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Earthy and sweet, the smell of a freshly brewed cup of tea and the sweet undertone of honey wafted through the kitchen as Angel slowly walked through her everyday morning routine. Mornings had never been Angel's particular thing, seeing as she preferred to take her time with getting ready for the coming day so she could put herself in the right mindset, or at least try to, in order to make the day a little bit more bearable. This morning seemed to be more strange than others she pushed herself through however on account of two things.
One, she seemed to be suffering from a mild case of brain fog. Not being able to center her train of thought or how steady she walked, Angel balanced herself with a loose grip on the tiled countertop. Secondly, Angel couldn't remember waking up. That wasn't completely out of the ordinary, there had been instances of her waking from a sleepwalking incident and just not remembering what happened, only for them to carry on like nothing had occurred. But the circumstances here were incredibly dubious. She seemed to have gotten dressed without knowing so, and ended up in the hallway in a daze.
She would retrace her steps. Yesterday, she'd gone to the local thrift store in an attempt to find new sweaters to wear in anticipation of the changing seasons soon. She couldn't remember how or when, or even if she'd grabbed it, but when she got home, she took notice of something particularly out of place amongst her treasures; a VHS tape. Sure she had a collection already, but when was the last time she actually bought one? The label was shotty and faded. “ ‘84 incident’ “ was penned in now deeply faded red ink. Wow, this tape was way older than her. Cool! The last thing Angel remembered was getting the tape to play in her VHS player in the living room only for everything to fade and fuzz into nothing as static on her TV slowly cleared to show… show what?? What was it she had seen? Her head hurt the more she tried to remember.
Alas, she's experienced weirder situations before. Perhaps she was so tired when she woke up that she simply couldn't remember beginning her morning rituals. Nowadays sleeping feels like blinking. She'd lay down, close her eyes, and then it would be morning. When was the last time she had an actual good night of rest? Wrapping her free hand around the now cooled but still warm mug of tea, she brought it to her lips, softening as the faint steam of her drink flowed over her nose. Taking a sip, the warmth of the tea is immediate and does its job perfectly at waking her up just enough to finally become fully aware of her surroundings. Taking in a deep breath, she admires the warm morning sunlight as it pours in through the window over her sink and the back door of her house at the end of the kitchen.
Shuffling through the kitchen and towards the hall, she figured it'd be smart to open the curtains around her house for the day. She's staying in, sure, but it would be good for her to get some natural light through the house. She passed by the living room first, not thinking hard about it until…
She hears a thud, forcing her to stop in her tracks thanks to how heavy it was. Her hands clenched tightly around her drink as she looked in the direction of the heavy thud. An unfamiliar voice followed immediately after the fall. “Ouch!”
The voice seemed masculine but not the deepest, friendly in nature. Like the intruder was here by mistake and not out of any malicious reason. Angel slowly turned around, craning her neck to the side to try to get a better view into the dark room. Why was the TV on?? The faint buzz of static became more notable as she took a step closer, daring to investigate what might possibly be a dangerous situation. “Hello?” Angel hesitantly called out. “Who's there?”
Finally sticking her head into the doorway, she could only make out the scene in front of her thanks to the glow from the TV. “Oh, jeez!!” She startled, gasping at the sight of a man laying against her carpet. Keeping hold of her tea, she rushed to open the curtains, sunlight immediately flooding into the living room and washing over the mystery man laying out in front of Angel, who she decided to keep her distance from. Any normal person would have immediately jumped to the offensive, but given his unusual appearance, Angel came to the conclusion this was a more paranormal situation, and needed to be treated with care. What a way to start the day off, right? Raising a brow, she stole a sip of her tea before crouching down in front of the man. “Excuse me… are you alright? And more importantly, why are you in my house?” she put a hand out, offering to help him up.
