S
scikaiju
Guest
The night air felt a bit colder than usual despite the summery time of year. A very clear drop of temperature caught everyone caught all who were out in the area off guard. A young man walked the streets with his head down while trying to tighten his very light jacket around him in a failing attempt to keep out the chill. He was on a pretty busy street so he felt relatively safe for the moment, there wasn't a whole lot of crime in this part of the city so he didn't have to worry about getting mugged, there wasn't even a prostitute walking the sidewalk. At least one that could be easily recognizable by most people's standard. And if there were they were making sure they weren't standing out in any way to draw any obvious attention. Then again maybe this sudden chill might be keeping them indoors as well, or at least more warmly dressed. “**** it's cold,” he muttered, ignoring the slight fog indicating his breath hanging in the air, as he started rubbing his arms to try to get warmer. “Bastards didn't say anything about this on the news this morning.”
Pulling out his phone he went to check the temperature, but his phone wasn't on. “What the hell?”. He tried turning it on. It did for a brief moment, just long enough for him to see that the battery was dead. “****!”, he spat. “I know this POS was fully charged before I left.” He started banging on the phone, despite knowing that wouldn't work. Now he couldn't even call a cab if he had to. “Why did I agree to head out tonight?”, he asked himself as he kept going feeling miserable. “I don't even like the people he works with to begin with.” Still keeping his head down he continued toward the reluctantly agreed upon destination. As he kept walking, out of the corner of his eye he couldn't help but notice a older man being back lighted as he stood in front of a open doorway. The idea that this guy didn't seem bothered by the cold, not even wearing a coat, irritated him slightly.
“Cold tonight isn't it?”, the man asked. He seemed friendly enough so he stopped. Which was weird because he wouldn't stop for some random stranger on the street looking to start up a conversation, especially after a stupid line like that. But it was like something was compelling him to slow down and look at the man.
“You ain't lying there dude,” he said as he started blowing into his hand. He looked past the stranger at the building itself. He couldn't exactly see inside since the guy was blocking the door enough that he couldn't get a good look. So he studied at the exterior, and was surprised to see it was some sort of shelter. His brow creased a bit, he'd walked this street more times times than he could count and never noticed it before. He knew people called him oblivious at times but he couldn't be that bad, could he?
“Do you want to come in?”, he looked at the man after the surprising offer was made. “Just put on a fresh pot of joe. So it should be nice and piping hot, perfect for a cold spell like this one.”
“No thanks,” he quickly said. Gesturing toward the building he went on, “I think other people need it more than me.”
“I realize that son,” this man said with a friendly chuckle and he took a step closer to him. “But I was figuring that you might want to get out of this cold for a bit.” All right that did sound more than a little tempting considering how much he was shivering at the moment. “And the coffee should heat you right up. Just a couple of minutes to get the chill off you bones.”
“Okay you win,” he finally conceded. “But the moment I hear I'm probably going to hell and I'm out of here.”
The stranger laughed a pretty hearty laugh if he had ever heard one. “That's one thing you won't have to worry about here. Come on,” he put a arm around his shoulder as he started to guide him toward the door, “I'll get you a seat by the space heater. Glad I thought to pull that out of storage. I'm even more thankful it worked. I was planning on throwing it out and getting a new one, then this happened.”
“Is that offer open to anybody?”, a new voice asked. Both of them looked behind them to see a blond haired woman standing there shivering as much as he was. Granted her coat looked way warmer than his jacket at the moment.
“Of course,” the strange old man said as he looked at her. “The more the merrier I always say.” He started to heard them in then it looked like something occurred to him, “Now where are my manners, my friends call me Steve.”
“Trevor,” he responded, if the old guy was offering a bit of warmth from this sudden cold then it would just be rude.
Both of them looked back at the woman who just said, “Jules.” The way she said her name was friendly enough, but something made him look at her a little more closely, it was like she was on some kind of alert, like she was looking for something to come out and attack her The old man didn't seem to notice as he gestured for them to go first.
“Ladies first,” he said more or less automatically, such a thing being driven into him by both both his parents and grandparents for as long as he could remember.
She smiled and told him,”Thank you,” both of them parted to let her by. Trevor saw her reach out and put a hand, noticing the leather looking thing on her wrist for the first time, on the door jam as she took a look inside before going in. He blinked a few times, the cold must be causing his eyes to play tricks on him. He could have sworn there was a piece of paper left behind once she lifted her hand away. But nothing was there. Steve didn't even act like he noticed anything was off as he entered behind them and closed the door, using a little extra force to get it to close.
“I keep meaning to get that fixed,” he said as he turned around. “Started doing that a couple of years ago. I didn't think anything of it at the time but it's been getting worse.”
