by Sage Hunter
And now, somehow, I was beginning to doubt all of that. A sacred purpose was something that one was never meant to doubt. Supposed to be something that truly meant everything to you. It was your destiny. It was the only thing that you were meant to focus on for the duration of your life. As a protector, I thought it had been my goal to protect my planet and my planet alone. But for some reason, now I was beginning to doubt this. Somehow, fate had intervened and had brought Jenny and me together.
I couldn’t argue with fate. I let myself believe that all of this had only been a coincidence. Everything happens for a reason, at least, that was something that had been deeply believed by the philosophers of my planet. There was a pattern that seemed to function behind all things, and those patterns were of divine origin. Perhaps, one day, I would be able to look back on my life and truly believe I had done everything in my power to serve my divine purpose.
“Oberon, are you ready? We’re about to leave.”
My heart thudded in my chest at the sound of Jenny’s voice, and I frowned in confusion. Now, it had nothing to do with the human. All that I was truly interested in was going out and learning more about my environment. I was thrilled to be able to get out of the small bedroom and stretch my legs. I was extremely excited for the task at hand. Excited for the opportunity to explore. It didn’t have anything to do with the confusing and alarming sensations that the human invoked within me. No, none of that made any sense.
“Yes, let us go now!” I exclaimed, pushing through the doorway of the small bedroom and walking briskly out toward the front door. “I am ready. I am very ready. Are you ready?”
Jenny laughed, shaking her head in a small gesture of disbelief. Or was it amusement? It was difficult for me to tell. Humans were very emotive, and a lot of their facial expressions seemed to look alike, even when they meant vastly different things.
“Yes, I’m very ready too. Now, are you sure you are feeling up to this? If you still feel weak, we should give you some more time before we do anything like this.”
“Really, I am fine. I am more than fine. I am ready to face the world! Now please, just let me. I would love to see what’s out there.”
Jenny gazed at me, the vaguest hint of concern increasing her beautiful features. “All right. But if anything happens, or you start to feel sick, you have to promise me that you will let me take you to the doctor there. I am not qualified to treat the kinds of things that you may be suffering. Whatever happened to you, it was very damaging, and I feel like it would be helpful for you to find medical or emotional support about it.”
I tilted my head and raised my brow.
“I am not the type who needs any support. There is nothing wrong with me. I remember where I come from, and I am starting to remember bits and pieces about what happened. It is nothing to concern yourself over. And I am well enough to walk and to see your town. So please, let us do that before there is any other reason not to.”
Jenny gave a resigned sigh and nodded. “All right, come along then. We don’t have all day. There is a lot of work I will need to do when we come back. A farm doesn’t run itself. It takes a lot of hard work and dedicated people to accomplish anything here. You need to get out that door and in my car. Now.”
My excitement faltered at the thought of the human’s death trap. I had been relieved to make it back to her home intact. I had read numerous accounts of these machines being responsible for the deaths of millions of humans over the years, and yet, somehow, they still seem satisfied with driving them and had not done anything to alter their system. And judging by the looks of the primitive technology of the vehicle, I was hardly surprised when I found that these were the contraptions that were responsible for robbing so many human lives. Truth be told, they were terrifying. If I didn’t have to get in a car again for the rest of my life, I think I would be able to die happy.
But, there seems to be no choice. My adventure was banking on my compliance. Jenny seemed to know just how unhappy I was about her vehicle, because she urged me forward assertively. “There is nothing wrong with my car. Just because it’s a little old, doesn’t mean that anything is going to go wrong. Not just behave yourself or you’re not going to get to go with me at all.”
I scowled but listened to her, and finally found myself in the passenger’s seat of her car. This was much different than riding in the backseat, and I found myself extremely displeased because of it. It was far more terrifying with glass windows on all sides. At least in the back, all I had was one small window to gaze out of on one side and one small portal on the other. I could almost forgot that I was in a death trap. Almost.
In the front seat, this was far less possible. I was in great danger, as far as I was concerned, and felt a tightness in my chest that hadn’t been there since the last time I was in the heat of battle. Was I really afraid of this vehicle? What kind of a warrior was I?
Humans were much more vulnerable to collisions than a dragon shifter would be. Sure, we could get pretty banged up, but for the most part, our bodies were very sturdy. It was unlikely for a collision with these primitive vehicles to harm us, at least permanently. I realized, suddenly, that most of my fear was more in relation to the human being injured than to myself. She was driving around this hunk of junk, completely oblivious to the potential dangers to her life and well-being. I wanted to make sure she was doing everything to preserve her safety, but it was almost like laughing in the face of death to be sitting behind the steering wheel of this horrible craft.
“What’s the matter?”
I froze. Apparently, Jenny had noticed my discomfort, and she was glancing at me from the driver seat. “No! Please! Keep your eyes on the road at all times. This is not a safe mode of travel. I do not want to see anything happen to you or this prophetic machine. Continue to drive with the utmost safety and do not remove your eyes from the road ahead of you.”
