The Dark Stranger

Search and rescue

"The Dark Stranger" © VeGirl 2014

Slowly we walk to Esme's house. It is hard for Aoleon to walk even if I gave her my most comfortable flat ballerina shoes. She keeps stumbling and slipping on the slightest unevenness. I grip her arm several times to steady her and she gives me a grateful look. "Thank you." She is at least trying, I think and smiles proud as if I was her parent.

"You'll get the hang of it," I encourage.

"I am a clumsy dork," she says and this is the first time we share a hearty laugh.

"Yes you are."

Esme is out in her front yard as we approach.

"Hey, look; I've got some clothes on her," I say proud.

"Are they supposed to be this uncomfortable?"

"You should have been here in the eighteen hundreds, with corsettes that prohibited you to breathed," Esme informs her with a frown.

"No thank you! This is hard enough," she claims while pulling the fabric of her clothes with a frown that makes both Esme and me laugh out loud. She looks up at us and share the smile.

"Come, let's get inside." Esme gestures with her head and we follow her through the abundant garden where I miss to notice how Aoleon's curious eyes try to catch everything.

Esme's house smells like home and I accept another cup of coffee even if my nerves are getting edgy from the caffeine.

"So, what are we doing about that husband of yours?" Esme is as delicate as usual.

"We can't simply look through missing person's dot com, I supposed."

Esme gives me an apologetic look before she shakes her head slowly.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," I sigh and sink into deep contemplation. "What about his house on the other side of the gate?"

"Nope; I've already checked that."

Yeah of course she has.

"Is there any other known arrival halls from heaven?" I enquire.

She takes a deep breath. "Not that I know of."

"Well, I'm not going up there again to find out, that's for sure," I murmur. "They're a bunch of raging lunatics."

"What do you know?" Esme is addressing Aoleon who looks utterly surprised.

"I was never allowed to know anything!" Her defence is ferocious. "You've been there recently and know the pecking order."

"Yeah, I know," I sigh. "I just hoped that you might have heard anything."

"If anyone might have heard anything, they don't dare even to think about it."

I simply shrug my eyebrows, knowing exactly what she's talking about. It is essential that I find him and the more I worry that he might be in danger, the more urgent my search is becoming.

Where do I start?

It is quite obvious that I am not someone that is in the tracking business, I am absolutely worthless in thinking outside the box; heck I can't even think inside the box.

"I did a locator-spell when I came home last night, but I didn't get a clear read."

My eyes flew up towards Esme with hope lightening them. "Will it help if I'm present? Can we do it again?"

She shrugs. "I might help..." There is suddenly a light in her eyes. "Yeah, your connection might actually help. All I got was a weak shadow over the States, so I figured that he is in the country. And that was my second try and I had an old clock of his for connection." She looks like the rambling is more her own contemplation that her way of sharing it with me.