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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
disclaimer and notes in part 1.
‘Where do you think they came from? It must be a faraway place. Did you not see the clothes they were dressed in Ívar? Expensive! I’ll bet they’re royalty or something; he looks like he could be a prince.’
‘Kristín, focus!’ came a sharp hiss. ‘You are a Carer, chosen by the Elders for this task. What would happen if they came in here and found you neglecting your responsibilities?’
Frowning a little, he dipped the cloth in water, wrung it and continued to sponge the woman’s feverish forehead. Ívar had found her and the men some five days ago, unconscious and buried beneath a layer of snow and debris from the plane as well as the outer town fence. He’d bolted down the street, across the yard and into the local church, alerting Father Gu?jón and his older brother Baddi to the unexpected visitors. Together they had carefully extracted the three bodies from the wreckage and sought shelter within the walls of the church, watching as the snow storm raged on.
It wasn’t until the next evening that the storm had temporarily ceased, allowing the three to venture out into the cold night to call for assistance from the other townsfolk. With oil lanterns and canvas stretchers, a group of eight men slowly trudged through the unmarked snow, transporting the foreigners to the small hospital across town.
And so, for the last four days, he and another Carer had kept a vigil, taking care of the two – for one had died before the group arrived at the hospital – as pyrexia ravaged their bodies during the day and nightmares disturbed their slumber at night.
‘I don’t even know why you were picked from a selection of many other, more qualified people, Kristín. You do nothing but sit there and daydream, ignoring your patient as he cries out in his sleep.’
‘Oh, stop your whining Ívar! The only reason you got chosen was because you found them; you have no real credentials beside your name,’ she replied, poking out her tongue. Ívar was her cousin from her father’s side, barely two years older than she, and a true pain in the neck. He always liked to find opportunities where he could order her around like a slave, simply because he had no sisters of his own to annoy instead. It irritated her to no end.
‘You only got this job because your father convinced the Elders to give you a second chance after the incident with the goats,’ Ívar retorted. Her mouth formed a small O, remembering the trouble she had caused the last time she’d been handed responsibility. Feeling sorry for his cousin, Ívar tried to give her a sympathetic smile. ‘It was an easy mistake; any one of us could have made it. If you want to prove your worth to the Elders, show them the good you’re capable of, and skills such as focus.’
Confused by the last remark, Kristín followed the direction of the older boy’s gaze, suddenly realizing that her fingers were playfully twirling a strand of her charge’s hair. She blushed slightly and pulled her hand away, returning to the task of bringing down the foreigner’s temperature.
‘What? He’s got silky hair.’
.
Just as Sydney was about to leave, the shrill ringing of the phone delayed his departure. He rushed over to the machine and answered, desperately hoping the person he had come searching for was on the other side of the connection.
‘Miss Parker, is that you?’
‘Sydney?’ came a puzzled voice.
‘Jarod?’
‘Yes. What are you doing at Miss Parker’s house? And where is she? I’ve been calling her for the last few days, but she hasn’t been answering,’ he admitted, an exasperated tone barely concealed in his voice.
The psychiatrist sighed heavily and plopped himself onto the couch with a small thud, forefinger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘She’s missing Jarod. Miss Parker and Mr Lyle have yet to return from their trip to Iceland.’
‘Iceland,’ Jarod repeated slowly, making sure he was getting the right information. ‘They’re lost in Iceland?’
‘Apparently so. You didn’t know? I’m certain they were following a lead on you up there.’
He shook his head against the cellular placed beside his ear, but the words he spoke were contrary to his action. ‘Oh, yes, I remember now. Iceland. That was quite a while ago Syd; the lead is surely out of date. But I have heard recent weather reports predicting snowstorms for that region, so, perhaps they’ve been delayed by bad weather and are waiting for it to clear up before flying back?’
‘But she hasn’t called.’
‘Well, maybe the phone connections are down,’ Jarod rationalized while popping a PEZ candy into his mouth. ‘I’m sure Miss Parker’s just fine Sydney. It’s Mr Lyle you’ll probably have to worry about. Who knows what kind of torture our dear Miss Parker has unleashed onto him by now.’
