Alone: My Cursed Fate

Cafe Talks

*Vienna*

My eyes fly open at exactly midnight as my soft bed of long grass has now become a hard, flat surface. Disoriented, I slowly start to sit up. A bright light approaches and blinds me as I shield my eyes with my hands. A sharp, loud noise pierces my ears, startling me. I look down and realize that I am sitting in the middle of a street. s**t! I scramble to my feet and get out of the way of what I now realize is a car blaring its horn at me to get out of the way.

The air is much warmer and humid here. Buildings line the street that I was just laying in. A street light down the road flickers on and off. The place is deserted, everyone tucked into their warm, cozy beds. From what I can tell, I think that I am in some small town- probably somewhere down south based on the heat. I start walking down the sidewalk, peering into the windows of shops and restaurants. I pass shops filled with trinkets and racks of clothes, a little yellow cafe, and a hardware store. On the other side of the street is a bike shop, a gym, and an office building. All closed, dark, and empty. A few blocks down, rows and rows of little houses line both sides of the street.

I guess I will just find a place to sleep for the rest of the night. I walk a bit further until I come across a bench near a small playground. Well Keeta, what do you think? Good enough?

I much prefer the forest, but it could be a lot worse, she replies.

I agree, although I much prefer a soft bed and some warm blankets, I say as I curl up on the little bench.

I doze off and remain there until I am woken up by a soft tapping on my leg. I open my eyes to find that it is now morning and an older woman is tapping me with her cane. She has soft brown eyes, wrinkles from years of laughter and stress, and brown hair with streaks of gray pinned back with a claw clip. She is heavier-set, wearing a floor-length navy blue dress with a gray cardigan, hunched over her cane.

"Why are you sleeping outside, child?"

"Oh, I um- I was going for a walk this morning and must've just dozed off for a second. Thank you for waking me."

She gives me a knowing smile- a smile that said she knew I was full of s**t.

"I have never seen you around before", she notes but does not question me further. "Come with me, dear", she says as she gestures towards the street that I had woken up in earlier this morning.

Keeta, should we trust her? This is kind of weird.

She seems nice. I sense that she is just a human. Let's just see what she wants.

I look back towards the woman and find that she is looking at me thoughtfully, waiting for me to follow her. We start walking down the sidewalk at a slow pace until we reach the little yellow cafe I saw earlier. She opens the door to go in, but I stop her. "I don't have any money", I blurt out. "Don't worry, dear, its on me today", she replies. "Oh, uh, okay. Thank you ma'am".

We enter the cafe and sit at a booth near the window. I look out the window, watching people pass by outside. The old woman clears her throat, reminding me of where I am. I guess I have lost some of my people skills after being in the forest alone for just one day.

"What is your name child?"

"Vienna, and yours?"

"People around here call me Mama Junie", she says as the waitress meanders over to our table with a steaming pot of coffee and two mugs. I order a ham and cheese omelet with breakfast potatoes and she orders a fried egg and wheat toast, a stack of pancakes, bacon and sausage.

"How old are you, Vienna? You look a little young to be sleeping on a bench by yourself."

"I am 16."

"Hmmm....", she says in response as she opens up a newspaper and begins to read it.

I awkwardly look down at the steaming mug in my hand, running my thumb over a chip on the rim.

This is so awkward, Keeta, what do I do?

Take the free food then part ways, she responds with a yawn. I can see her in my mind lazily lay down for a nap. Great, I guess it's just me then.

The waitress finally comes over and sets our food down in front of us. My stomach growls angrily at me, I am starving! I dive into my omelet and breakfast potatoes and quickly devour all of it. Looking up from my clean plate, I see that Mama Junie has only just taken a few bites of her egg and toast. She looks at me and slides the heap of pancakes, bacon, and sausage towards me.

"Eat up, I ordered these for you. I know how hungry your kind gets."

Dropping my fork in surprise, I look at her and say, "Uh... My kind?...". She gives me a pointed look with her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed. "You know what I mean, dear, now eat up before your food gets cold, then we'll talk".

I do as she says and eat the rest of the food. She is right, I was still so hungry. Now that I have my wolf, I feel twice as hungry and I haven't had much to eat. Alarm bells are definitely going off in my head now though and Keeta is now alert and paying attention.

I finish the food and anxiously clear my throat, "So... how could you tell?"

"Your eyes. You keep getting a far off look in your eyes and they changed color briefly earlier- I am assuming your wolf came forward to scope things out and make sure I wasn't a threat".

"Are you? A threat, I mean?", I ask.

"No, I am just a nosey old lady that was wondering what a child was doing sleeping on a bench with no breakfast in their belly and looking like they just crawled out of a mud pit".

"Oh...", I respond as I look down at my clothes that are in fact very dirty from my night in the rain. Heat spreads across my cheeks as I blush in embarrassment.

"Let's get out of here. We can head back to my house where you can shower and I will throw your clothes in the wash. We can talk on the way", she says as she struggles to stand up with her cane, breathing heavily from the effort. She throws some cash on the table then slowly turns and heads for the door.