A Shade for Coffee

“...anytime, alright?”

With a start, he looked up. A girl, twenty-something, maybe, was smiling at him. She was wearing the apron of a certain popular coffee chain, and he could see an unfamiliar face reflected in her brown eyes as she looked kindly upon him.

“June!” She glanced away, then nodded at him, moving to answer an order at another register.

It seems he had just put something in his pocket. Looking around, he noticed the line behind him, and hurriedly moved to the side, towards the counter. It seemed he was in a store of the aforementioned popular coffee chain, around the evening time. Many tired-looking people, looking like they had just ended their days at work, stood in line, or were sitting sipping drinks. 

What was going on…? As he stood off to the side, he tried to collect his thoughts as a man at the counter called once again for the orderer of a drink to come up. Well, he knew where he was, and it seemed like he was getting coffee. As for that girl, it seemed like they were on good terms. But who was she? And more urgently, who was he? There was an immense sense of discomfort, like he was wearing the wrong shoes on his feet. He then acutely felt as if he was being glared at intensely, but from where he didn’t know ...you… With another start, he heard what seemed like another woman’s voice talking to him. But all around were only tired-looking businessmen and women, or bored-looking teenagers. Amidst the chatter of the customers and the calling of the staff at the counter, why did he hear that voice so clearly? ...the order…. Once more, he heard the voice, a bit clearer this time. What was she saying? Drawing his eyes closed amid some curious glances, he focused. ...the order at the counter is for you, dummy! The voice was very clear and loud now, causing him to snap open his eyes with a yelp.

“Jerry!” The man at the counter shouted that same name once again, and finally he noticed that his eyes were looking at him. ‘Jerry’ quickly moved up to the counter and accepted his drink. Seems like his name was ‘Jerry’.

Jerry looked into the reflection in his drink, and once more saw the unfamiliar man reflected there. Seems that it’s him. Looking at this reflection made him feel the sense of discomfort again. Finding a seat, he sipped his drink while staring out the window as the evening drew near. Everything seemed rather normal, in a normal-looking coffee shop with normal-looking customers. The only thing that didn’t feel normal was that he didn’t know why he was here, how he got there, and what the relationship between himself, ‘Jerry’ and the girl, ‘June’, was. Then there as another thing: he still felt like someone was glaring at him. ...danger!... What was that? There was the voice again. Once more, it seemed no one else had heard it. Well, first things first, he didn’t feel that comfortable here. Maybe he’d do better going outside. Where? Well, anywhere. He rose, and left the establishment. As the door jingled, June called out to him.

“Take care, Jerry!” Remember who he was, ‘Jerry’ turned, giving her a smile and a wave, as she smiled and waved again. The glare felt even more intense now, so ‘Jerry’ hurriedly proceeded to leave.

After some quick pacing, ‘Jerry’ took some time to recollect his thoughts. He checked his clothing, which matched those of the many other businessmen picking up an after-work cup of joe. In his jacket was an I.D. badge with what looked like ‘his’ face and name, Jerry Watkins. Looks like ‘Jerry’ was a simple clerk in the city government. Still, ‘Jerry’ couldn’t shake the feeling that something was...off. Checking his front pockets, he produced a wallet which confirmed more or less the same information. He then found a note tucked away. Peeling it open, before he could glace at it, once more the voice spoke in his mind. ...out of here… ‘Jerry’ paused, once more trying to listen. ...hurry… Almost there… hurry up and get out of here! At that, his eyes snapped open, letting him see just in time a man in a hoodie swinging a block of wood at his head! Barely dodging, ‘Jerry’ tripped and fell over. The man closed in, once again swinging the wood. Flinching, ‘Jerry’ expected the pain, but all that came was the sound of the wood hitting...someone? Opening his eyes again, ‘Jerry’ saw a girl knelt in front of him, arms blocking the wood. “Hurry up and run!” Shockingly, this was the voice that was in his mind! “Who..?” 

“No time for..urgh..QUESTIONS!” She ended with a shout, pushing back their attacker momentarily. “Just get out of here!” ‘Jerry’ thought to stay, but some part of him felt compelled to listen to her. Regretfully, he turned, and ran deeper down the passageway he had tripped into. What was going on? Who was attacking him? Who was that girl? Why was her voice in his mind? Then another question stepped out among the others: Who wears shorts in the winter? These thoughts and more jolted out of this mind as he ran into a fence. Dead end?! Scrambling up, ‘Jerry’ turned, and…

WHACK!

Everything went to red, then as his eyes opened, he saw the figure with the wood plank standing under him. Over him? The world was spinning…

He then got down, taking something from ‘Jerry’’s pocket. The whole time, he heard the voice of the mysterious girl, shouting, far away. Ah, she couldn’t stop the guy. The man got up, and walked away down another alley path, as her voice got farther, farther...then as everything faded to black, her voice got louder, louder, and…

“KEITH, WAKE UP!”

