The Encounter

“Who are you?” I wondered aloud.

He wouldn’t tell me. He hadn’t directly answered a question once tonight. I followed him to the kitchen; he made himself another drink.

“So, you were saying?” he said, in that sardonic tone he seemed to reserve only for me.

“Oh, right? What are you doing here? This is my party; I don’t remember inviting you,” I said with only a hint of malice.

He leaned back on the counter, sipped his whiskey, and replied, “Does it matter what I’m doing? Aren’t you having fun?”

His response catered to my less than rational side. “It’s my party! Who do you even know here? You’ve been hanging around me for the last half an hour and won’t answer a single question,” I fired back.

“Humph,” he grunted. “I’m here because I thought the party might be fun. It has been fun, apart from you buzzing around me all night.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” I spat.

He purred, “Well, you’ll just have to use a different strategy.” I wanted to slap the rogue-ish grin right off of his face.

Turning, he walked from the kitchen and across the dance floor. He weaved between the cavorting revelers. Music boomed from the speakers I’d rented from the old guy up the road. I couldn’t identify the song, one of Chel’s friends had taken up the mantle of DJ. The sensation of the bass bumping in my bones was almost hypnotic. Once I’d exited the kitchen, he’d melted into the crowd and I lost sight of him.

“What the…” I muttered under my breath.

***

I took a moment to marvel at the barn. Chel had outdone herself this time. The lights hanging from the rafters twinkled like tiny stars. The moonlight fluttering between the gaps in the roof made the scene look almost ethereal. Everyone dressed in their party clothes, sparkles danced off of the walls with every undulating move of the crowd. Chel had invited all of her friends to the party. Some faces looked familiar, though I couldn’t place them. None of them were my friends, I didn’t have many.

“This guy can’t be one of Chel’s friends, can he?” I mused.

Weaving through the crowd, inhaling the smell of sweat and bodies, I searched the room for him. Chel was in the corner, laughing with a group of her friends, clinking their champagne glasses. I was glad to see her enjoying the evening. Stopping at the front door, I quickly scanned the room again. Apart from the dazzling lights, bass assaulting my ears, and the steady movement of the dancers, I didn’t see him.

The other rooms in the barn were off limits, but I should have known this guy wasn’t good with rules. I checked the bathroom and found a pair of people making out that I’d seen before, but I left them to their business. The only room left was my room, marked private with a hand-painted sign. I’d locked the door when guests began to arrive, but this baffling person didn’t care for locked doors.

***

I found him lounging on my bed, looking more like a cat than a human. In his hand was my ancient alarm clock, he turned it over and over in his hands, as if he were looking for the secret hidden within the clock face.

“The door says ‘Private’,” I seethe between gritted teeth.

“Ah, yes. But what is the real meaning of private? From what I understood, there isn’t a right to privacy,” he deflected.

I couldn’t help but be direct, “Now that you are here, does that mean that you’ll tell me who you are and what you are doing at this party?”

“My, my…. Do you think I have ill intentions?,” he questioned. “Why would you think I had something improper in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that you have been slinking around my party and you’re now in my room is off limits to party guests. That might have tipped me off,” I retorted.

He rolled off of the bed, but kept the clock in his right hand. He paced from the bed to the closet and back again. I stood there watching, waiting. I knew this person shouldn’t be here, but I did not know why. He wasn’t exactly dangerous, at least he didn’t look it, but something was wrong.

He stopped in front of me, clock in hand. He raised the clock in the space between us and let it drop. “This is what I’m here for,” he whispered.

Shocked, I sputtered, “My alarm clock? What would you want with this?”

He chuckled and muttered, “You don’t know do you?”

“Know what?” I managed.

He levelled his eyes at me, eyes that made my skin feel like the first frost of the season. A chill ran down my arms and I hugged them closer to me.

“This clock is more than a clock. It’s a vessel for something ancient and wonderful.”

I turned the clock over in my hand. I didn’t exactly remember where I’d gotten the clock. Maybe at a market or it could have been a family heirloom. It felt like and looked like an ordinary old-fashioned alarm clock. Chel always said that I needed it because I could sleep through the loudest thunder cracks and conventional alarms could not wake me up. This clock made a raucous chime each morning and would nearly fall off of my nightstand with the force of the alarm.

“But, I don’t understand. This is a regular clock. It’s loud, but I didn’t think it was unusual,” I breathed.

Backing away a few paces, with his gaze still fixed on me, he asked, “Would you like to see what is so special about this clock?”

