From Another World

Pain. Tremendous pain surrounded his whole head. Bright colors of blues, purples and reds flashed in his vision. Off in the distance a black cloud descended on him, like huge thunder clouds enveloping the blue sky. He couldn’t fight it. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t think. Only pain thundered through him. The blackness came closer and to his surprise he found himself welcoming it. Wanting it to come and take him over. And when it did he felt the pain cease and the colors vanish as the inky blackness flooded over him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A strange beeping sound caused Mr. Daniel Desoto to turn toward the monitors. “That’s strange.” he muttered as he scooted his chair closer to the monitor with the red dot flashing on and off.

He had only been working at the UOUFOR (University of Unidentified Flying Objects Research) for six months and rarely did the monitors go off. Flipping on the intercom, he hoped he didn’t sound crazy as he called for Dr. Ben Dover.

“Yes Desoto?” came a tired voice on the other line. Of course, Daniel had forgotten it was only three a.m.

“Um, sir...A red dot is blinking on Monitor 3.”

“Are you sure it isn’t malfunctioning?”

“Um..I don’t think it is, sir.”

“Okay,” a yawn was stifled. “I’ll be right there.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Life is beautiful. No matter what everybody else said, Michelle Hill thought. She believed that life is a wonderful thing to have. Shoving a stray piece of her brown hair out of her shimmering blue eyes, Michelle reined in her gorgeous dark bay gelding. The horse’s breath misted in the air and he tossed his finely shaped head, wanting to run. Michelle took in a deep breath, loving the cool air of a Vermont spring. It was almost April but the weather was still cool, not yet wanting to give to the hot summer sun. Mornings like these made Michelle get out of bed early and ride just as the sun was peaking it’s head above the mountains. She had missed her early morning rides during the winter months but now that spring was in the air she could finally say hello to the early morning mists and the brightly singing birds. It wouldn’t be long before she was ready to compete again.

At twenty one years old, Michelle still looked sixteen. But her students she taught riding to knew that she was older then she looked and wouldn’t play around with her. Michelle sighed as she thought about her class she would be teaching this morning. Ten, eleven, and twelve year old kids would be laughing and running to get their horses, anxious to be riding in the beautiful weather. She couldn’t blame them. It was wonderful weather.

Suddenly something caught her eye. Her horse saw it too and pricked his ears toward the trees. The horse’s body was tense and it troubled Michelle. Gulliver hardly ever got spooky anymore. But there was defiantly something that was spooking both of them. But when nothing appeared, Michelle shoved back her uneasy feeling. She felt foolish, knowing she shouldn’t be getting nervous when she was riding. Her feelings would too easily transmit to her mount. “Come on boy, lets get moving.” she said, patting the dark horse on the neck and nudging him with her heels.

Gulliver snorted but obeyed and they set off at a steady walk. Before she knew it, Michelle was lost in her thoughts of the competitions she would enter Gulliver in, her students, bills, and everything else that belonged with life.

She was surprised and almost fell off when Gulliver spooked badly, nearly unseating her. His nervous snorts echoed in the misty meadow and his huge body quivered. “What is it boy?” she tried to speak calmly to Gulliver and trying to soothe her own nerves at the same time. Gulliver nervously tossed his head, his ears still pricked toward a grouping of trees not far away.

That’s when she saw it. A beautiful pure white horse immerged from the trees and even from here, Michelle could see the crystal blue eyes, starring at her. It was truly magnificent and yet different. No normal horse had eyes that blue or a coat that white. It made no sound but stood there, like a deer in a vehicle’s headlights, motionless. Time seemed to stop as she gazed into the white horse’s eyes.

But time was broken into motion when Gulliver snorted again and pawed the earth uneasily, jolting Michelle out of her trapped state. She settled the gelding down and when she looked up she noticed disappointment that the horse was farther away. It had it’s butt to her but his regal head was turned in her direction. As if it knew she was watching, the white horse started walking away, towards the clump of trees. All Michelle could do was stare. But when the horse stopped again and turned back around to look at her something clicked. It was wanting something from her. But what?

Nudging Gulliver into a walk she started towards the creature. The horse suddenly started walking again and disappeared into the little wooding. Michelle kept walking toward the trees, hoping the horse hadn’t disappeared; that she wasn’t dreaming all of this up.

She was a few feet from the trees when she saw it again. The horse was poised over something laying on the ground. She halted Gulliver and watched the horse slowly bend it’s head down to nuzzle the thing laying on the ground.

