When Lights Collide Chapter 22

Daniel stood, holding Cara, determined not to let her go, he held Cara tight against him as he slid her to the floor and held her in his arms.

He was terrified that he had broken her somehow, as he tried desperately to recall the words that he had said prior to her collapsing.

Estelle reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, Daniel flinched as he turned to look at her.  

Estelle looked him in the eye and said, “This is not your fault, you did nothing wrong.  Tune into your heart and soul, and tell me Daniel, how do you feel inside?”

Daniel regarded Estelle as one seemingly sane person might regard another person when you think they’ve suddenly lost their mind, 

“uhh, are you ok?” he asked her, suddenly quite concerned that he may have broken both of the women in his presence.

Estelle looked shocked, “I’m fine, why baby, what's going on?”

He looked at her from under squinted brows, “can you hear yourself right now? Did you hear the words you have just said to me?”

Tipping her head to one side to try and get a better understanding of his words, Estelle was grateful when her Guardians intervened, “he’s not like you yet, this is still new to him, go slower.”

Estelle nodded her head as she moved toward Daniel, while trying to maintain eye contact with him, and she had to giggle, he looked like one of those dads on TV in the birthing room when the baby was being born, all deer in headlights but unable to move.

Estelle seated herself on the floor near Daniel, shifting Cara’s body enough to help him support the weight of her, which was just enough for Daniel to sense her movement and squeeze Cara tighter to his chest.

“Daniel, we need to get Cara onto the sofa so she can rest,” as she spoke, Daniel’s arms seemed to involuntarily squeeze Cara again, “Daniel, you are going to suffocate her if you keep holding her so tightly!” Estelle snapped at him.

Daniel shook his head as he seemed to snap back into reality. 

In response to his fear of hurting Cara, he released his grip a little too much and her still body began to slide from his arms. 

In some sort of weird, yet swift martial arts type of movement, Daniel swooped Cara up off the floor and onto the couch where he propped her head up on pillows and covered her with a blanket.  

He then turned to look at Estelle, and she noted that he looked just like a little boy caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar as he said “I think I broke her.”

Estelle’s body began to shake as she tried to hold in the laughter that was building like hot lava ready to erupt like a volcano inside her chest, “don’t laugh, don't laugh, do not laugh, no, no laughing” she began to repeat to herself.  

Then suddenly, Daniel exploded into laughter, so bright and so happy and joyous a sound it was that Estelle could no longer hold back, and together they exhausted themselves in a fit of laughter.

Together they eventually fell onto the sofa, so engulfed with the joy of laughter that neither of them no longer had any idea what they had been laughing at in the first place. 

They just knew that it felt good to finally laugh after all that had happened.

When they calmed down from the fits, stops and starts of their laughfest, Daniel began to feel a little awkward and he looked, in earnest at Estelle, “Is she going to be ok?”

Daniel held his breath as Estelle looked over at Cara, he wasn't sure what exactly she was looking at, but when she was done, Estelle smiled at Daniel, “She’s going to be fine.” 

Daniel sighed a little in relief, but then gave Estelle an uncertain look as he asked, “how can you be so sure?”

Estelle smiled again, “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to freak out again.”

Blank faced Daniel stared at Estelle, “What do you mean ‘freak out again’?” 

With a confused look upon her face, Estelle asked him, “What exactly are you asking me? You do remember your tendency to run for the door do you not?”

Daniel nodded his head in understanding, “Ok, good point, I’ll try and be a good boy and listen, I can’t promise I’ll understand, but I promise, I will try.”

Estelle nodded her head in understanding as she worked to form her words carefully in her mind, and then just opted to go for it, he’d need to catch up to their vocabulary sooner or later anyways.

“Well, Daniel, I know she is going to be ok because I scanned her energy field with my inner sense of knowing,” and then she sat back and waited for the shit show that she expected him to display.

But there was nothing, Daniel just nodded his head like he’d understood every word as he sat watching Cara asleep on the couch.

After a few moments of silent thought, he stated, “Yup, I have next to no idea what you just said.”

Estelle smiled, “The bigger question is, do you want to know what it means, do you want to understand?”

