Northern Exposure

"Now, as we stand three feet apart and stare at each other, I feel the full distance that comes with spending so much time apart, a moment filled with the electricity of a first meeting and the uncertainty of strangers."

― Marie Lu, Champion

The following morning, Audrey had an epiphany. She had pulled apart her room searching for her portable USB charger; still afraid to remove the dresser blocking her bedroom door. The breakers still needed flipped. Upon finding it in an old shoe box filled with photos, old concert tickets, and some misplaced odds and ends, she nearly squealed with joy. As long as the energy stick of life—rightly naming it so—had enough juice to give her cellphone a jump start, Audrey would be able to phone for help. And here she thought it was just some dumb and redundant gift her brother had given to her last Christmas. Johnny would be happy to know it quite literally—in his sister's opinion, saved her life. Plugging in the USB end of the phone charger and connecting her lifeline, it was the first time she could consider who she might call.

There were the police in town, some thirty minutes up the road, but how would they react to a phone call from a woman who claimed a horned-demon-man-thing had been roaming around her property last night? It after all it had been Halloween and there were most certainly a number of laughable phone calls pouring into the station. Even if they gave her the time of day, there was no guarantee they would even send a squad car her way until mid-day, possibly even into the following morning. So that ruled out the men in blue. Staring down at her phone and the little red light in the corner, which indicated it was charging, Audrey's mind fluttered to the one person she knew she could count on. Holding down the power button praying for enough battery life to turn the phone on, her fingers fluttered to the touch screen buttons so quickly that she nearly dialed the wrong number. In a rush she held the phone to her ear, biting down on her fingernails and mumbling for her brother to pick up his damn phone. When he finally answered, Audrey sighed with relief.

"Hey you, have fun last night?" Johnny's voice on the other end was groggy. He had either just woke up or his sister's call had done so.

"If you call roaming around my house last night after the power went out a good time, then yeah it was a God damn party. Look, I know you are busy but I need you to come over, like right now." If her words sounded hard to believe, her tone in using them made up for any doubt.

Johnny sighed and Audrey could hear his wife Jessie mumbling something incoherent on her end of the phone call. They spoke between themselves in hushed tones before John went back to his cell. "Audrey, hun…it's almost two hours to your place from here, and the traffic over the bridge is going to be insane. What is going on?"

"There was someone outside my house last night. I couldn't call for help because my power went out…so I went outside in my pitiful attempt at trying to go down into the cellar, to see if I could get it back on. Then this freak with a sword—"

On the other end a fit of coughing ensued; Johnny cursed the hot coffee that fell onto his shirt. "A sword?"

"That's what I said. Anyway, I got him good with that pepper-spray you gave to me…I was so freaked out I didn't even try to go into the house to find my car keys…I just locked everything up and stayed put until morning. I'm not even sure if he is still out there, but I would feel a lot better if you would drive over here to check everything out…I'm still freaking." Audrey's breaths were shaky as she recalled her terrifying night. There were more hushed whispers over the phone, nothing decipherable. Not that Audrey needed to hear any of it mind you; Johnny's wife of three years dictated everything her husband did and had to know every part of every situation involving him, thoroughly. The last thing Audrey needed was for Jessie to interfere. "John…Johnny, I wouldn't ask you if it weren't important, you know that. If I call the police they won't take me seriously. You know everyone around here is probably blowing up the station's phones, anyway. Please…please Johnny. I don't even care if you bring Jessie with you." And really she didn't care. With any luck the freak with the horns and sword would get her.

"Jesus Audrey…look, I'm going to call the police and then head over. I still have the keys to the cottage so don't freak out if you hear someone out front in about two hours. I'll honk my horn in my truck so you know it's me and it's safe to lift the gates of Fort Knox, okay?" Somewhere his house Jessie was throwing a fit.

"Thanks Johnny…Thank you big time. I owe you." She hung up the phone and gazed out her bedroom windows, praying for time to pass quickly.

