I heard the crickets and bugs, and leaves rustling in the wind. I decided to put down my axe, wiping the sweat off my forehead with my grandmother’s hand-knitted handkerchief. The sounds of the spring led me into the summer, another year passing again. This time of year made me think about when Evelyn gave this old cottage to me.
“No place is too big for you,” she told me, “fortune has many sons.” I still attempted to find the meaning of what she said, but alas, I had no idea yet. My cabin was only about a hundred yards away. I never tried to stray too far, seeing as I had to work everyday to make this life work.
The smell of old wood flooded my nose, the nice scent of the old cabin. It reminded me of my grandmother, and her nice hand-quilted pieces of clothing and blankets she provided me. In fact, my bed sheets were made by her, as well as my curtains, and the sweater I wore during the winters.
I heard someone step onto my porch. I immediately reached for the gun under my bed, just beside the main entrance living room of the cabin. I checked the window. It was Emily. I placed the gun in a drawer beside the entrance.
I opened the door and greeted her with a warm smile, as she did with me.
“Hey farmer boy,” she said to me.
“Hi,” I told her. “Whatcha need?”
“Just wondering if you were gonna come into town today. People are missing you.” Her face turned sour as she looked towards the drawer beside her, where I put the gun. She slowly opened the drawer and said nothing, looking at me with her arms crossed. I walked into my bedroom, and sat down, taking off my boots. She followed me, keeping her arms crossed, with her look that was sprayed with venom.
“Don’t give me that look,” I warned her, pointing for effect. “You know I’ve had problems in this damn valley, despite what that piece of s*** Darius is saying.”
“You know, this may be a little place, but Darius knows what he’s talking about!” she exclaimed, un-crossing her arms and raising them as she yelled.
“Darius is a mayor who smuggles drugs, runs whores, and doesn’t give a s*** about the safety of me, or my family!”
“You’re undermining him. He’s the reason you’re here in the first place,” she reminded me.
“Look where it got me,” I said, looking down at the floor. “For once in my life, I came to a place where I knew--I thought I’d be happy. But it turns out I should’ve just stayed with Cambra.”
“Don’t say that. You were miserable here, Evelyn knew it.”
“She was my grandmother. The only family I had left. But she never told me the secrets here.” I looked up at Emily.
“Look at me,” I told her. Her face expressed concern, “Do I really look like I have anything left in me? Anything? You knew her. You’ve seen this place before. You know what Darius is capable of. That f***ing guy has us sweating like pigs out here for his own personal gain!”
“It’ll all work out in the end, you know that,” she said, walking closer to me, attempting to convince me to stay in the valley.
“You see what kind of position I’m in though, Emily? If I leave here, I’ll have betrayed my family honour, and disgraced my grandmother. She’d roll in her grave. But if I stay, Darius is going to put me into even more work, and then I’ll be truly f***ed,” I explained to her. Emily sat next to me, and began rubbing my back.
“You want me to talk to Darius?”
“I’ve been here for four years, no amount of convincing from any of us will get through to him,” I said. “Even if he listened, I’d be in the same position a year from now, giving him five-hundred dollars a f***in’ week.”
“Well, something’s gotta change. Maybe we can set a meet. The mayor will bring along the other higher-ups, and we can handle the taxation together.”
“Except, Emily--Except! Darius is a stubborn drunk who’s a selfish bastard!”
“You’re not listening,” she sternly told me. I looked over at her. I held her hand gently. Her skin felt like paper.
“I’m sorry,” I said, rubbing my forehead with my other hand. “Darius is getting to me. Suppose that’s my weakness.”
“Don’t worry,” she said to me. “This will get better, let me handle it. Plus, you’re one of the best and fastest growing farms in this area, so what’s the problem? You must be sleeping on bales of cash.”
