the man who fell from the sky

Driving home from work in the winter sucks, especially at night. I love living in Norway but I could live without icy roads. I live 2 hours away from but because I can barely see in front of me it takes me 3 hours to get to my driveway. when I turn off the car I give a sigh of relief I can’t wait to get inside and lay in my warm, fluffy bed and just relax. I open my front door and walk into the warm air of my home. I turn on the lights, Kick off my boots, and throw my bag on the counter. Collapsing onto the couch I let my muscles relax after a long day of dealing with impatient customers and my horrible boss. I decided that I should get in to something more comfortable than jeans and shirt, so I head down the hall into my room to get ready for bed. I open my closet and get out grey leggings, a black tank top, and a black sweater. I look in the mirror and decided to just leave my blonde messy hair down not wanting to deal with it. My eyes already have dark circles form the late night shifts at the restaurant but on the plus side they make my blue eyes pop. I crawl into my bed to try and get some sleep. 

After 20 minutes I give up and go back out to the living room. I sit on  the couch and turn the tv. I browse the channels and decide on The Lion King. Ash my cat jumps up into my lap and lays down. Half way though I start to fall asleep but all of a sudden there is a loud sound that shakes the ground, I jerk awake and hurry to put some shoes on. “what the hell was that!” I run out of my house and look around I can see some smoke in further out in the woods. This is a really bad idea what if something happens to me and the closest person around here is 7 miles away I think to myself. My curiosity gets the better of me and I follow the thin line of smoke. After about 5 minutes of walking, I can see a hole in the ground as I get closer I can see something in it. I looked down and saw a man lying in the hole.

 “oh my god,” I run down to see if the man is alright. I kneel down next to him to see if he is alive, thankfully he seems to be breathing. Looking at him I notice that his black hair is greasy and tangled, he has cuts and bruises all over his pale face, his eyes have dark circles around them, and he is wearing some kind of green and gold armor. It’s not like any armor I have ever seen before. He looks like he has been to hell and back. He has blood on his side, I scramble to take my sweater off so I can put pressure on his wound leaving my arms bare to the wind.  When I touch it and the man groans out in pain, his eyes start to move around under his eye lids. 

“Hey can you open your eyes?” I try talking to him to see if he can respond. His eyes start to open, they are a bright ocean blue, he looks at me only for a moment. Then suddenly his expression turns angry. He grabs my arm with so much strength I scream out in surprise and pain “who are you,” he demands his voice is deep and raspy. I can’t speak frozen in fear my mouth is dry and it feels like a rock is stuck in my throat. “Answer me!” he says louder than before. I muster up enough courage to speak  I try to sound brave but I just stutter in a whisper “my name is Astrid,” he is looking around now still holding my arm that is still applying pressure to his side. “What realm am I on?” realm what is a realm “What do you mean realm?” He looks at me and rolls his eyes “well than this must be midgard, and you a mortal,” He looks at me with disgust “I don’t know what you are saying but can you let me go, my arm is starting to lose it’s blood flow”

 This guy is crazy strong. I try to pry his hand off my arm but it does little to nothing. He looks at his hand on my arm and my pathetic attempt to remove it, he lets me go I stand up and take several steps back away from him. He starts to stand up but he is having trouble.This guy is insane I have to get out of here, I turn my head to look behind me making a plan on how I can get out of this hole in the ground without tripping and breaking a leg, he might kill me or something.  He hisses in pain. This guy is really hurt. Should I help him? What if he is dangerous? What if..what if he dies and I do nothing? 

I step toward him to help him up from his knees but he holds his blood covered hand up stopping me “Leave me mortal,” he spits out harsly. I stop, he tries again to get up and doubles over in pain. I catch him just before he hits the ground, his body weight causing my back to bend backwards. We make eye contact for a second before he pushes me away. He pushes me with so much force I fall down. Looking up at him with shock and anger I stand up and point at him forgetting for a moment all the frear inside of me and ignoring the little voice in my head  “hey I am just trying to help you, you a*s,” I yell at him. He stops and looks at me with wild, angry eyes.“How dare you talk to me like that,” all the fear comes flooding back in but he falls to his knees again, grabbing his side, and breathing harshly. 

