Three Fates, Two Earths, One Chosen...
After a cataclysmic event hurls three women to another Earth, they find themselves separated, stranded thousands of years in the past... in 1979.
The same night an unknown object plunges into a lake, something...
She turned jerkily toward him, her face flushed and glistening with perspiration, her jaw clamped shut. Her eyes were imploring, burning into his, and they were more yellow than green.
"My God—your eyes! What's happening to you?"
He lifted her out of the truck and elbowed the door shut. She was hot with fever and shaking hard. He took two steps up to the porch and managed to pry the screen door open.
"You need to drink some water." He carried her to the kitchen and set her down on a chair by the dining table. He scrutinized her. "Can you hold on?"
Her nod was spasmodic. He hurried to the sink and turned on the tap while reaching for a cup with the other hand.
He reached back to her with the lukewarm water and sat in front of her. "Here, can you hold it?"
Worried, he watched her as she brought her shaking fists up, unclenching rigid fingers to enclose the cup between them. He supported it with his hand while she managed to gulp down the cooling liquid.
"More?"
She nodded. He returned with the second cup and it went down the same way, but it didn't stop the shaking. She was still hot and hyperventilating.
"Mickmi, I should call the doctor; you're—"
She shook her head once, her pupils dilating as she wordlessly communicated to him. Her eyes were completely yellow now, he could see the streaks of her irises changing, shifting in color density by the minute. The whole situation scared him; he didn't know what it meant.
"But we've got to get you cooled down," he said with urgency and scooped her up again, heading for the stairs.
He kicked the bathroom door open but found he couldn't get them inside. He looked at Mickmi. She had braced her foot against the door jamb, shaking her head, her pleading eyes now showing streaks of black.
"Nay... Let – not – go," she squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Danny swung around and went for the couch under the balcony window and sat down, holding her tightly in his arms. This was not how he would've imagined it would be. But he didn't care; he was scared for her and all his focus was on her in his arms as she curled up her legs and desperately held onto them, staring straight ahead, shaking. Four lines of bruises showed angry red on her exposed right shoulder and arm.
Like the scratches from a cougar. Scratches without damage?
"What's happening to you? Mickmi? What can I do to help?" He brushed the hair from her face and felt her damp forehead."Damn, you're burning up!"
But he couldn't do anything sitting here with her in his lap except to hold her. He pressed his hand against her forehead, massaging it, and started humming. He didn't know what else to do since she clearly didn't want him to let go. He hummed the few notes that had been in his head since morning. It felt like it was a melody in the making, and it would help him keep his composure now as she needed him to. Composed, even as his heart was racing in alarm.
Suddenly the shaking stopped and Mickmi went still. He looked down at her; her eyes were closed and she was panting slower. She trembled again, but this time it was a short shiver and gradually the tautness in her body released, allowing her to relax. He kept his hand on her forehead, squeezing with gentle movements, humming. He noticed with relief she wasn't feeling so hot anymore; she was cooling down fast. Even the red bruises on her arm were paling.
Whatever it was that was happening to her, it had passed.
"Mickmi?"
She shivered again, and opened her eyes, blinking. For a while she lay still, staring straight ahead, breathing with slight tremors. Then she pushed herself up, and he released her. She sat with her legs folded under her, a foot away from him, looking back at him. Her glazed eyes were almost back to normal.
He studied her with concern as she wiped her forehead with the palm of her hand. He'd never felt so scared for the welfare of anyone in his life since his grandmother died. That time he'd feared a known end. But this time it was uncharted territory.
"Mickmi. What was that? Has that ever happened to you before?"
She frowned, her gaze slipping as she tried to recall. "I... think not..."
"Never mind. I'm glad it's over." He didn't want her equilibrium to be disturbed again right now. "Are you okay?"
He slid his knee up on the seat, just an inch from hers as he turned toward her and peered at her. Apart from the exhaustion, she seemed none the worse for wear.
"Aye." She lowered her head slightly in a nod, blinking slowly, her right hand making that graceful movement to her chest again. "Thank you. You help me so much."
Danny shook his head, smiling slightly. "You don't need to thank me, you're welcome. Man, to tell you the truth, you really had me scared there."
"I know... I, too, was scared."
"I sure hope you don't have to go through that again."
They sat silent for a while, eyes locked to each other. Then her gaze wandered to his shoulders, left and right, and back up again.
She stretched out her hand, waving it downward in a small movement. "Allow me," she said.
Danny looked at her quizzically and bent forward. She placed her hand at the base of his neck right where the pain he'd been trying to ignore all day was. He gasped as a burning heat shot out of her hand to the area with targeted focus, enveloping it intensely for a moment, and then it spread out, gently warming his neck and shoulders.
A minute later she exhaled a long breath and pulled back her hand. Danny tested his neck, twisting and turning it. The crick in the neck was gone. No more pain. He looked up at her in wonder, rubbing the base of his neck.
"Wow. How did you do that?"
She shook her head with a small tired smile. "You are welcome."
This girl...
Danny shook his head slowly in amazement, gazing at her. Then he chuckled and got up.
"You've been through the wringer today. Stay there. I'm going to fix a bath for you. It will help you relax."
Credits: • Music track video from the 2011 movie The Gray, composed and produced by Marc Streitenfeld.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SpbEmeIFj0 • Cougar image from Pixabay. • Cougar cubs video by AZcontra on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyw8js2uFk
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