Dance of the Phoenix - Ch4

I flung myself through the door of my home. By this time, my body had calmed down and the shifting had stopped, which was fortunate given the fact that my house was not empty.

“Eirwin!” Angie rushed towards me and grabbed me fiercely in her arms. “Thank goodness you’re alright!”

I fought for breath and leaned heavily on Angie to stop my legs from caving under me.

“You’re exhausted! Sit down, here.” She guided me to a chair at my small kitchen table and raced to get me a glass of water. I drank it down in a single gulp.

“Where were you?” Angie squealed. She was near to having a fit. “You didn’t show up for your shift. I tried to call you and when there was no answer, I decided to just come on over to see if you were alright, only you weren’t here! I checked all over town but no one had seen you since you left the café yesterday afternoon and… What on earth are you wearing?”

I glanced down at myself. The robe that was now riddled with rips and tears hung open, revealing the skimpy nightgown.

I shrugged. “My pajamas?” I offered weakly.

Angie sat down opposite me and took my hands in hers. “Eirwin, what happened?”

Without warning, a laugh escaped my lips and I couldn’t stop. I laughed until tears poured down my cheeks and my ribs ached. Angie stared at me as though I had gone mad. For what seemed like the one-millionth time, I wondered if maybe I had. I could rock a straightjacket… The visual image made me laugh even harder. The laughter died as Angie continued to stare at me, clearly perturbed and unsure what to do.

“I’m sorry, Ang. You wouldn’t believe my story even if I told you.” I shook my head with a wry smile. I wasn’t even sure I fully believed it. Maybe I had been drugged somehow and it had all been a hallucination. The only way I would ever know would be to go back there again, retrace my steps. It would be easy enough to do. The map was not only still seared onto my brain, but I could now sense Kaido as though he were a part of me. I knew that no matter where he was, I would be able to find him. It should have felt invasive given that I knew he could also sense me. Instead, it made me feel safe.

“You’re not going to tell me?” Angie cried. “Do you have any idea how worried I have been? How worried everyone has been?” She took a deep breath. “Eirwin, you have to tell us. The police will be back here soon. They and half the town are out searching for you. I opted to stay here in case you showed up.”

I sighed. “I went for a walk in the forest yesterday after work and got lost. That’s all.”

Angie clearly didn’t believe me and eyed me skeptically. “You went for a walk in your nightie?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?”

“No.” Her answer was blunt.

“Of course, you wouldn’t. Who would?” I mumbled quietly. “Angie…” I began.

“Go and get changed. It will only raise more suspicions if the police arrive to find you in that state. Quickly!” She pulled me to my feet and ushered me to my room. “They will be here in ten minutes and there are obviously things you don’t want anyone to know.” Before closing my door, she jabbed a finger in my face. “But don’t think for one moment that I am going to let it go easily. You have your secrets and I respect that, however there is only so much I am willing to ignore.” The door banged shut after her. She wasn’t angry with me. I knew Angie well enough by now to tell that her mood was a side effect of her concern.

The robe was a mess. I felt sorry that something so pretty had been ruined. I kicked it under the bed, and the nightie with it – I would throw them away later – then grabbed a pair of shorts and a shirt. A quick braid tidied my hair and I went to rejoin Angie in the kitchen with minutes to spare. As the police walked in, Angie ran her hands through her wavy, chocolate brown locks, smoothed her clothes and flashed Officer Brandon Jakes a gorgeous smile. Angie had had a crush on him for longer than I had known her and I was convinced he felt the same, yet they continued to do this little dance with neither of them wanting to make the first move. He was handsome with his short dark hair and coffee-coloured eyes. Broad shoulders and chest caused his shirt to strain as it tried to contain all the hard planes of muscle. Despite his clean-cut. dreamy good looks, I couldn’t help but recall an even more ravishingly pulchritudinous and dazzling gentleman. Squashing the thought before I could blush, I focused on Officer Jakes.

“You gave us quite the scare, Eirwin,” he remarked, after they’d checked me for injuries and deemed me unharmed. “Maybe just remember to let someone know where you’re going next time, ay?”

I nodded sheepishly. Thankfully, they had bought my story about simply getting lost in the forest. I hadn’t really been in Franklin all that long so it was perfectly plausible. “Sorry, Jakes,” I replied with just the right hint of bashfulness.

