"Life is a lively process of becoming."
- Douglas MacArthur
Earth's lungs were full of water—he couldn't breathe but for the first time in years, it wasn't because he was dead. His breath was kicked out of him but he was alive.
Earth was alive.
And no, there wasn't water in his lungs—it was a shock that ran through him when he suddenly appeared with a beating heart in the same convenience store he died in, more than half a century ago.
He stumbled, his legs were weak, hitting one of the grocery shelves, causing him sudden sharp pain in his side. He was truly alive—only an alive person could possibly feel pain like this.
He let out a surprised yet happy chuckle, trying to pull himself together. He turned around, suddenly remembering that this was a convenience store so he probably wasn't alone. However when he looked around, stopping with his eyes on the shopping counter where the cashier should stand—no one was there.
It seemed that Earth was after all, indeed alone in the store. He let out a sigh of relief only moments before he heard a shuffling from somewhere deeper in the store.
Oh, that made more sense—the store wasn't empty, the cashier was only in a storage room for a while.
Before Earth could leave the store, the cashier returned back, his face turning paler with every step he took. When he finally stopped behind the counter, his face looked as if he had just seen a ghost. Well, he wasn't far from it.
Frankly, Earth was confused by the cashier's reaction. Didn't he look like a casual customer, or? Earth looked down on his chest where the cashier was staring without any word for more than enough seconds already.
One look down at his burgundy stained office shirt and Earth understood. The blood that stained his crystal white shirt with a mark of death when he got shot was back. No wonder, the cashier was frightened. If only he knew that that blood was over fifty years old.
"A-are you okay, sir? Just wait a minute I'll call the ambulance," the cashier somehow got out of himself, his phone, already in his hand.
"There's no need," Earth shook his head, making fast steps away from the store. "I'm more than fine.
"Wait, wait! Sir, you need help! Sir?" The cashier ran out after Earth but Earth had no intention to stop. He wasn't lying to the cashier—he was more than fine, at least in a physical way. But, he shouldn't be there. Earth shouldn't be in Thailand. He should be in the Ghost Cabin with Mix.
Earth wasn't expecting the regenerating process to finish like this. He never heard about someone coming back to life again by returning to the place of their death. It was an unexplored territory and Earth was if nothing more than a slightly disturbed.
He was worried about Mix. What was Mix doing? Was he thinking that Earth was dead? He probably was. It was the only logical explanation for what Mix had seen when he returned to the cabin. At that moment even Earth thought that he was dying. That those agonising moments were the last moments he had with Mix.
Earth needed to get back to Canada as soon as possible. He needed to get back to Mix, hug him, kiss him, tell him over and over that he is alive and it's because of Mix. Thank him in every way possible. And most importantly—Earth could finally start living his life by Mix's side and he was not about to waste any minute of it.
When he didn't hear the cashier screaming at him anymore from behind, Earth stopped in his track, leaning on the wall of the building at the corner of the street. He needed to catch his breath. This was an oddly familiar feeling—he didn't need to do that for years. Closing his eyes, he breathed out, "I'm alive, I'm truly alive."
Earth remembered that Praewa's house wasn't so far away from the convenience store and he also knew that it was still the place where Mix's family was living. However, Earth also heard that they did some major reconstructions on the house—he hoped that he still would be able to recognize it.
Earth needed new clothes, money, and definitely, a passport to get back to Canada, and as weird as he felt about it, Mix's parents were the only people he could ask for help. Not exactly how he had imagined his first meeting with Mix's parents after he was alive again but unforeseen circumstances call for unusual measures.
Earth started to walk down the street, in his head he was going over and over again through what was he going to say when the door of the house will open. If they open. What if no one was home? The unsettling feeling was creeping on in Earth. He shook his shoulders, trying to shake that feeling away. There was no time and no need for thoughts like that.
The only thing he should worry about was Mix. Mix was alone in the cabin in—what Earth remembered—was the worst weather he had ever seen in Canada. And on top of that, he most likely thought that Earth was dead.
