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A MACHINES LOVE

CH. 3

Have you ever had such a good night's sleep that you can't help but wake with a smile on your face? Or rather, one of those times that you feel like you've slept on a nice/fluffy cloud for the entire night? Well, that's how I felt as my consciousness slowly began to return to me. Even though I knew that I didn't have anything to do for the next day or five, I knew that if my body said that I'd had enough sleep, then that was all I was going to get. 'I wonder what I should do for today,' would have been the normal thought for most people, but I was just drawing a blank as I enjoyed the feeling of having a good night's rest. I mean, when you're a rig driver you usually have to deal with a lot of noise at night, a refrigerator buzzing right behind your head to keep your load cool, other drivers engines to keep their cabs cool while they sleep in uncomfortable outside temperatures, etc... If you really want to think about it, think of it like this; imagine coming home to your own bed after you've had to sleep in a hotel room for the past several weeks. That is how it feels to a rig driver who is able to spend the night in a hotel room.

As I slowly sat up in the bed, the covers slowly fell down to my lap and I began to stretch upright, or raise my arms as high as they could reach. With that done I stretched a few other directions, hearing the occasional pop of joint or three, then nodded to myself that I really had a good night's sleep and everything felt nice and loose. 'Time to answer Mother Nature's call,' I thought as I swung my feet down and out of the bed, and then proceeded to get out of bed. After a quick trip to the restroom I felt the next call and this one was from the pit of my stomach. 'How is it that I get hungry after nearly finishing off that pizza last night?' I wondered but resided myself to get something to eat.

Though as I opened the fridge and looked down at the last few slices of pizza I slightly blanched, not really wanting to eat pizza for the first thing in the morning, and looked towards the clock on the desk. 'Still can catch the continental breakfast if I hurry.' With that thought I quickly scrambled around the room, found a descent pair of cloths that didn't smell other than laundry detergent, and quickly headed out the door. Just like any other hotel that offers breakfast, I was expecting it to be nothing more than cold cereal and juice, but when I got to the lobby I was pleasantly surprised to see the spread that awaited me. "Waffles, large muffins, and all the fixings for everything else. When did I die and go to heaven?" I asked aloud, not really caring who heard me or anything else for that matter as a large smile spread across my face.

After scarfing down three large waffles, a side of eggs and bacon, and five cups of juice, I leaned back in my seat and patted my stomach. 'Hay, if it's free then help yourself to more if you want it.' I thought with a smile as I enjoyed the feeling of, not only having to pay nothing for the meal but eating as much as I liked. It was only a few moments later that a laugh escaped me as I thought about how the little metallic Lugia looked after she'd stuffed herself silly on those CD's. I thought it strange that she considered computer parts consumable as food, but nodded as it did make sense that someone/thing like her would consume electronics. As I thought about that though, I realized that I hadn't told her what I was doing or where I was going, which made me worry slightly about her waking up without me there to tell her that everything was alright or to reassure her that I hadn't abandoned her.

After getting a few more cups of juice and a few muffins for later onto a plate to place into the small room's refrigerator, I calmly walked back to my room and opened the door. Once I'd gotten inside my room, while balancing the tray of five drinks on one plated hand, I sighed in relief as there wasn't a miniature metallic Lugia running about crying about where I was or where I'd disappeared to. With a smirk on my face at the mental image, I calmly walked over to the fridge and placed the drinks and muffins inside did I turn and look towards the bed. 'I guess housekeeping hasn't come in yet.' I thought as I could still see the bed was ruffled or messed up from when I'd gotten out of bed early that morning. With that thought I knew that I needed to get the little Lugia up and probably step outside while they were doing their thing. 'Can't have them clean up this place and accidentally suck up the poor thing in a vacuum cleaner, no matter how funny it would be to see.' A chuckle escaped my mouth from the thought of her getting caught in the bristles of the vacuum and crying out in fright.

Without another thought on the matter I calmly walked over to the side of the bed where the metallic Lugia slept upon the pillow, but as I looked down at the pillow I didn't see her asleep there. 'That's weird; did she fall off the bed sometime during the night?' With a bit of worry, I checked under the bed, but didn't see her there and with my worry mounting I began to check over the room. It wasn't until I'd checked the whole room over that I really began to worry and feared that someone might've come into the room at some point and carried her off. Though as I settled on that thought and quickly headed for the door, I caught the slightest movement of the sheets on the bed and stopped in my tracks. 'Wait a minute, why did the sheets... Oh, for crying out loud, she just fell under the sheets and was asleep there the whole time.'