“Old buildings tend to do that,” Jules commented as she looked around while she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. Trevor did the same, a little surprised at how spartan the interior actually was. He was expecting a couple of rows of tables and chairs at least like most shelters he'd seen on T.V. But there were no tables, just a handful of folding chairs by that offered space heater sitting on an old wooden stool, which to be honest did look like it had seen better days. But it was warm in here, in fact he felt himself starting to sweat a little.
“That they do,” Steve readily agreed. “About the time I do get it fix will probably be around the time it stops closing completely.” He chuckled to himself as he gently guided them to the heater. “Now go right ahead and grab a seat, talk a little, get to know each other a bit. Who knows, this might be the start of something special.” When they finally did sit he looked strangely satisfied. “I'll go get that coffee I promised you. I'm currently out of cream and sugar though, I hope that's all right.”
“Just the way I like it,” Jules told him.
Trevor told him, “Just as long as it's not decaff, I'm going to need the buzz considering where I'm going. I'm going to be bored out of my mind.”
“No worries there my boy,” Steve said with that same smile. “And a lady after my own heart. I'll be back in a few ticks.”
Once they were alone, Jules looked back to were he went before returning her attention to him. She looked him over a bit, not exactly like a piece of meat but it was still a little unnerving. Finally she stopped looking at him and smiled a bit as she went, “I'm sure he's a nice guy who means well and all but before you get any ideas,” she reached up and lightly rubbed a slim gold pin that was a couple of inches long, there was some sort of markings inscribed on it that he couldn't quite make out from where he was sitting, “but I'm already spoken for.”
“Same here,” he informed her. “In fact I'm wondering how long I should stay before leaving. He's going to wonder where I am before long.” He looked at his phone, yup still useless at the moment. “And I'm out of a charge apparently.”
“The cold might have zapped the battery,” Jules offered.
“Probably,” he agreed. “I don't suppose you have a charger on you?”
She at least looked apologetic as she answered with, “Don't carry one, sorry.”
“Guess I should expect a ton of voice mails asking where I'm at after I charge this up then,” he sighed and started looking around. Even if she did have a charge cord with her, or he thought to bring his, where was he going to pug it in? He wasn't seeing an outlet anywhere. Then he noticed Jules was staring intently at the heater. It took him a moment but he realized why she was staring at it, his grandparents had a model similar to this one. Those coils should be glowing a reddish orange by now, so it wasn't working. But why was it so warm in here? “What the hell?”, he started to get up but she grabbed his arm and got him to sit back down.
“Don't move,” she told him, an edge in her voice that wasn't there before startled him. He kept looking back and forth between her and the heater as she reached into her coat. He was suddenly very afraid of an old space heater. This was ridiculous. Then she slapped something on his forehead. He got a brief look at some red paper blocking his vision slightly before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Pulling out his phone he went to check the temperature, but his phone wasn't on. “What the hell?”. He tried turning it on. It did for a brief moment, just long enough for him to see that the battery was dead. “****!”, he spat. “I know this POS was fully charged before I left.” He started banging on the phone, despite knowing that wouldn't work. Now he couldn't even call a cab if he had to. “Why did I agree to head out tonight?”, he asked himself as he kept going feeling miserable. “I don't even like the people he works with to begin with.” Still keeping his head down he continued toward the reluctantly agreed upon destination. As he kept walking, out of the corner of his eye he couldn't help but notice a older man being back lighted as he stood in front of a open doorway. The idea that this guy didn't seem bothered by the cold, not even wearing a coat, irritated him slightly.
“Cold tonight isn't it?”, the man asked. He seemed friendly enough so he stopped. Which was weird because he wouldn't stop for some random stranger on the street looking to start up a conversation, especially after a stupid line like that. But it was like something was compelling him to slow down and look at the man.
“You ain't lying there dude,” he said as he started blowing into his hand. He looked past the stranger at the building itself. He couldn't exactly see inside since the guy was blocking the door enough that he couldn't get a good look. So he studied at the exterior, and was surprised to see it was some sort of shelter. His brow creased a bit, he'd walked this street more times times than he could count and never noticed it before. He knew people called him oblivious at times but he couldn't be that bad, could he?
“Do you want to come in?”, he looked at the man after the surprising offer was made. “Just put on a fresh pot of joe. So it should be nice and piping hot, perfect for a cold spell like this one.”
“No thanks,” he quickly said. Gesturing toward the building he went on, “I think other people need it more than me.”
“I realize that son,” this man said with a friendly chuckle and he took a step closer to him. “But I was figuring that you might want to get out of this cold for a bit.” All right that did sound more than a little tempting considering how much he was shivering at the moment. “And the coffee should heat you right up. Just a couple of minutes to get the chill off you bones.”
