A New Future

After Aylene took a nice hot shower, she quickly got dressed in a pair of jeans and a violet T-shirt. She then met with Derek down in his room and told him about her previous adventure. All the time she was talking, the elder brother only responded to the story with surprised or intense expressions, especially the parts concerning Grandpa Longneck being ill or Ichy and Dil chasing her and her friends.

When Aylene had finished, Derek let out a long-sustained sigh and looked at his sister with sarcastic grin.

"Well," he said, "that would explain why you have a bruise on your forehead. Gee, I leave you alone on one adventure and you end up getting yourself knocked out."

"Derek!" Aylene scowled.

"Relax, it was a joke," the boy calmly replied. "Besides, it doesn't look too bad."

"But it's huge!" Aylene shrieked. "And if mom and dad see this, they're going to want to know what happened! What do I tell them?! If I tell them the truth, they'll hit the roof and…!"

"AYLENE!" Derek shouted firmly.

Upon hearing his tone, Aylene clamped her mouth shut and shriveled up. She looked back at her brother, expecting him to be looking at her with intensity. However, his expression was just the opposite of his previous outburst. He looked surprisingly calm.

"Just relax," the boy said, his voice sounding more caring. "I have an idea. Just follow my lead, okay?"

For a moment, Aylene just looked at Derek with concern. How was he going to come up with a story to cover up a giant bruise on her forehead without telling her secret? However, she couldn't really see a way out of this, and he looked pretty confident that he knew what he was doing.

"Okay," she bit her lip. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

In about two hours, Elinor and Jonathan came home with a Chinese take-out. As Aylene and Derek made their way up the stairs, Aylene quickly draped her hair on the left side of her head over her face, concealing her eye as well as the bruise. Although she was confident that Derek wouldn't reveal her secret, she wasn't as confident that he had the prefect alternate story in mind.

In any case, she wanted to avoid the subject as much as possible.

After getting a plate and helping herself to some sweet and sour chicken, pot stickers, and one chicken eggroll, Aylene sat down in her usual spot at the table and began to eat. A few minutes later, the rest of the family joined her. Derek took his seat next to her while Elinor and Jonathan sat across from their two children.

It wasn't long before the family began chatting.

"Oh, Derek," Elinor said, "don't forget that you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

"I remember," Derek replied. "I'll be there on time."

"I'll leave the co-pay money on the counter by the phone for you in the morning," the boy's mother said. "Just be sure you take it before you leave."

"Got it."

"By the way," Jonathan said, "how's your wrist?"

"Doing better," the boy replied, "maybe they'll finally take the cast off tomorrow. It wasn't a major fracture or something."

"Well, I guess you'll find out tomorrow."

As Aylene ate her meal in silence, she started to get annoyed with her hair getting in the way of her vision. Purely out of habit, she brushed it back. However, that was a mistake.

"Oh, Aylene!" Elinor exclaimed. "What happened to you?!"

Aylene froze on the spot. Her pulse began to quicken when she realized that her mom and dad saw the bruise on her forehead. For a brief moment, she feared that she had been busted.

However, that fear didn't last very long.

"Oh, I meant to tell you guys when you got back." Derek spoke up, sounding pretty casual. "Dad asked me to mow the lawn after I got home from school. I got done with the backyard and was taking a small break. Aylene came out of the garden shed and I asked her if she could get me some water. As she was walking back to the house, she tripped over the garden hose, stumbled for a few feet, and smacked her head against the wall of the house."

"Oh, dear!" Elinor cupped her hand over her mouth and turned to her daughter. "Are you all right?!"

"Uh, yeah." Aylene nodded, just remembering to go along with what Derek said. "Derek took me inside and gave me some ice."

"I also checked her out." Derek said. "She didn't get a concussion or a fractured skull. It's just a bruise."

"Well," Jonathan exhaled, "that's good news. But are you sure you're okay, Aylene?"

"Yeah," the girl replied, "I'm fine. It's just a little sore, but only when I really put pressure on it."

At that moment, the phone began to ring from the kitchen. Aylene's father got up from his seat and went to answer it. After he pressed the answer call button, he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hello, Carter residence," he said.

On the other end of the phone, the rest of the family could just barely make out a static voice that sounded roughly like a young boy. As the conversation continued, Jonathan replied to the caller.

"Yes, this is her father speaking. May I ask whose calling? Ken Anderson."

At the sound of the name, Aylene's head snapped up and a small smile streaked across her face.

"Yes, she's here." Jonathan said. "Just hold on a second."

Taking the phone away from his ear, Aylene's father walked a little ways into the dinning room.

"Aylene, it's for you," he said.

"Thanks, dad." Aylene happily replied.