Outside the wind was still whistling about, the sheer strength of it unbelievable. Although the sky was blue, it was overcast; miles off the rolling of thunder was still looming. It looked so cold. Not long now and the notorious Upper Peninsula weather would have Audrey snowed in until spring thaw. God she was thankful all of this wasn't happening then. However small a blessing, she was willing to count it. Lando meowed from his perch on her bed. "You need to go outside don't you?" Audrey reached up from her place on the floor, scratching the top of cat's head. "Well, I can lift you out the window but I'm not moving that dresser." He had meowed approval at her improvising.

Sighing heavily and hauling her person from the floor, Audrey stumbled over to the window and peered outside. From the south part of her property everything seemed clear; no indication that whoever had been stalking her had even attempted to round the entirety of the perimeter. Deeming the coast clear, she threw open the window and lifted the metal screen. Just as she was about to reach down to pick up Lando, he leapt out the window and sprinted towards the front of the house and completely out of his master's view. Audrey felt utterly alone.

Stretching out her arms above her body, the cool autumn wind rushed inside the room and she relished in it. Having locked everything up last night, the wood burning furnace had made everything rather toasty and once the sun rose, quite uncomfortable. So the little burst of fresh air was a God sent. Not willing to risk anything happening, after about five minutes Audrey promptly locked everything back up. Lando could survive outside until her brother or the police showed up…

Just as the two hour mark passed, Johnny had pulled up in his truck. Audrey had seen later on that day he had tried to call when he got there, but her battery life had been so low that the damn thing had turned itself off. So instead he honked the horn on his truck just as he promised, going down into the cellar before popping in on his sister. There were curses and exclamations exchanged between Jessie—who arrived with him—and Audrey, regarding the barricade she had created with the dresser blocking her doorway. It ended quickly enough thanks to the peacemaking skills of John. He had apologetically winked at his sister, knowing full well she hadn't meant it when she said that bringing his wife along was alright. Yet after Johnny had explained to Jessie what his sister had claimed to have gone through last night, keeping his wife at bay was impossible. Jessie loved to play detective. She had even suggested going about the whole thing Scooby-Doo style and splitting up to look for clues as to where the mysterious horned-man could have gone; Audrey earnestly reminded her that he had been carrying a sword. In the end, Johnny was the one to—yet again—keep his sister from murdering his wife. Once the cat fight was put to rest, he analyzed the situation. "Addie, you said you got him with the pepper spray? After that you have no idea what happened to him right?"

Audrey nodded, pulling a Michigan Central hoodie over her head. "He's probably left by now, but I didn't want to take the chance…I'm sorry for having you come all the way out here…it just freaked me out…I mean on Halloween of all days. It was beyond bizarre."

"Are you sure someone was actually there?" The voice of Jessie was like nails on a chalk board. At the nasally sound of her voice, Audrey shuttered. Jessie was grinding on her sister-in-law's last nerve. "I mean, really Audrey…John even checked outside the house. The only footprints are yours. It's like you were fighting a ghost."

Audrey stumbled into the kitchen, pulling her long hair back into the crappiest bun ever. She reached for the coffee pot and popped some bread into the toaster. "First off, Jessie, I didn't fight anything…and even if it was a ghost…it was a ghost with a sword. I did mention the sword right?"

Her brother's wife rolled her eyes and took the cup of coffee that Audrey had offered her. The small gesture of civility in that strong cup of joe wasn't lost on her. "I don't doubt you might have thought you saw something. It was storming so bad last night and with the power cutting out, I think anyone's imagination would run wild."

To that comment Audrey said nothing. She literally couldn't say a word. Jessie was right about that; her imagination was rather overbearing last night. She fluttered her eyes in embarrassment, unwilling to admit she had been terrified that her assailant may have been Sasquatch. So instead, she shrugged off the whole thing. "You're probably right…I'm really sorry for having you guys come all the way up here."