Slowly, the man planted his palms against the carpet and pushed himself up, standing in the process. “Oh, gosh, yes! I’m alright, thank you.” The man spoke with surprising clarity, raising one of his palms to take Angel's offer of help. That's that first thing she really noticed about him. He wore bright yellow gloves. Once he was up, Angel took her own stance, backing up to put a healthy distance between them— and a distance that put her close enough towards the doorway so she could easily run should the situation turn hairy. She studied the figure before her. Was he an apparition, or a hallucination?? Had she finally gone mad after stewing in her own loneliness long enough to where her mind had created someone for her to talk to? No, he touched her hand. He touched her hand, and she could feel it. Maybe he was just a… colorful individual? Wait a moment. Did this mean she only had seven days left to live? Oh, no. Wrong ghost story.
Regardless, he certainly looked the part of ‘colorful’. Fluffy hair that fell down to his shoulders colored with the same blue that made up the sky, his outfit consisted of a custom sleeveless jacket sporting Technicolor striping on the shoulders and a sun shaped emblem on the chest, and a white T-shirt underneath with a thick red and yellow stripe crossing its chest. His pants matched the shirt with the stripes trailing down from where the pockets were near his hips, but the trousers themselves were a deep maroon. The rest of his outfit was one that left her a bit speechless. A belt with a clown-like smile on the buckle, and shoes that followed the Technicolor clown scheme. His face was a bit different, though. He wasn't wearing the makeup you might expect a clown to wear, given his outfit. Rather, it was more ‘subtle’ (if you could use that word given his appearance), with red circles and stripes under his eyes, and red paint covering his nose and chin. How unique! The part that intrigued Angel the most, however, would be the stranger's eyes. They were yellow. Not yellow like her own, but a deep amber yellow.
~
Where was he?? One moment it was limbo, floating through the endless space of TV wavelengths and nothingness, and now he was falling face first into the shaggy carpet of a stranger's house. Was he finally free? No. Something inside was still holding him down, holding him like a weight. He wasn't free. Not yet. A voice then called to him, soft but clearly startled. He had clearly interrupted someone's day. What time was it? He winced as the lady the voice belonged too rushed into the room, parting the curtains quickly. That helped a little, as he could assume it was either morning, or the evening based on the signature golden glow that now covered every surface it could touch.
Before he realized it, the lady was crouching in front of him. The smell of honey and tea leaves hit him first as he looked up, taking her hand once he heard the first half of her question: “Excuse me, are you alright?”
When was the last time anyone asked him that? Obviously he didn't catch the second half, his ears still ringing from the dreadful static that echoed behind him. Seeing a hand, he quickly took it. Even wearing gloves, he could feel how warm she was. That's when he finally looked up, taking his first proper look at the woman before him, the woman he assumed had brought him home and helped him to finally escape from his hell. Not quite what he would have imagined being greeted with, he thought. She was surprisingly calm given the situation at hand… only one of her eyes could be made out, the other covered by clearly overgrown and styled bangs that were parted to cover something on the other half of her face. The rest of her hair was a deep brunette with an also dark red hue, curly and falling just above her shoulders with a certain choppy quality to it that made it look as if she had cut her hair herself. He could just feel the exhaustion that seemed to cut into her down to her bones, her movements slow and careful with an almost glazed look in her eye. It was a look he knew plain as day, the look of someone who hadn’t slept well in a very, very long time. She was dressed in mainly cool shades of blue, a thick yet baggy turtleneck covering her torso while she stood in a set of matching knee socks and shorts. The woman tilted her head at him with curiosity, and the man became intrigued. Furthermore, he spoke.
~
For a strange man that seemingly appeared in her house out of thin air (since there didn't seem to be any broken windows or forced signs of entry), he looked overwhelmingly friendly. Brushing himself off, he straightened out his appearance and finally set his eyes on the shorter woman in front of him. He smiled. “Thanks for the help there just a moment ago, it's nice to meet you!” He put a hand out, grinning ear to ear. Angel stared at his hand with a blank look that struggled to keep up with what exactly was happening. “You never answered my question.” She sipped on her mug once more, downing a bit more now that it had cooled to a more favorable temperature.
His smile faltered with surprise for a moment as his hand drew back slightly. “Uh… I'm sorry?”
“Who are you, and why are you in my house?” Angel asked her new guest, not wanting to be aggressive but simply wanting answers.