Before she knew what she was doing, Michelle had dismounted and tying Gulliver’s reins to a low hanging branch, started walking towards the white horse. As she got closer she then noticed how huge the horse was. It had to be close to eighteen hands tall, yet it didn’t look like a Clydesdale or a Percheron. It’s creamy mane and tail were long and it’s forelock hung over it’s blue eyes. But with a flick of it’s head, the mane uncovered the eyes and it looked right at Michelle. She forced her eyes away to see what this mystical horse was standing over. Her heart caught when she saw a flash of human skin. Everything in her screamed to leave, yet she wanted to see. Wanted to make sure this human wasn’t dead.

Swallowing hard, she inched closer until she was almost touching the horse. The person was laying very still but she felt relief set in when she saw the rise and fall of breathing. The person was a young man, probably her age if not more. His white shirt was torn, revealing bruised, yet tanned and well muscled torso underneath. His pants also had rips in them and looked to be made of a leather of some sort. ‘Odd.’ she thought as she slowly knelt down. The white horse remained still, watching her under it’s silky forelock.

Her breath caught when she saw how handsome the young man was. His blond hair was silky and smooth and part of it covered one closed eye. She felt like she had no control over her body as a hand was brought forward to touch the blond locks. She gently moved the lock of hair that had been covering his face and to her shock she saw a cut that looked to be fresh on his forehead. The blood oozed down his face and small purple bruises covered the side. Her eyes traveled down his face to a strange object that hung around his neck. The jewel gleamed in the first rays of sunlight that filtered through the trees and Michelle wondered if it was worth something. As if reading her thoughts, the white horse suddenly shifted and pinned it’s ears at her.

“It’s okay, big guy.” she murmured to the horse, glad to see the ears slowly come up as it listened to her. “I won’t do anything to him.” Michelle sighed and bit her lip. This man needed help. He could have a concussion or brain swelling. But how was she going to help him? She had trouble lifting bales of hay, let along a man, taller then her. She looked back down at the angelic face of the strange young man. Who was he? How had he gotten here? She found herself drawn to the unconscious man, wanting to know more about this stranger. Her hand still hung where she had left it after she had touched the blond hair. She slowly brought it to touch the smooth skin on his face. Something about this man was strange to her. Her whole body seemed different around him.

A weak grown caused her to yank her hand back. The man stirred, pain showing plainly on his handsome face. Michelle gasped and fell on her butt as she tried to back away. ‘Get a hold of yourself Michelle.’ she shouted silently to herself as she picked herself up and knelt back down next to the now conscious young man.

“No...no. Please...don’t...” she heard the man murmur. His eyes were still closed and his words were slurred together.

“It’s all right, sir.” Michelle said, gently clasping a hand on his broad shoulder. “Everything is going to be all right.”

She about jerked her hand away again when the man opened his eyes slowly, revealing ocean blue eyes that made Michelle want to dive into. “Where...where am I?” he asked, his voice hoarse and small sounding.

“You’re in the back fields of my parent’s farm, CrestWind Farm.” she said. “My name’s Michelle Hill.”

“Michelle?” He said her name so quiet she could barely hear him.

“Are you feeling okay? I mean you have a nasty cut on your head.”

The young man’s eyes took in his surroundings but when he looked up at her she could see pain and fright in his blue eyes. ‘They match the horse’s eyes,’ she found herself thinking when their eyes met.

“My...head hurts.” he said, closing his eyes. He brought a hand to his head but Michelle quickly grabbed it.

“Don’t touch. Look you need help. If you could just lay still I’ll run back to my house and call an ambulance to take you to the hospital so....”

“No! Please, no hospitals!” The young man gasped and with his other hand, gently grasped her tee-shirt. “Please, I beg you. Don’t put me in one of those.”

Michelle was shocked by the sudden fright that erupted from the hoarse voice. Anybody could plainly tell that he was truly frightened by the thought of going to the hospital. “But you don’t understand. You are hurt. You may have a skull fracture.”

The young man closed his eyes again and released his grip on her shirt. His arm fell limply onto his chest as if all of his energy had been zapped. Michelle bit her lip. She felt cold sweat trickled down her back, but it was only sixty degrees outside. She felt different somehow. This strange man was causing feelings inside her to pop out and it scared her even more.

“Please.” he whispered, opening his eyes again to plead at her. “I..I can’t go into one of those places.”

