Raeliana's Heroes

A Stranger's Hospitality

Jamie's first thought when he saw the house? 'Get to a bed before you die of exhaustion.' Instead of seeing Trevor and Amelia in to be helped he headed right up the stairs to find a bed and when he found one, his head hit the pillow and didn't get up.

It was that morning Jamie woke up with his face soaking wet for reasons unknown. His eyes opened, groggily. He shot up in the bed, remembering what happened to Amelia and Trevor. He got up, realizing now he was still wearing his white T-shirt, blue track pants, and running shoes, and started to bolt down the stairs, not bothering to get his long, brown hair out of his tanned-faced skin.

He almost fell down the long, partly spiral staircase and was surprised he even got up all them the night before. He quickly bolted to every room that was close to him yelling their name until he finally exited the huge living room to see his friends and someone he didn't know in an apron in front of a stove holding a pan. They all stared at him and he stared back.

Trevor sat in a chair on one end of a fairly big table with Amelia next to him. Amelia had stiches in her legs where she was clawed by the evil hound and Trevor had a cast on his injured leg. Despite their injuries, Trevor looked relaxed for once and Amelia looked like her old perky self with an upbeat smile.

"You guys are ok?" Jamie asked.

"Actually, I feel better than ever." Trevor said as he took a sip of his tea from a cup that said 'U Da Best!'

Jamie turned his attention to the stranger.. "um...." he snapped his fingers as if trying to remember the name. "I don't know your name or who you are, but I have one thing to say to you."

The stranger turned his attention to Jamie.

"That mug is not right for Trevor." Jamie said with all the seriousness he could muster.

The stranger chuckled for a while and Amelia straight up fell on the floor. Trevor just sighed at Jamie and rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you sit down and I can cook you up with some breakfast." The stranger said. "By the sound of it, your horse took your food before you could."

Jamie glared at Trevor. "You told him that?"

Trevor shrugged with a mouth full of eggs from a plate that sat beside him.

"Ugh." Jamie said smacking his face in stupidity. "I guess he explained everything to you already?"

"Not a detail he didn't describe." The stranger said.

"So i guess you've explained everything already?" Jamie asked.

"Not one thing except me name." The stranger replied.

"It's Leo," Amelia interjected before stuffing her face with more greasy bacon.

"Ah, Leo." Jamie said. "Nice name. Short for Leonardo?"

"Nope. Never want to be called that. It's just Leo." Leo said seriously.

"Oh.....ok."

Jamie sat down to the long table next to the end where Amelia and Trevor sat. There were approximately 20 or so chairs. And yet their seemed to be no one else here.

 "So, anyone else live here?" Jamie asked.

"Nope," Leo replied, focusing hard on the food on the pan over the stove. "Just me."

"Oh," Jamie said again, now staying silent. This is where his first suspicions of the stranger they'd now refer to as Leo had come.

Leo had finally moved away, piling food onto a plate for Jamie, and putting it in front of him. On it lay a whole pound of scrambled eggs, greased up bacon, and two huge pancakes drenched in syrup.

"Hey! I called first dibs on the pancakes!" Amelia complained.

"I've given you so much eggs that i'm surprised you can still stand." Leo argued with a playful smile. "Jamie hasn't had any food."

"Maybe that's what he deserves," suggested Trevor with a sly smile.

Jamie stuck his tongue out, irritated by Trevor's comment and Trevor stuck his tongue out right back.

"You could've at least gave me one!" Amelia yelled, playfully. "It isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair!" Leo bashed his hand down on the table, shaking the food and spilling Trevor's tea and Amelia's coffee.

Leo breathed heavy with rage in his eyes. It was when he heard the frying pan steaming and almost burned the next batch of pancakes. He ran to the burner and took the pan off. The pancakes were still good.

He put his hands on the counter of the kitchen to support himself. Everyone stared at him. No one moved.

"I'm sorry.....it's just when you talk about .....it just has an effect on me."

He went over to the pan, got the pancakes and put them on Amelia's plate, without looking at her, then going back to get the syrup and dropping it hard on the table beside.

"Excuse me," He said as he started walking fast into a different room out of sight.

"What in the world was that?" Jamie asked.

"Should we be worried?" Trevor asked, too.

"No," Amelia said sternly.

"What?" Trevor asked. "He yelled at you, you shouldn't be the one talking."

"No." Amelia said again. "There's something more than just him yelling at me. I triggered something. Something personnel."

"How do u know?" Trevor asked.

Amelia smiled as recollection came into her mind. "My mom was a psychiatrist."