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  TANGENTS

  Volume 1

  Agatha Rae

  DISCLAIMER

  This version of Tangents is a production of Firefly & Wisp Books

  and the author. Everlasting Publisher Int. hereby disclaim any liability for

  linguistic or grammatical errors in the text.

  Tangents by Agatha Rae

  © Agatha Rae

  ©: Everlasting Publisher Int.

  Cover: Q Design

  Photo: Shutterstock

  E-book production: Everlasting Publisher Int.

  ISBN: 978-91-88795-42-7

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or use of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of Agatha Rae, Firefly & Wisp Books and L.C. Förlag.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The work is a product of the author’s imagination.This book is not allowed to be bought or sold as a used e-book nor sound book. If for some reason you have been offered this book as a resale, please alert the author or the publishers Firefly & Wisp Books and L.C. Förlag.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

  I would like to thank, first of all, my friend and publisher, Danielle Zwissler at Firefly and Wisp Book Publishing who has once again believed in me and has given me the chance to have this book published.

  A huge and from-the-bottom-of-my-heart thank you to Magda Richert for her constructive comments, for her help, support, and for allowing me to steal some of her attention during the uneasy time. Thank you for your help and thank you to little Mateusz, who kindly shared his Mom with me.

  Thank you, Carrie Rae, for crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s, you’ve done a remarkable job for which I am truly grateful.

  I would also like to thank my friend Justyna Mazur for her support, kind words, and faith in me. Special thanks to my Parents for keeping their fingers crossed for me!

  Thank you to all the rest of you who have read, commented, helped and advised: my husband Daniel Grabowski, Professor Jørgen Veisland, Agata Mioduszewska, Jen Lynn, Beate Hanssen, Jennifer Colyar, Iwona Brauza, Magda K. Strzelczyk, the wonderful friends at The Dome, especially Ohva, and many more – you know who you are.

  To Joel Kinnaman, whose tremendous talent has inspired this book.

  Without you, Rick Lawrence wouldn’t have been born,

  and I would have never written this story.

  Chapter 1

  The itchy feeling on his cheek was getting more and more annoying. At first he was too sleepy to react, thus he had decided not to be bothered by it. Soon, however, the irritation was impossible to ignore. It was even more disturbing due to a massive headache that was pulsing under his skull. Rick sighed heavily, rubbed his forehead, still keeping his eyes closed, and put his palm on the cheek to scratch it. He immediately moved his fingers back and woke up once he felt something small and shaggy walking on his face.

  “What the hell?” Rick thought and shook the thing off his cheek. He opened his eyes, moved his head and saw a wasp lazily flowing up. It slowly floated in the air, hanging just above his nose as if it was attached to an invisible thread. Rick had a weird feeling that the insect was looking at him, staring at him, while it was buzzing only inches away from his face. After a few seconds, it peacefully flew away and Rick could not see it anymore, he was only able to hear the buzzing sound of the wasp’s wings which soon disappeared anyway.

  Still a bit groggy and confused, the man realized he was breathing in fresh, morning-like air, and it occurred to him he was lying on the ground. He was in a forest. Completely awoken, Rick sat down. He was in the middle of a small glade surrounded by trees coated by moss. The trees were so tall they seemed to have been piercing the clouds. Delicate wind was moving their tops creating the soothing sound of rustling leaves. The ground was soft, covered with tall and moist grass.

  “I must be dreaming,” Rick said, and stood up. Then again, everything seemed so real… Birds chirped somewhere above him, and his skin felt warm. He looked up, the sun was high up in the sky. Trees surrounded the area in which he was in. He was hot, and no wonder, he was wearing two shirts, his red, Cornell tee, and his grey and green flannel. Funny how he noticed these things. He wondered silently how often people had such recollection in dreams.

  Rick reached to his pocket to get his phone and call Monica, but it was empty. He nervously looked down at his hips and realized he had neither cell nor wallet. He swiftly patted the flannel’s chest pockets, and looked inside of them, but there was nothing inside. Was he robbed? Was he kidnapped? How? Where was he taken? The last sane thing he remembered was lying on a wooden bench, looking at the water glittering in the moonlight.

  “Fuck,” he hissed angrily and started looking around, stunned with what was surrounding him, and suddenly heard a woman’s voice. It seemed far away, but it was clear. He stopped breathing and was listening very carefully. For a moment there was a complete silence and the only thing he heard was the blood pulsing under his skull and the wind whistling high above him, nothing else.

  ***

  When Anna woke up, it took a few minutes to comprehend she was in a forest. She got up and, instinctively, rubbed her forehead with her palm. She was having an awful headache, and was looking around the area, blinking and trying to understand what was happening. The only possible explanation was that it was a dream. It had to be.

  “Hello? Is anybody there?” She shouted, but nobody replied.

  Anna felt she was getting really hot. She was wearing a thick knitted sweater, long jeans and heavy, winter shoes. After all, only minutes ago, she was sitting in a café in the center of Boston, reading a book and drinking hot cappuccino, while it was snowing outside.