Earth knew Mix, he may have still don't know him as much as he knew himself but he knew that Mix wasn't alright. Earth certainly wouldn't be if Mix 'died' in his arms. Earth didn't want Mix to feel like Earth left him, that he just disappeared after everything they went through. He didn't want Mix to feel sad—not that, and especially not because of him.
A few minutes later, Earth stopped in front of what used to be a small yard with a smaller house, but now the yard was dominated by three times as big of a house, a fairly spacy veranda and a big swimming pool.
It looked way different from how Earth saw it for the last time many years ago. But the address was the same, he was sure of it.
He took a deep breath and look around himself one more time before he pressed the ring bell on the gate. Seconds were passing but no one was answering.
Earth was nervously looking through the gate, on the front door, begging them to open. He was about to ring the bell again when the door finally opened, revealing a confused looking Aroon.
"Earth?"
"Aroon, I need your help."
.....
Earth was sitting on the one end of the table, his eyes absentmindedly scanning a vase with red and white tulips in the middle of the table.
On the other side of the table—Aroon and his wife were trying to understand what was happening. "So you are saying that when you regenerated you suddenly appeared back here while our son is in Canada thinking that the man he loves is dead—definitively this time," Mix's mother said, her expression unreadable.
"Yes," Earth sighed. "Look, I had no idea that it would go like this. It never happened before—at least I've never heard something like this. And trust me, it isn't easy for me to be saying this as a first thing upon meeting you both again after so long, but I need your help, right now."
"It won't be a problem to give you new clothes and money to get to Canada but the passport is the catch, Earth," Aroon said openly, his fingers lightly tapping on the wooden table.
"Honey, can't you ask Mira if she could do something?"
Aroon looked at his wife, his face glowing with an idea, "how could I forget about Mira?"
"Ehmm, I'm sorry, but who's Mira?" Earth asked, his fingers were also tapping on the wooden table but it definitely wasn't in such a lightened manner as Aroon's.
"Let's say she is someone who knows how to make a passport pretty quickly," Aroon grinned.
"Is it illegal?" Earth furrowed his eyebrows.
Aroon chuckled, waving his hand in front of himself in a dismissive way, "no, no, nothing like that. Her job is to take photos for passports, so I think she can manage something. As for the others information for your passport—well, this is—it's tricky."
Aroon sighed, "you know, Earth, we can't really put your real information there. I mean, I don't know how would you explain if we put your birth year to be 1937 and then you show up on the airport, looking like this."
"You are right," Earth nodded, running his hand through his hair. "How long 'till I'll have the passport?"
Aroon stood up, smiling, "if we go now, then a few hours."
.....
The aeroplane seats were way more comfortable than Earth had remembered but then again—the last time he flew was a very long time ago and the seats were the least of a difference.
Earth thought that he will go crazy before he even gets on the plane. There were too many steps to go through before he was able to board the plane—it was a miracle that he managed to went through all of them without making any mistakes, and without someone finding out that his passport wasn't exactly the most legit thing they have ever seen.
The world changed a lot since Earth died. It looked like Mix would have to teach Earth a lot of stuff. Earth smiled subconsciously, he wouldn't mind learning new things from Mix. Earth only hoped that Mix was safe.
"Give me one more day, angel. I'll be with you again, I promise," Earth breathed out for himself, watching through the window as the aeroplane left the solid ground of Thailand.
At first, Earth was sceptical about being able to get the passport so fast but then Aroon took him to Mira and damn, that woman definitely knew what she was doing. Somehow she managed to take Earth's photo—his first photo in decades—and make the whole passport in under an hour.
The passport was saying that Earth was born in 1994 making him 28, which wasn't completely a lie. Earth died when he was 28 and because he regained his life only a few days ago technically he was still 28. He couldn't be ageing when he was dead—just like he told Mix, months ago.
Somehow Earth needed to get to the sheriff LeBlanc's office. And then explain everything in a way that the sheriff would understand. How was Earth going to do that? He had no idea, but he had more than enough hours on the plane to come up with something.
.....
