by Shelly Pratt
“Why were there ravens outside of my apartment last night? Are we in danger?” she asked. She felt him tense next to her and then relax once more.
“Maybe,” he said. At this comment she sat up so suddenly that she startled Eilam so much he fell out of the bed.
“Maybe? Maybe!!” she screeched. “If we’re in any kind of danger than what are we doing just sitting here, they could be back any minute,” she exclaimed.
His face took on a lopsided grin right then, which she of course wanted to knock right off his lips. Seeing her mood darken though, he decided to take a more serious approach.
“You don’t need to worry, I already snuck out after you nodded off and followed them,” he said.
“You did? What happened?” she asked.
“I think they were doing a bit of reconnaissance. They’ve obviously been watching you for a while and are on to the fact that we have made a connection. It’s only natural they would be nervous about you wanting to help me break the curse,” he said.
“Well, why me? They could have been watching you, you know,” she said glumly.
“Possible, but unlikely,” he said.
“And why is that?” she asked.
“Because I would have seen or sensed them coming a mile off, and they know where you live,” he said with confidence.
“Well you certainly didn’t see them coming last night, did you?” she retorted.
“That was because I was a little distracted,” he said smugly.
“Oh,” she blushed. Clearly he had been just as caught up in the moment as she had. The fact that they hadn’t got to make love made her a little wishful. “So are we in danger?” she asked again.
“Probably not; I think they are very keen to see what kind of relationship it is that we have. If we look at it from their point of view, it would be better for us to be connecting in a romantic way, it makes it less likely for you to want to kill me,” he joked.
“That’s not funny. I’m not going to kill you anyway,” she said.
He walked over to where she now stood and caressed the side of her face with his hand. Her legs instantly felt like jelly and she felt a current pass between them.
“I wish you would,” he said in all seriousness, his jaw clenched and his head bent towards hers, his voice thick with emotion.
“Well I can’t, even if you are seducing me just so it will have an opposite effect on the choices I make,” she said. He dropped his hand abruptly and a look of pain came over his face. She could see instantly that what she had said had been a mistake and she’d clearly hurt his feelings with such a remark.
“Look, Eilam, I’m sorry okay – I just don’t know what to think at the moment,” she said, almost as if offering a truce.
“I understand. Look, I think I had better go. Just promise me you’ll be careful when you go outdoors,” he said abruptly and made his way to the balcony. She wanted to say something more, something that would make everything okay between them again but she bit her tongue. She thought it was best if they had a break from each other so they could both clear their heads. She watched on in silence as he spread his muscular arms outwards right before he morphed into the raven she was so used to seeing now. He flapped his wings hard and headed off into the morning sky. The minute he left a drizzle of rain came in from the south which seemed to be set in for the day. Great, she thought, just what I need with the mood I’m in. She closed and locked the balcony door and closed the curtains too. Today she wanted to stay holed up in her apartment and ignore reality for a change. She lit some candles and then went over to the kitchenette to make a strong pot of coffee. She was sorely disappointed to find the cupboard bare and grew increasingly cranky that things just weren’t going her way today. If she was honest with herself though, she was really feeling quite miserable that Eilam had left the way he had.
Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it right this minute. She decided to get changed into a pair of jeans and an oversized sloppy-joe and head down to the corner delicatessen for more coffee and comfort food. She rode the rickety elevator down to the ground floor and stepped off as it chimed its arrival. She was nearing the exit door to outside when the door on her right creaked open. She almost had the mind to jump out of her skin but she regained her composure once she saw it was the old lady who occupied the front unit. The lady’s frazzled grey hair spiked out in all directions and her huge bug eyes stared back at Aiyana from the dark recesses of her apartment.
“Good morning ma’am,” nodded Aiyana politely and then moved to continue on her way. Speed out of nowhere though, she had snatched out her bony old hand to grab Aiyana’s arm and held her firmly in place. Aiyana gasped at the pressure the little old lady was exerting on her grip of her.
“Ouch, could you let go please,” she said, trying not to startle the old dear too much. The old lady smiled and showed her visibly decaying mouth - teeth were missing everywhere and the only thing absent was a wart on her nose. Aiyana tried not to show physical revulsion and continued to smile at the woman, nodding at her grip on her arm indicating that she would like to be let go. The woman still held on with one hand, but pointed a very bony forefinger at her as though to emphasise some point.
“They’re coming you know,” she hissed in a wheezy voice.
“Who are?” she replied.
“Them birds, seen ‘em everywhere I ‘as,” she said, little bubbles of spittle forming on the sides of her mouth.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Aiyana, although knowing full well exactly what the woman was referring to.
“You see you stay well away missy, big trouble is brewing,” she wheezed, the bony finger still stabbing the air that lay between the two of them.
