9.
Outdoors and just wandering aimlessly, Samuel is lost in more ways than one. He is lost without Delia. His life has lost all purpose, well nearly lost all purpose. Sam is lost in thought. His mind is traveling at a hundred plus miles an hour. No matter how he tries, he just cannot comprehend what it is that has brought him to this moment in time. From very close by, a voice speaks.
'Penny for your thoughts ...'
Sam turns to see someone he was not expecting to see. As a matter of fact, Samuel is so lost in his life that whatever comes his way is unexpected.
'Owen ... didn't think I would run into you again so soon.'
'I know, but you want answers, right?'
'Yeah.'
'You want to see Delia again, right?'
'Of course, you know I do.'
'Well then, I have something to show you.'
'What? Owen, what do you have to show me?'
'Come with me and find out.'
Samuel is compelled to have another look at that photo in his wallet. He does so, briefly, puts it away, then moves to follow Owen. Their journey together occurs in silence. Sam knows something is coming, he can feel it, and at that he has a fair idea of what that something is, but what does Owen Barnes have to do with all this? What is it that Owen knows? And what is he up to?
'Remember back at the bar?' asks Owen once the two come to a destination of sorts, 'when you were looking for answers?'
'Yeah? ...'
'And when I spoke of The Phantom Queen, you said that this title or name rang a bell?'
'Owen, what is going on?'
'There is a stranger you came into contact with, the morning after your wedding, remember him?'
'Yes.'
'If I were to mention The Faerie Knight, would that be something which would also ring a bell?'
'Alright, you are scaring me now.'
'Samuel, there is a door nearby that you need to enter. In some way or another I think you already know what I mean. The door I speak of is just right beyond that bend right there.'
Owen points to the bend and Sam looks towards it. He then looks Owen right in the eye for a moment or two and slowly begins to move towards that bend.
'Those three keys you have' continues Owen, 'one of them will allow you to enter that door.'
It is such an odd thing that Samuel and Owen just so happen to be at a place where Samuel needs to be. What is it that Owen has to do with all this?
Samuel already knows that one of the three keys that have come his way opens a strange door, though having Owen Barnes confirm this just intensifies the weird feeling he has had for some time now. And he just so happens to be oh so close to that door ... by chance? Or by something else?
As he approaches the bend Sam turns to look behind. Owen is nowhere to be seen. Not lingering long on that fact, Sam moves to and beyond that bend. There indeed is a door, a door that Samuel is sure he had vowed to stay away from.
This door is so oddly placed. Where does it lead to? Not into a building from the looks of things but then again, what does Sam know? A wall is what Sam has come to, a wall maybe ten feet high and eighty or nighty foot long. There is nothing of note that Sam can see as he attempts to get a vantage of what might be beyond that wall by looking up towards the space beyond the top of the wall.