“Well, you need help. How about I take you to my house. My mom is a nurse. She can help.” Michelle could curse herself as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Why was she offering help to a perfect stranger? ‘Maybe because it is the neighborly thing to do. And besides, he doesn’t look harmless.’ Michelle sighed but she got no argument from the young man.

“You promise..not to call the ambulance?”

“I promise.” Michelle managed a smile but her heart beat a mile per minute.

It took them almost ten minutes just to get him standing and even then he was wobbly. The white horse nickered and came beside the young man. “There there, Star. I’ll be fine.” Michelle heard him say to the horse. With one arm around her shoulders and another around the neck of the great white steed, they slowly made their way back down to the farm.

An hour had past by the time they made their way to the barns and Michelle couldn’t have been happier to see her father and one of the ranch hands called Marco run to her aid. Before they could speak she started explaining how she had found him. By then the young man was only half conscious and nearly collapsed as Mr. Hill took him from Michelle. They heard a screen door squeak and Mrs. Hill emerged. Lucky for Michelle it was her day off.

“Mich said she found him in our field.” Mr. Hill explained as he half carried the man up the stairs to the spare bedroom. The stranger groaned in pain as Mr. Hill helped him into the bed. Mrs. Hill went right to action, checking his pulse, fever, and asking questions Michelle didn’t even know an answer to

. “He just said his head hurt.” she said, feeling not very helpful at that moment. “But I do know that we can’t take him to a hospital.”

Mr. Hill frowned. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. He got really scared when I mentioned taking him to a hospital.” She could tell her dad wasn’t pleased about this new information.

“I don’t like this. He could be running from the law for all we know.”

“Please dad. Don’t call an ambulance. I don’t believe he means any harm...”

“Oh and how do you know that? And what is that horse doing in our yard? Don’t tell me it’s his.”

Michelle sucked in her breath. Sometimes her parents could be on the paranoid side. “I believe it is his horse. I’d better put him in a paddock before he runs down the road.” Turning she practically ran down the stairs.

She breathed the mountain air deep into her lungs, pushing down the scream she was ready to release. Her father could be so..so..mean sometimes. Suddenly a high pitched neigh echoed from the stable. That’s when Michelle noticed the white horse wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Oh no,” she muttered and ran to the stable where she saw Vincent Butcher viciously yanking the white horse around by a halter that was only half on. The horse wasn’t liking the rough treatment at all and he reared to his full hight, almost knocking his head on one of the pillars of the ceiling.

“Mr. Butcher don’t!” Michelle cried out running toward the tall man. Vincent had black hair with a receding hairline and she had never liked the looks of him but her father swore that he was a good worker.

“This beast attacked me!” Vincent yelled. “You’d better stay back!”

“Please, let him go!” Michelle cried and summing up all of her courage she swiftly yanked the lead rope from his hands. She heard Vincent curse but she ignored him and started talking softly and soothingly to the frightened horse.

“It’s okay boy. I’m not going to hurt you.” Michelle knew her technique worked on her horses, but will it work on this horse that was anything but a normal horse? To her relief the white horse stopped rearing and stood trembling in place. It’s blue eyes had whites showing, clearly marking him as a frightened and mad horse. What had been the horse’s name? Star? “There Star. It’s okay.” she murmured and smiled when the horse pricked it’s ears at her when it heard it’s name.

It seemed like hours but only a few minutes had past when Michelle was able to stroke the silky hair. Slowly she grasped the crooked halter and managed to put it on right. By the time she was done, both horse and girl were calm.

“Where did you get this beast?” Vincent growled from behind her.

“I found him.” Michelle said, trying to remain calm with the employee. Turning her back on him, she led the horse outside. “Now you stay in here for a little bit.” she said, turning the white horse loose in the green field.

The white horse snorted and sniffed the grass but raised it’s head to look at the white farm house. Looking into the window as if he knew the young man was in the house. Sighing, Michelle shook her head and walked back to the barn. Her class was in an hour and she had horses to get ready.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Desoto sighed and finished up his third glass of coffee as he listened to Dr. Dover.

“Now, there is no reason for the equipment to be going haywire all of a sudden.”

“Do you think a U.F.O. has landed somewhere in Virginia?” “I have no indication as to why not. But we can’t go racing over there to see. We’ll have to wait and see if anyone calls it in.”

Dan sighed again. Like that would ever happen. Whatever that thing was it probably crashed somewhere in the middle of the woods.

“For now, lets be on guard.”

Part 2