Fifteen hours later, Earth, was finally standing in front of the police station where sheriff LeBlanc should be. Earth was tired, but not much. He managed to surprisingly fall asleep for a few hours on the plane, despite having Mix running through his mind more than should be healthy.
The closer to Mix Earth was, the more worried he was. What if something happened to Mix? There was no one to take care of him there. No one to light the fire, no one to make sure that Mix is warm when he is sleeping, wrapped tightly in the fluffy blanked. No one to kiss his forehead and wish him sweet dreams. Did Mix have at least a little bit of sleep since Earth disappear from his arms?
Earth shook his head, chasing his frustrating thoughts away. He walked inside the police station, a young red-haired girl smiled at him from the reception.
"Hello, I'm looking for sheriff LeBlanc. Can you call him for me, please?"
Before Earth could get the answer, someone stopped right next to him.
"I'm sheriff LeBlanc, how can I help you, Mr?"
"Earth," Earth said and shook the sheriff's hand. "This may sound weird but, are you going to the Ghost Cabin right now?"
Sheriff LeBlanc was looking at Earth with a hint of curiosity, he narrowed his eyes a little but then he nodded, "actually, yes, I am. How do you know that?"
Earth shuffled in place, looking around himself, "can I explain it outside? It's a little bit of a sensitive topic."
Sheriff LeBlanc narrowed his eyes even more, but then he started walking to the entrance.
Earth followed him outside, ready to explain everything.
"Alright, Earth, get inside," sheriff LeBlanc said, getting inside his Jeep.
"What?" Earth was looking at the Jeep, startled.
Sheriff LeBlanc leaned over the passenger seat to the window, "don't you want to get to the cabin?"
"I—yes, but how—"
"Get inside! I don't have a whole day," the sheriff said and started the engine.
Five minutes into the ride and they both still said nothing. Earth was scanning the side profile of sheriff LeBlanc, trying to guess what was going through his head, but to no avail.
"Sheriff—"
"Listen, Earth. I would really appreciate it if both of you—you and Mix, stopped whatever game you are playing. First, Mix comes after me in the middle of the worst blizzard we had in almost half a century and is going crazy because he needs to get to the cabin. And now you are here somehow knowing where I'm going, and you want to get there too."
Sheriff LeBlanc gave Earth a quick glance, "I'm a cop for a reason. I know how to put two and two together, Earth. Mix wasn't lying when he told me that he and the ghost in the Ghost Cabin are in love. And that they are trying this whole True Love legend thing. That ghost was you. And I guess that legend wasn't lying either but something went wrong, and you ended up in Thailand, and now you need to get back to Mix who I assume thinks that you are dead for real this time. Am I right?"
Earth chuckled in relief, "I was freaking out how will I explain it to you and you just—yeah, you are actually completely right."
Sheriff LeBlanc smiled, "I'm not the best sheriff in the district for no reason. Well, Earth, congratulation on being alive again. I feel bad for not believing Mix. Please tell him that I apologize."
"Why don't say it yourself?"
"Well, I think you want to be alone now. To settle everything once and for all. I really don't need one of you to beg me to take you to the cabin again."
Earth nodded with a smile, "you can be at ease, that won't happen again. I'm sure."
"Good," the sheriff stopped the car. "We are here. The groceries are in the trunk. And good luck."
"Thank you, sheriff, see you in a week," Earth said and got out of the car, taking the groceries with him.
"See you," with that, sheriff LeBlanc turned his Jeep and drove away, leaving Earth standing in front of the Ghost Cabin, alone.
Earth didn't waste another second. He walked up to the door, knocking on them eagerly. He waited a few seconds but nothing was happening. He knocked again, this time with more fervour. He was getting more and more worried with each additional second that passed.
Earth was about to knock again when the door opened. There, standing, was his angel—but he wasn't shining as brightly as he used to. He wasn't shining at all.
"Earth?" Mix whispered before his body gave up.
Earth let go of the grocery bags, their content scattering all over the floor as he leaned in, catching Mix's fragile body, in his arms.
"Mix," Earth shook Mix in his arms, "Mix!"
To be continued...
P.S. Earth is officially alive!