Set Me Free// L. Staley

13. Wanderers

Rowan had never felt more excited to see a person in her life, and that was saying something. She had her sister, Luna, a beautiful niece and nephew, Markus, and that was it, all of which held great importance to her. Now, Rowan had Layne, an outgoing man she met through her dreams that shined brighter than the stars themselves.

The best part of it all was that Layne appreciated Rowan's presence as much as she did his. The pair were that of a combination of something magical, filling the air with electricity and intensity. Though the duo did not realize the magic between them, the fabrication of something wonderous had started, and they could tell.

Their previous conversation from the last time Rowan visited left Layne quite baffled. He waited patiently for Rowan to return to him once more. The only thing was that he had time to sit and think, wondering about what could've been instead of how things turned out.

Layne was a man stuck in time. Stuck in the confines of a menacing prison, he had nowhere else to go. His only source of the outside world, of anything else unrelated to the room he was stuck in, was Rowan.

Rowan wasn't special, though. She was as average as the next person, not having too much or too little of anything, but she was level-headed with a passion for generosity. Before anything else, she saw the good in each living thing, each idea. Her devotion to better understanding was uncanny compared to anyone else's ideologies. Before she left the world, all she wanted to do was leave it healthy, making it a little better, a little more enjoyable for further generations.

Besides that, Rowan was Rowan, entirely and utterly ordinary as the rest of the passersby. However, she managed to compel Layne to her, like a magnet meeting a bolt. It was not intentional by any means, but the impulse was there, constantly alluring him to her presence.

It was safe to say Rowan felt the same, even if she did not know it. Compared to her being a magnet, he also felt that way to her too. The magnetic energy the two of them expressed was mutual, not one as strong or weaker than the other. At the most, they were at complete equilibrium.

Notwithstanding, Rowan would be making her appearance with such enthusiasm that it would catch Layne off guard. Not knowing when she was going to visit, Layne hadn't prepared for her arrival. He expected her to have appeared soon, but he didn't know when.

She caught him at the wrong time.

Rowan made no hesitations walking through the door that had grown so familiar to her, waiting to see the man she admired passed the wooden frame. As soon as she opened the door, though, she was caught off guard by his unfamiliar disposition. 

Layne sat crisscrossed, sat with poor posture, wiping away at the tears in his eyes with his baggy sleeves. As soon as he heard the footsteps, he knew it was too late to cover up what his true feeling emitted. He turned his body slightly so he could shield himself from Rowan's vision, his dreads covering most of his face as he ducked away from her.

Almost instantly, Rowan tended to Layne, sitting down on the bed next to him but making sure to keep a comfortable distance.

"Layne..." Rowan whispered, debating whether to place her hand on his shoulder, hovering it above the bed. Ultimately, she decided against it, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

Layne chuckled, seemingly at the situation as he blotted at his tears. He didn't dare turn to look at her.

"I must seem like a woman on the rag," he joked, trying to brighten the brooding atmosphere. It worked, as a matter of fact, therefore earning a breathy giggle from Rowan.

"What, you cravin' chocolate or somethin'?" Rowan queried, digging into the joke with ease.

"Mm, pudding sounds nice," he said with a sigh. "But, no. It's just been rough..."