Civil Skies

One Night

The phone went on ringing for a couple of seconds until I heard the rustling of someone answering. There were people talking along with several barks in the background.
"Hello?"
"Um is Courtney there by any chance? Its her friend Andreé.
"Yeah hold on for a sec."
I heard the phone being passed and some guy saying that I was asking for her.

"Hey what's up?" Courtney asked.

"Sorry. Hey Courtney. Are you busy tonight? I was wondering if we could maybe go out tonight and have some fun. Francis gave me the afternoon off and I'm pretty bored with just the cat."

"Um...yeah sure actually I can leave in about an hour so. We can go sooner if you'd like. "
"The more time the better I guess. Okay...until then." I responded.
"Okay bye."
The phone hung up and I threw the it onto the couch. I walked around for couple of minutes deciding what I should do with the time. Since I had a little more than an hour, I decided to go shopping for the groceries for apartment. I grabbed my umbrella, rain boots and coat once more and headed out the door. The drive to the local market was not very far which made it quite convenient. I made my way to the little market place and walked out of my car to the where there was a small building and many stands outside with people selling different kinds of food. Here there was fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy. I decided on buying some milk, vegetables, chicken breasts, and some ice cream. Once I was done searching, I walked up to the young man at the register to check out my items.

"Hello, did you find everything you were looking for?"

The man seemed to be in his twenties. He had a pretty muscular build for someone just working at the market, and his eyes seemed to show years of age. They were slightly offsetting to me for some reason, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Um yes....actually no. I couldn't find where the Kosher salt was. I looked just about everywhere."
"Okay, Ill help you find it."
He had a cold face when saying this. No smile or anything, just a blank face really. He gestured for me to follow him, and I did. He led me to a section outside against a wall where there were wooden crates filled with spices inside. He checked each crate until he found bags of salt with a label saying "Kosher" on the front inside one. He pulled up his sleeves and reached inside to grab a bag. My eye caught a glimpse of a strange tattoo with weird lines and markings on his skin. It was located on the back side of his lower arm. It was a dark blue color almost black on his skin. Before I could look anymore and examine it, he quickly pulled his sleeve back down to cover it while cursing under his breathe. He noticed that I saw his tattoo and stared at me for a couple seconds too long.
"Okay then. Is there anything else you need?"
"No," I replied a little bit in a haze, "that was all I needed."
He walked me back over to the register and scanned everything. I quickly paid him the money in silence, exited the store, and started walking back to my car. I quickly glanced back over my shoulder to see inside the market building and found him starring at me and standing at the cash register. I turned back around and began to pick up my pace and walked faster. I packed everything into the car and got inside. After the car started, I began backing up out of the parking spot. I looked up once more at the building to see him standing outside leaning against the wall in the front and staring at me. I slammed my brakes on and sat there frozen with fear. I caught myself in the moment. There he was still starring. He was just some figure in the distance by now. I started to drive again, happily, away from the market place. On the rode I kept thinking about his face. He had green eyes and long brown curly hair that met at about the middle of his neck. He had a sort of scruffy beard that looked like specs and shaped his face. And again that tattoo. It didn't seem normal and everything about it made me feel uneasy. Driving, I kept checking behind my car. I was clearly paranoid. It was silly of me to think that he would actually follow me. I told myself to forget about it and turned on the radio for music. Finally, I got home and unpacked all the groceries. Chairman Meow walked up to me and began begging for a treat, so I grabbed the bag and fed him one salmon flavored snack to shut him up. Just as I finished packing everything in the fridge and on the shelves, I heard the door rustling and immediately my heart beat sped up. I don't know why I was scared. Could it possibly be that guy? Is he here? No! Why would he? He has no reason to be here, and it would make zero sense. The door opened and Courtney came in through the doorway. She looked a little frazzled with her ombré hair a little messy and out of place. We knew each other from high school and became and have remained friends since.
"Hey, are you okay there? You look like you've ran a marathon." I asked.

"Yeah yeah no I'm fine. I was just chatting outside with this hot guy and the wind picked up. Plus, it's really freezing out there, so we need to dress-"
"Wait! What?" I interrupted her. I had just realized she said she was talking to some guy. My heart immediately fell through me. Panic and fear began to build inside me. My breathing was beginning to speed up.
"Woah woah! Are YOU okay? Andreè, what's wrong?
"Um...what what did he look like? Did he have any tattoos? Brown hair?"

"No....he has blonde short hair and no tattoos whatsoever. Are you sure you're okay? Those are some pretty specific details you're asking there."
I immediately relaxed knowing it wasn't the same guy.
"Sorry. Yeah I'm fine it's just I ran into this guy at the market that was giving me trouble in line and asked for me to hurry up."

"Really? Let me punch that dickhead and see if he wants to hurry you then."

"Courtney, he was extremely tall, muscular, and he had a white beard that went to the middle of his stomach. If anything, he'd probably break you like a twig and you'd be too scared to confront him anyways." I lied right then and there. What had occurred with the register guy was too strange for me to tell anyone. Well at least for now. She began to laugh after realizing the truth in my statement about being to scared to beat someone up, let alone confront them. We were both pretty shy people, but one thing was that we played tough.
"But still, that wouldn't normally make you act like th-wait." Her cheeks began to curve up in a smile.
"Do...do you have some sort of crush here? Huh? You better tell me right here and now."

"What? No, I don't have some crush. Trust me if I did I'd look more excited than scared. Actually, I'm not so sure but the thing is no. And to finish this once and for all I said I'm fine so there." I went over to one of the chairs near the fire and sat down.

"Oh okay then okay." She quieted down.
I picked up a book and began reading.

"Um what are you doing? Come on now let's get ready. And hey! You there!" She pointed at the cat.
"Get your lazy butt off the couch."