Without a minute of hesitation, Aylene got up from her seat and quickly made her way into the kitchen. She took the phone from her dad and he went back into the dinning room. Before answering the call, Aylene closed the sliding door between the kitchen and dinning room. Once she did, she eagerly brought phone to her ear.

"Ken!" she said with a bright smile.

"Hey, Aylene." Ken's voice replied, sound just as happy as Aylene. "Glad to hear you got back safely."

"Same to you," the girl replied. "But why are you calling?"

"Oh, I was going to ask when would be a good time to set up a time when our families could meet. I already talked to my parents and they say it's okay. Did you talk to your parents yet?"

"Not yet. They just got back from work and we're having supper now."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know."

"That's okay. Tell you what, I'll talk to them and call you back later, okay?"

"Sure thing, let me give you my phone number real quick."

On Sunday evening, Aylene and Ken's families all met at Aylene's house for a nice supper of roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a desert of strawberry shortcake. During that time, Aylene learned that Ken's mother now worked at the local hospital as a nurse, and his dad was an employee at the local pharmacy. Seeing how his family had so much knowledge of medical treatments, it was no wonder that Ken knew what to do when she got injured back in the caverns. It also wasn't surprising to learn that Ken wanted to be a doctor.

In fact, that seemed to be the best profession for him to choose.

During the dinner, it became clear that Aylene and Ken's families greatly approved each other. And things were even better when Derek showed his approval of Ken.

"So," Ken's father said, "you and Aylene want to go to the dance together?"

"Yes," Ken nodded, "but we wanted you're approval first."

"Well, it's perfectly fine by your mother and I."

"And us, too." Aylene's father replied.

After hearing the approval, Aylene and Ken looked at each other and smiled.

By the second day of Homecoming Week, the news of the Ken going to the Dance with Aylene had circulated through the school faster than wild fire. Pretty soon, Aylene was getting swamped by girls asking her how she ended up with him, which annoyed her to no end. She loved being able to slip into the background unnoticed. However, that was next to impossible to do now.

Not to mention, she began to notice that she was getting glaring looks from Penny more often than before. Although Aylene felt a small, grim satisfaction of inadvertently knocking the snobby girl off her high horse, she wasn't exactly comfortable with the constant glares.

In turn, Ken was getting questions from guys about how he ended up with someone like Aylene. However, they were rather on the negative side since a lot of the boys had known Aylene since elementary school, and knew about her little quirky interest in dinosaurs.

"You know that she was called the "Dino Nerd" back in middle school," a teen boy with blonde hair said.

"Yeah," another with blue eyes said, "if you're not careful, she'll start spouting out random facts about dinosaurs."

"Well," Ken smirked, "I guess it's a good thing that I have a common interest in dinosaurs."

"What?!" some of the guys exclaimed.

"Come on, it's not that big a deal." Ken said, keeping his cool. "She and I just have a lot in common. And I mean A LOT in common. Besides, once you get to know her, she's actually really cool."

"Oh," one of the boys gave a mischievous grin, "are you saying you're in love with her?"

"Eh, it's too early to say that." Ken simply replied. "But we definitely good friends. And I know we have each other's back."

Finally, the night of the Homecoming Dance came around.

Aylene got dressed in a long, lime green dress that she and her mother had gotten on Wednesday after school. It had small, thin shoulder straps and floral sequence that gently twisted around to her hip. On her feet, she wore white sandals. Her hair hung straight down with a few small clips pulling strands of it back, and she had a small coating of make-up on her face.

Ken wore classy black shoes with black pants, a clean white shirt, a black coat, and a navy blue tie. His dusky hair was neatly combed with only just a few strands of his bangs covering his forehead.

After being driven to the Dance by Derek and his girlfriend, Rachel, the two friends made their way into the school building and to the old gym where the Dance was taking place. The main lights were turned off, and flashy disco-ball lights lit up the place just enough to give off just the right atmosphere that the place needed.

For the first few hours, they just enjoyed dancing to some songs the DJ had picked out. For the most part, they were up-tempo, encouraging the students to just let loose and dance in any style they enjoyed.

Of course, they also had the slow songs. During those songs, students either went out to get some punch and catch their breath, or the couples would dance together.

And just as Aylene had predicted, there were some couples that couldn't resist making drama out of their relationships. The first time she and Ken walked out of the gym to get something to drink, they saw a couple over the by vending machines kissing each other repeatedly.

However, they just walked on, pretending like they didn't see anything.

After they had gotten their drinks, Aylene and Ken sat down on a bench just outside of the gymnasium to catch their breath.

"Well," Aylene said, "I'm having a good time. How about you?"

