A World Away

Author: Kolibri Halliwell

E-mail:

Rating: PG-13 or R, I'm not sure.

Characters:

Isabella Mordena, 18.

Jack Thornton Parker, 21.

Richard Thornton

Theresa Thornton

Regina Mordena

And more...

Places:

Portale (Italy)

San Fransisco

Chicago

The story:

Thousand years ago (more precise time: year 1012), a girl by the name Isabella who was living in a small village by the name Portale (that's later going to be a part of Italy) is dreaming a dream that will never come true.

Jack who lives in the modern time (2002) has just moved to San Fransisco from Chicago to try to find a life of his own.

The both of them are unhappy for different reasons and they have given up on love. But then, when Jack wakes up one night, everything changes.

Part One.

Sliding into infinity.

A nightingale shot through the clear blue sky and made an elegant turn to avoid the tower of the village Portale's church. The sun was shining down the almost empty and dusty streets.

Everything was quiet, you couldn't hear a thing. Not even the wind was blowing and there was an incredible heat in the air. The few plants that were still around looked as if they were dead.

A raven screamed out from one of the rooftops and broke the silence. He flied away when he saw the girl who was slowly strolling down the street. She looked like a vision, like a bright angel in the city of Death. Her long, blond and untidy hair was lying peacefully on her back, it moved slightly up a bit every time she took a step. Her bright blue eyes were sparkling like sapphires. Her skin was tan and she wasn't wearing anything but a very simple and a little torn white dress that reached to her knees. She was barefoot, but didn't seem to think about stepping carefully when she walked down the dusty and non-asphalted street. She didn't even look around, she seemed to be used to the silence that surrounded her.

She continued to walk until she reached something that seemed to be the centre of the village. The centre of the village was a well. It was made out of stone and when the girl looked down in it, she could spot some rather dirty looking water at the bottom. Monotoneously, as if she had done this hundred times before, she took the bucket that was placed on the edge of the well and that was also hanging in a rope. She lowered the bucket down to the bottom of the well and filled it with water. Then she brought it up again, lifted it up with her both hands and began to carry it back down the street again as carefully as possible, trying not to spill out the water.

She walked for about ten minutes, turning into several alleys until she reached the last house of the village. It was rather small and it was made out of straw and mud. Instead of a door there was an empty hole and another, smaller hole on the side that was obviously used for a window. Just before the girl was about to walk into the house, she heard a weak moan that was coming from it.

"Bella." the moan was repeated. It was definitely the voice of a very weak and old woman.

The girl had to control her shaking hands and not to spill out the water. She laid the bucket in the middle of the street as quickly as she could and hurried herself into the house.

As she entered it, she had to stay still for a moment to adjust herself to the darkness in the room. Only then she saw the silhouette of an old woman who was lying on the ground besides a bed in one corner.

"Mama!", the girl screamed and kneeled down besides the woman, taking her by her hand.

The woman, who had been lying on the ground as if she was dead, slowly opened her eyes and looked up.

"Bella." the woman whispered again, but the whisper was interrupted by a whole series of coughing. The woman brought her hand up to her mouth as she coughed and when she took it away, she had blood on it and in the corners of her mouth. The woman's face was white as a sheet and she looked more like a scull, a walking skeleton than a live human being.

The girls eyes filled with tears as she helped the woman to get up and lay back in the bed. She tried to wipe them away as she walked back outside to get the bucket.

As she brought it back inside, she tried to find something, some kind of a clean clothe to use with the water on and to be able to put it on her mothers forehead, make her suffer a little less. She didn't find anything and finally had to rip off a bit of her own dress. She dipped the piece of clothe in the bucket that was filled with water, kneeled down besides her mother who was lying on the bed of straw. Then she brought the clothe up to her mothers forehead, wiping off some of the sweat and cooling her down. The woman was already lying in the bed with her eyes closed and her breath was becoming more regular.

Isabella's heart was aching as she cleaned off the blood around her mothers mouth.

