Chapter 4

         When Derek returns, I hand him the paper. I have several questions written on the paper and I'm hoping that he'll answer them. He reads them and begins to slowly answering each question, each time glancing to make sure I'm ready to hear the next answer.

"I am 21 years old. It is the year 2038. I am a writer. I write science fiction novels." He glances at me for a second longer and mutters, "This sort of feels like a science ficition novel." He sighs and continues to answer some of my questions.

"The President is Tyler Newman. It's his second term and we vote again in two years. We are currently in a small town named Chesterfield. It is located in the state of Illinois. It is a town that has been named only twenty five years ago." I give him a small nod of encouragement so he'll continue."All animals, aside from household pets, are extinct. All the forests have died."

At my wide eyes, he elaborates, "We don't know what happened to them. They just wilted and died. They are still trying to determine the cause and, if they know anything, they aren't sharing their ideas.  We have figured out how to manufacture oxygen and use windmills to spread it around."

He  shuddered before he added, "There are some areas that we can't even because they are so bad. There are no more homeless people though." He smiles. "After the trees died off, all the rich people built homes for them all. They even bought them all food. On top of that, if someone is close to losing their homes, the finance departmens locate donors for them. Only to help them get back on thier feet and they don't have to pay anything back."

He looks at me for a second, contemplating something. Finally deciding to just say what he's thinking, he nods and smiles. "I'm sorry to hear that you can't remember anything. It would be really nice to know your name."

I blush so hard that I feel as if my whole body is red now. I know he notices because he responds with a dazzling smile. Looking around, he sees the newspaper that I discarded. Tilting his head towards it, he asks, "Find anything good in it?" He looks disappointed when I shake my head no but then his smile brightens. "Smells like food is finished. I made an awesome spring salad and some bread to go with it."

He reaches out and gently squeezes my hand and I follow him to the table. When he first grabbed my hand, a shiver of excitement ran through me. I can't quite understand why I feel so comfortable around him, almost as though I already knew him.

If it wasn't for the fact that he doesn't know my name, I would assume that I do. Luckily, he doesn't seem to notice to notice my attraction to him. Or, at least he isn't showing me that he does. We ate in comfortable silence. I kept glancing at him, out of the corner of my eyes, watching him and waiting for some sign that he's uncomfortable with me being here. He never shows it. So, after dinner I go into my room and lay down to sleep.

Sleep doesn't come. Instead, I contemplate every thing around me. Plus, I'm worried that I will wake up in the dungeon again. Everything seems to crazy to be true but the evidence is overwhelming. I'm in 2038 and there are almost no animals.

We are breathing fake oxygen with the absence of trees. So, why can I remember these things as though I was in a time that they existed? Before I answer myself, I wake with sunshine filtering through the windows. I smell bacon and eggs and eagerly crawl out of bed. Just as I stand, I notice a little note sitting on the night stand next to the bed. On the front of the note, it stated:

Dear Mystery Lady

I chuckled. Mystery lady indeed, even from myself. I open the note to finish reading what's on the inside.

I hope you don't mind. I grabbed these clothes from my sister's. You look to be her size.

                           Derek :)

I looked back over at the dresser and noticed the small pile of clothes. He was right. They are about my size. I decide to take this take to take a nice shower. I contemplate on the fact that I trust Derek enough to even shower. With a smile on my face, I step under the water and let the water flow over me. It feels good to feel the warmth of the shower and to be able to drown out my worries. I stay in the shower until the water runs cold, hoping that Derek wasn't wanting a shower as well. By the time I get downstairs, Derek is halfway done with his meal. I smile sheepishly and mouth sorry. He smiles at me, points at my food, and runs his eyes down my body. I shift under his gaze, feeling emotions that I wouldn't think  possible. I clamped me legs together, praying that he doesn't notice and sit.

