Ascending Shadow

by Church K Calvert

  He was an exceptionally tall and muscular black man. He was also extremely handsome and dressed like a model straight out of GQ magazine. I had no interest in men, but he certainly caught my attention. He wore sunglasses as he leaned against the rail with his hands crossed in front of him. Caro must have noticed him as well because she began heading in his direction. She walked up to him and crossed her arms as she gazed at him.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. He mimicked her posture and crossed his arms as well.

  “I heard you were in a bit of trouble,” he said.

  “You heard wrong,” she replied matter-of-factly. He glanced at the jail entrance, then back to Caro.

  “You sure about that, Carolina? I’ve heard you’re getting mixed up with the wrong people.”

  “Like I told you before, I can take care of myself. Besides, I’m not getting mixed up with the wrong kind of people, I am the wrong kind of people. I’m just finding the people more like me.”

  “That’s not who you are, Caro. You know you’re better than that.”

  I observed this unusual interaction from the sidelines. It was like watching a dramatic scene out of a movie.

  “Just stay out of my way,” she replied.

  “You know I intend to take Franklin down, Carolina, and I will.”

  “Not my problem,” she retorted. He sighed and reached in his pocket, pulling out a pill bottle.

  “I heard Danielle needed more medication,” he said.

  “Hey,” I said, reaching for the pills, before Caro snatched them out of the man’s hand.

  “Anything else?” she said, shoving them into her purse.

  “No, nothing else,” he said, with a small shake of his head.

  “Good,” she said, grabbing my arm, “Let’s go.”

  “There’s a better way, Danielle,” the man called from behind me, as Caro led us away.

  “Ignore him,” Caro whispered to me.

  When we were out of range of the man, I grabbed Caro’s arm, needing all the details of what I had missed in our encounter.

  “Was that an ex-boyfriend? That guy was. . . well, like an embodied bad ass,” I replied, not attempting to mask my admiration, “He was just so cool and, like, smooth and stoic and — I don’t know, but I want to be him.”

  “Wow, Dani, calm down. I would almost think you had a boy crush.”

  “Crush? No, I literally want to be him.”

  “Well, actually, that’s probably the last person you want to be.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Why? Because that was Law you just met,” she said. Words suddenly escaped me.

  “Wha, uh —”

  “Yeahhhh, exactly,” she said with a nod.

  “What was Law doing here, why did he bail us out? More importantly, how does he know you? You dated him, didn’t you?”

  “No, Dani. . . I used to work for him,” she said and began to walk away, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get some breakfast.”

  We sat in a booth in a local diner, coffee steaming next to each of us. Caro seemed to pretend to be engrossed in her menu, avoiding eye contact. I drummed my fingers on the table and sipped from my coffee. I tried to be patient, waiting for Caro to elaborate on her half-ass explanation of Law.

  “Figure out what you want to eat, Dani,” Caro said, glancing over the menu.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “You are hungry,” she said, looking up sternly, “Figure out what you want to eat.”

  “Good morning!” said a young, flamboyant waiter as he strode up, pouring more coffee in our cups, “Have you guys decided what you would like?”

  “French toast and a side of bacon,” I replied.

  “Okay. What kind of eggs do you want?”

  “I don’t want eggs,” I said.

  “It comes with eggs,” he replied.

  “Okay. I want an egg over-hard,” I said.

  “Like a hard-boiled egg?” he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

  “No, like an over-hard. Like not over-easy, over-hard,” I said, trying to simultaneously give my order and glare at Caro.

  “So the same as over-easy eggs,” he said and began jotting it down.

  “Wha — no, that’s not what I said, I want the yolk to be cooked,” I said.

  “So you do want hard-boiled?”

  “Say hard-boiled one more fuckin’ time,” I said, pointing my finger at him. He leaned back slightly in offense and then turned his attention toward Caro.

  Caro glanced up, delighted with my decision, “I’ll have the Belgian waffles.”

  “You got it,” our waiter replied. We handed our menus to the waiter and he went to put our order in.

  I leaned back in the booth with my arms crossed. Caro surrendered to my coldness.

  “Okay, Dani,” she took a deep sigh, “I am going to tell you some things that must never leave this table. Do you understand?”

  I sat up quickly and folded my hands on the table attentively, “I understand.”

  “Okay,” Caro took a deep breath, “When I was nineteen, I escaped from…well, you know what from. Anyway, I was living here, fuckin’ poor and homeless. I couldn’t bring myself to turn a trick or sell drugs to make money; I’d rather die than contribute to that life, so I just began wasting away on the streets. I lived like that for two years.

  “One night Law found me. I assumed he was just another man wanting something from me. He offered me a hotel room for the night and a place to stay for several nights to come if I wanted. In that moment, I was so….desperate for warmth, food, and shelter, I just could not turn him down, so I went with him. He showed me to the hotel room. He insisted I take a bath, he had clothes for me, he brought me food. I hadn’t eaten a crumb in four days.

