The Witching Hour

This week Chuck got us to check out each other's images we have to upload and write a story about an image we have picked out... I've chosen the Standing Stones.  

The Standing Stones

Enjoy.

Thunder cracked overhead.

It was time.

Erica watched as the moon moved overhead. 

The dagger poised above the struggling white rabbit as the eclipse was almost done, the moon was almost blood red, time of opening the pathway home was to happen.

But would somebody here stop her before she could finish the ritual, or would she be able to do it right?

Lightning flashed across the low, dark clouds; illuminating the open fields surrounding her as rain poured from above.  This was time, the right time, for this to happen!

Erica plunge the dagger into the chest of the rabbit, feeling its pungent fear fill the air as her arm came down, as its blood first oozed over the blade, then ran more freely as the tip struck the stone she was holding it onto. 

Tears filled her eyes as she felt and saw its life slip away, knowing she had killed something she wished she didn’t have to, ‘Oh, dammit, you big sook, let’s just get on with it.’ She muttered as she bent over the rabbit, opening the tiny carcass up and cutting out its heart for what she needed to do.

The massive dark stones stood nearby, blackened and slick by the rain now pelting down from the skies around them.  This made them terrifying.  But 1650 was no time for Erica to be in – especially seeing she was a practicing Witch back home in the Twenty-First Century; the witch hunts were just beginning around this part of the country and if she was caught, she’d be burned at the stake, or worse, and never get back to her own time.

Besides, the Wise Woman had told her about these Standing Stones and given her directions to them – even walked her to this very spot two weeks ago – and told her about the ritual she had to perform to get back home.  So, here she was, doing this very thing…

…praying to the Gods above that she wasn’t going to get caught…

…hoping that this worked…

…wishing she didn’t have to kill an animal to get back home…

The clouds cleared for a moment and she found the moon was completely red.

It was time to use the animal heart!

She knelt right by the stones with the heart in one hand and the bloodied dagger in the other.  As the rain poured down, she quoted the Latin the Wise Woman had been teaching her for months and drew the pattern in the mud hoping this would work.

Then, she heard it… a rumbling beneath her… behind her…

‘No… it can’t be.’ She turned from her spot with the dagger still poised and the tiny heart in her hand to find the hilltop behind her lined with torchlight.  Lightning flashed and it lit up the township of people who lived over the hill, ‘Oh crap… they’re gonna kill me.’ She turned back to her ritual and started to speak faster, draw faster.  As Erica did, something amazing happened!

The drawings in the mud began to show silver and glisten in the darkness.  When she spoke faster, it showed the diagram she was drawing, until she no longer needed to draw it; instead holding the dagger up to the heavens with the tiny heart as it began to beat on its own.

This was what the Wise Woman said would happen!

Erica smiled as tears of happiness blurred her vision and she felt positive that she was going home!

At long last, she was going to be able to watch television, listen to modern music on the radio and watch YouTube!  Yes!  This was starting to sound like a wonderful reality!

In the next flash of lightning, she heard the people from the township screaming, thundering down the hillside. 

Fear tightened in her gut as she looked up to find the doorway between the massive black stone light up, and she saw daylight!

Rising from her knees, she stepped over the diagram, kept a hold of the rabbit’s heart and dagger and walked through the brightly-lit doorway.

As soon as she was through, she felt the sun on her face, the warm breezes of a nice Spring day and she looked at her hands where she still held the heart and dagger. 

Turning, she sliced the heart into four, chanting a closing mantra, stabbing the dagger right in the middle of the doorway.  Then took two pieces of the heart in both hands and smeared them into the rockfaces as hard as she could from top to bottom.  As she did, a brilliant flash emitted from the doorway and the storm that had been occurring in between those stones before was now gone.

Erica sat on the ground soaked to the skin, her hands and arms covered in blood looking at the dagger.  She had to leave that there.  So, with all her strength, she shoved it into the ground up to the hilt… hoping it would stay there.

Turning, she looked around.  The hillside was exactly as it had been hundreds of years ago… so had she been sent home?  Looking over the valley, she rubbed her hands on her long dirty dress, wondering if it had all been a bad dream… wondering…

‘Erica?’ a familiar male voice called out behind her.

She turned to find her boyfriend running up to her from the hilltop, ‘James?’

He pulled out an iPhone, ‘Hey, yeah, I found her… she’s covered in mud and muck, and drenched as though she’s been in a storm, but she’s here!  We need the trucks… we’re at the Standing Stones, dude.’

‘What year is it?’

‘Why?’

‘I just came from 1650.’

He took a few steps back, ‘Well, we’ll have to get you checked out then.  And the year is 2015.’

‘Are we together?’

‘Of course… why?’

‘When I left, you were mad at me.’

‘About what?’

Looking back at the stones, Erica wondered what the hell happened to change their relationship, ‘In what way are we together?’

‘We’re married.’ He looked at her hands, ‘And who’s blood is that?’

‘I had to kill a rabbit to get here.’

He turned away, ‘Dude, we have a witch… it’s burnin’ time.’

