Background Influences

Chapter 1

        When I tripped I was full of embarrassment but like usual people walked around me, sending me pitiful looks. No one offered to help. That was fine with me though. Bad manners made my job easier, I could hide and stay invisible with no problem. 

        I didn’t even notice a change in the alignment, nothing was shown to me. I was left out of the loop. I was trying to get some work done. Yes, the bringer of destiny has to do work. How tedious right?

Coffee shops are the home of quiet inspiration. There’s a place I always return to to do work. It’s in a small town named SilverPeak. The coffee shop is warm, cozy and homey. They have tables, cushioned seats, love seats and outside tables. It smells of fresh, quality coffee and fresh air. I always go to the black, felt love seat that is right by the window that shows the street.

Every time I go I get a Vanilla Chi Tea Latte. It’s the only place I will order one, it’s delicious. I set up on the love seat. I will slip off my shoes and stretch my legs out. I’ll pull on my rectangle shaped glasses, pull back whatever hair I can and I’ll put my laptop on my lap and set to work.

        What work could I possibly be doing? Well I write the changes that I make down in the files I have for each person. Yes, every person, in all the continents. This is where that being in multiple places power comes in handy. It’s a lot to keep track of even though I can access my memories whenever I want. It’s easier that way.

        I should have known going back to the same place over and over would cause some sort of trouble. I ignored it, relying on just human vanity. It doesn’t reach as far as I thought. 

I was sitting on the love-seat as usual when I felt someone lift my legs and then sit down, setting my legs on top of there’s. I glanced up, seriously startled that anyone would do such a thing. Even most confident humans wouldn’t dare go against the “cultural etiquette” of their society unless they knew the person and I knew no humans.

        I knew immediately who he was. His name was Finn Dailey. He was on the fast track to being a famous architect despite what people saw of him now. What he looked like what a brilliant piece of art with rebellious paint splatters all over. He was beautiful with that extra flair of personality. His eyes were a deep blue, he had sharp cheekbones that had brown little freckles scattered all over, with plump rose colored lips with a lip piercing on the bottom lip, left side. He also had an earring in the left ear and his hair was colored white, cut short on the sides and long on the top so it covered his his right eye when it was down. He had a tattoo on his left lower arm and some others that I shouldn’t have known about our first real meeting.

        I stared at him for a while, trying to fully comprehend what was going on. Why would he do that? I glanced around the cafe, there were plenty of open seats, even ones outside in the nice warm air. He didn’t even acknowledge me, he just sat there reading his book and sipping at his drink. I was completely baffled. Choosing to try and keep my anonymity I closed my laptop quietly then slipped on my sunglasses and my hood and proceeded to walk out. 

        I could hear the sound of his shoes on the pavement so I quickened my pace, he was taller than me so he could walk faster so he had no trouble. Right as my patience was about up a vision popped into my mind, an artist seeing a scholarship application in his counseling center at school. I knew I couldn’t just leave so I ran and turned a corner sharply into a crowd, then I really did disappear.

As usual I blended into the background well at the high school. No one thought anything of another student out of hundreds that attended. I walked into the center and saw who I was looking for, he needed to see the slip once he got done with the counselor so I grabbed one and waited for him to leave. Then once he got a few feet out the door I called for him, “Excuse me! I think you dropped this.”

He turned glanced at me then the pamphlet I had in my hand, “I don’t think so.”

I frowned, “Are you sure? I thought I saw it fall out. It says something about an art school and scholarship opportunities. Does it sound familiar?”

        His eyes lit up and he reached forward, Gotcha! I smiled at him then walked out the door as he read up on the scholarship he’d be getting.

        Another vision lit in my head, a firefighter about to get a call who really needed a full oxygen tank and mask but someone had forgotten to do it. I flashed over to the firehouse, making myself truly invisible this time. I couldn’t just walk around a firehouse without bringing in some attention. I found where they kept the tanks they kept ready and found the one that wasn’t full like it was thought to be. I exchanged it for one that was and then filled the other one for later.

        Three more visions came at once. A girl deciding whether to tell her father about her mother’s affair, a man praying over a grave with a gun, and a woman about to tell her parents that she was in fact a woman not a man. I split quickly doing each job with a clear mind. I didn’t, and couldn’t, spare a thought to the boy who had bothered to sit next to me.He would definitely be back though I could feel it in my bones. 

        I knew I couldn’t go back to the coffee shop after the incident. I knew I should have stayed out of SilverPeak altogether but I did’t do it. I avoided the coffee shop like the plague but if I had to pick a place to call home on Earth SilverPeak was it. Everything about the town was something I liked. There was the forest, the lake, the small town vide even though it had a nice sized population. The quaint build of the shops and the fresh air all brought me peace. So what I did was change my appearance so I could get a chai tea latte. Then I changed it back and went to the lake. I went to the part of the lake where the forest came right up to the shoreline, not where all the other people were. I liked the secluded life. I could see families playing and I could hear the dogs barking and the laughter. It gave me a sense of pride, I could see their bright futures when I looked at them but it also gave me a sense of sadness. Everything has to end. Human lives were so fragile and short. I was glad there were other opportunities after their death. 

I pulled my laptop from my bag and began to write down all the changes I’d made that day. “Hey!” I jumped, my laptop dropping to the ground.

        I knew who it was, who my big fat problem was. I shoved my computer into my laptop and set into a sprint along the shoreline. I knew this forest like the back of my hand and the thickest area was just a bit away. My feet pounded against the sand and I had to work to keep my heart rate steady. I was in peak physical condition despite what my body looked like. I turned sharply to the left into the woods, the trees were very close together. As I ran I morphed my body subtly so I could fit in the crawl space coming up. 

There was this cave in and a small space where I could get in the tunnels if I was small enough. I scrambled up a few rocks then wriggled through the space. Finn had been close behind me and I heard him curse. “Why do you keep running? I just want to talk to you. Seriously, I’ve seen you at the cafe and you’re always alone. I never see you anywhere else in town. I thought you might want a friend or something.”

        I mapped out the tunnels in my head, trying to figure the best way out, where he wouldn’t be able to get. “It’s weird that you found me again. Honestly I just want to be left alone.”

        “Alright.”

        What? It can’t be that easy. “Seriously? Well thanks, you’re much more considerate than most guys.”

        “I’m going to respect your decision. If I see you again though I’m going to say hi and try to strike up conversation. If you don’t respond I’ll stop for then. I want to get to know you though. I wish you’d give me a chance. I hear I’m a great friend!”

        I walked away down the tunnels after that, I’d finally decided that I would never be able to return to SilverPeak. He was too much of a liability. Him interacting with me could somehow change his course and I didn’t want that.