Milo Thatcher's Story

Sun down was coming fast. With the low hanging clouds though, Milo wasn't all that sure it was a good thing. With these storms rolling in, tonight could be a total bust. Every year, thousands of multi-colored meteors rain from the night sky on one specific day. Something to do with the planet's orbital path around the sun and some other scientific crap that Milo was utterly sick of. Whatever it was though, it was the most stunning sight anyone had ever seen. On top of the storm though, he wasn't going to get any visitors. All his friends (who were really just his dad's grunts that were asked to check in on Milo every so often) were all out at sea doing god knows what to lord knows who. "A manor. Few thousand square feet and a mile of beach in either direction. All completely empty for the night. Fan-friggin-tastic." He shut off the kitchen light, grabbed a watter bottle from the fridge and sat in the front room waiting for the show to start as the horizon faded from red to purple, purple to black. With a smile, he saw the first meteor fall, a crimson tail flying in a beautiful downward arc behind it.

As the meteor accelerated towards the ground, it didn't disintegrate like most of the others. Instead it fell faster and faster until it crashed into the ground, causing the ground to shake on impact. Debris flew out over the beach and created waves. The crater that the meteor created wasn't too deep, only 1 1/2 feet deep. However, it was pretty wide. Something came out from out the meteor. A young lady. Weak from the crash, she had landed wrong and hit her head pretty hard on impact. Her head was throbbing. She was shaking greatly as she crawled out of the wreckage. Her blue hair stood against pale skin. Her body was still in shock too. Her clothing was tattered and was unlike anything seen on in this place. It looked like a body suit of some kind and it was silver. She had a good bump on the head, but that wasn't the only injury she had. Her whole body was in pain and she had some deep cuts and bruises were starting to form. In other words, she was a mess and in deep trouble if she didn't find help soon. Her shock was the only thing keep her from feeling too much pain. Still even though she was greatly injured, she felt this desire to press on.

Crawling to the top of the crater, she manages to open her violet eyes to see a light. Even though her vision was blurry, she could make out the shape of a building. Grunting, she crawled a bit until she managed to hale herself up on two feet. Still, her legs were shaky and she kept falling to her knees. With each effort though, she could feel her strength fall. When she made it to the door, she could barely keep herself up and instinctively raise a hand to knock on the door. When the door open, her world finally went black and she pitched forward.

Milo's head popped up over the side of his chair like a children's toy. "That's odd," He said to no one in particular. "Who'd miss this night?" His thoughts drifted for a moment before remembering his father's tendency to send a petty officer to check on Milo at the most inopportune moments. No doubt, with the crew on leave -Milo had seen the roster for this tour, something his father had forbidden expressly- it was Petty Officer Butch. He'd only remembered who he was because they shared a name. "Milo," He called as he walked to the door. He'd loved calling the sailors by their first names. It always put them in a slightly more humorous mood. "I'm fine dammit, go home and watch the-" His sentence was cut short as the door opened and a girl a bit younger than him fell face first into him. If he hadn't been a good half foot taller than her, he would have fallen over, but he just stumbled as he caught her. The first thing he'd noticed was her blue hair. Vibrant and colorful, right down to the last. But it seemed odd, like it was naturally that way. That was impossible though... wasn't it?

Suddenly he realized that his hands were wet, his fingers sticking together. Lifting one up, he could see the crimson sheen of blood. His eyes widened and he adjusted himself so that he could carry this mysterious visitor to the chair he'd been sitting on earlier. The blanket he'd been using was still laid out across it so he set her down on it. His mind reeled as he ran to the kitchen. "Come on, come on, where is it?" He asked aloud as he frantically searched for the first aid kit in the broom closet. "Perfect." He muttered as he snatched the red box off the shelf and ran back to the chair. "Alright, if you can hear me girl, this is going to sting." A few drops of alcohol were all that were needed to clean the wounds, but he went through nearly two rolls of gauze jut to clean the blood off of her and wrap them. Once he saw she wasn't bleeding anymore, Milo took a deep breath and relaxed. "Ah jeez, what the hell am I going to say to her? What am I going to say to dad?" He chuckled nervously as he spoke to himself, then wrapped the blanket loosely around the girl. "Well first thing's first. Better wait for her to wake up." Milo sat on the floor, and almost immediately fell backwards and nodded off.

