The coffee shop was off the main street. You could see familiar faces passing by on most days. The sun has hanging in the sky and large white clouds framed the large blue ocean. I sat there bundled in my scarf and jacket. Well, my jacket was draped on my chair, but the scarf, I liked to keep that on. As I relaxed in my chair someone caught my eye. One because I had never seen them before, which was hard in a small town and two because she was a bit odd. The door rang and she stepped in like a black shadow. Her hair a sort of silk raven black cut into a bob, her skin a lighter olive, lips painted black and mascara around her eyes. Her eyes were a semi bright orange. She wore a short black ruffled skirt with ghostly patterns wrapping around it. Gloves that went from her hand to mid arms with the fingers cut out. A black corset pulled in her waist and a puffy white and black shirt covered her shoulders. She was like a grown up goth. She walked in with a messenger bag adorned in skeletons and haunted houses. I couldn’t stop staring at her, she was so exotic to me. But of course, I am reading about black magic and witchcraft. Maybe this was my type. She was older, I could tell by the way she conducted her self and the way she spoke to the barista. For some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was distracted. I needed to focus I had a case to solve. Graves had been missing bodies. The curious thing was that they seemed to be dug up from the out inside. The dirt pushed from the coffin. Now I knew that if there was magic involved it would be necromancy. Which is exactly the book I had in front of me. Magics of the Necromancy and beyond. It was old, but one of the defect o books on the subject. In it old drawings of rituals and incantations sprawled the pages. I turned to a page with what looked like graves that had been clawed out of, just like the ones that I had saw. Shuffling came from the seat next to me and someone sat down. I peaked over. It was her. I peered over my shoulder a the rest of the coffee shop. It was virtually empty. I got back to my book after taking a sip of my drink. The graves looked similar to what I had seen. I had gone to police to get some more information about the graves, but they turned me away. Didn’t need a reporter spreading rumors they said. The town newspaper did that well enough with all the things that happened. A chill came over me. I pulled my scarf closer, but realized it came from a pair of eyes staring at me. I turned to see her staring at me, her large orange eyes and a smug smile peering in my direction. So I turned and said.
“Hello, how’s it going”
“Very good, thank you. I noticed you are reading some books on necromancy”
I gave a laugh “Yeah, I am trying to solve some mysteries in town”
She nodded up and down still smiling “I know”
“You know?” I questioned.
“Your that reporter, or what ever you call your self. Nick, right? You are trying to solve all the mysteries in this town. I have been watching you for a bit”
She was watching me? For how long? I knew most of everyone in town and with her outfit I would of seen her around.
“Oh yeah? How long have you been watching me for? One one else seems to be paying attention to me”
Her orange eyes searched around rolling back and forth “About a year or so”
I coughed “A year? Where have you been? stalking in the shadows or something?”
She gave a very toothy grin “Maybe”
I was a bit dumbfounded. I didn’t know how to respond. She had been watching me for a whole year and I hadn’t noticed? I didn’t even know what I was doing last year, well probably working on a case, but still a whole year?
“Well that’s something” I paused and shook my head a bit “something quite interesting”
“Yeah, you haven’t had much luck have you?”
“Hasn’t worked out to well for me” I sighed “Hopefully this case,I will solve. I think i am on the right track with this one”
She gave a hum “You think it’s necromancy?”
“Yeah” I answered “What else could it be. Dead have been raising from the graves from the inside out, what else could it be?”
she turned towards the window and tapped her fingers against the wooden bar, humming again “You might be right, I thought it might be some black magic, but necromancy might be the right approach” She seemed to be thinking through the problem.
“Have your been investigating the murders and suppose grave robbery?”
“No, not too much” She answered still looking out the window “But I saw you reading the book, and talking to the police and studying those graves, sooo”
“How have I not noticed you?” I might as get the question out now. I mean if someone told you that they had been following you for a year, you might think they are a stalker or obsessed in a wild way.
She took a sip of her coffee and returned to staring out the window “Well, I’m pretty sneaky you could say”
“That doesn’t give me much confidence, are you stalking me miss?”
“Only slightly”
“Slightly? Kind of makes me nervous”
She gave me another tooth grin and looked at me in the eyes “Maybe it should”
Man, was she flirting with me or something. I couldn’t tell, but I needed to get back to my work. Maybe she knew something.
“Well if you think this is necromancy or black magic, since on one else believes me, and you have been following me for a while, where should I look next”
She licked her lips and said “If i was going to look somewhere next, I would look at the priest at the church and then look at his students” She gave a small nod and grinned with glowing confidence. She then stood up, grabbed her coffee and curtsied. “I’ll see you around Nick, or at least I’ll see you”
“Whoa whoa” I stood up “Whats your name?”
“Selina” she answered. Her eyes smiling at me.
“Well Selina, next time you don’t have be a stranger. If your going to help me solve this thing, might as well be seen.”
Her face lit up in a huge grin. “Alright Nick. Let’s see how far you get, then maybe. See you around” Then she walked out. She crossed the street and walked past, her smug smile turned to me. She gigged as she disappeared from my view.
I sat back in my chair and rubbed my head. Well it seems that I have my next course. A tip from a crazy hot goth lady. It was something. I would head there tomorrow. Enough craziness for one day. I took out my sketch book to work out some more notes, but there was only one thing I could sketch. And that was Selina.
Inspired by a night of insomia and thinking about autumn coffee. I actually recoreded this story on a my voice recoreder and re wrote it. Sorta fun.