Courier Gets Hit from Above
I was just coming back from a job. It was routine and went fairly quickly so I was giving myself a guided tour of New Houston. Yes, yes, I have lived here for half my life now, so what? I can still see what new stuff is going up or going on, right? Anyway, I was cruising below the skyline when I feel like a cannon ball lands on my back between my wings. I lose control and start to plummet. Luckily, as odd as it sounds, we had some drills about stuff like this back in The Academy at The Rookery, and even more in my advanced Courier classes. I immediately rolled left, toward the building, and the weight slid down my wing. At about that same time I realized that it was a woman. Rather than trying to grab me, she pushed me up and away.
No way that was gonna happen on my flight! We were about twenty stories up still so I did a dive to catch up to her and grabbed onto her around the waist. She was too heavy for me to stop her from falling but my wings were enough to slow our descent until we touched the ground. Now, you might think she would be happy and thankful. You would be wrong. She was fighting me the whole way down and when we finally landed she kicked me.
"You idiot! What were you doing up there? How dare you get in my way!" she accosted me.
"Are you crazy!" I yelled back. Hey, don't get on my case. I had so much adrenaline it's amaging all I did was yell. "You hit me! I saved you!"
"I didn't want to be saved!" She yelled back.
That statement stopped me cold. "You didn't want to be saved? You wanted to die? Why?" I asked stunned.
"How could you possibly understand, and besides, you don't really care anyway. You'll just go on about your life and forget about this before you get home." she sneered.
"My name is Courier. What's yours?"
Taken aback by this abrupt shift she said, "My name is Bethany Andrews. Beth."
"Hi, Beth. It's nice to meet you. I apologize for yelling at you. I was both startled and scared and it just came out. Since we've run into each other, why don't we get a coffee or something and talk." I said. I needed to know more and to have time to think.
"Uh. Okay. Sure." she seemed confused but she had agreed, so we were on the right track.
"I think I saw a place about a block back. Let's go there." I held out my arm to be galant. She gave me a look that said she thought I was crazy but she took my arm and we walked down the street to the little hole in the wall coffee shop. Since it was about two in the afternoon, the place was pretty empty. I ordered a chai latte with oat milk, and turned to Beth to see what she wanted. She said the name of one of those fancy coffee drinks, but the barista seemed not to hear her so I repeated it. We found an empty booth to sit at and sat across from each other as we waited for our drinks.
"Why are we here?" she said.
"Cause you agreed to get coffee with me. I think you might find me cute and interesting." I said with my cockiest grin.
She sort of exhale laughed and fought a smile. "I think you're too exotic for me." she quipped back.
"Okay, Beth. Tell me your story. Did you jump from that building?" I asked. Okay, so I know it wasn't tactful, but I was curious and how is potential suicide a tactful subject?
"Yes." she replied.
"Since I don't see any wings, I assume you can use magic."
"Nope."
"So you were testing out your new invention. Are there glider wings hidden in your coat?"
"You're stretching it a bit there."
"What am I missing here, Beth? Why jump? I mean, there are better ways to meet me." I said, again with a cheesy grin.
"It's easy Courier. I wanted to end my life."
"Why?" I said. I looked her in the eyes and did my best to convey both genuine concern and interest.
"Because I am invisible. No one sees me and no one cares. I'm honestly not sure why you seem to see me or care. Literally no one does." she replied.
"Okay. You said literally. Do you mean like really literally?" I was trying to take my role of listener seriously. It's not usually my strong suit so I was channeling my inner Kee Kranston.
"Do you remember when we ordered?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember how the barista didn't take my order? He asked if that was all and you repeated my order. Now he's getting ready to come over and give you our drinks."
"You mean us." I said.
"Nope. Watch." She sat back and we watched the barista come over. He set both drinks in front of me. "Here you go." he said and went back to work. He never once looked in Beth's direction. It may not be polite to say it, but this is my story, so, Beth is super hot, though a bit skinny for my tastes. She is tall, lithe, and sort of exotic. She has long glossy black hair and violet eyes. She wasn't dressed provocatively at all but she has this charm about her that is undeniable. Yet that dude had completely ignored her. He hadn't even glance in her direction.
"Huh." I stated eloquently.
"I think you are the first person to see me in about a month." she said. "I haven't been able to talk to my parents, get into my dorm, attend classes, or go to the dining hall, or..." She broke down a little about then. I handed her some napkins and gave her time to collect herself. I pushed her coffee over to her. "Here, drink some of this. Are you hungry? I'll get you some food." I said and started to rise. She reached over and grabbed my hand. "Please, stay. I'm afraid if you walk away you won't see me anymore."
Okay, I admit it seemed a bit paranoid, but if what she was saying was true, then I might seem paranoid too. I remained sitting.
"Okay. So if no one can see you, how can I see you?" I mused.
"Heck if I know." she replied drinking her coffee as quickly as the temperature would allow.
"Yeah. I don't know either." I thought for a minute. "I gotta be honest. I'm not the best with magical stuff. Would it be okay if I called in my friend Kee Kranston? He's an expert in these things. Let's see if he can see you. And heck, even if he can't, I can send him up to get some food while I sit here and see you." I chuckled.
"Okay, sure, why not. It can't hurt, right?" she said, though she looked a little nervous.
