Fortuna Part 1
Alright this is my first written work that is not a college paper so bear with me on this. Please leave comments telling me what you think, constructive only please, there are already enough flamers on the nets as is. If this goes well I will write more chapters.
Fortuna
Life is strange isn't it; I have to wonder if there is some grand working of fate that keeps everything going, or if it is just random luck that brings things together. You probably want to know who I am don't you. My name is Ian Burton I am 5' 8" 183 LBS in relatively good shape and completely average looks. Brown hair, brown eyes nothing that really stood out as particularly handsome or grotesque. I suppose that most would say that I have lived somewhat of a charmed life, personally I found it somewhat unfulfilling. Since I first started to see girls as something more than just other kids I have had a reoccurring fantasy. It has a number of variations but they are always along the same lines, and it was very simple one at that. A warm body next to mine, nothing sexual or flirtatious, just someone next to me, there is always a sense peace and contentment that I have never been able to find in real life. The problem with this is that there is a mind and personality attached to a body and that is where problems arose.
I was never good with people, High school was nothing special, College went better, and that was where I got laid for the first time. I thought college would be a turning point, that everything would be different. It was, but not to the fantasy level that I had hoped. After college I went into the lucrative business of LIS, they were desperate for workers and as long as you were willing to move you could get a very well paying job. Which is what I did, Harvard needed a head librarian so I got a job that not only paid well but gave me ample time to travel. I have been to every continent and seen many things, though they weren't exactly adventures, I did not climb Everest, hike across the dark reaches of Africa, or swim the Amazon though I did see all of those places, but the one thing that I wanted still eluded me. I had yet to find the dream girl that every man wants to find. I was bad as any sailor I suppose, I don't believe I ever stayed in a city without meeting a woman. Not that I was any sort of playboy, I just had the quite educated average look that just attracted some girls. Like all things in life though none of it lasted. Some of the girls made it easy and left me, the thing they said most often was the passion in my eyes had gone out or that it was just a one night stand and that was all they had wanted. Those were the easy ones, a kiss on the cheek goodbye and they never looked back, some of the others though were much harder. I will admit full guilt on this, it was my entire fault, and I was the one who for whatever reasons lost interest in them. There was nothing wrong with them; any man would have been blessed to have one of them fall in love with him. Most cried and many yelled, and some truly got angry. One even unfortunately committed suicide, that is one that I will never live down or forget. I could have stayed with any one of them and probably considered myself a happy man and lucky person, but if I had done that I would not have been true to myself or the poor woman who I had chosen. If I could not give her a hundred percent than I would have just have been being cruel to her and I could not have done that to someone. Behind me is a trail of broken hearts and promises. Even these many decades later I still feel bad about what I did in my younger years. I spent most of my 20's and 30's crossing the globe from one end to another, I have visited all of the places I wanted to see and no longer had any idea what to do with myself. I had given up on love and luckily for me some stock investments had paid back handsomely so I thought that I would take an early retirement to get away from everyone.
So I bought 80 acres out in Colorado by the Rockies and build my lodge smack dab in the center of it. My nearest neighbors lived in a town four hours away so it was as solitary as it gets which was just what I wanted. It's hard to explain, I did not long for the company of my fellow man anymore for even for the pleasures of a woman. But I carry on don't I; you really don't want to hear about me do you? No I can see in your eyes that you are only humoring an old man by looking at photos from my travels and the various oddities that I have collected. You want to hear about her don't you, yes, that is the real reason you came isn't it. Not that I blame you, she is truly something extraordinary. As I said in the beginning life has a strange way of doing things, I was 48 that year, autumn was in full swing and it was beginning to get pretty cold out. I was completely used to being along by then; all I needed was plenty of books, my instruments, and a roaring fire to see me through the long nights of winter. Fate or luck though had a different thought as to how things would go.
