Lovestruck

a stolen heart

You were really caught off guard and you could do nothing else than stare at the man that caught you by surprise. He noticed and gave you a little smile. He was wearing a white and loose shirt with a big, coat with purple and pink diagonal square shapes on the outside hanging over his shoulders. On the inside of the jacket, there was a inner red layer of fabric.  Underneath his blonde, shoulder-lenght hair you could see emrald earrings that shone whenever the sunlight touched them. To match, he had a long blue necklace hanging from his neck that was in the same shape as the earrings. All of these accesories had a single red pearl above the gemstones. To finish it off, he was wearing black pants with black boots to match.

"Hello." he said. You snapped out of your trance. "Hello, and my apologies sir!" you answered embarrassed. "No worries." he answered while laughing slightly. "What can I get you?" you said, changing the subject. "Just a loaf of bread." he answered. "Alright, one second please." you answered as you bent down to grab a loaf of bread from a cupboard under the showcase. You put it in a paper bag and handed it to him. He handed you some silver coins in return that you put in the cash register. You noticed a silver ring with a red gemstone on it that was put on his index finger. He had a matching one on his other index finger.

He thanked and smiled to you one last time before making his way to the exit. Stephanie came back from the bathroom just in time to notice him walking away. "Who was that?" she asked in a teasing tone. "I don't know.." you answered bewitched, looking at the man until he was out of sight. Stephanie looked at you with a cleaver grin. "Maybe it was Howl. The wizard who goes around stealing women's hearts." she said as she wiggled her fingers, jokingly acting mysterious. "Why would you think that?" you asked. "Because he surely stole yours." she replied with a mischievous grin and you both started laughing.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast and before you knew it, it was time to close up. Since your shift started late that day, you were the one that had to close up the cafe. It was dark and nothing much happened in the streets. Some drunk men staggered down the street while singing a foregin song that you never heard before and never needed to hear again. Many of the guards had gone home, but some of them were still standing outside a couple of big buildings while maybe one or two airships patroled the sky. 

There was about five guards you especially noticed. They were abnorbally tall and were standing in a group. It looked as if they were talking to eachother, but their mouths didn't move at all. You noticed that they didn't have mouths, but they did have large noses. You tried not making much noise as you closed the door, but the strange guards seemed to notice you either way. The way they moved was almost slimy as if that was what they were made of. You chose to ignore them as best as you could and just go home.

You turned the key in the keywhole, locking up the cafe. You made your way back home to you apartment without giving the strange guards another look. You felt an off-putting feeling that someone or something was watching you from afar, which made you speed up your walking. You reached your apartment and reached for the doorknob. You couldn't wait until you were in the safe space of your apartment again. You got shivers down your spine when you touched the doorknob even though it wasn't cold, but shrugged it off and decided it was probably some of your body hair moving or something like that. 

You finally reached your apartment and locked the door behind you before taking off your brimmed hat and putting it on the wooden counter by the entry. You continued your night by removing your makeup, taking a shower in hot water and putting on a fluffy robe and slippers. You sat down at your bed and let out a big sigh. You hadn't been interested in a man in ages and now that you are, this feeling of attraction was very off-putting to you. You decided to try to sleep it off and in the morning you would go to the wizard Jenkins to get some herbs and a protection spell. Even though you tend to stay un-afraid of most things, you couldn't help but getting the reassurance from a protection spell. 

Your eyelids got very heavy and you soon dozed off not knowing, nor expecting, what events the next day would bring you. As you slept, you dreamt of stars dancing around eachother in a circle while singing some sort of ritual-song.