“Please, huh?” I said. “Let’s be realistic. The money I have goes into this community. The resources, the f***ing general store. You remember last week’s dinner? Those guys killed me at Gerard’s! Darius, Tyler, Greg, that goddamn Terrence Marease and his stupid wife Haley! Steaks, lobsters, crab cakes! They wanted bottles of wine for the table? I told them, ‘forget about it’, I went and ordered the Margeaux ‘56 for the entire table. Could’ve bought a f***in’ plane!” I shot my hand up in the air and let it fall down again, expressing my anger. Emily sighed as I rubbed my eyes with my palms, looking down.
“You need to rest,” she said.
“Please,” I told her. “Darius likes to use me as a crutch for everything that goes on in this town. I have to keep a gun here for chrissakes, because of him!”
Silence filled the room. I continued to rub my face, squeezing out the ounces of stress in my body that were left. She rubbed me softly on my back.
“Rest up. Lemme handle this. I don’t wanna see Darius ruin one of the only profitable farms in this area,” she told me. I nodded softly, motioning for her to leave.
“No,” she said. “Lemme stay, I’ll cook something.”
About an hour later, Emily was still at my house, squeezing some oranges to make juice. I had just arrived, after foraging some fruits out in the yard.
“Great time of year,” I told her, taking off my boots. “Lots of berries and stuff out there. Got a good haul.” I laid the basket full of fruit and berries on the dining table, beside the kitchen area.
“Wow,” she said, her face full of excitement, “That’s quite a haul!”
“Been doing it for years.” I sat down at the table.
“Ready to eat?” she asked me, brushing back her dark blue hair and stirring some obscure food in a pot. “You look starved. Plus, you’re sweating.”
“I got some beer in the fridge,” I said, standing up to go grab one. I popped one open and sat back down, taking a nice, long swig from the bottle.
“You earned it,” she said.
“How long you been here?” I asked. She shrugged, and finished stirring, grabbing a couple of bowls and spoons.
“Ten years now. Me and my mother moved up here when our house got destroyed.”
“What about insurance?” I took another sip.
“Didn’t have it.” She shook her head. “My mother’s job...well, it didn't come with a plan.” She poured some soup into the bowls, no longer smiling.
“Sorry,” I said. “Must be tough.”
“Well we both have our jobs now. Doing the best we can.” She sat down with me, two bowls in her hands. She set one down in front of me, grabbing a cloth and setting it on her lap. Then, she dug in, closing her eyes to the sweet taste of her--
“What is this anyway?” I asked her, staring down at a mixture of brown, faded liquid, and steamed carrots surrounding some sort of meat and other vegetables.
“Chicken soup,” she said. “With steamed carrots, peppers, and a few other veggies.” I grabbed the spoon and dived in, taking a bite of the soup.
“Mmm,” I said with satisfaction. She smiled at me, and then continued eating. “Seems you’re more hungry than I am.” I chuckled.
“Yeah,” she said, giggling softly, placing her hand over her mouth to not let any food out. She then swallowed her food abruptly. “Been awhile since I’ve been able to cook or even eat a home-cooked meal.”
“Make one everyday,” I said. “Gerard’s has taken too much money from me.” Emily nodded, continuing to eat. I noticed her golden bracelet with silver gems outlining the outside and the inner edge, It twinkled everytime she twisted her wrist, getting a better position with her hand on the table. I gazed at it while eating, eventually seeing a name on the front plate. I couldn’t make out the name. I looked up at her, then slowly down, unsure of whether I should ask her or not. She’s been very kind to me during my stay, I didn’t want to pry into business that wasn’t mine.
“What’s your bracelet say?” I asked her. “It looks beautiful.” She was directly looking into my eyes. I didn’t notice until after she stared at me in silence, and I looked up from eating after asking since she wasn’t giving me a response. She gulped subtly.
“Helen,” she said. I could tell she was trying her best to not look at it anymore.
“Someone close?” I asked her. She nodded gently, putting her spoon down, letting it sink into the soup.
“I loved her,” she said. “She’s like one of those gems I always find, in the woods. An emerald. I wanted a bracelet that solidified us in the fabric of time, I don’t know--it’s stupid, I know.”
“No,” I said. “Who was she?”
