Black Roses {Skephalo}

Day Three

————— 28 days remaining —————
Wednesday, January 3rd, 12:01 am
Status 1: stage 1 - Blush
Status 2: data not yet received

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-[New POV]-

I watch him enter. The regular, who has come here every day consecutively for a while now. Always over my shift, the night shift. This time, he looks different.

It's definitely him, I can tell almost instantly. He takes off his coat, revealing the fluffy raven hair beneath. Well, not so fluffy now that it's soaked by the rain. He looks drenched, like he came without an umbrella. There's one in his hand, but I suppose it won't help given the strength of the storm outside.

I take in how ghostly pale he is. His complexion is always more tanned, but currently he looks like he's seen a ghost.

He's actually that pale he could probably be the ghost...

After hanging up his coat and umbrella, he rummages around in his bag for something. He pulls out nothing, fastens the bag shut again and sort of runs towards the stairs.

Strange, he normally sits downstairs by the windows...

The coffee shop is always empty except for him. Generally he comes at about this hour, just after midnight. He's always the last person I serve. I watch from behind the counter, trying to convince myself I'm not being creepy.

I work a two hour shift. It's payed really well, considering nobody wants to do it. But as someone with insomnia, it's not a problem for me. The start of the shift is busier than you'd think. Nobody comes after midnight though.

Except him.

I wonder if he knows I wait for him to arrive each time...

He's always so sweet. Always comes in with a smile, saying hello to me and asking how I've been. Sometimes we chat for a while, just about life. It's nice to have someone so friendly around, especially as I live alone.

After waiting around for few minutes, I climb the stairs to the second floor. It's not a complete floor, just a half, which creates an overhang. The coffee shop is beautiful, another one of the benefits of working here.

I'm snapped out of my daydream as some thunder strikes outside. Seems like a pretty bad storm. I drag my attention back to the boy, and worry sets in.

He's not acting like normal, he didn't even look at me.

He looks pretty distracted...

As I approach him, I notice a few things. He's curled up into a ball in one of the plush seats as far away and as hidden as possible. He's soaked through, making the seat wet also. He must be cold, as he's shivering pretty violently. I notice that despite his feet being curled up in the seat, he removed his shoes.

That's so cute.

The boy's head is buried in his hands. He rocks back and forth in a sort of delusional panic. That's when I realise he's not shivering just from the cold.

He's scared.

My heart breaks at the sight of him, and a wave of pity rushes over me. I'm a very sympathetic person generally, but it's different when it's him.

I don't know why...

Lies.

Carefully, I walk back downstairs and towards the 'employees only' room. My bag is the only one in there, as nobody else works the same times as me. There's not enough people to serve or enough people willing to work the strange hours for me to have a colleague.