Double-Crossed

Chuck has asked us to write something filthy, dirty and downright disgusting... well, I've done that in all kinds of ways - I hope.  I know for one thing:  I didn't hold back on this one.  I normally do a little.

Enjoy.

Damian had set up the cameras around the room, as asked by Frederick while his flatmate was out on his date with Cindy.  He had to make sure these cameras weren’t able to be seen by anyone; but Frederick told him where to set them up, so he could pick them out when he wanted to.

Damian hated this idea.

He liked Cindy.

She was cool, innocent in just the right ways and very pretty.

This got her all the wrong attention from the wrong guys.

Sighing he picked up his tablet and lined up the signal to all of them, so they’d switch on at the same time and left the flat leaving on a few lamps around the living room to give off the right light for adjustment.  He went to the flat three doors down – an empty one – to do the recording to stay out of the way for the night. 

A few hours passed and he had ordered pizza, had gone out and bought a six pack or so of beer and Frederick came home on the fourth beer.  He put down his beer, wiped his hands on the legs of his jeans and put on his headphones as the show began:

‘Isn’t Damian home?’ Cindy’s slight form walked into view from across the room on the living room camera.

“Damn she’s gorgeous.” Damian whispered to himself, “Why didn’t I ask her out?”

‘Nah, he’s out for the night.’ Frederick’s voice warbled a little.  Damian quickly fixed that with a few taps of the keyboard.  The next camera switched on and the kitchen one brought them up a lot closer, ‘Wanna a coffee?’

“She drinks tea you moron.” Damian said.

‘I’ll have a tea.’ She said walking to the lounge where the camera above the tv on the bookcase switched on. It was hidden between a couple of books and not easily noticed. Cindy sat down, putting her bag on the floor, ‘That was a great meal.’

‘Yeah, I never knew there was an African restaurant here in our small town.’ Frederick remarked finishing in the kitchen. He brought over the two mugs – one of tea, one of coffee – into the living room and joined Cindy on the lounge.  After sitting beside her, Frederick almost had no clue what to do with her… it was as though Damian was going to have to phone him and walk him through how to make a move on her; but then, he look at her and smiled, the edge of his hand touching hers.

You could almost feel the electricity in the air snap between them.

Damian’s heart dropped. 

Cindy liked Frederick.  This is how it always went with women; they liked his friend more than they liked him.  Damian was nice, but Frederick was the charmer; even though he was the dickhead.

He kept a watch on the two in the darkness of the empty flat as they started making out, taking each other’s clothes off, nuzzling, kissing, fumbling… enjoying and…

Damian watched on as Frederick peeled her clothes off piece by piece and had Cindy on the lounge.  Her eyes closed, back arched, arms around his flatmate… when that should have been him doing that to her.  Then, as though this was a porno film, he watched on as they became more and more sweaty and her cries of pleasure filled the air, filled his ears… making him sweaty, making him hard, making him want her so much that he hated himself for doing what he was doing now.

But for some reason, he couldn’t stop himself from watching it, pulling on his pants as his hard-on made everything uncomfortable in every way, becoming sensitive as hell as he tried not to touch himself… and yet couldn’t help himself as he watched.

“This is disgusting…” he muttered knowing if he gave in to playing with himself now, it would mean he’d be the pervert.  Damian tried to ignore his dick and concentrated on … other things, but couldn't. As the two on the screen got busy, he unzipped his jeans, shoved his hand down his pants and jerked off in time with her cries.
He sat back as he felt a sweat break out all over his body.  He shuddered and he climaxed everywhere. Damn, what a mess.  Damian stood awkwardly, and walked off to find something to clean up his mess, ashamed he had let himself get so much pleasure out of something he shouldn't have. 

By the time he looked back at the screen, the two were gone.  He flipped from camera to camera and couldn’t see them anywhere around the living room, kitchen or hall of the flat.  He wondered where they had disappeared to, until Frederick walked into view wearing a towel around his waist.

They had showered together.

She came out soon after with wet hair and grabbed her clothes to get dress, but Frederick was ready to go again.

“Oh, jeez, not again…” Damian sighed taking the headphones off and closing the laptop, getting up from the table.  He pulled at the crotch of his pants again, “I can’t do this.”

He spotted her in the huge library at the university looking very tired.  Cindy was trying to concentrate on her studies when Damian walked to her side, “Hi.”

She looked up and he could see the dark rings under her eyes, “Hey, Damian. How was your weekend?”

He nodded, “Good… you look stuffed… you okay?”

Yawning, she offered him a seat next to her, “I didn’t sleep very well over the weekend.”

“Neither did Frederick.” He said.

“He and I went out… but…” she hesitated, “I… oh I can’t tell you, you’re his friend.”

He looked at her, “Did he hurt you?”

“No… just… I went out to dinner with him and, I think he put something in my tea.” She said looking at her notes blankly, “I woke up in your flat but have no idea how I got there.”

“Oh… I have to tell you something about the weekend.” He said, “You might hate me for it, but I can’t tell you here.”

Cindy pulled the headphones off as she closed the laptop quickly, “I can’t believe you did that!”

He looked to his hands, “Neither can I.”

“Did you watch?”