"You'll love Kee. He's great, and super smart." I said as I dialed him up. "Hey bro. I got a situation and I need you to come help me. I'm at this coffee shop on the corner of 12th and Landon. Yeah. Okay. See you then." I said. "He'll be here in twenty." I told Beth. "I would normally ask you to tell me about all this and when it started happening and stuff, but I know Kee will ask the same questions. Instead, why don't you tell me about yourself."
I spent the next twenty minutes or so talking with her about what music she likes, new age Atlantean, what foods were her favorites, breads of all types, what school she went to, one I hadn't heard of, how old she is, twenty-two, and what her favorite toy was when she was growing up, legos. Kee finally arrived and slid in next to Beth.
"So, what's up?" he asked me, not even acknowledging Beth, who gave me a very pointed look.
"Kee, there is a beautiful woman sitting right next to you whom no one can see."
"Dude. You have seriously got to get a better sense of humor one of these days."
"I'm not joking. Her name is Beth and she tried to take me with her this afternoon when she tried to take her own life."
"Are you seeing ghosts now?"
"The bruises on my back would say otherwise."
"Okay. You seem pretty serious." He turned to face Beth though it was obvious to both of us that he couldn't see her. "Hi. I'm Kee." He put out his hand but not too far. He's considerate like that.
Beth reached out and took hold of his hand to shake it and he jumped about a foot. in part it was because he hadn't believed me and in part it was because now he could see her. "Wha..." he spluttered. "Oh. Wow! What the heck!" He babbled on.
"Nice to meet you Kee. I'm Beth. Can you actually see me now?" she asked.
"I sure as heck can. How did you do that? I have Class IV rated vision and I didn't see you at all!"
"I'm not sure what that means." she said.
"Oh. Sorry. I get a bit excited around magic. How did you make yourself disappear, or appear?" he asked.
"I have no idea." she said stifling a sob.
"Oh. Did I say something wrong again?" he said looking at me.
"She's a little sensitive. Apparently no one has seen her in months. Because of that she lost her job, got evicted, and hasn't been able to talk to her parents. It's been really rough. I wasn't joking earlier. She was trying to end her life by jumping off a building but she hit me instead. I could see her and I was afraid she would try again," I said looking at her pointedly, "so I brought her here to talk. I had no idea how to solve her problem, or even if there was one, I mean I've always seen her...well except maybe on the way down. I would think I would have noticed that..."
We went on talking about the circumstances around all of this for an hour or more. Now that Kee could see her, she was okay with me ordering us some food and bringing it back. She shared about how even technology seemed to ignore her. She could use most anything analog, but digital gave her grief when she tried to interact with it. That was why she wasn't able to call, text, or email her parents from her phone. Her phone didn't see her either, nor did motion sensors for doors, or most other technologies she had tried that weren't old school.
"Okay, my best guess is that you manifested late, and that this is an innate magical ability." Kee said. "I think, based on what you have said, that you can break the spell with skin to skin contact, like shaking my hand. Have you actually touched anyone skin to skin since you went invisible?"
"Let me think." she said. After a few minutes, "No, I don't think I have. I mean, I have reached out to touch people, but not skin to skin, no."
"I know this is going to be awkward, but we need to try it out." Kee said.
"I don't know that I could just reach out and touch someone's skin. I mean that would scare the heck out of me. I don't want to scare anyone." she said doubtfully.
"There are so many unknowns though and we need to test this out to see how it works if you're going to have a remotely normal life again. I mean, does the touch make you visible? If so, for how long? Forever, or just for an hour? Does a second touch work again? Can you will yourself visible and you are using touch as a focus? I don't even know where to begin." Kee was getting breathless.
"Kee, you're scaring her." I said, and indeed she was more than a little pale, though the food in her system had seemed to perk her up.
"Okay, Beth. I think Kee is right. We need some answers. That said, I know you'll want to try this in a safe space. How would you feel comfortable? Do you want to go try this on your parents? Would you feel comfortable with them? Do you want us to take you to The Burning Tower where they have the best magic and science? Do you want to come back to The Rookery with me and we can get my friends to help us run experiments? It's your life, and your choice. As long as you don't try to give it up again." I said. "And I mean it, Beth. I am with you for the long haul on this if you want me to be. I will help you to get through this."
At that statement Kee gave me the oddest look. Okay, so it really didn't sound like me, but I meant it. I know I'm not responsible for her, not really, but I had saved her life and I didn't want to wonder if she was just going to try to end it again. See, I'm really being selfish.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, Beth looked at me and said, "I think I want to try experimenting with this, yes. If I can figure it out, maybe I can get my old life back. I don't want to go to The Burning Tower, no matter what I am not a lab rat. I don't want to upset my parents if I can't figure this out. They are already devastated. Would it really be okay to stay with you for a bit and see if I can get some control over this?"
"Absolutely. Let's head there now and I'll call in Tomas Nat to see if you can get him to see you. Kee, you come over later, give it a few hours, and we'll see if being away from her for a period of time turns her invisible again, and if it does, we can test it to see if she can get you to see her again." I suggested.
"Good science there." Kee chuckled. "Sure, sounds like a plan. See you around eight then" he said.
We all headed out then I took Beth home.
"Here it is." I said scurrying around picking up clothes and trying to straighten up the video games and kitchen area. She tactfully pretended to ignore my behavior. "How do you want to handle the next steps?" I asked. "I have a shower and I can lend you some clothes. They'd be big but they'd be clean. Or are you still afraid I won't be able to see you again if we separate."
