The Tale of the Great Fire

Willow was very quiet for a while. She had no idea that something so horrible had happened to his parents. No wonder Leo was so distant and rather grumpy, she would probably have been the same way if something like that would have happened to her. Yes, her mother died when she was very young, but because she was so young she could barely remember her, and she still had a loving father and two brothers who always made sure that she knew she wasn’t alone. Her situation was not at all like Leo’s.
“I’m so sorry, Leo”, she said quietly.

He just nodded and kept his eyes on the stars.

“Did you have any relatives you could move to?”

He shook his head.

“Nobody? Not even a cousin?”

“No.”

“That must have been hard”, Willow mumbled. She couldn’t imagine what she would have done if she had been sent around to people she didn’t know.

“I dealt with it, and honestly, things like that toughen you up for life, which isn’t a bad thing.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good way to live. Every child deserves to have people who care about them.”

“But not every child gets that luxury.”

They both fell silent for a moment. Willow hugged her legs and placed her chin on her knees.
“I’m sorry if it’s getting too personal, but do you…eh…in Nashville, do you have a girlfriend or something? Like, eh…someone that-“

“I know what a girlfriend is”, he replied dryly.

“Yeah, sure. Sorry.” She played with a bit of hay. “Do you have someone at all?” She kind of knew what his answer would be, she really couldn’t imagine him living with a woman in a happy, romantic relationship, but since she finally got him to talk she took advantage of that situation and asked him those things she hadn’t asked him before.

Leo starred at Willow, how could he tell her what he thought about love after she had told him that she grew up in a caring and loving home.

“No there is no one… But it doesn’t matter a man doesn’t need love or any of this. I have my work and a house and that is all I need.” Leo said quietly. He kind of knew that she would not understand him. “And when I do have this urge in my pants I always have a few bucks to pay a prostitute and fulfill this urge.”

When Leo looked at Willow again he saw the moonlight reflect on her hair beautifully on her hair. He sighed, he wished he would have money in this time to pay a whore to fulfill the urge he felt right now.

Willow stared at him quietly for a moment without even blinking. Did he just…did he really say that? No, it was probably her ears…maybe there was some hay stuck in there and thus made it impossible for her to hear right.
“I’m sorry…” She cleared her throat. “What?”

Leo didn’t have any expression on his face.

“I’m not sure if I heard you right…” She cleared her throat a second time.

“I said I don’t have a girlfriend, I only see prostitutes once in a while.”

Oh my God, her ears were right. Was he one of those guys?
She started to feel a bit uncomfortable now. Sure, he hadn’t imagine him as the big romantic dude who would bring his girlfriend flowers and write her poems, but she also didn’t expect him to be one of those guys who went to hookers. This was…awkward…
“So you…ehm…are you one of those sleazy guy who sleep with hookers and hide certain movies under your bed? I mean, it’s not forbidden or anything, but I’m not sure if that makes me…eh…comfortable, to be honest.”

He still didn’t have any expression on his face, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it.

“Look, I don’t want to offend you or anything, but…” Willow didn’t really know how she could put it without sounding harsh. Now that she thought about him, the way he cared for her, and how much he knew about the female body…it only made her more uncomfortable because he was obviously one of those dudes who only wanted one thing. Maybe he had only been nice to her because he wanted to sleep with her. Great. That was a comforting thought.
She took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do next, and how to act around him now. This was officially weird.

“No I am not one f those guys, but I don’t think sex means a lot. It is just a physical act. You might have been lucky to have felt love, but I just saw the painful side of it. So excuse me that I don’t see sex a romantically thing.” Leo mumbled. “I am not interested in sex, I work, I eat and I sleep that makes my life rather simple and easy. The fire is spreading… it is a shame how many people we see die right now. I wish we could have helped them. Do you have any idea why we are here?”

Leo looked quickly at her, he didn’t mean to freak her out. He just wanted to be honest and now he had learnt that being honest sucked.

Willow didn’t reply immediately. She thought about what Leo just said. He probably wasn’t aware of it, but there had been something sad in his voice when he tried to explain himself, and she was no longer that freaked out, not after she saw how sad his eyes were while he talked. There was something about him that he tried to hide, something like a fragile side. Yeah, that definitely sounded weird considering how huge and strong he looked, but earlier when he told her about what happened to his parents she could see that there was more to him than just a grumpy big guy who doesn’t like to smile. The phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ ran through her head while she was looking at Leo. It kind of fit him.

“Ehm…I don’t know why we’re here”, she mumbled. “In fact, I have to freaking idea why the hell all of that had to happen to us. I mean, what did we do differently? Why were we picked out of all people?”

“I don’t think anyone picked us on purpose.”

“I still think there must be some stupid conspiracy, and some psychos tried an experiment to travel back in time and we’re their lab rats or something like that.” Willow sighed while she played with her hair. It definitely needed some good conditioner, but she knew that she wouldn’t get any kind of conditioner soon. Or just simply shampoo, for that matter. “By the way…”, she said quietly, still not looking up. “Thanks for being honest with me. I prefer if people are honest with me, and I appreciate that you told me about your parents.” She slowly looked up and a brief smile appeared on her face.