“Alright then, we’ll go let everyone know that you’ve been found and that you’re okay. Do you need anything?”

“No, thank you. I’ll be fine.” I stood to see them out the door.

Officer Jakes turned back. “Angie? You’ll be sticking around for a while, right?”

“Yeh, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Angie promised.

“Good.” Jakes grinned at her, his gaze lingering a moment then, with a wave, he hopped into the patrol car with his partner Officer Landen. Angie sighed dreamily as we watched them pull away and I went back inside to make some tea.

“Want some?” I asked Angie, indicating the kettle.

“Sure.” She watched me silently as I prepared the tea, an air of expectation about her.

Should I tell her? I knew she wouldn’t push me to talk but Angie was a patient woman. She would simply wait me out until I caved.

“So, when are you going to ask Jakes out already?” I implored, feigning exasperation. Usually, the subject of Brandon Jakes was enough to distract her for hours. Now, she just looked at me cynically.

“That isn’t going to work this time, sweetheart.”

Damn. I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. We sat in silence, sipping our tea while I mulled over what to say.

“How far have you ventured into the forest?” I finally asked her.

“Um, I don’t know exactly. Pretty far, I guess.”

Taking a chance, I stepped out on a limb and asked, “Have you ever come across a castle?”

Angie blinked at me over her teacup. “I can’t say I have, no. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I… I, um, sort of found one.” I held my breath as I waited for that to sink in.

Her expression was nothing short of pessimistic. “You found a castle? In the Nantahala Forest?”

I nodded. “That’s where I was last night. I did get lost,” I professed adamantly, “and a man found me.” My cheeks immediately blossomed into a bright shade of crimson.

“Must have been some man,” Angie smirked, raising her eye brows. I don’t think she believed a thing I was saying.

“It’s true. You wanted to know what happened and I’m telling you. This man found me and I passed out. He must have carried me back to that castle because when I came to, I was lying in a luxurious bed in a room I’d never seen before.”

Angie studied me closely, a slight frown creasing her forehead as she chewed on her bottom lip. “I think I should take you to see Doc,” she repeated her suggestion from the day before. “Dizzy spells and now this… Maybe you were hallucinating. Have you started any new medications? Or, ah… Not that I would judge you if you did but…”

“I don’t take drugs,” I interjected. “And I haven’t started any new meds. I considered hallucinations as a possibility, but that doesn’t explain the nightgown and robe.”

“Hmm, true. You got me there.” I could see her brain working, the cogs slowly turning as she tried to comprehend my words. “Okay,” she continued, “say you are telling the truth. What happened after that?”

Tentatively, I told her the whole story in chronological order. She listened, transfixed as I described the strange bird of fire.

“A phoenix,” she interrupted. “You’re talking about a phoenix.”

Phoenix. At the sound of that word, my body shuddered and my head began to spin. I felt drunk with immense power, caught in its grasp like a fly trapped in a spider’s web. “Oh no! No no no! Not again!”

As before, a bright, powerful light wrapped itself around me, flickering like flames. Angie almost fell flat as she leapt up in shock, or fright – probably both – and bounded several paces away from me, exhaling in a barrage of expletives. As I watched, feathers sprouted from my skin and a wonderful sensation gripped me with a warm, gentle caress. This can’t be happening! Straining with effort, I tried to force it to stop, willed it with all my might. Just when I thought I had lost the battle, the light faded and I was completely human again. Angie was huddled in the corner of my kitchen. Her face had lost all colour and she was trembling from head to toes.

“Angie…” I whispered. I was still shaking and I felt completely exhausted. Everything became hazy and I reached for Angie one last time before my head crashed to the table and my world was plunged into darkness.

************

I awoke in my own bed this time. I could hear two people having a quiet discussion outside my door. I recognized one voice as Angie’s.

“No, she doesn’t take drugs,” Angie was saying.

“What about any medications?” The other voice was male and not one I could put a face to.

“You would have to ask her. She did say she hasn’t started taking anything new, but I don’t know if she was already taking something else,” answered Angie.

My door swung open, revealing the owner of the male voice to be Doctor Norton, better known as Doc.