“Okay, I’ll see I do,” she replied, giving her arm a final tug from the woman’s grip and then hurrying out of the front door. She could hear the woman’s cackle still floating behind her as she stepped out into the rain. Talk about crazy, although Aiyana couldn’t help feeling like there might be some truth to the woman’s predictions. She cursed that yet another moment had ruined her day and she stomped heavily down the street in quite a funk towards the deli.
Despite the rain, there were people milling about everywhere. The lower shop fronts had signs out indicating they were open for business and people came and went about their daily life as if completely oblivious to the outside doom and gloom. It had been dark and rainy for so long, she had almost come to believe that people had finally accepted that this was the way their life was going to be like from now on. She wondered if they didn’t dream of a day where they might come to enjoy the sunshine once more. Aiyana remembered the sunshine. As a child her parents used to take her and Cybele on holidays overseas – anywhere but here to get a glimpse of the rays. She had vague recollections of feeling the sun warm her cheeks so hot that she felt flushed before her mother would aptly put a sunhat on her. She longed for that sun to break its way through the fog and clouds and light up the coastal town once more.
As if in an obstinate refute of her childish daydreaming, a loud crack of thunder broke overhead and released a new torrent of rain along with it. She quickly pushed between the people on the sidewalk and made a mad dash for the door of the deli. She made it inside without the rain penetrating her outer raincoat and she stood a minute to let the water drip off her before venturing further in.
There was no one else in the store but her. She could see the outside world still buzzing beyond the glass walls of the shop, yet in here, time seemed to stand still. She couldn’t even see Vincent, the store owner. This place was kind of like the last of the Mohicans – nowhere else on the coast could you get food like this, and you certainly paid handsomely for it. Every couple of days Vincent would have a shipment of produce come from all over Europe to stock his store with all manner of culinary delights. Plump black and green olives along with exquisite cheeses adorned his refrigerated display cabinets. Salamis and cured meats hung from the ceiling
with twine from another era. His shelves were stocked with only the finest coffee beans, pastas, biscuits and sauces – enough to make any man’s mouth water. But her favourite foods above all the rest were the Greek desserts and French pastries that filled the woven baskets along the counter.
The selection was endless. Baklava, Turkish delight, orange semolina syrup cake, chocolate and almond Croissants – the smell that wafted towards her nose was enough to make her drool on the spot. She grabbed a basket and started filling it heartily with goods that would see her through her comfort eating binge and she added a large bag of freshly ground Italian coffee for good measure. Once filled with as much stuff as she could carry she went to wait by the cash register until Vincent returned.
She imagined he probably was out the back bringing in some extra stock for the front of the store. Her thoughts were confirmed five minutes later when a rather round and robust man walked through the back entry way with arms laden with long crusty baguettes.
“Miss Aiyana, so sorry to keep you waiting,” he apologised with a cheerful grin on his face.
“No problem, Vincent, I wasn’t in a hurry,” she said, feeling instantly brightened by his mood. He put down the bread and hurried over to ring up her order on his antique cash register. It was one of those old things that had a gold outer shell with beautiful filigree design stamped into the metal and huge big white buttons that you pressed to tally up the amount. She loved the whole feel of his shop – it was like stepping back in time.
He handed her change to her and slipped her a couple of Belgium chocolates in for good measure and offered her a wink as she left.
“Thank you Vincent, I’ll be back soon,” she promised.
She left the cheery brightness of the store only to be welcomed back into the dull grey morning that was waiting outside. The rain had abated a lot, however the continuous cloud hung low and threatening. She hurried back on down the street towards her apartment complex when she got the distinct feeling she was being followed. She slowed her pace a fraction before whipping around and scanning the area behind her. Nothing seemed out of place, just the bustling of people still going about their business.
She shrugged and continued on only to have the same unease creep back again. It was like she could feel eyes boring into her back. She was sure someone was watching her. She decided to play it cool and stopped to look in a bay window of a book store. The side panelling of the glass allowed her to see the foot traffic behind her. She was sure she caught a glimpse of a tall man with dark hair, but she couldn’t be sure.
Was she just imagining it after all that had gone on lately? She looked harder, picking off people as she checked over them to see if they were a threat to her. The drizzle of rain on the window pane didn’t help much; it kind of distorted some of the images in the reflection.
But there, she saw again the man with dark hair move through the crowd, coming closer to her with each step. She whipped around now, ready to confront whoever it was, but the minute she did, the man disappeared. He had vanished into thin air leaving her feeling like she was being slightly ridiculous.
She sighed and gave up and decided to hurry on home before she started imagining anything else. Thankfully this time through the foyer she didn’t have any more run in’s with scary lady and she quickly pressed the elevator for the top floor. Once inside she barraged the door by putting a wooden chair under the handle and went to make a pot of coffee. The apartment was soon filled with the wonderful aroma of the Italian coffee she had just purchased and she relished her first cup of the day. Going through her bag of goodies she selected an almond croissant and bit heartily into its buttery flaky pastry goodness. As she savoured the taste, the last thing she expected to hear was a knock at the door.