Johnny shrugged, pulling his jacket on. "Don't mention it. You had me kinda worried Addie…I'd still like to check out the barn and shed though—just to be sure." Intuition told him his sister hadn't been lying or even fabricating what she had told him. The practical half of him however, felt that perhaps his wife was right, and that Audrey may have been spooked by her conditions. Whichever scenario it might have been—he prayed it was the latter—Johnny didn't like leaving loose ends, especially when it came to Audrey.

"By all means, go right ahead. Just be careful of the barn door, it has a tendency to—"

"Stick," John finished his sister's sentence. "I know. If you recall I was raised here too and that barn door has always been a pain in the ass."

That comment made his sister smile, its significance lost on his wife. The old cottage and the property it rested on had been in the Burnett family for a time out of mind. Once her parents died, there had been talk of abandonment, as well as an auction. Out of the three Burnett children, Audrey had been the only one to step forward and claim it. Her two older siblings had been too caught up with life and all of the wonders that come with it, leaving their childhood home to their little sister. Unable to afford the entirety of the property, Audrey had been forced to sell the larger farmhouse—which subsequently had been torn down. So it was just the small one room guest cottage, the barn, shed, and fifty acres of land. Making the decision to let go of the house was the hardest thing she had ever done. So in hearing that Johnny remembered the time they spent in this place—remembering what was now only faded memories—it made her feel good.

"I won't be long. Jessie, you can wait in the truck if you want." John opened the front door and made his trek to the barn, leaving the women in the kitchen staring after him.

After a moment of silence, Jessie turned her gaze to Audrey. "Johnny told me you were all from Escanaba, originally."

Audrey obnoxiously sucked her teeth and stared bewildered at her brother's wife. "John was born there. Diane was born in Mackinaw City. By the time I came along, Da inherited this property north of the bridge."

Jessie shifted her weight, trying to follow the younger woman's conversation. Originally from Kentucky, the southern belle was still trying to come understand the terminology her husband's northern family used. "So you were born in Sault Ste. Marie then?"

The coffee Audrey had been drinking caught in her throat as she laughed. Coughing and placing a hand over her chest to steady her breathing, she grinned wide at Jessie. "Yeah, I am…but you say it 'SOO Saint'. Not Salt Saint…You're such a Trooper."

"I'm sorry, a what?" Jessie's face grew agitated, unsure of what kind of insult Audrey was throwing her way.

She smiled. "Not from the upper peninsula, but you moved here. Kinda like how you call us Yankees. You're a Troll if you live south of the bridge, a Yooper if you live above it. So if you're a Troll and you move up here, that makes you a Trooper. Now that I'm thinking about it, both my siblings are Troopers too."

Jessie shook her head, "You're all very clever I'll give you that…well look, I hope everything is okay now. I'm going to head out, John should be back soon. Take care, Addie."

Audrey nodded and said the same, walking her to the front door just as Johnny was making his way back. "Find anything?"

Johnny pulled out his truck keys and shrugged. "Not anything pertaining to your horned-devil, no. But the horse got into some pickers…I tried getting as many off as I could, but she'll need tending to I'd imagine."

Sighing, she nodded. Thanking her brother again for his trouble, she promised to call if anything strange or unusual should happen. Standing in the doorway, she waved them off as they drove down the gravel road and headed back towards Mighty Mac. Still lingering in the doorway, Audrey took a deep breath in and released it. She should have felt better after the thorough investigation of the property, but somehow the apprehension was still there, like a rain cloud over her head. Something was still amiss and no matter how hard she screamed to herself that everything was alright and she had imagined it all…Audrey couldn't convince herself. And even if she had envisioned some guy with a sword roaming around, that wouldn't explain why Lando had also been wary. Speaking of Lando, she hadn't seen him since she opened the window to let him out… Cursing under her breath, she slipped on her boots and trudged outside, not bothering to lock the door.