“A little… but I stopped… I didn’t want to do this.  And I don’t like what he does to girls.” He said, “Did you notice that you never went into his room?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a reason for that.” Damian said, “And I can show you.” He put out his hand hoping she’d take it, hoping she wouldn’t think he’d be a shit, and he was grateful when she took it, “You have to trust me when I tell you that I never wanted to do any of this to you.”

“Okay.”

They arrived at Damian’s flat and heard noises through the door of Frederick with another girl.  So, instead of going inside, he motioned her down the hall to the empty flat where he was situated, let himself in, turned on the lights and walked to the table.

Closing the door, Cindy checked her phone where she had missed a call from Frederick.  Her thumb brushed the screen as she watched Damian turn on his tablet and have a look at what the cameras were recording.  Sure enough, he had another girl on the lounge in much the same way as he had screwed Cindy, “Oh my god.  He’s just gone onto the next chick.”

“Yeah.” He said turning it off and sitting down, “I’m really sorry.  This should never have happened to you.”

“You truly feel terrible, don’t you?” she touched his hand.

“It’s because I … oh, shit… I really like you, and Frederick just took you away from me.” Damian looked at her hand as he turned his hand around, rubbing her fingers with his thumb, “I really want to be with you Cindy.”

She covered their hands with her left hand, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

He shrugged, “Dunno.”

Frederick was sitting on the lounge, watching the goings-on between Cindy and Damian on his laptop.  Bette was making coffee for them both as he smiled at the result of his set-up.

“Did it work?” she asked.

“Yep… they’re talking – at long fucking last!” he said, “I’ve been trying to get him to talk to her for so long.”

She placed the coffee mug next to his laptop on the coffee table, as he drew the long usb cord and plugged it into the large flat-screen television, “Now, to watch the fun and games before putting it all onto YouTube.”

“Hey he didn’t do that to you.”

Sipping from his cup, he smirked, “No, but he’s gutless.”

Bette put her mug down, “And you’re just a dick.” She grabbed her things and turned to leave when she heard a click at the door and looked over her shoulder.

Frederick had pulled a gun from somewhere, “You try to leave, and I’ll kill you.”

“Still think you’re a dick.” She put down her bags and rejoined him on the lounge.

Damian and Cindy sat at the table smiling and talking.  He looked over all the equipment sitting around he had brought with him and sighed, “I know you think this is creepy.  But if I was Frederick, I would make something up with another chick… another film… run it on a loop, make it look like something it’s not and double cross me.”

Doubt fleeted across Cindy’s face, “Really?”

“Yeah… really.” He stood, holding her close, whispering in her ear, “Don’t say anything, just pack up, and we’ll go out somewhere.”

She looked into his eyes, smiling, knowing that ‘somewhere’ meant that they were going to bust Frederick at his own game.  She liked where this was going, Damian was exciting… more exciting than Frederick had told her he was.

They sat outside the building in his car as the police busted into Frederick’s flat.  He had worked on pornographic website to make it loop around and hooked it into the cameras in the flat a few doors down from where he lived the night Frederick had him working on the cameras in their place. 

It had taken him all night, but he did it.

Damian had also packed his car with his belongings as well, so the police only caught Frederick, and not a thing on him. 

The police found Frederick with the laptop hooked up to the television, with the film he had ‘taped’ from a few flats down uploading to YouTube while he was sitting on his lounge naked with a chick (who turned out to be a prostitute who was working for Damian and so she spilled the beans immediately to the cops).   The cops let her go, charged Frederick and searched the flat saying they had been tipped off by Damian.

“That little fuck!  He’s so gutless!  He’s so shy!” Frederick screamed.

One of the cops turned to him, “If he’s so gutless and shy, how did he get one over on you so big you didn’t even know it was happening under your nose?”

Haunted

She first woke me at 2am.  I had just moved in the week before and she wasn’t happy with me living here – in her home – as I was yet another intruder she felt she had to get rid of.  However, to her, this was going to be another routine thing to do.

“What the hell!” I sat up in bed and turned on the bedside lamp, turned back but she was gone, “Who the hell was that?”

I didn’t sleep again that night – well not much anyway.  

I had to figure out who was living in my home with me.

The Perverted Leprechaun

Chuck has us chuggin' drinks and cocktails this time.  He put up a link to a site which has recipes to these great drinks - 10 to a page - and I found this fine little ditty.  Enjoy.

I’m in prison because of him.

My hatred for that little man is beyond anything I can say, but I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him; that is if he stood still long enough!  And to think, I trusted myself to be lined up with him through a dating service – a reputable one too!

I’ll start at the beginning – a good place to start.

Fergus was his name.  I knew it was Irish – I mean, just listen to it roll off your tongue!  By the sound of his voice on the phone I kinda knew he was short, but then he told me how tall he was and it confirmed it:  I was going on a date with a little person (no not a midget – that’s not politically correct; and besides, it’s impolite to call them that now). 

Besides, I wasn’t going to turn him down all because of his height.  He was charming, sweet and made me laugh.  And isn’t that part of the experience of dating, that spark?