The young lady was vaguely aware of anything except for the pain. She felt lost in a fog and was trying to find her way out of it. Where was she? Everything was very confusing. She felt herself falling though, which causes her to wake up. Right away her eyesight was very blurry and it took her a couple of minutes to adjust to the light. It was then she felt pain all over, but the worse was coming from her head. Again she wonder where she was. She wanted to move, but it even hurt to blink. The young stranger though managed to move her eyes around and caught an image of herself in a mirror some feet away. Her eyes opened in surprise at her condition. Bandages covered many areas and bruises were appearing on her skin. It was than she caught sight of someone on the ground. Looking down, she saw a young man on the ground.

He was breathing deeply and the blue-hair teen became concerned for some reason. Ignoring her own pain, she slipped out of the chair and crawled towards him. She was vaguely aware that her clothing was tattered up and she was already half naked. When she was next to him, she laid down next to him and resting on her belly, she leaned her head over his, waiting to see if he would wake up. After a few minutes though, she stared poking at him.

Milo was sleeping lightly, so when his guest laid down next to him, he was vaguely aware of her presence. If he hadn't been, well then the vicious poking he received shortly after would have given her away. One finger jabbed him in the arm. "Mmph." Was his only reply. Another found his chest a bit more forcefully. "Ow." He muttered almost inaudibly. The third found his forehead."Alright alright, I'm up! What is-" He was cut short as he sat up, his head colliding with hers. "Owwwww, damn!" His head and shoulders fell back to the floor, a hand over his eyes as he waited for the throbbing to stop. After about thirty seconds, he peeked out from between his fingers.

"Shouldn't you be laying down?" He asked as his hand moved from his face to the floor. A few more seconds of inspection left Milo with the need to avert his eyes out of respect. "Or, you know, in not so tattered clothes? Not that I mind but aren't you a little embarrassed?" He teased as he rolled away. "Stay put. I'll grab you something to put on, then we'll talk. In the meantime," He pointed to the chair, as best he could without looking back. "Blanket. That'd be a good idea." Milo jogged up the steps to the second floor, then into his room, a loft in a tower on the side of the house and pulled a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from his closet that he thought would at least sort-of fit the girl. Bringing them down, he left them over the door to the front room without going in. "Here," He called from the hall. "Hope they fit. I don't exactly have a full wardrobe for ladies handy."

When the young man woke up, the girl was happy at first, but when his head collided with hers, she screamed out in pain and curled up to her side holding her head in pain. As if it wasn't hurting enough. She couldn't help but let a few tears fall. When the guy started talking to her again, she turned towards him and managed to sit up. At first she had a hard time understanding his words, even though they felt familiar. Somehow though she managed to understand him, but didn't know how to answer him. She tried speaking, but nothing came out but a hoarse voice. It was like her throat was so try that she lost her voice.

When he left her, she felt a little lonely for some reason. Why did he leave? Did she do something wrong? That was when she remembered him saying something about getting something to put on. It was then she looked at what she was wearing and saw she wasn't wearing much of anything. It was a bit chilled in the room, so it was probably a good idea to wear other clothes. When the young man returned, he didn't come in but placed some clothes on a door. Still weak, the blue hair girl managed to crawl over and grab them. Slowly to took off the pieces of her tattered clothing, but hissed and groaned in pain in the process. When she was completely nude, she noticed the amulet she was wearing. Touching it, she felt this sense of peace and longing and suddenly became aware of someone else, even though she didn't know who it was. The amulet itself was a clear orb with hues of silver and blue within it, like a ball of energy. Something told her never to part from it.

After putting on the T-shirt, she tried putting on the jeans, but they kept sliding down her legs when she stood up. She had smaller frame than her host and wondered if there was a way to keep them up. She looked at the scraps of her clothing and an idea came to her head out of nowhere. Taking one of the longer pieces, she used that to tie it around the jeans and managed to keep them up. She did look a little silly though and the length of the jeans was still too long. Sitting down, she rolled up the bottom parts. Putting on clothes exhausted her strength so she crawled back into the chair and waited for the guy to come back.

Milo waited until the sounds stopped before he called through the door. "Am I alright to come back in?" For a moment, he waited for a response, then slowly opened the door. "You're okay now? Ready to talk?" He saw she was dressed and slowly stepped in. Pulling the ottoman from another chair up to the foot of hers and sat on it. For a few moments he sat studying her. This strange girl had come from nowhere it seemed. She was beaten up, her clothes tattered and a good portion of her body was now covered in gauze or bruises. Then, from the first aid kit, Milo produced a small bottle of pain killers and set it down on the chair's arm. "Here," He said. "These will help a bit with the pain. Only take two though alright?" He held up two fingers as he spoke the last sentence, unsure if she fully understood him. For all he knew, she might have a concussion.

