19
Incorrect Perceptions
“Want some tea?” Angel’s hand waved over the small container with the emphasized gray button on the top and the overhand that you can slide you mug into.
“I’ll take coffee.” Luna smiled as she pushed on the other container next to the one with the gray button. The brown syrup shot out of the nozzle and into her black mug.
“So, um, I’ve been told you have something for me?”
“I promise it will be quick, Angel,” Luna glanced out the giant windows as the sun streamed over Los Angeles County. “Just in case if you guys need to head to work today.”
The auto outside stopped in front of their home.
“Our times are, well, negotiable—“ Angel stopped to wait for the butler’s response.
“I know your boyfriend loves being punctual. Anyway.” Luna was met with a thousand-yard stare into the street in front of the house. “I just wanted to apologize on behalf of Kayla, and myself.”
Angel’s face turned to her.
“There is no apology needed.” She held Luna’s hand while she flipped through the internal thoughts inside her head. “We, um, we were compensated.”
“I know.”
“You two have been nothing but nice.” She had heard that compliment from the boys back in high school that wanted a shot at her. Somehow a female visitor from the past’s rendition of the phrase seemed that much more genuine. Angel’s head hung low in search of an answer.
“Stop prancing around, Luna.” She broke into a smile. “You’re making me nervous.”
“We wanted to catch the next flight back home. This little house is Kayla and my gift to you guys.”
“Well—“ Angel pushed her own hair back. “The flights are not exactly—“
“I checked the records and I packed and—“
“Does Kayla know about this?” Angel’s face went white and her breathing stopped.
“No.” The butler shook her head. “We’re having these weird dreams at night and thought we could help it by just leaving—“
“We can help. Um, settling in a new environment is, uh difficult.” Angel gripped Luna’s hand. “We understand this. We really do.”
The orange door slid open, and Alex was standing in the doorway, his hands affixing his collar and sliding at the feet of it to build the fabric’s memory of it.
“I knew something was happening once I realized that you weren’t beside by pillow.” He took an approaching Angel by the hands and they shared a brief kiss. The release was abrupt. Alex winced. “Is there something?”
“Luna said she and Kayla will be leaving soon.”
Alex sighed and collected his thoughts.
“We couldn’t let you go. Bound by the contract. We could not.”
“I’m sorry, Alex, if there is some legal trouble with it, we can resolve it ourselves.”
“You crashed a plane to arrive here. You can’t go back.”
Luna gulped and stayed silent.
“You have Kayla’s best interests at heart.” Alex stepped out of the doorway, and sat next to Luna on the couch. “However, regrettably, there is no plan. After the week with us, we can’t bear to see you off. On such conditions. We would do what we must for you, but you must fully understand the fact that this is a one-way street.”
“Yes.” Luna sipped her mug of coffee. “I understand.”
“Is there a catalyst to this sudden notice?” Alex checked his wrist. “Angel, call up Ricky. Tell him that we will be rolling in late today. Thank you.”
Luna eyed Angel retreating back into their bedroom.
“We have these dreams that won’t— Let’s say that the guys at Circle gave Kayla these cubes.” Luna tucked into her pocket to unearth the cubes from her pocket. It remained still through the whole journey as it touched down at the small table in front of them. “We have material evidence that we traveled. We were back in our own time, and apparently I was a girl who never left her phase. I have only worked for her, and—“
Her looking at Angel’s face of confusion sparked a thought.
“The letter that you wrote, Angel, you know, the, um, letter?”
“I’m sorry, what letter? I haven’t written anything.”
Alex’s eyes looked at them, then stared off to the table and a few walls inside the house.
“So this is what they are looking for, huh?”
Luna puffed air into her mug, but she gave up on drinking it.
“Before you believe that you have emptily used our time and patience, this is a salaried position for us.”
“I know. But the point is I want this to be painless for you.” Luna faced the sun as it shone through the windows.
“It already is painless. This is not something born from a contractual need, Luna. This is a sentiment that Angel and I share. You two are a wonderful addition. I simply hope that we could be of use for you in an environment you are not used to.”
“I feel like I’m dragging you into this.”
“We knew the risks before we signed on.” Alex pushed the button for Luna. “We can commiserate. We can share it together, now that we have invited you as equals to us.”
“We waited at the Circle store for Kayla.”
“That’s true.”
“They gave her these cubes.” Luna moved his attention to the table with the cube. “We have these visions of the past. But they are more than visions. It was supposed to be a genetic thing where they give it to a single person but—“
The cube rests in Alex’s palm, and glowed blue.
“But it’s more than a single person, right?”
“What I see isn’t what she sees. But they are similar.”
“Kayla’s father had the courage. The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best time is today. We’re only plucking the fruits. And those fruits aren’t exactly always sweet the first time we harvest them.”
He caught Luna’s full attention.
“I didn’t expect it to be sweet.”
Alex nodded and looked at the cube again.
“But Kayla wanted it to be sweet.”