“My sister.” A tear slid down her cheek, like a kid’s sled down a hill during the snowy winter. She looked down and to the side, towards her bracelet, and gently closed her eyes.
“I loved her,” she told me, “I loved her more than anything. When we came up here, to the Valley, we knew that our mom had fallen on hard times. But my mom told Helen ‘No, we’re all gonna make this work, all of us need to work’. So, we all got jobs. But one day, my mom was in the hospital. It was new, we didn’t understand it. She was even less ensured. Helen told her, the last thing she ever told her, ‘Stay here, mom. I’ll fetch your job. And, hey, maybe once we’re really here, we can stay a little while. These people gotta get used to us somehow’.
“After that, she left and told me to stay with mom. It was some hip fracture, she’s using a walker now, working at the bakery. Anyway, Helen never came back after that, and she got lost in the Valley. I remember screaming her name in the Emerald Woods, trying to find her again. After about three hours, I sat down in the middle of the field, looking up towards the night’s stars. During that time, I already knew it was too late.”
Emily wiped the tears from her eyes. I looked down with remorse, saddened by her tale of her lost sister.
“So,” she plowed on, “I had the smith make this bracelet for me. It’s one of the most expensive things I ever bought. And it’s middle is made of pure emerald...” She stopped for a minute, and sobbed gently to herself. “...just like her,” she finished. She broke out in a full sob.
I got up and walked over, holding her tightly, like she did with me earlier today.
“Shh,” I told her. She continued to sob. I felt bad for bringing it up, but it opened a part of her I never thought I’d see. Emily was a broken being. I knew that when I met her. She had nobody to love her, other than her mom, who was slowly decaying. She decayed at the rate of the bones left in the sand at the desert. Slowly brushed over as the fabric of time pushed farther in the distance. Sooner or later, just like us, there would be nothing. We’d die, in our own arms. Together, though.
The next morning, Emily was in my bed. I couldn’t even remember how she’d made it there. I looked around the bedroom. Clothes were scattered all over the floor. I slowly got up, being wary of not waking her.
I began making myself some eggs I got from my chickens, along with some fresh milk from my cows the day before. The sizzling of the pan reminded me of the boiling pot of soup Emily had for me the night before. Today was hotter than the last, I planned for taking a day off.
As the food sizzled, I went outside, checking the mailbox. I received something from Mayor Darius. He said it was an emergency, that there was something happening to the north of town.
“...an undescriptive anomaly,” he called it. I hurried inside and stopped breakfast, grabbing my city clothes. Emily was still far asleep. I think maybe we both had a bit too much to drink. I walked slowly up to her, brushing her hair back and kissing her cheek gently.
“I’ll be back,” I told her. I then walked out of the bedroom and went out back to the horse stable that lined the barn and the two coops. I threw the saddle on my horse, Evelyn, and reached up, climbing onto its back.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, and slapped the reigns down, feeling the power of the jolt movement in the horse’s hooves, feeling the wind as the horse sped out of the pens of animals and circled around the house, following the path into town. The mayor told me to stay away from the north of town, and get to his house immediately. So, I rode a quick half-mile over to his house near Gerard’s, and tied my horse to the post beside his fence. I heard muffled shouting inside, so I hurried up the steps and shoved the door open.
Darius was grabbing ahold of Tyler.
“What are you, f***ing crazy? You wanna see us all killed?” Darius screamed. Greg and Terrance shoved Darius off. I stepped in and grabbed Darius, pinning him away from the rest of the mayors. Terrance’s thick black hair was disheveled, and he wiped it back, stepping towards me.
“Darius, stay there, alright? Stay the f*** there! Who’s killing who now?” I said.
“Damond, that crazy guy in the tower south of your farm, wants to experiment with the anomaly. Said it could be a f***ing bomb,” Terrence explained.
“We just wanted to present some solutions,” Greg said. Tyler nodded. I slowly let go of Darius.
“I just don’t want the possibility of the entire town and the f***ing valley being torn to shreds,” he said. I stepped back and observe all of them.