Sydney chuckled, thoughts of the feisty brunette unloading her seemingly boundless anger upon her poor brother bringing a small grin to his aging face. ‘You’re right Jarod,’ he agreed, standing up and smoothing out the creases in his suit. ‘I’m overreacting. They’re probably waiting for a flight, or maybe even on their way back right now.’
‘Exactly. So go home and get some rest Sydney. It’s almost one in the morning.’
With his mood lifted slightly, Sydney terminated the call by replacing the receiver on the hook. Surveying his colleague’s living room once more, he reluctantly made his exit, carefully locking the door behind him.
On the other side of the previous phone call, Jarod threw his cellular onto the bed in his motel room, and began to pack his belongings. Despite having reassured his former mentor of the two adults’ safety, he could not shake the uneasiness that stirred from deep within the pit of his stomach.
Lyle’s jumping the gun; I’m certain he wasn’t planning to go underground this soon. What the hell does he think he’s doing? Something must be terribly wrong .
.
The nurse poked her head through the doorway, checking up on the two young adults. She was glad to see that they were both still up, by their respective posts like responsible Carers. Perhaps they hadn’t been such bad choices after all.
Even though the room wasn’t large, it wasn’t too roomy either. Against the east wall stood four narrow beds, of which only two were occupied, a medium-sized double-layered window in the north one covered up by thick brown curtains. The only light source came from a burning oil lamp, placed upon a table in between the two middle beds, its yellowish orange flickering fingers climbing all over the walls and furniture, creating a moody atmosphere. Ívar and Kristín sat upon wicker chairs at the end of the foreigners’ beds, observing the two for any signs of improvement.
The woman’s fever had gone down a couple of degrees during the early hours of the evening, but the man’s temperature lingered round the 102şF mark. Neither had awoken since arriving at the hospital, locked within their tormented dreams. This caused only to fuel everyone’s desire to learn more about the strangers who had invaded their quiet town almost a week ago. All that was known about them was they had come from a long way south, mostly like near Núpssta?ur farm – they were the only ones with planes not unlike the one which had crashed through the town’s southern gate, used more for flight lessons rather than tours.
The silence of the cold winter night began to scratch at Ívar’s nerves, his eyes starting to droop despite many attempts to keep them wide open. He glanced over at his cousin, softly cursing her as he realized she had just closed her eyes and fallen fast asleep.
As he stood up to walk over and wake the girl, the woman stirred in her bed, crying out for a person named Thomas. Just then, her eyelids suddenly flew open and she bolted upright, and he was greeted with two pale blue eyes, devoid of any warmth or emotion. Her beauty took his breath away; he could perceive great knowledge from her stare, and yet, there was an air of innocent also.
Slowly walking towards the patient, he gradually made his way round the bed so that he was standing next to her, but before any words could escape his lips, he was cut off by the sharp tone of her voice.
‘Don’t come any closer! Stay where you are!’
She spoke Trade. Although not surprising, it would prove to be interesting on his account. ‘It is all right. I am here to help.’
‘Help me?’ Miss Parker asked incredulously, ‘well, you can damn well start off by telling me where I am and what the hell happened. God, I have a splitting headache,’ she added, the pounding in her head growing stronger with each passing moment.
Ívar cleared out his throat. ‘I know not much of you or the man you come here with,’ he nudged his head in the direction of Kristín’s charge, ‘but you had an accident in the plane, and crashed into our fence. We had to bring you here, to hospital, but Prestur Gu?jón, he buried the older one who died in the snow.’
A montage of memories flashed through her mind, and she faintly remembered the pilot yelling something about the light plane having problems. She nodded, not really listening to what the boy had to say, and sluggishly surveyed the room, her eyes coming to rest on the sleeping body of her brother. And irrational and odd sense of fear overwhelmed her at that moment, afraid for some reason, that Lyle was the one who died despite what she’d just heard. Throwing back the blanket, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood up, and gave a yelp of pain as her weak legs gave way beneath her. Luckily, Ívar was standing close enough to catch her in his arms, the close proximity almost sending him crashing to the ground in an inebriated haze.
