Episode 5: The One

It was a beautiful sunny day, Agatha's BMW went to a stop. She's been picking up Charlie from his work located west of Bern, as a budding associate writer, ever since he's back.

"Agatha, you don't have to do this! You promised!" Charlie scowled as he removes his jacket.

"Coffee?" As she hands out a covered paper cup, smiling.

"Damn, don't bribe me, I'm already 21, not a child!" Charlie told Agatha as he reached for the coffee.

Charlie thought to himself, 'I've never felt her this protective as before, and I think it has heightened.'

The two went to the car, but Charlie's stepped a bit off from where he's heading. He's like waiting for something in a very odd position. He was in that manner for about 5 seconds then suddenly he ran towards the woods.

His dropped his cup and spilled coffee all over the pavement.

His speed is topnotch. Agatha followed in attempt. She could not call out Charlie, all she knows is she has to follow his brother.

But Charlie is nowhere to be found. He is too fast for her. Agatha found herself in the middle of the woods, she called his name at the top of her lungs and started panting hard. Her adrenaline subsided abruptly. She almost felt fainting. The trees around seemed blurry, then a bright light almost consumed her. Still panting, she went on her knees closed her eyes and tried to rest.

All she could think of is her constant dream of his brother.

In Agatha's recurrent dream, Charlie has been constantly walking away towards the darkness. Agatha calls for him to come back but Charlie just kept on walking until he disappeared into the nothingness of an empty dark space. Charlie never looked back, nor came back. He's gone.

Charlie went to an abrupt stop. His eyes were surveying the area like a predator. It was an open grassland that he had stumbled upon. Drenched in sweat he called out, "Whoever you are, show yourself!"

He was waiting for a response but all he could hear is the whistling of the wind over the grassland bounded by the woods. Then he heard something, smelled something, felt something. The 'thing' seemed to be nearing him in an uncanny way. Charlie's pulses went up, fast, soaring as he anticipates the horror of the unknown. He is neither excited nor afraid. He is just dead seduced. Sweat is trickling over his nape and chest. The cool wind negates the warm core of his body, his skin is near icy. An unexplainable energy surges then stopped. It was behind him, breathing.

"I knew you would find me, but I found you first." A man's voice said.

Charlie froze.

Agatha regain consciousness, drenched in moisture.

It was near dusk, Agatha helped herself up, dusting the soil off her dress. Her worried face became more and more gloomy. Tears fell from her eyes. She wiped them off leaving soil on her face. She can't do anything, she don't want to leave his brother, she wants to follow him, but where? She can't think right now, she just went back to her car hoping her brother is there, waiting for her. Upon reaching her car, she got a hold of her cellphone inside it and tried to call Charlie. It rang.

Charlie melted.

While his phone is ringing, cold sweat continuously pours down. Though he wants to pull it out from his pocket, he could not. His knees became wobbly.

"I thought you want me to show myself, here I am, all you need to do is to turn around" The man said almost to his ears.

The man's voice is velvety, almost seductive. The treble is old but the pauses are modern. It's like the past met the future yet indescribably coerced. The energy and the presence is so strong that Charlie felt enveloped by the power the man is presenting or not. Charlie closed his eyes and went to a daydream.

Down the staircase he immediately went out of the house, almost running past the wooden door. That door is unlocked and it was half open. It was night, again. The air is crisp and cold, stars are scattered among the skies, little lights from the neighboring houses from afar are seen as if they were stars as well. The fields are vast and lonely. He looked over his shoulder to see the house behind, it was a grandeur, a mansion. He is at awe. Then he became scared and as he went on, walking, a man standing immediately in front of him. In a black tie suit with his right hand half-raised with cuff links shining all bright, he said with fear, "Where are you going Charlie? Go back Charlie, go back now!"

Still sweating and wobbly, Charlie gasped for air. He opened his eyes and a blurry vision stood in front of him. He backed down, submitting to his weak knees as he refocus his eyes. He then gasped again.

He gasped not in terror but in awe of beauty and amazement.

The man in his daydream reached out his hand to him in a white knitted sweater and plaid khaki shorts then said, "Come on Charlie, hold my hand."

Charlie hesitated but the voice, the eyes, the mouth, the angular face of the man seduced him. He held out his hand and the man helped him up.

"There is so much I wanted to tell you." The man said in a most endearing way.

Charlie finally said something, "Okay..."

"By the way, I'm Daniel Beaufort. I've been waiting for you for a very long time."

Sunset came.