by Em Pitts
“Brian? Did he travel just to speak with you? Why did you not tell me you needed me?”
“And waste my time trying to find you? You took off over an hour ago.” Ollie was fully turned towards the new guy now taking his attention off me.
“Bridget was catching me up with the newest trial news.” The new guy sounded offended.
This was starting to feel like a soap opera. As the two went back and forth seeming to forget me, I scooted to leave the lake and the strangeness that was surrounding me. I needed to find Abby. I don’t know how far I am from her, but clearly someone drugged me and either kidnapped (adultnapped?) me or I took off in my drugged state. Maybe the dazed version of me finally told off Earl before I left. It's the little things. Judging by the landscape I was far from home and needed to get going quickly.
The other men kept going on about useless things as I continued creeping out of the water. Once I was fully out of the water, I took off away from them running as fast as I could. The raised voices alerted me that my absence was noted. I pushed myself as hard as I was able to in my wet clothes to get away. I'm glad I left my jacket at the office so that wasn't weighing me down more right now.
The men were taller and more in shape than I thought and caught up quickly. When arms wrapped around me and I was lifted off the ground, I wiggled and fought back. I heard a grunt of pain and realized my foot connected with something as I was dropped. Hell yeah to basic women's defenses!
Ollie laid on the ground writhing. I turned to the dark-haired man who had his arms raised, palms out, to show his surrender. I took off back towards the lake, the way I just came from. If I could get enough of a head start maybe I could figure out what stupid hill I came in on and go from there. I kept glancing back but all I saw was the taller of the two helping Ollie off the ground and laughing. Finally, I ignored them both and focused forward.
I ran towards the closest hill past the lake and noticed a two-story house. I was already getting out of breath from pushing myself so hard which ultimately made the decision to cut towards the house. Reaching the door, I continued pounding on it waiting for someone to open up and glancing behind me for the two assholes. Finally, the door opened to a woman in a dress. A beautiful woman with brown hair pinned back and a plain yellow dress with long sleeves.
“I need your help! Someone drugged me and took me here and my sister needs me. There are two men following me and one of them is possibly a pyromaniac, definitely an arsonist. The other one knows him so he can’t be any good. Quick! We need to call the police.” I barely took a breath when rushing through my speech.
I ignored her startled look and shoved my way inside since she stood in shock. I quickly closed the door and locked it with the wooden latch before giving instructions again.
“Where’s your phone?” I demanded.
I despised Earl right now for not having mine on me. If anything, she looked even more confused. Obviously, I was not getting anywhere with her. “Is anyone else home?” With a house this big, there had to be more people home. Her debate on whether to answer me or not contorted her face, but eventually, she nodded.
“My husband is in the keeping room, Miss.” She turned abruptly and led me towards this keeping room.
We reached a living room with a fireplace where a large man and a blonde woman sat on a wooden couch with padding on it talking to each other.
"Ellen?" The man asked in question to my presence.
I immediately went into my spill. The man and new woman sat listening intently to my retelling and gave me curious expressions by the end. The man then stood and offered me his seat.
“I will be back.” He gave a questioning look to the women in the room before nodding and leaving towards the door.
I had barely started rocking on the couch when I heard the knock at the door. The man couldn't have made it to the door yet and a sick feeling in my stomach led me to believe the men he was leaving to find, the ones who were chasing me, were on the other side of the door.
"Don't answer that!" I hollered and jumped up racing towards the door in order to stop it.
Ellen tilted her head sideways for a moment and got a faraway look on her face. Then she straightened back upright.
“It’s fine, husband. It’s my brother and Nicholas.” She then went to the door.
I was glancing around trying to find a quick exit when I heard a familiar laugh. I stayed still and listened closely to be sure. Part of me was screaming to start running again and the other part of me was curious about how this is going to go. In the end, I decided to stay on the chance that perhaps these strangers really could help. If nothing else, I could find their phone and call the police.
In walked Ellen, followed by her husband who was explaining my situation, poorly I might add—as though he didn’t understand anything I said—to two men behind him. Men I had already been acquainted with. One taller than the other, and one that I am pretty sure I just kicked in the balls a few minutes prior. The taller one saw me and smirked.
“You should punish Ollie. It seems he is the one who terrified your guest.” He stated with that husky voice of his.
Everyone looked at me, including Ollie. I can’t be sure because he was standing slightly behind Ellen’s husband, whose name I still didn’t know yet, but it looked like his hands moved to cup himself in preparation. Oh, yeah. I unquestionably kicked his balls earlier.
All eyes were on me and I didn’t know any of them or their intentions. Fuck this. I’m out.
With the entourage blocking the only exit I know of; I took off towards another door flinging it open to get away. Shouting happened from the ball-hurt shithead and laughter from the husky beanstalk that I chose to ignore. What did Ellen say his name was, Nathan, Nicholas? I was in a hallway one moment, then a kitchen the next and still I kept blazing through trying to find an outside entrance.
A different blonde woman with a small child on her hip appeared in my path. I skidded to a stop and apologized immediately. That was the moment a pair of arms wrapped around me again. Déjà vu. Of course, I went with my first reaction and started to thrash around, but the woman was too close, and I could not hurt her or her child.