After a few moments of silence, Daniel turned to Estelle and said “Yes, yes, I would like to understand what you are trying to tell me, it feels important.  I would like to also understand what has been happening throughout this past however long I have been here, it feels like a lot has happened that I don’t understand, but I do know that I now feel better, lighter, somehow.” he stated as he relaxed back into the couch that supported them.

“Ok then, let's do this, what's the first thing you want to understand?” Estelle asked Daniel as she made herself more comfortable for the upcoming conversation.

Daniel pondered for a moment and said “I want to understand how I saw my Grams in your backyard last night, and I want to know what you and Cara did with your arms, and what was that light?” Daniel was surprised at himself, once he got started on this list, there was no stopping him.

Estelle raised her hands to get him to stop talking, “Ok son, one thing at a time, pick one.” she said matter of factly, and Daniel decided he liked her, she reminded him of his Grams, loving, yet honest. He nodded his head, “ok, I think I better first ask exactly what, or who, or what, you and Cara are and about these gifts that you tried to tell me about.”

As Estelle nodded her head and began to think about her response, there was a loud thump sound as Cara fell from the sofa and onto the floor exclaiming 

“No!  We can’t tell anyone!!  That's the rules!  We can’t tell anyone!” as she passed out again.

Daniel jumped up from the couch where he sat next to Estelle, and then froze.  Glancing at Estelle, he asked “what - what was that? Is she still ok?”

Estelle smiled at Daniel “let me scan her energy.” 

Daniel smiled at Estelle’s use of air quotes to explain this new language to him, and he watched in fascination as Estelle looked intently from the top of Cara’s head to the tips of her toes.

Estelle smiled as she nodded “Cara’s fine, she just needs rest.”

Daniel nodded his head in understanding, “Ok, if you say so.” he glanced at Cara for another moment before he asked, “So, what was it you just did, how did you scan her?” utilizing the same air quotes that she had a moment ago.

Estelle took a deep breath, “Ok, so there are some things that you need to understand about myself and Cara, but first I need to you promise that you will remain calm and talk this through, not get angry and stomp out the door.”

Daniel looked confused as he asked “didn’t we cover that already?” and a smile came to his face.

Estelle smiled in kind and added “Yes, we did, I just wanted to make sure that you remembered that.” and she giggled.

Daniel sat back down next to Estelle and nodding toward Cara, he asked, “So, why did she just flop onto the floor and say no, that it wasn’t allowed for me to know these things and here you are willing to tell me?”

“What I am about to tell you, is to help you understand, this is Cara’s private information, and normally, I would be a sealed vault.  For you to understand Cara’s fear, you need to know where it came from.”

Daniel raised his hands as though he was fighting off an attack, “wait a minute, if my question is about to violate some kinda secret chick confidentiality agreement, we can move onto the next question.”

“You are a good man, Daniel.  I know in time Cara will tell you anyways, and you are right, this is Cara’s story to tell. So I will just say that her fear of telling others about who she is stems from a nasty break up with a nasty man.” Estelle stated matter of factly.

“The truth is, you are one of us, Daniel, and that is why it is safe for you to know about us.  We typically don’t announce this to other humans because they don’t have the capacity to be kind and accepting.  They hold judgements because they are unnecessarily afraid, and they lash out.”  Estelle stated as she glanced in Cara’s direction.

“Wait”, Daniel said, his eyebrows scrunching themselves together, “What do you mean ‘human’ and what do you mean ‘one of us’?” he asked, and Estelle could feel his anxiety and anger rising again.  

She looked at Daniel and reminded him of his earlier promise, “You promised not to get angry.”

He shook his head and said “I don’t think I'm angry, I think I’m scared of what you might say next.” he replied honestly.

Estelle nodded her head in understanding, “I get it,” she said “finding out you’re an Angel isn't something that happens everyday.”

Daniel looked like he wasn’t certain if he was supposed to laugh or cry, but he definitely looked like he could be knocked down by a feather as he fainted back into the couch.

“Sweet dreams Angel” Estelle smiled with a nod as she grabbed a blanket and covered Daniel with it.

To keep reading, CLICK HERE for chapter 23!