Gypsy man

Encounters

Heart beating. Breath shaky. Ears ringing.

Crows caw as the only sound in the darkness. A low growl comes from behind me...

The sun slips through the drawn curtains, disturbing my dreams.

Or should I say nightmares. Yes, that's more fitting.

It takes me a good fifteen minutes to get out of bed.

I take a cold shower to wake me up completely.

I get dressed and attempt to tame my wavey brown hair. Once it looks okay, I head downstairs.

My mother is having coffee in the kitchen. "Oh, morning Alex." She smiles. She's the only one allowed to call me Alex.

My father calls me Alexander and my friends call me Zander or Hawkins. Hawkins. I've always hated it when they refer to me by my last name.

"Morning, mom." I kiss her cheek. "How is your heart?"

"My heart is happy, Alex. And yours'?"

'Heavy' I want to say. "Bored."

She opens her mouth to say something.

"ALEXANDER! Get your sorry ass over here!" my father yells from the living room.

I hurry over to his couch. "Yes, father." I tense up, ready for it.

"Get me some scotch." He's still hungover from last night...

"Yes, father..." I run to the alcohol cabinet. The bottle of scotch feels heavy in my hands.

I get a whiskey glass and set it down on the table in front of my father. I unscrew the bottle, but my father takes the bottle before I can pour.

"This isn't full." I know what he's thinking by the tone of his voice. It's not the truth.

"You little shit. You thought you can go behind my back and drink my fucking scotch!" he got up from his couch.

"No. Dad. I would nev-" I don't get to finish because his fist meets my right eye.

Pain shoots through my body as I fall backwards into the glass on the table.

My father storms out while my mother runs toward me.

"Alex?" she pulls me to my feet and inspect today's damage.

Shards of glass stuck into my lower back. She helps me to the kitchen.

I rest my elbows on the kitchen table as mom gingerly get the first aid kit. She uses tweezers to pull out the glass.

She cleans my wounds like she always does.

The rest of the day flies by. I avoid my father and he does his work in his study.

Mom is at work. She comes home late after her shift.

"I'm so sorry Alex, the clinic was just so busy today. Let me to make your favourite pasta. Oh, there's no eggs!" She doesn't take a breather between her words. "Quickly run to Cakely's, I'll make the other preparations."

I take the train downtown to Cakely's. There are only a few people on my fifteen-minute ride.

Dave commented on my blackeye.

On the way back I'm in an empty car. I play on my phone.

A few stops before my stop a stranger joins me.

The stranger sits across from me, for some reason he couldn't sit somewhere else.

I look up to meet dark eyes.

A gasp escapes my mouth.
His eyes are serious yet beautiful. His hair raven and straight and so perfect. I kind of like the feathers dangling from his left ear, a ring in his right. His clothes were strange like bohemian, I think, but I liked it.

What the fuck are you thinking, Alex? I close my mouth and look back at my screen.

For the next two stops I stared at my black screen, I felt him staring at me the whole time.

The train stopped again. The stranger gets to his feet, but he doesn't leave just yet.

He drops a bright orange and blue feather in my lap and with that he leaves, not saying anything.

No explanation for how completely random and weird this is. Still, I find myself putting the feather in my backpack.

Dinner was mundane. Dad in his study. Thank goodness. Me and mom making small talk while we eat. I don't tell her about the stranger on the train. I fall asleep as soon as I climb in bed.