After Fate Fell

27 • ELLA

1 year, 3 months, and 15 days after it all
•ELLA•

"Wha-?" I start to ask Adam. This doesn't make any sense at all. We didn't tell anyone that we were going to Francistown, we just up and left. Not even the other Garde knew until just a few moments ago. How did Adam know we'd be here?

"I don't know either," Adam tells us. I look over and Five is just as shocked and confused as I am.

"What do you mean you don't know either? You're the one who came here how would you know we'd be here?" I ask, and it sounds a bit accusing which is stupid because I'm not accusing Adam of anything, I'm just surprised to say the least.

"I know it sounds crazy Ella. I was just living my life out, travelling the world you know, and all of a sudden I start to hear this voice in my head, except it wasn't even a voice, and it wasn't really an all-at-once kind of thing, there was just this feeling in my mind, somehow, telling me that I had to come here, that I had to come to Francistown, Botswana. I hadn't even heard of Francistown, and I'd only known that Botswana existed, but nothing about it or even its general location, so how could the voice in my head have been myself? But I decided to trust it, because it felt like whatever it was that was pulling me here, it was important. So, here I am. And here you both are. So that's some significance, right?"

I laugh, aloud. Because this does sound crazy, especially from calm, oriented Adam. It sounds like something I would never believe, but here he is, standing right in front of me, with no other possible explanations. So it must be true.

"Honestly, who cares how you got here? This voice in your head did us a big favor because we were already trying to track you down and tell you to come here anyway." I stand up and give him a hug. I'm not a hug kind of person, at least I haven't been for a long time, but this reunion is making me overjoyed. And this is the third of many. Sam will be here soon, I already reunited with Five and Legacy, and of course the last and most important, reuniting with my home. Lorien will be beneath my feet, soon, and better late than never. I am ready to take my first real step on my home planet, the place that I get chills just thinking about.

Five gets up and stands, awkwardly smiling. He's not a hug person either, and he'll never be. So he just watches the reunion from a distance, still just as happy as either of us, just less emotional. Typical Five, but I can't complain. From my short time with him already, I have noticed so many changes in his personality, all of them for the better. He's grown up so much from that rebel kid we found in Arkansas so long ago. And in reality, how long has it really been? Two years? Probably. He's not that kid who burned crop circles recklessly in a field in the rural U.S. anymore, and that I am thankful for.

After our little reunion in the cafe, we find a grocery store just down the street and decide to shop for supplies. We grab as much food and water as we think all of us will need and then checkout. It's awkward because we don't exactly live in Francistown, and we don't have a hotel room either, so now Five, Adam, and I are just walking around with a shitload of groceries in our arms.

Adam tells us that he got on a flight from Tirana, Albania, yesterday and flew overnight. Since then, he's just been wandering the city, looking for something significant, listening for the voice to guide him to where he was supposed to be. And he eventually stumbled upon Five and I, just as we were discussing how we would contact him or search for him so that he could reunite with us.

We all squeeze onto a bench in a more shaded area where the buildings cast shadows onto all the cars, people, and pavement below. We of course didn't grab any perishable groceries, which is good, because if we had, they would've been completely spoiled at this point in this scorching part of the day. The shade is a comfort, but a small comfort at that to our sweaty gross bodies. The three of us sit there for a half-hour or so, just chatting and catching up.

After a while though, it becomes apparent that there's no way that we will be able to stand this heat anymore. Five is the one to speak up first.

"Shit we're all going to melt if we stay out on the streets any longer. We've got to get inside if we want to live any longer. I don't think the others would be happy to get two new scars and another dead friend from heat stroke of all things," he says this, and it sounds like a joke at first, but he seems completely serious.

Neither Adam nor I object to Five's later demand to book a hotel room, that way we have somewhere to store our groceries as well as rest up and wait for the others. Also, not to sound gross or anything, but I don't think I've showered with an actual shower in over a year. I've gone down to the stream a couple miles down the mountainside to clean up, but I haven't taken a real, warm shower in forever.
So when I step in, I forget how to turn it on. It takes me a couple seconds and a little help from Adam, and then I've got it. What has happened to me that I've forgotten how a shower works? There's got to be some type of joke for this, but I can't think of anything other than how bad it sounds.

The shower is so amazing and brings me back into what a civilized world feels like. The warmth, the comfort, the refreshing feeling the shower gives me bring me all of my senses back, and it leaves me feeling so much more relaxed, yet somehow also so much more ready for the journey that lies ahead. I lie down on the soft cotton sheets and close my eyes. I forgot how much I missed this feeling. It's not like I experienced this feeling much, because I've always been wrapped up in one mess or another, but the few times I have been able to just take a shower and lie down on a soft bed, I've enjoyed every damn second of it.

The guys take their turns in the shower while I get a nap in. I wake up and the light that was streaming in through the gaps between the blinds in the window is gone, replaced by a twilight darkness. Have I really slept this long? I roll over and see Five lying in the other bed, his eye open as he rolls from face-up position to his side to face me.

"Mornin' Tenth one," he says, a little smile on his face.

"Did I really sleep through the day and the night?" I ask him.

"No, I'm just kidding, you just slept through the day. The sun just set. But you need the rest Ella. Tomorrow we can begin our journey," he tells me, still smiling.

"Okay," I say. "Where's Adam, I say, looking around the room.

"Shhh," Five says, putting his finger up to his lips. He points behind him on the other side of his bed. Adam is out like a light, snoring and all. How did I know he was a snorer?

"Five," I whisper, quieter than I had been before. "How do I know I'm making the right choice by doing this? By coming here? By returning home, to Lorien. How do we know that there even is still a Lorien to go home to? I'm putting us all in danger yet you're all just following my direction? I just feel like I'm leading us all into a huge mess, Five. And I'm scared," I tell him, the room growing even darker every passing second.

Five looks at me, and I swear his eye looks shiny. "Ella, you've done what needed to be done, told us what we needed to hear. This planet was never our home. And someone has finally got us moving in the right direction, got us moving closer to home, you're the one who did that, Ella. I don't care what lies ahead, I just want you to know that everything that has happened, everything that we've all had to endure, has all led up to this. We're going home Ella, we're actually going home," he smiles again, his eye glassier than before.

I don't respond, I just look at him, the darkness enveloping everything in the room including me, and I don't realize it, but before I can think of what to say, my eyes are closed and I'm asleep, dreaming of our lives on Lorien.