"I am really not ready to not be seen yet. I know I probably really need a shower, and I would love one, and a change of clothes...but..." her lip started quivering. I put my arms around her and gave her a long hug.
"It's okay. I get it. I see you. I really do. This is fine. We're gonna figure this thing out." I just held her loosely for a few minutes until I felt her start to pull away and then I moved to the kitchen. "I mostly have microwave stuff here, so not the greatest. I generally eat in the cafeterias. Would you like something?"
We negotiated a meal for her, and got her settled with food and a drink. We exchanged small talk until she visibly relaxed.
"Are you ready to see how it goes with Tomas?" I asked.
"Maybe? I guess?" she replied. I met her gaze. She gave me a half smile, then said, with a bit more conviction, "Yes. Let's figure this thing out so I can get clean and have a life again."
I called Tomas up. Luckily he wasn't on duty today so he agreed to come over.
"It shouldn't be long." I told her. "He lives across the building but on the same floor."
We heard a knock. I went to the door. It was Tomas as expected. "Hey dude, thanks for coming over."
"Sure thing. What's up?" he asked.
"First of all come in and sit down. It's a bit of a story and I don't want you freaking out on me." I said and led him to an empty chair. Sure a part of me wanted to have him sit on Beth to see if he could feel her, but that would have been mean to her. And I also considered just having her touch him with no explanation, but given how easily he gets scared, I didn't think that would help the situation much either. It's just no fun when you have to be all serious. I gave him the brief story about how I had run into Beth (pun fully intended folks!) and how she was sitting across from him. He gave me a doubtful look. I probably deserved it since I'd played so many pranks on him.
"I know you don't have much cause to believe me, but I'm asking you to anyway." I said. "Right now, the best theory is that it takes skin to skin contact for anyone to be able to see her. Are you okay with seeing if that works for you the way it did for Kee?"
"I guess so. I'm not sure I trust you but you do seem to be taking this pretty seriously so go ahead, Beth, you can touch me." he said holding out his hand and politely facing just a little left of where I had told him she was.
She reached out and touched him and, as expected, he jumped back startled. No one has a startle reflex like Tomas. It's so amazing that he handles cursed object like they were kids toys when he's so afraid of everything.
"Uh, hello, Beth." he said. "It's nice to meet you." This time he was looking right at her. "I have to admit that I thought Courier was just playing another prank, but I see he wasn't."
"I don't know about pranks, but you can really see me, right?" she asked "And hear me?"
"Yes." he replied quietly. "It seems that Coyote was having fun with you."
"Coyote? Oh, you mean the trickster god? Yeah, I guess so." she replied still looking nervous, but much less so than a few hours ago.
He turned to me. "It appears that your theory was correct. How many people have you tried it with?"
"Well, you are the third." I said. "Not enough to say it's foolproof, but hopefully enough to keep her around and willing to keep trying to find a solution." I said, giving her a wink and a grin.
She smiled. It was a beautiful thing. It came from a place of finally feeling real after months of hell. I was glad I helped bring it out.
"What's next?" Tomas asked bringing us back to earth.
"Kee is coming over in about thirty minutes. We're going to see if he can still see her. Right now we don't know how long the touch lasts. He will have been away for about four hours at that point. If he can't see her, we can play with the timing to see how long it does take." I said.
"A solid plan," Thomas replied, "it must be Kee's." he said, deadpan. Only the twinkle in his eyes gave away that he was teasing me.
Kee showed up on time and he wasn't able to see Beth again until she touched him. Her touch did work though.
"Here's my current working theory." Kee stated. "People are able to see you with skin to skin contact. It appears that this effect does wear off. Question: have you touched Courier skin to skin since you ran into him?"
"Well, no actually, I haven't." she said looking perplexed.
"Okay, so maybe fades without proximity. Since Courier hasn't left your side, and you haven't needed to touch him. When I entered, I was unable to see, hear, or smell you. Do you know what happens when someone touches you, not skin to skin?"
"I had people run into me when I was trying to make them see me. They would start like they had run into something but then they would move on. Needless to say, I did not put myself in a position to be run into full force or sat on." she shuddered at the thought.
"Okay, so it seems that skin to skin may be the needed catalyst." Kee said.
"Ugh! I don't want to go around touching people on exposed skin all the time and freaking them out!" she said but she seemed a little more cheerful knowing that there was at least one way to be seen.
We continued to talk for a few more hours. The rest started shuffling out around ten. We all had things to do the next day, and Tomas was going to be on call. You need to be at your best if you get a call to handled a curser.
Once they had all left, I turned to Beth. "Okay. You are going to stay here and you can have my room, but you need to shower and change too. Are you going to be okay doing that? I mean, I guess you could blindfold me, but still. Awkward!" I said with a grin.
"If you are asking if I'm still feeling suicidal, no, I'm not. I'm still freaked out and completely unsure, but I don't want to die if there is a way I might live my life again." she said seriously.
"Glad to hear it." Seriously glad to hear it!
"Okay, well, we don't know how long we can be apart and me still see you. I'm going to get you something to change into and a towel. Take your time in the shower. I can even dig up a spare toothbrush, toothpaste and floss from the freebies the dentist gives you. You'll have to use my brush cause I only have the one, but I promise, no cooties. If I can't see you when I get back in here, I'll hold out my hand for you to touch, okay?"
"Okay, and thank you." she said.