"It's okay. You needed the peace of a shower." I blush, again, as he smiles. "Those clothes look really good on you." He clears his throat, and I look back up at him. "So, I was thinking that maybe today we could go driving around town to see if anything jars your memory. What do you think?" Since I was already planning on doing that, I nod. "Good! After we're done eating, I'll go get the map. We can make a line of travel and you can let me know if you agree with any of the areas."

I have no intention of disagreeing since  I don't remember anything about this place. I just nod once and go about my eating my breakfast. It's really good but eventually I give up eating. My anxiety has caused me to lose my appetite. I write my apologies and let him know that I am ready to go. He nods his head, grabs the dishes from the table, and cleans up the rest of the breakfast mess. I watch him. I watch the way his muscles move as he cleans the table. I watch the way he sways his hips as he hums to himself. I let out a soundless giggle as I notice that he is humming old nursery rhymes. For a brief moment, I think about how lucky I am to have run into someone like Derek. Without warning, the images of the other place crawl into my head. It replaces my happiness with fear. I cover it up quickly before Derek returns. It takes us fifteen minutes to go through the plans. I circle a few of the areas, not marked, and draw a watch beside them. Those are the areas that we will hit if we have time.

On our way out the door, Derek handed me some water bottles and a purse with some medicine to put inside of it. I assume the purse used to be his sister's and I warm up at the idea that he thinks about the small things. He has a couple of lunch sacks with food in it. I raise my eyebrow at it and he smiles sheepishly and shrugs. He opens the door for me and I stumble back when stairs extend from it. He chuckles as he helps me climb in. The ride was peaceful. The scenery passing by was beautiful and intriguing. I could almost forget about my worries. None of the areas remind me of anything and I grow frustrated. I huff earning a smile from Derek. My pulse quickens as we pull up to the hospital. I don't know why but I get a sense of foreboding. Derek pauses for a second. Deciding that he wants to explore the hospital, for a possible reason, he parks in the back of the hospital.

"As scared as you are, I think that I should go get a map for us to study first. I'll be right back."

Without another word, he jumps out of the truck and rushes into the hospital. While he is searching for a map, I'm looking for a pen and paper since I forgot to grab any before we left. There isn't any in the truck so I search the purse. Maybe Derek had thought to put some in the purse. I didn't find any paper or pens but I did find makeup. I decide to take advantage of the make up instead of worrying about Derek. It may even make me feel better. He returns as I finish putting on the lip gloss.

"Looks like someone made good use of her time and of the gifts that I bought. You know, this may be bold but you're even prettier when you blush." He chuckles at the look on my face. "Okay. I'm sorry. I know we don't have time for me to flirt but I can't help it. Are you ready?"

A little embarrassed, and confused,  by his sudden flirting it takes me a few seconds to realize that he's waiting for an answer. When I nod, he pulls out the map and a pen. I groan inwardly as he circles the basement first.

"We need to check these areas first." He explains. "If you're too scared of this hospital, I doubt it's because of the normal areas. I hope that I'm wrong but I just have a gut feeling this is the correct place." He pauses a moment, looking uncomfortable. "Okay let's eat and then we can get going."

I look at him oddly. For someone so lean, he can really eat his fill. He squeezes my hand a gives me a gentle kiss on the cheek. I freeze as my heart accelerates. It's caused strange sensations to flow over my body, almost all centered onto one area of my body. I cross my legs in an attempt to keep him from noticing. He seems to notice and smiles as the heat in my face makes itself known. I turn away from him, staring out the window, as I eat and silently wish that kiss was on my lips instead.

We stop at a drive in so he can order us some burgers and fries. They’re great but I feel really messy. When we return to the house, I take a shower. Derek meets me in the hallway as I’m coming out. He looks at me with an amused expression that makes me blush.

"Would you like to sleep in the guest room tonight? I would love for you to join me in my room, if you don't think I am moving too fast, that is.”

He blushes when he sees my surprise. “I won't do anything tonight I promise. You need your rest. I thought maybe we could have a few drinks."

I feel plenty rested so I walk over to him and kiss him. We don’t end up making it to his room, as the guest room is closer.