I open the door and see a man in his 50's? Or am I too harsh? Anyway, he has semi-grey hair and a hat on his head..like a cowboy..? No, more like Indiana Jones? He has a black leather jacket and his face is filled with pain. He can't stand straight and looks a bit shaky, but I can't figure out what is going on as I am surprised that he does not hold an amazon parcel... Finally, I snap out of my thoughts and I hear him say...
" I apologise for the intrusion, I need some help, I forgot to take my medication this morning and I am in a desperate need of water." I look at him stoned. What? That doesn't make sense? MEDICATION??? Warning bells ring! Am I in trouble? Is he mentally unwell?
" Oh, I am sorry," I say "Of course, let me get you the water. Are you ok? " I say as I turn my back towards him to go for the glass of water. Now, that I look back at this I honestly don't know what I was thinking? That he would just stand by the door and wait for me to bring him a glass of water? Especially after he made an impression of having a mental illness? Did I not watch enough of the CSI series to know better?!
Of course, he followed me into the kitchen, which I only realised as I filled the glass with water and turned to make my way back. I found him standing right in front of me. With relief, yet nervousness on his face. Before I even manage to process any feelings of fear or anything else he gets me all confused... He looks first at the glass of water and says " Thank you, but a sink would actually be better.." And he puts a plug in the sink and starts filling it with water. I scratch my head, while still holding the glass of water in my stretched hand towards him and try to understand what is he doing. He says " What a lovely kitchen, did you update it recently?"
"Yes, thank you, just a couple of months ago in the summer," I say and as I am about to ask what is going on.. He looks at the sink slowly filling up with water and says "You have a really well-kept kitchen, not everyone has such a clean sink first thing in the morning after breakfast, usually people just chuck their breakfast cereal inside the sink and it all stays there all mucky and horrible"
" Yes I really don't like that either, I make sure everything is washed down straight away and put in the dishwasher, it helps to keep the cleanliness for longer". I am then starting to wonder why am I talking about this with this man and why is he filling up my sink with water?!
"Excuse me, but what are you doing exactly...? As I say that, I see him grabbing some powder from his pocket, there is a sign of satisfaction on his face while he looks at the amount of water in the sink. He then proceeds to climb on top of the kitchen counter, looks at me, and says
"Thank you so much".
I hear the noise of glass being broken somewhere in my house. I don't know whether to question what he is doing or run and check what was the noise? I turn my back on him and look if I can identify what was the noise is in the other part of the house, I turn back to look at him and I see his hand reach out to grab mine as he throws the powder into the water and shouts
"I am sorry!"
I hear a big bang! I feel a pull like I am being sucked by some sort of tornado..? I haven't really seen a tornado and I don't know how they work, but this is my best guess..? Everything goes white. Everything goes silent and I am confused to think. It is like that for some time like I am weightless and don't feel anything like I am in some sort of abyss, but it is a white abyss with suddenly pink lines that turn into shadows and then I start to feel my arm being pulled first slowly and gently and then..harder and harder, my whole arm and then half of my body and then the rest.. while I am surrounded by a white fog... And I am starting to hear a noise.. wait a minute.. what is that noise? Bangs? Bloops? What is it? I start to feel my body whole again, a bit shaky, but all seems to be there.. and the constant pull of my arm... Oh it hurts and then I turn and I see this man from my kitchen again.. he is saying something... what is he saying? Oh, and he is the one pulling my arm really hard.
Suddenly it all hits me, like all my senses are back with me, my hearing, vision, smell and touch come back all at once. This man is shouting
"come with me" and pulling my hand. I start to walk, but I am in a sort of a cave, and standing on big, giant rocks and not too far below us I can see lava bubbling, which is making the loud sounds of bang and blop. I jump from one stone to the next pulled by this man. Did I lose conciseness? Is this a dream? Did he hit my head and is now robbing my home while I am lying down on the floor possibly bleeding out while having this weird dream?! Finally, I decide it's my dream and stop.
He pulls my hand and shouts
"come on!"
But I won't budge. He turns to me and shouts over the loud noise of lava
"We have to get out of here fast! Before the lava level rises!"
