Guardians of the Light (Book 1: Rebirth)

Chapter 5

It took a few moments for Lillian to break out of the state she was in to realize she was staring at the stranger in front of the bar counter and that he had spoken to her. She could not shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere but could not quite put her finger on it. The stranger spoke again, his voice smooth with a hint of a deep account from an eastern country, “May I have a whiskey on the rocks please”, he spoke once more finally snapping Lillian out of her daze she was in. The other bar tender gave her a side eye but she ignored it as she moved to grab a glass filling it with ice and pouring the liquid over it and sliding it across the counter towards the strangers taking his money for the drink. He thanked her and nothing else was said between the two the rest of the night. Lillian went about her regular routine with the locals but still kept a close eye on the stranger.

Lillian had not realized that he had left until she turned around to ask him if he wanted another drink and he was already gone. She thought the whole day had been weird and she was about ready to head home and have this day over and done with. Sara had texted her earlier in her shift letting her know that a fellow student had given her a ride home. Lillian was not pleased of course but Sara was an adult and could make her own choices in life even if Lillian did not agree with them all, she still supported her.

Once her shift ended the drive home was met with silence, Lillian was still trying to figure out where she knew that stranger from the bar tonight. She had never felt like that before, frozen in place that long to the point where she could not even move her body. She quietly pulled into the driveway, turning off the engine hoping to not wake Sara up if she was in fact sleeping. Lillian did not notice Sara sitting in the living room until she heard someone clearing their throat and turned to find Sara with her arms folded across her chest staring at Lillian with a look of disappointment and hint of anger mixed together.

Before Lillian could say anything Sara was the first one to speak, “Why didn’t you tell me how much your bike had been damaged? The mechanic called earlier to give a detail of the cost to repair it”. Truthfully, Lillian had forgotten all about the accident and the wrecked motorcycle until now or the fact that she had not gone into detail about it when she spoke to Sara yesterday after Ronin had dropped her off at home. She had not told Sara everything about it because the last thing Lillian needed was for Sara to worry about her. The young woman needed to focus on her studies and dreams of finishing college, not having Lillian’s safety clouding her mind so she could not focus. “I didn’t want you to worry... It was nothing like I said this morning, the bikes a bit of a mess but it can be fixed and the most important thing is that I am safe and I wasn’t even injured”.

Lillian was not sure if Sara would believe every word Lillian said to her just now but she hoped the young woman would not press for more information about the event. “Are you kidding me Lillian, your motorcycle is more than just a bit messed, it’s totalled and you’re lucky that you didn’t get hurt or wor…”, Lillian watched as Sara couldn’t finish her words, tearing forming in her eyes threatening to spill. “I just... I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you, your all I have left Lillian”, the tears finally streaming down her face, her small figure sobbing at the mere thought of losing Lillian and being alone in life. Without Lillian Sara was nothing because of Lillian Sara was the strong, fierce and independent woman she is today. Sara could not see life without Lillian there with her. Lillian moved to the couch to comfort the poor young woman as she continued to cry, trying her best to tell Sara that everything was fine, that she was fine and nothing was ever going to happen to her, she promised.

Minutes went by before Sara finally calmed herself down to the point where she was no longer crying and looked peaceful enough for Lillian to tell her what had happened. She told Sara every little detail to make sure she left nothing out of her story. She even told Sara about how she had met Ronin, when he was a stranger who had come to her rescue, but she did not tell Sara about the connection she felt between them or somehow deep down Lillian felt like she knew Ronin. That she felt they had known each other for years and were not just two complete strangers who only met today. How do you explain that to someone when Lillian could not explain it to herself? So she kept quiet about that part of the story and keep going, about how Ronin had driven her home, was going to help with the fixing of her bike, how when she dropped Sara off at school she had the weird feeling she was being watched, lastly to the stranger who had come into the bar tonight. This time she did tell Sara how she felt familiar with the man but did not know why she felt that way.

Sara was not quite sure what to make of all of it but she promised Lillian they would talk about it more in the morning. Lillian nodded her head agreeing and watched Sara head upstairs for the night, wishing her good night. With Sara gone to bed an eerie silence filled the house and Lillian was left with only her thoughts. Today had been eventful to say the least in Lillian’s usually normal day-to-day life, nothing like this had ever happened before. Her and Sara lived a quiet life that evolved around her work and Sara’s school that was pretty much it since Lillian moved to New Haven and started living with Sara.

The small town provided all they needed to make a life, today had shaken up their normal routine and it made Lillian wonder if this was just the beginning, if more things were going to be happening to them. She just wanted Sara to have a good life but these events made Lillian very uneasy about the future.

Her gut was telling her to pack up everything and run far away from New Haven, it was not safe here anymore. This was their home, the place they had started their new beginning together, Lilian just could not rip Sara away from that. Sara had college and friends here, and this was Sara’s hometown. What if the new danger Lillian felt followed them whenever they went they could not live in fear for the rest of their lives, always looking over their shoulders it was not much of a life. Lillian did not think it would come to that, that today had just been a fluke in their lives and it would end today never to happen again. Lillian tried to push those thoughts out of her mind as she climbed the stairs towards her bedroom on the second floor. She was exhausted and sore from the accident and the eventful day she had.

Tomorrow would be the start of a new fresh day hopefully not filled with more situations like those of today. As she changed out of her work clothes and into something more comfortable for bed, as soon as Lillian’s head hit the pillow she found herself drifting into a state of relaxation and sleep. However, as she lay there in her current state, her mind still drifted playing out scenes before her. Time and places she did not remember but yet they felt so real and that she had been there before. Events of a life that was surely not hers. One thing that was common throughout these imagines was the stranger Ronin, and the unknown stranger she had met at the bar.