Gabe and Faruq had met a long time ago, and were together for a very long time. They needed to be, I guess - they needed each other. But let me first go back in time, and tell you how they came to be:
Gabe was a simple man from the 1850s. He worked at a family-owned tavern with his parents and sister. They both worked in the front of the bar, so they had a lot in common; greeting the patrons, getting them their usual orders, and the more dull duties such as cleaning. His sister was named Dawn - maybe not originally, over the past 150 years these sorts of things became harder to keep track of - but Dawn was what he'd called her for quite some time, and so it is what we call her today.
Dawn was a friendly young girl - blonde hair, blue eyes, friendly smile. Gabe had always had white hair - who knows how it came about, but before his death he was never really clean enough for all that hair to be white, anyway. Gabe and Dawn always got along well; they had to when they worked together so closely.
Then, one day, they had an unusual regular begin showing up. He arrived a few hours after sunset, and sat there, looking at the other patrons, until he saw one he apparently liked and struck up a conversation. Then they went away together, apparently for a walk, though nobody could really be sure. The man never ate or drank anything, though he was always buying drinks for others.
After a week of this, Gabe and Dawn had come to know him as a regular, though not on a personal level. When he came into the tavern, he was quickly handed a newspaper and gave them a shilling for their trouble.
Dawn seemed drawn to this man - he was good looking, and Gabe knew it, too. Gabe and Dawn spent much of their time together, discussing the men they saw, which ones were cute and all the rest of it. Dawn always thought it was just her brother being entertaining, being a friend, chatting with her; but he was really interested in the men as much as he was the women. After all, couldn't one appreciate beauty in a man's features as well as a woman's?
And so, Dawn kept talking to this man every time she got an opportunity, and reporting back to Gabe what they discussed. The man kept on coming to the tavern and leaving with different people each night. When Gabe asked these companions of his, they said the man was just lonely, wanted someone to go for a walk with, have a chat with. None of them said he did anything untoward or indeed anything sexual. This last part was a bit disappointing for Gabe, who had been known to have the odd fling with patrons - male and female alike.
As the weeks wore on, Dawn got more and more tight-lipped about what the man was saying to her. Gabe knew better than to ask; if she wanted to keep something a secret, she would have a good reason. These siblings kept very few secrets from one another. And so, on the night that Dawn left work early, left with the mysterious man whose name they didn't even know, Gabe let her do it. He knew she wasn't stupid. He knew she wouldn't do anything rash or dangerous; it wasn't the sort of person she was.
The next morning, she didn't show up for work. Gabe was worried, and asked around town if anyone had seen her. Nobody had; it was Gabe, and the now still mysterious - but a bit less strange - stranger that had seen her last. He didn't know what the man could have done to her, didn't want to think about it; but the stranger had seemed harmless enough. Hadn't he?
Then that evening, just after sunset, Dawn arrived at the tavern for work as if nothing had happened. She smiled at Gabe:
"Hi, brother. Sorry I'm late."
"You're not just late, Dawn! It's been hours. You were meant to be here for lunch..."
"I know." She shrugged and smiled a carefree smile. "But I couldn't make it. In fact, I'm not sure I will ever be able to come in for a lunch shift again. You'll be able to take care of it, won't you?"
He gave her a suspicious look.
"Dawn - what's happened? Are you okay? Is everything alright?"
Dawn nodded.
"Yes. Everything's fine. I just... I just would prefer to work nights now."
Gabe gave her another suspicious look. He knew she still had a secret, but he would find out what it was soon enough.
If you're that way inclined, for story stats, check out http://750words.com/entries/stats/348855
No comments:
Post a Comment