Gently laying her down again, he explained to her that although there was no serious damage, she had twisted her left ankle while also fracturing one of her wrists, and gathering an assortment of cuts and bruises during the plane crash. Miss Parker let out a low growl, knowing she’d have to stay put for a while if her injuries were to heal properly. However, looking over at Lyle, her injuries seemed to pale in comparison to the dislocated shoulder, fractured ribs and mild concussion he had received.
‘How about giving me a name?’ Miss Parker demanded after a short pause, the reality of her current situation finally beginning to sink in. She and Lyle were lost, stranded in some remote town in an icecap of a country, injured, and somebody had changed her clothes. ‘Where are my clothes? Did you change them too? You little pervert!’
‘My name is Ívar,’ he replied, ‘and no, I did not .. I did not change your clothes. The nurse did.’ He blushed at the accusation, but Miss Parker hardly noticed due to the poor lighting.
‘You may address me as Miss Parker, nothing more, nothing less,’ she said with as much authority as she could muster. Just because she was injured did not mean she would allow others to fuss over and make decisions for her. ‘Great, now I need to pee.’
The young Carer’s face became puzzled. ‘Pee?’ He was unfamiliar with the term, and therefore could not grant his patient’s request.
‘You know, as in urinate, go to the bathroom,’ she almost yelled, refraining herself from grabbing hold of his neck and wringing it like a towel. ‘Damnit, I have to pee now!’
‘Ah, I understand. Let me get bedpan for you.’
The woman’s eyes widened with shock and repulsion, her jaw dropping as though it were unhinged from the rest of her face. ‘No! Absolutely not! You can forget it!’ she practically screamed, awakening the sleeping Kristín. Ívar rolled his eyes and suppressed a moan. Already he could see that this Miss Parker was a tough woman, and was positive that she was going to make the rest of her stay very difficult for him and anyone else unfortunate enough to cross their paths.
TBC
‘Where do you think they came from? It must be a faraway place. Did you not see the clothes they were dressed in Ívar? Expensive! I’ll bet they’re royalty or something; he looks like he could be a prince.’
‘Kristín, focus!’ came a sharp hiss. ‘You are a Carer, chosen by the Elders for this task. What would happen if they came in here and found you neglecting your responsibilities?’
Frowning a little, he dipped the cloth in water, wrung it and continued to sponge the woman’s feverish forehead. Ívar had found her and the men some five days ago, unconscious and buried beneath a layer of snow and debris from the plane as well as the outer town fence. He’d bolted down the street, across the yard and into the local church, alerting Father Gu?jón and his older brother Baddi to the unexpected visitors. Together they had carefully extracted the three bodies from the wreckage and sought shelter within the walls of the church, watching as the snow storm raged on.
It wasn’t until the next evening that the storm had temporarily ceased, allowing the three to venture out into the cold night to call for assistance from the other townsfolk. With oil lanterns and canvas stretchers, a group of eight men slowly trudged through the unmarked snow, transporting the foreigners to the small hospital across town.
And so, for the last four days, he and another Carer had kept a vigil, taking care of the two – for one had died before the group arrived at the hospital – as pyrexia ravaged their bodies during the day and nightmares disturbed their slumber at night.
‘I don’t even know why you were picked from a selection of many other, more qualified people, Kristín. You do nothing but sit there and daydream, ignoring your patient as he cries out in his sleep.’
‘Oh, stop your whining Ívar! The only reason you got chosen was because you found them; you have no real credentials beside your name,’ she replied, poking out her tongue. Ívar was her cousin from her father’s side, barely two years older than she, and a true pain in the neck. He always liked to find opportunities where he could order her around like a slave, simply because he had no sisters of his own to annoy instead. It irritated her to no end.