Chuckling to myself at my unfounded fear or relief, I walked over to the bed and shook my head. "I should've checked here first," but as my hand grasped the edge of the blanket, something in the back of my mind began to tickle. It was like one of those times when you hear the creepy music in a scary film that lets you know that something is about to jump out from behind a corner and scare the actor/audience. With that tickle I froze up and looked down at the sheets and scrutinized them. 'Wait a minute here. I know what's about to happen. She's probably hiding underneath the covers, just waiting for the un-expecting trucker to pull them back, just so she can jump out and frighten me. Well if that's her plan then I'm going to give her a surprise back.' With that I grabbed the blanket with my other hand and with a quick push flattened the blanket down upon her.

I was expecting to hear her cry out in shock and alarm at her own prank backfiring on her, but as I was chuckling to myself at how I'd outsmarted her, my chuckling slowly died down and eventually went into one of surprise/shock. Where I'd expected to find a single solitary lump where she'd be crouching down in the blanket, there was instead the outline/form of something much bigger. 'What the hell?!' I thought as I slowly backed away from the bed and took stock of what had to be some kind of joke or even greater prank that what I'd first expected. For instead of the small lump under the covers was actually the form of a person, and not just any person, a shape of what appeared to be someone half my height.

Several hundred questions ran through my mind at the sight, most bordering on what had happened last night or had I let someone sleep with me last night, but most of all I was drawing a blank to each of the questions running through my head. If the thought wasn't too outlandish I'm pretty sure that my mind threw that idea through my head at that moment, but just as quickly as they came they were dismissed as not being possible. After a while longer my mind finally settled on the thought that, somehow...someway, someone from the front desk must have let someone into my room during the night and climbed into bed with me. With that though firmly planted into my head, I lost the jumbled thoughts of fear and replaced it with ones of anger. Over the years my younger brother, who considered himself a chick magnet, would tease me at not even having a girlfriend and this is the kind of prank that he'd no doubt come up with. 'I don't know who this lady is but she's about to get a very rude awakening.' I thought to myself as I grabbed a double handful of the bottom portion of the sheets and gave a quick yank that cleared the bed of its sheets.

Time slowed down as I yanked the blankets off to my right, but what I expected to find under the bed was definably not some random women who'd snuck into my room during the night to snuggle with me, it was 'something' else entirely. The figure/person had the general shape of what someone might expect of that of a ten year old child, slightly budding but not fully a young woman, but after that the similarity to that of a human ended. Much of the things skin was light gray color while it's underarms and chest were colored in a kind of whitish gray color. It's limbs were slightly elongated while its fingers on its hands ended in long/flat fingers and its legs were double jointed to make it appear that they were digitigrade. Upon the things back were five fins to each of the things back which were colored in some kind a metallic sheen, a set of round/diamond shaped shades that looked to have been stretched out away from its face and affixed/apart of the wearers face, and the biggest shocker of all was that of a long tail protruding out of the things lower back that had the two more silver fins on either side of the tip.

I stared down at the thing for quite a while in a slight state of shock, just watching the thing lay there, apparently asleep. Who or what was this thing and where had it come from, were just a few of the questions that ran through my shocked mind? As my mind fought to keep me from falling/going into a full state of shock, I began to notice other things about the thing that'd spent the night in my bed. The first was that the thing looked to be asleep at the moment, since I could see its chest slowly rise and fall with each breath, and saw that the tips of its long tail twitch once it let out every breath. Though the thing remained asleep for the moment I began to slowly back away from it as I noticed that the thing was starting to show the first signs of it waking up. It started out with slight bigger/deeper breaths, movements that were a bit more defined as the body began to awaken its muscles, and finally the fluttering of the eyelids that signaled that the thing was definitely awake now.

Now that the thing was awake did it slowly turn its head towards me, and when its eyes saw me a smile crossed its face. "Oh...good morning. I hope that you slept as well as I did." Said a pleasant/happy voice that sounded like it'd come from a young girl. She then slowly sat up and rubbed at her eyes, but stopped a moment later and stared over at me.

"W...wha...what the heck are you!" I shouted as I finally hit my back against the furthest wall away from the bed.

"What are you talking about? It's me, Lugia." She said in her young girl's voice as she reached out towards me, but stopped when her eyes caught sight of her arm that was reaching towards me. "What in the...is...are those my..." She began to become lost in her own body, as if looking at it for the first time, and began to check herself all over. After what appeared to be forever did she finally turned back to me and gave me a very pleased smile. "Would you look at me. I've grown up." She said in a very excited/girlish tone, but that did little more than cause me to become more uneasy.