“Okay you win,” he finally conceded. “But the moment I hear I'm probably going to hell and I'm out of here.”
The stranger laughed a pretty hearty laugh if he had ever heard one. “That's one thing you won't have to worry about here. Come on,” he put a arm around his shoulder as he started to guide him toward the door, “I'll get you a seat by the space heater. Glad I thought to pull that out of storage. I'm even more thankful it worked. I was planning on throwing it out and getting a new one, then this happened.”
“Is that offer open to anybody?”, a new voice asked. Both of them looked behind them to see a blond haired woman standing there shivering as much as he was. Granted her coat looked way warmer than his jacket at the moment.
“Of course,” the strange old man said as he looked at her. “The more the merrier I always say.” He started to heard them in then it looked like something occurred to him, “Now where are my manners, my friends call me Steve.”
“Trevor,” he responded, if the old guy was offering a bit of warmth from this sudden cold then it would just be rude.
Both of them looked back at the woman who just said, “Jules.” The way she said her name was friendly enough, but something made him look at her a little more closely, it was like she was on some kind of alert, like she was looking for something to come out and attack her The old man didn't seem to notice as he gestured for them to go first.
“Ladies first,” he said more or less automatically, such a thing being driven into him by both both his parents and grandparents for as long as he could remember.
She smiled and told him,”Thank you,” both of them parted to let her by. Trevor saw her reach out and put a hand, noticing the leather looking thing on her wrist for the first time, on the door jam as she took a look inside before going in. He blinked a few times, the cold must be causing his eyes to play tricks on him. He could have sworn there was a piece of paper left behind once she lifted her hand away. But nothing was there. Steve didn't even act like he noticed anything was off as he entered behind them and closed the door, using a little extra force to get it to close.
“I keep meaning to get that fixed,” he said as he turned around. “Started doing that a couple of years ago. I didn't think anything of it at the time but it's been getting worse.”
“Old buildings tend to do that,” Jules commented as she looked around while she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. Trevor did the same, a little surprised at how spartan the interior actually was. He was expecting a couple of rows of tables and chairs at least like most shelters he'd seen on T.V. But there were no tables, just a handful of folding chairs by that offered space heater sitting on an old wooden stool, which to be honest did look like it had seen better days. But it was warm in here, in fact he felt himself starting to sweat a little.
“That they do,” Steve readily agreed. “About the time I do get it fix will probably be around the time it stops closing completely.” He chuckled to himself as he gently guided them to the heater. “Now go right ahead and grab a seat, talk a little, get to know each other a bit. Who knows, this might be the start of something special.” When they finally did sit he looked strangely satisfied. “I'll go get that coffee I promised you. I'm currently out of cream and sugar though, I hope that's all right.”
“Just the way I like it,” Jules told him.
Trevor told him, “Just as long as it's not decaff, I'm going to need the buzz considering where I'm going. I'm going to be bored out of my mind.”
“No worries there my boy,” Steve said with that same smile. “And a lady after my own heart. I'll be back in a few ticks.”
Once they were alone, Jules looked back to were he went before returning her attention to him. She looked him over a bit, not exactly like a piece of meat but it was still a little unnerving. Finally she stopped looking at him and smiled a bit as she went, “I'm sure he's a nice guy who means well and all but before you get any ideas,” she reached up and lightly rubbed a slim gold pin that was a couple of inches long, there was some sort of markings inscribed on it that he couldn't quite make out from where he was sitting, “but I'm already spoken for.”
“Same here,” he informed her. “In fact I'm wondering how long I should stay before leaving. He's going to wonder where I am before long.” He looked at his phone, yup still useless at the moment. “And I'm out of a charge apparently.”
“The cold might have zapped the battery,” Jules offered.
“Probably,” he agreed. “I don't suppose you have a charger on you?”
She at least looked apologetic as she answered with, “Don't carry one, sorry.”
“Guess I should expect a ton of voice mails asking where I'm at after I charge this up then,” he sighed and started looking around. Even if she did have a charge cord with her, or he thought to bring his, where was he going to pug it in? He wasn't seeing an outlet anywhere. Then he noticed Jules was staring intently at the heater. It took him a moment but he realized why she was staring at it, his grandparents had a model similar to this one. Those coils should be glowing a reddish orange by now, so it wasn't working. But why was it so warm in here? “What the hell?”, he started to get up but she grabbed his arm and got him to sit back down.
“Don't move,” she told him, an edge in her voice that wasn't there before startled him. He kept looking back and forth between her and the heater as she reached into her coat. He was suddenly very afraid of an old space heater. This was ridiculous. Then she slapped something on his forehead. He got a brief look at some red paper blocking his vision slightly before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.