She was dying and Bella knew it. She didn't know how long time it would take but she knew that it would happen, sooner or later. She was fearing for that day, that day when she would wake up and found her mother dead, the blood pouring from her mouth.

She closed her eyes and tried to make the despicable image go away, she hated it, she hated everything that had to do with it.

A tear ran down her cheek as she dipped the clothe in the bucket and put it to her mothers forehead once again, it had already become dry. She had a great fever and even if her breathing was regular now, it was heavy and she could see how every breath drained her mothers strength.

Isabella continued to take care of her mother for a while, then she stood up, leaving the clothe on her mothers forehead and walked out of the house again. She sat down on the ground right outside and leaned her back against the wall of the house, wrapping her arms around her knees. She lowered her head and cried softly, frantically trying to wipe the tears away at the same time but failed. Her clear blue eyes filled with tears yet again and again and finally she just gave up, she let them fall.

After a while, when the sun had already moved a bit down the sky, she looked up and her eyes wandered around the deserted village with an empty expression.

The village had been deserted for quite some time now, Isabella didn't know for how long exactly, she had lost count of the days a long time ago. Everyone had been running away, everyone one of them when the plague had hit the village. Everyone ran away or died. Everyone except Isabella and her mother. Her mother was already sick and Isabella refused to leave her, to let her die like this.

No one knew why Isabella wasn't effected by the plague, she didn't know that herself and she didn't even think about that much. All she cared about anymore was her mother and how to make her last days here on Earth comfortable. Her dedication to her mother was incredible, but maybe that wasn't so hard to understand. Her father was killed when she was three and she had hardly any memories of him. Her mother had told her that he had been a very nice man, tall and dark haired, good of nature. He had loved her, her mother said. He had loved Isabella very much, he had even called her his querida and his angel.

He was killed in an attack when a few warriors had attacked the village and had wanted to take it over. He was one of the first to run and defend it.

He had died the death of a true hero. The warrior had stabbed him with his sword, right in his chest, the area of the heart. He was dead before he even fell down to the ground.

Isabella didn't remember this, she only found this out from her mother. All she could remember was the incredible feeling of terrible, heart breaking sorrow.

But the death of her father had somehow made her stronger. Even if her looks were angel-like, she had always been a strong woman with a strong heart. She hardly ever spoke but when she did she spoke with wisdom and knowledge. Her voice enchanted the people of the village and when she spoke, they listened. She was reading old scripts and everything she could get to.

Isabella never even looked at the village boys, even if they could hardly take their eyes of her. But she didn't even seem to notice them, all she ever cared about was her family and the possibilities of a greater, a better life, the life of people she had been reading about in the scripts, heroes who did good deeds, maidens who sacrificed themselves for the greater good, warriors who fought great and noble fights. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life in this village, she wanted to go out and see the world, see the people.

And now she would. Soon, she knew that she would.

And she would aslo be left alone. All alone in this whole wide world, soon she wouldn't have anyone, anything to care about.

What would she do then? What would she when her mother will die? The thought had struck her not so long ago. She had always thought about leaving the village but only now she realized what was about to happen. Soon her mother would die and where would she go? What would she do? She had never been outside the grounds of the village. She had heard about great and distant countries, about wars that were fought all around the world, heroes and evil kings and emperors who enslaved their people, riots and diseases. She had also read about many things too, but now when she was almost standing on the road and looked forward, she didn't know what she would find at the end of it and that scared her. If something would happen to her, no one would care.

But then again. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe that was for the best, no one will have to suffer like she has, right?

Only now Isabella noticed that the sun was setting and was filling the sky with a wonderful, orange light. The few clouds in the sky made the view even more magical as the sun was reflecting in them, making a part of them a little darker. And the forest off in the horizon looked so dark. She finally stood up and walked back into the house that was built out of straw. She suddenly realized that soon she would have to leave it too, leave the home where she was born and where she had grown up her whole life. But right now she didn't feel anything, to her own surprise. Why? She didn't know. Maybe it would come later. Or maybe she was just too tired. too tired of her own life.