As she slowly lowered her new legs to the ground over the side of the bed and push herself up to standing, I pressed myself a little more into the wall in fear. Though as she stumbled around for a bit on unsteady legs, I couldn't help but take in the things appearance as well. It was upon the fifteenth look at the thing that I noticed it'd finally gotten the hang of standing on its new legs, did my fear slowly stop rising. That only lasted for a moment as the next the thing quickly focused on me again and quickly started to make its way over to me. "Would you look at me! I grew up!" The let out a squeal, then quickly rushed me.

At that moment my mind quickly switched to the fight or flight phase as I saw this large thing with its arms outstretched rushing towards me. Not knowing anything about what this thing was or what it was planning on doing with its arms out like they were, I quickly jumped aside at the last second and heard a loud thud behind me as I landed on my stomach. Slowly pushing myself up so that I was able to look over my shoulder did I see the thing slowly shake its head from colliding with the wall and turn to face me. The thing was holding the tips of its angular face in one of its long fingered hands and looking down at me with a confused look. "What's wrong? Why did you move?" She asked but I didn't answer her as I flipped over to my backside and quickly scooted, like a dog rubbing it's backside across the carpet, away from the thing; only stopping when I hit the opposite wall from the thing.

With a shaky arm, I pointed a solitary finger at the thing and tried to not show how scared I was at that moment. "What the heck are you?!" I shouted at the thing and it seemed that this time that the thing finally got the hint and looked at me in confusion.

"What are you talking about? It's me, Lugia."

"You're not Lugia. Lugia was a tiny little thing that pretended to be my alarm clock." I noticed that my words must have gotten through to the thing as its eyes began to widen and it began to look itself over once again. Once it finally stopped looking over its body, its gaze slowly rose up to look at me and a stunned realization crossed it facial features.

Placing its left hand over its chest and a shameful look in its eyes, I noticed that the thing was beginning to shake. "I know that I might look a little different now, but you must believe me, it's me...Lugia. I just...grew up a little is all."

I don't know how long it was that the two of us just looked at each other, but it wasn't until I started to see tears begin to moisten the things eyes that my fear began to break and turn into one of guilt. I mean, what if this really was Lugia just grown up a bit? As the transition slowly began to change from one to the other I could feel somewhere deep down that the way I was acting was only making things worse for what was possibly just a big misunderstanding. Finally all vestiges of fear had left me and were replaced by that of guilt and confusion. 'The pamphlet never said anything about her changing or 'Growing up'. If it did then all this could be...'

Slowly I got up from my sitting position and began to look beyond the mere exterior, but try as I might I really couldn't see any similarities that the two actually shared. I think the real problem was that I'd only known the tiny metallic Lugia for a couple of days and through those days I really hadn't gotten a chance to know her, but as I continued to look her over I began to notice that even though her body had changed I did see one resemblance. Slowly walking over to the tike, to which I stopped right in front of, I reached down and lifted her chin so that it was now looking up at me.

"What are you doing?" The tike asked as I could tell that in a few moments that if something wasn't done that it'd probably break down into tears.

"Your...eyes. I want to see your eyes." I told hit as I lifted its chin up a little more and stared into the soft watery blue orbs. As I looked into its eyes, its own would slightly shift a bit as if it couldn't track me or seeking out something in my own, but after a while I finally smiled. "There you are. I knew that if I looked into your eyes that I'd eventually find you."

It was at those few simple words that changed her sad tears into ones of glee. She sniffled a few times but after she'd stopped her tears I allowed her to come in close and the two of us shared a deep/long hug. It was strange at first, hugging her, as somewhere deep down it didn't feel like I was hugging someone I didn't know, rather it felt like I was hugging a little sister. Through all her tears of relief and such, I still couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness about the whole thing with her transformation, but knowing that the hug was helping to ease the tension between us made me feel a lot better about it all.

Feeling a little more like that of an older brother to her, I lifted her up in my arms which caused her to bury her face into my shoulder, walked over to the bed, and sat down upon the bed and allowed her to sit upon my lap like I was St. Nickolas listening to a child tell him what he or she would like for Christmas. Though as we sat there together, I couldn't help but notice something strange. "You know, for someone who's made out of circuitry and the like, you sure are light." With that said I couldn't help but laugh a bit and with that laugh the rest of my unease finally slipped away.