Greg was panting in the corner of the room, drinking some cold soda. Gregory was short and had dark red hair. It was small and choppy, and he wore dark clothes. It looked like he was here for a funeral. Greg was indecisive, and I trusted him least of all.
Tyler and Terrence were brothers, and their names said together sounded like some sort of a dry sitcom. Tyler was more bright, as in smarter, than Terrence, and also had a colorful and bright appearance. But because of that, his clothes hardly ever matched. Together, they looked like vomit, in my opinion. It gave me a chuckle when thinking that Emily felt the same way. We always wondered how they were even brothers.
“Let’s bring Damon over to the north side of town, and see what’s what. If there is a bomb there, we can deal with it. For now, just take it easy,” I said, presenting a solution.
“F*** that,” Darius said. “I don’t want the whole town’s safety at risk here!”
“Come on, Darius,” Tyler, the bright brother, butted in, “you only care about your own safety! What do you care about the rest of this town?”
“Enough!” I screamed, “Let’s go get Damon and put this s*** to bed!” Darius nodded aggressively and stormed out.
“Goddamn hothead,” Terrence muttered, shaking his head. We all left and walked down the cobblestone path leading outside of the main town towards the southside of my farm. Damon was one of the more interesting people in town, people thought he was some sort of doomsday guy, a crazy person. Really, I thought he was just misunderstood. Damon was the only person who knew really anything about this “anomaly” and he was our only shot, so I was gonna make sure that we treated him good.
The walk was going to be long, and the day was so hot, that most of the mayors had taken off their shirts and suspenders, sweating underneath the gaze of the orange sun, which had few clouds surrounding it.
“Jesus,” Darius whined, “f***ing hot out here, huh?”
“Almost there,” I said, leader of the pack, sipping on my canteen.
“Jesus,” he said again, “Really an adventurer now, huh? Heat don’t bother you at all.”
“You get used to it. For a man of your stature, you have no idea what it’s like to bust your ass outside, day after day, night after night, and never come home, but still manage to put some grub on the table.”
That shut him up, and we continued in silence. Along the path was a nice hill overlooking the tower ahead. The sun was lightly touching the tip of the tower  in the horizon, and the smoke billowing out of the tower, hazing the view of the sky, created dissension in the moving painting my eyes portrayed.
I briefly wiped my forehead with my handkerchief, taking a moment to gaze upon it in the sun’s beauty. Damon’s tower was right in front of me before I knew it, so I put my grandmother’s fine knitted cloth away. Darius was following closely behind me, while the rest stayed back. I knocked on the wooden door loudly. Damon looked at us from the little window towards the top of the door, his cold, dead eyes lurking upon our views. He eventually opened the door and invited me in.
“Welcome back, Alexander,” Damon said. I walked in and nodded at him, looking around his practical fortress. I sat down at the wooden table beside the door, the mayors took a look around. Darius was stunned by the skylight, Tyler and Terrence looked out the back window, and Greg stood in front of Damon, his arms crossed, and rapidly tapped his right foot on the ground, awaiting an answer for the town’s anomaly.
“So,” Damon said, his voice echoing like a hallway, “what brings you fine men here this afternoon?”
“Damon, you’ve always been very accommodating to the townspeople, as well as their problems,” I began.
“Skip the preamble,” he interrupted.
“Okay,” I said. “There’s an anomaly on the north side of town. We think it’s some sort of bomb, but there’s a weird--I don’t know,” I snapped at Darius, “help me out here, huh?”
“An aurora. Some kind of light, it blocks the entrance to the trainyard,” Darius said. The others agreed.
“Wait,” I said. “You guys said that Damon wanted to experiment with this. Damon, did you hear about this prior to us coming here?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. I looked over at Terrence.
“You’re the one who brought him up. What the hell?” I said to him, raising my arms to the side in confusion.
“I know I said that, but I lied. I thought it’d be easier to get someone else to talk to him if I said that,” Terrence attempted to lie. I shook my head.
“Whatever, Darius, you wanna scope out this thing?”
