I quickly flash my badge and see the driver throw his arms up in the air. He seems so devastated to have to wait. Then, I decide to make him wait a bit longer, just for being an asshole.
“Aeris is such an unusual and beautiful name. I bet there’s a story there. Come with me. Please?” I hold open my door with my free hand motioning to the driver’s seat. She’ll have to climb in and scoot over. Holding my breath, I await her reply.
You need to come with me. I need to understand what’s happening here.
And I really do need to get off the street since it seems to appear to everyone else that I’m in the middle of a mental breakdown and talking to myself.
“Okay,” she finally says with a smile.
And I do believe I just saw a small glimmer of a spark within her eyes.
Who is she? What is she?
All in good time, man.
* * *
Ashort while later, we pull up to the farm I spoke to her about. I stop the truck, parking in the back by the turn-out pen. Two horses, a bay and a buckskin, are being worked by trainers. We leave the truck and cross the short distance, leaning against the fence that separates us from the animals. I watch her as she intensely observes the horses, gasping here and there as they frolic about.
I clear my throat. “Tell me about yourself, Aeris. Where are you from?”
Tilting her head toward me, she meets my gaze, and lifts a brow. “Is that the question you really want to ask?”
I chuckle, caught. “No. No, it’s not. But I figured I’d start slow.”
“Then ask me what it is you want to ask,” she says while staring directly at me. Then, she sighs, giving her attention back to the horses.
Taking a breath, I inhale deeply. I have no idea how I’m going to say this without sounding like an idiot. “Well, normally, when someone is hit by a vehicle, everyone around the scene would see the person hit… not just the one who did the hitting.”
“Mmhmm,” she muses. “That’s not a question.”
I grin. “Wow, you’re really going to make me say it, aren’t you?” When she doesn’t look at me or answer, I shake my head. “Right. Okay. Here we go. Why is it that I can see you and no one else can?”
She whirls around with her arms out to her sides. A larger-than-life smile spreads over her face before she grimaces and groans. “I have no idea! I wish I could answer that because I would love to know the answer as well. As many times as I’ve come here before, no one has ever been able to see me. Ever… Before now?—”
“Wait,” I abruptly cut her off. Her words are confusing. “As many times as you’ve come here before? No one has been able to see you? What the hell does that even mean?”
She grimaces slightly. “Umm, it means nothing,” she answers and turns back to the pasture. “It’s nothing… forget I said anything.”
“No,” I wrap my hand around her arm, gently tugging her toward me. “It means something, and I want to understand. Help me understand.”
The way she stares into my eyes feels as if she’s staring directly into my soul. I see sadness there, maybe apprehension, possibly a deep secret she’s not allowed to tell.
Shaking her head “no”, she withdraws her arm from my grasp. “Not here.” She does step closer into my space, though. The breeze seems to pick up around us. It tousles her hair, tossing it around her shoulders. It almost seems as though the air is intentionallyjustaround us because the trees in the distance and the horse’s tails and manes are not moving.Is this a wind spout?Leaves on the ground, directly around us, cease blowing in the draft.
What the…
“Then come with me to my place,” I quip. Anything to get her to spend more time with me. “We’ll be alone. No one else will see or hear us. It’s totally private.”
Shit! I sound like some deranged creep.
Am I pushing for too much, too soon, by inviting her over?
She’s going to think I’m one of “those” guys. I’m not.
I’m so not.
I just need answers.