Forgetting my anger and suspicions, I nodded slowly, still studying the time device in my hands.

He slid his hand from my forearm to my hand, taking it and pulling me toward the door.

***

We walked out of the room; I turned to lock the door and found that he stayed with me. He didn’t disappear this time, which I found exceedingly interesting. All night I had peppered him with questions and he only returned my prodding with more questions. I met his gaze as I turned toward the barn door. He pulled my hand through the sea of sparkling and gyrating bodies. The barn looked packed with bodies; it was past 11 o’clock and I hadn’t noticed. We made it to the door and exited without being notice.

He motioned to the roof, “Do you have a ladder that will reach up there?”

“Yes,” I said. “It’s on the other side of the barn.” The night was cool and crisp, like it always was this late in the year. The moon was barely a sliver, just beginning a new cycle, and the stars were little twinkles in the dark curtain of the sky.

We trotted around to the other side of the barn and located the ladder. He set it up; I handed him the clock. I cautiously climbed, hand over hand, up the ladder to the roof. I shouted down, “You must watch out. There are some boards missing and others that have rotted. Watch your step.”

He grunted an affirmation that he’d heard me, climbing up the ladder with the clock still in his hand. We cautiously edged our way to the far end of the barn, away from the revelry below. It was likely that no one would disturb us up here, and I was eager to find out what was so interesting about my clock.

I found a comfortable spot and sat on the edge of the roof, legs dangling down in front of me.

“Hey, are you ready,” he asked.

“Yes, of course. The anticipation is killing me,” I replied.

He moved to the edge of the roof, placing the clock a few feet away from us on a beam that jutted out from the roof. He came back to sit beside me. I could feel him, warm against the chill of the air.

“What if I told you that your clock contains an ancient magic that I have not seen in this world in quite some time,” he whispered.

I looked at him with wide eyes, this was preposterous. Magic didn’t exist and everyone knew that. It was a tall tale from the ancient times. We were so far from that time that it would be improbable for any magic to still exist.

I spluttered, “That is impossible. It makes little sense.”

He watched me with those frosted eyes again, this time my skin felt covered in ice.

I couldn’t speak. I knew it couldn’t be true, this was a trick. He still hadn’t given me his name or his business here. I began to scramble to my feet. He caught my hand, my skin immediately caught fire. I glared at him, “You will let me go this instant.”

“No, I won’t,” he said confidently. “What I say is true. You’ll want to stay for the next part.”

Reluctantly, I sat back down. I moved a few inches farther from him, just to be safe. I eyed him suspiciously.

“Count down from 10 when I say go,” he stated.

“What happens when I get to 10,” I inquired.

“You’ll just have to see,” he promised, giving me a wry smile that I, again, wanted to slap off of his face.

“Is this just an exercise to find out if I’m intelligent? I can count to ten, you know,” I accused.

“Of course you’re intelligent, I saw your bookshelf. Now, get ready. And….go,” he said.

“Ugh…ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two….one,” I said sarcastically, thinking this was all a hoax.

At the count of one, the clock began to chime and bounce, just as it does each morning in my room. It began to glow, which it never does in my room. The light grew in intensity until it was white hot and hurt my eyes. I threw a hand up to shield my eyes, noticing that my strange companion was staring at the light full on.

The light looked like the clock would burst into flames. A loud pop signaled that it had not burst in to flames, but had let off a beautiful firework. The tail streaming down to us and the color a brilliant, glistening white. Another pop, another firework light up the sky. This one was a shimmering blue. More fireworks burst from the clock, one after another. Glistening, glimmering, and shining like beautiful stars.

Our faces were lit up from the light of the fireworks, he turned to me, studying my face as I marveled at the sight. I met his gaze, this time the cold was absent, and I only felt warmth radiating from him.

“Happy new year,” he purred.

I could in his eyes that he truly meant it, it wasn’t a trick.

I parted my lips and raised my face to his. “Happy new year,” I breathed. His hands came up to cup my face. His lips met mine in an explosion of emotion. His hands slid from my arms to my back, circling me in a warm embrace. I couldn’t think about anything else, his smell filled my nose, his taste filled my mouth, my ears filled with his breathing, and my vision blurred by the kiss.

It felt like an eternity, but we broke apart at a loud sound from below. We crept to the outer edge of the roof and peered over. The party guests had run out to find out what the commotion was. Chel was hooping and hollering at the top of her lungs. The guests were cheering and reveling in the light of the fireworks. Couples kissed here and there and others continued cheering for the new year.

