Travellers

Confusion And More Questions

Opening his eyes, Alex stretched out his arms as the first rays of sunlight began to enter his room.  The break of dawn.  He allowed himself a small smile as he thought of how Amber would scrunch up her face in distaste at the thought of being awake so early, but he was used to it.  Village life generally began very early.  Thinking back to when he had been living in Amber’s time, he viewed the future to be rather lazy in comparison.  One could say it was more relaxed, but it would be a lie.  It was lazier, there was just no getting around it.

Getting up, he began to dress quickly, eager to get his flesh out of the bitingly cool morning air.  Once prepared, he decided to go check on Amber, chuckling a little to himself as he pictured her curled up in her bed, still sound asleep.  Reaching her door, he quietly opened it a crack before a frown overtook his features and he let the door swing completely open.  He took in the empty bed, his frown becoming deeper, before turning on his heel and walking briskly down the hallway.  He could hear the villagers beginning to stir and get up to begin the day, but he was only concerned with one thing.  Where the hell was that girl?

After checking every room he came across, he finally found Jerred as he walked into the dining room, getting ready to begin his morning meal.

“Ah, Alex,” Jerred boomed in an unnecessarily loud voice.  “I trust you slept well?”

“Have you seen Amber?” he asked, completely ignoring the question that had been posed.

Jerred frowned.  “I assume she would be in her room?”

Alex shook his head abruptly, frustration beginning to boil over.  “Not there.  Her bed didn’t look like it had been slept in for a few hours.  You don’t think that someone would have infiltrated here and kidnapped her?”

Jerred snorted before he had even finished speaking.  “Infiltrate here?  Please!”  He snorted again indignantly.  “No one gets in or out of here without me knowing about it.  Besides, anyone would be too scared to try and get in here.  I’m the crazy, loony man who wants to kill everyone as they sleep, remember?”  He let out a wicked grin as the villagers that were walking through the door caught what he was saying and cringed.

Alex was not feeling very amused.  “Then where is she?” he all but roared, causing the villagers to cringe even further.

“I think I saw her in the library,” Will spoke up as he entered the room.

Jerred frowned.  “Library?” he muttered.  “I don’t have a library.”

“Yes, you do,” Will answered carefully, and Jerred’s frown disappeared and a slight grin began to appear as he realized that the boy was still unsure of him.  “That room back there that is full of dusty old books.  I think she’s asleep in there.”

Jerred stood up as Alex bolted from the room and followed him out.  “That’s not a library,” he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.  “I use that to store all of my junk.  Books just happen to fall into that category.”

Alex came to a stop at the room Will had been talking about and found Amber curled up into a ball on the floor, sound asleep.  The corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smile as the worry he had been experiencing faded away, and he quietly walked over to her.  Squatting down, he gently tucked a stray lock of Amber’s hair behind her ear, not realizing that Jerred was standing in the doorway watching everything.  Jerred’s eyes widened with surprise as he realized that Alex’s feelings for this woman went a lot deeper than he had originally thought.  He hadn’t thought that Alex would ever get over what had happened with Eliza, but Jerred knew that his friend was falling for Amber, even if he himself didn’t realize it yet.