“It’d be my pleasure, men, lead the way.” Damon’s formality and calmness made me feel comfortable, however the rest of the mayors were rattled internally. I looked over at them, standing up from the table and placing my hands on my hips.
“You guys should go,” I said. “Leaving the town unattended would be worse, Darius. The rest of you guys should also go back to your own towns. This may be a problem, but I think the Valley can handle it themselves.” Darius nodded in agreement. The rest of them murmured and eventually agreed.
“If you need anything else, you know who to call,” Tyler said.
“Sure thing,” I said, waving them goodbye as they left Damon’s tower. Me and Damon followed quickly behind. With the angry mayor mob now gone, I could walk with Damon in peace, and enjoy the pleasant Valley as if it were the only place to exist in the world.
“It’s eternal,” Damon said, after eons of silence. I turned to him as we walked down the stone path leading into town. “This place. Eternally, it exists. People don’t take advantage of it enough as they should.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. He looked down.
“Elsewhere, we think we can make a higher living. But here, it’s about being something more than just a living.” He paused, letting those words sink in. To listen, I said nothing. To listen, I heard him. What he said was of great importance to me. The patience of the Valley was important to the townspeople, and what entailed was peace and quiet, and no more devastation in these people’s lives.
“No more than the animals out there, are we to act too quickly, and to think on our feet. We don’t even know we’re doing it, acting on pure instinct. This place has seen past it, and we’ve learned a hierarchy humans elsewhere haven’t.” I chuckled lightly.
“Something funny?”
“No, it’s just,” I paused, searching for the right words.
“You sound pained,” he assumed. I looked down and realized he was right as we finally entered town.
“I am, Damon. This place--Evelyn was everything, and she left me everything. But Darius and the rest--it just hasn’t really felt the same.”
“Sooner or later, you will be found, and you will find,” he said.
“That’s not the point. I want to find something more in my life. Live on Evelyn’s legacy, and not just with the damn money.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. He stopped me near the lightpost, that signaled us entering the town.
“You need to find whatever it is, and it’ll make her feel proud.”
“I don’t know what it is, though,” I said, sounding hopeless. He shook his head.
“You’re not listening. No one but you knows. Right now, no one knows what you are doing. Maybe you don’t even know. But later, you and everyone else will understand.” I nodded, and looked to the ground. He held my chin up for me.
“Look,” he said. “Your eyes are open even when you’re asleep. Follow these dreams. Years and years from today, Evelyn will come to you, and she will evaluate you as her grandson, and Matthew before you.”
“How do you know--?” I attempted asking him how he knew who my brother was. But he shushed me, and shook his head. Damon was of higher power, and it was important to seek wisdom from him. Today, though, he was running dry.
“Go on now to your abode,” he told me, “I shall investigate this aurora.”
“Thank you, Damon,” I said.
“Thank you.” Damon walked away towards the path leading to the northside of town. I smirked to myself, and went back home.
I walked inside of my grandmother’s cottage, and Emily was inside, sitting at the table, eating some lunch.
“Sorry,” I said to her. “Had to take care of some town business.” She nodded. Her dark blue hair was all messy still. I smiled at how cute she looked in the afternoon sunlight.
“It’s okay,” she finally said, “Just made myself a few things to eat.” I nodded, dropping down on one of the seats. She gulped and looked up at me. I saw her out of the corner of my eye.
“I’m...actually sorry too,” she said. “About last night. When you left the other day, I actually drank, a lot. That’s why I cried about my sister, Helen.”
“It’s fine,” I said, taking off my boots, almost pulling a leg muscle.
“Thank you, though, for comforting me last night. That was the first time I’ve shared anyone’s bed in awhile.” I looked over at her. I didn’t want to be uninvolved with her, and busy all the damn time. I knew I loved this woman. Right now, I realized I was acting like I didn’t even care. So, I repositioned myself and gazed at her across the table.
“Live with me,” I said to her. Her face flooded with shock as she bit her sandwich. I didn’t think about it, the words just flowed out of my mouth.
“Really?” she said rather quietly.
