Elemental Awakened by Helen Scott

6

Tessa

It had been three weeks since my world had tilted sideways and Brok had burned up in my living area, three weeks since I was done with college and began my internship with a graphic designer. Cait was a one-woman show but let students sit in when they were seniors or had just graduated. She gave me the projects she didn’t want to do, the stuff she’d done a thousand times before and could probably do in her sleep. For me, though, it was exciting, a chance to show my skills, to demonstrate, not just to myself, but to my family, that I could make this career choice work.

My latest project was branding and a grand opening campaign for a coffee shop that was opening just off campus. I’d spent countless hours digging through stock photos and custom drawing different items for the clients, including custom calligraphy, which was something I was hoping to specialize in. I wanted people to recognize the beauty in the simplicity of lettering and my designs, so when the clients were thrilled with my work, I’d had a dance party all of my own in my apartment, which ended with the person downstairs banging on the ceiling.

Tonight was different though. Cait had invited me out to go to the grand opening party with her. She’d said it would be a good opportunity to meet some of her clients and take the extra work she didn’t need off her hands, especially once people realized that I’d done all the graphics for the coffee shop.

I smoothed my hands over my dress as I climbed out of the cab, tipping the driver for the smooth ride. The dress was black, strapless, and had a sweetheart neckline. What made it interesting were the pieces of cream chiffon that stuck up from between the bands of black. They looked like horizontal slashes going across the material, and they went across from top to bottom. It was just the right amount of sexy and serious in my opinion.

The black blazer I had paired with it and the black peep-toe heels made me look classy and professional. Plus, I could always ditch the blazer later if I needed to. I’d even done my hair and makeup. This was an opportunity I did not want to screw up.

The place was small, and the party was overflowing onto the patio, even though the evening air had a chill to it. Soon, fall semester would be starting up, and I’d have to move out of my apartment and find somewhere that wasn’t related to the school, if I even wanted to stay in the area. I wanted to groan as the same thoughts that had been swirling around in my head for the last few weeks started up their cycle again.

As I walked into the main part of Badger’s Love Coffee, I took in all the decorations that had gone up. A big banner hung from the dropped wood panel ceiling, welcoming everyone to the grand opening. I watched it wave prettily for a moment, remembering how long I’d spent on perfecting the lettering for it. A squeal of excitement that could only come from Cait sounded to my left, and I turned to find her elbowing her way toward me through the crowd of people.

Fortunately, there was a drink in each hand, so the guests seemed to excuse her behavior. When she reached me, each arm wrapped around me, even though she still held both drinks, and when she pulled back, she handed me one.

“Congratulations, my little malyshka.” Cait pinched my cheek and wiggled with her newly freed hand. “You’ve made me a very proud mama bear tonight. Everyone loves your designs and lettering,” she gushed.

I smiled, even though my cheek was sore from her grip. She really was proud to show off my work, which was something I wasn’t used to. I sipped the drink and felt like I could breathe fire when I swallowed. The strong alcohol burned my throat as it went down.

“What is this?” I asked on a cough.

“That’s mama’s secret. Now go, frolic, and enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it!” She laughed and turned, heading back in the direction from which she’d come. Part of me was tempted to follow her, but I knew if I wanted to network and get people to at least hear my name, then I couldn’t hide in the corner. I walked up to the bar area and ordered something non-alcoholic, hoping that it would be refreshing after the shot of what tasted like grain alcohol I’d just sipped.

After a few hours of schmoozing, my feet were beginning to kill me and I was ready to leave. I was an introvert by nature, so there was only so much peopling I could do before I started to get overwhelmed. I was in the middle of hailing a cab when the man approached. At first, I thought he was just looking for a cab as well, but as he got closer, alarm bells started going off in my head and my ring warmed on my hand.

I glanced over my shoulder at him and saw the same flash in his eyes that I’d seen in Brok’s. My stomach turned at the implication. I’d almost been able to put what happened to Brok out of my mind. Pretending it was a waking nightmare was easier than thinking it had actually happened. The last thing I wanted was for it to happen again. I hadn’t even thought about how to report it yet. I mean, how could I go to the police and say that someone had disintegrated in my apartment?

“What’s a pretty young thing like you doing out so late? Don’t you have a boyfriend to get back to?” The man’s voice was low and gravely, but not in a sexy way, more like I expected him to start coughing at any moment. I felt the heat radiating off his body as he drew closer to me.