I went off to collect stuff for her. When I got back, I could still see her, and I told her so. Now we know that it's okay to be apart for at least eight minutes or so, I did time it, yes. I sent her off to shower and change. When she got back, I could still see her. That was a twenty-four minute stretch. I made notes of the times for Kee. We chatted a bit longer. I told her about what I do for a living and that I was on call tomorrow.
"Will you be okay if I have to leave, or should I call in sick?" I asked.
"I'll be okay. I promise. I'm pretty convinced that you helped me find the answer to how to be seen. Now it's just about figuring out the details." she said.
"How do you want to go about doing that?" I asked cautiously.
"Courier, you are my guardian angel. You have no idea how much I appreciate all you and your friends have done to help me. I just...I want to see my parents. I need for them to know I am alive. They have been devastated and I want that to end for them. When you get off shift tomorrow, would you mind terribly going out to where they live with me and helping me to explain it to them? I would really appreciate you and Kee still working with me to figure all this out. I don't want to be poked and prodded in The Burning Tower. I will just need a place to stay and help until I can get this figured out and I won't feel comfortable continuing to mooch off of you when you already saved my life." she explained.
"That makes complete sense, and of course I will go with you and help. As the Chinese proverb goes, 'if you save a person's life you are responsible for them for life.'" I said with a grin. "Just try to get rid of me. Now go to bed, my lady."
I had gotten up early and run out to get takeout for breakfast for us and two box lunches.
When I was leaving, I knocked on the bedroom door to tell her I was headed out and that I had left her good food but told her that she was welcome to anything in the fridge she wanted. I was busy with deliveries for my whole shift; eight in the morning until four in the afternoon this time. I was expecting not to be able to see her when I got back but as I walked through the door, there she was reading something on my tablet.
"Uh. I can see you." I stated (like an idiot).
"Really?" she replied (just as much of an idiot!).
"How can that be?" I asked.
"How should I know?" she replied.
"Okay. Well, it's new information so I'm going to write it down for Kee." I said, following words with actions. "Are you ready to head out to your parent's place?"
"Courier, I'm nervous."
"I think that's fair."
"They are going to be so mad at me."
"No. They will be super glad to see you, Beth. They might yell, or carry on, or sound frustrated. If they do it's only because they love you so much and they were scared. They had no idea what happened to you or what you were going through."
She gave me a small smile. "Thanks again for sticking with me through all this."
I winked at her and smiled. We headed down to ground level. I think it was the first time she really got a look at the place because she seemed a bit awe struck (ain't gonna lie, it hits everyone that way the first time). When we reached the ground floor, I asked Tony Vinzenni to call a car. He, of course, did not see Beth so he gave me a strange look, but obliged. We hoped in (more strange looks as I held the door for Beth), and then asked the car to take us to her parent's place. It was about forty-five minutes away so we talked some more about the shows we'd watched as kids, the schools we gone to and the courses we'd taken. As we drew closer, she became more quiet. I left the silence. She needed the space.
We arrived and I told the car to head back. I wouldn't need it after all when I returned without Beth.
We headed to the door. "How do you want to handle this? I could reach out as if to shake and you could shake hands instead? I mean, I know it would be shocking but seriously, it's going to be anyway. They aren't going to believe me. I'm a total stranger. Heck, the might not even let me in."
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. They might not at that. You knock, tell them that you want to talk to them about me. I'll tell you something only they would know and then you can tell them and ask them to hold out their hands."
"Sounds like a plan." I said.
I knocked. A woman came to the door. "Mrs. Andrews?" I asked politely?
"Yes. I'm Mrs. Andrews."
"Hi. I'm a friend of Beth's and I am here to give you a message from her."
"Oh! Have you heard from her? Is she alright?" she said, nearly hysterical.
"Amy, what is it?" a man's voice called from inside.
She half turned. "There's a young man here who says he has a message from Beth!"
I heard hurried footsteps. "Have you seen her? When?" he asked.
"May I come in, this may take a minute." I inquired, on my best behavior.
"Oh, yes, please do." Mrs. Andrews said moving aside to gesture me in.
I took a bit longer than would be customary to give Beth time to scurry in. We were ushered to the living room where Beth stood behind the chair she probably knew her parents would put me in. They sat on the couch across from me.
I took a deep breath and started in on Beth's story. I kept it high level and as brief as possible. I didn't even need to get Beth to tell me her secret. When they heard she was here and all they had to do was let her touch them their hands shot out before I could even react. In a heartbeat they had Beth wrapped in a big hug and they were all laughing and crying and talking all at once. I watched for a few minutes and then stood up to usher myself out. This should be private time. They had a lot of catching up to do.
"You!" I heard her dad say. I turned around. I was the only one he could be talking to after all.
"Courier." I said. "Courier St. Claire."
"Courier. Thank you. Thank you for giving us back our little girl. If there is ever anything we can do, don't hesitate. And you are always welcome in our house."
"Sir, I appreciate that. It has all been my pleasure. Beth is very lucky to have such great parents. I am just glad I was able to break her fall." I said and chuckled a little.
He let out a big belly laugh. "Good one, St. Claire!"
"Oh Dad!" Beth sighed at the dad humor.
She came over to me and took my hands in hers. "Thanks, Courier. You really did save my life in more ways than one and I can never repay that. On top of that, I think we will still be calling on you and Kee to help me sort all of this out, so don't think you can escape your responsibility that easily." she said, and winked. She winked at me! Too funny!