Keith woke up. His body cramped like the devil. Had he been standing there for a few hours? Looking around, it seemed he was still in the morgue, with his friend Chase staring worriedly at him. 

“Man, you can be so dumb sometimes.” came a familiar female voice.

Keith glanced next to him, and there was the mysterious girl, standing next to him. Of course, she likes to play the mysterious girl. But to him, she was no mystery. She was only…

“Sarah, lay off me, alright? We all make mistakes.” Sarah pouted, sitting down cross-legged in her shorts, her denim jacket crimping as she crossed her arms.

“You always act so impulsively…”

Keith could do nothing but offer a sheepish grin.

“Umm…” Keith turned to look at Chase. Chase was a strange case. In all of Keith’s life, he had never known a person or police detective as easily freaked as Chase, but at the same time had known no better friend. “Who are you talking to, Keith?” Chase moved forward, about to step on the squatting Sarah and… his leg passed right through her. Ticking her tongue in annoyance, Sarah floated out of the way of Chase. Even if she was noncorporeal, she didn’t feel comfortable overlaying with other people. Well, if people liked their personal space, who’s to say that ghosts didn’t care about theirs?

Of course, Chase couldn’t see Sarah. Most people can’t see ghosts. But Keith could.

“Sorry, Chase. Guess I spaced out for a bit. Guess the smell got to me!” At the sound of Keith’s laugh, Chase too gave in to a light, nervous chuckle. “Hey, could you get me some water? It’s a little dry in here.” “Oh, sure. I’ll be back in a minute.” Chase left to get some water, leaving Keith alone with Sarah and the body.

Sarah gave a sidelong look to Keith. “Since you’re sending him out, you’re going to try again?” She had one arm laying to her side, and another on her hip. As the half-heart locket around her neck clinked a sound that only Keith could hear, he replied “Yeah. Chase did call me in for ideas, after all.”

Sarah moved in closer. “But what can a simple fiction author do to help a police detective?” She gave a coy smile, already knowing the answer Keith would give. Keith, smiling back, albeit a little forced, “Not much, but if a lovely ghost would give me a hand again…”

Sarah gave a satisfied, wide smile. “That’s right! But you better do it right this time.” She put one hand on the cadaver draped in cloth, extending her right to Keith. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He once more took her hand. Everytime, he couldn’t get over just how, if he just closed his eyes, maybe he could pretend she was alive again…”Keith?” He snapped back to reality, to the dead body, to the dead girl touching that body, and to him holding the hand of the dead girl. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Keith’s eyes opened again. Or rather, he was now Jerry Watkins, or ‘playing the role’ of Jerry Watkins.

“You’re alright this time, yeah?”

Sarah was beside him, dressed the same as always. Just like in the real world, the people around Keith in this street passed through Sarah, not noticing she was there.

“I’ll be fine. I’m in control now, so don’t worry.”

For Sarah, she had officially started working with Keith for a year or two now. She had nowhere to go, and since Keith had the rare gift of seeing ghosts, she stuck with him. For Keith, it was usually hard for him to see random spirits as clearly as Sarah, so this was an interesting partnership for him, for many reasons. And working with Sarah meant more than just having a sometimes-snarky ghost friend: she let him see the close events of the recently deceased. Through various friends, Keith had gotten in contact with a couple of the deceased, and through Sarah had found many stories to pump up his writing career with. The downside to this power, though, was sometimes Keith would get lost in the memory, and would be lost until he relived the host’s death. In these cases, it would be hard for Sarah to manifest for him to see.

For round two in Jerry Watkins, Keith was fully lucid. This time, it looks like he had become Jerry while he was on the way to the coffee shop.

Sarah paced lazily around Keith. As he watched her dawdle, he saw various bystanders pass through her without a clue. Normally, everything that works in the real world works the same as in the memory world. However, since it wasn’t ‘real’, if Sarah really tried she could influence it, though it’d make her tired. He could never get used to it, and she knew it.

With a slight sneer, she asked, “Do you at least remember what happened last time?”

Keith gave a nod, raising some casual glances around him. He whispered, knowing she’d hear him, “It looks like the key to this case is in the coffee shop and June.” With that, they headed over.

Entering the shop, everything seemed the same as last time; it was heading towards the evening hours, and tired workers and bored teens hung inside the shop. As he entered the shop, he again felt the familiar glare from last time. “Looks like the killer’s in here too.”

Sarah gave a distracted nod. She was looking at the menu. “You know you can’t really eat anything, right?” She pouted, twisting in the air to face him. “Hey, in the memories I can. C’mon, let me live a little.” She made herself chuckle. “Hey, get me something.” Keith sighed, and under his breath, “What do you want?” She looked a little pleased. “Well, I can’t really remember what I’d like, so get me anything.” Keith would’ve have remarked again, but his turn had finally come in the line. As he approached the register that June was manning, she brightened up.

