The Storyteller's Muse
Chapter 20, Part 2
Sara daydreamed on a bed of soft green grass, surrounded by trees, boughs spread to make ample shade. The sky was blue like a lover's eyes with wispy white puffs moving across. The feeling was one of absolute tranquility and isolation. Somewhere else the world spun in its busy fashion, hurling out problems like a cyclone, tormenting its inhabitants, testing their patience. Here, in this spot, time didn't exist. It was a place along the continuum where traveling souls might collide, sometimes by accident, other times by appointment. Sara's heart throbbed with the need to meet someone. She knew this was a planned meeting; the problem was she knew not with whom.
"Jessica!" The voice was one she knew well. It had counseled her on many occasions. He called her Jessica. That was her name, after all, in this faraway time and place. And the voice, it was the voice of David. Not David's voice with his tone or diction, but the pulse and meaning screamed his identity. When he came into view, the young man didn't look like her David either, but the soul of that man shined through this fellow's brilliant blue eyes. As she reached a hand out to him, a strand of her own strangely blond hair brushed her arm. Ah, she was not looking like herself either. And yet, this place, this man, all of it comprised a warm familiar event, a collision of the familiar that had awaited her this day.
"Stephen!" The name escaped. Calling this man "Stephen" felt right, just as did these surroundings, this thin air, a place she'd been to many times and a man she spoke to daily...long ago. A man named Stephen. They'd walked together in this sunny field many times before. She was certain.
"I thought I'd missed you today. I ran all the way here." His breath came in short gasps.
"I don't know what I'd do if you hadn't come. I would miss you so." She rose to kiss him on the cheek. He grabbed her close. She remembered. They met here every afternoon at twilight, met to profess their love in this secret place. She kissed him now with ferocity, remembering the intensity of their love as her tongue dug deeper...and how she was promised to another.
"You have betrayed me, my friend." The voice, edged in anger, sliced them apart. Justin, the old familiar Justin she knew, stood in front of them. He was rigid, the usual merriment of his eyes replaced by fierce animosity.
"Justin!" David looked to Sara in alarm. They'd been found out. He stammered. "I'm sorry. It just happened..."
"It just happened! I find you in the woods kissing my fiancé, and you tell me 'it just happened.'" That man looked away in pain, next pulling a gun from his vest. He turned to glare at David, lifting the weapon to aim.
"Justin, no!" Emily with her father and brother appeared. She stood now wringing her hands as her brother rushed to Justin, stopping short as Justin's grip tightened on the gun.
"I say, man! You don't want to do that," the brother murmured.
Justin shot wild eyes at the fellow.
"Justin, I thought you loved me. Why are you chasing that whore?" Emily had stepped forward.
Sara's heart thumped louder than any of their angry words. The drama playing out before her astounded one moment and engulfed her the next. This place, these people, she's seen it all before. An uneasy feeling nipped at the edges of her memory. The last time it hadn't ended well. Of that, she was certain.
"Emily, I do love you. But I love her more." Justin turned to face Sara.
"You must choose, my dear," Emily murmured. "Surely you would not give up the wealth my family has to offer you."
Justin's hand dropped, dangling the gun, as he gawked at Emily. Her father nodded knowingly while a tiny smile danced across Emily's face.
"The last time you pulled the trigger," she said, "You took my father's money but ran away chasing her instead of staying with me. I hope you will be wiser this time."
"Yes, old man! Wouldn't it be better to be a rich man rather than a murderer and a thief." A wry smile passed her father's face.
At the word "murderer," Sara felt David shudder next to her. She feared, as well, what the crazed Justin would do.
He raised the gun and pointed it at David. But the resolve had left his eyes. His hand trembled under the weight of the weapon. Finally he dropped the gun and walked to Emily. That lady smiled with assurance.
Sara shut her eyes and sighed in relief. When she opened them again, she was back in the motel room with David and Margot.
"What just happened here?" she asked.
Copyright 2007 JO Janoski | 