"So I guess we've got to start somewhere. I'm Milo. I guess, if you were wondering, this is my house." Milo spoke slowly, trying at the same time, not to sound stupid, but explain what he figured might be confusing to someone who had passed out on his doorstep only an hour or so before. "So what's your name? Where are you from." The girl's blue hair still perplexed him but he figured as far as introductions went, this one didn't exactly warrant the need to ask her about it.

The young lady watched as the stranger approached her. She tried to keep her eyes on him at all times, but wasn't able to. When he handed her the painkillers, she looked at him in confusion until he explained what they were. She paid attention to how he spoke and understood what he was saying. Taking two pills from the bottle, she put them in her mouth and they dissolved as she swallowed them. They didn't taste that good though and she made a face after taking them. She sure hoped he was trying to help her. So far he was.

The guy soon introduced himself as Milo and the teen appreciated how he was speaking slowly so she could understand his words better. When he asked about her though, the blue hair lady looked at him in surprise before thinking about it. Her head still hurting though, she was coming up blank. A horrified expression appeared on her face when she realized she couldn't remember anything, not even her name. She felt panic coming upon her as her heart began to accelerate. She grabbed her head as she tried to recall anything, but the more she tried, the more her head hurt. Looking up a Milo, she started to cry.

"No . . name. Can't . . . remember . . so sorry." her voice stamped out, hoarse and scratchy.

Milo tried to stifle a laugh as he watched her face contort from the pill's taste. He couldn't blame her, they tasted like chalk. However, laughter was the last thing he thought of as he waited for her reply. As he watched, her face changed into a look of panic. Her hands shot up to her head and he swore he could hear the poor girl's heart beating from a few feet away. She was panicking and Milo could tell. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder as she replied. Her speech seemed a bit broken, like she was having a hard time remembering how to talk. "No . . name. Can't . . . remember . . so sorry." She told him. Amnesia maybe? Milo thought.

"Hey now, relax." He said in a low voice. Trying to reassure someone with a loud voice wasn't always the best idea, and Milo knew that. "Deep breath. In, out. In, out." He paused for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "You can relax, I won't hurt you. You've got quite a bump on your head. It's no surprise that you've got a hazy memory." With a sigh, he continued. "So you don't remember your name though? That'll be a problem. How about for now, I call you... Estelle? Does that sound okay? Just until you remember."

Before she even realized it, the young stranger was being comforted by Milo. Him being so close to her reminded her of something, but she couldn't recall a thing. Still his near presence was comforting and that was the act that helped her calm down as she began taking deep and slow breaths. She closed her eyes as Milo talked to her again. He wouldn't hurt her? Why would he even try to in the first place? She had so many thoughts come into her head about this guy, but none of them could be answered at the moment.

She looked up at him when he gave her a name. Estelle? It had a pretty ring to it. In fact, the more she tossed the name around in her foggy mind, the more she liked it. Still, in the pit of her stomach, something told her that wasn't her name. On the other hand it was still better to have some form of identity than none. Even though it hurt to do so, she managed to smile and nodded. She dreaded speaking again, but her voice felt so dry. At least the painkillers were starting to work.

"Water? Please?" she asked softly, hoping he heard her.

Milo grinned right back at his new friend. He could tell though, that even a simple gesture like smiling was hurting her. "Alright Estelle, just lay back and relax." He stood and stretched, his shoulders popping as he did. "I'll grab you a glass of water, just sit tight and don't move okay?" As Milo slid out the door, he pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolling through the contacts. Someone would be on liberty tonight no doubt. Time to make some calls.

Milo returned to the front room a little later with a couple of glasses of water. He set one down on the table beside Estelle and held the other in his hand. "Drink up Estelle, don't want you getting dehydrated or sick on top of all this." He brought his own glass to his lips, the ice water a welcome relief after a warm day and a taxing night. After she had drank most of her water. Milo spoke up. "So Estelle, can you tell me what you do remember or is it just all a blank?"

