Eyes: The Story Of A Blind Heroine

Chapter 10

"Jeepers, Chelsea! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," Chelsea apologised, "I didn't mean to scare you. I brought you mail."

"Mail? Why would I receive mail?" The idea of receiving mail left a bitter taste in my mouth after the last time I had received that letter from Percival. I wasn't looking forward to a repetition of this.

"Yep," Chelsea replied, "oh, and a  special cool drink, courtesy of miss Leilo. If you ask me, it's freakishly hot outside, don't you think?"

"It's February in the southern hemisphere," I replied, "it would be hot. A drink sounds amazing, though. The next time you see miss Leilo, please ask her what on earth she wants from me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's been sending me free coffees and tiny snack foods, all secretive and everything! Do I need to be afraid?"

"No, lady! You seriously don't! Trust me, she doesn't give this drink to everyone. Anyway, so, there was this guy outside the café, kind of shifty, if you ask me. He says that he had a letter for you. He said that you two met at the subway and he thought he would drop by."

"Okay ... What? There were two of them, and I liked neither. Is the letter readable for me?"

"It's in Braille, yes," Chelsea replied, "which is weird, because where would he have gotten the resources?"

I don't like where this is going, I thought as I gingerly took the envelope from her. I slowly rolled it over in my hands too afraid to open it. Then, cautiously, I lifted the flap that held the envelope shut and retrieved the single sheet of Braille paper from it. Something else caught my attention as it made contact with my fingers. I took it out, touched it, sniffed it, and surmised that it was a dried flower of some sorts. I shuddered. Something about the dried flower made my skin crawl. I made a mental note to toss it later. I unfolded the letter, slowly moving my fingers over the embossed dots on it.

My Dearest Brigid
Though our conversation on the train had been brief, and ended on quite the unsavory note, you still left your mark on my mind, and on that of an old friend of mine. He showed me a business card of yours, and we both decided to pay you a little visit. After all, we need to reconcile after our little ... verbal dispute. I sincerely apologise for my behaviour, by the way. I think the three of us can get very well along if we got to know each other better, don't you think?

You can expect us in a few hours' time. I wanted to send you this letter, so you are not unprepared when we arrive.

Regards,
Steve

PS: Phoebus is of the opinion that your taste of friends has, shall we say, perked his interest, especially for the red-haired one. He said he would like to pursue the matter further.

I sighed. I had hoped that this Steve-Phoebus incident had been a once-off, but I should probably have known better than that, especially if they were involved with the Waterfords. "Yep! We're going to have more customers," I reported, "better update the waitstaff."

"Huh?"

"He said he's dropping by, bringing an old friend of his. He's a fucking creep, is what."

"Wow!" Chelsea breathed, "that is descriptive! Where'd you guys meet?"

"On the subway. My mother couldn't come pick me up, so I was inevitably subjected to this fate. That guy was smelly, and I mean basement-dwelling, fish-eating, bath-hating neckbeard kind of smelly! He was kind of a big guy too, so I was trapped, with little breathing room. Did I mention that he was sweating too? It was hot in the train."