The Grasp of Nighttide

by Sadaf Zulfikar

  It was stupid, Alice knew that; just a stupid, lame old story. It did not affect her a bit; she was intrigued with the orders being placed on the other tables, burritos and burgers. But still, as Ron got into her face rather suddenly, Alice let out a startled cry, her hand pushing the coffee mug off the table. It shattered on the floor, staining the waitress’s beige shoes and shocks. At least the coffee was cold. Alice couldn’t forgive herself if it had scalded her.

  “I like to spook my date,” he said, instead of apologizing.

  “Why, so that she holds your hand while crossing the road?” Alice had snapped.

  However, out of curiosity, Alice did check about the accidents when she was back home. ‘The mystery deaths continue’, ‘the mystery road accidents climb to twenty in total’, ‘When will the roads be safe again?’, ‘No one offers a better explanation than a suspected paranormal force’, ‘The road demon’s uncertainty. Where will it strike next?’ It was not a century of superstition, but if great people couldn’t crack the mystery, it was common for such paranormal kinds of conclusions. Lame and meaningless as it sounded, even without merit, without any witnesses or clues whatsoever, the case was labelled as one of the most disturbing ones and mysterious ever. This is how urban legends get started, Alice thought again.

  “If you are wondering about why I asked to walk,” Derek’s voice brought her back to the present, “I usually don’t park Cloud just anywhere on the street. I can’t take any chance with vandals,” he justified.

  “Of course,” Alice couldn't forget about his disturbing departure the previous day. It had kept her thinking for hours. "What got into you yesterday? You left in such a hurry."

  "Uh... I had completely forgotten about an important video conference. That's all. Sorry I didn't even say bye. I didn't hit the brakes even once before I reached home. I was busy."

  “Walking is good,” Alice said, not willing to take the topic further. It was none of her business.

  Along the way to Derek’s favorite restaurant, he asked her about her family. Alice carefully repeated what she had told Anna and the others, recalling the specifics. Derek interrupted to remind that Anna’s parents had died in a crash too, a plane crash. Alice knew that and she wondered if it was that same reason that Anna was always so good to her.

  Before Derek could start sympathizing, Alice went ahead and told that him that she had a boyfriend, Lance, and that she was very happy with him. However, that didn’t come out so well with her sad tone, so she added that she hadn’t seen or talked to him for about a month or so. It brought her back to the position of getting sympathy. But then a guy− no older than Derek- started waving at their direction. “Hey man, where have you been?”

  When Alice took in Derek’s reaction, she could tell he was tensed up. "Do you know that guy?”

  “Yeah. A guy from high school.”

  “It’s me. Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me anymore.” The guy came closer.

  “Go inside, okay? I’ll join you in a sec.”

  “It’s okay. I can stay.”

  “No,” he said forcefully. “Go inside.” He pointed at the restaurant’s door and when Alice refused to budge he continued. “Please go. This guy will cook up stories about you and me. Uh... Anna wouldn’t like that.”

  Taking that seriously, Alice walked straight into the place. It was the old-brick style Dine in Time restaurant. Alice had never been to this one. She studied the atmosphere; people were chatting, laughing, and getting up to join the crowd at another table. It looked more like a family reunion than people having lunch.

  “Hey, Derry”, a tall, thin girl rushed up to hug Derek as soon as he entered. The waitress, Alice realized. She glanced up at Alice in jealousy over his shoulder.

  You are jealous of the wrong person. Alice shot her a stare back.

  The place was very cheery. The wooden interior, the crowd, along with the mixed aromas of food as it came out to the tables filled Alice’s senses. Snippets of conversation from each table collided, making a loud muffled noise. She took a seat.

  “Rose,” Derek tried to free himself from the waitress. “Chicken salad for me and a grilled cheese for the lady, please.” Derek’s charming smile was not lost on Rose.

  “In a jiffy”, she replied in a made-up childish tone.