I look at him for a moment he is like a hurt animal in need of help but refuses to cooperate. I curse at myself and take a step toward him, “Let me help you,”  I stretch out my hand to him and he looks at it with skepticism. “Why would you help me?” The question takes me back, I think about it, why am I trying to help him, he is probably dangerous but if he dies I won’t be able to forgive myself for not helping him. After a moment or two I respond “Nothing,” he looks away from me “I do not need the help of a mortal” he spits. “Alright fine I will leave you here but only if you can stand on your own.” he looks up at me, after a while he takes my hand,I put his arm around my shoulders and help him out of the hole in my yard and into my home. I note how cold his skin is as I lay him on the couch. I hurry to get the first aid kit out of the bathroom. I come back to the living room to see that he is already trying to remove his armor, but he is struggling. Without overthinking it I help him. To my surprise he doesn't resist my help. Now that I can see his wound clearly it looks like he was stabbed by something, or someone. Another red flag to add to the pile.

I carefully place myself next to him making sure not to bump into him or move him to much.I start tending to him. “You are scared of me.” It wasn’t a question but I answer him anyway “no, I mean... at first yes, but now-” he stops me “You should be.” He doesn't say anything after that and neither do I, I just continue to clean his stab wound. 

He hisses in pain and swats my hands away “sorry,” I whisper he looks at me and lets me go back to tending him. I have so many questions for this strange man who just fell from the sky. “Where did you come from,” he looks down at me with a blank expression “Why should I tell you?” “Because I am curious,” I shrug my shoulders. He smirks and rolls his eyes “very well then, I come from a place called Asgard.” he states. I stop and stare up at him with my eyes as wide as they can get. “I’m sorry, what?” “My name is Loki the god of mischief, I am from Asgard.” “So you are a god?” he nods his head I can feel my heart beat pick up. “What happened to you?” I point to his side he doesn't even look at me when he responds “I was attacked by frost giants” He said his face blank.“Why did they attack you?” I press on wrapping his torso in bandages he looks at me with a slight look of annoyance “you ask a lot of questions.” “Do I not have a right to know who is in my house?” He looks away, something in his expression tells me that I should quit while I am ahead so I just focus on his bandages. 

I finish wrapping him up and stand up. Loki tries to stand up again, he actually gets up this time “What are you doing?” I move over to him. “I’m going to find my new chambers,” he says “you can’t stay here” I say shocked “I need somewhere to stay until I get my strength back, I used a lot of dark magic to get here.” he walks towards, I take a couple steps back “well, you can’t stay here,” I say again. I am against the wall now Loki is right in front of me “oh I think I can, whether I keep you alive or not is up to you,” he puts his hand on my neck but doesn't squeeze. I’m pretty sure he is threatening to kill me if I say he can’t stay so without thinking I point down the hall “second door on the left,” I choke out. He smiles and takes his hand off my neck “wise choice,” he heads into the spare room. I touch my neck were his hand was it is still cold from his hand “What a dick,” I breathe out. 

I clean up all the medical supplies and put them in the bathroom, I wash the blood off my hands trying not to panic is really hard when you have blood everywhere. Putting my bloody sweater in the washer and starting it. I have no clue what to do with myself. I just sit on the couch and watch a random show on the TV for the rest of the day trying not to think about the god chilling in my spare room. Realizing it is almost 4 in the morning I decided I might as well try to go to bed. I walk down the hall but instead of finding myself at my door, I find myself at Loki’s. I open his door just enough to poke my head in to see what he is doing, he is sleeping his face is calm and his breathing is as normal as you can expect it to be after being stabbed. When I get in my room and lock the door behind me. I get in to my bed, ash comes out from under the covers and she lays next to my neck purring. I must have more tired than I thought because in just a few moments darkness consumed me.