It wasn’t that it was an unusual thing to occur in other people’s day to day lives – but not hers. She was the only person who lived on the top floor and she didn’t have visitors - ever. Eilam was the only person who had ever been to her apartment and his entry had always been through the balcony. Who then was disturbing her perfectly ordained space of peace and quiet?
She carefully put her precious pastry back on its plate and got up to go and answer the door. She had a brief thought that it might be crazy lady from downstairs, which in itself was almost enough to make her not open up. But the thing with Aiyana was that she couldn’t help the curious side of her nature. It was kind of like when an adult tells you explicitly not to do a certain thing and then, bam! Next thing you know you are doing exactly as you have being asked not to do! Hindsight however is a beautiful thing, and it would only be later that she would regret opening up to the darkness on the other side. Her hand on the dead bolt, she clicked it back into place and stepped to the side to allow the door to open up into her apartment.
The landing was poorly lit and it wasn’t possible at first to see if there was anyone even there, but the thought that something was amiss was quickly replaced by a foggy haze that made her legs buckle. A cold mist had been sprayed in her face, she knew that much, and the minute she had started to inhale her next breath it had induced her to a slumber that she hadn’t been expecting. She crashed against the door, reaching for the handle to hold on to in a last desperate bid to right herself and remain on her feet. Her efforts went unrewarded though and as her eyes rolled back into her head, she fell towards the floor. She felt strong hands reach out to grab her, their muffled talk just adding to her confusion. Even though she couldn’t think straight as all this went down, she knew one thing for certain – she was in trouble, big trouble.
****
Aiyana had gained enough of her senses back to realise she was cold, but her thoughts hadn’t yet returned to proper rationalisation. Memories and images swirled around in her head, seeming like she was floating along on some wonderful dream that was out of a fantasy world. The vision of pink fluffy clouds that looked like fairy floss intermingled with people’s faces she knew. They would look at her and smile and then disappear again. Some of the faces would twist and distort and eyes would bulge in their heads – the overall effect gave her pause to think she was in a world somewhat like Alice in Wonderland. How nice those clouds look she thought, perhaps I’ll eat some.
In her hazy dreams she could see her arm extend out towards the brightness of the fluffy pink clouds and pinched at it with her fingers, but when it was put to her lips, all she tasted was a foul metallic taste. This soon snapped her out of her reverie because she knew instantly she had to wake up.
Something wasn’t right.
She wasn’t alright for that matter and she was waking up enough to be concerned about what that actually might be. She willed her heavy eyelids to open and then focused on a bright light above her. The more she strained to open them, the more she found she could focus on the room.
Whilst still spinning from the after-effects of being drugged, she realised abruptly that she was in a room that looked clinical and sterile – almost like a hospital. More like a bloody Veterinary surgery she thought as she took in the stainless steel table she was strapped to. There was nothing else in the room bar the door which led elsewhere and there were no noises to indicate what kind of environment she was in. She was alone with no chance of escaping what so ever. She no longer had her day clothes on that she had worn that morning – that was if it was indeed still the same day.
She couldn’t be sure.
She had no concept of how long she had lay like this. Her joints were stiff and sore, but she could do nothing to change her position at all because her ankles and wrists were very tightly secured with stainless steel cuffs to the table she was already on. There also appeared to be several sticky caps stuck to her forehead which seemed to have all manner of wires running off them. She had enough of a mind to feel concerned over just who had undressed her, but considering her predicament, she felt that was the least of her worries.
She rubbed her tongue around her mouth, trying to get some saliva working to rid her of the god awful m
etallic taste she could still taste lingering around her gums. As her lucidity improved, she let her eyes scan every single crevice of the room to see if there was any possible exit other than the door.
There wasn’t.
The door had no handle, no lock – there wasn’t even an exhaust system in place on the ceiling, just a really bright unyielding light that lit the place up like nothing else. She tried to angle her neck backwards to get a better look behind her, and noticed with alarm there was a full length wall of double sided mirrors. Whoever held her here could see her, yet she had no way of seeing them.
With a growing sense of dread she realised that by now they would be aware that she was fully awake. Even though she knew it was futile, she jangled her arms and legs, trying to see if there was any space that would allow some kind of movement. At that precise point in time she heard a series of footsteps heading down the corridor which stopped directly outside of the room she was in. She waited with abated breath to see just who would come through that door.
The beeping of buttons could be heard – clearly a password of sorts was being entered to allow them access to the room and moments later the door slid back into the recess of the wall. Aiyana craned her neck to get a better look at who was entering and was more than a little alarmed that two beefy security details accompanied a woman in a laboratory coat. She had smooth long blonde hair, neatly parted and pulled back into a pony tail and a pair of black rectangular glasses that would have been fashionable back at the start of the twenty first century. She was very attractive and wore little make up to enhance her already stunning features, just a light smear of red lipstick to make a statement of sorts.