I stepped farther out onto the street, holding my arm up and praying for a cab to come by soon so I didn’t have to make a run for it. The only cabs I could see already had fares though, the dark shadows of the occupants filling the backseats as they passed by.

He moved closer to me again, and I was rapidly approaching the point where ignoring him would be more difficult than telling him to back off. The flash of his eyes skimmed across my mind’s eye, and all I could think of was how aggressive Brok had become when his eyes looked like that. A confrontation with this guy might not be the best idea, but the options were limited.

Without warning or second-guessing my instinct, I spun on my heel and walked back into the coffee shop. The barista behind the counter looked like he was still in high school, which made me self-conscious, but it was either talk to him or wait until the party was over and hope that Cait was still around to give me a ride home.

All too eager eyes looked at me from across the counter, hoping to make a good impression on someone, but I didn’t think that someone was me. “What can I get you, ma’am?”

“Tall Americano, please,” I said, not knowing anything else to ask for. My mind was spinning with the possibilities of what could happen if that guy was still outside when I tried to leave again. “And, um, do you guys have a cab company that you have the number for?”

Panic flared in his eyes as he set about making my drink. When he handed it to me, he said, “I’m not sure, but I can find out if you want?”

“No, that’s okay,” I muttered.

I walked over to a table that was open and set my drink down, glad that at least for tonight, everything was free for the invited guests. After digging through my purse, I pulled out my phone and opened the ride share app that I occasionally used. Personally, I preferred cabs, since they were registered and had a cab number and all that. Getting into a stranger’s car that just had a sticker in the window made me nervous, but then, I leaned more toward being paranoid than anything else.

The closest car was over fifteen minutes away. It made sense, since the bars were in the other direction, so most cars were around there. I sipped on my coffee and looked around, hoping that most of the people were still going to hang out for a while. The last thing I wanted was to be the only one left from the party, especially with Mr. Creepy McCreeperson outside. The crowd was thinning though, and as I watched the car inch closer on the map, I knew I would be one of the only people left by the end.

My gaze landed on a man sitting at a table on the opposite side of the café from me. His blond hair was almost shoulder length and was pulled back into a tiny pony tail, while a blond goatee decorated the lower half of his face, although it looked like it was turning into more of a scruffy beard than staying as a goatee. Ice blue eyes glanced up from his phone and locked with my own, and my heart stuttered in my chest.

I tore my eyes away from him and forced them back to my phone, already feeling a blush scalding my cheeks. I didn’t need any more attention for the night. All I wanted was to go home. The car I’d ordered was still ten minutes away though.

Waiting was torture, and I had to resist the temptation to try and hail a cab again. The side of town that the coffee shop was on wasn’t the busiest at night, and I knew that all the cabs were on the other side of town where all the restaurants and clubs were, just like the car I was waiting for had been. At least with the car, I knew it would be there eventually. If I were to try to get a cab, I would be waiting out there by myself for what would probably feel like forever.

I was scrolling through my social media feed on my phone when a message popped up from Brok. Everything in me froze. It couldn’t be from him really. I mean, the man was dead, so who had it come from? I tapped on the small envelope icon and on the unread message. When it opened, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

I’m coming for you, bitch.

What the hell was that? How had I suddenly found myself in the middle of a horror movie? If he texted again and said ‘seven days’ or something like that, then I was going to lose my shit.

I pressed the power button on my phone and watched the screen go black, as though it could erase what I’d just seen. It would still be there when I opened my phone again, I knew that much. Maybe if I engaged him in conversation, I could figure out who it was, because I couldn’t believe that what I’d seen when Brok disintegrated in front of me hadn’t been real. It had to be real. If it wasn’t, then I’d need to go home and meet with my therapist as soon as possible and hope that she didn’t suggest an inpatient thing again. I shuddered at my memory of the last time. No, I didn’t want to repeat that.

When I turned to go to the counter and get another drink, something that I might actually find palatable, since coffee really wasn’t my thing, Mr. Blue Eyes was in line in front of me. Part of me wanted to ignore him and pretend he wasn’t there, but the rest of me wanted to reach out and ask him if I was crazy. ’Cause nothing says sane like a girl begging a stranger to tell her she’s not crazy. I sighed and shook my head.