Well, from the moment we met, I knew something was up with him.  One moment he wasn’t there and the next, he was sitting at the table in the middle of a story I hadn’t heard the beginning of. 

I thought I had zoned out at some point.  But I hadn’t.

I thought something had happened and he popped something in my drink, but he hadn’t – well, not to my knowledge.

Then, Fergus would laugh and touch my hand and I’d laugh too.  It was as though I was charmed by him, as though his touch was something of hypnotism and I couldn’t help myself.

Now I think of it, I don’t actually remember accepting our first date.  I just remember showing up to the café and sitting down at the table.  I checked my phone and its calendar and – sure enough – our date was written in there. 

I just wish I knew how that came to be – how I came to be here in prison so quick.

I hadn’t known him a week and I landed here with charges that nobody wants on their records: murder.

The problem was that nobody believed it wasn’t me; not even my lawyer.  He just gave me a pitiful look and that pinched expression which told me that he’d do what he could… sure… bullshit.

The truth was that Fergus was gone the moment the trigger was pulled and my ex-husband hit the floor of his house.

How we got to be there was a complete mystery to me too; and perverted in every way:  we broke in while Tim was having a shower.  Uh, yeah, that really sounds like that’ll hold up in court that we were invited in… but Fergus told me to tell the cops that.

Which – for some reason – I did while they were cuffing me and telling me my rights, which were to shut up and wait until I got a lawyer.  Of course I didn’t… I kept on blathering on that I was invited in and Fergus was there.

Well, he was… he stood over there in the corner keeping his mouth shut the whole time they were walking around me taking in evidence that I was the one who cooked up this whole thing and killed my ex-husband on my own.

My lawyer sat there while I was handcuffed to the table watching me carefully.  Fergus sat by my side urging me to go on and answer the man… but when I looked back at the lawyer he asked me the dumbest question: “What are you looking at over there?”

I glanced back to Fergus and he was gone!

It was then I realised something was dreadfully wrong and I turned to him, “Okay, I have been on a dating service and Fergus and I were lined up to date.  Look in my handbag and you’ll find a business card for the place.”

The guy wrote it down nodding, “Okay, dating service.”

I told him all about our first date and how everything seemed strange, right up until all this stuff about my ex-husband happened, “Please look into it.”

You know something?  Nothing ever came of the business card. 

I never heard from my lawyer again.  Actually I was given a new one.

I wondered what happened to my last one.

So, this brings me to here… sitting in my prison cell. 

Fergus is gone.  I haven’t seen that little perverted shit anywhere since the lawyer and I talked last.  Looking at my hands, I wonder how long it’ll take until they find out what’s going on.  I hear another inmate being brought in. 

She keeps on talking: “It’s not my fault… it’s the leprechaun… his name is Fergus!  I’m telling you, he disappeared when you guys arrested me.  Please… he was the one who shot my ex-boyfriend.”

“Listen, we’ve heard it all before, a dozen times from you crazy broads.” The screw snapped as he shoved her into the cell with me, “It’s not going to float.”

As the door slammed shut, she cried out through the small window, “He’s left me here to rot! He’s a perverted little shit!”

Looking up at her as she crumbled to the floor, I realise something and smile, “So, you know Fergus too?  What did that perverted leprechaun do to you?” 

The Abstraction of Heaven and Earth

Chuck's prompt was late this time around.  However, not a disappointment.  He gave us a list of sentences and asked us to pick on and put it into a flash fiction of 1,000 words then post it... my sentence is: 'Abstraction is often one floor above you'.

I couldn’t believe it. 

I had made it here without detection.

Heaven that is…

I had made it beyond those famous gates, through the quad into the famous time-keeper’s rooms without anyone knowing I was here.

Okay.  I’ll tell you why I’m so stunned.  I’m not dead.  I haven’t left the mortal coil.  I’m still connected to Earth – and they know it! – and I’m here to search out somebody.

The clock ticked to my left.  And there was a huge, empty, cavernous hall with a massive pipe organ to my right.  It was immense to see this hall, absolutely stunning architecture – I loved it!  This place reminded me of the York Minster, but with no pews and less people.

My feet are cold.

Looking down, I find my shoes had been removed and I can’t find my Doc Martens.  It’s raining outside – storming in fact.  It’s amazing to see it rain in Heaven… it’s nothing like it is on Earth.  Golden sunshine glimmers through the glittering rain outside as it taps gently against the glass of the tiny room I’m standing in.

The clock has stopped ticking.

Its long trendles, beaded with diamonds and sapphires and opals stilled.  Its hands have stopped at 12:15.  I’m not sure if it’s day or night… but something doesn’t seem right as I approach the clock in its glass case.

I shouldn’t be here.  I know this now.  I know what I wanted to know where my friend was… but I don’t think this was the place to come to find out.

“You know, Bethany, you most certainly are in the wrong place.” His voice whispered at my shoulder, “Well, you’re not needed here yet.”

I turned and saw him, in his robes, knowing it was something of a dream, “I’m sorry.  I just want to know where my friend is.”

“She’s fine.  But she’s not here.” He said, “Helene may be very sick, but she’s fighting to stay home.”