  “After I took a bath, he was waiting for me in the room. I sat next to him. I didn’t want to but I pulled down my robe and closed my eyes. Then, something unusual happened, he told me to put my clothes on, that that was not what he wanted from me. I was so confused; I just didn’t understand how he could want to help me without getting anything in return. He told me that ‘Too many beautiful souls in this world are thrown out, they are made to think they are nothing, they are judged because their flaws are put on display for the world. I only want to reintroduce those people to the opportunities that are possible in their future.’

  “He put me up in a house with other people like me. I got my own room, he got me a job, we were provided with food and clothing. There were two other people there like us, gifted,” Caro said. It was the first time I heard her refer to us as gifted rather than flawed. “It was kind of like a cult, but I didn’t care. We suddenly had value again, we helped people, we fed the poor, we built playgrounds and fixed people’s houses and shit. He only required that we were loyal, we work, we stay clean from hardcore drugs, we seek to grow, we tend to our gifts, and are not fueled by greed or hatred.”

  “So what happened? Why did you leave?” I asked, captivated by her story.

  “What do you think? I appreciated what Law did for me; if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. Danielle, I grew up with nothing, so when someone comes around and says that I can make four paychecks in one night and I don’t have to take my clothes off, I’m going to listen. I started doing favors for Franklin and he paid me very well. I didn’t belong with Law’s people. I wasn’t built like them. I had this desire to right all the wrong that had been done to me. Franklin understood me. He promised me I would get my revenge. Law was all about forgiveness, and I could not forgive any of those sick fucks for what they did to me. Law just didn’t understand. He said that I would not let go of my hatred and that it was consuming me. He said there’s a better way to right the wrongs in this world than resorting to violence. He tried to get me to stay but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t.”

  “So you went to work with Franklin?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I did. See, Franklin underst
ands people like us. We’re not all born wanting to make the world a better place. We have a darkness inside of us that we need to feed. The world chewed us up and spit us out, and left us to die. What the fuck do we owe the world? Franklin encourages us to actually use our gifts to get the revenge we deserve.”

  “Is that why Franklin and Law are enemies? They just don’t see things the same way?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that’s why,” Caro said quickly.

  “Do you. . . ever regret leaving?” I asked.

  “No. . .” Caro said, averting her eyes, “Never.”

  “So that guy at the coffee shop was one of the people you lived with?”

  “No, I don’t know him. I imagine he’s a newer resident.”

  “What should we tell Franklin?”

  “The truth, he probably already knows everything anyway.”

  “You think?” I asked. Caro merely glanced over with a raised eyebrow.

  “Do you think Law really got my pills?” I asked.

  “Probably,” Caro said, digging into her purse and reading the pills, “Yup, looks like your prescription.”

  She slid the bottle across the table and I removed two pills and drank them down with my water. Our food arrived and Caro began devouring her plate. Although I was hungry, I ate slowly as Caro’s words ran through my head and I tried to come up with more clarifying questions to ask. However, Caro interrupted my thoughts with a concern of her own.

  “Enough about me, let’s talk about what happened last night.”

  I lifted my shirt, and saw that my skin was once again flawless. I had contemplated how to explain to Caro what had happened but wasn’t completely sure myself.

  “Mortal Nights,” I replied.

  “Yeah, you said something about that last night. What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know exactly why it happens, or when, but, when I was young, my great-grandmother told me that Mortal Nights will come and go. She said I will wish I had lived more those days or died more.”

  “That’s the one who was like you, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So what do you know about it?”

  “Well, I read some of her journals about a year ago, and it basically says on Mortal Nights that you are normal like everyone else. My flaws escape me and I can be harmed like everyone, my shadow cannot be summoned, and I can’t heal myself or other people.”

  “And you didn’t think to give me a heads up?”

  “I didn’t even know myself. It was my first one. It only happens once a month for like five years in the early to late twenties. I didn’t even think about it until that happened last night.”

  “What did it feel like?”

  “It was like. . . finally feeling alive. Terrifying, yet exhilarating.”

  “So, rewind a second, what do you mean you read your great-grandma’s journals? What are they?”

  “They’re like her diaries from her having what I have, and she has this book with different rules and stuff explaining weird things about the flaws, like on how we interact with other flawed people, triggers, how to evolve our tranquility place, to avoid small children, especially the day they are born. You know, stuff like that.”

  “So let me get this straight: You basically have a user guide to your flaw and you’ve only ‘read some of it’?”

  “Well, yes. . . it’s kind of long.”

  “Christ, Dani, all this time you’ve had the ability to learn more about your flaw and you haven’t even bothered?”

  “Well, I’ve glanced at them some, I —”

  “Dani, you should know those journals front and back. You’re basically a ticking time bomb. It is your responsibility to know what you are capable of —”

  As Caro continued on her lecture about what I should do, something caught my attention on the table. I ignored Caro as she waved her hands around and claimed to be talking to herself. I cocked my head sideways, because I was sure my eyes were deceiving me. I grabbed the prescription bottle off of the table and read the prescription authorizing doctor’s name.