The man perked up. “Ah, so you see, that's the funny thing… I actually don't know how I ended up here!” The mystery man chuckled lightly, as if this was just an average Tuesday morning for him. “ I went to sleep in my bed, I woke up, and all of a sudden, I'm here with who I can only assume might be a new friend. And what better way to make a new friend than to introduce yourself?” Extending his hand once again, his smile beamed brighter than before. “I'm ‘Sunny Day Jack’! But my friends all just call me Jack… now then miss, what might your name be?”
The gears began to turn in Angel's head. Huh… So for one, he's not from here, and he can't remember how he got here. Uh huh. Likely story. But, choosing to be a polite host, she relents. Reaching her free hand out, she grabs Jack’s hand and gives it a light shake. ‘Sunny Day Jack’ certainly rolled off the tongue, but was a bit much to keep repeating. She'll stick with just Jack for not. If he's a ghost, he's certainly a peculiar one. Most ghosts usually remember why they're where they're currently at, but this one seems to be suffering from some sort of amnesia. She only hoped it was short term. “Well, Jack, it's a pleasure to meet you. I’m Angel.”
“Angel..!” Jack tried the name out, seemingly pleased with having made a new friend. At least, that's what she was to him at the moment. “What a pretty name.” The TV static continuously hummed, filling the dead air in the room and not leaving a moment of silence. Angel looked behind Jack at the static screen, a flicker of remembrance hitting her. That's right… hadn't she tried to watch that mysterious thrift shop tape last night? Jack interrupted her train of thought. “Do you always leave your TV on like that? I'm just curious!”
She blinked. “Ahh… no, I must've fallen asleep last night and forgot to turn it off.” Angel began to move, only for Jack to be one step ahead of her as he moved to turn the box TV off himself. “No problem! We all forget things pretty easily when we're tired. Heck, you still look pretty sleepy, even right now!” He motioned back at Angel, who assumed he was referring to the deep bags under her eyes. Or her visible eye, at least. “Yeah, you're rather observant for a… ghost? Figment of my imagination? Pardon me if I'm being rude, but what are you?”
Jack shook his head. “I'm not really sure how that's relevant here. Can't I be a friend instead?” The tone he took with her left Angel feeling odd inside. They way they were already bouncing back and forth off of each other made her feel like she was just talking to an old friend. Maybe he was right… she could question these things later. Just take it one step at a time. “I think it's a bit too soon for us to really be friends, but… I am still a host, so… uh..”
Damn. It's been a while since she's had any company. Just get back to the basics! “Could I offer you a drink?” Jack eyed the mug she was carrying, the sweet scent becoming incredibly appetizing. “I'll have whatever you're having!”
“One cup of tea, comin’ up. Feel free to follow me to the kitchen… or just wander about. I have a feeling you're gonna be here for a while.” Angel finally turned around, retracing her prior steps to where Jack assumed the kitchen was as she disappeared out of view. Once she was gone, he lingered in the room he was in. Taking in his surroundings, he could feel the life within these walls. The furniture was worn down but taken care of, and pictures lined the walls and shelves of numerous book cases that lined the walls wherever the frames didn't cover. They varied from landscape paintings to photos of people Jack didn't recognize. Friends? Family? He couldn't even identify Angel in any of them. Maybe they were all old photos… but regardless, the man seemed to take on a sense of rejuvenation. Maybe he was being given a second chance… a chance to make things right. And maybe it all started with the little lady in the next room over, the one that welcomed him into her home.
Maybe, this time, things would be different. And with that hope, Jack made a bee line in the direction Angel had taken, and chose to follow behind. She already had a cup of hot water infused with the leaves. “I left the tea black because I wasn't sure what you take with your tea. I have sugar, milk, honey…” she took a seat at a small table next to a window that peered outside into a backyard that was surrounded by trees. Angel seemed to live an isolated life out here. Interesting. Sitting across from her, he took the cup and shrugged. “I've never tried honey in my tea before… why not that?”
For a moment, Jack thought he saw a smile pull at the corner of the otherwise solemn woman's lips. “Cool. Help yourself, Jack.” She pushed a small glass jar of honey towards him. “Thanks,” he smiled.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.