tails of the past

A rather silly visit

 In the morning, I woke up to a nice sunny day with little white clouds polka dotting the sky. I got up and got dressed and walked outside. The sun warmed my skin as I made my way to Ava's just to see how her house was coming along. Once there I had immediately noticed that her house was bigger and almost complete.

"Emma sweety good morning!" Ava shouted from her front porch where her anvil and other metals were. "Oh, good morning, Ava, I can see your house is coming along nicely and rather quickly" I said, and Ava nodded happily. "Yeah, Ruge works crazy fast, it's amazing," Ava said. "That's great, how long is he staying exactly?" I asked and Ava placed her finger on her bottom lip. "I think about a week," she said with a smile. "That's good to know, I hope he's enjoying his stay" I said, and Ava nodded. "He is, he's been saying we need more buildings around here so it might not be the last time he visits" Ava said. "Yeah, he said he was going to help me fix the water damage in my house once he finishes yours" I said. "We'll be expecting it to be really soon because he's just doing some final touches inside then I'll be all set" Ava said as she placed her hands on her hips. "That's nice, is he planning on doing anything else here?" I asked and Ava shrugged. "You'd have to ask him, when he's done, I'll send him over to your house" Ava said, and I nodded in appreciation. "Ok thank you Ava, I'll see you soon" I said as I headed back to my house.

About an hour had passed and I was just sitting on my porch eating blueberries while thinking about what else I could do with this little house. 'A garden would be nice out here,' I thought to myself. "Emma!" Nicos shouted as he ran up to me. "Nico, hi is there anything you need?" I asked and Nico nodded while trying to catch his breath and holding back laughter. "Olive has been driving me crazy, she won't leave me alone, help me hide from her for like a few minutes" Nico said, and I couldn't help myself but to smile. "Why don't you come inside before she sees you?" I said as I stood up. Nico nodded with a big smile, and I led him inside. "Wow you don't have a lot here huh" Nico said as he took a deep breath. "Yeah, most of the stuff was destroyed and water damaged so it was no good" I said, and Nico laughed. "I'll try and help you get some stuff in here, so it won't be so empty, especially if I'm hiding from Olive here" Nico said. "Oh, you don't have to, I'm sure I'll figure it out" I said, and Nico shook his head. "It won't be too difficult really," Nico said.

We spent a few minutes talking before a loud knock came from the door. I quickly answered it to find Olive standing in front of me with a big book in her hands. "Hi Emma, have you seen Nico anywhere? I can't find him; he's been running from me all morning" Olive said. "Uh nope, haven't seen him anywhere, have you checked the dock?" I said and her face lit up. "No, I haven't checked the dock, thank you Emma" Olive said then she ran off with the hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

"You can't hide from her forever Nico" I said as I closed the door. "Yeah, I know, I just needed a small break from all the magic stuff for a few minutes" Nico said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You two seem close," I said as I leaned against the wall. "Oh yeah, we're like siblings, kinda, we grew up together here in the village and we never left. We've been through everything together" Nico said with a shy smile. "While you should go get her just in case, she actually loses her mind trying to find you" I said, and Nico nodded. "You've only been here for a few days and already know so much about her" Nico laughed then went on his way to find Olive.

I then found myself cleaning up for the few hours of my day, by noon I had everything as clean as possible and felt accomplished. Then a loud knock came from my door. I answered it and was greeted by Ruge. "Hey Emma," Ruge said. "Hi, I honestly didn't expect you to work so fast, are you already done with Ava's house?" I asked and Ruge nodded. "Yeah, I'm done with everything, she seems to really enjoy it" Ruge said, I had only noticed then that he was covered in a dusty blue paint. "You Painted?" I asked and he laughed. "Oh no I tripped over some paint buckets that Ava had left out so she could paint her walls when I had finished" Ruge pulled his overalls. "Oh, while that was unfortunate" I laughed. "Yeah, but it doesn't bother me, I was set for a new pair of overalls anyways" Ruge said and even though I couldn't see his face I knew he had a bright smile. "Well come on in, I will say it's very empty" I said as I moved aside to let Ruge in. "Well, it only makes my work easier," Ruge said. 

Within a few minutes he was already scouting out stuff to fix and do with the house. And by the end of the day, he had the whole house planned out and was going to start tomorrow on it. Once Ruge left to return to Ava's house I was left alone in an empty house which for some reason felt oddly cold, and for it to be summer that was very odd.

I wrapped myself into a blanket and curled up into a little ball on my makeshift bed and slowly drifted to an uncomfortable sleep. I toasted and turned until suddenly I had woken up around the middle of the night in a cold sweat. I was panting hard, and my eyes started to tear up. I had no memory of whatever nightmare I had just had but it stung me hard.

After a few minutes I had forced myself to calm down enough to where I could see the room without feeling dizzy. I got up and unraveled myself from the blankets and went out on the balcony. I sat down on the floor watching the gray clouds drift quietly across the sky as they hid the moon and stars mostly out of view. I looked out onto the darkened village and noticed a dark human-like figure standing at one of the pathways. I squinted my eyes and realized that it was Alex, he looked oddly stiff and uneasy. I decided just to leave him be mostly because he didn't seem to like me all that much and he already seemed bothered by something. I turned my head back to the sky and sat there for the next hour then I went back inside and drifted into a much sounder sleep.