"Okay. I can live with that if you can." I said.
I continued with the goodbyes until they were finally ready to let me go and return to their reunion. As I took off into the darkening sky I felt oddly light, like my heart was soaring just a bit higher than I was. I looked forward to hearing from Beth again.
No way that was gonna happen on my flight! We were about twenty stories up still so I did a dive to catch up to her and grabbed onto her around the waist. She was too heavy for me to stop her from falling but my wings were enough to slow our descent until we touched the ground. Now, you might think she would be happy and thankful. You would be wrong. She was fighting me the whole way down and when we finally landed she kicked me.
"You idiot! What were you doing up there? How dare you get in my way!" she accosted me.
"Are you crazy!" I yelled back. Hey, don't get on my case. I had so much adrenaline it's amaging all I did was yell. "You hit me! I saved you!"
"I didn't want to be saved!" She yelled back.
That statement stopped me cold. "You didn't want to be saved? You wanted to die? Why?" I asked stunned.
"How could you possibly understand, and besides, you don't really care anyway. You'll just go on about your life and forget about this before you get home." she sneered.
"My name is Courier. What's yours?"
Taken aback by this abrupt shift she said, "My name is Bethany Andrews. Beth."
"Hi, Beth. It's nice to meet you. I apologize for yelling at you. I was both startled and scared and it just came out. Since we've run into each other, why don't we get a coffee or something and talk." I said. I needed to know more and to have time to think.
"Uh. Okay. Sure." she seemed confused but she had agreed, so we were on the right track.
"I think I saw a place about a block back. Let's go there." I held out my arm to be galant. She gave me a look that said she thought I was crazy but she took my arm and we walked down the street to the little hole in the wall coffee shop. Since it was about two in the afternoon, the place was pretty empty. I ordered a chai latte with oat milk, and turned to Beth to see what she wanted. She said the name of one of those fancy coffee drinks, but the barista seemed not to hear her so I repeated it. We found an empty booth to sit at and sat across from each other as we waited for our drinks.
"Why are we here?" she said.
"Cause you agreed to get coffee with me. I think you might find me cute and interesting." I said with my cockiest grin.
She sort of exhale laughed and fought a smile. "I think you're too exotic for me." she quipped back.
"Okay, Beth. Tell me your story. Did you jump from that building?" I asked. Okay, so I know it wasn't tactful, but I was curious and how is potential suicide a tactful subject?
"Yes." she replied.
"Since I don't see any wings, I assume you can use magic."
"Nope."
"So you were testing out your new invention. Are there glider wings hidden in your coat?"
"You're stretching it a bit there."
"What am I missing here, Beth? Why jump? I mean, there are better ways to meet me." I said, again with a cheesy grin.
"It's easy Courier. I wanted to end my life."
"Why?" I said. I looked her in the eyes and did my best to convey both genuine concern and interest.
"Because I am invisible. No one sees me and no one cares. I'm honestly not sure why you seem to see me or care. Literally no one does." she replied.
"Okay. You said literally. Do you mean like really literally?" I was trying to take my role of listener seriously. It's not usually my strong suit so I was channeling my inner Kee Kranston.
"Do you remember when we ordered?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember how the barista didn't take my order? He asked if that was all and you repeated my order. Now he's getting ready to come over and give you our drinks."
"You mean us." I said.
"Nope. Watch." She sat back and we watched the barista come over. He set both drinks in front of me. "Here you go." he said and went back to work. He never once looked in Beth's direction. It may not be polite to say it, but this is my story, so, Beth is super hot, though a bit skinny for my tastes. She is tall, lithe, and sort of exotic. She has long glossy black hair and violet eyes. She wasn't dressed provocatively at all but she has this charm about her that is undeniable. Yet that dude had completely ignored her. He hadn't even glance in her direction.
"Huh." I stated eloquently.
"I think you are the first person to see me in about a month." she said. "I haven't been able to talk to my parents, get into my dorm, attend classes, or go to the dining hall, or..." She broke down a little about then. I handed her some napkins and gave her time to collect herself. I pushed her coffee over to her. "Here, drink some of this. Are you hungry? I'll get you some food." I said and started to rise. She reached over and grabbed my hand. "Please, stay. I'm afraid if you walk away you won't see me anymore."
Okay, I admit it seemed a bit paranoid, but if what she was saying was true, then I might seem paranoid too. I remained sitting.
"Okay. So if no one can see you, how can I see you?" I mused.
"Heck if I know." she replied drinking her coffee as quickly as the temperature would allow.
"Yeah. I don't know either." I thought for a minute. "I gotta be honest. I'm not the best with magical stuff. Would it be okay if I called in my friend Kee Kranston? He's an expert in these things. Let's see if he can see you. And heck, even if he can't, I can send him up to get some food while I sit here and see you." I chuckled.
"Okay, sure, why not. It can't hurt, right?" she said, though she looked a little nervous.
"You'll love Kee. He's great, and super smart." I said as I dialed him up. "Hey bro. I got a situation and I need you to come help me. I'm at this coffee shop on the corner of 12th and Landon. Yeah. Okay. See you then." I said. "He'll be here in twenty." I told Beth. "I would normally ask you to tell me about all this and when it started happening and stuff, but I know Kee will ask the same questions. Instead, why don't you tell me about yourself."