The saunter to the barn was one Audrey could have lived without. Cold, still a tad rainy and all muddy, these kinds of days were always better inside; accompanied by a good book and some hot chocolate. But no, she was out in the fray, pulling her boots up from sinking into the muck, trying to find her stupid cat. Who was probably nice and warm, tucked away into the straw inside the walls of the barn. And even if he wasn't, she could at least take a look at the horse while she was in there. Although picking pickers off of the creature wasn't exactly what she'd call a fun experience. Opening up the door to the barn, Audrey had to wonder how Dolly could have even acquired them. It wasn't like there were picker-bushes near her pasture—which Dolly had access too any time she desired—in fact, the only pickers around were down by the crick. Which was at least a quarter mile from the house and Dolly wouldn't have been able to access it unless the gates were opened…which they weren't. Things were definitely muddled.

Once inside, Audrey called out for Lando but to no avail. If the little shit was there, he wasn't going to come out anytime soon. Expecting as much, she turned her attention to the stable where the chestnut mare stood, eating hay that Johnny had scooped from the pile just outside the stall. There was a cut above her left eye and her mane was tangled with the tiny burs. "What happened to you, sis?" At the sound of her dear friend's voice, Dolly nodded her head and moved closer to her owner. She rested her wounded eye against Audrey's shoulder. "There, there. Mama will take care of it. All we have to do is keep it clean and dry, eh? We will take care of that as soon as I get the pickers out of your pretty hair… Seems we both had a wild night, eh?" Audrey cooed and patted the creature as her own fingers suffered, pulling each spiky ball from the mane. Once or twice the horse neighed in pain, but as soon as Audrey spoke to her, Dolly calmed right down. It took the better part of an hour to finally have it free of tangles and the like.

After that, she tended to the cut. It wasn't so much deep or wide, but if not cleansed it may very well have festered into something nasty. Audrey just didn't want to take the chance. She loved Dolly, possibly even more than Lando—the little shit. Then again, the once prized race horse had been the last gift Audrey had ever received from her father. He had bought Dolly for her when she turned twenty-three, from an auctioneer in Saginaw. In her day, Dolly raced with the best. That was until an incident had occurred during one of the laps in a chase; one in which scarred the horse bad enough, she never raced again. Dolly had been in second place in that contest, trailing behind another mare a few years younger than her. As dedicated as the creature was, her jockey pushed her too far and too fast. The poor thing's heart burst in mid-run, collapsing in front of Dolly. It spooked the chestnut so badly, she was ruined. Her name was pulled from every roster, and no trainer could get her to set foot back onto a track. That was when Audrey's dad had offered a pitiful sum of six grand to buy the mare, and then he gave it to his daughter, who loved Dolly more than anything else. It was an instant friendship…one so powerful, no words ever needed to be spoken between them for there to be understanding.

"There you go, sis." Audrey brushed antiseptic over the cut, and patted her hand under Dolly's chin. "I still have no idea how you even ended up doing this to yourself." Putting the bottle of ointment down on a stool, Audrey reached over to grab a brush to run over Dolly's coat when the horse reared and snorted in defiance to her touch. Doing everything she could to try and calm Dolly down, her owner instantly knew something wasn't right. It wasn't like the mare to behave the way she was and Audrey could only assume she was doing it out of fear. But fear of what? To think she might have been scared of Audrey was absurd. For a good minute the young woman was puzzled beyond measure. That was until the hairs on the back of her neck bristled on end. She fumbled in the pocket of her coat for the pepper-spray and in finding it, dropped the brush from her hands and spun around, aiming at whatever might be standing there. What she saw, she hardly believed.

Standing no more than five feet from where she was, had been a man. Tall, broad and gripping his side in pain. In his left hand he held a crown—the horns Audrey had assumed she saw the night before. His eyes were bloodshot, understandably. Anyone's would be after having their eyes sprayed with hell-fire. It gave him an ill appearance, though the blue of his irises pierced through any doubt that he was still very much capable of killing her. From behind a pale and pained face, a waterfall of toe-head hair sprawled down his shoulders and back. The clothes he wore were in serious need of an update. Audrey thought he looked like he just came from a renaissance fair.

