The Unseen

I woke up earlier than usual on Wednesday but I wasn’t at all surprised since every few hours through the night I got up to check on Raven. To be completely honest I was a little bit worried about her. For one, she never called me in the middle of the night just to see if she could sleep over and secondly, she never slept over!
I shuffled over to my bedroom window and pulled aside the familiar hanging blanket with a wolf on it. The pale gray dawn sky was slowly flirting with the sun’s rays. Soon the last of the stars would say goodbye to the fading outline of the moon and the fiery sun would take its place in the sky.
I have always had an appreciation for nature like my grandfather did.
Since I didn’t get much sleep last night I decided to make a quick stop at the Eagles Nest before work. I threw on my uniform and my favorite baseball cap. Before leaving I scribbled a quick note for Raven and grabbed my jacket.
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As I walked down the street to towards the Eagles Nest I couldn’t help but notice that the clouds were spitting lightly. Not the warm kind of mist that spring brings, but cold droplets that remind you old man winter is on his way. Then a thought of my grandfather came to my mind; just something he said that always seemed to stick in my head. I was very young when I used to visit him on the weekends. One weekend there was a really big thunderstorm and I was frightened of the rolling thunder and the crack of the bright lightning. My grandfather held me close to his heart and said, “There is no need to be afraid of the rain because rain brings life.”
That was also the day I realized something different about my dear old grandfather. That day I saw his tattoo for the first time. Every time I asked about the ink on his left bicep he would laugh and say, “You wouldn’t understand Kurtis. Maybe I’ll tell you about it when you are a little bit older.” Then he would pat my head and ask if I wanted a snack. He never did get to tell me the story about his tattoo because when I was twelve he passed unexpectedly, and no one knew why. The doctors said it was a heart attack but no one believed it. When I was sixteen I went to the tattoo parlor in town and got an exact replica of the tattoo on my left bicep. I remember seeing the disapproval in my grandma’s face when I showed her, and just ignored the lecture she gave me about branding my skin with silly markings. It was my only reminder of him.
The walk seemed quicker than usual. One good thing about living in a small town was that the waitress knew the “regular.” Grace handed me the two coffees and said,
“I’m feeling rather generous today. They’re on the house.” She gave me a wink and I handed her two dollars anyway and said,
“Thanks grace, but I don’t believe in the word, free. This is for being generous.” She just smiled and I turned to walk out the door. If it wasn’t for my friend to say hello at that moment I probably would have walked right past him.
“Dude, are you on a mission or what?” he asked from the window seat on my right.
“Hey Jake, how’s it going?”
“It’s going,” he smiled. “Did you hear about my Halloween party on Friday?”
“Yeah I think you mentioned it a couple days ago.”
“Are you going to be there?” He asked.
“Have I ever missed one of your parties?” I replied and he smiled. The answer was never.
“So it’s a costume party and if you want to drink bring your own. Also,” he said eyeing my two cups of coffee. “I’m just going to guess that the other coffee you’re holding is for your girlfriend.” I laughed at his assumption. Jake was always teasing me about Raven; although the thought of her being my girlfriend wasn’t half bad.
“Indeed it is. What’s it to you?” I joked back.
“Oh nothing bad at all, but I just wanted to say you should definitely bring her to the party.” He said, and looked down at his watch, which then reminded me I was late.
“Well I’ll see you on the weekend man, but I have to run these back home and get to work.” I gave a quick nod and headed out the door.
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All I could think about when I turned the key in my door was how late I was going to be for work if I didn’t hurry up. I walked in my apartment quietly in case Raven was still sleeping; I didn’t want to wake her if it wasn’t necessary. As I was slipping my shoes off, I heard a quiet voice, almost inaudible. I crept over to the living room where Raven was and just caught the end of her saying, “I’m so sorry to hear that.... some other time then,” before I turned the corner. Her back was to me as she sat on the couch but before I could make known my presence she turned around and shut her cell phone with a nervous look on her face, but instead of asking her what was wrong I said,
“Morning there,” and walked over to her with the coffee.
She smiled and said, “Is that one sugar half a cream I smell?”
“Sure is,” I replied and handed her a cup. “Pure blend of eagles nest.”
She sniffed the coffee and made a sound of satisfaction. “Thank you so much. I’ve been craving one of these since yesterday morning.” She giggled at her own joke. I gave her a smirk in return.
“How did you sleep last night?” I asked, since I knew my couch wasn’t the comfiest piece of furniture.
“Like a baby! Where did you buy this couch? I’m considering picking one up for myself!” by the look in her eyes I knew she was being sarcastic. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” I lied. Raven narrowed her eyes at me. “Alright, I slept like a rock!”
“I didn’t know rocks slept,” she teased and sipped on her coffee.
“They do now,” I winked. “You’ll never guess who I ran into at the Eagles Nest this morning.”
“Was it Jake?”
“Are you a mind reader?”
“No, just highly intuitive, what did he have to say?”
“Oh not much, just that you’re a babe,” I gave her my worst flirty eyes ever, which made her burst out laughing. Jake didn’t actually say that, I was just being witty, but in high school Jake had a wild crush on Raven and I never let her forget it.
“What else did he say,” she smiled. I couldn’t help but realize how cute she looked just then with her slender fingers wrapped around her coffee cup and looking up at me intently with those familiar green eyes.
“He invited us to his Halloween party on Friday. Its costume friendly and B.Y.O.B so if you’re interested...”
“I’m in,” she smiled.
“Awesome. So I’ll leave it to you to figure out our costumes.”
“I completely agree, because if I leave you in charge again we’ll end up going as Shaggy and Scooby Doo.”
“What’s wrong with Scooby Doo?” I asked, appearing hurt.
“Nothing’s wrong with Scooby Doo, just I always have to be Shaggy and you get to wear an, I’m with stupid shirt!”
That comment made us both laugh, and I almost blew coffee from my nose! The last time we went out for Halloween was grade ten and it was my grand idea.
“But I should really get going to work or my boss might fire me. I’ll be home around five but feel free to stay as long as you need.”
“Thanks Kurtis, have a good shift,” she said and got up to give me a hug goodbye. I melted in her arms for a minute and then wished her a good day, and was off.