Supernova Rapture

Chapter 2

Saturday morning met Kressida Beaudoin with a less than good omen for the day. She had planned to run some errands, maybe buy some new work clothes before going back to the office on Monday. But what she found when she reached her parking space was a flat tire on her new (to her) car and the money she planned to buy clothes with was needed to replace it. Oh joy. To try and calm herself down from an impending fit of temper she decided to take the bus to the park and go watch the older Asian ladies in track suits do Tai Chi. She'd always wanted to learn to do that herself, it seemed so peaceful and beautiful, however now that she had a weak leg she wasn't sure she had it in her to do it, but she could still watch. Maybe some of that peace they exuded would be able reach her. Her mind made up she went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the park.

While waiting Kressida let her mind go to the blank place she found in the hospital where her pain was there but she didn't feel it so much, in fact she didn't feel much of anything in the blank place. No shame, no regret, no anger, no hatred, no fear, nothing at all, just an empty type of peace. The doctors worried she was slipping into depression, and maybe she was. God knew she had reason enough to be depressed. She wasn't about to just let it happen though. Kressida was free now and wanted to try and learn to enjoy it again. Free from Carson, free from the hospital, just free. She could again decide what to eat, when and where. Free to decide where she would go and when and how to get there, a bunch of little things that he'd taken from her a piece at a time. She even thought about leaving her cell phone at home. She wouldn't need to be worrying about answering his incessant text messages and phone calls anymore. Kressida decided to bring it along anyway, it wasn't safe enough for her yet that she was willing to leave behind something that would let her call for help if she needed it. She had changed her phone number while still in the hospital so Carson wouldn't be able to reach her or harass her. Otto had helped her do it. He and Ingrid were there checking on her all the time. Her other friends from work regularly stopped in to check on her often as well. She wouldn't have made it through the last couple months with out the support of her coworkers. Carson was wrong about them, like he was wrong about everything, they were her friends, hell in the last few months they'd been more like family.

Sooner than she expected the bus she had boarded without thinking too much about if it was the right one had stopped at the nearest entrance to Central Park from her home. She got off and walked thru the paths looking for the ladies she used to see spread out in the grass practicing their art. After about an hour or so she had seen people playing with their dogs, eating picnics, drawing, painting, taking pictures, riding bikes, playing baseball, but no Tai Chi ladies. Kressida felt a trembling ache in her leg and knew she needed to stop to rest her leg and she sat down on a bench along the path she'd been walking. After a couple of minutes she heard a deep voice that spoke softly off to the side in one of the spaces she had expected to see the ladies but had seen no one at all.

"There now my friend. That's it. Not too much or too fast. I see it's been a while since your last meal. You poor old thing." Curious, she walked a few feet off the path to investigate what was happening. She saw a tall man with a stylish kind of longer than usual shaggily cut dark hair feeding what looked to be his own lunch to a stray dog. He scratched the dog's ears and the dog licked his hands and tried to lick his chin. He gently pushed the dog away.

"Hey buddy I don't kiss on the first date." He said to the dog and she smiled at his humour. The dog ran off on his merry way, probably looking for someone or something that will kiss on the first date. 'For his sake I hope it's not a skunk he finds first.' She thought to herself.

The man stood and stretched, he wore simple loose fitting sweat pants and one of those black undershirts that carry the highly offensive name of a wife beater. His clothes showed his lean muscles clearly, and with his back still facing her he started a series of movements very much like the Tai Chi she'd come to the park to watch. They were different, not being an expert in any form of martial art she couldn't be sure if they were or not but they looked different than what she expected. They looked very similar though. Maybe it was a slightly different version, maybe from another country. Kressida sat in the grass to watch him and admire the graceful flow of his movements. Watching a tall well-built man was much more entertaining than watching grey haired ladies. Maybe not quite as peaceful to her mind and body but still better in a way that should be illegal. She found she also admired the way the muscles under his skin bunched and slid. His broad shoulders and sleek back tapering to a narrow waist and very firm looking buttocks. His long legs were lifted and bent and she could see the man had feet that could double as skis! He turned and looked at her and she was startled to realize she'd been ogling this stranger!