I looked to my feet, “You call this place home.”

A friendly smile grows on his face, “Yes… but I mean Earth.  And you’re in the wrong place.  You’re not supposed to be here.  I don’t know who gave you clearance to be in the Time-Keeper’s Quarters, but I should send you back where you belong now.” He reached out to touch my shoulder.

“Wait!” I stepped back, “My shoes… where are my shoes?”

Looking to my feet, he blinked, “Why they’re on your feet, of course.”

I looked to my feet again, to find them back on and tied up.  How they got to be there without my help was beyond me; but I was happy to have, um, found them.  Shrugging, I looked up at him, “Okay, send me back home.”

I woke up to my alarm.

It was 6am. 

Picking it up, I turned it off and put it down on the bedside table then curled up on my side wondering just what the heck happened.  Was it a dream?  Did that just happen?

Damn, it felt so darned real!

“Abstraction is often one floor above you.” Came a whisper over my shoulder of his voice.

Turning over, I flipped the covers off me and sat up, ready to confront whoever had snuck into my house the night before to watch me sleep… to share my bed without my permission… to… to…

…there was nobody there!

My day went on.  I did my usual things of breakfast, going out and shopping and visiting my folks.  Nothing out of the ordinary happened for most of the day. 

Not until I needed to go to my doctors and get a check up on a few old skin complaints.  I approached the building and looked up the first floor where I saw my friend, who I was so worried about sitting by the window reading a magazine. 

She turned the page, spotted me and disappeared from view as she rose from the chair.

My heart sunk.  She didn’t want me to see her.

Bursting into tears on the footpath, I didn’t know what to do.  I really wanted to see my friend, but if she didn’t want to see me, what could I do?

“Bethany?” Helene’s voice was by my side, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Looking up to her, I sniffed, wiping the heels of my hands over my cheeks, “Helene? I have been looking for you everywhere.”

“I know.  Mum told me.  She told me that she’s been telling you lies to keep me safe.  But she didn’t need to.” Her arm was around me in a minute, “I’m going okay.  I’ve had my liver transplant… now it’s just about getting better.”

“I wish I had known you were better.”

“Who told you to find me here?”

“Nobody, I have an appointment with my skin specialist here.” I said, “We happen to have them in the same building.”

Helene smiled, “Come on, let’s go in.  We can chat until your appointment is done, and we’ll have a cup of coffee or tea afterwards.”

“Oh… that does sound great.” We walked in through the doors and up to the first floor where we both waited in the same waiting room together chatting and catching up with everything over the last two years (yeah, we’re friends who can do that).  Then, the doctor came out, calling my name.

I stood and turned to him, freezing on the spot when I saw his face, “You.”

“Of course me, I’m your doctor.” He smiled that wonderful friendly smile, “Come on, Bethany.”

I followed him to his office and he offered me a chair as he closed the door, “Now, how are you feeling today?”

“It’s you… from, you know…” I pointed up towards the ceiling.

Putting down my file, he clasped his hands on top of it, “Yes it’s me and like I told you…”

“But this isn’t abstraction.”

“You found your friend when you least expected to, didn’t you?”

The first quarter of this piece was written fresh from a weird-ass dream I had this morning.  Right up until the alarm went off at 6am was my dream... verbatim.  It was amazing, brilliant and still very much clear in my mind even now.  

Love Story - Part IV

Okay!  We're back at it again.... but it's part IV!!!  I've picked out one which has a softer side, and yet is still a bit on the paranormal side too... 'Love Story'... this is truly one for the lovers from both sides of the equation - the mortal coil and beyond the pearly gates as well!

Enjoy!

Part I (by lisboeta1)

Holy crap! It’s him, I heard my inner voice yell out. I was sitting in a small booth in my favorite coffee shop doing what I do best; drinking coffee and reading. As my eyes wondered from the pages of the book to the crowd gathering by the registers I saw him. He hadn’t changed much in the last twenty years. If anything he seemed to have improved like a good wine. I noticed that he was even taller than the last time I had seen him all those years ago. Thick blondish curly hair still framed his handsome face and his slanted almond-shaped eyes looked just like I remembered them. Not the skinny, slightly awkward young man he had been at 18, his well-toned arms and chest now stretched the black plain t-shirt he was wearing. He had obviously just come from the gym, sweatpants hanging low on his tight hips and sneakers on his feet. A smile crept up to my lips; I remembered him saying that his mom used to tell him that when he died he would die standing up because of his giant feet. God! I remembered our conversations as it was only yesterday.
My eyes went to his hands, big and masculine, and a shiver went through me. I remember well the feeling of those hands on my body. I was so young back then. Still, I was about two years older than him, an “older woman”. For all sense of purpose I was an adult but I still fell hard for the young man he was then. The first time I laid eyes on him, walking across the hotel atrium, I was lost. My heart fluttered every time I saw him and my legs turned to Jell-O every time we spoke. Ours was a whirlwind romance that lasted a few days but left a soft spot in my heart for 20 years. I always thought of James as the one who got away. And now, there he was, a mere few feet away from me, and my heart was doing that familiar flip-floppy thing it had always done in his presence. What was he doing here? More to the point; what was I going to do?