Estelle watched as Milo left and relaxed in the chair. She wonder where he went. She looked around the room more and felt out of place for some reason. Was this his living quarters? It was weird looking, but it did look a bit nice. Estelle was really wish she knew how she got here and who she was. It was probably not best to dwell on it though since she already tried it. Instead, she was starting to get curious about this place and wanted to explore. However before she could do anything, her host returned. In his hand was a glass of water. Estelle licked her dry lips and didn't realize how thirsty she was.

When the glass was placed on the table, Estelle slowly grabbed it and cupped with with two hands before lifting it up to her lips. She drank most of it and sighed in relief when she brought the glass down. When Milo asked if she remembered anything at all. Estelle took a deep breath. When she finally spoke, her voice was clear.

"It's . . mostly blank. I only remember crawling and finding a light and something before knocking on the door. Where am I?" she asked.

It was obvious by the sound of her voice that she was not from this place. In fact, the words she spoke still felt 'off' for her.

Milo was surprised to hear her talking. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't, more that he thought she wouldn't. After all, she had no memory, he knew he'd never met her and she was in a strange place and she was pretty banged up. Milo knew he'd feel uncomfortable in a situation like that, even if he did know who he was. Estelle was a blank slate though. "It's . . mostly blank. I only remember crawling and finding a light and something before knocking on the door. Where am I?" Right. No memories. Mental note. He thought before he began to explain. "Well right now, you're in my house on the North shore. As for a more general area, it's Darkfell."

Explaining the area was easy enough for Milo, he'd walked up and down the shore three times a day just for fun. The hard part was the war part, but if she had no memory, well best that she knew who to watch out for. "Now Darkfell is made up of two big islands and a bunch of little ones, some only big enough for one house," In fact, the whole archipelago was more like two mountains with foot hills of sand in the sea. "And you're on the North island. Does that help?" Milo decided the whole civil war part was better left untouched until she healed a bit more. Didn't want to freak her out more, letting her know she ended up in a high value target's house.

Estelle listened attentively as Milo spoke about where she was. She had a gut feeling that he wasn't telling her everything. What was he hiding from her? It was a nagging feeling that she had a hard time putting away. Some of the words he said were also a bit confusing.

"Um, what are islands and arch-, arch-what?" she found herself asking.

She tried pronouncing the word several times, but each time she skewered it. It was pretty embarrassing and she found herself blushing as she took another sip of water. To cover up her blunder, she decided to ask him another question. However, before the words could leave her mouth, her stomach made a loud sound. Estelle turned red there and lowered her head. Now that the pain was fading as well as the shock her body experienced, she realized she was starving. She felt like she hadn't ate for days.

Milo tried to stifle his laughter as he watched Estelle try to pronounce archipelago. "Um, what are islands and arch-, arch-what?" "Archipelago." He said, enunciating the syllables to help her. "It's a chain of islands. And islands, well they're little dots of land in this vast expanse of water called the ocean."

Before she could ask another question, Milo heard her stomach growl. "It's been a long day. Come on, let's move you somewhere more comfortable and I'll make us some sandwiches or something." Standing back up, Milo stretched once more, then turned to his guest. "Is it alright if I carry you?" He asked. "It's a pretty big house and i'd rather you stay off your feet until you've healed at least a bit more. The nearest doctor's quite a ways away and I don't think he'll come out tonight of all nights."

Surrounded by alot of water? After Milo described the words for her, Estelle's eyes widen. She looked at her empty glass and remembered it had water in it. Something about it had her excited. She suddenly wanted to get the urge to see what this place was like. All thoughts though vanished when Milo heard her stomach growl and offered to carry her. A doctor? What was that? She gave her host a confused look at first and once again couldn't recall if she knew what a doctor was or not. His last words really confused her though.

Night of all nights? It must sound important if this 'doctor' was available. Even if this doctor was to help her, she wasn't feeling up to seeing anyone else for it made her feel uneasy. Looking at Milo, she nodded her head.

"You can . . . carry me, even though I don't know exactly what you mean by that. And what do you mean by 'tonight of all nights?'" she asked.

Milo could see the look on her face saying she didn't exactly get what he was saying. It was just reaffirmed when he heard her ask about tonight. "It means you don't have to walk." He said as he scooped her up gently. "And well tonight, everyone's busy watching the meteors. Here, I'll show you on the way up."

