CHAPTER 65 - She is gone
OLIVIA SAW A FLASHof light. Everything went white, and then the landscape reappeared. She saw the same ruined castle, and for a moment she thought nothing had happened. Except the vegetation was slightly different, and Dale was no longer in the spot he had been.
The pain of loss was swift and shocking in its intensity. She doubled over, but Kalli held her back. “Don’t move, or you will pass out. You must remain in the same position for the next thirty minutes to give your body a chance to rebalance.”
Staying still was not difficult, not when she had no desire to move ever again. She had no will, no strength. So she closed her eyes and tried not to think. Not to cry. At least not in front of these people, who didn’t even understand love. There’d be time to fall apart later.
A while later, Kalli tapped her shoulder, and she cautiously opened her eyes.
“You can move now. The village is down that road over there.” She pointed to the distance where a road meandered through gentle hills. “It is the morning after the night you were transported. Your phone should have a signal.”
Olivia checked and confirmed the GPS was working. She also had several messages from her mother. Crap. It was the morning after, and she had promised to text her mother as soon as she got to the cottage. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since that last conversation, but for her mom, it had only been a few hours.
She shot a quick text to her mom, letting her know she had arrived safely but had fallen asleep.
“Do you need any further instructions from us?” Kalli asked kindly.
“No, I guess. So, it’s the day after. Nobody has missed me? Everything continues as if I had never left?”
“Correct. You can proceed on your route and nobody needs to be the wiser. Are you okay to continue on your own, or do you need further help?”
Olivia nodded. “I’m okay, I think. I should be able to reach my destination. At least it is morning.”
Kalli nodded once. “Good day, then. We will be on our way.”
Suddenly Olivia felt panicked to let them go. After they left, that would be it. Her link to Dale would be lost. She had no way of contacting them. No way to go back...the need to ask them to take her back was overwhelming. “Wait! What if something comes up? What if there are any problems or unexpected consequences? Is there any way for me to reach you?”
Kalli’s eyes were compassionate. “There shouldn’t be any problems. If it makes you feel better, we can accompany you to your lodgings.”
The ding of a text arriving startled her. She glanced at her phone but didn’t read the words. Just saw the hearts and smiley faces her mother liked to sprinkle on her messages. She closed her eyes in agony.
“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank you.”
Dariux motioned her over to take the driver's seat and he and Kalli got out of the car.
“We will leave now if you are fine.”
Fine? She wouldn’t be fine in the foreseeable future. But that wasn’t something these people could understand or fix, so she bid them goodbye. To be honest, she was glad to be rid of them. She was miserable, and by their own admission, they didn’t understand love, so they were making her feel vulnerable. Judged.
Olivia moved the lever to drive and started moving the car towards the road. It felt almost strange to be back in her time. She had both a sense of familiarity and of not quite belonging anymore.
When she reached the road, she turned right and five minutes later she was entering a town called Westbury, where she should have arrived that night that now seemed so long ago. She looked up the address of the Airbnb and put it in the GPS, who amazingly gave the right directions this time.
After a few more minutes, she was at the entrance of her rented cottage. She keyed in the code and the door opened without issues. Everything was as planned. The cottage was clean and waiting for her. She locked the door behind her and went straight to the bedroom to fall face first on the bed and cry her heart out.
