The Ghost in the Darkness

This is no ordinary story of a girl, a girl meeting her favorite band. Nothing like that at all. Some may call it an atypical love story, a romance if you will. But no, it’s not like that either. It is just a story of a girl meeting her one true love, without even knowing that that may be a possibility.

This girl; she is known by the name Joan. Although, her friends may on the occasion call her Joansie, or even Jojo. It just all depends on whom you may speak with at the time. Joan, unlike any girl does not care for fame, nor money. She just wishes for a good and goofy life time with her long-loved pets. She wishes no evil on anyone, or anything. This is a girl who just wants to have fun, and love in her life. Hence, the reason for this night, the beginning of her story.

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It was a brisk night in the deserts of Arizona. Still, Joan dressed up in her fishnets, shorts and her favorite ‘Ghost’ crop top, all topped off with her faux leather jacket and favorite white vest she had made. Which, of course, had a ‘Ghost’ logo on it as well.

Joan was out with a couple of friends, just looking to get coffee at the local alternative coffee shop. It’s where all the punks and metal heads would go when they had nothing better to do in the middle of the night, or day, even.

This night, Joan and her friends had gone to the local coffee shop in the center of downtown. Not really having any kind of plans set for the evening.
They entered the smoking room of the coffee shop, which, always had fans blowing and open windows. This was awfully inconvenient, considering it was such a brisk night. Joan, lucky enough, had brought a blanket with her to cuddle up in. The three of them, Joan, Blythe and Amber had spent the next couple of hours sipping coffee, joking and just discussing anything everything at this time.

At about 1 in the AM, Joan noticed a man, all by himself also walk into the smoking room of that local coffee shop. He went and sat in the corner alone. Not saying anything, not with anyone, just sipping coffee by himself in the dark corner of the room. This really intrigued Joan, as nobody really goes to the coffee shop alone, not this one in particular at least.

She mentioned this mysterious man to Blythe and Amber, in hopes that they may have seen him around in their town. Granted it was a pretty big town, considering the small, rural town Joan had grown up in. This was big for her. Blythe and Amber denied ever seeing him before, encouraging Joan to go speak with him, since, she was the one who showed at least a little bit of interest in this mystery man. She grew shy, and anxiety washing over her, thinking about how she might upset him in some way by going and speaking with him. Because, he had come here alone, he must not want to be bothered.

This mystery man, sat in the darkest corner of the room, as before mentioned. So, nobody could see his face, or even what he was wearing. Only seeing the hand around his coffee cup, slowing lifting into the darkness where he touched the cup to his lips, sipping from the necture of the gods.

This went on for about an hour, or maybe more. Joan could not tell, she was having too much fun with her friends, and thinking of who this man might be. Nobody new ever went there, it was always regulars that you saw. Nothing more, nothing less. Whenever you went, you could always guess at least one person you knew who would be there.

Joan, finally gaining the courage after what seemed like a lifetime, let her curiosity take over her anxieties and go over and give a friendly, “hello”. She slowly, walked over to his table on the other side of the room, cigarette in hand, smoking as she walked. Bumping into a couple chairs along the way, making a fool of herself. Or so she thought. When she reached his table she asked, “may I sit here, or is this seat taken”? Thinking she would get some sort of laugh, only receiving a grunt in return. She sat down, opposite side from him, still trying to make out his face. Squinting a few times.

“What gives me the pleasure of speaking with such fine beauty”, he finally said, making Joan jump being so used to the silence at that specific table.

“I… well, uh….” She struggles with finding the right words. Wanting to come up with some witty kind of response in return. But all she could manage to say was… “Hi, I am Joan, and you are…?” Joan, blushed, embarrassed and her stuttering in front of the mystery man.

“Never mind that, I am more interested in knowing who you are. Being presented with you has left me quite intrigued in what you are all about”. He said in return. His words flowing smoothly from his mouth. He brought the coffee cup up to his lips, again. So elegantly, so… would beautifully be the right word? Can a man be beautiful in his actions without even seeing his face? Joan processed thoughtfully.

“Well, you already know my name, so what more would you like to know? I have many intriguing things to speak about, if you must know”. Joan thought that was a good answer. But soon found that she would be wrong.

“Like what, exactly”? Mystery man asked. Then, out of curiosity in what Joan had to say, he leaned forward. Putting his folded hands under his chin, showing his face in the sim light of the smoking room. Joan, without realizing what she did, let out a light gasp, seeing this beautiful mans face. “What”? he asked. She covered her mouth as soon as she realized what she did. Feeling her anxiety, she went to take a puff of her cigarette. Joan still had her cigarette in her hand, and as she went to take a puff, she realized that the red amber of the cigarette had gone out while she was speaking with the mystery man. She went to relight the cigarette searching for her lighter, soon to find one lit right in front of her face, igniting the cigarette once again.

“Thanks”, she said, “I’m sorry for gasping, I didn’t mean to, it’s just my first time seeing your face tonight. I just expected you to remain the mystery man. But, its nice to finally see your face, its night to look at”. Joan was trying to add in some flirting, seeing how gorgeous this man was to her. She had never seen such an amazing face before.

In the dim light of the smoking room, Joan could faintly see the mystery man blush at her flirtatious remarks she made about his face. He quickly hid it by taking a sip from his coffee. He, too, was interested. Little did Joan know, he had had his eyes on her all night. Fascinated and captivated by her beauty. He had never seen such beauty before this night, and he was happy she took the time out of her night to come and have a conversation with him.

His name was Tobias. But he wanted to keep that a secret for now. Tobias had noticed the shirt she had on. It was a Ghost shirt. The band he planned on auditioning for in a couple of weeks. What a coincidence that they had met that night…