moments of silence pass before she speaks up again "Do you?"

"Not at all. You say you didn't do it, and I believe you. Do you know why I believe you?"

"Honestly I haven't the foggiest." she answers frankly.

"Because I give everyone a fair chance. You don't strike me as a liar or ruthless murderer. If anything you've been the exact opposite the whole time you've been here, so I see no reason to doubt that you're telling the truth."

"I see." she answers humbly "Thank you for that."

"Mmhmm." he replies as he turns and looks off into the black void of the night. "Now tell me, Sanya: which do you believe? Me, or what you've heard from others who've never met me?"

"I believe you." she says, ashamed that she'd accused him of lying to her about his origins. "But can you tell me how it's possible at least? You say you're not royalty, and I believe you now, but how can you wield it?"

"I was a member of the royal guard, or rather, my father was." he explains "I was still too young to join when we left Milarim."

"Wait." Sanya says as the realization of what this means begins to dawn on her "How long ago did you leave?"

A knowing smile comes to Aaron's face "Ten years ago."

"So you were there when..."

"I was there when they accused you of killing the king, yes. In fact that's why we left, my grandpa, dad, and I. We were among the few who didn't believe it. We felt that you were framed by prince Kovlar as a means of ascending to the throne in place of his brother. He knew you'd had encounters with the royal family before, and one in particular that turned violent. We suspected that he used that encounter as a springboard to propagate his slanders."

"I see. Then how did the king die?"

"Kovlar killed him."

"You seem awfully sure about that."

"Knowing prince Kovlar, it seems like the natural conclusion."

Knowing prince Kovlar? Did that imply that Aaron knew him personally? She wants to know, but she's afraid to ask for fear of seeming to doubt his story. Now is not the time to ask further questions.

"Well anyway" Aaron breaks the silence "we should probably hurry back before Lauren misses us."

Nodding in agreement, Sanya starts back to the house with him. As they arrive, she heads to her place while Aaron goes on to his. She for one wants to make sure that Lauren doesn't find out that they had been together while they were away, lest she ask questions about their discussion. Lauren has no idea about what Sanya's life before coming here was like, and Sanya wants to keep it that way.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, Sanya slips inside in stealth mode. Closing the door as slowly and silently as she opened it, she turns and heads for her room. Still slinking through the house as quietly as a mouse, she passes by Lauren's room. The door is ajar and she sees Lauren in her bed fast asleep. Thankful, she tip toes on to her room, but as she heads for the bed she stumbles over a pair of shoes that she had left sitting in the floor, and falls with a loud thud. She grimaces: there goes her cover. Lauren will be in here any moment to check it out. Scrambling into her bed she waits for the visit, but nothing happens. How had she gotten away with that? She doesn't know, but she isn't complaining.


Lying in her dark room, Sanya stares at the ceiling as she ponders the conversation she just had with Aaron: he trusts her and believes in her innocence, at least to some extent. That should make her happy - no one has ever shown such confidence in her. Instead she can't help feeling just the opposite: sorrow overtakes her every thought and feeling. She knows she's just going to disappoint him. It's too late for her to be innocent and clean, and he's going to learn that sooner or later. Closing her eyes, she prays that it'll be later rather than sooner.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lying on her bed, Lauren looks out her window. What had Aaron and Sanya been doing out so long? Aaron has a large plot of land, but the walk to the shed and back shouldn't have taken that long. And what about Sanya? Why had she even went with him when he was carrying it all himself anyway? Then Sanya came sneaking in like that, thinking she got by without Lauren noticing. Something is up, and Lauren intends to figure out just what it is.


________________________________


After a few hours of lying awake and trying to figure out what was going on, Lauren finally falls off to sleep, but her dreams are once again plagued by her recurring nightmare of being chased by the mystery figure. After waking from the troubling imagery of her nightmare several times, she finally gives up on getting any rest at all and peels her blankets back, bracing herself for the rush of cool air as she does so.


Sitting up she sees the clock: 4:33 AM, only fifteen minutes later than it was the last time she awoke from the nightmare, and thirty five minutes later than it was the time before that. Between her trouble falling off to sleep last night as she worried about what Sanya and Aaron were hiding from her, and the nightmare plaguing her every time she started actually managing to sleep, she barely netted a total of a whopping hour and a half at best by her estimation.