She walked over to her mother and dipped the clothe in the water once again, putting it on her forehead. She was breathing more steadily now and the fever seemed to be gone. That was good. But that couldn't stop Isabella's heart from aching as she saw how the person she loved so much slowly faded away.

***

Jack Thornton ran through one of the many streets of San Francisco, holding a newspaper over his head. It had started to rain very heavily and that had caught everyone off guard. But he didn't have to run long to reach the house where his apartment was. It took him about five minutes but during those five minutes the heavy rain increased even more and as he finally reached the house, opened the door and ran inside, he was soaking wet and the water was dripping from him as if he had stepped out of a swimming pool just a second ago. He removed the newspaper that was now completely wet and unreadable, running up the stairs to the second floor at the same time. He fumbled after his keys in the pocket of his pants, finally found them, unlocked the door and walked inside, still breathing heavily from the run.

He closed the door behind him and dropped the unreadable newspaper on a table. The same minute he saw his dog, Dog. Jack's face lit up immediately as he saw his light colored Sankt Bernard running towards him, with his black eyes sparkling and shaking his tail so violently he almost tilted a vase that was standing on the table where the bills and unreadable newspaper was.

"Dog!!" he grinned and gave the dog something that resembled a hug when Dog approached his master and jumped onto him, showing all his joy and happiness over the fact that he was finally home.

"I know, I know, you're hungry," Jack said with a grin as he bent down on his haunches and looked at Dog's begging eyes. "Just give me a minute, will ya?" The dog nodded as if he had understood everything and ran back to the kitchen after running back and forth the apartment, howling out of joy.

Jack grinned, Dog acted as if he hadn't been home for a whole eternity, but that's the way he was. Overenthusiastic.

He took of his jacket and hung it, then he took of his boots, only then realising that the water was still dropping from him. He approached the mirror that was hanging on the wall in the hallway and ran his fingers through his rather dry hair (thank you Daily News newspaper.)

A tall, handsome male of the age 21 stared back at him, grinning. Blue eyes with that usual sparkle of humour in them, blonde, short and spiked hair. He would look very charming if it wouldn't be for a rough line in his face that made him look a bit older than he actually was.

Jack looked at himself with a grin playing on his lips. He knew that he looked rather good, he knew that very well but he hadn't taken advantage of that, not even once. No, everything was about business and about building his own life on his own two feet.

His father who was in the top of a very successful lawyer firm, "Lewis, Thornton and Banks", always wanted to help his son, to "make a few calls". But Jack never wanted his help, he was too proud to accept it. He had grown up in a rich family, but he had more suffered from that than enjoyed his riches and wealth. People always looked at him as the Thornton son, they knew about him and had an opinion about him before they even actually met him and nothing he said or did could change what they thought about him. He had realized at a very early age when he started to go to a private school where his parents had put him in. Even if the rest of the children that went to that private school were also rich, they acted different towards him. Why, he didn't know. Maybe it was because he was something they called "new rich". Or maybe they just didn't like him.

After a couple of years he had demanded that his parents would let him go to a normal grade school, he wanted to meet people that weren't like those kids at the private school, so irritatingly rich and confident about themselves. But his parents had denied his request immediately.

He knew that he could never spend all those years in that private school. That's why he started to skip classes, not return to the school and just hang out with boys he met at playgrounds. His parents never knew about this and how he suffered because he couldn't have a normal life and normal friends, he had to hide and run away to get them.

And then he knew. He knew what he wanted to do with his life.

He didn't want to be known as Jack Thornton all his life, no, he wanted to make his own way, his own path in life. He wanted to come into contact with common, usual people, help them solve their problems. Yes, he still wanted to study Law and become a lawyer just like his father but he didn't want to work in a firm that had huge commissions and never did any good in the real world. He knew that he wanted to live a normal life, or, to live a life as normal as possible and he also knew that he wouldn't give up until he would get what he wanted.

