Shimmer

What was that smell? It was so familiar to her, but right now seemed so foreign. Like it didn’t belong or maybe she didn’t belong. Sweet but not like sugar. It was rich and musty like it was made from all the different seasons rolled into one sweet scent.

Her head hurt. She pinched her eyes together hard enough to see different white patterns behind them. Inhaling deeply of the rich sweet scent she slowly rolled onto her back hearing the ground crunch beneath her. Then the earth creaked.

“No, that can’t be right. “she thought. “The earth doesn’t creak. Shift and dip but not creak!

She slowly separated the lids of her eyes, so that just a straight line of light cutting across her pupils. It took a minute for her mind to register what she was looking at. Boards about six inches wide with a one inch gap between them were overhead. Just high enough that she could almost reach them with her outstretched arm.

She dropped her arm on her chest and sighed. Her head still hurt but it was slightly better now that she was no longer in darkness. Grunting she pulled herself into a sitting position. Surrounding her were hay bales stacked atop one another. She was in the center walled off on all sides by the thick packed hay.

“Well that explains the smell.” she muttered to no one in particular. Taking a deep breath of the musty sweet scent she reached out and grabbed the metal twine on the bale in front of her. That’s when she noticed her hands. They were encased in dainty white, laced gloves with little pink flowers at the cuff.

“What the hell?” she looked at the offending objects in distaste. “Where did you come from?” She pulled at the fingertips and wrestled the glove from her hand. She held it feeling of the soft lace and tracing the intricate weave.

“Ella!” the male voice echoed up to the hayloft. “Ella, C’ mon, I give up. You win.” the disembodied voice rose up to the rafters and settled around her. Footsteps crunched through the hay and the hayloft rattled as a foot found purchase on the wooden rung of the ladder.

“For heaven’s sake, Ella, show yourself. You already won.”

“Who are you?” she called out.

“Ha! I should have known. I looked in this barn three times, but didn’t think you’d climb up there in your new dress.”

Ella looked down at herself. She was surrounded in white ruffles with green trim. The bodice was tight across her chest with beautiful brocade in a Kelly green. She tried to get up but as she moved the hoop skirt that she’d been sitting on popped up in front of her making it impossible now to reach the hay bale in front of her.

The footsteps had come up the ladder and were heavily making their way over to her. The sound stopped and a thick mop of dark brown hair peered over the hay. It was followed closely by the most striking pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. His tan face and wide smile peered at her.

“Well don’t you look like an angel fallen to earth.”

Ella was so dazed by the gaze of this handsome man that all she could do was stare at him.

“What’s the matter?” worry and concern etching his handsome face. “Are you all right, Ella?” She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“No! I’m not all right. I’m stuck!” He smiled then laughed. “Figures, I find an angel and she’s stuck. Shall I rescue you?” the words danced off his lips like an secret that only the two of them held.

“Please.” it came out as a sigh. Ella cleared her throat, righting her thoughts centering herself. “Yes. if you please.” she restated more firmly. She had to understand what was going on and where she was, not sigh longingly at a man she had never seen before. He could be anyone, a mass murdered or just a bored farmhand that chased women for a living. Wait, what would that make her if she was in his hayloft? She threw the thoughts from her mind intent on the moment to get out of her captive situation.

His head disappeared from above the hay. SHe heard him grunt as he heaved the large hay, bale from in front of her. As she watched him, she could see his straining muscles push at the fabric of his tailored brown coat. In his lapel was a large, white rose with a thin red ribbon tied at its base. He hefted the bale to the side and over the railing of the hayloft depositing it with a thud to the barn floor below. Dust blew up from below surrounding this stranger in a cloud. With the sunlight streaming behind him and the dust whirling he resembled a Greek deity….she shook her head, not again! Dusting off his hands he turned back to her, a dimple creasing his left cheek as he disarmed her again with that smile.

“Ma’ am.” extending his hand to her. She reached out with her ungloved hand and touched his fingers. Prickles of electricity radiated from her fingers through her palm all the way to her shoulder. She drew her hand back, shocked at the sensation.

“Don‘t be afraid, I don’t bite.” he said with a smile that was brimming with unspoken words.

She reached out again and grasped his hand. He pulled her up and out of the hay and into his arms in one fell swoop. She gasped as he clutched her to his chest. She took a moment to look into those bright blue eyes, then righting herself she pulled from his strong embrace. He smelled of leather and earth and she briefly thought of sun-swept fields.

“Thank you, Sir” she said smoothing her dress and dusting hay from its bodice.

In one long stride he closed the distance between them. “Surely, you can reward your savior with more than just a thank you.”