I spent the next twenty minutes or so talking with her about what music she likes, new age Atlantean, what foods were her favorites, breads of all types, what school she went to, one I hadn't heard of, how old she is, twenty-two, and what her favorite toy was when she was growing up, legos. Kee finally arrived and slid in next to Beth.
"So, what's up?" he asked me, not even acknowledging Beth, who gave me a very pointed look.
"Kee, there is a beautiful woman sitting right next to you whom no one can see."
"Dude. You have seriously got to get a better sense of humor one of these days."
"I'm not joking. Her name is Beth and she tried to take me with her this afternoon when she tried to take her own life."
"Are you seeing ghosts now?"
"The bruises on my back would say otherwise."
"Okay. You seem pretty serious." He turned to face Beth though it was obvious to both of us that he couldn't see her. "Hi. I'm Kee." He put out his hand but not too far. He's considerate like that.
Beth reached out and took hold of his hand to shake it and he jumped about a foot. in part it was because he hadn't believed me and in part it was because now he could see her. "Wha..." he spluttered. "Oh. Wow! What the heck!" He babbled on.
"Nice to meet you Kee. I'm Beth. Can you actually see me now?" she asked.
"I sure as heck can. How did you do that? I have Class IV rated vision and I didn't see you at all!"
"I'm not sure what that means." she said.
"Oh. Sorry. I get a bit excited around magic. How did you make yourself disappear, or appear?" he asked.
"I have no idea." she said stifling a sob.
"Oh. Did I say something wrong again?" he said looking at me.
"She's a little sensitive. Apparently no one has seen her in months. Because of that she lost her job, got evicted, and hasn't been able to talk to her parents. It's been really rough. I wasn't joking earlier. She was trying to end her life by jumping off a building but she hit me instead. I could see her and I was afraid she would try again," I said looking at her pointedly, "so I brought her here to talk. I had no idea how to solve her problem, or even if there was one, I mean I've always seen her...well except maybe on the way down. I would think I would have noticed that..."
We went on talking about the circumstances around all of this for an hour or more. Now that Kee could see her, she was okay with me ordering us some food and bringing it back. She shared about how even technology seemed to ignore her. She could use most anything analog, but digital gave her grief when she tried to interact with it. That was why she wasn't able to call, text, or email her parents from her phone. Her phone didn't see her either, nor did motion sensors for doors, or most other technologies she had tried that weren't old school.
"Okay, my best guess is that you manifested late, and that this is an innate magical ability." Kee said. "I think, based on what you have said, that you can break the spell with skin to skin contact, like shaking my hand. Have you actually touched anyone skin to skin since you went invisible?"
"Let me think." she said. After a few minutes, "No, I don't think I have. I mean, I have reached out to touch people, but not skin to skin, no."
"I know this is going to be awkward, but we need to try it out." Kee said.
"I don't know that I could just reach out and touch someone's skin. I mean that would scare the heck out of me. I don't want to scare anyone." she said doubtfully.
"There are so many unknowns though and we need to test this out to see how it works if you're going to have a remotely normal life again. I mean, does the touch make you visible? If so, for how long? Forever, or just for an hour? Does a second touch work again? Can you will yourself visible and you are using touch as a focus? I don't even know where to begin." Kee was getting breathless.
"Kee, you're scaring her." I said, and indeed she was more than a little pale, though the food in her system had seemed to perk her up.
"Okay, Beth. I think Kee is right. We need some answers. That said, I know you'll want to try this in a safe space. How would you feel comfortable? Do you want to go try this on your parents? Would you feel comfortable with them? Do you want us to take you to The Burning Tower where they have the best magic and science? Do you want to come back to The Rookery with me and we can get my friends to help us run experiments? It's your life, and your choice. As long as you don't try to give it up again." I said. "And I mean it, Beth. I am with you for the long haul on this if you want me to be. I will help you to get through this."
At that statement Kee gave me the oddest look. Okay, so it really didn't sound like me, but I meant it. I know I'm not responsible for her, not really, but I had saved her life and I didn't want to wonder if she was just going to try to end it again. See, I'm really being selfish.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, Beth looked at me and said, "I think I want to try experimenting with this, yes. If I can figure it out, maybe I can get my old life back. I don't want to go to The Burning Tower, no matter what I am not a lab rat. I don't want to upset my parents if I can't figure this out. They are already devastated. Would it really be okay to stay with you for a bit and see if I can get some control over this?"
"Absolutely. Let's head there now and I'll call in Tomas Nat to see if you can get him to see you. Kee, you come over later, give it a few hours, and we'll see if being away from her for a period of time turns her invisible again, and if it does, we can test it to see if she can get you to see her again." I suggested.
"Good science there." Kee chuckled. "Sure, sounds like a plan. See you around eight then" he said.
We all headed out then I took Beth home.
"Here it is." I said scurrying around picking up clothes and trying to straighten up the video games and kitchen area. She tactfully pretended to ignore my behavior. "How do you want to handle the next steps?" I asked. "I have a shower and I can lend you some clothes. They'd be big but they'd be clean. Or are you still afraid I won't be able to see you again if we separate."
"I am really not ready to not be seen yet. I know I probably really need a shower, and I would love one, and a change of clothes...but..." her lip started quivering. I put my arms around her and gave her a long hug.