"Yeah," Ken replied. "It's certainly a change from getting chased by colossal gators."

The teen girl snickered at the comment.

"It sure is," she said.

Ken took a sip of his punch and Aylene fell silent for a moment. She wasn't really sure what she was feeling right now, but it certainly was something she had never felt before. Of course, she was familiar to what it felt like to really like someone. She had her fair share of crushes on boys before. That is until she realized their true nature.

But with Ken, it was different. It was more than just some kind of shy, puppy-dog love that teenagers her age usually make a big deal over. It was something more. She could trust Ken. That was the biggest thing that stood out to her. She could TRUST him. He shared the same secret she had, he was there to protect her when she needed him, and she was there for him.

Was this what a true relationship was?

"Um," Aylene said slowly, "Ken, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the boy said, "what is it?"

"Uh," the girl nervously searched her words, "well…I hope this isn't an awkward question but…are you and I…I mean…are we…going steady or something like that?"

Ken looked at Aylene and blinked.

"You mean, are we dating?" he asked.

"Well…yeah."

Ken let out a deep exhale and thought for a moment.

"I guess you could say that," he said. "Then again, it all depends on what you mean by "dating"."

Aylene looked at Ken with curiosity as he continued.

"If dating means that we go around being all gooey with each other and kissing in public, then no, we're not dating. But if dating means that we are hanging out together, being there for each other, helping each other through hard times, and being good friends, then yes, I guess we are dating."

At that explanation, Aylene let out a laugh. While that statement sounded funny, it was also very true.

"I think I'll go with that second one," she said. "Right now, I think I just want a friend."

"Yeah," Ken smiled. "Me too."

"You know, Ken," Aylene said in a sincere voice, "I am really glad to have met you. And I'm not just saying that because you saved Grandpa Longneck, although I am very grateful for that. I'm glad I met you because, well, I guess you gave me a whole new perspective. I always wanted to be independent and prove that I am strong. But…you helped me see that sometimes it's great to have someone to lean on. And someone you can count on no matter what."

"I see," the human boy softly replied. "Well, I'm glad I could help you with that. And I'm glad to have met you, too. Because…you showed me that I wasn't alone."

"Huh?"

Ken gave a vague melancholy look before continuing.

"After Ali's father died, I thought that I was the only one who suffered a horrible pain. After learning that you went through something similar, I realized that there was someone else who felt the same pain as me. And I think that…we can help each other heal."

Aylene stared in surprise as the confession for a moment before giving a small nod.

"Yeah," she whispered, "we can."

During the small pause between the two friends, the sound of the final slow-dance song came from inside the gym.

"It's the final song." Ken said.

"Yeah, it is." Aylene nodded.

Ken then got up from his seat, threw away his plastic cup, turned back to Aylene, and offered a hand to her, bowing at the same time.

"Well, may I have this dance?" he asked.

"Of course you can." Aylene graciously replied.

Taking Ken's hand, Aylene got up off the bench and the two of them walked back into the gym. When they found a nice spot to dance, Aylene placed her hands on Ken's shoulders, and he gently held her by the waist. They gently flowed with the beat of the song as its enchanting lyrics wrapped around the two of them, and everyone else on the dance floor.

Very slowly, as the song had reached its third verse, Aylene wrapped her arms around Ken's neck and embraced him. In return, Ken held her close in his arms, and the two of them continued to sway with the song.

Just like they had done back in the meadow of the Night Flowers.

For once in her life, Aylene felt a new kind of happiness that she couldn't describe with words. For so long, she thought that she had to prove her strength by doing things alone. However, that philosophy had changed since this last adventure. While she was proud of being independent and cable of holding her own, she was also glad to know that someone was there to help her. And there was someone she could trust.

And she was being held in the warm, strong arms of that very person.

And with that, "Journey Through the Mists Retold" is now completed.

Stay tuned for the next story, "The Mysterious Island Retold".

Whew, this was fun to do, but it was also long to complete. I hate it when I get writer's blocks. Most of them are that I can't put chapters into words. I know how it's supposed to go, but my words have dried up. So if I don't update for a while, that's mostly why, because that happened to me a dozen times in this story alone.

Anyway, once again, I can't thank you all enough for your comments, feedback, and support. Seriously, without all of you, I know this series wouldn't be where it is now. Thank you all very much.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this story. Stay tuned for the next one. I don't know when I'll be able to get it posted, because I have some other stories that need updating. And with this one completed, it seems like a good time to catch up on some other stories.

Oh, quick note, on the final dance song, be sure to play "If We Hold On Together" while you read the rest of the chapter. ;)

I thank you all for having the patience to wait, and I hope I will continue to entertain you in the future.

Have a Good Day!