As she looked up to say the first snide remark she could think of, he wrapped her tenderly in his arms and captured her lips to his. Heat flooded Ella starting deep in her center and radiating outward to her fingertips. He kissed her slowly, softly and without her meaning to she leaned into his strength. His soft kiss awakened in her, something she could not yet name. It was distant from her, like a storm slowly creeping across the horizon. He gently released her lips and she stood in his embrace gazing into his eyes as her hands grasped his lapels.

“A suitable reward.” he huskily whispered against her lips. As he bent his head towards her again, a distinctly Southern female voice called from the barn below.

“Ella? Are you here, dear?” Ella pulled back from him and released his lapels. Chastising herself for getting lost again with this man she didn’t know from Adam. She called out, “Yes. I’m here.” She took a few steps away from his arms.

“What on earth are you doing in the barn? And in the hayloft of all places! Everyone is waiting for you.”

“I was stuck in the hay.” she stepped to the rails and peered over looking down at the woman in the open doorway. She was dressed in similar attire, with a long navy blue dress, trimmed at the edges with white lace, placed over a wide hoop skirt. She had a matronly air about her and the rosy red cheeks of someone who always looked flushed.

“This nice man rescued me.”

“Rescued you indeed! Jackson you had better rescue her down that ladder and onto the lawn before I tell her father what you’re up to.” she wagged her finger at both of us before turning in a rustle of crinoline and heading toward the lawn. “Make it quick you two, the guests are waiting.”

Jackson grabbed Ella’s hand and pulled her toward the ladder, laughing, “Better not keep Aunt Opal or her guests waiting any longer.’

He stopped at the ladder and turned so he could go down first, releasing her hand to grab the rungs.

“I’ll go first, then help you. I’m amazed you could even get that skirt up the ladder. It’s not like when we were children and you ran around in boys trousers.”

Swiftly he descended the rungs, then looked up. “Okay, your turn.”

Ella moved the bell shaped skirt and placed her booted foot on the top rung. She grasped the top of the ladder and pulled her other booted foot to rest one rung below the first. She looked down and saw Jackson smiling up at her. He was enjoying the view afforded to him by the bell skirt that was puffed out around her.

“Are you looking up my dress? Some gentleman.... “her words were lost as her gloved hand slipped from the ladder and her hooped skirt pushed her from her perch. Ella screamed as she plummeted toward the ground below. Just as she thought she would hit the ground two strong arms encircled her and she slammed into Jackson’s strong chest.

He gazed down into her silver eyes and smiled “Twice in one day. Must be a record for saving angels.”

He gently placed her on her feet. “As much as I’d like to collect another fitting reward, it will have to wait. We can‘t have you meeting your guests flushed and breathless.” he winked “but don’t worry I’ll collect my reward.”

Ella blushed from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. What was wrong with her? If this were any other man she’d have hauled off and socked his jaw for being so forward with her. Who was this man that made her feel this way and made her lose all of her senses? Where was she? When was she? What was going on? If only she knew. For now, she would have to play along with this charade until she could figure out what had happened.

Ella smiled at Jackson “Thank you, again Jackson.” and with that she turned and strode toward the open door of the barn. Ella stopped and turned toward him, “ Your reward will be most fitting” she smiled knowing that next time he would not catch her so off guard.

As Ella stepped across the threshold of the barn a brilliant, bright, white light enveloped her. She could feel it pulling her out of the barn and wrenching her away. She felt weightless and light, as if floating with the air itself. A loud thundering crack sounded and Ella was shoved downward hard. She screamed out throwing her arms across her face and then everything went black.

“Ella? Ella? Are you okay?” her friend, Kylie was calling to her from far away. Ella swallowed hard and coughed as she rolled onto her back.

She groaned as she opened her eyes to the dusky grey dawn.

“Thank God you’re okay.” Kylie said as she fell to her knees and grasped Ella’s hands.

“What happened?”

“You tell me. One minute we’re taking pictures of this old worn down barn for Art class and the next you disappeared. We’ve been out here searching for hours.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you vanishing for seven hours. We were all standing outside that old barn.” she pointed across the lawn to the ramshackle structure set against the brightening sun, “and you said you wanted to get some interior shots. You walked inside and just… vanished. Where did you go?”

Ella sat up rubbing her forehead with the base of her hand. She squinted as she looked across the expanse of grass to the tattered, worn, red wooden barn.

“You’re.. you’re not going to believe me.” Ella stared at the old barn set amidst the dewy fog and swore she saw the open door shimmer for a moment.

“What’s that?” Kylie asked.

Clutched in Ella’s hand was a beautiful white rose with a red ribbon tied in a bow.