"It's okay. I get it. I see you. I really do. This is fine. We're gonna figure this thing out." I just held her loosely for a few minutes until I felt her start to pull away and then I moved to the kitchen. "I mostly have microwave stuff here, so not the greatest. I generally eat in the cafeterias. Would you like something?"
We negotiated a meal for her, and got her settled with food and a drink. We exchanged small talk until she visibly relaxed.
"Are you ready to see how it goes with Tomas?" I asked.
"Maybe? I guess?" she replied. I met her gaze. She gave me a half smile, then said, with a bit more conviction, "Yes. Let's figure this thing out so I can get clean and have a life again."
I called Tomas up. Luckily he wasn't on duty today so he agreed to come over.
"It shouldn't be long." I told her. "He lives across the building but on the same floor."
We heard a knock. I went to the door. It was Tomas as expected. "Hey dude, thanks for coming over."
"Sure thing. What's up?" he asked.
"First of all come in and sit down. It's a bit of a story and I don't want you freaking out on me." I said and led him to an empty chair. Sure a part of me wanted to have him sit on Beth to see if he could feel her, but that would have been mean to her. And I also considered just having her touch him with no explanation, but given how easily he gets scared, I didn't think that would help the situation much either. It's just no fun when you have to be all serious. I gave him the brief story about how I had run into Beth (pun fully intended folks!) and how she was sitting across from him. He gave me a doubtful look. I probably deserved it since I'd played so many pranks on him.
"I know you don't have much cause to believe me, but I'm asking you to anyway." I said. "Right now, the best theory is that it takes skin to skin contact for anyone to be able to see her. Are you okay with seeing if that works for you the way it did for Kee?"
"I guess so. I'm not sure I trust you but you do seem to be taking this pretty seriously so go ahead, Beth, you can touch me." he said holding out his hand and politely facing just a little left of where I had told him she was.
She reached out and touched him and, as expected, he jumped back startled. No one has a startle reflex like Tomas. It's so amazing that he handles cursed object like they were kids toys when he's so afraid of everything.
"Uh, hello, Beth." he said. "It's nice to meet you." This time he was looking right at her. "I have to admit that I thought Courier was just playing another prank, but I see he wasn't."
"I don't know about pranks, but you can really see me, right?" she asked "And hear me?"
"Yes." he replied quietly. "It seems that Coyote was having fun with you."
"Coyote? Oh, you mean the trickster god? Yeah, I guess so." she replied still looking nervous, but much less so than a few hours ago.
He turned to me. "It appears that your theory was correct. How many people have you tried it with?"
"Well, you are the third." I said. "Not enough to say it's foolproof, but hopefully enough to keep her around and willing to keep trying to find a solution." I said, giving her a wink and a grin.
She smiled. It was a beautiful thing. It came from a place of finally feeling real after months of hell. I was glad I helped bring it out.
"What's next?" Tomas asked bringing us back to earth.
"Kee is coming over in about thirty minutes. We're going to see if he can still see her. Right now we don't know how long the touch lasts. He will have been away for about four hours at that point. If he can't see her, we can play with the timing to see how long it does take." I said.
"A solid plan," Thomas replied, "it must be Kee's." he said, deadpan. Only the twinkle in his eyes gave away that he was teasing me.
Kee showed up on time and he wasn't able to see Beth again until she touched him. Her touch did work though.
"Here's my current working theory." Kee stated. "People are able to see you with skin to skin contact. It appears that this effect does wear off. Question: have you touched Courier skin to skin since you ran into him?"
"Well, no actually, I haven't." she said looking perplexed.
"Okay, so maybe fades without proximity. Since Courier hasn't left your side, and you haven't needed to touch him. When I entered, I was unable to see, hear, or smell you. Do you know what happens when someone touches you, not skin to skin?"
"I had people run into me when I was trying to make them see me. They would start like they had run into something but then they would move on. Needless to say, I did not put myself in a position to be run into full force or sat on." she shuddered at the thought.
"Okay, so it seems that skin to skin may be the needed catalyst." Kee said.
"Ugh! I don't want to go around touching people on exposed skin all the time and freaking them out!" she said but she seemed a little more cheerful knowing that there was at least one way to be seen.
We continued to talk for a few more hours. The rest started shuffling out around ten. We all had things to do the next day, and Tomas was going to be on call. You need to be at your best if you get a call to handled a curser.
Once they had all left, I turned to Beth. "Okay. You are going to stay here and you can have my room, but you need to shower and change too. Are you going to be okay doing that? I mean, I guess you could blindfold me, but still. Awkward!" I said with a grin.
"If you are asking if I'm still feeling suicidal, no, I'm not. I'm still freaked out and completely unsure, but I don't want to die if there is a way I might live my life again." she said seriously.
"Glad to hear it." Seriously glad to hear it!
"Okay, well, we don't know how long we can be apart and me still see you. I'm going to get you something to change into and a towel. Take your time in the shower. I can even dig up a spare toothbrush, toothpaste and floss from the freebies the dentist gives you. You'll have to use my brush cause I only have the one, but I promise, no cooties. If I can't see you when I get back in here, I'll hold out my hand for you to touch, okay?"
"Okay, and thank you." she said.
I went off to collect stuff for her. When I got back, I could still see her, and I told her so. Now we know that it's okay to be apart for at least eight minutes or so, I did time it, yes. I sent her off to shower and change. When she got back, I could still see her. That was a twenty-four minute stretch. I made notes of the times for Kee. We chatted a bit longer. I told her about what I do for a living and that I was on call tomorrow.
