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Chapter 13 ~ Strange night

*Elvis’ POV*

Hours had past. Elvis stumbled along through the snow. Ice hung from his eyelashes and beard. His teeth chattered violently. In the distance he began to see what looked like a light. A dim light glowing through the fast falling snow. All the sudden, the trees and bushes stopped, there was a clearing. His feet hit something hard beneath him. Instead of the leaves and grass of before, he felt concrete underneath him. He stumbled on, keeping his eyes planted on the light ahead of him. It began to get brighter and brighter as he got closer. He began to see buildings around him. ‘The town. Oh thank you Jesus!’

Elvis stumbled up to the walkway and onto the front porch of the little house. The light that had guided him thus far was shining brightly just above him. He was completely drained of energy. His face was flushed, pale and numb, along with the rest of his body. He reached up and pounded on the wooden door with the last bit of energy that he had left in him before he collapsed unconscious, giving in to the will of his body.

*Ana’s POV*

*BANG BANG BANG*

Ana jumped from her bed. “What on earth was that?!” She thought aloud. “Surely it couldn’t be a person.” By the sounds of the wind howling snow falling on the roof, Ana could tell that there was a blizzard outside and no sane person would be out in this kind of weather, much less to come to her house. 

She walked out into the living room to stir the fire a bit and get it back flaming. “Surely it couldn't have been a knock.. Just my imagination.. The wind perhaps, or the trees..” The more Ana thought about it, the more her imagination ran wild. She decided to check the front door anyways, just to make sure there wasn't anyone there. Unbolting the door,  she could feel the wind began to press heavily against it. As she slowly turned the handle, the door flew open, and a shock of cold wind and snow hit her hard in the face. She struggled to grab the door again to close it back, but as she pushed against the wind to close it, she looked down and saw a man in a crumpled heap at her threshold. “Oh my God!” She cried. Forgetting all about the door and the cold, she fell to her knees in front of the man and dragged him, best she could, into the living room. Rushing back to close the door, she managed to slam it shut and bolt it into place. Turning around, she noticed how blue the man was and the lack of layers he was wearing (not nearly enough for a night as cold as this one). She pulled him across the room near the fireplace and began taking off his clothes that were dripping wet from the melted snow and ice. After removing his shirt and pants, she hesitated before taking off his briefs. Ana was extremely modest, and did not like the idea of imposing on a man’s privacy. Especially a man she knew nothing about. “He could be a serial killer, and murder me for changing him,” she whispered to herself. “Oh, stop being so immature! Just take the man’s underwear off!” 

Her mother had kept some of her father’s old clothes in a box and the man looked to be about the same size as her father was. She ran to grab a pair of pants and a shirt for the strange man and changed him. After dressing the man in her father’s old clothes, she tried unsuccessfully to move him up and onto the couch. Try as she might, she couldn’t lift him. She decided to make him a pallet on the floor by the fire, for the man was still somewhat of a blueish color. 

She studied him. Blonde shaggy hair and an unshaved face that looked as though he was trying to grow a beard. Underneath this, long eyelashes, deep set eyes, beautiful cheek bones, and full lips accentuated his appearance. He really was a gorgeous man, something she had never seen before in real life. ‘I wonder what color his eyes are, or how he talks. Where is he from? Certainly not from around here.. Is he married?’  She caught herself checking his left hand for a ring and sighing when she couldn’t find one…in relief..? ‘Oh if mama were here now.. She would be horrified to have a strange man laying in her living room… But she isn’t here….’  The thought of being away from here mother with something as exciting as this made her smile. Something about the man though seemed strangely familiar. Like she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn’t place it. Maybe when he woke up she would know.

Looking at the clock, she realized that it was nearly 4:00 in the morning. ‘I better get some sleep, I may just tell Aud I can’t work tomorrow. I’m sure she won't mind.’ Ana headed back to her room, casting another quick look at the man sprawled out on her living room floor. “I really wonder who he is…”