Rising to her feet she grabs her clothes for the day and shuffles across the shag carpeting of her room and into the hallway. Passing Sanya's room she hears nothing. She must still be sleeping. Lucky woman.
As she reaches the bathroom, Lauren changes out of her night clothes and brushes her hair to smooth it down after getting quite the nasty case of bedhead due to the constant tossing and turning from her nightmare all night long. Once she's managed to get it looking presentable, she heads for the door, grabbing a glass of orange juice on her way through the kitchen. Her stomach is growling out a complaint about it's emptiness but she decides to wait until the others are up to eat. Until then she'll just go for a walk or something. Anything to keep from having that nightmare again.

As she exits the house, she sees something that she hadn't expected at this hour: Aaron sitting on the porch, his legs bent in front of him, extending over the edge of the porch that rests less than a foot above the ground. His feet rest on the snow covered ground before the porch and his arms rest on his thighs as he stares up at the night sky silently.

"Oh, good morning." Lauren offers from across the way, but he doesn't seem to hear her. Walking closer she offers again "Good morning." but still no response.

He's clearly quite absorbed in his thoughts, but what are they about? Whatever he and Sanya were hiding? Or perhaps life out there among the stars he's staring at? She doesn't know the real him that well anymore, and she could certainly never guess what was going on in his mind now, and that hurts. She's determined to find a way to reconcile her differences with both Aaron and Sanya somehow, and now looks like as good of a time to start as any.

Taking a seat next to him quietly she fixes her gaze on what seems to be the same area he's looking "Good morning, Aaron."

Without so much as turning to look at her he replies "Good morning." his voice emotionless.

This could be harder than she'd thought.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asks.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Why not? Nightmare? Not tired?"

"Just couldn't."

"Well that explains it." she replies dryly, but he seems oblivious to her presence still. "Aaron, is something wrong?"

That did the trick. Turning to look at her he smiles comfortingly "No, everything's alright. Sorry to worry you, I just couldn't rest last night."

"Hey, what are you two doing up so early?" Sanya calls as she steps out of the house, a thin blanket wrapped around her to shield herself somewhat from the cold wind.

"Couldn't sleep." Aaron says and rises to his feet.

"Why not?"

"Just couldn't." Lauren answers as she stands up and smiles at Aaron who somewhat surprisingly catches the joke. "Well if we're all up anyway, I might as well whip up some breakfast."

"Yeah, wait up and I'll join you." Sanya tells her as she walks toward the house, casting a worried look at Aaron as she passes him.


_______________________________


Finishing breakfast, Lauren excuses herself from the table and heads to the sink to begin cleanup. Meanwhile Sanya and Aaron both head for the door to begin work for the day, not that Sanya plans on just working, no, she needs to have a talk with Aaron too.

"Oh uh, Sanya?" Lauren calls, casting a glance over her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Could I ask you to stay here with me today? I have to, uh" she tries to think of something to say without sounding suspicious "I need your help around here. That is, if you can spare her help today, Aaron."

"Huh?" Aaron's confusion is apparent "Sure, I don't mind. She's free to do whatever she chooses. Besides there isn't much to do today really."

An apprehensive look on her face, Sanya halts for a moment and debates within herself before deciding she has no real choice here. "Yeah. Okay."

"Great." Lauren says with a smile, which makes Sanya even more uncomfortable. What does she have planned?


The room remains silent until after Aaron closes the front door behind him. As she hears him leave however, Lauren turns around and looks at Sanya who is still standing in awkward silence, looking like a nervous child on their first day of school.

"So, what happened?" the words Sanya had hoped Lauren wouldn't ask are precisely the ones that come out of her mouth. Is it too late for her to disappear?



Click here to go to the next chapter
Vizzed Elite
Eirinn


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 07-18-12
Last Post: 2031 days
Last Active: 2031 days

(edited by Eirinn on 02-08-17 03:07 PM)     Post Rating: 2   Liked By: Mynamescox44, TheReaper7290,

Links

Page Comments


This page has no comments

Adblocker detected!

Vizzed.com is very expensive to keep alive! The Ads pay for the servers.

Vizzed has 3 TB worth of games and 1 TB worth of music.  This site is free to use but the ads barely pay for the monthly server fees.  If too many more people use ad block, the site cannot survive.

We prioritize the community over the site profits.  This is why we avoid using annoying (but high paying) ads like most other sites which include popups, obnoxious sounds and animations, malware, and other forms of intrusiveness.  We'll do our part to never resort to these types of ads, please do your part by helping support this site by adding Vizzed.com to your ad blocking whitelist.

×