Time to go

I froze and smiled awkwardly at my silver-haired customer. Throughout my life, I had been learned to hide my emotions. I had never let my guard down in front of anyone, especially men. I used to stay unmoved, no matter who that guy was or how he looked, but in front of this person, I felt helpless, as if he could see right through me. I found it terrifying.

“I'll get you a coffee then…” I turned around towards the counter, “Espresso-kind black?” I tossed on my way there.

“As long as you make it,” he slightly chuckled.

“What a flirt,” I muttered annoyed, yet sensing that my face was turning red.

I couldn't understand my reactions. I used to ignore anyone whom I would hear such words from. If I had a worse day, I would even quickly make him regret that he dared to say a single word to me, but now… I kept blushing like an idiot!

I went to the bar, making sure I was turned around the whole time to avoid my peculiar customer's gaze. For some reason, I was convinced that he kept his eyes on me the entire time. My hands started to tremble nervously. I took a cup from a shelf, and I almost made it slip and fall on the floor. Luckily, I was able to catch it at the last second.

“What is wrong with me today?!” I asked myself in my head, “Concentrate, Lilith!”

I gazed at Jannette. I guessed she was too busy chatting with Joe and Frank, constantly refilling their coffee cups to notice my sudden clumsiness. When she noticed my stare, she chuckled and winked at me.

“Go get him,” she whispered teasingly glimpsing at the silver-haired.

I took a deep breath and started brewing his coffee. I poured hot water to moisten the paper filter, then put freshly grounded coffee on it, and started making a dark-brown potion. I finished and carried the cup to my customer's table, consciously avoiding his gaze.

“Your coffee, Sir,” I put the cup in front of him slightly turning my eyes from him.

“Am I repulsive to you?” he asked with his charming voice.

“N-not at all!” I burst out without knowing.

He smirked then looked into my eyes as if he wanted to devour me. I flinched and stepped away from his table.

“Thank you for the coffee… Lilith,” he smiled courteously, looking at the name tag on my shirt.

“E-enjoy your coffee…” I muttered hesitantly and walked back behind the counter.

The way he said my name felt strange as if he already knew who I was. Suddenly, I became anxious.

“Could he be someone that HE sent to find me? No… he doesn't smell like them. I've been learning how to sense them for years… That silver-haired is not one of them for sure,” I pondered.

I nervously corrected the gloves on my hands, then took an empty coffee pot from the bar table.

“Lilith, Jackson asked about you again, y'know? Why don't you give that poor guy a chance,” Frank chuckled.

“Sorry, let's just say that Jackson is not my type,” I smirked, taking dirtied paper napkins from the bar.

Suddenly, Frank grabbed my wrist.

“Don't be like that. If he's not your type, maybe I am?” he chuckled obnoxiously.

“Let go of my hand, Frank. This is not funny,” I hissed.

“Come on, Lilith! You're such a prude. You should have some fun,” he looked me up and down.

“I said no!” I forcefully pulled my hand out of his grasp.

“Hey!” Frank stood up and tried to reach for my hand bending over the bar table.

I dodged, making him fall onto the bar, knocking off a few glasses and the empty pot I just took away. The glasses shattered on the floor. One of the pieces stabbed my arm. I pressed the injured place in a panic and froze.

“What the hell, Frank?!” Jannette yelled.

She grabbed my bleeding hand and instantly started dragging me towards the shelf with a first aid kit.

“I'm sorry! I only wanted her to loosen up a bit… I didn't mean to…” Frank freaked out after seeing blood dripping from my arm.

Janette opened the box and took out the bandage and the patches.

“I-I will do it myself!” I grabbed the kit from Janette's hands and started treating the wound myself.

“Fine!” she raised her hands startled by my reaction, “I only wanted to help you…”

“Thank you… but I'd rather do it myself,” I smiled forcefully.

She stepped back with a grimace on her face and went back to scolding Frank. I patched my hand as quickly as I could.

“God! Don't let them smell my blood! Please! Don't let them smell my blood!” I prayed in my mind.

Due to the commotion Frank caused, I completely forgot about my mysterious silver-haired customer. Somehow, I started thinking that he must have thought of me as a total freak seeing me overly reacting to a simple cut. I looked at his table, but he wasn't there…

I walked over there, his seat was empty, and all his things were gone. He disappeared without a trace. It looked like he took merely a single sip of coffee from the cup I brought. There was a hundred-dollar bill lying on the table by the cup.

“Guess he didn't like my coffee after all. At least he is a good tipper…” I smirked, taking the money.

Janette finally got rid of Frank and Joe, right after she had made them pay for the damage that Frank caused. They were the last clients we had that day. We spent the rest of our work time wiping the glass off the floor and around the counter. Donna, the “lovely” owner of our café, didn't show up. She just gave us a call, to close at ten o'clock like we usually did.

I kept thinking about the silver-haired customer. How could he leave the café without any of us noticing? I was so intrigued that I instantly thought of checking our surveillance camera recording. I told Janette that I would close the store myself, and as soon as I finished my work, I went to check the footage. Surprisingly, I found that the one camera showing the area where he sat was broken…

“How odd…” I muttered to myself, “Wasn't it repaired just two days ago?”

It was slightly frustrating, but I was too curious to simply forget about it. I was unable to give a clear reason why, but I had to see what was recorded on other cameras trying to find a single screenshot of his face.

“This is ridiculous. Why do I even want to see his face again? He looked like he wasn't from around here, and I will leave this place in two days!” I mocked my own actions.

Of course, I kept searching for any signs of him on the footage anyway. I found the moment when I had almost fallen on the floor while he'd been walking through the door. I had seen myself correcting the tilted bell and… the picture went black. The black screen stayed for about a minute of the recording, then some distortion appeared, and the footage went back to normal right after.

“What the hell?!” I called, checking it for the third time, “Did he carry some wave disturbing device with him or something?!”

I clicked my tongue and groaned displeased, then I finally gave up and turned everything off. I sighed deeply, took my things from the back room, and walked out to close the café. At least it finally stopped raining.

I grabbed the keys and unknowingly hung my purse on my injured forearm. I hissed, feeling a stabbing pain, but the worst thing was that my wound had reopened. My heart started to race. I took off my jacket and started to wrap it around my bleeding arm. It was too late. The wind already carried the smell of my blood around. I hurriedly closed the door, feeling how my body started to shiver, then I walked faster and faster. I prayed that nothing bad would happen, that they hadn't found my trace yet. A second later, a howling sound confirmed the exact thing I was afraid of. That sound was their calling. They were gathering. They were getting closer… They found me.