Stranger in a Stranger Land *Forever Now 2*

Chapter Four

After a few restful hours of sleep, Mikaela wakes up with a headache and sore ribs. Slowly, gripping the edge of the bed in order to lift herself full of it, she rises and manages to stand. A bad idea on her part for a moment later she collapses on the floor, her vision blurry and head spinning. Pain spreads through her body and she lets out a low hiss as it concentrates on her chest and abdomen. Unable to do anything, she turns to the side and lies on the floor until the pain begins to dull away. The cold floor under her centres her mind, clearing it from clutter and allowing Mikaela to think objectively for a few moments.

Sure that it was Kryzstofer who had been driving, Mikaela tries to think back to the last thing she could remember: holding on to Kryzstofer for dear life and a terrifying Kleopatra dead set on destruction. The deep voice of her father assuring her of her demise and, finally, the bright light that surrounded their little group, swallowing them up in brightness. And then, almost a year later, appearing in the middle of a parking lot and being run over by Kryzstofer. Run over was not the appropriate term real - it was more like grazed by a few hundred pounds of metal. Either way, according to her body, it hurt like a bitch and, for that and running away, Mikaela wanted - no, needed - an explanation.

Did he even look for her? Kryzstofer looked so very different, so normal, almost as if he'd all but forgotten about her in the year she had been gone. But that was impossible. Angels had the minds of elephants - never forgetting and never forgiving. But then that meant that... he hadn't been looking for her, hadn't cared enough to look for her. Judging by the look on his face, the later sounded the most logical. Hurt as Mikaela suddenly felt, it made her all the more determined for answers. She needed to find Kryzstofer - the new and normal Kryzstofer - and find out the truth.

"Shit," she mutters pushing herself off the floor slowly by gripping on to the sides of her bed. The wooden post was sturdy enough to handle both the pressure of her hands and her dead weight. Managing to only sit up, Mikaela sighs. "I haven't been this useless in nearly two-hundred ye-" She stops as a realization struck her. Was she... normal?

Trying once more, she pushes herself of the floor and sits on the bed. She breathes in and out, regulating her already spiking breathing as her mind buzzes with the thought that maybe - just maybe - she wasn't a reaper anymore.

Not really a bad thing, she tries to reason leaning down to put her head between her shaky legs. At least I’ll get to see my family one day now.

After a few minutes, Mikaela sits up. Eyes closed, she lets out a deep breath and pushes herself off the bed, holding on to steady herself walking out of her bedroom. She needed to eat, yes, that was it. She makes her way to the kitchen, hands alternating between gripping the sparse furniture and the tan walls.

The kitchen looks the same as always even with a year gone by. She looks around for any differences; anything amiss that might mean that Kryzstofer – or anyone – has been around but sees noting. Everything is in its rightful, meticulous place. She didn’t know whether to be glad or sad about that. For one, it meant that no one had broken in or been inside in the year that she had apparently been missing. That at least was a good sign.

The sad part was that no one had come to check on her, no one had missed her enough to come by and see if she was all right. Now that Alec and his sister were known to be the enemy – where are they, she wonders idly – Mikaela had no one on earth who would miss her. No one to notice her disappearance and report it, no one to care enough to look for her or even ask questions about her strange vanishing act. The security guard, sure, but it was his job to know who came into the building and when. If he hadn’t noticed her sudden departure then he wouldn’t be doing a very good job.

Walking to the kitchen, Mikaela puts the lonely thoughts aside as hunger begins to cloud her senses. One year, I haven’t eaten in one entire year. She makes it to the refrigerator without needing to hold on to anything, though the room does spin as she takes the necessary five steps to do so, and opens the door. Expecting the food she had left, she is unprepared for the stench of rot that expels from the refrigerator unit. She backs away. Spoiled milk, rotten meat, blackened vegetables, moulding bread and various other foods sit in their rightful place on the racks where there used to be nice, fresh edible items.

“A year,” she mumbles to herself, “of course the foods gone bad after a year.”

Mikaela retreats to the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face to snap her out of this nightmare. That’s what this was surely. Even the cold, fresh water is unable to do anything but make her skin tingle at the low temperature the water plunged into a few seconds later. She turns it off, rubbing her hands roughly across her face in annoyance at this strange lack of information. She needed answers. And there was only one way to get them. Kryzstofer.

~

She decides, after a quick nap, to return to the parking lot where the accident happened. Finding that her car was gone, probably impounded from the street after multiple street cleanings, Mikaeal calls for a cab. She gives the driver a general direction, saying that she is new in town and doesn’t know her way around yet. The man, Isaac as his license displayed on the dashboard says, seems to know what parking lot and its adjoining store is located. With little conversation, the trip is quick.

An hour after finding her car gone, Mikaela stands in the same spot as she had when Kryzstofer had driven off. She looks around. She knows this parking lot. Surprised at having not recognised the location before, Mikaela smiles. He does remember.

Johnnie’s Fine Foods reads the big red letters on top the doors. She walks towards the entrance, eyes still looking around just in case, as she makes her way inside. This was not a coincidence. Kryzstofer came here, to this specific place for a reason. Well, yeah shopping, she mentally tells herself, but because of us.

This was it, this was the place where, so many years ago, their love was consummated and her fate sealed. She had agreed to be immortal for Kryzstofer, to live all of eternity at his side only to be tossed aside once the process was over. She tries not to dwell on it but, having forgiven him long ago, she can’t help to notice he left her once more in this very site again.

She enters the store, grabbing a cart on her way past the entrance. Mikaela walks through the aisle, occasionally dropping things into the cart. She sees no sign of Kryzstofer and is disappointed. At least she had the opportunity to shop for fresh foods to eat. A year of not eating had to have given her an appetite. Hell, what other use was the apartment if not for food, storage and sleeping quarters.

I’ll get a taxi back, eat, figure out what happened to my car and then make some calls. Maybe Hixak –

Mikaela turns into another aisle and crashed into another cart coming from the aisle. The crash snaps her out of her thoughts and into reality where she stands face-to-face with the man she had come to find. Wide-eyed, she stares at Kryzstofer who is hastily apologizing for bumping into her. She shakes her head, moving around the cart to face Kryzstofer.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispers. His eyebrows crinkle, his face titling to the side in his I don’t understand look. “You drove away yesterday and I didn’t know what to do and –“

“I think you have me confused with – “ he stops, his eyes glazing over for a brief moment before he continues, “I apologise for what happened yesterday. I panicked and ran. But I am not whoever you think I am. Excuse me.”

Mikaeal blinks as he calmly walks away, pushing his cart in the opposite direction from her. Abandoning her produce, Mikaela sprints after him, catching him by the arm and turning him around. “Wait. Kryzstofer, just wait.”

“I’m not – I’m not him.”

“Him?”

“I’m not, whoever you think I am, I’m not him,” he whispers, his eyes looking around the store. “You are mistaken. Now, leave me alone.”

“Kryz-“

“Please, I don’t want to – I’m not him!”

Mikaela doesn’t follow when he moves away, she doesn’t call out, doesn’t even watch as he turns the corner of another aisle. She just stands in her spot, confused and determined to find out what the hell was going on.