The girl who saves werewolves

11. Narnia

It was quite funny how she gave me all kinds of explanations and I kept debunking them with questions. Finally, I gave up. She was not going to tell me something I could believe to be the truth.

The woman was a gracious winner.

"As an apology for making you run out in your pajamas, I'd like to buy you breakfast. Pancakes are the least I can do for you. Well - buy, but yeah. I noticed there was a place around the corner. I think they're already open."

Free breakfast. Of course, I said yes.

The woman waited for me outside as I went back in to quickly change into my flannel shirt and jeans. Afraid that she might just leave, I skipped brushing my hair and putting on mascara. There was something about her; I knew I'd be strangely disappointed if she'd disappear.

The place was hardly a place. Just a little convenience store, that also sold coffee and pancakes. But I didn't mind. I just wanted to spend more time with her. She was like a riddle that you just have to solve or it will hunt you. 

"Thank you," I said as she handed me a paper plate.

She smiled at me. As she wiped the syrup off her fingers, I figured that if you're having pancakes with someone, you should know each other's names.

"So..." I started, waiting for her to finish her bite, "what's your name?"

She looked at me.

"Uh... my name?" she mumbled. "I'm-"

Either she had forgotten it or she was wondering if she'd give it to me. I felt a little hurt. Of course, she didn't need to tell me her name, but still. We were having pancakes for goodness sake!

Finally, she offered me her hand and said: "I'm Fay."

I smiled like an idiot. Pancakes buddies! Of course, she'd tell me her name.

"I'm Lucy," I took her hand. It was quite a formal handshake and made us giggle.

For a moment we ate our pancakes in silence. We sat outside on white plastic chairs our backs facing the convenience store window covered in advertisement stickers.

"Like in Narnia," Fay said. It took me a while to understand what she was talking about, but when I did, I smiled.

"Yes. Lucy from Narnia."

"You've read it?" she asked.

"Of course. You?"

"Of course."

I had the books on my shelf at home. Dad's Christmas present for me.

"Maybe someday you too will find a wardrobe that leads to a magical world," Fay smiled. But her smiled faded quickly. She took a deep breath as her eyes scanned the street.

"Is everything alright?" I asked. 

"Yeah... I'm sorry Lucy, I think I need to go," she sighed and started to stand up.

I frowned. So soon? She was still a riddle!

"You haven't even finished your pancakes," I said trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.

"I know... You can have them." Now she was standing and placed her plate on the empty chair. "It was really nice meeting you, Lucy."

She took a glance to our left. Then she turned on her heels and walked in the opposite direction. Her steps were fast but airy. As if the gravity had a little less power over her.

She disappeared behind the corner. Bummer. I figured I'd never see her again. With a sigh, I turned my eyes back to my nearly empty plate. I wasn't hungry anymore so I put my plate next to Fay's.

"Alrighty then," I mumbled. "What should I do today?"

I started to form a plan. The Staten Island Ferry and Lower Manhattan. But there was no hurry. I could sit here for a short while and try to clear my head. Why on earth was I so drawn to her? Who was she?

A weird sensation filled my chest. At the same time, it was hard to breathe and felt like there was too much air in my lungs. First I thought it was a panic attack, but when a pale woman, in a black leather jacket, and black trousers walked past letting her dark black eyes land on me and then to the chair next to me, I realized it wasn't my mind causing all that. It was the pale woman. She kept walking and didn't slow down, not even slightly. But her strange presence lingered around me like a tightly knitted web. She was gone in a short moment, but that moment felt like a suffocating - no, freezing eternity.

As I touched my arms, I felt how cold they were. Even my fingernails had turned blueish.

"What just happened?" I whispered knowing there would be no answer.

There, sitting on a white plastic chair by a busy New York road, I had a profound aha experience. I had been asking the wrong. Who is she... No.

"What is she?"