Our fireworks stopped as suddenly as they’d started and the guests filed back inside.

***

I turned to look at him but he wasn’t there. I was alone on the roof. I could still feel the warmth where his body sat just seconds before. I surveyed the ground around the barn and found nothing. I looked back at where the clock had been. It was there, but it was just my ordinary clock. I walked over to retrieve it. The shell wasn’t hot at all; it looked as if nothing had happened to it that night.

I slowly turned and looked around the roof and ground one more time. There was no trace or sign of the secretive stranger I’d met earlier in the night.

“Odd,” I muttered to myself.

I walked to the ladder and slowly climbed down from the roof. I walked through the chilly night air and back in to the barn. The party was winding down, many guests had already left. I checked my room and placed the clock back in its space on my nightstand. I closed the door and found Chel in the kitchen. She looked pensive.

“Hey Chel,” I said. “Did you see the guy I was talking to earlier tonight? We went up to the roof, but he’s suddenly gone.”

Chel looked startled, “What do you mean? I didn’t see you with anyone. I knew you came in here and went to your room, but you were alone.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? I thought he might be one of your friends. I didn’t recognize him. I kept trying to ask him who he was, but he wouldn’t answer my questions. We went up to the roof with my clock, he said it was some magic thing. The fireworks came from the clock.”

She opened the refrigerator door to put up a drink and quickly turned toward me. “Wha, what? What are you talking about? The fireworks were you? They came from your clock? I thought someone from the party did them. I didn’t see you outside at all, thought you’d be in your room since parties aren’t really your thing,” Chel spluttered.

“Well, he wasn’t a ghost. They don’t exist. But, I also thought magic didn’t exist earlier today,” I admitted.

Chel glared at me. “You’re just making this up because you didn’t have fun at the party.”

“No, that’s not it at all,” I pleaded. “I had fun at the party! I swear I saw someone, I talked with someone, and now he’s disappeared.”

***

I stormed out of the kitchen and back to my bedroom. She should believe me, she’s my sister. Sisters should believe their siblings.

I slammed the door and threw myself on to the bed. I heard a crunch when I landed and rolled over to find a note. The paper was old, and the handwriting was delicate.

“Dear you,” it said. “Please, I hope it does not upset you I left so quickly. I am only allowed a short time with mortals and you seemed to pique my interest. I am glad to know I was right. Skeptical, you are, but also intelligent and witty. Though we had but a few moments, I found a fondness for you to be growing in me. I hope the feelings are mutual. Keep your eyes open, magic is all around you. Look for the beauty in the ordinary things, it exists everywhere.”

“It’s signed ‘D’”, I muttered aloud. “This must be him, but who is he?”

I took the note and carefully folded it. I placed it in my keepsake box; I didn’t want to lose it. Who was this guy? Why was he here? What was going on?

***

A few days later, I still had no answers and a thousand questions. Chel told me to let it go; she thought I’d had a hallucination. The kiss felt real, his hands on my face were real.

I took the note from my keepsake box, unfolding it carefully. I walked slowly to the kitchen, touching the counter where he’d leaned a few days before. Silently, I trudged back to my room and threw myself on the bed. Watching the ceiling fan turn, the dull sound of it roaring in my ears, I replayed the night over again in my head.

***

I felt the touch on my back first, tracing up my spine. I whirled around to see him. He stood before me, heat radiating in waves from him. A wry smile painted across his face. I fixed my face into the best glower I could muster.

“What…the…hell,” I managed between angry huffing.

“Would you be angry if I told you its complicated?”

“My sister thinks I’m nuts and now I’m standing here talking to a vanishing person,” I shouted. “Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t answer either of those questions. I’m only here to tell you to believe in yourself more.”

“Oh, okay. Sure. You abandon me at midnight at my party and make me look like a fool. Now you’re here trying to tell me to believe in myself?”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to abandon you. I only had limited time….I don’t have much time now. Remember what I said."

He cupped my chin, his fingers like soft cloth, and raised my head to meet his gaze.

“Remember me.”

I stared as he began to dissolve into nothingness. I looked around, realizing that my room was actually a vast white expanse filled with nothing. I frantically looked around for someone or something, but found only blank white space.

***

I awoke in my room to find the note clutched to my chest, my breathing heavy. I unfolded the note again to see that the writing had vanished. The delicate writing was gone, along with the beautiful words.

I began to suspect reality had been warped. The party, the man, the note, none of it was real. His words rang again in my head, “Remember me.”