When he had finished Harvard, he decided to move to his own apartment and he would pay for it with his own money, despite the pleading and begging from his parents not do go through with his plans. He didn't even listen to his father threats to cut him out of his will; he was his only son and he still wanted to work with the Law, Jack was the only one who could take after his father. Richard Thornton didn't have a choice; he had to let his son go and finally let him live his own life on the condition that he would come back to the Thornton law firm when the time would come. Jack had agreed. He didn't see any other choice, he just wanted to know what it's like to be free. And then he moved away from Chicago to San Francisco. He started to work at a law firm and changed his last name to Jack Parker so that no one would recognize him as the rich Thornton son. And now he was here. Jack Thornton Parker, 21 years old, finally on his own feet, working at a common law firm. He didn't have a big salary but he had enough to be able to live in a two-roomed apartment and have a dog for a pet.

He rarely contacted his parents and only visited them at holidays like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.

That was all he needed for now. No woman, no one to disturb him, no one to come between him and his dream.

And his dream was this.

He grinned even wider at his own reflection in the mirror. Then he heard how Dog howled impatiently again and he heard a noise that obviously meant that he had tilted the bag with the dog food out onto the kitchen floor.

"Dog!" Jack exclaimed, trying to sound cold and demanding as he turned around and walked into the kitchen. But the grin was still playing in the corners of his lips.

***

The sun continued to go up and go down. Regina Mordena only got worse and soon she was hardly ever conscious. She breathed very heavily, coughing almost all the time and nothing Isabella did helped her in any way.

Her mother was fading away and she was doing it more quickly for every day that went. All Isabella could offer her mother was her love and she sat by her through every day and night, held her hand, cooled her hot forehead and took away the blood from her mouth.

That evening the ear was very warm and you could clearly see the night sky, the new moon and the bright stars that shone down on Isabella's face when she looked up. It was quiet, even more quiet than usual. She didn't hear any wolfs howling or other sounds from the forest in the horizon. She didn't hear anything, just the heavy breathing that came from the house behind her. She could only feel the heavy heat in the air and the strange stitch in her heart. She stood up from her usual spot and walked back into the house that was shone up by lights from several candle lights. One of them were placed near her mothers straw bed, that was why she could see her mothers open eyes clearly. They had a glassy look about them and Isabella's heart leaped. She looked quickly down at her mothers hand that was hanging helplessly. Her mother wasn't breathing.

Isabella stood still. Suddenly she felt that she couldn't move it was as if her body didn't listen to her commands anymore. All she could do was stare at her mothers dead body and at her eyes that were wide open as if she was surprised about something. The blood was running down from her mouth to her throat and neck. Isabella forced herself to close her eyes and take a very very deep breath.

After a while, she didn't know how long, she finally was able to move again.

She approached her mother slowly and put her hand back into the bed, putting the blanket over her. Then she took the newly cleaned piece of cloth and cleaned the blood of her mouth. She brought her fingertips up to her face and closed her eyelids.

No tears came; she had cried all of them out. There were none left. All she could do was kneel down besides the body, put her hands together and silently pray to God. To pray to God was something her mother had learned her already when she was a little girl and she had never forgotten what her mother had said then.

"Just relay on God and everything will be fine. Everything happens for the greater good."

She chanted silently and she didn't know how long she had been sitting there, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours. She didn't know. She just closed her eyes and continued her chant.

She opened her eyes and saw that it was dawn. The candles were not shining as strong as they had before and she could see the daylight shining in through the window and the place where a door should've been.

She stood up and kissed her mothers cold cheek one last time. She wrapped the body up in the bed sheets. With slow steps, she walked out of the house, forcing herself not to look back as her eyes hurt.

Now her mother was just a part of the dead village, nothing more. One more piece in the puzzle of the past, the death, the eternal road to freedom and immortal life.