It must have been something about the comment that upset her, as she suddenly stopped her sniffles, lightly punched me in the opposite shoulder she'd been sniffling into and scrunched up her face as she looked up at me. "Hay now, are you calling me fat?!" To which I couldn't help but shake my head at. She didn't keep the scrunched up face for long as just as quickly as it'd come it changed to one of glee. "Though, I'm glad."

This got me a bit confused as I looked down at her, only to see that she'd turned her head down and was playing with her hands. "Why's that?"

She stopped playing with her hands and looked back at me out of the corner of her eye. "B...because you referred to me as 'someone', not...'something'." This got me to look at her in confusion for a bit, but as I saw her slowly turn and look at me, she gave me a quick smile before giving me a quick on my cheek. "That really means a lot to me."

(Several Hours Later)

It was later that night that found me sitting at the desk, pouring over the pamphlet once again, but my search through the pamphlet proved fruitless about Lugia's transformation. Slowly I leaned back in the desks chair, allowing it to lean back a bit, and then stared up at the ceiling. 'This is probably going to make matters a bit more interesting or complicated for us in the future.' I thought as I slowly looked over my shoulder at the bed and saw Lugia sitting there at the edge, sipping on a straw that was in a quart of oil. It was so strange looking at her now; she had the body of young girl, but the fact that she was drinking oil out of a quart bottle and had the skin tone of a fighter jet shattered that notion. Though as I watched her kick her feet every once in a while as she continued to watch some program on the television, the image of her just being a little girl was re-affirmed.

As I slowly righted the chair so that it was sitting upright again, I turned the chair so I was facing her. "I'm still at a bit of a loss as to how you changed so much, overnight. I mean, last night you were just this little thing that could've fit in the palm of my hand, but now..." I raised up a solitary hand and motioned at her whole being.

Lugia slowly turned her head to look over at me, as she took another sip of her drink, and the feeling of her resembling a cute younger sister seemed to almost cement itself in my mind. As she slowly lowered her drink while cocking her head to the side in confusion, she jumped down off the bed, and walked over to stand beside me. Placing her drink down upon the desk she lifted herself up on her tip-toes and looked over at the pamphlet sitting in the middle of the desk's surface. "I guess from what you said, that the pamphlet doesn't say anything about it?" To which I shrugged and sighed at the same time. She reached on up, took down the pamphlet, and then walked over to sit on the edge of the bed once more. "I'm sure that there has to be something about it somewhere in here. I mean, the old man wouldn't leave something as important as that out of the pamphlet." Her legs began to kick again as she began to flip through the pamphlet.

As she looked over the pamphlet I couldn't help but turn and look over at the quart of oil. Picking it up a bit I took a curious sniff of its contents, but blanched a bit at the thought of taking a sip of the stuff. Because of the blanch, my shoulder gave a sudden twinge of pain and I couldn't suppress a twinge of pain. Setting the bottle down upon the edge of the desk again I turned my focus back to my shoulder and scowled down at it. It'd been a few days since the injury and the pain had greatly lessened in the time, but as it was still a bit tender. I had to admit that it was feeling a lot better, but certain movements would cause the injury to flare up once in a while. The doctor said that it'd probably be a while before I got the full range of my movements back, and in the meantime I'd have to keep stretching and working around the pain. After a few more stretches I finally relaxed and turned back to Lugia to see that she had a bit of a surprised look on her face. "What is it? Did you find something interesting?" I asked as I got up out of my chair, sat down next to her, and looked at the pamphlet over her shoulder.

"I guess you could say that." She said as she handed over the pamphlet to me with her thumb in-between two pages. "I found the pages that you were looking for."

Taking the pamphlet from her, I gave her a confused look. "Then why do you sound like that is a bad thing?" To which she simply pointed at a certain part on one of the pages and let out a sigh of discomfort.

"You'll understand when you read the next part." After she'd said that she hopped off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. I was about to follow after her but stopped myself when I heard the sound of the door closing and the sound of the lock being engaged. Feeling a bit concerned about her actions I was about to get up and see if she was alright, but hearing the lock being engaged meant that she probably wanted her privacy right now. Figuring that whatever had upset her was on the page that she'd indicated, I turned my attention back to the pamphlet and began to read what it said.

Upon the page that she'd indicated or held with her long/thin thumb was a new heading/title that I hadn't previously noticed the night before when I'd stayed up late that night to read through the thing. 'Growth and Changes,' was the title and as I looked at it I had the nagging suspicion that this was some new chapter that I hadn't noticed or read the night previous. Placing my thumb in-between the pages like Lugia had done before, I turned back to the front of the pamphlet and noticed that in the table of contents there was a new section/chapter to it. Turning back to the new section/chapter I began to read.