“Zounds! That is enough!” A voice bellowed. “I will not tolerate that behavior in my home. Oliverus, you know better. Miss, I understand you are upset, but you almost harmed my child!” I looked guiltily towards the floor.
Somehow the man could make me feel like a child throwing a tantrum and that just pisses me off more. He is right though. I didn’t realize there was a child until I almost ran over the mother and little girl together.
The adrenaline left my body as my anger whooshed out of me as well. Sensing my submission, the arms loosened, and I slid down Ollie’s body until I touched the floor. His hands slid down my arms slowly releasing me. When his hands glided near my right wrist, I gasped from the sharp pain. The hands jerked away, and a throbbing sensation was left behind.
Ollie spun me around and gently lifted my arm. When he tried to roll my sleeve up the pain got worse. I watched as the cloth was sticking to my skin slightly and felt myself get lightheaded again. I was about to vomit or faint any minute now.
I was ushered to the couch where everyone decided to hover around me. At first, I was trying to concentrate on what they were saying, but the grotesqueness of watching my skin be pulled with my shirt caught and held my attention. I vaguely noticed Ollie was the one trying to gently remove the shirt from the burn.
A gloved hand on my chin pulled my eyes away and to the left. I found myself staring into light blue eyes. The tall guy with long black hair was talking to me. I was focusing on his lips but wasn't catching the words. He smiled at me and was rubbing my cheek with his thumb. What was he saying?
The pain pulled my focus back into the world with a loud whoosh of noise. I cried out and tried to focus through my tears back to the blue eyes. I had no choice because he held my chin firmly refusing to let me move.
"That's it
. Almost done, now. Focus on me. You've got this." His husky voice was surprisingly gentle.
He looked towards my arm but kept his hold on my chin so I could not glance at what Ollie was doing. The light hit his eyes and made them seem green instead of blue. For some reason, that seemed the important thing to focus on. Maybe because it was pretty, and I needed something pretty to think about. Not burnt skin.
A cooling sensation flowed up my arm starting at my fingertips and working up to my elbow. I gasped at the surprise and jerked my arm. Ollie held firm despite my resistance. That was okay though, because it didn’t hurt yet.
The feeling turned colder almost to the point of pain before suddenly cutting off. The man in front of me smiled looking strangely relieved. I'm not sure if it was the pain, fear of why I could no longer feel the pain, or shock from the whole situation but I found myself speaking words without thinking.
"What's your name?" I asked him. His relieved smile turned into a cocky smirk.
"Nicholas. You can call me yours, though." He replied cupping my cheek. Groans sounded around. "What's your name, pretty lady?"
"Tessa." I decided to turn and see what damage was caused that I can no longer feel the pain. I gasped as soon as I saw my arm.
The shirt was torn to just above where my arm was burned. I say was because my arm looked pink, but most definitely not burned. It looked as if the skin was regrown. I touched my arm not believing what I was seeing and felt the skin that felt softer than it was before.
"How?" I croaked out.
My limbs felt wobbly and I feared passing out again. Jumping away would have been a great idea right now, if I was able to move at all. Was this the aftereffects of an adrenaline rush?
In the silence, I looked up into Ollie's eyes. He looked uncomfortable and I noticed Nicholas glaring at him. It was Ellen who spoke up.
"Ollie has been blessed with the gift of Healing." She said excitedly.
Gifted? In healing? As I sat in confusion, the conversation continued.
"Which begs the question, why was she still burnt?" Nicholas sounded angry as he directed the question towards Ollie who immediately gave an offended look. I vaguely noticed he was leaned back and looked more tired than a moment ago.
"I didn't know she had been harmed. She appeared in between Brian and me. If anything, we need to kick John's ass, after we kick Brian’s." He muttered the last part before running a hand over his face.
"You let him get away?" Nicholas questioned incredulously.
"Sard off! I was not going to fight with her standing right there, Nick!" Ollie gestured to me to make his point clear. I was getting more confused as the conversation continued.
"Stop!" I demanded.
Everyone was silent and looking at me immediately. Too many things were running through my head, so I decided to address the most important thing that was said.
"What do you mean I appeared in between you and Brian? Was that the guy on the hill?" Ollie nodded at my questioning.
"Exactly as it sounds. One minute you weren't there, and the next you were." He said as if that were completely normal.
"You think John did that?" Nick asked and looked confused.
"I don't know anyone else who possibly could."
"You're saying I just appeared out of thin air?" I questioned before the two could start trailing off and having a conversation over my head again.
Ollie nodded his head in answer. Although Nick looked a bit baffled, it was nothing compared to how very confused I was. How was no one else freaking out about me randomly appearing out of thin air? Then my mind started catching up to the rest of what just happened.
I trailed my hands over my healed arm. They were not freaking out because they are already used to weird shit.
I cleared my throat and kept my eyes on my left arm rather than look at anyone right now.
"What do you mean gifted in healing?" My voice came out weaker than I would have liked. I think my heart might have been pounding a bit harder than normal as well.
I know my arm was burnt; I felt the pain. There’s no pain now. Ellen spoke up again still sounding excited and... proud?