I usually took long walks during the evening when the sun would turn the sky into a work of art. That's when I saw it, brilliant streaks of light speeding across the sky. Meteor showers are not that uncommon, but there was something very strange about this one. I could never tell you why it seemed wrong just that it was, there must have been a couple of hundred pieces sailing through the nighttime sky. Most seemed to burn up in the atmosphere, a few of them though were coming straight down into the forest a mile or so from where I was standing. When they hit there was a loud crash that sounded a lot like metal tearing. I decided that I had better head on over and take a look at the damage, one since I had never seen a meteor close up, but also because I did not need a fire destroying my forest and my home in the process. I am not the fastest person in the world and jogging through the woods at night is not an easy task even for someone who has lived there for years. I could see some smoke rising above the trees before I go to the crater, there had to be a 60 foot trench dug into the ground from the crash. To be honest I did not believe my eyes at first, I mean besides a few conspiracy nuts who would actually think that UFO's existed. I kept to the woods as I crept towards the craft at the end of the trench; it was triangular in shape and made from some sort of dark colored metal. The dirt that had been through up in its crash had apparently stopped and fires from starting.
It was eerily quiet, and the sun was completely down by the time I had arrived. I crept around the little ship and found a door on the other side that had been opened and peaked inside. Thanks to a full moon I was able to see that there was no one or thing inside so I went in. There were four chairs in the front cockpit and benches along the back with a large crate secured to the deck between them. I stepped back out and noticed that there were marks on the ground like someone or thing had pulled itself out of the craft and into the forest. Happily I did not take my walks unarmed; I always had a good bowie knife and a pistol or rifle with me to deal with any wild animals or people who thought that a lone house in the middle of nowhere was an easy target. After making sure my 454 casull was ready I began to follow the trail into the woods. Besides the scraped ground there were gouges made by what appeared to be claws and some splotches of orange colored liquid of what I had assumed was blood on the dirt. I followed the trail about a hundred yards or so into the brush where it ended at the lip of a rocky ravine. With the moon light shinning down between the trees I was able to see a figure at the bottom, it wasn't moving.
I couldn't see much detail from where I was standing, after a few minutes of indecision I finally decided that I had to get a closer look. Its back was turned toward me so I slowly went around it with my pistol still trained on it. I am not sure just what I had expected to find but that certainly wasn't it. It was a she not an it at least by humanish looking standards. She was small probably no more than five three in height and very slim, she had a short muzzle and large ears on the top of her head. She was covered in short white fur, her hand was pressed over her stomach where I could see some orange blood leaking between her fingers.
Alien or not I could not help but feel sorry for her; she looked so small and fragile, and was clearly in pain. Which should have been the first clue to not get to close, her hand came out in the blink of an eye and sunk into the side of my neck, I nearly shot her by reaction but thankfully she was weak and did not cause any major damage. Her eyes opened they were the most startling shade of robin egg blue, and she tried to growl though it came out more as a whimper. I'm a sucker for damsels in distress even after so many years alone, and she clearly needed help. I holstered my gun and gently pried her claws out of my neck. Don't worry it will be alright I told her, I am going to help you, I slid my arms underneath her as gently as I could. She yipped in pain as I picked her up, and a long fluffy tail that I had yet to notice came up and covered her wound.
I carried her as fast and gently as I could back to my house, which was not easy with even a full moon lighting the way. When I got her back to the house the fox like girl was out cold, considering the amount of blood that I felt had soaked into my shirt to be quite worrying. After laying her on my bed I rushed around the house getting all of the medical supplies I had and managed to get her wounds cleaned and bandaged. The wound did not look life threatening though she seemed to have lost a lot of blood. It's amazing how old you can feel after something like this happens, my arms hurt and I felt like I could sleep for a week. The fox girls breathing had become rhythmic and steady so I felt that all would be well for the night. Now the question became what do I do with her? She, if it was a she that is, was an alien, with an unknown agenda for earth. What was she doing here and what made her ship crash?
My head was swimming to the point where I felt that if would just be best to leave it for the night, though one thought had lodged itself firmly in my brain though, those blue eyes staring up at me with a sort of wistful hope for aid and comfort. If she meant us no harm than I would defend her to my last breath, and if she came here for nefarious reasons than I would make her death as quick and painless as possible. The sweet call of sleep was too strong to put off any longer, I built a fire up in the wood stove and grabbed some extra blankets and pillows and figured I would just sleep on my wool rug right next to the fire. Just as I was lying down I heard a slight clicking noise coming from the hallway. I turned to see the fox girl walking into the den; she slowly came over to me still cradling her stomach with her arms and tail. She gently sat down next to me on the rug, when I tried to speak she put a finger over my lips and smiled. After a few moments the fox girl curled up next to me and fell fast asleep, I figured there was no sense in trying to move her back to the bed so I lay down as well and drew the blankets over us. My final though was I drifted from consciousness was how soft her fur was and that this was kind nice.