9 Chapter 8

My eyes darted back and forth between the window and door. I had to make sure it was open in case I needed to run. On the count of three I ripped the curtain open. It was worse than I had expected. The sun was throwing his joyful rays of sunshine back to earth. A warm breeze played with my loose hair.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I asked to whoever was listening. 

***

The moon was a big plate, waiting for disaster to be put upon it. The stars didn't care about the moon, they only stole dances from each other. It was one of those nights where I couldn't sleep again, and stared at the sky outside my window. 

With all this things happening I didn't even know what was real, and what wasn't. Derora probably slept downstairs without a care in the world. I was kind of sad that she had to go tomorrow. It was nice having someone else around the house. 

My thoughts got interrupted when a butterfly came to sit on my bed railing. It's wings looked glittery. It was beautiful, but my stomach turned when I remembered that butterfly's don't fly around at night. I rubbed my eyes in hope that they were only playing tricks on me. The butterfly was still there, but it started looking more distorted, like a wisp. The wisp started bouncing on my desk, on the book and towards the window. I climbed out of bed and followed it after putting sneakers on my feet. I gasped when the wisp merged through the window without breaking it.  I tried to make sense of the perplexing wisp, but my head couldn't get around it. My heart wanted to burst out of my chest. I felt like Alice chasing a white rabbit. Desperate not to lose the wisp, I opened the window, climbing onto one of the branches that usually scrapes against my window. Like a snake I slithered towards the lower part of the branch and jumped onto the ground. The wisp started hopping from one fence railing to another. Pickle saw me outside and started barking. I patted him on the head, but it didn't shut him up. Pickle jumped into my arms, and I started running after the wisp with him clutched tight to my chest. It kept him quiet at least. 

The moon looked sinister as it covered itself with grey blankets of clouds. I ran after the wisp towards the forest. The tree's looked scarier than before. The wisp twisted and curled itself through the bushes and I struggled to keep up. I ran without looking where I stepped. Suddenly I ran into something big, and it was breathing. My feet slipped underneath the force, and I was lying on top of this creature. My heart almost stopped working, It could be a wild animal. Images of bears, wolfs and coyotes flashed through my mind at the feel of the warm body underneath me. Carefully I looked at the living thing that I fell on. It was a human, and it gave a displeased grunt. Pickle yelped and ran back towards home.

"What are you doing, running around in the forest at 2am the morning?!" I recognized the voice, and almost felt relieved. It was David. I pushed myself off him wheezing. 

"I could ask you the same," Carefully I backed away searching him with my eyes, for anything that could hurt me. He still managed to look good, even with dirt smeared all over his face. I shook the thought out of my head. It wasn't possible that I found him attractive, He might be hiding a body in the woods at 2am. Why else would he be here then? 

He must have seen the fear on my face, because he started rambling.

"I can explain. When I can't sleep, I often come here to study the stars, or write poems," he answered. I relaxed when I saw binoculars and a notebook next to him in the dirt. I couldn't help but stare at his blond hair reflecting the moonlight. I decided to look down instead. David frowned at me, "What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep either. You won't believe me, but i saw a wisp-like butterfly, and chased it all the way here. I think I lost it," I said embarrassed.

David didn't say anything, so I figured he didn't believe me. I went to sit next to him on the leafy forest floor. 

"Could I see one of your poems?" I asked trying to change the subject. David looked startled for a moment, but then smiled. He closed the notebook tightly. He stared at me with brooding eyes.

"I'm not ready to show my work to other people yet. It's quite private," 

 I just nodded. My eyes scanned the bushes for the wisp, but it wasn't there anymore. I stood up, and started walking back home. David was still an asshole.  

"Wait! Where are you going Leona?" David asked. 

"Home. The wisp is gone, and you think I'm crazy, so why should I stay here."

David smiled a white teethed smile. "I don't think you're crazy. Tell me more about what stood in the book, and we can figure it out together."

I told David about the Time Portal while he made notes of it in his book. David told me about the stars in return. Like that our sun is a dwarf star, black holes don't suck and that stars are in perfect balance. The whole time I tried not to stare too long at the freckles on his cheeks. I wanted to trace them and form star constellations underneath his blue ocean eyes. At least David didn't notice, he only inched the notebook closer to him.  

When I walked home I realized that David might not be an entire asshole, and that the wisps might come again. The next day I would be waiting for the wisp. I knew it sounded like I might be a lunatic, but something made me start to believe in fairy tales.