by Keya Jay
***
“What is this? Some kind of yard sale?”
“Did you not read the flier?” Brooke asked the customer.
“No actually I haven’t.”
“Well now whose fault is that?” Brooke asked.
“That’s no way to talk to a customer.” By the looks of it Brooke didn’t look like she was gonna let this one go.
“I’m sorry ma’am, please ignore her, this is my yard sale as you so put it, please look around if anything catches your interest then let me know,” Skylar said cutting in before Brooke made them lose yet another customer.
“Keep that one away from me,” the customer said motioning toward Brooke.
“It’ll be in your best interest if she did,” Brook threatened as the customer walked away.
“What has gotten into you? I’ve never seen you this snappy before, we’ve already lost three customers because of you.”
“Well yea but look around we can afford to lose customer’s this back yard is packed, a little too packed if I do say so myself. Hey keep an eye on mascara lady over there she’s looking around like she’s about to steal something,” she warned.
When Skylar turned toward the woman Brooke was talking about she could clearly see why Brooke had called her mascara lady, her eyes looked like that of a raccoon’s.
“Alright I’ll take care of it, please keep your snide remarks to yourself, I don’t care how many customers we have I don’t want to lose any of them,” Skylar said as she turned to face Brooke, and instead at that very moment Skylar’s eyes met with a pair of silver ones that she didn’t think she’d see, not today of all days, or here of all places. Ok so maybe there’s one customer I’d rather loose, she thought to herself.
“Watch her but don’t scare her, I have to take care of something,” Skylar said as she walked toward the oak tree in her back yard.
“Alright but if she happens to say something to me I’mma give her a permanent eye liner if you know what I mean,” Brooke yelled after Skylar as she walked away.
“Put your claws away Brooke I mean it,” Skylar yelled back.
“Yea, yea,” Brooke said waving her away.
“What are you doing here? Trust me when I say there’s nothing here for you.”
“Well you’re here Bēlua,” he said leaning on the tree and crossing his arms. Skylar cringed at the name.
“Again I say there’s nothing here for you.”
“Why so hostile? I stayed away for 4 days; you can’t tell me you’re not just a little happy to see me.”
“Yes I can,” she said folding her arms.
“Ok well you can but you don’t mean it.”
“I’m pretty sure I do, how’d you find me anyways?”
“If I tell you you might kill the person I sent to follow you.” Skylar visibly cringed at the accusation.
“Try me…wait why are you having me followed anyways? Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone? You don’t follow directions very well.”
“No I don’t take directions very well, no one tells me what to do Bēlua.”
“Oh so it’s a pride thing.”
“It has nothing to do with my pride.”
“Riiight,” she said totally not buying his act.
“I do want to apologize on Nico and Carter’s behalf—”
“No need, if I wanted an apology out of them I am very capable of getting it myself,” she said cutting him off.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he said uncrossing his arms.
“Well than you shouldn’t have come,” she said simply.
“Well I did so can you drop the act for just a second and talk to me?”
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say we’ve been talking this whole time.” Skylar could see he was getting angry with her, but that’s what he gets he shouldn’t have followed her.
When Skylar realized that he wouldn’t be saying anything she sighed and uncrossed her arms to place them on her hips.
“Fine what do you want to talk about?”
“You,” he said simply.
“Ok what about me?”
“Is there anywhere else we can have this conversation?”
“Can’t you at least be grateful we’re even having the conversation?” she countered.
“Fine I wanted to talk about you being a wisp,” he said lowering his voice. Why she wasn’t expecting this she didn’t know she should have seen this coming.
Skylar rolled her eyes and turned around. “Follow me,” she said over her shoulder.
Skylar led him no farther than her living room, and sat on one of four of the couches as he took the one across from her.
“Nice house,” he said.
“You’ve only seen one room,” she said impatiently.
“Is that an invitation to see more?” he asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.
“It most certainly is not.” He laughed at her reaction and leaned back on the couch.
“Can we get this ball rolling on this conversation now?”
“First I couldn’t get you to talk, but now you’re all for it.”
“No I’m just all for getting it over with,” she corrected him.
“Fair enough,” he said leaning back on her couch and propping his feet up on her mother’s favorite coffee table.
Skylar’s mother loved to drink her coffee with a good book in her free time, but she doesn’t want to be limited to just one coffee table. Skylar tried to explain to her mother that just because it’s called a coffee table doesn’t mean she has to sit at it whenever she wants to drink her coffee, but that’s the way she prefers it so there’s a coffee table in every room, including Skylar’s but this one just so happens to be her mother’s favorite.