  He winked at her, and just as she turned, she blushed. Alice felt odd for a moment. Anna also behaved like that around him, but that was okay since she loved him. Rashi was under his charm too. Even the waitress at his favorite restaurant wasn’t spared. She felt it was a part of who he was because she could not force herself to hate him.

  Even though he had simply walked away yesterday, compelled her to hit an innocent man, ordered for her without bothering to ask, and giving those smiles to girls, she didn’t want to complain. This was so unlike her, unlike how she thought she would react. And it was not because he was handsome and had money; she couldn’t explain it.

  “He is gone, so we are safe to dine.” Derek joined her at the table, still smiling his disarming smile, but Alice ignored it. She bet Lance was better than him, even if he couldn’t match Derek in looks or money.

  A person came up to the table. The waiter, Alice thought and half turned to ask for water. It was a highly unexpected surprise to see Ron instead. The open zip to his jacket showed the same purple shirt from the date. He surely wasn’t happy to see her, and the feeling was mutual. He cleared his throat and stood there, like a parent demanding explanation.

  “Who is this?” He cocked his head in Derek’s direction.

  “Ron meet my boyfriend, Derek”, she said, astonished by her instant lie, but continued with it. “He has come to stay here now, for me, for our love.”

  Until the moment Derek hadn’t even cared of what was going on, but Alice’s words caught his attention. Derek was about to spit the water he had in his mouth. Alice stamped his foot and he gulped it down, some of it even escaping his lips. He raised his eyebrow, in question of what she had meant. She narrowed her eyes and shot him a pleading look.

  “You are right, honey cake. Anything for my love,” he said, squeezing her hand over the table.

  She had hoped he’d play along, but Derek was overdoing it. Alice made a fist under his hand to let him know.

  “Oh sorry, I’m just lost when I’m with her.” Derek offered to shake hands with Ron. “Nice to meet you.”

  Ron flared a ‘how dare you’ look and stormed out of the place.

  “You were taking advantage of the situation,” Alice said tentatively.

  “Excuse me,” he sarcastically pointed a finger at her. “You told him that lie. I didn’t say that you are my girlfriend or that...”

  “Sorry,” Alice cut short the accusations levelled on her. “He has been after me for long time and I couldn’t get rid of him. Sorry I lied about uh... us.” Alice offered an explanation.

  Derek smiled as usual. Alice wondered if his jaw hurt with the thousands of smiles he gives away for free. Or did he even have a human jaw?

  As Alice was done with the sandwich long before Derek finished eating, a heavy man who introduced himself as Rake Filman volunteered to dance on the stage, just for fun.

  “Hey, Alice,” Derek shouted, although it came out in a whisper with all people roaring and clapping.

  “What?”

  He leaned closer, saying, “I want my gift now.”

  A current of uneasiness penetrated through Alice, more intense than the other day.

  A kiss, she thought. Who knows what else…Ugh!

  Alice sat back in her chair, maintaining distance.

  “Would you sing a song?”

  “A what?” Alice asked, astonished.

  “A song!”

  “Why don’t you?” She countered.

  “I rap here all the time. People are friendly here...”

  Alice got up to leave.

  “My gift,” he pleaded holding her hand. “Please.”

  Alice sat back, her eyes fixed on
Derek’s face. She didn’t know why he wanted her to do this, but she did owe him a gift, and because of him Ron would be out of her hair for a while. This was better than a kiss anyway.

  “Anything that comes to your mind, just a few lines,” he continued.

  Alice sat till the performance on the stage was over. Then Derek went over to Rake and patted him on the back.

  “Attention everyone,” he said, and the crowd shushed instantly.

  “My friend err... Alice has a song.” Derek announced.

  “Alice! Alice! Alice!” The chant echoed and reverberated through the place, muting Derek’s voice further.

  “Great,” Alice said to herself. “Enough to give me a nerve attack.”