‘You only got this job because your father convinced the Elders to give you a second chance after the incident with the goats,’ Ívar retorted. Her mouth formed a small O, remembering the trouble she had caused the last time she’d been handed responsibility. Feeling sorry for his cousin, Ívar tried to give her a sympathetic smile. ‘It was an easy mistake; any one of us could have made it. If you want to prove your worth to the Elders, show them the good you’re capable of, and skills such as focus.’
Confused by the last remark, Kristín followed the direction of the older boy’s gaze, suddenly realizing that her fingers were playfully twirling a strand of her charge’s hair. She blushed slightly and pulled her hand away, returning to the task of bringing down the foreigner’s temperature.
‘What? He’s got silky hair.’
.
Just as Sydney was about to leave, the shrill ringing of the phone delayed his departure. He rushed over to the machine and answered, desperately hoping the person he had come searching for was on the other side of the connection.
‘Miss Parker, is that you?’
‘Sydney?’ came a puzzled voice.
‘Jarod?’
‘Yes. What are you doing at Miss Parker’s house? And where is she? I’ve been calling her for the last few days, but she hasn’t been answering,’ he admitted, an exasperated tone barely concealed in his voice.
The psychiatrist sighed heavily and plopped himself onto the couch with a small thud, forefinger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘She’s missing Jarod. Miss Parker and Mr Lyle have yet to return from their trip to Iceland.’
‘Iceland,’ Jarod repeated slowly, making sure he was getting the right information. ‘They’re lost in Iceland?’
‘Apparently so. You didn’t know? I’m certain they were following a lead on you up there.’
He shook his head against the cellular placed beside his ear, but the words he spoke were contrary to his action. ‘Oh, yes, I remember now. Iceland. That was quite a while ago Syd; the lead is surely out of date. But I have heard recent weather reports predicting snowstorms for that region, so, perhaps they’ve been delayed by bad weather and are waiting for it to clear up before flying back?’
‘But she hasn’t called.’
‘Well, maybe the phone connections are down,’ Jarod rationalized while popping a PEZ candy into his mouth. ‘I’m sure Miss Parker’s just fine Sydney. It’s Mr Lyle you’ll probably have to worry about. Who knows what kind of torture our dear Miss Parker has unleashed onto him by now.’
Sydney chuckled, thoughts of the feisty brunette unloading her seemingly boundless anger upon her poor brother bringing a small grin to his aging face. ‘You’re right Jarod,’ he agreed, standing up and smoothing out the creases in his suit. ‘I’m overreacting. They’re probably waiting for a flight, or maybe even on their way back right now.’
‘Exactly. So go home and get some rest Sydney. It’s almost one in the morning.’
With his mood lifted slightly, Sydney terminated the call by replacing the receiver on the hook. Surveying his colleague’s living room once more, he reluctantly made his exit, carefully locking the door behind him.
On the other side of the previous phone call, Jarod threw his cellular onto the bed in his motel room, and began to pack his belongings. Despite having reassured his former mentor of the two adults’ safety, he could not shake the uneasiness that stirred from deep within the pit of his stomach.
Lyle’s jumping the gun; I’m certain he wasn’t planning to go underground this soon. What the hell does he think he’s doing? Something must be terribly wrong .
.
The nurse poked her head through the doorway, checking up on the two young adults. She was glad to see that they were both still up, by their respective posts like responsible Carers. Perhaps they hadn’t been such bad choices after all.
Even though the room wasn’t large, it wasn’t too roomy either. Against the east wall stood four narrow beds, of which only two were occupied, a medium-sized double-layered window in the north one covered up by thick brown curtains. The only light source came from a burning oil lamp, placed upon a table in between the two middle beds, its yellowish orange flickering fingers climbing all over the walls and furniture, creating a moody atmosphere. Ívar and Kristín sat upon wicker chairs at the end of the foreigners’ beds, observing the two for any signs of improvement.
The woman’s fever had gone down a couple of degrees during the early hours of the evening, but the man’s temperature lingered round the 102şF mark. Neither had awoken since arriving at the hospital, locked within their tormented dreams. This caused only to fuel everyone’s desire to learn more about the strangers who had invaded their quiet town almost a week ago. All that was known about them was they had come from a long way south, mostly like near Núpssta?ur farm – they were the only ones with planes not unlike the one which had crashed through the town’s southern gate, used more for flight lessons rather than tours.