“Please don’t put your feet there my mother would be upset,” she said calmly.
He looked at her as if she had just spoken another language before saying, “My apologies,” as he slowly lowered his feet.
“How long have you known?” he asked as he leaned forward to place his elbows on his now bent knees.
“Known what?” Skylar questioned.
“About you know…you,” he said as if he were talking to a bomb and at any minute it would just blow up.
Skylar thought back to that night, that first night she’d known. She didn’t exactly know what it was that she was she just knew what she wasn’t and that was human. But the first night she noticed the change was when her father had died, she was 15 at the time – immature, and reckless with hers and other’s lives’. She didn’t know how to deal with it at the time.
“I’ve known for a while,” she answered.
“And how long exactly is a while?”
“6 years” she said having no intentions to elaborate any farther than that.
“So you’ve been on your own for 6 years and you’ve never thought to tell anyone?”
“No.”
“No? That’s it, just No? Is there a reason why?”
“No” she answered again.
“Ok but have you ever met anyone else like you?”
“Of course not, there is anyone else like me, but I have seen other wisps if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Seen ok, but have you ever interacted with one?”
“If fist count as interaction than yes, your friends and I interacted quite a bit 4 days ago.”
“That’s a form of interaction yes but I mean a civil conversation of sorts.”
“Wisps aren’t civil people so why would they have civil conversation?”
“You don’t think we’re civil?” he asked.
“No, no I don’t. If I’m going by the ones that I have met then no y’all don’t have a civil bone in your bodies.”
“Am I included in this list of yours?” he asked curiously.
“It’s not a list but yes, yes you are and so are your friends.”
“Nico and Carter?”
> “Those would be the ones.” He looked as if he was actually pondering this.
“Ok so what about the things you can do?”
“What about them? I am aware of them if that’s what you mean.”
“I could see as much, you were pulling out all of the stops when fighting Nico and Carter.”
“No I wouldn’t do that I didn’t want to possibly kill them.”
“So you mean to tell me you were holding back?” he asked shocked.
“Like I said I didn’t want to kill them,” she repeated trying to stay calm.
“Who do you work for?” Skylar furrowed her brows in confusion at his sudden question.
“Who do I work for?” she repeated in disbelief. “I don’t understand your question,” she admitted. “I don’t work for anyone, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not really a team player.”
“Oh I’ve noticed, but I’ve also noticed that you do exceptionally well when it comes to fighting and for someone who wasn’t even giving it her all, I can only imagine the damage you’d be able to do.”
Skylar was a bit shocked silent by his praise but it was never her intention to excel at it she guessed it just sort of happened, survival you know?
“So what’s your secret?” he asked suddenly.
“Se-secret?” she stammered “I don’t have a secret,” she said slowly trying to maintain her cool. If that wasn’t some dead giveaway that she was hiding something than announcing it wouldn’t have been any more obvious.
“What are you…?”
“Oh, hey there you are! We have a code-9 in your backyard,” Brooke said all out of breath.
“Brooke what in the world is a code-9?” Skylar asked hopping off the couch. She was so happy Brooke stopped his next question.
“A code-9 meaning two crazy bats fighting over the same pair shoes,” she said eyeing Skylar’s guest as if he was a slab of meat and she hadn’t eaten in years.
“Hello and what might your name be?” she said turning on her charm.
“The name’s Ryder, Ryder Ferris,” he said holding out his hand for her to shake.
Who would have known him capable of being so gentlemanly?
“My name is Brooke-Fields-Laurence and it’s very nice to meet you Ryder,” she said shaking his hand.
While there was complete and utter interest in Brooke’s eyes there was nothing but curiosity in Ryder’s and Skylar wasn’t sure if Brooke noticed.
“Brooke?” Skylar said snapping her fingers in Brooke’s face so she’d focus.
“Huh?” she asked.
“The code-9?”
“Oh yea, right,” she said shaking her head as if she was in a daze. “There are two old bats ready to throw down over a pair of shoes. I’m all for some good entertainment but nothing good can come out of this. I mean there not fighter’s you can tell but one of them looks like her bones are made of straw and it will not take much effort to snap one.”
“Can you just lead me to them?” Skylar said rolling her eyes.
“Oh right. Ok follow me,” she said walking out of the house and back toward the backyard.
Sure enough two women were fighting over a pair of shoes. Each woman had a shoe in their hands, swinging wildly with their purses in the other.