For some reason that was beyond me, Jenny dissolved into a small peel of laughter. I was horrified by this development and gripped the hand rest of my seat tightly. “No, please do not do that either. Please, stay calm. Stay cool. Stay collected. Stay completely aware of everything that is happening around you. Please, do not surrender control to the elements. The elements are not on your side. The elements will surely turn against you the second they have the chance. I do not want to see anything happen to you. In fact, I do not want to see anything happen to this horrible little car either. Do not laugh.”
“Oh my God,” Jenny said, shaking her head and fighting back the laughter. “I didn’t realize you were so afraid of driving.”
“I don’t think you are afraid enough of driving. You do realize how dangerous it is, don’t you? How many people die? And you are a people. You are of vulnerable people who may have many options of transportation, and yet you choose the most dangerous one. Why do you not have a bicycle? Those are not only sustainable for your environment, but they are good for your body as well. And, they do not have the same high incidence of mortality as a car such as this?”
Jenny laughed again, but did not take her eyes from the road this time. “You want me to drive to town and get groceries on a bike?” she asked. “And how would you get to town? You shouldn’t even be walking around, let alone riding a bike. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If you want to come with me, then you’re going to have to ride in the car. I know you don’t like it, you’re going to have to deal with it. And if you want me to get you a bike, I will. But not until you have already healed enough that it’s safe for you to travel that way. Is that all right with you?”
I shifted miserably in my seat, and we continued in silence. Finally, I nodded and I could see a small smile forming against her lips from the corner of my eye. I wanted to be angry, but somehow, I wasn’t. In fact, I found this moment to be quite unique in all of my experiences and turned to face the human, my mind wandering to places it had never been before. She was such a beautiful human. She was beautiful for any kind of creature. An
d not only that, but she had a pure essence.
And yet, she found herself in danger somehow. It just didn’t seem fair.
“All right, here we are,” Jenny finally said, pulling the car to a stop in a large vacant parking lot.
I scanned the horizon, looking for the same type of impressive, domineering buildings and population most of my own planets have in our city hubs. But all I found were more low buildings, most of which were even smaller than humans home. My heart constricted tightly. I was disappointed. I had been hoping so much for something to look forward to, but it seemed as if everything here was just going to be more of the same small, unimpressive and unhelpful scales as being trapped in a tiny bedroom and unable to move around. How am I ever going to find clues about my crew members in a place like this? There were hardly any humans around at all. I want to look at Jenny, she was smiling at me expectantly, and I felt a small surge of guilt for being so unhappy with what she had done for me.
“Okay, first, let’s get some clothes for you. We will do the grocery shopping on the way home so anything we get will not start to melt or spoil. It gets very hot out here.”
I still felt uncomfortable accepting this human’s kindness, and yet, she seemed to take it as no trouble at all. It was a refreshing attitude to have, considering just how selfish and self-serving I had always heard that humans were. Not only that, but it was very rare for a dragon shifter to give kindness to others, even of our own species.
We were expected to be able to provide for ourselves and our families. The simple merit of our own ability to provide was part of what brought us such great joy and esteem on our planet. It was difficult to imagine what it must be like to live on Earth, where the roles were easy and everybody is expected to provide for themselves.
It seems that most of them became consumed with making sure that they were taking care of and they alone, but somehow, this selfishness seems to have escaped Jenny. She was, in fact, the most selfless creature I had ever laid eyes on. And now, she was taking me in. She was taking care of me. And she was even dressing me and feeding me. I had to do something to repay her. I couldn’t just try to run back to home planet. Not now, when she needed me. Not when I owed her so much.
I didn’t say any of these things to her. Instead, I simply nodded, and let her lead the way toward the clothing store. She seemed pleased to be able to do this for me, and I didn’t want to wreck that for her. Perhaps, she found value in herself from giving. And if there was anything I wanted to do, it was to provide her with the same value I found she possessed. Even if she was not able to see it herself.
Chapter 10
Jenny
When we walked into the clothing store, a small bell rang, and Oberon looked up at it, almost as if he was ready to attack. I raised my brow in confusion and concern, but when he caught my eye again, his golden eyes seemed to lose their flame of fury and he relaxed a little bit, smiling sheepishly at me. “It startled me.”
I nodded. Clearly, it had. But we were here for a reason, and that reason was to make sure he was able to get the clothes he needed in order to be comfortable for the duration of his stay. He was already going through so much. The least I could do was try to make sure he was as comfortable as possible. It was difficult for him to have to stay confined in his bedroom so I could wash his single outfit over and over again and leave him wearing nothing but a towel.
Although, to be honest, I hadn’t offered up very many complaints in that department. That man was built. And he was built well.
But I felt bad for even thinking so. Whether he was or not, it had nothing to do with what he was doing in my home. He was there because he needed help. He needed somebody to be there for him, to look out for him, and to make sure he didn’t get into any more trouble. He needed a safe place where he could heal. Even if it turned out he was another piece of scum like my late husband, at least I was doing a decent and humane thing by providing him with shelter in his time of need.