The silence of the cold winter night began to scratch at Ívar’s nerves, his eyes starting to droop despite many attempts to keep them wide open. He glanced over at his cousin, softly cursing her as he realized she had just closed her eyes and fallen fast asleep.
As he stood up to walk over and wake the girl, the woman stirred in her bed, crying out for a person named Thomas. Just then, her eyelids suddenly flew open and she bolted upright, and he was greeted with two pale blue eyes, devoid of any warmth or emotion. Her beauty took his breath away; he could perceive great knowledge from her stare, and yet, there was an air of innocent also.
Slowly walking towards the patient, he gradually made his way round the bed so that he was standing next to her, but before any words could escape his lips, he was cut off by the sharp tone of her voice.
‘Don’t come any closer! Stay where you are!’
She spoke Trade. Although not surprising, it would prove to be interesting on his account. ‘It is all right. I am here to help.’
‘Help me?’ Miss Parker asked incredulously, ‘well, you can damn well start off by telling me where I am and what the hell happened. God, I have a splitting headache,’ she added, the pounding in her head growing stronger with each passing moment.
Ívar cleared out his throat. ‘I know not much of you or the man you come here with,’ he nudged his head in the direction of Kristín’s charge, ‘but you had an accident in the plane, and crashed into our fence. We had to bring you here, to hospital, but Prestur Gu?jón, he buried the older one who died in the snow.’
A montage of memories flashed through her mind, and she faintly remembered the pilot yelling something about the light plane having problems. She nodded, not really listening to what the boy had to say, and sluggishly surveyed the room, her eyes coming to rest on the sleeping body of her brother. And irrational and odd sense of fear overwhelmed her at that moment, afraid for some reason, that Lyle was the one who died despite what she’d just heard. Throwing back the blanket, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood up, and gave a yelp of pain as her weak legs gave way beneath her. Luckily, Ívar was standing close enough to catch her in his arms, the close proximity almost sending him crashing to the ground in an inebriated haze.
Gently laying her down again, he explained to her that although there was no serious damage, she had twisted her left ankle while also fracturing one of her wrists, and gathering an assortment of cuts and bruises during the plane crash. Miss Parker let out a low growl, knowing she’d have to stay put for a while if her injuries were to heal properly. However, looking over at Lyle, her injuries seemed to pale in comparison to the dislocated shoulder, fractured ribs and mild concussion he had received.
‘How about giving me a name?’ Miss Parker demanded after a short pause, the reality of her current situation finally beginning to sink in. She and Lyle were lost, stranded in some remote town in an icecap of a country, injured, and somebody had changed her clothes. ‘Where are my clothes? Did you change them too? You little pervert!’
‘My name is Ívar,’ he replied, ‘and no, I did not .. I did not change your clothes. The nurse did.’ He blushed at the accusation, but Miss Parker hardly noticed due to the poor lighting.
‘You may address me as Miss Parker, nothing more, nothing less,’ she said with as much authority as she could muster. Just because she was injured did not mean she would allow others to fuss over and make decisions for her. ‘Great, now I need to pee.’
The young Carer’s face became puzzled. ‘Pee?’ He was unfamiliar with the term, and therefore could not grant his patient’s request.
‘You know, as in urinate, go to the bathroom,’ she almost yelled, refraining herself from grabbing hold of his neck and wringing it like a towel. ‘Damnit, I have to pee now!’
‘Ah, I understand. Let me get bedpan for you.’
The woman’s eyes widened with shock and repulsion, her jaw dropping as though it were unhinged from the rest of her face. ‘No! Absolutely not! You can forget it!’ she practically screamed, awakening the sleeping Kristín. Ívar rolled his eyes and suppressed a moan. Already he could see that this Miss Parker was a tough woman, and was positive that she was going to make the rest of her stay very difficult for him and anyone else unfortunate enough to cross their paths.
TBC