Leo didn’t answer but nodded. They watched London burn in the distance and it hurt them both to know they could have changed it. “Come on it is getting late and we have to rise with the sun.”

Leo helped Willow down from the roof. The little oven had turned the little loft above the stable in a warm and cosy place and as long they would keep it fired up it would stay like this. Leo took one of the blankets to sit close to the oven and let Willow sleep on the straw filled mattress. “You can have the mattress.” He mumbled.

“Don’t be silly the mattress is big enough for both of us. Just keep your hands to yourself.” Willow looked friendly at Leo. Leo looked unsure at her but then he nodded, he checked the oven once more and then he came to their bed. It was more comfortable then he had thought and even when there was a distance between him and Willow it felt still nice to feel someone close by, someone who cared about you, someone who wanted you to be well.

The two were staying actually nearly a week when suddenly one night they felt tingling again. Leo started packing, opened the window. “Willow!” He yelled over the yard. “Get up here!” He just hoped she felt the tingling as well. They had to be together to stay together. This time traveling sucked but it was also slightly exciting to wonder at what time they end up… or what would happen to them when they end up back at home. They had become friends over the past week.

When Willow heard someone shouting, she didn’t recognise Leo at first and thought it was someone else at the farm. After all, people were constantly shouting here, so she didn’t pay much attention to it, but then she heard that someone was clearly shouting her name. She turned around and saw Leo standing at the window.

“What is it?”, she shouted back at him.

“We have to go now!”

“Why?”

“I think it’s happening again, so hurry up!”

Willow immediately knew what he meant and she ran inside but it was too late. The moment she got inside, everything turned bright around her, and she knew exactly what was going to happen next.

“Oh no!”, she shouted, realising that she might not end up in the same place with Leo together. “Leo? Leo!”
Everything around her was so bright that she had to cover her eyes, and by the time she opened them again she stood outside a farm, but not the one she just went into. It was a different one, obviously unoccupied because it looked dark and empty from the outside. And she was alone. Leo wasn’t there.
“Fuck!” Willow hoped he would appear anytime soon, maybe he would come a bit later. She was too scared to think what would happen if she was stuck here without him, she really needed him otherwise she would die because she didn’t know what to do, and his history knowledge came quite handy too. And…well…yeah, she kind of started to like him, not like BFF, but in a way he wasn’t that bad, he had helped her so much and took care of her and she would actually start to consider him as friend. If they were still in Nashville they would have never become friends, she was sure of that, but here…it was different here. And now she lost him!
Suddenly she heard voices. She quickly turned around, hoping it was Leo…but then she spotted a group of four men coming closer. They weren’t really men, rather boys, around eighteen, obviously dressed old-fashioned so she was still in the past because there was no way boys in the 21st century would dress like this. Maybe they could help her, she could at least ask them where she was.

“Hello, Miss”, one of the boys said, and the others grinned weirdly. “All alone here?”

She ignored that comment. “Um…do you guys know where I am?”

They looked at her for a moment, then burst out into laughter. “You’re not from here, are you, lass?”

“She has a weird accent”, another boy said.

“But she sure looks fine…”

Willow didn’t like this at all. There was something in the way he said it, and it the way all of them grinned at her. They were clearly checking her out.

“You know what? I gotta go, so-“

“Wait, you don’t have to go yet.” The tallest of them grabbed her arm. “We just started talking to you.”

“Yes, no need to go.” All of them surrounded her, and when she broke free from the guy who held her, the other behind her grabbed her.

“Let go off me, asshole!”

“No need to be rude, lass”, he said and at the same moment another one grabbed her, so now two were holding her. Willow had never been a weak girl, she was quite strong and knew how to defend herself. When she was little she made fun of the Disney princesses because they were so helpless, and she always said that she would rather be the knight saving someone than the princess who needed to be saved, but this time she was definitely outnumbered. She might deal with one guy, but four was something different. Willow managed to hit one of the boys in the face with her elbow and he let go off her, but she couldn’t escape because the third guy grabbed her and they pushed her into the empty little farm.
“Let’s see how pretty you are under all your clothes”, the tallest guy said while his hands wandered to her legs to lift up her dress. Willow kicked him away, but he quickly got up again and grabbed her leg. “Stop that, you little brat!” He was harsh to her, harsher than the others. He seemed to be the leader of the group. Willow couldn’t escape, there was just no way. There were four guys holding her down, she just didn’t stay a chance.
Willow bit her lip. She tried not to cry, she didn’t want to give those bastards a reason to make fun of her. Yes, she never wanted to be the Disney princess who would be saved by the knight, but right now she wished for nothing more but Leo to get her out of here.

*** go and check out if Willow will get rescued in Chapter 3