World of Make-Believe: Chelsea's Story

A Night Walk

He stood on the dusky street corner, the light above buzzing off and on annoyingly. Devon rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his coat pockets with a huff. He watched as his breath turned to steam, floating away into the night.

It shouldn't be taking this long. He hissed, Though he was pretty well drunk by the time I got here. Fucking humans...

Devon’s gaze drifted back to the bar as he waited for Daniel. Unseelie were prowling more now; succubi, vampires, werecreatures. Predators. He didn't want to risk Daniel’s safety but he knew his mixed heritage didn't let him truly belong with the creatures swelling from the dark places either. Devon didn't have any sway here, not without the force to back it up anyway. He caught glances with a gargoyle just before Daniel burst out the door, stumbling confused till bleary and blessedly human eyes landed on the fae.

“Fifty hours a week!” He howled, picking right back up where he had left off "And for what? For what! So she could leave me for someone else? I wasted my life providing for her, keeping her, trying to love her!" He collapsed sloppily against Devon, making him stumble.

“Now, now.” The fae pat his back, wrestling the dead weight around to be beside him so they could walk, glancing behind to be sure they hadn't attracted unwanted attention. “You worked hard.”

“I-I did.” Daniel stumbled, sniffled. “I wo-orked. I wourhked so-so haruhd!”

Devon's eyes rolled as the man dissolved into sobs that made them both weave. “Alright old man.”

“D-d'yuh gottuh girl?”

Watery, bloodshot eyes looked up from his shoulder. Devon shook off the way his mind whispered her name across it or how his hand snaked to his own version of her locket hidden far beneath his shirt.

“‘S okay.” Daniel pat his hand, nodding as though he were doing out stage advice. “Sometimes's better’f they dun know.”

“I don't have anyone, Danny-boyo.” The accent slipping out, annoying the fae even more. “Look,” They stumbled to a bench, sat “Look. I can take it away.”
Daniel's gaze wasn't focused; faraway and dreamy. “What away?”

“The-” Devon growled low in his throat, fists curling.

I shouldn't even be here right now!

The pressure of time was weighing on him. He needed to be with Chelsea, he needed to be chipping away at her. Her source was far more powerful; pulsating and nearly obsessive. A storming ocean. Without touching it Devon could see the even, steady roll of Daniel's love for his old maid; deep and calm. It was a shame she left him. He would have picked her again and again for all of time.

That’s the joke though, isn't it. Devon smirked. Breathing slow he ran a hand through cropped, kinked hair. Focus. He let his magic weave around them, drag them away and into more familiar territory. Focus...

“The pain you feel?” Devon knew his eyes were glowing, he knew the fog was creeping in. “I can take it away. I can make it so it never hurts again.”

"Devon?” Daniel slouched between his knees, sweating and breathing heavily. “Devon if it doesn't hurt it means she's gone.” He leaned against the back of the bench, looking up to the orange-brown mass of smog where stars should have been. “All the memories. All this hurt… It reminds me she was mine for a while. And even for a brief moment, we were perfect.”

“But the pain… I see it-” A frown touched green and gold tinted skin.
Daniel shrugged. “It's all I have left of her. When that's gone so is the last twenty years.” Eyes shifted down to clasped hands, the pink of his palms brilliant against his weathered fingers. “What will it matter if I go home and the dent in her side of the bed doesn't ache? If her half empty perfume bottle doesn't remind me of how it felt to kiss her neck? The pain means it happened.” He blinked hard. “I can't touch her anymore, but I can touch this pain.” His hand clasped at his chest violently. “This is real. This is as much her as the pancakes on Sundays. The ‘good morning’ coffee. T-the-fuck.” He gasped. “The dates I was too busy to make. The sex I was too tired to have. It wasn't just her. And I deserve this, I need this.” He shook his head, “Devon you're so young. You don't understand.”