Alexis Wolf sat at the window of the café The Rise & Shine; she sat there always; the same time - after work; this was her relaxation time. After the hustle and bustle of work she needed this time to recuperate her strength and anything to take her mind of the events of home was a good thing.
          Alexis was a teenage girl of the tender age of seventeen; she had finished school the previous year and at this present time was a waitress at café The Rise & Shine - her father was insistent that she went to college and of coarse had a big impact on what she could and could not study.
          Al known to her friends was currently sipping on a cup of coffee completely unaware of the outside world surrounding her and thus unaware of what was about to happen. She was so mixed up in her own thoughts that she missed the one thing you would have thought she would have noticed.
          The Stranger in the Coat was standing on the opposite side of the road staring at the café The Rise & shine and particular at Alexis (The Stranger was not a friend although The Stranger likes to think so). It had felt like so long since their last encounter and The Stranger thought it was about time they met; thought Al might be getting lonely; what with the happenings of home life; it had been there they had first met, Al had thought she was dreaming nether the less she had not, it had been The Stranger bending his will on reality (The Stranger could do practically anything).

"Come Alexis; Al is it? I've been waiting a long time for you". Came a voice; somewhere.
          Al was an adult or so she thought but if she was an adult why then was she standing in her old school; Beacon Heights - the place she had spent so much time as a child had now become desolate.
          She was alone in the dark but what little light there was, was seeping through the partially closed window blinds. Al was not standing but sat at her desk the very desk she had occupied when she had been a student at Beacon Heights.
          The solitary voice called out again, "Come Al, I'm waiting".
"Who's it?" Al cried out but all she could hear was the faint rasping of her own breath. There was no one. Alexis moved away from her desk; the desk which she herself had graffiti with her name and the time she was there a reminder to everyone who ventured in the classroom of Alexis Wolf.
          As Al moved, yet again the voice called out and yet again the same words - "Come Al, I'm waiting". "Come Alexis; Al is it? I've been waiting a long time for you". Came a voice; somewhere.
                    She was alone in the dark but what little light there was, was seeping through the partially closed window blinds. Al was not standing but sat at her desk the very desk she had occupied when she had been a student at Beacon Heights.
          The solitary voice called out again, "Come Al, I'm waiting".
"Who's it?" Al cried out but all she could hear was the faint rasping of her own breath. There was no one. Alexis moved away from her desk; the desk which she herself had graffiti with her name and the time she was there a reminder to everyone who ventured in the classroom of Alexis Wolf.
          As Al moved, yet again the voice called out and yet again the same words - "Come Al, I'm waiting". Al looked at the whiteboard and in green block letters were the words -

"Al I'm waiting.
Don't you know how long it's been?"

Her teacher's desk was in an odd place at class instead of the usual place at the centre (to keep an eye on all the students); the desk was situated diagonally in the corner with all books for marking in a stack next to the desk. But the teachers ‘marking and registration' desk was no longer there instead it had been replaced by this high back studded red leather chair with a lamp beside it. The lamp had a red shade illuminating its surroundings. The chair was occupied. The chairs casters moved; turning the chair round, revealing the occupant. The Stranger in the Coat sat comfortably in the chair as if made for it. His coat was so strange to Al, it was like nothing she had ever seen before (Alexis knew The Stranger was a he by the way he sat and smelt; he had that aura about him). Even though Al didn't know his name to her he would simple be known as The Stranger. His coat had pockets all over the place as if to put little trinkets; souvenirs inside. She had no idea who he was, his moth opened slightly as if to speak something,
"Hello Alexis, remember me? Of course you don't, you were only a child when I left".
"Who are you?" A typical question to ask The Stranger.
"Nether mind that, the importance is that you are kept safe".
"What do you mean?" Alexis asked.
"Your father, a great man that he is should truly have told you of your future?" The Stranger said, looking for any clue in her.
          Her father; Nathaniel Wolf was a great man like he said but he had not been entirely honest with Al; there was a deep secret inside of him he had kept hidden from her. When her mother Tamzin had gone he simply insisted that was it but saying that in itself was a lie. Tamzin was Al's mother and would not of left her daughter without due reason; Al knew her father had kept something from her but why exactly she was no sure but did The Stranger know? Did he know Alexis parents?
"What are you thinking?" The Stranger asked; there was a glaze over her eyes.
"Nothing, what do you mean about my future? My father?"
"When the time is ready, all will be will be revealed, it is your father's duty not mine - I will see you soon; very soon". And that was it, all around her (including The Stranger) was gone and Al awoke in her bedroom to the sounds of her alarm clock chiming.

That had been nearly a fortnight ago and Al had thought meeting The Stranger and learning that her father had a secret and she had a fate installed for her had been a dream. Al had not had the courage to confront her father about the dream (supposed dream), instead she went behind his back but she had got caught and hadn't the nerve to go there again.
          Nathaniel had been out; and Al had spied her opportunity, it had been the weekend so there was no trouble about Rise & Shine.
"Be good Al, love you". Nathaniel said as he got in his car.
"Love you to dad". But Al had other things on her mind.
          Alexis had been in the cellar; the only part of the house where it was impossible to see what was happening outside; the only part of the house where daddy held his secrets - if any. And the only part of the house where Nathaniel had solitude. The walls were covered with photos mostly of the three of them (Dad, Mum and Alexis; in happier times). The photographs had been taken the summer before her mum left; the happiest summer of her life - it had been strange because there were no arguments and even if Al had done something wrong she hadn't been told off. And then, there it was amongst the family photos on the wall; Al had come down here in search of answers for her ‘dream', to scared to approach her now stern father. There it was what she had been looking for; stuck in between the family photos on the wall was a small square photo of a boy and The Stranger that had talked to her, so was it a ‘dream' when there a photo of him on the cellar wall?
          Al had been so wrapped up in what she was doing that she didn't realize that her father had come home. And when her father was home there was only one place he'd go; the cellar (to be with the memories of the past).
          When Al realized her dad was home it was too late; her father had descended the steps of the cellar and she had been seen; the cellar was his private place - no one, not even Alexis was aloud down here.
"Had a good look have you?" Nathaniel called to his daughter.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Knowing she been caught red handed.
"I could ask you the same thing Al, you know I live here"
"Who's he?" And Al pointed to The Stranger.
Nathaniel ignored the question, "You know your not suppose to be down here Al".
Al looked at her father she knew he wouldn't raise his voice but she had better leave and so she did and as she did so the cellar door closed quickly behind her; sealing away his secrets.
          Nathaniel tore down that photo of the boy and The Stranger and anything else of great importance to Al and he didn't speak of the incidence to Al again; he trusted her not to go down into the cellar.
          The Stranger needed to make contact with Al and with her spending time at the café The Rise & Shine (where she currently was) this was his only chance; her father guarded her every move away from the place and the working day was short. After there first encounter over they needed to move forward; The Stranger thought it was up to her father but he was wrong; time was essential and now it was up to him, he only hoped she would learn to understand.
          Al finished unaware of The Stranger looking at her, he waited whilst she finished her coffee and then grabbed her things and made her way out of the café another day over with.
          Her father would normally of picked her up but he had an errand of his own to run and the only phrase he said to his daughter this morning instead of "I love you" was "Be careful out there and don't talk to any one you don't know, that means strangers", Al had replied, "I won't daddy" and left.
          The Stranger greeted her, "Hello Al"
"I'm not aloud to talk to strangers".
"Are you not but am not a stranger Al".