Random Rantings of Jordan Drew

He flopped in the grass with a resounding curse in God’s direction. He’d spent hours calling out for his wife and walking through the woods surrounding their spot looking for her. It was hopeless. The park was empty, and he had no idea what to do. The sun, which was high in the sky when he’d been dancing with her, was long gone. The stars now burned brightly, the grass was damp with dew – something he really wished he’d thought about before plopping his linen covered tailbone into it – and his wife was gone. Things were not right with the world. He’d been calling out, but he was tired and having a hard time remembering things… like her name. It was also very chilly. Yes, it was still early in the spring, but it shouldn’t be this cold. If she’d been there, she would have been fussing at him, not just because it was cold, but also because now he was wet from sitting in the grass… But she isn’t here.

He looked up at the sky, taking in the view. A million stars in plain sight, stars so clear and bright, but the sky didn’t look the same as it had when she was by his side. Midnight blue is a color in a crayon box; a color people merely used to describe the night sky. It wasn’t the actual color of it so far as he’d ever seen, or at lease remembered seeing… until now. It wasn’t just the sky either. All day, the colors seemed perhaps a shade off normal. It wasn’t a huge difference if you were only looking at the sky, but between the sky, the grass, the trees that surrounded the small park, the clouds, his clothes, and everything else he looked at since he’d woken up, it all looked… different. Something was wrong, and it bugged the hell out of him. He checked his watch. It had been an hour since he’d last checked it, so at least time was working, even if the rest of his world was broken.

Somewhere in the edge of the woods, where forest and park divided, a loud crack echoed in the darkness. He stood, cocking his head to one side. His feet went against everything his brain told him as they inched closer to the trees. “Hello?” he called out. His answer came in the form of movement. A man stepped out from behind a tree. He had a soft glow around him, silvery almost, like… the damn moon. Good lord, Miles, you’re cracking up! He’s not freaking glowing… Miles stared in front of the man who was dressed in black from head to toe. Is he glowing? Am I seeing ghosts now?

The man smiled warmly at him. “I mean you no harm. I’m Felix,” he said. “It’s time for us to go.”

Go? Go where? His mind was still fuzzy and it was driving him crazy. Yes… I need to go – no! Wait, I need her. I need the girl. “I’m looking for…” Who? Who was I looking for? He closed his eyes concentrating on the vague outline of a woman in his mind. Her! Yes! “My wife… She’s …shorter than I am, with dark hair… and… eyes…” What color were they? “Prettier than me… I guess… if… I was pretty. Her name is…” Damn. Why can’t I remember her name? “Wait… Izzy! Her name is Izzy. Have you seen her?”

“Yes. She’s safe. She is with loved ones who are taking good care of her. You have to come with me, Miles.” The man took a few steps closer, closing the gap between them. The shadows from the trees stayed with him as the moonlight highlighted his form. “We have to leave this place.”

“My wife,” Miles repeated with urgency.

“You’re very late, Miles. I was sent to find you and help you on your journey to The City.”

I need to get to the city… why do I know that? Miles walked towards the man, stopping in front of him. He looked familiar, but Miles couldn’t place him. He was pretty sure he’d never met a Felix before, and there was something strange about him too. He looks out of place… out of time. The man held out his hand towards Miles. “We really need to hurry.”

Miles nodded, turning around and looking back at the sky. I need to get to the city… no, not the city. Home. I need to get home. “I have some place I need to be.”

“Yes,” Felix said.  “You need to get to The City.”

“No!” Miles placed his hands on his head and screamed, desperately trying to clear the fog in his head. Flashes of his wife’s freckled face came into mind. Her smile, the curve of her lips, her eyes – the tiny lines at the corners of her eyes and lips he loved so much because he knew they were caused by her beautiful smile. He smiled at the thought of how she used to tell him he was the reason she even had those so he’d better love them. “I need to go home!” he yelled.

Felix grabbed his arm and flung him around. “No! You must go to The City. They’re coming for you. If you go home, they will find you.”

Miles stared at the… man standing in front of him. The moonlight wasn’t casting the silvery glow around him. There was something wrong. Out of time. Miles fell to his knees. “I… you… you’re a ghost!”

Felix’s eyes widened. He grabbed Miles pulling him up off of the ground. “Stand up, don’t be ridiculous. I’m not a ghost! I’m a Reaper… well, I am now, anyway. I’m here to escort you, but we really must hurry.”

He couldn’t help but stare at the man, who now looked offended. “You glow in the dark!”

“I do not! It’s an aura,” Felix scoffed before fussing at nobody in particular. “I knew this wouldn’t go the way they said it would. I’m not even supposed to be here! I’m not this kind of Reaper, but I had to draw the short end of the stick,” he said. He held out his hand once again, this time motioning to him with his fingers to come to him. “Look, if you’re quite finished gawking at things I have no control over, then I’d appreciate it if we could get on our way.”

“You glow…” Miles repeated. Felix could call it anything he wished, but it didn’t change the facts. He glowed, and Miles was both enamored by it and fearful of it. He poked Felix’s arm, wondering if his finger would go through him.

“Don’t do that!” Felix growled, crossing his arms across his chest in a huffy outpouring of frustration. “I’m not glowing: I have an aura only you can see because of your… situation. If you weren’t you, and you were anyone else, I wouldn’t be glowing. Have you not noticed the auras around everything else? It’s your eyes, dimwit. Look at your hands. Look at the grass. It’s all damn glowing, isn’t it?”

Miles nodded, staring at the blue-eyed man staring in front of him. “Are you an angel then… because you aren’t very angelic.”

“I am not an angel! And even if I were an angel, which I am not, thank God, what difference would it make to you?”

“Do you have wings?” Miles asked, ignoring Felix’s tirade. He walked around Felix in a circle, trying to see if anything puffed out from his side or back wondering where angels would hide their wings.

Felix raised his eyebrows. “We don’t have time for this. We have to go, Miles. They are coming and if they find out you haven’t started for The City all hell will break loose. We have rules, and so far you’ve broken every single one.”

Miles shook his head and began walking towards the pathway back to the road that would take him back to…her. “I have to go home. They’ll understand.”

“They won’t understand. I don’t understand.”

“I have to see… someone… my… I have to see… my wife.

“Miles, it’s already too late. You have to let her go, let her move on with her life.”

He stopped walking. The path was directly ahead of him, but he couldn’t remember now why he was heading towards it. “Who?”

“Your wife.”

Miles smiled, remembering how he loved her lips… and… her eyes? “Yes. I have to see her.”

Felix flattened his lips against each other. “Who?” he asked.

The challenge in Felix’s tone wasn’t lost on Miles. “Her… I need her.”

“Miles, you have to let her go. You can’t even remember her name.”

Miles balled his hands into fists and walked faster away from the Reaper… or Felix… or the ghost, whatever the hell he said he was. Felix followed him, still talking. With every word that came out of that thing’s mouth, Miles head became foggier. “Stop it! I know what you’re trying to do. I need to get back. I can’t go to The City. She needs me! You go to The City. Tell them you failed. Tell them whatever you like, but I’m going back home to see my wife!”

“You’re dead, Miles,” Felix whispered. “You can’t go home. There is no going back.”

Read part one

Read part two

Read part four