Milo walked slowly, careful not to agitate Estelle's wounds, and carried her through the house. "You'll really like this I think. Something that everyone here likes is the Night of the falling skies." Pushing through the ornate glass door, onto the back patio, Milo smiled. "Take a look at the sky Estelle. You'll see everything." Milo's eyes turned up, over the horizon as dozens of multicolored, falling stars streaked across the sky. Several of them disappeared behind the dark shape of a large ship, no doubt his father's patrolling the waters between the islands. It was the only one fortified enough to sail the war's hottest combat zone. Oh right. Shit, what am I going to tell dad? He thought. However, that wouldn't be his concern for long.

As he watched, Milo spotted something very odd. Like a falling star, except smaller. It was dim but had a trail of smoke coming from behind it in an oddly arching path. Realization struck him too late, however, as the missile struck the ship, followed by a second and third. "No..." He muttered as he watched flames erupt across the ship's deck. "No. No no NO!" He screamed as the shock waves found their way across the water and straight to him, but he refused to falter. Forgetting he had Estelle in his arms still, he ran down the steps, across the beach and into waist-deep water before he stopped. By then, half the ship was under water. The Seahawk was capsizing. He remembered he had Estelle in his arms, as he backed up, back to where the waves could only lap at his feet, then sat in the sand, his eyes welling up with tears. The flames from the ship leaped into the sky, their light completely extinguishing the radiant colors that were streaking across the sky.

When Milo picked her up, Estelle gasped a bit and held onto him tightly as she burrowed her fact into his neck. She wasn't quite prepared for that. She stayed that way as he talked about meteors. When he offered to show them to her, she nodded a bit and turned her face away from him to look where he was carrying her. Watching the night sky made her gasp a second time, only with awe. It was magnificent! Milo was right about seeing everything. When she looked up at Milo to thank him though, she saw his expression changed and it looked like he was looking at something. She turned to see what he was looking for, only to hear an explosion. She barely caught his no. She force of it caused her to shudder and she felt like fainting.

Before she could asked what just happened, he was running through the house with such speed. It was very jarring and Estelle could feel the pain of her injuries return. It was so blurry that she closed her eyes and pretended she was someplace else. What happened next though, caught her off guard. When Milo hit the water, Estelle found herself gasping in pain as the salt water splashed over her and she got some in her eyes. She rubbed them onto Milo's top to dry them off. However, the salt water caused her wounds to hurt even more, so much that she found herself fighting back tears.

It was a relief when Milo left the water and Estelle found herself gazing at a huge conflagration. The smells and sights horrified her. Did a meteor cause this kind of damage? She looked up at Milo and even though it was dark, there was enough light for her to see him. There were tears in his eyes. Seeing him cry made her feel bad for him and lifting up a shaking hand, she wiped a tear that managed to escape.

"What . . happened?" she asked.

Milo caught Estelle's hand as she lowered it again. Something told him that he had to be strong, no matter what was coming. Estelle, though she might not know him, was relying on him. And besides, Milo was always told that tears were for the selfish few who scorned death rather than revered life. For the longest time, he sat in silence, slowly trying to dry out Estelle's bandages. "It's... I don't think you'd understand Estelle," He finally said. "But my father was on that ship." With that, he stood up and turned away from the wreck in the bay, carrying his guest inside.

Bringing her upstairs, Milo kept silent as he walked into his room. A large bed sat against the back wall, and he set Estelle down among the plush pillows and down sheets. "You can stay in here. I'll stay out on the patio. But first, let's get you some drier clothes." He rummaged through a large footlocker at the end of his bed before pulling out a shirt that was much too long even for him and another roll of gauze from his pocket. "Do you need fresh bandages?" He asked as he tossed her the shirt.

It felt like hours had passed for Estelle as she waited to see if Milo would answer her question. Did she say something wrong? Maybe she did. Currently he was trying to dry her bandages, but that was a lost cause. Finally he answered her, but his reply made her upset for some reason. Why would he think she didn't understand? Her memory was still a blank slate, but what if something bad happened to her? For all she knew it could have been the reason why she ended up her. She watched Milo has his face turned serious and no emotion could be seen. It unnerved her. When he mentioned his father was in that ship, Estelle wanted to ask what a father was, but reframed. It must have been someone important to Milo to cause a reaction out of him. She watched the flames as they headed inside.

When they made it upstairs and Milo placed her on something soft, Estelle watched him move about before bringing her something to wear. It was much longer than what she was wearing now and Estelle wondered if he wanted her to change now. Before she could ask him, he questioned if she wanted fresh bandages. She wondered if it had something to do with her condition. She merely nodded, hoping it wasn't something unpleasant.