She stepped out onto the road. She looked forward, seeing how it was leading out of the village, down a hill, making several turns, then up again and disappearing in the horizon. The morning sun was stepping out of darkness, shining over her, over the road and over the sky above her.

Finally she looked back at the house for the last time; she wouldn't take anything with her, she didn't need anything. She didn't have anything. Not anymore.

Isabella started to walk and looked ahead of her, not looking back once. Her long, blonde hair swayed as the wind blew playfully around her, as if ensuring that he would keep her company.

A nightingale flied through the dawning morning sky first circling around the tower of the empty and quiet village Portale's church and then heading in the direction of the forest.

***

Jack woke up that morning at five am with a strange feeling. He remembered that he had dreamed something strange, yet very exciting and he couldn't remember what the dream had been about. He sighed and jumped out of his bed, dressed and went out for a walk to walk Dog.

The morning was beautiful, the sun shining was shining brightly as he walked through the Golden Gate Park. It was autumn and the sun colored the already yellow and red leaves even more. They sight and feeling was magical, the leaves were falling all around him and he couldn't even hear his own footsteps because of the thick layer of leaves on the ground. You could still smell and feel the dampness from yesterday's rain in the air and on the ground. He looked lazily around at the people who were hurrying to work through the park; he didn't have to be at his lawyer office until nine. Dog was having the time of his life chasing a rabbit around the park, leaving a twirl of golden leaves behind him as he passed.

Jack looked at the people who were passing him by and once again he got that already familiar feeling of just not belonging there. Not belonging here, in this picture. He had to be somewhere else. But where? He strolled slowly through the park, watching the leaves falling and trying to remember that dream, but nothing except darkness came to him. If he didn't belong here, then where did he? He didn't fit back with his parents at Chicago, that's for sure. Here in San Francisco he had his own life as Jack Parker, a simple lawyer. And he was happy with his life; he had everything he ever wanted. His freedom, a normal job that he had earned on his own and an apartment, which he was renting with his own, earned money. He hadn't touched his trust fond and he hoped that he never would have to, he was too proud to do that.

He had everything he wanted, everything he had dreamed off.

Then why did he feel that something was missing?

Love?

He grinned and shook his head.

No, it couldn't be that. He didn't believe in love. He had never been in love, not even once. He didn't know why but he never felt attracted to a woman or a man. He didn't feel anything and years before that had scared him, he had thought that maybe he was not capable of loving anyone. He had never really cared about the woman's he spend his nights with and soon he got bored of them and stopped to go out at all. What was the point of going on like this if he didn't care about them and didn't really need them? What was the point of wasting his time like this?

But now he was used to this feeling he had inside, this emptiness. Sometimes it floated back to him, but only temporarily. Soon it was gone again.

He had Dog and he had his job, a job that he cared about very much. He was a lawyer, the blood that was running through his veins screamed about it, he knew how to twist and turn things to be able to use them for his own advantage, that was how he had succeeded to move to San Francisco in the first place. He was a true lawyer, he followed the Law and he also always found a loophole to go around or step over the barrier.

The strange feeling disappeared as Dog's howl brought him back to reality. He looked up and saw his dog eagerly digging into the ground right in front of a rabbit hole. He laughed and whistled, making Dog turn his head and look at his master. Then he continued to dig the ground, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and his tale swishing back and forth. "Hey, give it up, there's no point!" Jack laughed and yelled after the dog. "You'll never manage to get it!"

But Dog just continued to dig and Jack had to put the lace on him and drag him away from there as the dog howled. Jack shook his head and had to drag the dog along with him for some time until Dog would stop howling. What was the point for Dog to chase the rabbit if it was so much faster than the dog? He didn't know, but he knew that Dog would probably die trying to catch one.

When he finally returned home it was already eight o'clock, so he had to hurry and eat his breakfast quickly before he had to run to work. The dream he couldn't remember and the thoughts he had while he was walking through the Golden Gate Park soon disappeared from his head as he buried himself in his usual paperwork.