'Congratulations owner,' were the first words and somewhere deep within me I felt a slight twinge at the word, 'owner.' 'Your new friend has undergone a miraculous metamorphosis to which should bring you many hours of fun and excitement. With this new development it is my hope that you will spend many of the next hours exploring and learning about your new companions capabilities and uses.' There it was again, he was referring to her as nothing more than as some...thing/tool and I was beginning to get the notion why she'd seemed to upset after she'd found the new part to this pamphlet. 'As you've not doubt noticed, the first of which is a change in size and shape. This will allow her to better interact with you and your world.' Though as I paused in thought at what it'd just said, I couldn't help but wonder how she'd be able to better interact with me and my world. I mean, it was true that she had a slight resemblance to that of a little girl and all, but a little girl that had a face of a Lugia and gray skin would probably not be able to fit into the world all that well, as a kid with that kind of a face and skin tone would no doubt attract a lot of unwanted attention. 'You are no doubt wondering about how this might be possible and to that I'm glad you ask. One of its new abilities will be to mask itself into the guise of whatever it chooses. In simple terms, it can change its appearance to such a degree that it will appear as anything that you wish it to.' I thought about that for a bit and a mental image of her losing more of her metallic Lugia look and gaining or looking more like that of a small/young girl popped into my mind.

The pamphlet went on for a while longer, explaining a few other things, but somewhere in the back of my mind I couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with Lugia. She seemed pretty upset about what the pamphlet was saying and after reading it, it was no wonder she'd not been happy at what it said. Placing the pamphlet down upon the bed I walked over to the bathroom door and gave it a light knock. "Lugia, are you alright in there?" After waiting for a few seconds for a reply, I knocked a little louder, but was met with still no reply from within. "Lugia, you seemed pretty upset after you read what was on the pamphlet. Was it something in there that made upset?"

"It's not so much that it made me upset, it was just...it gave me something I needed to think about is all." A bit of worry left me then, but I was still concerned about her as her voice still sounded a bit down.

"Alright then, is there anything you want me to get for you? Something to drink or eat perhaps." Out of the corner of my eye I could see the bottle/quart of oil sitting at the edge of the desk as well as the rest of the CD's sitting on the other corner.

"Actually...I was wondering if you could pick me up something to wear." To which I couldn't help but slowly raise an eyebrow at, and with the realization from her request, both my eyebrows rose and I pulled back from the door in shock. Ever since her growth spurt, she'd not been wearing a single stitch of clothing and her realizing that fact must have surprised her. With realization that she hadn't had a stitch of clothing on her this whole time I finally understood why she'd gone straight for the bathroom and locked herself within.

"Something to wear, um...wha...what did you have in mind?" I asked, trying to keep the unease about my previous thoughts out of my mind.

"Umm....Probably some kind of dress. One of those big sun dresses."

I paused in thought for a bit as I thought about that and a strange notion came over me. "I know that this might sound like a weird question, but do you know about what kind of size I should get? I mean, I know I should get something for you now, but maybe I should get something a bit bigger, just in case you grow again."

"Umm...yeah, you're probably right. Why don't you get something for both me now and in case I grow again." Came her reply as I nodded to that.

With that I nodded again and took another few steps back from the door. "Alright then, I'll probably be an hour or two. Will you be alright in the mean-time?" To which I didn't hear a reply to, but nodded in thinking that her silence meant yes. "Alright then, if you're sure. I'll just leave my cellphone number on the desk and if you think of anything else you need, just give me a call and I'll see what I can do." About thirty minutes and a phone-call later, I was in a cab heading for the nearest clothing store.

As the cabby took a turn down another street, my mind was a-buzz with several different questions. What kind of dresses should I get her, what sizes would fit her, etc...though the biggest of all, could I get away with buying kids cloths that wouldn't make me look like a weirdo or something. As the cabby finally pulled up in front of a clothing store he turned to look over at me from the front seats. "That'll be $15.20." To which I simply paid in in a twenty and got out without collecting my change. Once I'd stepped out of the cab did I look up and see that the cabby had dropped me off in front of a second hand clothing store, one of those that get the types of cloths that nobody really wants or the ones that were sent to too many stores. With a shrug and a long exhale I went inside.

