1927: Redemption

Stranger With Diary

“The shocked silence that followed was decidedly baffled. And even, possibly, a little thoughtful, if that was not too much to hope.”

2016-DECEMBER-LONDON

In the darkroom, even the ticking had a relaxed feeling, as if it was a heartbeat at rest. Adeline felt as if the air moved like cool water and the aroma of Michaela’s scented candles infused her far more deeply than it did in the light of day. In the twilight, the fabrics were muted hues as if they too awaited dawn to ignite their colours for all to see.

There were shapes in monochrome, of course, the daylight could bring brilliant fuchsia or deepest scarlet, but for now, it could be a scene from a black and white movie. The silhouettes were already more discernible than they were only a short while before and Adeline gazed from the window with a question, when the sun would kiss the sky orange, igniting new dawn, bringing the chorus of the birds. But, waiting for dawn was not the choice, she had to move forward and see for herself if there was someone in the room.

She clutched the sides of her cardigan in fear, calling out, “Who is here?”

Clutching the cardigan tightly, she stepped forward, the sound of her ragged breathing was prominent in the room. But, it wasn’t just the sound of her breathing, there was the sound of slow breathing too. With each movement, something new ignited in her soul, she felt a foreign connection pulling her towards that particular area. While she moved something we came in her hand too, a tiny fragment more of the furniture and antique ornaments took form, as if they were waiting for her to make them real.

With a deep breath, Adeline smelled a different kind of scent. It was like damp earth and cigarettes, “Who’s here, answer me?” Adeline tried a bit bold this time as she saw movement in the dark.

And lastly, she finally saw a figure towering over her in the dark. That last thing was probably the most surprising, freakish one of all. Because you know why?

The golden-eyed person was the one who was standing in front of her in the dark. And he was most certainly not visible. On contrary, his eyes were the ones that could be seen. Adeline was about to step forward, when “Stop.” The person said, well, not said but warned in the rough and gruff voice.

Adeline was slightly taken aback by the sharp, annoyed, and warning tone that person used. Sure, she had heard him speak about one time before, wait- when did she hear his voice? Well, she was sure she heard him before, but, when, not sure.

She couldn’t help the fact that she was staring at the darkness with an awed expression on her face, sort of like she was seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh or something.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” She blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Read.” The golden-eyed person deadpanned, and it was quite sure from his voice and aura that he had to be a male specimen.

Finally, what an achievement for Adeline!

He might have stepped forward as Adeline felt wrapped in a strong and dominant aura. Adeline stepped back absentmindedly, “L-Listen….I-I…. “ she started blabbing out of fear, but at the same time, a hurricane of emotions was stirring inside of her.

The last place she expected the golden-eyed stranger to ever meet was in the place where she was staying, but maybe there were firsts for everything, right?

This sure as hell was.

Bringing up her courage as she somehow knew, he would not harm her in any way, “Stop where you are stranger.” Said Adeline, forcing a determined look on her face.

Well, the stranger never came out of the dark, but his one-word comments did successfully reach Adeline years, “Read.” He repeated.

Adeline stared at the dark in utter confusion, she knew, there was someone who was in the room right now, who also happened to be her saviour, and she could not bring herself to confront him or even move a bit closer to have a look at his face at least.

Rather, she stood rooted at her place, God, Adeline needed to toughen up.

If this was how it was going to be around Stranger, clearly she was going to need to get a thicker skin. Adeline already felt bursting into tears from his one-word answers.

One could only hope that she wouldn’t cry in front of him.

With a determined look on her face, she stepped might be in front of the stranger and into the darkness of the room.

“Don’t.” The stranger warned, and it was a kind of warning when you’re in grave danger.

Adeline ignored the warning and moved a step forward, pulling out her right hand in front, she tried to feel the person. Her hand was about to reach his body when he caught her hand in between and in the split of a second, a spark of electricity travelled from both of their bodies by a simple mere touch.

Adeline was shocked as she felt the spark as if she touched an electric circuit by mistake.

As soon as the stranger stepped away from Adeline, something invisible hit him. He couldn’t come to what nor understand what it was. He stumbled on his feet, and when a wave of shudder ran across his body, he got a hold of her arm, squeezing it tight enough to make Adeline wince in pain.

“Ahh!” She winced.

His beast was desperate as his heart was pounding fast and hard, he thought maybe this state was due to the insufficiency of energy at first, but this was something else, he knew it.

He was losing control.

Swallowing hard, focused all of his strength and let go of Adeline’s hand as she stumbled from the force he exerted on her wrist. Then he took a deep breath and launched himself toward the window, in the swift movement, after opening the window, he was gone.

It took several minutes for Adeline to make out that the stranger was finally gone when she looked at the open window and had hand imprints on her wrist.

Adeline wasn’t just shocked, she was caught off guard by the stranger’s weird behaviour. She again went to close the window. When she turned around, she saw an old diary lying on the floor.

Moving towards it, she leaned down and picked up the old diary, it had a phrase engraved on it:

“Without my honest words the diary is an object, with them it is a portal to the soul, a gateway, a map of the journey and struggles to become the angelic self.”

The phrase interested her, with the diary, she went to sit on the bed and opened it. Well, this day turned out more amazing as when she saw the name of the diary’s owner, her eyes widened in shock and tears gathered in her eyes.

It was none other than;

Jack Martinez, her father……and on top of that stranger wanted her to read it.

Several questions swirled around her head, as;

Who was this stranger?

How did he have Jack’s diary?

And, what was this strange connection between them?