Autumn

6: Bickering

A black fedora covered the man's face, but his nose pointed outward. A stranger could easily walk past him noticing how strange his nose was. The man's trench coat reached down to his ankles, his dark shoes barely showing. It had rained the entire night, and as the man waited, raindrops were falling from the tree's branches, falling on the point of his hat. Some of the drops would make it so far to his sunglasses, down his awkward nose, falling to the concrete floor.

Moments later, a woman walks towards the man. An eyebrow raised, she leaned on the brick wall two inches exactly next to him, raindrops brushing over her fiery red curls. She wore a navy blue coat, the man assumed, was over priced and smelt of smoke. The woman, turned her head to look at the man, her bright blue eyes shining.

"You're not from around here," she stated, holding out her hand. "Names Elise Grayheld, and you are?"

Scoffing, the man took of his fedora. "Why would you want to know?"

Elise took back her hand, tying her mangled hair into a tight ponytail.

" 'cause not many folks around here know anything about danger." She laughed. "Unlike you, there are worse."

The man now was interested.

"You a cop?" he asked, both eyebrows raised.

Elise smiled. "Your lucky I'm not." She held out her hand again. "Do I need to ask again?"

The man grinned boyishly.

"I go by anonymous."

Not pleased, and partly annoyed, Elise took a step in front of the man. He was taller than her, even though his body was hunched over the wall. Examining his facial features, she couldn't stop staring at his nose or his green eyes. She sighed, straightening her posture. She crossed her arms, staring right at him.

"Well Anonymous," she said, "I hope your not staying here for long. I'm pretty sure the rain won't stop." She lifted up her hand; sure enough she saw a raindrop fall in the center of her palm.

"I'm meeting someone." he replied. Of course Elise had noticed that; the man kept looking frequently back at the walkway from the corner of his eye.

"Oh! And I am quite certain that you and your friend can go somewhere away from the rain." Seeing what she said had no effect, Elise pushed his arm playfully, but accidently knocking him off balance. Off guard, he fell into rain puddle not far away from where he was standing. Quickly getting to his feet, he stared cold at Elise.

"You'd better back off." he warned.

Elise's hands became fists. "Make me."

Before he could reply, the man saw something move from the corner of his eye. It was a moving figure approaching from the shadows. He became tense, his heart stopped out of panic.

"Elise," the man said with clear uncertainty in his voice, "leave. Now."

Confused, she hit his arm again, purposely this time."What? No, I'm not going until you tell me what your doing."

"Yes, I see your confused. I'll explain everything as soon as I'm done." He looked up. The figure was coming closer.

"I don't trust you will." Elise protested. "I hardly know you."

"As I to you." He grabbed her shoulder. "Please, I'll find you if I must, now please go."

Without a moment's hesitation, Elise sped the other way.

The man watched her race back to her car, a blue convertable with it's hood up, but abruptly turned back to face the figure that appeared before him. It was a woman, by far taller than Elise. Her combed blond hair was tucked into a braided bun. Her posture was perfect, she showed off her gorgeous burgundy dress fitted exactly for a woman her size. She took out her hand to greet him; the man just nodded and the woman took her hand back away from him as if her pedicure was a piece of fine china.