“Everything okay?” a male voice asked.

I looked up and found Mr. Blue Eyes staring at me. My mouth went dry, and the ability to form words felt like I was trying to do calculus in my head.

“Ye-Yeah,” I said, the word eventually tumbling out of my mouth like someone tripping over thin air.

“You sure? You look rather pale.” His voice rolled over my skin like the breeze coming in off the ocean, giving me goosebumps in the process.

I stared up at him, trying to get my brain and mouth to connect so I could actually hold a conversation with the guy in front of me. The sage green T-shirt he was wearing stretched almost too tightly across his shoulders but hung loosely around his abdomen, and I tried not to think about what he would look like without the shirt on because that would only further separate my mouth from my brain. I realized, as I gawked at him, that not only was he much taller than I’d initially thought, but those bright blue eyes were fake.

I’d worn contacts when I was younger before getting laser surgery to correct them, and those were definitely colored contact lenses. They were a stunning, bright blue, but it wasn’t real. It made me curious though. Most guys didn’t go for that kind of thing, so why did he?

“I just got a weird text, that’s all,” I mumbled.

The line moved before he could reply, and after he ordered at the counter, he turned to me and gestured forward as though we were in line together.

“Please, allow me,” he said with a grin.

“Everything’s free, you know that, right?”

“I do, but if it weren’t, I’d pay for your coffee. If you let me that is.” He smiled as he spoke, teasing me.

“Well thank you, but I’m just getting a water.”

“No coffee at a coffee house’s grand opening?”

“No, I’m not a big coffee drinker, and to be honest, I’ve had all the caffeine I need for one night. I probably won’t be able to sleep as it is.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to slap my hand over it, realizing that he could interpret that as me hitting on him. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment again, just like when he’d caught me staring earlier.

“Caffeine keeps me up too.” He shrugged, and I was thankful he let the comment slide. Once our drinks were handed to us over the counter, he asked, “Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead, I’m just waiting for my ride.”

He followed me back to the table and wasn’t weird about sitting with his back to the door like a lot of guys were. I preferred to be able to see the entrance and exit, so it was something I’d always made sure of ever since I was a kid. “So, what brings you to the opening if you’re not a big coffee drinker?”

“I did their artwork and logo,” I said, pulling a business card from my blazer pocket as I had done multiple times that night.

“Beautiful and talented! I’m impressed.” He smiled, but the comment got under my skin. I tried to swallow it down, ignore the comebacks that seemed to be bubbling at the back of my throat.

“Thanks,” I said through gritted teeth and a tense smile.

“Can I ask why you’re not just hailing a cab?” he asked, gesturing to the street that could be seen through the windows.

“I tried. There aren’t many around. Plus, there’s a…creepy guy outside.” I felt all the annoyance at his previous comment dissipate as the man waiting outside flashed across my mind’s eye, along with his weird eyes. He couldn’t be the same as Brok, that just wasn’t possible. Then again, I’d thought dead people texting was impossible, and if my phone was anything to go by, I was wrong about that.

“Want me to wait with you?”

“Thanks, but my car is on its way,” I said, opening the app on my phone and showing him the small cartoon car that was trundling toward our current location.

“Would you mind if I walk you out to the car when it gets here? I’m sure you can take care of yourself, but I’d feel better accompanying you, rather than letting you walk out there alone if there’s a creepy guy hanging around.”

“I’ll be okay, but thanks.” I smiled, but my mind couldn’t help but go to Finn. He was the last person to walk with me anywhere, and now what? I’d seen someone die with him, and we hadn’t talked to each other since, not that he had my number. I needed to shake the mopey feeling I had when I thought about him, so I said, “You know what? That would actually be really nice, thanks.”

“My pleasure. I’m Griff, by the way,” Blondie said with a smile that made him look like a movie star. He extended his hand, and we shook.

“I’m Tessa.” I paused and glanced down at my phone, which had buzzed in my hand. “Oh, my car’s almost here,” I said, trying to ignore the nerves that were jangling about in my stomach.

The two of us wove through the remaining stragglers that were dotted throughout the coffee house and went out onto the street. As we walked to the curb, I could see the car getting closer on the map, but it was nowhere in sight yet. A hiss sounded behind us, and I spun, expecting to find something, though I didn’t know what. A stray cat? A raccoon? The creepy guy was back, and he looked worse than before.