  Anna looked at her watch. It was 1 p.m. It made sense, she remembered walking into the café around noon.

  What a wicked dream, she thought and started walking straight ahead, looking carefully under her feet not to stumble upon limbs. The forest was amazing; very dense and quite dark, but at the same time it was full of all sorts of green colors; from emerald to very dark shades.The air smelled fresh and the serenity surrounding her was, actually, mesmerizing.

  She felt she was getting sweaty and irritated because of the heat. Anna took the sweater off and tied it around her hips; it felt much better. Then, she rolled up her pant legs, up to her knees - now it seemed it was possible for her to walk further.

  A dragonfly buzzed by her head, she turned in its direction and saw the insect, which was suspended in the air, next to her face. As creepy as it was, Anna had a feeling the dragonfly was looking at her. She waved her hand to scare it off, but it only moved aside a bit and spent the next few seconds watching her again.

  “Go away!” She snapped at it and waved her hand one more time, this time punching the insect. It lost its balance for a second, but swiftly moved very close to her face, which made Anna take two steps back, and after a moment it flew away. She was listening out for a minute, but the buzzing sound was gone. She moved forward.

  At first Anna was even glad she was surrounded by the forest, because the sun seemed to be merciless. About two hours later, she realized there seemed to be absolutely no way out of it and that the sun had not moved which puzzled her. Exactly how long was the day around here?? Anna sighed and thought it was unwise to analyze a dream reality, after all, anything can happen in a dream.

  After what felt like a never-ending walk, sore and tired she looked at her watch and was flabbergasted to see five hours had already passed. The sun did not move a b
it and the forest was still endless.

  “How is this possible? Does the day ever end here?” She asked out loud and rubbed her head with her palm. The headache was gone, but Anna felt a panic attack was getting closer; she was becoming desperate. She had been wandering around for hours, having no idea where she was nor where she was going, she was thirsty and terrified. Anna couldn’t understand how it was possible she still hadn’t woken up; usually when a dream would become uncomfortable, unbearable even, a person would, should wake up, and sit on the bed relieved it was all over. Instead, she felt her heart pounding, her breath becoming faster and heavier and tears were coming to her eyes. Anna started sobbing and leaned on a tree. She covered her face with her palms and was shaking her head in disbelief. After a few seconds she dried her eyes with her palms, took a deep breath and looked around again, this time calmly and attentively. She frowned and realized that about a mile from her, the forest seemed much less dense. Maybe that was it, perhaps that was the end of the woods! The feeling of hope gave her strength and Anna briskly went toward the area. When she was sure the forest did end, she started running and, to her amazement, she discovered a glade. And a man standing there. Oh, thank God, she was not alone anymore!

  ***

  “Hello!”

  Someone was there! Among the trees! He heard a woman’s voice, it seemed very desperate. Rick was unable to figure out where exactly she was coming from, but, undoubtedly, she was getting closer; her voice was becoming clearer and louder.

  “Where are you?!” Rick finally replied. He shouted a bit blindly, not being sure where the woman was. “Walk toward the glade! Can you see it?!” He put his palms around his lips to sound louder.

  “Yes, yes! I’m coming!” She replied.

  Rick was looking around, curious to see who was about to appear out of the woods. Some minutes later the woman came out from among the trees. She looked as if she was about 30-years-old, chestnut hair, rather petite. She was wearing a close-fitting black sleeveless shirt, royal blue jeans rolled up to her knees and warm, winter shoes. She had a knitted sweater tied around her hips, it was loosely hanging down, moving left to right as she was marching toward him. Her hair was a mess and she looked confused and scared, but - at the same time visibly relieved when she saw Rick.

  “Oh my God, thank God you’re here,” the woman said as she was coming. “I’ve been wandering through these woods for hours, I was afraid I would lose my mind,” she stretched her hand to show the thick forest behind her, came closer and was trying to calm down.

  “It’s okay, it’s all right,” he replied. She was clearly on the verge of panic, which made him feel a bit sorry for her.

  “Hi, I’m Rick,” he said friendly and, a bit clumsily, put his left palm on her shoulder, looked straight into her eyes to help her calm down and reached his right hand toward her.

  “Anna,” she shook his hand. “God, you have no idea how glad I am not to be alone anymore. What a nightmare.”

  “Where did you come from?” He asked relieved to see her calming down.

  “I’m – um – from Boston,” Anna sighed.

  “Yeah, okay, but I meant the woods. Are you lost?”

  “Oh, I got here–” she looked at her watch –“almost six hours ago.”

  “What, you’re here for camping or something?”

  “No, no, not at all! All I remember was that I went to the café around the corner where I live to read something, and I fell asleep on an armchair. I mean it was so pleasantly warm inside… I woke up and found myself lying on the ground in the middle of the forest. I have no idea how or when it happened. First of all, I – I have no idea what happened. Thank God at least the sun is shining all the time, I’d lose my mind if there was darkness around me.”