"Ollie is gifted with Healing, Fire,—"
"Enough." Ollie cut her off sounding annoyed.
I looked up at him and saw him giving her an exasperated face. She was smiling back at him unaffected. Nick looked amused. Where did the others go? I glanced around not seeing the owners of the house in the room any longer. When Ollie glanced my way, he held my attention and cocked his head with scrunched eyebrows.
"You have no idea what we are talking about, do you?" He questioned after seeing my expression. Of course, I did not know what was going on. I shook my head to reiterate my inner thoughts.
Instead of explaining further, Ollie took his gloved hand and started pulling up his left sleeve. I watched as dark broken lines appeared and covered his arm. At first, I thought they were tattoos, but the lines looked more like they were scorched into his skin. It was like a beautiful charcoal drawing over concrete that swirled in no particular pattern but was perfect in its imperfection.
Then he turned his arm over, displaying his forearm and the four symbols etched into his skin in a straight line from wrist to elbow. Clear unblemished skin surrounded the symbols before the black lines started. It almost looked as if the symbols were stamped on and the lines were the ink splatter that spread outward as a beautiful byproduct.
I reached out and felt the strange tattoo-like mark, expecting it to have a pulse with how much it seemed to stand on its own. The first symbol reminded me of a ‘t’ with more swirls and drew my attention. Ollie's skin flinched when my fingers touched him, but I continued feeling for ridges or cracks to follow the harshness of the ink. Only the skin was completely smooth. I must have done this for too long because Ollie pulled away and quickly dragged his sleeve down.
"Gifts give us powers. Like how I healed you. And like how someone was able to move you into the middle of that fight." He spoke up clearly ready to move on with the conversation.
"Where is here exactly? Where was I moved to?" I wanted to focus on things I could control right now. Which included getting back home.
There was no point in questioning if he was crazy for believing he was gifted. Clearly, he has some kind of mojo in order to heal my arm. I had to give up the idea of this being a dream when the pain in my arm was clearly so real. That means it was really healed completely as well. I could go on the path of denying and believing I'm crazy, or I could put it all into the back of my mind right now and focus on more important things before I got burnt again. It didn't escape my notice that Ellen mentioned Ollie was gifted with fire too.
"Salem Village." Ollie continued to be the one to speak.
"You mean Salem? I need to get back to Danvers."
"Danvers Plains isn't far away. Unless you mean Danversport. It's a bit further south, but still doable." Nick spoke up this time. I was already shaking my head.
"Danvers the city. I live on the south side." I corrected. "I can just call a cab," I said exhausted from the day. The looks of confusion from the people surrounding me were something I was getting used to.
"I've got to head towards Salem Town soon anyway. I might as well take the trip sooner and drop you off on the way." Ollie declared. I
t's like they did not hear me. I didn't understand why Salem was being split into Salem Town and Salem Village now, but I would let them call the place whatever they wanted.
"Just give me your phone." I held out my hand towards Ollie. He looked towards Nick who shrugged in turn.
"That's a new one for me. Never even heard the expression. I'm intrigued to find out though." Nick said slyly. "You might want to do so without the kids watching." He added on a whisper bouncing his eyebrows playfully. Ollie's cheeks flamed as he scowled.
"What the fuck are you two on about? I need your cellphone to call a cab to come to pick me up so I can ride away from here and get back home." I spoke slowly an
d clearly, so there could be no misunderstandings. Apparently, I failed though.
"What's a cellphone?" Ellen questioned.
4
I shook my head in disbelief. "You can heal a burn with your hands, but you don't know what a cellphone is? Do you get out at all?"
Then I really looked around us. I noticed the room was more bare and older fashioned as compared to what I was used to, but it didn't seem that different. The women were wearing dresses and the men in shirts and trousers. Oh!
A light went off in my head. They are Amish! That makes sense.
No wonder the Amish don't need technology, they have had hidden magic this entire time. Now that I know, would I be allowed to leave? A glance to the door showed the path blocked by the man who lives here. When did he return? It was his face that caught my attention. Confusion. All of them looked confused.
"Look, it's fine. I get it, you don't use technology. Which way out of your...Amish community." Please, don't let me be insulting the people who could help or break me just as easily.
"Did you hit her head too?" Nick whispered as if I couldn't hear him.
"I don't think so," Ollie commented. I slapped away the hands that were suddenly reaching towards my head.
"I'm fine," I replied heatedly. "Will you stop?" I demanded when he reached for me again.
"Maybe the flames—" Nick started before I cut him off.
"I can hear you!" I shouted causing him to flinch back. "What the fuck is the problem now?" Ollie must have gotten the hint because he settled his hands on his knees.
"You are not making a lot of sense with your talk of cellfuns and Ahmnish." Ollie told me looking like he was struggling not to heal my damaged brain. "Maybe you should take a nap?"
"Not here." The house owner spoke up. "The last thing I need is a strange woman staying here when I need to be in town to meet with Pastor Winters." He adamantly shook his head.
"I've got her," Nick sounded excited at the prospect. “Come on, pretty one. You can use your cramp words to sweet talk me.” He held out his hand in offering to help me up.