“I need someone to,” I whispered, feeling weak all of the sudden, “In the dance of life, I’ve felt empty. I’ve felt unable to achieve my grandmother’s wishes, and the wishes of the other women in my life. And, just, everyone.”
I got up and went to sit next to her. She had stopped eating, and she looked at me very serious. I took a moment, but then looked up at her, gazing into her aquamarine eyes.
“I don’t want to dance alone in this life. So, can I have this dance with you?” Her eyes watered. I gulped, choking up in front of her. I held back tears, wishing that someone could be in my life. This is what Damon was talking about. Only I needed to find the hope and the strength he was talking about. Here she was. I’d found it.
“Yes,” she said, gasping and covering her mouth in shock and excitement. I gazed at her, flowing tears of happiness as her excitement raged on. I then romantically grabbed her hands tightly. She gripped on. We gazed together. Together, we dreamed our dreams.

The next day, I awoke and stretched my arms from my bed, smelling the sweet smell of bacon, ham, and eggs. Emily was in the kitchen, and she smiled at me as I stumbled out.
“Good morning,” she said. “Making some breakfast.”
“I see.” I chuckled, hugging her from behind and kissing her neck and her cheek. She tapped me on my cheek and continued to cook. I grabbed my gear and went outside to the shed. I grabbed my milk pail and my shears, along with a couple of sacks for collecting eggs. The shears and the pail were both self-explanatory.
I walked back in the shed with a sack-full of eggs, hay all over me, three full milk pails, and a sack full of wool. The animals were getting colder, from some reason. This weather was unlike summer, and for some reason it made me think of the town’s anomaly. I went back inside of the cottage and put the eggs and milk in the fridge, the wool stayed in the shed.
“I’ve always wanted to live on a farm when I was a kid,” Emily said. “And now, here I am.” I smiled and sat down.
“Same here,” I lied. “It’s a nice place, great plot of land. Evelyn didn’t spend much, but that’s because she didn’t have to.”
“Yeah, modern life has become a burden now. It’s good to go back to some form of civilization.” I nodded, agreeing with her.
We ate breakfast together before I went to the north side of town. I had left my horse at the mayor’s house the other day, but it was back at the stable when I walked out. I questioned it at first, but alas, I rode it towards the trainyard. When I arrived, Damon was standing in a haze of green. There was some sort of hole in the mountainside rock that stood next to the train station.
I got off my horse and walked to the far side of the trainyard, where he was.
“Alexander,” he said, not even looking back to see me. I chuckled. I was used to that.
“What do you got?” I asked, standing in the green haze near him.
“It’s harmless. No bomb here, that’s for sure. I’m detecting some otherworldly signals from the other side, in that hole there.”
“That hole wasn’t there before, was it?” I asked. He shook his head.
“Developed this morning, I’ve been here all night.”
“What the f***?” I scoffed and shook my head in disbelief. “Have you tried going in it?”
“Yes sir,” he said. “Pushed me back with a large force. Larger than I’ve ever seen before.” I stared at the anomaly in disbelief and shock. The green haze made the darkness of the hole seem lighter than it actually was. I stepped towards the hole. I walked slowly.
“Don’t!” Damon said to me. I continued walking. I was standing in front of the hole. What seemed like a hundred lights turned on inside. Damon and the rest of the world disappeared behind me as I entered the hole in the mountainside lower rock.

I heard drops of water reach the floor, echoing in what seemed like a huge, cavernous space. However, it appeared to be maybe ten square feet, a crowded and cluttered space.
“It’s more than you think,” I heard an older woman’s voice say, scratchy and deep.
“What?” I asked. “Who’s there?” My words echoed louder and louder. Someone materialized behind me and poked my back. I spun around, not seeing how the older, hooded lady standing before me got here. All I saw was her in billows of smoke and dust.
“You’re not him,” she said, “Explains why you’re thoughts were dry.”
“Who are you?” I asked. She shook her head.
“Doesn’t matter now. Damon knew me, thought. My God, it must’ve been twenty years ago now.”