Somehow, the thought that he might take advantage of me never even occurred to me. I felt an innate sense of well-being that was probably reckless and naïve. And yet, I trusted him implicitly. He had never given me any reason to doubt him. Nothing had ever gone missing or anything like that. Anybody who would have been in my situation would probably be suspicious of him from the get-go. But there was something so noble about him. It was odd, really. I had never seen anybody with this kind of presence in my life. It was almost as if he was right, and he was from another planet.
But I shook the thought away. That kind of thing was nonsense, wasn’t it? Sure, there were instances where shifters had been on the news before, but was this man one of them? It didn’t seem possible. Those types of news stories only happened in random, highly populated areas in the world. It never occurred in a small place like this. Shifters had no business here.
And yet, now that the thought had occurred to me, it was impossible for me to let it go. I had to know. Was it true? Was he really one of them? I would never be able to rest until I found out. I had to ask him. I couldn’t do it here. Not in the store. Not around everybody else.
No, I would wait until we got back to my farm. We would talk about it. Maybe then, I would find out the truth about him and everything he had been saying would make sense.
The thought jarred me. No, everything he said wouldn’t make sense. Everything he said was probably a delusion that was encouraged by neurological issues related to whatever kind of attack he had experienced out in the desert. He was badly injured. He wasn’t in any position to know fact from fiction. I had to do my best to help keep him grounded, not to feed into the strange impression he seemed to have that he didn’t belong here.
None of us wanted to belong on Earth. Who are we kidding? Sometimes, humanity was the worst. Earth, to be simple, was the worst place anybody would want to live. And yet, here we were, stuck here despite it all. And really, it wasn’t so bad. The landscape was beautiful. Our resources are still plentiful, and there was a lot of love to be found, if only you knew where to look for it. Sure, I didn’t have that kind of relationship with my own father, but I did believe in the goodness of humanity. I had no other option. If I didn’t, I would feel as if I were going insane.
“Come on, let’s look at some clothes for you,” I said, taking Oberon by the arm and leading him toward one of the racks of shirts.
He looked like a deer caught in headlights as I led him around the store, asking him all sorts of questions about what he might like to wear and what style he would prefer. He seemed to have no words for his preferences, and instead, turned to me and shifted awkwardly. “Would you mind terribly if I looked on my own for a little while? I feel a little bit embarrassed to shop in front of you. I’m not sure why.”
I was a little bit taken aback by his question, but I smiled broadly. I could completely understand why he might feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t his fault.
“Of course, take your time. And go and buy anything you want to. Just remember that my spending limit here is like $100.”
Truth be told, my spending initiatives had been more like $20, but I felt embarrassed to say so. And truthfully, what did it matter? I was in debt up to my ears. What would it matter if I maxed out my last credit card? At least I was helping a friend.
When Oberon was done shopping, I met him at the checkout counter. I was surprised, and touched, to find that he had picked out clothes that were exclusively from the clearance racks. The total ended up being just a little above $40, and I shook my head in disbelief. Most people, if they were told that they could spend a hundred dollars on clothes, would probably spend closer to $150. But this man had gone far under my price limit, and I found myself feeling extremely grateful that he was such a conscientious person.
As they bagged the clothes, I realized he had pretty good taste in clothing. Even though many of the items were from the sales rack, they looked extremely high class. I probably should have pegged him for the type, but it was hard to tell when th
e only impression you ever had of somebody was of them being naked and alone in the desert.
“Thank you, Jenny. I will find a way to make this up to you somehow. Please, know there is going to be a day when you are able to put your troubles behind you. And I am going to make sure I am there for that day. In fact, I would like to be responsible for that day. Please, know that you are doing a great service to me. And I appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.”
The small speech was delivered right in front of the sales clerk, and he eyed us both curiously, shaking his head with disapproval. So what if he didn’t understand what was going on between us? Nobody probably would. I soon followed Oberon out of the store, and led him back to the car, where we deposited our bags before heading back to the grocery store. This was a little further away from the clothing shop, and we walked together in an easy silence.
When we got into the grocery store, he froze for a moment and turned his head slowly as if taking in everything. This store was much busier than the clothing shop, where we had been the only people inside. Here, there were at least a dozen people coming and going with shopping carts. There was all kinds of noise happening in the store. From the ringing of cash registers to the low hum of conversation in the distance and the sound of crying babies.
Oberon took a cautious step forward and then looked back over his shoulder at me. “There is a lot of food here. I think I will be able to find something that I can enjoy. Come, let us look. If not, I still appreciate you coming here. Please let me know whether or not something I choose is of your liking. I do not want to prepare anything you will not enjoy.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, admittedly surprised by his enthusiasm. I knew he had been excited to get out of the house, but now, he looked almost as if he were a very young child at an amusement park for the first time. I grabbed the cart and followed him as he roamed the aisles, carefully combing through every single thing he possibly could. I had never seen anybody touch so many things in a grocery store before, only to discard most of them with a small shake of his head, or with a frown of disapproval.