Just Your Average Time Traveller

A stream.

"STOP! THIEF!"

I heard the words ring out and my eardrums nearly burst. God, this guy had a pair of lungs on him. It was pretty hard to believe that I was the guilty one though. That's why I hesitated as Cassia bolted, springing up a millisecond after the words were said. I had to stare at her for a while before realising that I'd better follow. I stumbled to my feet, and a thought crossed my mind.

Everyone was staring at Cassia. If I tried to walk away inconspicuously, then I could get out without being noticed. But then, I wouldn't know where she had gone. And no WAY would I be able to find my way back home. Providing all this wasn't some daymare...

I ran like a madman, my tunic flapping about in a way that I wasn't comfortable or familiar with. It was practically a dress, for pete's sake.

I barely glimpsed the hem of Cassia's little white gown before she turned a corner. I ran faster, looking back fleetingly over my shoulder. There weren't many people following us. Just the stallholder and a couple of his stallholder BFFs. And they weren't in very good shape.

Then again, neither was I.

I panted heavily as I rounded the corner, catching up a little with Cassia, whose hair whipped around as she turned her head to glance at me. Her butterscotch eyes were wide with warning as she beckoned me into another turn.

She stopped abruptly in between the wall of the dead end and a few wooden planks that leaned against it. She pulled me under as well as we waited for the footsteps that would inevitably come.

They didn't come.

So maybe they got bored, considering the fact that we didn't actually anything.

"Cassia waited a minute before emerging, not at all tired or sweaty. The exact opposite of me. I clutched my hip, a stitch tearing up my side. Cassia was smiling a little bit, until I widened my eyes at her. She looked genuinely sorry.

"Yeah...I think I'm losing my touch," she said.

"You think?"

"Okay Sam, no need to rub it in. I get enough of that from Adonis."

"Yeah, well, you need to revise your strategy."

"Give me a break!" She sounded the opposite of her usual, formally speaking self. "I was fine before you turned up. It's your fault you know," she said jokily. But I saw a kind of confusion and solemnity in her eyes, sparkling with humour at first glance.

"Yeah right," I grinned at her.

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

"Are you joking?" I straightened up, a wild look on my face. "That," I told her honestly, "was BRILLIANT."

She smiled at me then, properly and something inside of me lurched. Suddenly, it was even more brilliant. I noticed how her smile was so easy, but a little...rusty. Like she didn't use it often. Like it was reserved for certain people. And strangely, I was glad to be one of them.

"So where to now?" I asked, a little dazed.

"Hmm," she put a delicate finger on her angular chin. And I was SO not looking at the way her eyelashes seemed to catch the light and send the rays flying everywhere. Nope. Not me.

"What about the groves? I go there all the time. There's one abandoned yard that I spend most days in." She looked a bit embarassed, like she had revealed too much. I nodded assent and she grinned, turning and looking round the corner to check if the stall people were still there.

Cassia looked over her shoulder and nodded to me, before setting off. Hastily, I followed.

***

After a few minutes of alleyways smoothly going into fields hugging massive white marble mansions, we stopped by a tall iron gate attatched to hedges that stretched around one of the mansions and its back garden. The sun was beginning to sink a little now, and I wondered why the day seemed to be passing so quickly.

Time flies when you're having fun.

I shook the treacherous thought away. I wasn't having fun. I was in Rome, away from my home. Of course I wasn't enjoying myself, right?

Before I knew it, Cassia had slipped through an almost invisible tear in the hedge, and she was calling my name from the other side of the fence.

I followed, and emerged in a little piece of paradise.

The field stretched for about half a mile forwards, and about a quarter mile left and right. The manison was quite far away, at the other end of the field. The only reason they couldn't see us was because of the trees blocking the way. Olive trees and taller varieties formed circles, squares and rectangles in closely packed patches in the field. The patches had paths of slate snaking around them, littered with a few dead leaves and an apple or two. The circles of trees hugged carefully chosen flowers in all manner of colours. The air had a dewy, honey-like scent and the moisture was intoxicating.

Butterflies, bees and other insects buzzed around, resting in the dappled shade of the trees. A few of the clusters of vegetation reached above our heads, about three or four metres high, while others were dwarfed by us. Some of the trees, I noticed, smelled vaguely of cinnamon, and had bright yellow buds about to bloom, hanging from willowy branches, no more than two metres tall.

I had never seen so many trees in one place, and I felt the peace of actual, primitive nature for the first time. I felt like everything would be okay, all I had to do was sit down under an apple tree and while the day away. All my worries were nothing. Nothing could ruin this beautiful place.

"The owner of these grounds is dead. I don't know why people still keep the house and gardens in check, but at least they only come a few times a week," Cassia told me, walking down one of the many pathways. As if on a leash, I followed, inhaling the sweet air like no amount could be enough.

We found a marble bench, facing west and Cassia sat on it without hesitating. I, feeling a bit awkward, stood up. She frowned, but only fleetingly. She turned to the sun as it tickled the horizon. Her hair seemed to catch fire in the light, chocolaty brown becoming a raging inferno of orange and red. I smiled, thinking how my hair must look.

She slipped her bag off her shoulders and tore off a bit of bread for me. I took it gladly and wolfed it down as the ate hers slowly and demurely.

"You should see Cassandra tomorrow," Cassia told me, her voice more vulnerable than I had ever heard it. It was usually so strong, so clear and so...irritating.

"Why tomorrow?" I asked.

"I know you're wondering about...hoe you got here. And how you can get back to wherever you came from."

She was right. It had been nagging me all day.

"And, also, I need to get rid of you before you get me caught stealing again," she added, the confidence and matter-of-factness creeping back into her words.

"Hey! That was not my fault," I complained half heartedly.

"Yeah. I guess. But I'm dying to know who you are too," she added.

"Oh really?"

"Only because I have to keep you with my previous Schnuckums all day and I don't know if you're an escaped convict."

"Right," I muttered. God, she was weird.

We stayed there for a while, just watching the sun, before heading back the way we had come. But I still had a long way to get back to my home.

***

Hey people! Sorry, I know my updates have been slowing but I'm trying to edit some of my other stories. This chapter is extremely muddled up because it didn't actually exist before....but oh well. Please keep reading and vote if you think there's nothing wrong with ginger haired people! They call it orange in the future and they like it. So there :)

LittleRedCrazy