  The spotlight intensified over her and the room was eerily silent as she closed her eyes. Now the place seemed as dark as someplace she already knew. Her heart. She started with the verses she had thought of and made some up with the flow.

  Wind take my words along

  Deliver to him in a song

  To my love... One and only love…

  You know my love is true

  I know you love me too

  Wherever you are, wherever you are

  Do take me away with you.

  The words turned to be more powerful than when she had first thought of them. It hurt her, the reality, the emotion, the distance. She couldn’t stop from letting it out this time. A noticeable breath passed before she continued…

  Under the sea

  On the land

  Over the hills

  In the sand

  I want to stay wherever there is you, wherever

  Do take me away with you.

  A quake to come

  A flood is near

  When I hold your hand

  I have no fear

  My love is so deep, you have no clue

  Do take me away with you.

  To a cave, a beach

  Fun or no fun

  The clouds, the moon

  Or the sun

  Won’t protest to what you do, whatever you do

  Just don’t keep me away from you

  Please take me away with you.

  Applause cut through the silent air. Alice was taken aback, as she’d forgotten that anyone else was there. In the melody of the song, the other people were forgotten. Opening her eyes, she felt worse. She had embarrassed herself in front of a crowd! So many pairs of eyes looked right at her and she couldn’t stay put for a moment longer…

  CHAPTER 8

  Derek hadn’t planned to make her do this, but it worked. She actually participated in public interaction. But he still believed she had to let out exactly what happened to her to make herself feel better. Only a crazy person would believe the story about her family. She had told him many conflicting details from what Anna said Alice told her a few months ago. The most obvious was that she told him her dad’s name was Henry but told Anna it was Larry Reed.

  He kept the lie in his pocket for now. Alice was extremely sad over Lance, he thought. Derek was framing the exact words to say as he clapped, but Alice ran past him.

  “Alice, wait!” he heard Markel call from behind, ready to sprint after Alice.

  Markel Jones, in his funky attire, was known to hit on women whom he found fascinating. But he wasn’t getting to Alice, not today.

  “I got this, Marky,” Derek stopped him. He studied Derek’s face for a moment before giving up.

  Derek pushed open the door, certain that Alice would be out of sight. He hadn’t even seen which way she had gone. But there seemed nothing to worry about after all. She was standing just beside the door, facing the wall, with her face buried in her hands. He looked around, making sure his high school friend−that nosey Dean Masulle−wasn’t still around. He sighed in relief, believing Dean was back on the road to Colorado Springs. This was not an ideal time to have his secrets revealed, especially when Alice came around to trust him. Dean could ruin everything. Derek took three small steps and leaned beside her.

  “About Lance?” he shoved his hands in his pockets casually.

  She looked at him and nodded.

  “You are stupid to wait for the guy who left you,” he barked at her unexpectedly. “He left you and he’s not coming back. You got that? He is never going to come back for you. You need to accept that and move on.”

  “Don’t say that,” Alice said wiping the tears from her face.

  “Okay,” he said sternly, taking her hand and heading back in.

  “Wait! Why are we going back?”

  “I’ve ordered another sandwich for you,” Derek said, still stern. He was half expecting her to yell at him. He was pushing her around and he knew he shouldn’t. She let him pull her. Back inside, everyone clapped again until they took their seats.

  “You were great!” Rose set the sandwich in front of her.

  Alice nibbled at her sandwich this time. Derek smiled, knowing he was right in thinking she wanted another. He took the time to take a good look at her and thought some substance would do her withering body good. He had been harsh when speaking to her−he didn’t know exactly why he had shouted at her. Did it make him feel better? All he knew was that he worried about Alice. He realized that getting angry with her was not helping, but somehow, he was determined to turn that frown into a smile. He so wanted her to smile.

  “How about I rap? Will that make you feel better?” Derek asked thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

  “That isn’t necessary,” Alice said plainly.

