Yet when I really looked at him, I wasn’t afraid of this strange, foreign creature anymore. However, that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous. Just breathe, Essie. Take deep breaths. In and out. Just calm down. Breathe, just breathe, I told myself. That was something McKenna always used to say to soothe me. She did this whenever I was freaking out about something. When the boy looked at me, his beautiful eyes bore into mine. “Captivating people have beautiful eyes,” my father once told me. The stranger’s cough brought me back into reality, where I resided. “Who are you and where did you come from?” he asked again. “Did you fall from the sky or something?” he said. He didn’t inquire in a mean, smart alec way, but in a curious manner. There was a good chance that his question was serious. “I…uh…I…well…er..um…you see, here…it…I…..oh…I – It’s a long story,” I stammered, at a loss of words. “Well, you can start by giving me back my hankerchief,” he said, noticing the cloth I held in my hand.