Part II (by Helen Espinosa)

As it turned out, I didn’t need to do anything at all. Before I could even begin to think whether it was a good idea or not to walk up to him, our eyes met and a slow smile spread across his face as recognition dawned in his eyes. My heart picked up speed inside my chest and my face felt hot as the blood rushed to it. God, I hated that! I hated the fact that I couldn’t control the blush as it flamed across my face in what I knew was a bright red color.
I put my head down as he started walking in my direction, trying to get the color under control. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so they became a tight knot in my lap that grew tighter the closer he got to the booth. I look like an idiot just sitting here. I stood up and lifted my head to meet his eyes once again, startled at how close he was and that he was still getting closer. My eyebrows lifted as he walked right up to me and put his arms around me like we were old friends.
“Oh my God, Liz! It really is you!” He leaned back, his hands holding my upper arms as he took a long look at me that did nothing to help the heat in my face.
“Hi James.” I sounded so awkward.
“Where have you been all these years? What happened to you?”
“Me? I seem to recall it was you who disappeared.” I said it with a smile but watched as something flitted across his eyes and it looked like he was going to say something but he dropped his hands instead and cleared his throat. What was that about?
He finally said, “I can’t believe it’s you after all these years. How have you been?”
“I’m good, just, you know. I don’t know.” I didn’t know where my eyes should go, so I looked down and shuffled my feet. My eyes landed on my coffee sitting on the table and the book beside it. I gestured towards it with my hand. “This is my favorite place for coffee and a book.” I glanced back up at him and caught him smiling at me.
“That’s one of the things I remember best about you. You always had a book. It’s nice to see that some things don’t change.”
“Can you stay a while? Catch up? I can buy you some coffee…” The words trailed away as I realized how dumb I sounded. God, I was so nervous. I wanted the shaky feeling in my stomach to settle down so I could breathe.
“Damn, Liz, I wish I could. I’ve gotta get showered and get to work. Rain check?” He really looked like he meant it and I almost couldn’t believe my ears. He wanted to see me again? My face went back to flaming just as I thought it had settled down. I couldn’t trust my voice so I just nodded my head.
“Well, uh…” Now he was the one stammering and shuffling his feet.
“Do you… Can I give you my number?” There. I said it. I wanted to see him again, but I knew that if he walked away without leaving me with something, I would probably never see him again. I never thought of our city as a big one, but if he lived here and we hadn’t run across each other in twenty years, who knew how long it would be before we crossed paths again, if ever.
“Of course! Geez, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” He let out a short laugh as he reached into his sweat pants. He pulled out his cell phone and punched on the screen a few times then actually held it out to me.
“Here, put it in my phone.”
When I reached for it, our hands grazed slightly and a bolt of electricity jumped from his hand to mine and sent my heart racing again. I looked into his eyes and the world seemed to spin. Could it really be that after all these years he still felt the same way? I wasn’t getting any answers staring into his eyes like a love-struck fool, so I gently took the phone and dialed my number into it. I slowly handed it back to him, suddenly struck dumb, not knowing what to do next.
“Is it okay if I dial it so you have mine?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s perfect, actually.”
I heard my phone buzzing behind me and reached over to click the ignore button. As I looked back at James, I realized he was leaning in again. I didn’t know if my senses could take another hug at this point, but I didn’t want to refuse either, so I hugged him back, trying to keep the tingling under control.
“It was really great to see you, Liz. I almost hate to leave,” he said as he pulled back for a second time in less than five minutes.
“Yeah, I know the feeling.”
We stood there for a few minutes more in an awkward silence that hung suspended between us. I didn’t know what else to do so I said, “Take care of yourself, James.”
He smiled again, “You too, Liz. I’ll call you.” And then he turned and walked away.

My entire body was wobbly and I fell back into the booth with a loud swoosh and sat staring at my now cold coffee. Could I even hold out hope that he would call me? Did I even dare to invest my heart in something that had lasted only two days twenty years ago? The crazy thing was, I’m not sure my heart was giving me a choice. It was still beating so fast and I knew that if he didn’t call or text or something, I would be heartbroken all over again.

part III (by me)