“You know Damon?” She nodded her head.
“How?” I asked.
“Long story short, kid,” she raised her hand, “He took me to a higher plane.” She walked over to the far side of the tiny hallway. She waved her hands, and expanded the room’s walls. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I looked back to see the hole was gone, and we were now standing in a tiny house, with windows peeping in small light, rain pouring outside.
“What just happened?” I asked, being the typical wanderer to some higher being. I read about some of this in my grandmother’s old fables she kept in all of her bookshelves. I didn’t think that any of it was true.
“Enough showing off,” the woman said, chuckling. “The name’s Kyla. People call me ‘The Valley Witch’. Pick whatever you like.”
“I’m Alex,” I said to her.
“Alexander Cellini. I know who you are.”
“You do?” I asked in disbelief. She nodded her head slowly, and then approached the door.
“Follow me,” she instructed, “You have a lot to be shown around here.”
I walked out the door with her, the rain pouring atop my head. Her hood seemed to protect her from the rain, creating a small invisible aurora above her head, sending the rain splattering onto me as we walked the dirt path.
“Sorry, kid,” she said, “I’m not used to other people being here. I use my powers when I can.”
“Do you know what--” She shushed me, holding her finger to her lips as we kept walking down a hill overlooking a small village.
“Quiet,” she whispered, “The rain shall fall silent soon. But we have to be silent as well. They’re only accomodating to those who are patient enough to bend themselves to their will.”
“Man,” I scoffed, whispering, “this is some f***ing weird s***.”
“Please,” she said, “I stopped swearing years ago.” The rain stopped. She motioned me to keep following her. We entered the village, which looked old and unsightly.
“Welcome,” a tall, dark man said to me. He had no shirt, pants, or socks, or, well, anything on. Except for his undergarments, of course, he was practically nude.
“Hi,” I said, scratching my head.
“This man came here through the Valley,” Kyla said, “Alexander.”
“We have been awaiting your arrival,” the man said in a dark and rather too-masculine, alpha-male type tone.
“Okay,” I said, smiling.
“Come with me,” he said. I followed, and Kyla kept looking at me with an awkward expression as the man showed me the entire village.
“...we have kettle night every Thursday, it’s one of the old traditions that the great war general--”
“Silence!” Kyla shouted. “Every person who comes through the Valley, you never shut up.”
“I am sorry,” he said. He was a very formal man. I only wished my brother had been that way. Why did I think about my brother? I wonder if Emily was okay back home, this damn witch couldn’t keep me forever. Mmm, the thought of biscuits and gravy cooked by Emily almost drove me to walk away. Grandma Evelyn was always--
“Alexander!” the witch yelled, interrupting my daydreaming. What was I thinking about? “Come with me,” she ordered strictly.
“Please,” I said, holding up my hand, “I need to get back home. If you created an anomaly in my town for no reason other than to show me a village of half-naked people and your cluttered bedroom, I’d really love to get back to my cottage and my actual normal city.”
“You don’t know,” she said. “That wasn’t an anomaly. It was a device, made to see your destiny, and where other people lie.” I crossed my arms.
“I don’t give a s***,” I said, “I need to make it back home. I don’t even know where we are right now.” She shook her head.
“You’re not listening,” she told me, “Damon must’ve told you about your destiny, yes?” I nodded in an annoyed fashion.
“Well, I’m here to show you and lead you to a man of great wisdom. He can give you a lot of good insight--”
“No,” I sternly told her, uncrossing my arms, “I need to go home. My grandmother is none of your people’s f***ing business anyway, if you--”
“This man I speak of knew Evelyn,” Kyla said. Her words shook my inner body and I froze there, expressing a face of interest and a little excitement.
“What?” I asked. She nodded slowly and smiled.
“Your journey led you here. I didn’t let anyone else in to my little world. That’s why Damon couldn’t get in, I knew he wasn’t ready. I knew, even after all these hell-ridden years, that Damon, or anyone else in the Valley, could see their aspirations, and understand them at the same time. But your Grandmother had more friends than you think. She knew you’d have a destiny. It only took you to leave Cambria and come to this Valley to achieve it.”
