#feather.

Don’s Bad Luck, by Mark Tulin – Friday Flash Fiction

Don’s Bad Luck, by Mark Tulin – Friday Flash Fiction — Read on www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/dons-bad-luck-by-mark-tulin

There was this certain emotion that the young woman couldn’t exactly press her finger upon. It feels quite uncertain to why she feels the way she does to begin with. The sun settles down gradually slow, the way time was ticking down when she was doing her usual activities. Nonetheless, Naeun finds herself wandering from one place to another - she knows her way around town but she’s becoming lost within unfamiliar streets and stores she hasn’t seen before or perhaps just once. The brunette doesn’t reach out in order to approach another, instead she stays silent. Reaching into her phone to check the time, it’s past eight but barely reaching nine. A mist of fog flows right past her lips when she breathes heavily without making an audible sound, fingers pushing back the long strands of hair and her head tilts up in order to face someone who spoke her own name faintly. Hesitant and the way the other person spoke seems as if they felt mistaken but they weren’t. It’s her exactly.

Her eyes traced a familiar figure up towards the features that she hasn’t seen in months, a smile creeps along her rosy lips as a warm silent welcome to her ‘guardian’. No one cannot take that label away from the older woman, she would never try to find someone else who watches over her in such a way that Ebony has done.

"I see we meet again after quite a while." Naeun reminded, days become weeks, weeks grown into months. She lost track of how long it’s been since she sat down and spoke to the latter but there is never any disappointment nor anger when she meets eye to eye with her. Just a feeling of relief and the questions of her well being were simply answered just by her presence itself.

She’d been given the address months ago, and never did she think she’d need to take a look at the antique shop. However, Ebony found herself mistaken as she stepped out of the musky smelling boutique. With a glance back down at the page, she furrowed her brows at the smudged number, absolutely indistinguishable and the reason she had walked straight into the wrong store. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in disappointment before slipping her phone out of her pocket to make note of the time. It was around ten past nine when she left the shop, and almost half past nine when she wandered down the streets till a sickeningly familiar scent caught her attention.

“Naeun..”

It wasn’t as though the younger’s aroma was something unpleasant, but sickening simply because of what she feared would come. Naeun had never been one to greet her back with hostility, but people could change overnight. Something Ebony had learned the hard way. So when her eyes fell on the female simply staring at her, she didn’t know what to do. She fidgeted with the cuff of her shirt, pulling at the sleeves even though they wouldn’t budge past her wrist. For some time she simply stared back at the younger until a grin made its way onto her lips. Ebony returned the silent greeting with a smile of her own, followed by a quick nod of her head. She didn’t move from her spot. There was something about the distant between them and made her comfortable. It was a physical representation of what they had become, of what Ebony had let them become.

→        She reached over for the phone that was in her hand, taking a deep breath she practiced this song for weeks in advance wanting to perfect in any way possible. Surely it wasn't so easy, with memorizing the keys and notes along with the lyrics of the song as well she didn't know how well it was. So with that she dialed her guardian's number immediately, unsure of where she was this time around though it was quite important to get someone's opinion and help during this time around. So with a few rings in her ears, she perked up when she heard the other's voice. "Ebony, I need help. Where are you now?" The last time they spoke, she was around Vegas so she took a deep breath to calm her nerves down. Back resting on the wall before giving a quick explanation, "Can you meet me at the hotel lobby right now? Hopefully you're not too busy."

The cool breeze kissed her face as the woman sat on her porch, after much time she had returned to a home she missed. It was odd to not find herself followed by a cameraman or scolded by her partner, but she knew that one of those people she’d be able to contact if she truly needed them. However, there was a calming essence to being completely and utterly alone. For once, she was rather grateful that she hadn’t rented the lower floor of her abode to anyone. It was just her and the feline that weaved between her ankles, purring contently as it nuzzled its head against her shin. A soft laugh left her lips at the sight of the being before jumping slightly at the loud ringing of her phone. Slipping her hand into her right pocket, she pulled the device out, a grin playing on her lips at the sight of the name that flashed on the screen.