I didn’t know what to do next, so I gathered my things and headed out the door. I thumbed my phone as I picked it up, intent on saving James’ number before I lost the only connection I had to him.
I walked back to my condo. It was time to stop mooning over James, but I didn’t know how I was going to concentrate when all I could think about was our last encounter – his hands on my body, his lips hot against mine, his skin silvered in the pre-dawn light.
I let myself in, trudging upstairs to drop my bag and slip off my shoes, when my phone rang. My heart lurched as James’ name flashed across my screen. I stared at it, afraid to answer and afraid not to. Could he really be calling me? Was it a misdial? I took a deep breath and answered just before it rolled over into voicemail.
“Hello? James?”
“Hi Liz, it’s James. Oh, wait, you already knew that.” He laughed and I did too, relieved that it really was him and that he was just as nervous as I was.
“Yes, your name came up on my phone.”
“Oh, of course. Look, this is going to sound crazy, but can I see you?”
“Yes, I’d like that.” He was asking me out on a date! He really did want to see me again.
“Great! What are you doing?”
“Right now? I thought you had to get to work.” A tiny alarm went off in the back of my mind. Something wasn’t quite right.
“I, uh, just called in and cleared my calendar for the day. I … I just really need to see you, to talk to you.”
“Wow, um, okay.” I desperately wanted to see him again and to find out why he’d disappeared, but I was also wary. This was moving really fast.
“Where are you? Do you want to meet back at the coffee shop?”
“Actually, I’m parked outside your condo complex. Can I come up?”
“What? Did you follow me?” Now I was really confused and more than a little nervous.
“Yeah, but I’m not some creepy stalker, I swear! I just … I made a stupid mistake when I left without saying goodbye, and now that I have another chance, I’m not going to screw up again. Please just let me apologize to you and to explain why I did it. If you don’t want to see me after that, I promise to never bother you again.”
He sounded terribly sincere and more than a little desperate. And although my head screamed out that it was a really bad idea to let James in, my heart wouldn’t listen.
“Um, okay, sure.”
“Great! Can you buzz me in?”
“Oh, yes, of course.” I tried to steady my breath as I hurried downstairs to punch the code on the alarm panel. “I’m in #101, nearest the gate.”
“I know,” he said, which gave me another moment’s hesitation, but I pushed the thought from my mind and opened the door to see James already standing there, one hand poised to knock. He was still in his sweat pants and t-shirt, and he looked both sheepish and relieved.  Any doubts I’d had about letting him in slipped away.
“Come in,” I said. “Sorry about the mess.” He glancing up and down the corridor before closing the door and locking the deadbolt. Again, my mind chirped out a warning, but I ignored it as I started up the stairs, James following behind me. When we got to the top, we stood facing each other, then started to speak at the same time.
“Liz, I …”
“Well, should we sit …”
We both chuckled and he insisted that I go first. “Do you want to sit down?”
“Yes, that’d be great.” We sat on the sofa and he took both my hands in his. They were warm and strong, just as I remembered.
“Liz, I want to apologize. I never should’ve left you without saying goodbye. I have always regretted it.”
“I figured you just weren’t that into me,” I said. I was surprised at the flash of bitterness I felt. He’d broken my heart and although I’d told myself that I’d moved on, I realized that I’d never really gotten over it. “I thought we had something. I thought you were different, but we were both so young …”
“I was a fool and I’m sorry,” he said. “Please believe me when I tell you that I have cherished the memories of our few days together for all these years. Now that I’ve found you again, I intend to make it up to you, if you’ll let me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I had dreamed about this moment for years, but now that it was happening, it felt surreal.
“Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”
He seemed to weigh his options before continuing. “I … had to leave. I had a prior commitment.”
“And you couldn’t even leave me a note or something?” I didn’t want to be angry, but the words spilled out along with tears I thought I’d cried out years ago.
James leaned close, tenderly cupping my jaw in his hand so that my eyes met his. The pain I saw reflected there mirrored my own.
“Liz, I am so sorry. I … it was …” He struggled to find the words, finally blurting out, “I was engaged to be married and I didn’t want to break your heart.”
“Too late!” I tried to swallow the bitterness in my voice, but it seeped out anyway. “So, I was the last big fling as a swinging single, huh? You cheated on your fiance to get with me? Was I worth it?”
“No, please, you don’t understand.” I’d pulled away from his grasp but he caught my face again, turning me to face him and look into his eyes once more.
“Where is your wife now? Or were you hoping to have another fling with me?” I moved to the window, looking out at nothing, still feeling betrayed.
“She’s dead.”
I turned to look at him, and although he was facing me, his gaze was a million miles away. “And, for the record, we never got married. I … got cold feet … and she killed herself … on our wedding day … at least that’s what the paper said.”
“Oh, my god …”
“It was an arranged marriage. We hardly knew each other. I didn’t have anything against her, but I wasn’t ready to get married. I didn’t want to do it, but I had … an obligation …”
I didn’t know what to say. As I moved back to the sofa, he stood to face me as if seeing me for the first time.
“Liz, you’re the only one who can save me. Will you help me?” 

Love Story – Part IV - Mozette

“An obligation?” now he had me curious.  Okay, an arranged marriage was something big, something he couldn’t have gotten out of; but he could have told me about it. I would have understood.

Wouldn’t I?

“Yes.” He gestured that we sit back down, “Please.  Can we sit down for a minute, and I’ll explain.” We sat back on my lounge and he sighed, looking to his hands, trying to pull what he was going to say to together; making sure it was right, “Okay… you and I were starting off on something great.  We met.  We sparked, and I loved everything about you.” His eyes met mine as a smile warmed his face for a moment, and I was right back there with him twenty years ago.  But that smile didn’t last, “Mother and Father didn’t like you.  You’re a Westerner, not of my race… they arranged for me to marry somebody within my religion and my race behind my back, and told me on the day you and I were supposed to meet up for that picnic in San Francisco.  You remember… in that park…”

“… near the Golden Gate Bridge.” I smiled, “Yeah… where those beautiful houses overlook it and there’s plenty of people running around.” I smiled at the memory, “It was the middle of Winter.”