  The woman had Rick’s undivided attention. He shook his head, trying to make sense of everything. Rick nodded.

  “How do you know you’ve been here so long?”

  Anna showed him her watch. “Six hours and twenty three minutes. God, I can’t feel my legs, I’ve been walking the entire time trying to get out of the woods,” she said and lay on the ground. She was breathing heavily partially because she was incredibly tired and partially because of the anxiety growing inside of her. “How long have you been here?”

  “I – I don’t know. About half an hour, I think, but I’m not sure. No, I don’t think it’s any longer than that. I mean, I hardly just woke up.”

  “So, I guess you haven’t noticed anything strange yet, huh?” she asked him and put her palm over her forehead to protect her eyes from the sun and to see him clearly.

  “Apart from the fact that I woke up and found myself in a forest instead of in my own bed? No, nothing.”

  “I meant the sun,” she said and pointed up to the sky with her other hand. “Like I said, I have been here for some hours now, but the sun hasn’t changed its angle. It’s been in the same place all this time.”

  “What?” Rick’s heart started pounding and he felt anxiety growing in his mind. A few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.

  “I know. At first when I realized it, I was even glad as it meant my fear of being surrounded by darkness was not to come true, not soon at least, but then again, it’s kind of – freaky - because, I – I mean where are we?” She sighed.

  “May I look at your watch again?” Rick asked and sat next to her. He was flabbergasted.

  She stretched out her arm, he grabbed her wrist and studied the watch very attentively.

  “What, you can’t read hands?” She asked and smiled a bit sarcastically.

  “N – no, I just don’t think your watch is correct.”

  “What do you mean?” She sat down, shook her wrist and looked at it again.

  ”The date says it’s fifteenth of February 2013.”

  “And?”

  “And it’s July thirteenth 2001.”

  “No, it’s 2013, you’re mistaken. Like – twelve years mistaken.”

  He was looking at her, clearly put off and he rubbed his forehead.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. “It looks like where we are is not the only question to be asked. When we are might be pretty accurate, too.”

  They’ve been looking at each other for some time and Rick helped her get up. She shook single grass leaves off her calves.

  Rick looked down at his feet, trying to make sense of things, but he couldn’t. How could it be 2013 in her world and 2001 in his? Shaking his head, he looked at her. “You’re pulling my leg.”

  “No, look,” she said, as she reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small wallet. “My driver’s licence.”

  “What’s the date of issue?”

  “Just take it,” Anna handed Rick the card and she waited for him to look it over.

  “Jesus. July 12th 2009,” he whispered. Scanned the plastic card thoroughly; it didn’t seem fake, but who could tell for sure. He gave it back to Anna.

  “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “Well, it’s all that I have,” Anna looked down as if she were trying to figure out something else to say.

  “It’s impossible,” he finally said.

  “That’s what I thought at first, but now I am not so sure. I mean, first of all, why would I have a driving licence which I might start using, like, eight years from now? Besides, everything seems so – so real. I can touch everything, I can hear the birds and the insects, it all seems so tangible. Can dreams be like that?” she said while she was putting the wallet back into the pocket.

  “I hope so. I mean - I can’t see any other explanation.”

  They’d been standing there in silence for some time. Rick felt his headache slowly letting him go and he was finally able to look toward the sun without irritating his eyes. She was right, the sun hadn’t moved since he woke up. Peculiar. Disturbing.

  “Do you have some water? I’m very thirsty,” Anna said.

  “No, sorry. I woke up like this,” he replied pointing at himself
from arms down.

  “Damn it,” she whispered and licked her lips. “I woke up in this sweater and thick jeans and it’s just so warm in here. It’s like summer in its prime.”

  “Well, it is July, after all,” he said and stopped in the middle of his sentence. For her, apparently, it was February. Jesus.

  “Maybe we can find some source of water? I mean the woods cannot be endless, there has to be some street or maybe even a whole town out there,” Rick continued.

  “So, you think we should leave this place?”

  “I don’t think we have a choice.”

  Anna looked at him knowing he was right, but the forest seemed just creepy; she really did not feel like coming back there. On the other hand, she needed to quench her thirst and there surely was no water near them. They needed to go. She needed to go.

  “Okay then. Let’s go,” Rick finally said and made a few steps forward.

  “Where exactly should we go?” She asked following him.They stopped and, once again, looked around. The forest was very dense. The trees seemed unnaturally high with most of them being broadleaved. Their tops were perfectly green, so, together with the temperature and the weather it seemed like it was summer there. Wherever they were.

  “How about there?” Rick pointed at something that looked like a path among the trees.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Anna replied and they both started walking in the given direction. “I’m just glad at least my head doesn’t hurt anymore,” she said and they moved a bit forward.

  “Wait, you had a headache, too?” Rick stopped and his eyes widened.

  “Yes, a tremendous one! The moment I woke up. I honestly thought my head would explode, the blood was pulsing under my skull like crazy.”

  “I’m having the same problem, although it’s disappearing now.”