Dahlia - The Velvet Witch and Her Dark Spirit

PART 15 - D & M's

I googled Charles and Dahlia's parents the following day, and surprisingly it all checked out. I was relieved I wasn't dealing with a full-blown delusion as I'd initially thought.

I continue to mull her story while sipping my morning coffee. I need to dissect this with someone on the outside. Ruben? Nah, he'll just call us both crazy and tell me to run, which is probably sound advice. Maybe just a get together with him and Maggie so they can see what Dahlia is like—a few drinks and a laugh, and they'll come around. I grab my Samsung and spin it through my fingers before finally getting the balls to call.

"Speak," Ruben says.

"It's Levi."

There's a long silence over the line, forcing me to check if the call has dropped out.

"It's a ghost, more like it. Returned from the dead, have you?" Ruben asks.

"I've been busy with Dahlia. And working a lot."

"Actually working?"

"Yeah, I've been inspired. I'm doing a series of pieces called 'The Dark Spirits of Home'. May even show them at the new wing of the Henderson," I say, staring at the canvas on the easel.

"Yeah, I saw you were there," he says, trying his best to sound pissed off.

"You saw?"

"There was a photo of you two in the paper. Maggie spotted it. That's the kind of thing I've asked you to come to a million times. Guess I didn't have the right body parts to get a yes."

"Sorry, but that's why I'm calling. To see if you guys wanted to get together and do something?"

Another long pause.

"Yeah, OK. That sounds good," Ruben says, perking up.

He's such a sucker for enthusiasm. And he's as good at holding a grudge as I am at being a woman.

"I'll get a hold of Magnolia and see what she wants to do. Maybe Friday?"

The plan to meet comes together nicely. I decide on a bar in the heart of Brixton called Voodoo Sam's. Mostly because Theodore, one of my students, has just graffitied the inner walls. It's the first paying gig one of my students has landed because of a skill I've taught him, and I'm more than a little bit proud.

Dahlia is excited to meet my friends, whereas I'm swimming in nerves at the make or break nature of the evening. We get to Voodoo's just after nine. We are the first to arrive. Ruben look stunned when they walk in and see us already in a booth with drinks in hand. Maggie and Dahlia immediately get lost in conversation and soon disappear to order another round.

I gaze at Teddy's handiwork on the walls. He has muraled them in a Mexican Day of the Dead theme. I'm impressed by the authentic feel of his style and ingenuity with a very minimal greyscale palette. I must bring the class here to dissect his lines and talk through his layering.

Ruben waits until I finish gawking before opening up with the questions.

"So, Dahlia?"

"Yeah," I answer, not quite sure what the question is.

"You love her?"

"I don't know," I say with a stupid smile.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I have strong feelings for her, but we're both complicated. Just trying to work through all that."

"Levi, you barely know this woman. Go slow. I have a strange feeling about her."