His hand cupped my cheek, “You looked so beautiful in your green knitted scarf and long purple jacket.”

Frowning, I wondered, “How did you know what I wore that day, you never showed up.”

“Yes I did.” James nodded, “Father took me to the park and we sat in the car watching you… he wouldn’t let me talk to you.  He told me that he needed the car and he’d drop me where I needed to go, then… he…” he looked down, “… he took me to our church where I was introduced to her.”

“Didn’t you tell her about me?”

“Oh, Liz, yes… I did.” His eyes begged me to understand, “Cherise was her family’s youngest and only daughter.”

“So, why did she kill herself?”

“I got cold feet because of you.  She knew I would never love her the way I love you; and her brother told her family she was better off dead even if I didn’t marry her.” He looked over his right shoulder as the room turned cold, “Oh, jeez.  Now, you have to understand something…”

“Why is the room cold?” I looked around.

“She wants something out of you.” James said.

Turning to him, I started to shiver, “What could I possibly give her?”

Touching my hand, I watched him disintegrate as his emotions took over, “Liz, she found out we ran into each other.  And she wants you dead.”

Struggling to stand, I turned to find a ghostly white figure flickering into view in front of my television set.  She didn’t look happy and was dressed in shredded wedding attire.

“What the hell…” I stared at her as the lights around my place began to flicker, even though I didn’t have them switched on, “James, I never told you about my brother, Christopher, did I?”

He stood watching Cherise, clearly scared of her, “Um, once.  You told me he died in a car accident when he was in college, that you guys were co-joined twins.”

“Yeah… I didn’t tell you something about him.” I took his hand gently, “You see, I’m not too worried about Cherise.  She’s here for me… that’s fair enough, because well, vengeance is something she’ll have to deal with.  But she’s been hanging around you for twenty years; so she doesn’t know how to let go.” Suddenly, my legs gave out from under me as my right thigh spasmed hard making me cried out.

“Liz, what’s going on?” he knelt by me as I lifted up my skirt and he watched the scar where the operation from when I was a baby lit up a bright blue, “Holy shit!”

“It’s my brother.  Part of his body was left in me by accident… and when he shows up, if he’s angry enough, it cripples me.” I looked around as I saw him glow into existence behind Cherise’s messed-up form.

“Oh wow… he’s so at peace.” James’ mouth dropped, “And you both look so much alike.” Cherise noticed James looking beyond her and she turned, seeing another in the room, readying herself to destroy Christopher.  He simply raised his right hand, open-palmed to the deadly spirit and the room filled with a brilliantly pure white light.  James and I couldn’t watch as it became too bright for us.  We cowered behind the coffee table as our vision filled completely with nothing but light.

My phone ringing made me open my eyes.

The light was gone.

Cherise was gone.

Christopher was gone.

I looked at my leg and the scar that had been there for all those years was gone.  I ran my hand up and down that leg in disbelief, “Wow…it’s… it’s gone.”

James sat there against the lounge looking at it as my phone went to message bank, “Yeah.  They must have cancelled each other out.”

“No. That’s not it.” I answered looking at him, “When was your wedding day?”

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“Just tell me.”

Sighing he pulled out of his wallet, a well-folded piece of paper from a calendar: “Valentine’s Day 1995, at 3pm.”

I reached under the coffee table to the shelf beneath it to where there was a photo album and opened it.  I flipped through the pages and found the one where it had my brother’s booklet they gave out on the funeral service and pulled that booklet out, “My brother died on the same day.” I opened the little booklet and unfolded a newspaper clipping, “But here’s the weird thing: he had a head on collusion with a young woman who was on her way to a wedding named Cherice.  She pulled onto the wrong side of the road on purpose… killing them both instantly.”

He looked at the clipping and recognised Cherice’s car immediately in the photo, “Oh my god.  She was trying to make our families pay because I didn’t love her.  And your brother, where was he going?”

Tears filled my eyes, “I had called him from the park when I told him you had stood me up… he could feel my sadness.  He knew something bad had happened.” I burst into tears, “When his phone went to message bank and I heard the sirens close by, I knew – I could feel – something was wrong.”

“How?”

“We’re twins… we’re close… my skin started to feel like it was burning.” I said, “Right then, I smelled smoke in the air… and I knew my brother was dead.”

“Is your brother a forgiving kind of person?” he asked.

I sniffed, “Oh James, that’s what he did before with Cherice… she was mad at you for loving me.  You have never gotten over what she did to herself; so she haunted you.  My brother stuck around to protect me… and he also waited for you to come back – to forgive her for doing what she did to him and teach her to forgive herself.”

“But they’re both gone now.”

“It only means what’s he’s taught was right.  She’s okay now.” I said, “She isn’t out to hurt you or me or anyone else.”

He gave back the clipping, “Well, it’s getting onto dinner time.”

“You want to stay for something to eat?  I really could use the company.”

James slid his arm around my shoulders, “Sure.  I’d love to.  And this time I’ll never leave you; not again.”

“Good… I don’t want to lose you again either.”