Love Shack (3)

It was clear to Midori that the woman was definitely not planning to go without a fight.

Immediately she began throwing anything nearby that she could get her hands on, and when her stock of household objects had run empty she raced to the CD player and began hurling jewel cases at Midori as if they were throwing stars.

And though all the objects she threw simply phased through Midori, strangely enough they did still hurt the same as if she’d been hit with the object forcing her to dodge about wildly.

“Look,” Midori started while dodging a Tom Waits album. “Just listen to me!”

“No!” She shouted in between throws. “I already did the living in reality thing. Now just let me live in my stupid dream!”

As the woman dove through the doorway Midori followed her, and suddenly the world felt as if it were being turned upside down as the scene was changed—like a cut in a film reel—from a comfortable living room den to a small bedroom.

The wall was decorated with the similar blue and white floral pattern from before but now nearly every inch of it had been covered by posters of some variety; band posters, movie posters, even random motivational posters which had been proudly defaced.

A cassette player sat on a desk strewn with papers, the speakers emitting a tiny rendition of the same song she had been singing when they found her in the cave.

And the girl sat on her bed hugging her knees crying. She looked up through large watery hazel eyes, tears staining her cheeks.

“Why can’t you just let me pretend?”

Sitting on the end of the bed Midori looked down at her hands to see she was no longer mist like before but had actual mass. She looked at the young woman wondering how she might answer that question before realizing she did not know the right answer.

“I can, if that's what you really want. But I saw you from outside and you just looked so…sad.”

The woman snorted and let loose a sardonic bark of laughter.

“Sad? Of course I’m sad! I got transported to some fantasy world right when my life was set to start! I lived more time here than the place I was born, the place my family raised me…”

It was strange to be hearing things that she had thought about, and wondered if she was strange for not having similar feelings to her.

“I…I kind of understand what you mean.”

She snorted, “you?”

“I’m actually from the same world you are.”

“What! You are!?”

She leaped from the bed and crossed the distance between them in what seemed like a fraction of a second, her eyes wide and excited.

“Oh my god, where are you from? What are your favourite bands?”

“Japan, is where I’m from. As for bands…probably Nico Touches the Walls,” she said. Most people looked at her oddly when she said she didn’t really listen to much music so she’d developed a handful of go-to options.

“I don’t think I’ve heard of them, are they new?”

“No, and I think they actually disbanded in 2019.”

The woman took a slow step back and stared in horrified confusion, “wait...two thousand and nineteen?”

“Yeah,” Midori answered as dread settled in her stomach.

“What…what year are you from?”

“I’m from…2025.”

It was quiet after that for several long moments, the woman stared at nothing in particular before letting out a soft and manic chorus of laughter.

“So there’s nothing to even go back to…my friends…my family…all gone. I never even mattered at all, not here, not anywhere.”

The air felt colder with each word she spoke and on pure instinct Midori threw her arms around the woman, bringing her close to her chest in a tight hug.

“That’s not true. You survived here, you learned all you could and made a life here.”

“How…how do you know that?”

“I’m not sure…I have bits and pieces of your past in my head. Little fleeting memories, like the glisten of light on a stream before it’s snatched away again.”

Her face was shocked, like seeing a myth given flesh, the air seemed to return to normal once more. “You’re a Herald?”

“I am, whatever that even means.” The woman pulled back and Midori smiled at her, “what’s your name?”

“Sahaela, what’s yours?”

“Midori.”

“That’s a pretty name,” she said while wiping the back of her hand across her still wet eyes.

“Thank you, so is yours.”

The two women sat in silence for some time on the edge of the bed, in the adolescent bedroom Sahaela had constructed. She looked around at it all and sighed.

“I’m…scared, I don’t think I’m ready to let go yet.”

Looking at her Midori once again blurted out the first thought she had, “then stay with me until then. Well, not like me, me, but like us. Come with us, I mean.”

The pair looked at each other for a few moments, the older woman looked uncertain but with a glint of hope in her eyes.

“Would…would you be alright having a screw up like me around?”

It was Midori’s turn to laugh this time, a ripple effect causing Sahaela to laugh, and for a brief moment they forgot about all the troubles that had befallen them both.

“Seriously though you’ll fit right in.” Standing up she looked around and tilted her head slightly, “how do we get back though? I don’t think I can turn that mist thing on and off. I don’t even know how I did it in the first place.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got that.”

Standing up Sahaela took a slow, steady breath while stretching her arms out wide and began slowly pulling them toward her, straining as if she were pulling something incredibly heavy. As she did the area itself began to contract and shrink.

Midori felt the floor raising and could now easily reach up and touch the ceiling, but oddly she also felt that she was also shrinking. It was an incredibly strange feeling and it caused her stomach to lurch slightly, until one moment she was in Sahaela's room and the next time she blinked she was then standing in the centre of the mountain cavern she had been traversing with Rune.

An enormous crater had been dug into the stone where she and Sahaela stood and it looked like at some point a hole at been blasted into the rock opening up a higher section of the mountain. She would later discover that when Sahaela had been stressed the maelstrom had nearly exploded upward with such force that both Rune and the other soldiers had to scatter or risked getting caught up in the blast.

Three of the soldiers seemed to have stayed during the chaos with only one deciding he’d had enough, and so now both Rune and Midori stared at each other with someone new standing beside them.

“I see you made some friends,” Midori said with a smile.

“You too,” he reached out and grabbed her hand and winced at the rather nasty looking burn that had appeared on her hand. “Really wish we had found a better way to do it though.”

Gliding forward Sahaela raised a hand and gently touched Midori’s burnt palm, it was cool but prickled from the pain. “I can help with that darling.”

Waving her hand slowly a sphere of water formed around Midori’s hand and she watched in absolute amazement as the skin on her hand began to heal. Slowly the burned skin began to flake away as soft, new skin was exposed underneath, it was like watching the healing process in extreme speed. After a few several the burn had vanished entirely.

“Holy crap. You’re incredible.” Midori said staring directly at Sahaela.

Now that she was standing close with all illusions dispersed Midori could see how beautiful the ghost she had saved was. She was older than before with time etching subtle creases in her face that just made her look more distinguished. her hair was a muted brown threaded with silver throughout and she wore it in a single loose braid while spilled over one of her shoulders. Her eyes, still that sparkling hazel, retained all the kindness and wonder from before.

“You sweet talker,” she said playfully before doing a very slight bow to Rune and the soldiers. “Pleased to meet you, you may call me Sahaela.”

The soldiers threw themselves at her feet sobbing all shouting over one another begging for forgiveness, pleading their undying loyalty and love for her and her teachings of the ‘Love House.’

“I guess we have a bit more explaining to do,” Midori said with a smile.