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A Vampire's Elegy: (3) Unwilling Departure |
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Chapter 3
(Its short but I had to leave it at a cliffhanger, muah ha ha haz!)
The cold autumn air gave Jess a relived feeling. Not that anything bad was happening; she just needed a lot of stress relief. She stood on the small hill in her front yard and jumped off. The rope swing beneath her swung her in an arc past a couple of trees. It tossed her up to a thin branch stretched out from a nearby tree. Jess plucked a leaf in the split second she was there until the swing pulled her back to the hill. She landed next to Radka who was leaning against the tree which the rope swing was secured to.
“I can’t believe we saw Isaac at Barnes and Noble, of all places,” Jess said as she let her feet go out from under her. She swung in a circle and returned to the hill.
Radka traced her foot in a line in the dirt, “I know. And he’s changed so much.”
“Yeah, he almost seems like a completely different person. He’s not that much of a jerk anymore.” Radka nodded and there was silence for a while. Jess continued swinging in circles. She came back and dismounted the board. After she caught Radka’s attention, she swung the rope to her. Radka leaned over and caught the swing. Jess began walking to switch places with her.
Jess leaned back against the solid oak tree and watched her friend swing. “Hey, what do you say we go back to the bookstore after dark tonight,” Jess asked with a sly smile.
Radka sighed and landed on the hill next to Jess. “You remember what Isaac said, right?” She jumped off the hill, “You don’t really want to go with all those people around, do you?”
“Why not? Think about it. Isaac is a prep, those people he was describing are probably just like us. He just doesn’t understand people who don’t dress in vibrant colors every day,” she said will a roll of her eyes.
Radka just gave a small noise and a shrug. "You're right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.”
It didn’t take much convincing to get Jess’ dad to take them back to Barnes and Noble. There were very few things he would say “no” to doing for his daughters. He was very unlike Jess’ mom, who checked up on her all the time to make sure she was still alive. Her mom would probably be making her do chores right now instead of going anywhere if Jess was at her house. But luckily, that wasn’t the case, and the bookstore was coming into view ahead of her dad’s car.
He pulled the car up in front of the entrance. Jess and Radka scurried out. “Thanks, Dad!” Jess ran around the car and up to the entrance with Radka.
The café wasn’t what Jess was anticipating. It was something even more horrible than what Isaac had warned her about. The café was filled with brightly colored preps. Jess kept her distress to herself and continued walking with Radka to an empty table fit for two by the glass wall. She let out a sigh as she examined the café more. No dark Lords of the Night, no gothic café lurkers. Well, none but Radka and Jess. Radka was still wearing her trademark jailbird outfit while Jess wore her black knee length shorts and white tank. They could probably both be taken for mimes if their faces were a shade lighter than their already pale composure.
Jess noticed a few people staring them down and examining their attire. She ignored it and turned her attention to the coffee counter, Isaac was standing behind it with his back turned, distracted with making someone’s order.
Jess and Radka had already made their stop by the manga aisle before they came to the café. Radka sat contently reading some darkly covered book. It was one of the novels she had been bothering Jess about reading for a couple of months. And, as if Radka was reading her mind, here it came.
“Have you read Tarot Café, yet?” she asked, barely looking up from her captor.
Jess heaved a sigh and shifted in the chair. “I’m getting to it. Right now, you have the only first volume.” Radka closed the book. Jess didn’t really have the urge to read the book. It wasn’t her style. So when she sensed Radka was about to offer her the book, she stood up, grabbing her wallet. “I’m gonna go get a drink, do you want anything?”
Radka just shook her head and pursed her lips as she flipped through the book, searching for the page she left off on.
Jess shuffled over to the line at the bar as she dug through her wallet for the money her dad had offered her before they came. By the time she reached the counter, someone else had taken over Isaac’s position. Instead it was a tall, skeletal man with long coiled hair pulled into a small ponytail. Jess ordered her usual large diet coke, keeping her eyes open for Isaac as the man retrieved her drink. She felt odd, looking for her old nemesis. Wait, why was she looking for him? It’s not like she wanted to talk to him. Jess shook off the feeling as the man handed her the drink and change. “Thanks,” she smiled and headed back to the table.
Jess looked up from her sketchbook to a clock on the wall. They had been there for about thirty minutes. She picked up her nearly empty drink, shook it, letting the ice rattle around, and took a sip. Standing up and shouldering her satchel, she set the cup back on the table. “Be right back. Bathroom.”
Radka nodded, her eyes still glued to the manga. “Okie, dokie,” she said in her perky voice. If it weren’t for the way Radka dressed, people could mistake her for a saint, but Jess knew her better. Saints weren’t either of their styles.
Jess trotted out of the café, glancing at the seated figures along the way. Still no People of the Night.
The bathroom was empty as she approached the sink. She thought about how much she hated the eerie room. The area was dimly lit and way too quiet. It nearly scared her when she looked up from washing her hands to her reflection in the mirror. The lighting darkened the areas under her eyes and magnified the hairs on her head straying out in all directions. It made her consider if it was a dream that someone had called her beautiful. Her family and friends had told her that, but somehow, she just didn’t believe them.
Shaking her hands of excess water, she looked at the paper towel rack.
Empty.
Jess sighed and rubbed her hands nearly dry over her pants. She took one last look her lonely reflection in the mirror. Turning to head for the door, she let out a small shriek of surprise. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one in the bathroom. A girl about Jess’ height stood directly in front of her. If Jess had taken another step, she would have run right into her.
Jess had a reason to be startled. The girl could have been mistaken for a reaper. With midnight black hair and thick layer of eyeliner along with matching black lips, she looked more frightening than Jess’ reflection. That was all Jess caught a glance at before she rushed to the door. “S’cuse me,” she mumbled before going out.
Her face was still burning with embarrassment. She seemed to feel humiliated very easily; it was a common thing for her face to turn pink, despite her heavy makeup.
By the time she entered the café, she completely forgot about her prior incident. The café was just as Isaac had warned her about. At every other table, black-clothed figures were seated, reading or just having a conversation with their companions. She only glanced for a second of two before entering and heading to her table. But when her eyes rested on the table she left Radka at, she slowed to a stop.
There was nothing there but Radka’s abandoned book and Jess’ empty cup. She looked just in time to see two dark figures stride out the exit door to the cold night air. The first was wearing a black and white striped shirt but the one thing that assured it was Radka was the pair of black cat ears she was wearing. What made her even more curious was the figure that followed her out. He was even taller than Jess and dressed from head to toe in black. Jess had no idea who he was, and that made the experience even more uneasy. Radka and Jess were best friends. They each knew all of each other’s friends. This must have been someone Radka just met.
Jess adjusted her satchel and followed in pursuit, looking left and right once she stepped outside. There was no where to go to her right so she hurried the opposing way. The way they must have gone. Jess rested a hand on her satchel and quickened her pace. There was no way some creep was sneaking off to oblivion with her best friend.
 Collide_With_Darkness · Tue Oct 30, 2007 @ 03:00am · 1 Comments |
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