  Derek had made up his mind. “Think of it as a rap from Lance,” he whispered in her ear.

  Derek secretly hated himself. He knew he was giving her false hope that Lance would return instead of knocking some sense into her. He had been out of her life for months. How much more time should she waste thinking about him?

  “A message for Alice from her boyfriend,” he had no problem getting everyone’s attention. One lady even played a short drum roll on her phone before he started.

  “Don’t worry dear if that’s the case

  I’m coming to you in a dead quick pace

  Loneliness you need no longer trace

  Sorry for hurting you all these days

  I too miss my sun’s rays

  Soon all the distance will erase

  But just make me one promise, Alice,

  Don’t let that smile off your face.”

  The explosive sound that rang out afterwards was deafening and nearly impossible to be exposed to without damaging one’s ears. Everyone stood, clapping, whistling and shouting. Instantly, his hands covered his ears and Alice was doing the same. Her real smile was so beautiful; he could rap all day if she smiled.

  “So that’s what you call an instant rap?” She asked as soon as he joined her back at the table.

  “Where’d you hear that?”

  “Probably when I overheard your phone call at Anna’s.”

  Derek laughed, “Carl is my best buddy. He’s coming tomorrow. We’ll pick up your Vespa.”

  “Not mine,” Alice corrected.

  “Well, yours for now anyway,” he said. “In return, do me the favor of reconsidering your relationship with Lance.”

  “You don’t understand how it is,” she protested.

  “Then help me…” Derek said, taking her hand.

  “Forget it.” She yanked her hand away.

  “Okay, I won’t take the topic further. At least learn to let out your feelings a little more. Trust me, I’ve been through this. Staying away from everything and everyone is not the answer.”

  Alice nodded.

  “There’s a friend of yours,” he said. “That friend wants to explore your place in the daylight, and he is free…”

  Alice slowly inched towards him across the table, giving him a serious look.

  “You are most welcome to, Derek,” she said and laughed. “I scared you, didn’t I?”

  Derek laughed too. Alice was coming around and he would help her get her life back on
track.

  When the bill came, Derek set his hands on it first.

  “We’ll split it. This was not a date,” Alice insisted, pulling out a few bills from her pocket.

  “Do not play with my dignity, madam,” he stated in a French accent and laughed. Alice laughed too and then stopped, realizing how free she was acting. She sat back. calculating the times she actually smiled.

  “Sorry, Rose that’s all I got today,” Derek said placing all the cash he had in his wallet.

  A seventy dollar tip was the least he had ever given Rose, until now. Today it turned out to be five dollars less. Keeping lot of cash had become less common when his credit card billed his expenses directly to his dad. He only wanted to help Rose with her tuition expenses. Rose had a potential to make a good career−he had known that since she was little, as Derek often came up here with his dad−but the responsibilities she had were bringing her down. Derek wanted to pay for the tuition himself when he discovered her problems, but Rose had turned him down, saying she’d continue to earn her way in this restaurant. And so while Derek was in town, he would make it a point to come here and help a little without violating Rose’s terms. But he left it to Alice to think what she wanted of it, and she already gave a crazy stare.

  “Oh no, no problem, Derry. Thank you so much.” Rose said. “Glad to see you both had a nice time.”

  *****

  “So you like being outdoors a lot?” Derek asked, kicking a tiny pebble to the side on their way back to the store.

  “No.”

  “Golf perhaps?”

  Alice shook her head.

  “So why did you choose this place, then?”

  Alice kept quiet.

  “My dad was born here. He loves golf. He still comes here sometimes when he’s free.”

  “Oh,” Alice sounded distant. She just kept snapping her fingers. He even had to stop her from crossing the road; she was in that trance again, oblivious to the rest of the world. Suddenly, she snapped to, and when she realized why he held her back, she became more alert. For the remainder of the walk, she was totally engaged in general conversation with him. She even mentioned that the sandwiches were the best she ever had and that she liked the restaurant.