"You! Stay back…" At her warning he stepped forward, and for a moment Audrey was afraid he might pull his sword—which to her surprise, she didn't see. "I said stay back!" Her finger pressed down on the trigger of the spray can, as a warning. The look returned to her was one of pure malice…it frightened her. She knew of no one who looked so determined.

"If I were you, I would not dare to use that." His voice was dark and deep; commanding. As he stepped forward again, he winced in pain. His eyes widened and mouth gaped with each breath he drew in. Dolly reared again and realization hit Audrey.

"You tried stealing my horse! She threw you off didn't she? Well, I could have told you that if you hadn't been so God damn creepy. Hey…HEY, I said stay back! What the hell is your problem?!"

A pure expression of annoyance slipped onto his wounded body. As it appeared, he was trying to stand straight. "I've lived many lifetimes and have yet heard such foul obscenities fly so loosely from the mouth of woman—even one so acquainted to homeliness as you."

Audrey's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. She could have taken to being called a bitch a lot easier than being insulted so…elegantly. "Excuse me? You're the one who is trespassing on my property and tried to steal my horse. Not to mention flinging that sword of yours around…do you even know how to use that thing? For being wounded I'd expect a little more gratitude from you. I haven't called the police yet—or tried spraying the shit out of your eyes again."

"What use is a weapon if you have not the skill to wield it? Your inquiries are redundant at best. As for trying to harm you, if I wanted you dead you would be…" His voice trailed off as he lost strength and slumped down, leaning on a beam. Audrey never thought to run over and aid him; if anyone fell under the category of 'stranger danger' it was the medieval freak with the crown and sword.

"How did you even get here? There isn't anything for miles around." She questioned him carefully; his previous words of being able to kill her playing over in her mind. She honestly believed him.

He rolled his eyes, smugly. "Had I the faintest idea as to how I came to be in this wretched place, do you not think I would have remedied it and left by now?" Even talking seemed to be taking a toll on him. "Why don't you make yourself useful and fetch your husband—or the healers perhaps. I'm certain I've attained internal injuries."

Audrey's head cocked to the side, her foot stamping the ground and her arms folding over her chest. "If you broke ribs, that's your own damn fault. There ain't a husband, either. And the hospital is hours away. Maybe you should rethink your situation, buddy…I could take a look at you…but you have to throw that sword out of grabbing distance." And she meant it; despite thinking that maybe this guy had escaped the funny farm and she was pretty sure he had said 'healers', he was still a living, breathing being.

The look of heated anger never left the stranger's face as he unsheathed his sword and effortlessly tossed it aside. His head cocked to one side, a grim smile tugging at his lips. His eyes burned, and he waited.

Slowly making her way over to him, Audrey knelt down by instinct; she first placed her wrist to his forehead, which he did not appreciate. He slapped her hand away. "Did you just hit me?" She scoffed. "Listen asshole, I said I'm trying to help…which is more than your trespassing butt deserves…" When he didn't answer, Audrey stood up and reached above their heads, into a cubby where she kept blankets for Dolly. Snapping one out, she draped it over the stranger's torso and legs. She noticed he was shivering. "You need to be seen by someone. You're running a fever."

"That is impossible. My kind are immune."

"Oh really, your kind? Because you're burning up; you need to see a doctor."

His eyes twitched. "I thought you said there weren't any for miles."

Audrey shrugged. "There isn't. The closest one is where I work, and I'm not taking a stalker into my workplace."

A low, irritated grumble escaped his lips. "Then I suppose we find ourselves at a standstill."

Audrey rubbed her shoulders and groaned at the thought that passed through her mind. Johnny was a family practice doctor…she could call him. He wouldn't be home yet. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and started dialing, but paused. "What's your name?"

His head tilted back to see Audrey's face without obstruction; those blue orbs burning a hole into her core. "Thranduil, King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood." He stared in wonder at the phone in Audrey's hand.

The young girl's mouth closed tightly after gaping in hilarity. She continued to dial her brother's number. "Oooookaay then…" Yeah, he definitely escaped from the loony-bin.