I eventually emerged from the store with a few different articles of clothing and a couple of sun dresses for Lugia. 'I just hope that she likes the kinds that I got for her, otherwise I'll probably be making a return trip here tomorrow,' I thought as I looked over my shoulder at the store and smiled in relief. After shopping around a bit, my mind finally settled onto a great idea for purchasing the dresses, to which I just told the cashier I was buying the dresses for a niece that I just learned I had and was going to see her on her birthday. The cashier had been really helpful in pointing out a few ideas for a couple of extra purchases, matching shoes, jewelry, sun hat, and with all that I gratefully accepted her help and ended up purchasing quite a lot of things besides just the one dress I'd been asked to get. Putting the bags down, as my shoulder was starting to ache; I massaged that shoulder and awaited the cabby to pick me up. Though as I waited for the cabby to arrive my mind began to drift off and thoughts about possibly picking her up some more CD's or other computer components crossed my mind as well.

After a few more stops and such, I finally ended up back at the hotel and sighed in relief. By this time my shoulder was really starting to hurt and I knew that I'd have to ice it again in order to keep the swelling down and allow the thing to heal properly. Though through the pain of my shoulder I couldn't help but smile at the mental image of how Lugia would be not only happy to see my return but also that of the things I'd bought/purchased for her. Though that train of thought was roughly interrupted when my shoulder gave a sudden twinge and my arm went completely numb. Letting out a few choice curses at the pain and my own stupidity I was about ready to kick the bags when the doors to the place opened and the clerk behind the counter came out with the luggage cart. "It looks like you could use some help." She said in a very kind/caring voice that made me return the smile that she was giving me.

It was thanks to her help that I was able to get all my things onto the cart and as I was pushing it towards my room, the two of us began to talk. It started off simply enough, how I'd broken/dislocated my arm to things about my family and work. By the time I'd realized what was going on, an hour had passed and I needed to stop in to check up on Lugia. "I'm sorry but I've got to put these things away." I told her and as I stood up and looked down at her I could honestly see a bit of disappointment in her eyes; almost like she was sorry to see me go. "Maybe we can chat later?" I asked her to which seemed to brighten her mood a bit and she happily nodded to that. Though as I walked over to my room, pushing the luggage cart full of my day's purchases, did I notice that she was following me. At first I thought that she was just going to help me with the door or something, but as she followed me into the room and just stood there just inside the room, I turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Um...thanks for helping me with the door and all. I think I can get the rest." But as I looked at her she seemed to take on a neutral look on her face, and I began to get the distinct impression that something was wrong here. It was after a few moments that she slowly lowered her head and spoke something that was barely above that of a whisper. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" To which she nodded.

"I asked, 'Do you like me'." She said in a bit more of a louder voice that caused me to be taken aback a bit.

It was then that I began to feel a bit uncomfortable with the way I thought that this conversation was going. I mean, I'd heard of situations like this before, where a girl falls in love at first sight, but being a guy who hadn't had a date in who knows how many years, it felt very strange. I knew that my younger brother would've probably taken advantage of the situation right then and there, to which he'd hook up with her and probably have her doing the horizontal bump that night, but for me I just stared at her in dumbfounded silence. It wasn't until my arm gave a sudden twinge that brought my mind back into gear and my breathing to start working. "Look, miss. I'm sure that you're a really nice person and all, but I'm probably not the right guy for you." I walked over to the door, opened it with my good arm and stepped aside. "I'm a truck driver and I know that you're probably looking for someone who'll be there for you a lot more than I can be. So why don't we save each other the heartache and end this before anything really has a chance to start."

It was a harsh truth, but one I'd had to come to terms with a while back. Most girls were looking for a guy who'd be there to comfort them in their time of need, and not be gone for weeks or months at a time. I mean, in terms of length of being gone from the ones we love, we're almost as bad as the ones sent overseas to fight in foreign wars. With that said and done I opened the door and stood aside, but what happened next really surprised me. As out of the corner of my eye I could see someone at the front desk/lobby and with the confusion of someone being there when the attendant was here I turned and looked towards the counter. What I saw there shocked me nearly to my core as there wasn't someone new at the desk; it was the same person that was standing right there in the room with me.

Slowly my gaze turned and took in the person standing in front of me. Doing a few double takes, I was able to match up shirts, hair styles, etc...and all the time getting more and more scared/confused/and totally befuddled. It wasn't until I finally stopped and stared at the occupant of my room when I saw her raise her head and look me in the eyes.

A pair of light blue eyes stared back at me and somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered... 'Lugia?'