"Will you be okay if I have to leave, or should I call in sick?" I asked.
"I'll be okay. I promise. I'm pretty convinced that you helped me find the answer to how to be seen. Now it's just about figuring out the details." she said.
"How do you want to go about doing that?" I asked cautiously.
"Courier, you are my guardian angel. You have no idea how much I appreciate all you and your friends have done to help me. I just...I want to see my parents. I need for them to know I am alive. They have been devastated and I want that to end for them. When you get off shift tomorrow, would you mind terribly going out to where they live with me and helping me to explain it to them? I would really appreciate you and Kee still working with me to figure all this out. I don't want to be poked and prodded in The Burning Tower. I will just need a place to stay and help until I can get this figured out and I won't feel comfortable continuing to mooch off of you when you already saved my life." she explained.
"That makes complete sense, and of course I will go with you and help. As the Chinese proverb goes, 'if you save a person's life you are responsible for them for life.'" I said with a grin. "Just try to get rid of me. Now go to bed, my lady."
I had gotten up early and run out to get takeout for breakfast for us and two box lunches.
When I was leaving, I knocked on the bedroom door to tell her I was headed out and that I had left her good food but told her that she was welcome to anything in the fridge she wanted. I was busy with deliveries for my whole shift; eight in the morning until four in the afternoon this time. I was expecting not to be able to see her when I got back but as I walked through the door, there she was reading something on my tablet.
"Uh. I can see you." I stated (like an idiot).
"Really?" she replied (just as much of an idiot!).
"How can that be?" I asked.
"How should I know?" she replied.
"Okay. Well, it's new information so I'm going to write it down for Kee." I said, following words with actions. "Are you ready to head out to your parent's place?"
"Courier, I'm nervous."
"I think that's fair."
"They are going to be so mad at me."
"No. They will be super glad to see you, Beth. They might yell, or carry on, or sound frustrated. If they do it's only because they love you so much and they were scared. They had no idea what happened to you or what you were going through."
She gave me a small smile. "Thanks again for sticking with me through all this."
I winked at her and smiled. We headed down to ground level. I think it was the first time she really got a look at the place because she seemed a bit awe struck (ain't gonna lie, it hits everyone that way the first time). When we reached the ground floor, I asked Tony Vinzenni to call a car. He, of course, did not see Beth so he gave me a strange look, but obliged. We hoped in (more strange looks as I held the door for Beth), and then asked the car to take us to her parent's place. It was about forty-five minutes away so we talked some more about the shows we'd watched as kids, the schools we gone to and the courses we'd taken. As we drew closer, she became more quiet. I left the silence. She needed the space.
We arrived and I told the car to head back. I wouldn't need it after all when I returned without Beth.
We headed to the door. "How do you want to handle this? I could reach out as if to shake and you could shake hands instead? I mean, I know it would be shocking but seriously, it's going to be anyway. They aren't going to believe me. I'm a total stranger. Heck, the might not even let me in."
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. They might not at that. You knock, tell them that you want to talk to them about me. I'll tell you something only they would know and then you can tell them and ask them to hold out their hands."
"Sounds like a plan." I said.
I knocked. A woman came to the door. "Mrs. Andrews?" I asked politely?
"Yes. I'm Mrs. Andrews."
"Hi. I'm a friend of Beth's and I am here to give you a message from her."
"Oh! Have you heard from her? Is she alright?" she said, nearly hysterical.
"Amy, what is it?" a man's voice called from inside.
She half turned. "There's a young man here who says he has a message from Beth!"
I heard hurried footsteps. "Have you seen her? When?" he asked.
"May I come in, this may take a minute." I inquired, on my best behavior.
"Oh, yes, please do." Mrs. Andrews said moving aside to gesture me in.
I took a bit longer than would be customary to give Beth time to scurry in. We were ushered to the living room where Beth stood behind the chair she probably knew her parents would put me in. They sat on the couch across from me.
I took a deep breath and started in on Beth's story. I kept it high level and as brief as possible. I didn't even need to get Beth to tell me her secret. When they heard she was here and all they had to do was let her touch them their hands shot out before I could even react. In a heartbeat they had Beth wrapped in a big hug and they were all laughing and crying and talking all at once. I watched for a few minutes and then stood up to usher myself out. This should be private time. They had a lot of catching up to do.
"You!" I heard her dad say. I turned around. I was the only one he could be talking to after all.
"Courier." I said. "Courier St. Claire."
"Courier. Thank you. Thank you for giving us back our little girl. If there is ever anything we can do, don't hesitate. And you are always welcome in our house."
"Sir, I appreciate that. It has all been my pleasure. Beth is very lucky to have such great parents. I am just glad I was able to break her fall." I said and chuckled a little.
He let out a big belly laugh. "Good one, St. Claire!"
"Oh Dad!" Beth sighed at the dad humor.
She came over to me and took my hands in hers. "Thanks, Courier. You really did save my life in more ways than one and I can never repay that. On top of that, I think we will still be calling on you and Kee to help me sort all of this out, so don't think you can escape your responsibility that easily." she said, and winked. She winked at me! Too funny!
"Okay. I can live with that if you can." I said.
I continued with the goodbyes until they were finally ready to let me go and return to their reunion. As I took off into the darkening sky I felt oddly light, like my heart was soaring just a bit higher than I was. I looked forward to hearing from Beth again.
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