I look at him shocked, my face serious as a stone, unable to say anything as I don't really know what to say. Finally, I say
"No"
He looks at me, then turns to look behind me and gets worried. At this point, I don't really care anymore and what he is worried about, I had enough!
"No," I say again. He looks at me and says
"I am sorry" and blows some powder in my face, I start coughing and that is it. I am gone.
The next thing I remember is shaking, I think he carried me. I was still too sleepy to be able to open my eyes and see for myself. Then I saw all the colours of the rainbow and I was walking through all of them.
Finally, I could hear birds singing, a nice smell of nature, a gentle breeze on my face and the sound of the ocean... Wait Ocean?! Where am I?! I open my eyes and I can't believe it. It looks like the Maldives... Palm trees, sun, a beautiful beach with crystal clear water. It is beautiful here and the fresh air... I breathe in.. and then think.. but how? I look around and see no one.. no hotel, no other tourists...
Suddenly that man from before comes out of a bush and carries a coconut that is half-open. He looks at me and smiles and lifts up one half of the coconut heading my way. I look around me, behind me unsure if he means me? But there is no one else here. Then I suddenly remember this man was in my kitchen this morning, just as I try and put things together he finally reaches me and says
" I am glad you are awake. I am very sorry for the interruption to your day. My name is Michael"
He reaches out his hand towards me as in a gesture to shake mine but then realises he has the half coconut in it so he smiles and says
" I thought you might be thirsty I got this for you?"
I am still a little bit shaken by it all, I take the coconut and drink it and finally say.
" I am sorry, I am confused, were you not in my kitchen this morning? He smiled again and said
" Yes, that's right"
" So how are we here?" I ask
" Its a really a bit of a funny story... What is your name?"
" I am sorry, how rude of me, I am Bethany." After a moment "I am really confused, I need to pick my children up from school at 3, do you know what happened? How can I get home? I don't seem to have my phone on me to ring my husband. I am sure he could come and pick me up, from... I look around "wherever we are here..?"
By this point I thought.. it is possible that I have been kidnapped or I am lying on my kitchen floor dying while having this weird dream or I lost my mind? Or what else?... because I do not like any of these options...
" I think even if you would have your phone the reception here would be.. hm.. nonexistent?" He says with slight hesitation. "we are in 80 million BC" and then he pauses, giving me a chance to process it... I look at him and
"What?! I don't? I don't understand?"
" Ok, I guess I owe you some explanation...My name is Michael Day. I travel through timed space, as I have this mission I need to fulfil. This morning I was chased by someone and my only means to escape was by transferring to another place, but for that I required water.. and that's how I ended up in your kitchen. My sincere apologies, I wasn't planning on bringing you along with me, but the person chasing me went to your house and I was worried to leave you alone. I will ensure you get back home, unharmed in time to collect your kids from school at 3, but first I just need to sort one little thing over here. Would you be so kind and follow me?"
He smiles again and starts walking towards bushes. I am shocked and still trying to process it all. Going back over my possibilities.. and what he said. it's number one then, I am kidnapped? Suddenly without realising I say out loud
"Am I kidnapped?"
He looks at me with a look on his face as if I cannot be serious! And says
"of course you are not kidnapped"
"So can I go home now?"
"Not just this moment"
"Can I call my husband?"
"I told you not possible"
" Can I just leave you and walk the other way?" Thought if he is crazy and brought me here maybe if I run I might find a hotel? But I am not good at running and even though he is about 20 years older than me, I am ashamed to say I am not as fit as he...
He gives me that look again of you can not be serious.. and I continue
"And I am not kidnapped?"
He stops, looks at me and says
"No, you are not. I will return you back home as soon as I..."
He looks around. We walk away from the beach through some sort of a jungle kind of thing and now there are fewer trees here, more open and on one side it looks like there is a desert and on the other as iƒ, there had been a great fire that burned some of the jungle down.
Michael looks around and reaches into his pocket he gets that white powder out again, looks at it and says
"oh, it's not this one" puts it back in his pocket and then takes it out again
"O, here it is" he smiles.
He puts the powder on his flat hand and blows on it. The powder starts to go up in the air flying around him. Just like opening up a bag of flour, I think with a chuckle.