I jerk awake to the sound of Loki yelling at something “stupid Midgarden trash,”I roll my eyes. I almost forgot he was here. I get up and head to the kitchen were I heard him yell. I almost laugh at what I see Loki is trying to open a coopered door that has a baby lock that I put on because Ash likes to open them and eat everything. “What on earth are you doing?” I laugh out he turns around and points at the baby lock “what kind of magic is this I can’t open the doors,” he reminds me of a child pouting because he can’t get in the cookie jar. Its weird that this is the same man or god that threatened to kill me last night. “Let me show you,” I walk over and show him how to hold down the button to open the lock. I look back at him and he looks almost mad at himself i smile at him, his eyes are the prettiest blue I have ever seen and he is actually kind of… I shake the thoughts out of my head and Loki starts smirking at me. “What?” I ask, “oh, nothing,” He flutters his eyelashes a couple times and walks away with the box of crackers he wanted so bad. Why did he..can he read minds? No that's, no. I open the fridge and get a thing of yogurt and get a spoon. I sit on the couch on the other side of Loki and turn on the tv. 

I glance over at Loki and wonder how long he plans to stay here then I realize that he is still in the same clothes as yesterday and he hasn’t showered “if you are going to stay here we need to get you some new clothes and a shower.”  he looks up at me and then back at his clothes “I suppose you are right.” “I might have something for you in the spare-your room,” I stand up and head into his room and open the closet I pull out a box marked in black marker Jake’s things “who is Jake?” Loki asks from behind me. I hadn’t realized he had followed me. I turned around and put the box on the bed “He was my roommate, but he got a girlfriend and moved out. Thankfully he left some of his things here,”  I pull out a pair of jeans and a grey v-neck shirt and hand them to Loki. “take a shower, the clothes should fit,”

Loki puts the clothes on the bed and walks into the bathroom. 

I go to head out of the room but I hear Loki call from the bathroom “how do you turn on the shower?” I roll my eyes and walk into the bathroom but turn around when I see he doesn't have a shirt on. “What’s the matter?”  he asks, “Can you put your shirt back on,” he laughs a little “what?” I ask he steps closer “your blushing,” he is smirking at me, “I am not, now can you please put some clothes on” I step away from him but he makes no move to put it on. Rolling my eyes I show him how to work the shower. Loki is watching me closely the whole time. 

I decide I need a little break while Loki is in the shower soI make myself a cup of coffee, put my jacket on, and head out to the porch. It’s a little cold out with snow covering the ground, and the trees. I take a deep breath releasing all the stress of the past day and a half. This is insane I mean some crazy guy has invaded my home after I helped him with a stab wound, and he says he is a god. Do I believe him? I mean he fell from the sky wearing strange clothes and armor made of gold. So it's not like their isn’t evidence to support what he is saying. I put my  head in my hands in defeat “What have I gotten myself into now.” I mumble.  

I finish my now cold drink and go back into the house,when i walk in Loki is playing with the buttons on the tv remote. I walk in to the kitchen watching him grow more and more frustrated, “What are you doing?” I ask while placing my mug in the sink  without looking up at me he responds “I am trying to silence the annoying talking animal,” he says pushing more buttons. I walked over to him and the tv to see that he is talking about some kid cartoons. “Here let me show you,” I take his hand in mine and point out all the buttons and what the are for He turns off the TV “thank the heavens,” he grumbles. I laugh and he looks down at me. “here let me show you how some other things work,”  I say quickly “why?” “well if you are going to be staying here you need to learn how to do things on your own.”

We started in the living room teaching him how to use the tv, radio, and the phone. Then I showed him the kitchen Asgard needs to update their technology because when I showed Loki  the toaster he almost threw it out the window.After I showed him everything I asked him to go over everything he learned, a trick my mom taught me to remember how to do things, at first he refused but when I said that he must have forgotten everything he got mad so he went to every room and showed me how to work everything and he got it. Now we are sitting to the living room,I am watching the prodigal son a show I just started and Loki is reading a book he found on my bookshelf. “Tomorrow we will go shopping for new clothes,” I say “good,” is his only response. I roll my eyes does he ever say thank you. “Alright well I’m going to bed,” I turn off the TV and head to my room. Just before I close my bedroom door I heard him say “thank you,”