“Who is this man?” I asked. She laughed, and so did the man, eavesdropping on this intense conversation.
“Gareth, I think,” Kyla said, “We’ve only heard the fables, like you.”
“Wait,” I quipped, “You don’t even know this f***ing guy?”
“The language, this one,” Kyla said.
“Well, how do we find him?” Kyla laughed again and shook her head.
“Come and sit with me,” she said, “Like I mentioned, we have much to talk about.”
Kyla led me over to a small courtyard behind the village. It had picnic tables and large umbrellas to protect anyone from any storms. Although now, it seemed more cheery and sunny than before. She sat down across from me, and pulled a bucket of food from what seemed like nowhere. I looked around, confused by the lack of people, and the lack of realism in the situation.
“Why did we come here?” I asked, regarding the village, instead of her and her food materialization.
“I don’t really know,” she said, shrugging.
“What do you mean?”
“Whenever I lead someone into my world, I take them where the Lords see fit,” she explained, eating out of her bucket of what seemed to be disgusting, unsightly food.
“The Lords?” She nodded.
“There are three of them. Ah, I forget their names. They won’t matter to you until you meet Gareth.”
“You laughed earlier,” I said. “Who is Gareth?”
“Right,” she told me, “Whole reason for this meeting.” She gulped down some more “chum” and set her bucket away. I checked the ground and realized it disappeared. I looked back up at her as she cleared her throat.
“Gareth, from the fables, comes from the same background as you, sort of. He was an ordinary boy, a farmer boy, and he wanted to make himself extraordinary. At one time, he was at a crossroads between what was more important to him; either his father’s legacy, or his own aspirations. Anyway, he ran what turned into a huge farm for about nineteen years. But sooner or later, someone called upon him and he fled. That was that. No one ever saw him after that.”
“How do you know he knew Evelyn?” I asked her.
“Evelyn came to see me, and she told me that she knew Gareth. Except I didn’t believe her, until you came along now.”
“Why couldn’t you just say that in the beginning?”
“You ask a lot of questions,” she told me, eating more again, in smaller portions than before, “I’m full.” She leaned back and belched silently, letting the gas exit through her nose. I sat there in silence, developing patience to hear her wisdom. Although this new area was strange to me, she offered something that could provide useful to me in fulfilling this life.
“Your cloth,” she said, pointing slowly to Evelyn’s handkerchief, hanging out of my right pocket, “It has something emanating from it. There’s power in there, you should keep it.”
“It’s a piece of cloth,” I told her, in disbelief.
“No, it’s not. Keep it. Believe me.”
“I would never let it go,” I said, “It means a great deal to me.”
“Right now, you don’t know what it is, but sooner or later, you will understand.”
“What does that mean--?”
“You’ll have to find out,” she said rather aggressively, “Later tomorrow, we will begin a journey, in the evening, and we will find out the wishes.”
“I guess,” I said, “Where will we be going?”
“Your grandmother’s grave,” she said, “And we will have found out, hopefully by tomorrow night, what she wants.”
“Will we meet Gareth?” She nodded her head gently.
“And then some.”
“How long will I be gone?” I asked, my voice soft and desperate. Finding out what she wanted meant the world to me. Evelyn was my dearest. She was now, even more. When the rest of my family was gone, and never there for me, Evelyn was my family. She fed me, clothed me, took me to the park, practically raised me. The story of Evelyn was yet to be revealed, however.
“Hard to say, I really have no idea” Kyla said, “Months?”
“I have a girlfriend, a farm to take care of. I have practically a whole town to keep in line.”
“That farm is useless without the truth,” she said, “And Emily and the town would understand your journey. Sometimes doing something for your own happiness is the most truthful to you, no matter the cost.” I shrugged gently.
“We leave tomorrow?” She nodded.
“Time is our most valuable, yet scarce commodity. We must, however, use it to our ability whenever we can.”
“One day at a time,” I said, “One day.”