appeared to be a compost heap, but remained kneeling in
front of him.
"Isabella," he whispered, wanting to be
closer to her but knowing he could not. But the pull to her was so great, like
the universe wanted them to be closer. He had slept with many women, but
had never felt anything like this.
She surprised him by leaning in and kissing him
and he groaned in response, moving his hands off the ground as he did so. They
remained kissing until she heard a voice getting closer, and he saw her head
turn before she stood up quickly with the look of embarrassment. She knew that
the outlook had changed for him again when he had removed his hands from the
ground, but she couldn't leave him there for the gardeners to unknowingly walk
through if they were to go near the trees. If he was actually there.
Suddenly he could see her talking to people,
except he couldn't see them. He could only see her talking … as if she were
talking to no-one. When she began walking he saw her indicate subtly with her
hand behind her to follow her, so he did. As he followed her he couldn't see
the people but he could tell from watching her where they were. He had no way
of knowing if they could see him, but he guessed not as she seemed to act as if
he weren't there, even though she now and then would look back at him.
He couldn't even tell where they were so had no
idea if people were walking through him - were there ghosts? Was she a
ghost? She certainly had not felt like a ghost when she had kissed him.
Or perhaps he was a ghost. Suddenly he was
thinking that perhaps he had actually died and was now haunting this place,
with the people there being real and her being some kind of medium.
The thought caused a shudder to pass down his
spine and he disregarded it quickly. Whatever was happening, he could not
change it or stop it, so trying to analyse it would do him no good. He opted
instead to enjoy the feeling of food in his stomach - something that did feel
like it was staying put, even though everything else had changed and
disappeared around him.
Isabella had to think of where to lead him. She
wanted him to be able to sit down and enjoy her village as she did, but without
him being seen.
He saw her leading him once more into the pile of
rubble she had tried to earlier. This time he let her, but while she seemed to
walk freely among it, for him he had to climb over broken debris.
"This won't work, Isabella," he called
out to her only a metre or two into what looked to him to be a war zone.
"I can't go that way."
She looked thoughtful and nodded in
acknowledgement. Looking around first, she then looked at him and said quietly,
"You lead me to where you can go, where you think you can sit and
be safe."
He understood her logic immediately, looked around
him, grabbed his backpack and eventually led her to where they had first sat.
Seeing no-one nearby, she leaned in close to him and whispered into his ear so
no-one else could hear.
"I have to get on with my day as usual,"
she said and he nodded in full understanding. "But I am going to go into
the temple and talk to one of our ancients, Elder Rhys. I will bring him here.
Will you stay here?" she asked and he nodded again. "Are you warm
here?"
"Yes, I will stay right here. No-one will
walk through me?" he asked, feeling giddy at the thought.
She laughed softly.
"No, I do not think that they can see you,
nor you them. But regardless, you are not on a path. No-one should walk
here."
He saw her look around once more before moving
right up to him and pressing her chest into his, and leaning forward to kiss
him fully on the lips.
Trent was hungry with passion for her. He didn't
know if it was a real passion - a real desire - or if it were driven by
hunger for the human touch that he had been without for what seemed like so
long. He did not even know if she was real . But certainly in that moment
she seemed real, and whether or not she was, he was ready to indulge in the
feelings that were
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