“Ah, I see our patient is awake.” He smiled at me and his blue eyes sparkled. Doc was great. Everyone loved him. Despite being in his sixties, hardly any lines marked his cheery face and he still moved about with ease, making mobile visits to patients and running his clinic. Only the grey in his hair gave away his age. “How are we feeling?” He sat on the edge of my bed to check my pulse as he spoke.

“I feel alright, actually.” I couldn’t believe Angie had called him after what she had witnessed. Should I be angry? No. What would be the point in that? She had done what she thought best under the given circumstances and to be honest, I probably would have done the same.

After a thorough examination and Doc’s assurance that I would be fine, he left, leaving behind strict instructions for plenty of rest and fluids. Angie saw him out and returned to my room, taking Doc’s place on the edge of my bed heaving a great sigh. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, concentrating on her hands folded on her lap. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s alright,” I assured her. After that, I didn’t know what to say. What had just transpired was not supposed to happen in real, everyday life. It was the stuff of fantasy and make-believe.

“So…” Angie started, glancing at me dubiously. “You’re, what? A shape shifter?”

Anxiety bloomed in my chest. Hearing her confirm what had transpired made the reality of it hit home. I couldn’t deny it anymore. “I don’t know what I am. Whatever this is, it started a while ago I think.”

“What do you mean?”

It was pointless to hide now. I told her everything; all about my life in Miami, how I had started to change and how it had all led to me moving here. The longer it went on, the crazier I sounded. I had to give Angie credit for listening so calmly.

“I don’t really know much about the phoenix myth,” Angie admitted. “I do know that they are supposed to be wonderful, caring, kind-hearted creatures.”

“So, are you saying that you actually believe me?” I asked incredulously.

“Not exactly, but… I can’t deny what I just witnessed. Maybe you have some foreign disease or something, who knows.”

“I don’t feel sick,” I informed her. “I actually feel pretty good, the best I have felt in a long time. In fact, I think I could even go to the party tonight. It would do us good to let our hair down and have some fun.”

Angie looked doubtful. “You heard what Doc said; plenty of rest and fluids. A party isn’t exactly restful. Besides, what if… um, what if it happens again?”

It was not hard to guess that she was referring to my shape shifting display. “It won’t.” I felt certain that it didn’t just happen spontaneously. There had to be a trigger of some kind. “Plus, we still have ages before we have to leave. I’ll rest until then.”

“Okay, well, I’ll stay here and we will see how you feel by this afternoon. In the meantime, why don’t we do some research? It might give us a bit of an idea about what’s happening to you?”

I had never been so grateful for a person in my life. “Sounds like a plan.”

So, for the rest of the morning we researched everything we could find on obscure diseases and illnesses. When that revealed nothing helpful, we moved onto the more far-fetched theories about phoenixes and shape shifters, though it was hard to take such research seriously. In the end, we didn’t really come up with much of a conclusion. “This is getting us nowhere,” Angie sighed in frustration. “If only there were someone else we could talk to.”

“Technically, there is,” I reminded her.

“Oh right, the recondite Kaido.” She cocked her head, considering the options. “Here is what I think we should do. Tomorrow, we will head into the forest together and see if we can find this castle of yours. How long do you think it took for you to make it back home when you left yesterday?”

“A few hours? I’m not sure. I just wanted to get home. But it couldn’t have been more than a few hours.” Had I really been able to run for that long though? I wasn’t as fit as I had once been.

“So, we should make it there by afternoon if we get an early start. Right, that’s what we will do. Now, how about we forget all this weirdness until then and watch a movie? I don’t know about you but I feel like my brain is going to implode.”

“Angie,” I called as she got up to put a movie in the DVD player. “Thank you. Really. You’re the best.”

“I know,” Angie acknowledged dramatically. “Make sure you don’t forget it.”

We both chuckled then settled back in my bed to watch the movie.

That afternoon, it started to rain and the party was rescheduled to the following weekend. Admittedly, I was quite relieved. Instead, Angie and I watched a couple of movies then went to bed so we could start out bright and early in the morning. My stomach flip-flopped around like a fish out of water, full of nerves. What would we find? Would we find anything at all? I buried myself deeper into my blankets and closed my eyes, but sleep was a long time coming.

Continue reading chapter five here: