Chapter 5: An Empty Home

The mist parted to reveal a bustling New York street. She recognized it as the corner of eight and thirty-second. Her apartment was only a few blocks from here.

She turned round to find the portal had vanished and in its place was a dead-end alley. No one seemed surprised to see her magically appear on the street and in a tattered wedding dress no less. People walked by her almost as if she were invisible.

Perhaps that was the glimmer the king spoke of, or perhaps that was just New York.

“I need to find Jeremy,” she said to herself and began making her way down the street toward her apartment.

As she did, another figure appeared from the dead-end alley, one dressed in an assortment of woven leathers. No one on the street saw this figure, but unlike Enya, he was truly invisible, fully hidden by the magic of the glimmer.

The figure crossed the street and followed Enya, a white blade appearing at its side.

***

When Enya arrived home, she found the apartment in disarray. The trash hadn’t been taken out and was filled with takeout. The couch looked as if it'd been slept on with throw pillows on the floor and a blanket strewn across it.

Peering into the bedroom she noticed it was perfectly tidy and made. Exactly the way it looked on her wedding day. She knew because she'd made it herself.

How could this much mess even accumulate in the time she was gone?

It couldn’t have been more than twenty-four hours. Right? The elves had only taken her last night. Unless time worked differently in the Elf realm, a thought which frightened her.

How long had she been gone?

“Jeremy?” Enya called out but he didn’t answer.

“Jeremy? Are you here? It’s me?” She called again, but to no avail.

Her shoulders fell. Where could he be? What happened while she was gone?

She went to her bedroom and changed from her wedding dress to leggings and a tank top.

She held the dress in her hands before placing it into the closet on a hanger.

It was supposed to be her wedding day. The happiest day of her life and now... Well, now she didn't know what her life was or how hard she'd have to fight to get back.

Putting the dress away, she went to the living room where she found her laptop. Her phone had most likely been lost to the fire but she could at least message him on social media.

She grabbed her laptop from the ottoman she always left it on and sat on the couch.

The moment she pulled open her Facebook app, a million notifications began pinging one after the other on her screen.

“So sorry to hear this! She was too young!”

“It’s a tragedy. Let us know if you need anything.”

“Our condolences to your family. She was wonderful and will be dearly missed.”

Enya threw the laptop on the cushion beside her and buried her face in her hands.

“Oh my G*d, oh my G*d, oh my G*d,” She muttered to herself.

“They think I’m dead. Of course, they think I’m dead I was in a burning building,” she grabbed the laptop again and with jittery fingers brought up a message to Jeremy.

But as her fingers hovered over the keyboard she found she could not find the words to send him.

“What do I even say? Hey I’m not dead? He’s going to want to know how I’m not dead. I don’t have a good reason for that, not one that doesn’t land me in the insane asylum.”

Enya put her laptop down for the second time and jumped to her feet. Her mind was racing and her body needed to keep up.

“I could wait for him to come home. Scare him half to death but at least then he wouldn’t think I was some hacker trying to scam him online.”

She walked into the kitchen, New York living rooms not being big enough for the long pacing strides she needed to take. There on the fridge, she saw their calendar.

It was something they did together. Everything they had on there they planned together and on the side was a space for messages where they’d write cute messages to each other even when their work hours kept them on opposite schedules.

“Oh, yeah, work. Yet another hurdle,” Enya said.

She checked the date and saw that Jeremy had written “PARENTS” on it. He was staying with his folks. That made sense. He needed emotional support.

In the messages he’d written,

“Going to my parents. I love you. I miss you. I don’t know how to do this without you. I don’t want to.”

His handwriting, which was never the most eloquent penmanship, was even more scraggly than normal. He’d most likely been crying when he wrote it. As she checked the other messages for each calendar day she realized their wedding had been two full weeks ago.

In all that time, he’d written to her in the messages every day. Always saying I love you and always telling her he wished she were still here.

Enya’s lips began to tremble. She brought her finger to her cheek and wiped away a few stray tears. He’d written to her every day…

If he was at his parents then he was only a subway ride away. She was exhausted and even though it was far more dramatic, she figured the only way to prove she wasn’t dead was to go to him in person.

“I’m coming,” she said to the messages.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and headed to her bedroom. There she grabbed some extra cash she had stashed away. Her purse and identification were gone along with her phone but hopefully, she wouldn’t need them if she took public transportation.

She ran back to the living room and was almost to the front door when a sound stopped her in her tracks. The lock on her apartment door was clicking and had begun to turn. Someone was breaking into her apartment.