The night flew by way too fast, my heart was heavy with the thought of Athen, Cyril, and Arie all leaving for Seattle. It was hard telling Athen goodnight. I knew they said everything would be fine but knowing what was out in the world now certainly changed my perspective on what was considered fine. I got the knock on the door at 4:00 am, because I made Athen promise that he would stop by before they all hopped on the highway to the airport. I opened the door expecting Athen but, instead, was greeted by the entire crew and a bag of pastries.
“Wow, where did you get pastries this early? The village is never open at this hour.” They were still warm even.
“I know the gal at the hotel, and she made some for us,” Arie said, very proud of herself.
“Geez, thanks.”
Everyone came in and piled through to the kitchen. I was secretly relieved that they all showed up. I could now spend a little longer with them before they took off. I knew I was taking this a bit hard. I seemed to be filled with fear more than I knew. My worry that dreams and reality would someday collide seemed to be at the forefront of most thoughts. We were all quietly munching on our pastries when Cyril began speaking.
“We know you’ll be fine, Ana. We’re all very connected to you and will be able to sense anything that may occur or may be in the works. Believe me, we’re all on high alert.” I looked at him wanting to fully believe him, trying to ignore the fear still sitting heavy in my belly. Athen grabbed my hand and began his turn at trying to convince me.
“We wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I promise. Remember, you are my everything, my angel. You are what makes my life complete. Without you I barely exist. I mean it. You’ll be fine. Promise to stay in the village.”
“Actually, I was thinking of staying in my house except to take Matilda out.”
“Well, that’s fine too,” Arie piped up. “But really, Ana, it’s okay to go outside. We maybe shouldn’t have told you all that. We didn’t mean to spook you so badly.”
“Oh, please, I would much rather know the truth,” I said emphatically. “Really.”
Seeing Athen crumpled on the ground in my thoughts began to paralyze me. Forcing myself to rid those images from my memory, I would not let myself look at Athen. The lump in my throat began to make it hard to swallow, hard to believe the two sets of realities could be parallel.