The Running Clock

Sally made big eyes in surprise and what followed was the fastest untangling that Andreas ever witnessed. In the matter of seconds she was up and a few feet away from him, still lying on the ground.

“What were you doing?” Illy asked, when approaching with a ringing phone.

“N-nothing!” Sally answered quickly and snatched the cell phone from Illy. She then recognized that it’s not hers. “Oh, Andreas, it’s yours.”

Voigt realized that they were both using the same, generic ring tone, something that he should definitely address in the near future. He picked up the phone while watching Sally and Illy going back, inside the house.

“Finally, you picked up.” He heard the familiar voice.

“Hi, Lisa.” Andreas said while sitting back on the blanket.

“Hi, hopefully I’m not interrupting anything important.”

Andreas squeezed the phone in his hand, but then loosened up his grip. There was no point of getting mad at objects or other people like that. He opened his mouth to answer, but she continued.

“Listen, I just got an info that we will be playing in a month in the States, not that far away from your house, and…”

“I’d love to have you as a guest.” Andreas interrupted her.

The few seconds long silence that followed was deafening.

“Are you okay?” He heard a concerned voice coming from the phone.

“Yes. Tired, but I’m alright. Why do you ask?”

“Well… You sound so… Mellow. Like you lost some edges. Did your guest from another world softened you up a bit?” Lisa asked playfully.

Andreas sighed.

“No, it’s just today’s been… Eventful.”

“Oh? Do tell…”

Voigt told her almost everything. Described Sally as he saw her, and the little, irritating elf, Illy. He said how the constant company of someone new in his life makes him look at some things in different light. How big is the contrast between the Lamia and Lisa. How the world treats the other world girl, and how he is bothered by all that. Then, he moved on to the break in, the concerns, the absolutely incompetent burglars.

Andreas skipped some things. He didn’t tell Lisa about the magic or spells, it was still hard for him to believe despite witnessing it first hand. He didn’t tell her about the bathroom incident, or how she slept in his bed for a fair few nights before Illy’s arrival. He didn’t tell how Lisa just interrupted their moment, how the second chance at starting something has been squandered by circumstances and bad timing.

Finally, he didn’t tell her about his feelings towards this new person in his life. He didn’t tell Lisa how this extraordinary woman started to be constantly on his mind. How he was falling for her with every second that they were spending together…

They were talking for almost an hour, exchanging stories, laughters, sorrows. Commenting on games and appearances, or just cracking jokes.

Inside the house, Illy was watching TV in silence. Sally however locked herself in the kitchen and… she listened to Andreas and whoever was on the other side talking. The Lamia heard him addressing that person as Lisa, it was the same individual that connected Sally’s and Andreas’s paths. The woman from another world was tired, frustrated and was getting increasingly worried. Here was someone from his past that he had intimate history with, someone who was going to come in this house just in a few weeks time. Sally felt like she is on timer, like the invisible clock started to tick and her window to start being with him began to close before someone else would step in. Her task wasn’t going to be easy with Illy around, and with the ways how this mad world was working.

A single tear came out of the corner of her eye, made it’s way through her face and dropped to the floor. Then, the opened hand hit her in the face. She slapped herself out of this melancholic feeling, looked at herself in the nearby mirror, closed her fists and said:

“Let’s get to work!”