3. Shandy and the girls #3
“It wasn’t so much a place I was chasing as a feeling. I wanted to escape, to be free, and I didn’t have any idea how I could do that. And now I’m stuck in this tavern until Bob decides to let me go!”
“I’m sure he’ll let you go out as soon as he gets back. What was so terrible about your world?”
“Can I show you? I think I could show you. Do humans mind merge?”
“I have no idea! Ask your phone. Bob’s got it connected to some kind of magical migrant network. Just press here, and say ‘Oi! Oracle!’, then ask your question.”
“Oi! Oracle! Can humans mind merge?”
The phone made a twinkly sound, and a voice older than the universe itself croaked:
“Yes, but beware! If in doubt, try a test transmission.”
“Shall we?” Shandy asked. “What do I have to do?”
“Our heads have to meet.”
Shandy looked around the room. There was only one man left in the rest of the bar, his glass was full, and he seemed deeply engrossed in whatever he was watching on his phone.
“Okay. Let’s give it a go.”
Shandy shuffled further over the bar. Fred lent forward a little, and she pulled him gently closer, her hands caressing his strong, smooth jawline.
As their foreheads met, Fred’s eyes closed and he breathed in the scent of Shandy’s skin, her hair, her breath.
A kiss felt so close, but a mind merge might bring them even closer. As long as he didn’t show too much.
He opened his mind and pulled her consciousness in. She was light, airy and glowed like a turquoise mist around the corners of his mind. He started to think about why he had left and what he was trying to escape. He wanted her to understand, without scaring her off.
He was standing at a check point, just outside the city. Just a group of armed guards and a small tent to act as an office. A farmer was trying to pass through with his family and a cart full of produce. He sat nervously next to his wife while his children peered curiously around their parents.
One of the soldiers checked their documents.
Fred could see that everything was in order, but the head of the guard asked the family to step down from the cart, ostensibly to check their load.
Fred’s mind filled with dread. He knew what was coming.
He had heard the stories. But this was the first time he had actually been there.
The soldiers made the man and his children sit at the side of the road in the dirt, and took the woman into the tent with them.
One of the soldiers beckoned for Fred to follow, but he shook his head, gesturing to the check point, as if he would stay on guard. His heart beat fast and his hand twitched, ready to unsheathe his sword, but he just stood there as the noises began, first of violence, and then…
Stop! Shandy’s voice called in his mind. I can’t bear it!
Fred pulled his head back, breaking the mind merge.
“Why didn’t you stop them?” she asked, shrinking back from him, her eyes filling with tears. “I mean, you look so much stronger than them! You had a sword, and you can use magic!”
“They all had swords, and they could all use magic. Even the woman they attacked could use magic, but they outnumbered her, just as they outnumbered me.” Fred turned his face away from her, ashamed at what she had seen. “I wanted to be a hero, but I couldn’t be.”
When he risked looking back towards her, Shandy’s eyes shone with empathy and she placed a gentle hand on his upper arm. It rested there a moment until a weak smile broke their shared gloom.
“I’m glad you wanted to escape, not join in,” she said, grabbing his arm tighter, “And I’m glad you’re here with me now.”
Fred felt his heart lurch and optimism flooded his whole being.
Before he had a chance to turn that thought into words or actions, he felt a slap on his shoulder.
“I hope you got over that pill okay!” Fred turned to see a tall, smiling man, dressed all in black. In his drunken state it took him a moment to work out who he must be. “Take care, or you’ll end up on the floor again! Good night!”
The man chuckled to himself as he left.
“Do you know him?” Shandy asked.
“Not really. He just helped me up off the ground when I arrived. Is he a regular?”
“Never seen him before. Seems nice.”
The moment was broken. Shandy locked the door to the bar and began to tidy up. The two of them continued to talk, back again to the lighthearted topics that had filled their conversations before he opened his heart and mind to her.
As he settled down to sleep that night, Fred remembered that squeeze on his arm, and the optimism returned. She already knew him better than any woman from his own world ever had.
There’s always tomorrow, he told himself, and countless tomorrows after that.
As he drifted off to sleep, he imagined curling up round Shandy, feeling the curves of her body pressed into his.
He imagined holding her tight and letting his hand wander up from her waist. Dream Shandy turned her head to kiss him, flashing a cheeky smile of complicity at him, before turning away again.
He kissed her neck and fell fast asleep.