“Hey, Jerry! It’s great to see you again!” Once more, Keith saw Jerry reflected in her eyes. Framed by short blond hair with light pink highlights, she seemed the model of a young college-aged barista. He gave her back a smile in turn, and searched for what Jerry would have said. “And it always makes my day to see you, June.” She blushed a bit, and Keith could feel the glare at him intensify, matching the levels from his first time in Jerry’s memories. What bothered him more, though, was Sarah’s snickering at him. While most people could roll around laughing, they would be reluctant to do so outside with prying eyes watching. But for a ghost like Sarah, she could get away with rolling around laughing. Rolling all around him, in fact, being a ghost and all. Ignoring her, Keith focused his attention on June. She tried to cover her light shyness. “So, having the regular as usual?” she asked in a casual tone. Keith answered in the affirmative, then, “And also an iced green tea.” June looked a little surprised, but smiled and put in the order. After he paid, she handed him the receipt. As he took it, he felt a note with it as well. Putting it in his pocket, he turned to June. She leaned in a little over the register and whispered to him, “Well...it looks like I’ll be free this weekend, so I’ll take you up on your offer. My number’s there, so...call me anytime, alright?” And there was the conversation he had entered from last time. As she once again was called away to another register, Keith again waited for his order, feeling more intensely than ever the glare against him.

“So it looks like you’ve got a better picture this time around?” Sarah asked him, floating upside down.

“Yes, and get back down, our drinks are here.”

This time around, Keith decided to bear with the glare and take his time with the drinks.

With a little effort, and as Keith kept an eye out, she managed to drink some of the tea. Instantly she brightened up. “Oh wow, this tastes great! Good choice, Keith. Bet I’d have loved this when I was alive.” Keith smiled. Sometimes, she reminds him why he keeps her around. Well, aside from the ghost powers.

The two proceeded to exit the shop. Of course, on this path Keith as Jerry was going to die, but that was how it had to be. Even if the memory world could be influenced, the fundamental events that happened could not change. After bidding June farewell, Keith proceeded to the spot where he would get assaulted, this time taking note that he was definitely being followed.

“He’ll be at your position in a few minutes.” Keith gave Sarah a nod without turning, as she watched his back for him. And just like that, again…

WHACK!

This time Keith knew what was coming, and dodged the initial swing from the mystery killer. The killer stumbled a bit. “Now, Sarah!” Using some of her power, Sarah loosened the killer’s already uneven footing, causing him to fully stumble, as Keith also leapt on him. Together, they struggled, and rolled down the same alleyway ‘Jerry’ had passed away in the previous time. Fate would not change, and after the struggle, Keith found himself thrown off. This time, though, he had gained one more piece of information: he had taken off the hood of the killer’s face. As he took in the details, the killer once more whacked Keith. As Keith lay there, once more he saw the killer take something from his pockets. This time, he knew what it was: June’s note.

Back to reality, Keith roused himself. “So we’re all good, then?” He gave Sarah a nod. Both of them were a little tired, but none really the worse for wear.

“Here’s the water!” Chase had returned. When going into memories, approximately 5 minutes in the real world passes, and it seems Keith had made it back just in time to greet Chase.

“Thanks. Hey, just another question, who found the dead body?”

A few days later, Keith and Sarah were visiting a certain coffee shop.

“So it turns out the killer was just a stalker, huh?” Sarah remarked as they stood in line. It was the early evening, with the hustle and bustle of tired workers and bored teens. Chase’s description of the one who found the body of Jerry matched who Keith had seen in Jerry’s memory. With Keith’s urging, Chase did further searching and questioning of the perp, finding June’s note on him, addressed to Jerry. With further testing, Chase confirmed him as the killer.

As Keith approached the register, he saw the real June in person. “I’d like a green tea.” As she took his order, Keith noticed she didn’t seem as bright as she did in Jerry’s memory. “Excuse me, if you don’t mind me asking, is there anything bothering you?” She was taken aback, but returned with a smile, “Oh, nothing. Just, someone I was looking forward to meeting with didn’t show up.” As Keith left the shop, Sarah gave him a tug on his sleeve. “Do you think she should know?” Keith shook his head. “Some things are better left unknown.” Sarah shrugged.

Keith returned home. In the evening, Sarah ‘slept’, or essentially hibernated for the evening in the living room. Ghosts don’t sleep, but inactivity recovers her energy. Making sure she was safely resting, Keith returned to his room. Opening a slot in his drawer, he took out a necklace. Under the moon’s light, it looked like it matched the one Sarah wore, only stained with dried blood. “Some things are really better left unknown.”