  “Joyce Deason.”

  “Who’s that?” Caro asked.

  “Joyce was my doctor at the institution.”

  “Wait, what? How does Law know her?” Caro asked.

  “I have no fucking idea, do you? How would he know her?”

  “I don’t know,” Caro said with a shrug. Her phone beeped at that exact moment, “Oh, shit, Franklin wants to see us.”

  This made my stomach drop. I could only imagine what Franklin had in store for us after last night’s fiasco, and if he had learned we had spoken with Law and been bailed out by him, this would be even worse for us.

  “Well, we had better go now, get it over with,” Caro said, signaling for the check.

  “Oh, I don’t have any money,” I said.

  “Of course not, you never do. Your whole paycheck goes up your fuckin’ nose.”

  “Ouch, Caro. Don’t be mad at me ‘cause you’re worried about Franklin.”

  “Well, you should be worried too.”

  “You think he’ll fire us?”

  “No, he won’t. He’ll just make us redeem our indiscretion.”

  We took a taxi to pick up Caro’s car from the club and headed to Franklin’s. Meeting with Franklin was a lot like going to meet the President, I imagine. He has a mansion, gated, with a brick wall surrounding the perimeter. He has his own security team who escort you everywhere. He just tells you to come, then makes you wait thirty minutes before showing up to talk to you. Caro says he does this to build anxiety. We were seated in his office, awaiting his arrival. I played with various knickknacks on his desk and paced back and forth in his office.

  “Would you please sit down, you’re stressing me out,” Caro said.

  I obeyed and sat down next to Caro as my leg bounced out of nervousness. Soon after, Franklin entered. He swung open both doors, as one security team member stepped inside behind him and stood at the door.

  Franklin is a gorgeous, politician, frat boy, country club, silver spoon combination. He’s tall, white, average build, dark brown hair swept to the side, no facial hair, strong jawline, suit-adorned. He looks like he just stepped out of a campaign commercial. Although Franklin is rather young, mid-thirties, he has established an entire empire in this city. He came from money and stayed for power.

  “Good afternoon, ladies, y’all look like you had a rough night.” He said with a smile, as he found his seat at his desk.

  I decided to let Caro take the lead on this conversation, since she was much closer to Franklin.

  “Sir, I am so sorry about what happened last night. It was completely my fault —”

  “Caro, Caro,” Franklin said, holding up his hand, “I’m not worried about that. We all have bad nights. I’m more worried about you guys.”

  He folded his hands in front of him on his desk and glanced over at me.

  “How are you doing, Dani?”

  “I’m good,” I replied.

  “I heard you had a visit from Law, tell me about that.”

  “Um, he bailed us out of jail and tried to talk to Caro when we were leaving, but Caro ignored him.”

  He glanced back and forth between Caro and me. He hesitated for a moment, “What did he give you.”

  I produced the pill bottle from my pocket, “These.”

  Franklin grabbed the bottle and read it. He scoffed as he read the label and shook his head, “You don’t need these.”

  “Franklin,” Caro proceeded, “we don’t know what Dani is capable of. Those pills help keep her flaw at bay. I don’t think it would be wise for her not to take them.”

  “You’re absolutely right, Carolina,” Franklin responded, “We don’t know what Dani is capable of. All these pills do is stifle her potential. She’s extraordinary, and these pills attempt to normalize her to the world’s standards. No, I will not allow it.”

  Caro swallowed wh
atever response she wanted to give, knowing she was already in the dog house with Franklin. He stood up and walked to the other side of the desk in front of me.

  “I have a job for you, Dani,” he said with a smile. I was relieved at these words.

  “Okay, sir,” I responded.

  “Come, take a walk with me,” he said with a wave of his hand as he headed for the office doors. Caro began to rise from her seat, “Just wait here a bit, Caro. We’ll be right back.”

  Caro lowered herself back into her seat and an expression of concern crossed her face. Franklin put an arm around my shoulder and led me down the hallway.

  “Dani, I just want you to know that I’m so glad you’re on my team. Last night was crazy, but I know Caro can be a bit of a loose cannon sometimes. Regardless, you guys completed your job and I got what I wanted, so no harm done. I’m curious though, what did you think of Law when you met him?”

  “Honestly, sir, I didn’t pay much attention to him. I thought he was an ex-boyfriend of Caro’s,” I said. Franklin gave a disingenuous laugh.

  “That’s funny, Dani. Anyway, as you know, I’m running for Mayor this upcoming term.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Really?” stopping in his tracks, “You didn’t know that your boss was running for mayor? There are literally signs all over town.”

  I shook my head.

  “Okay. . . Well, Dani, part of running for office is playing the part and looking the part. I clearly have looking the part and playing the part down. Eh, I just have one small issue. See, my wife is actually my second wife, which cannot be held against me because my former wife passed away. The only issue with having a second wife is I have recently found out that she has a son from a, um, previous relationship. Now, I’m a family man and I want to take care of my family in every way possible.”

  “How did your wife die?” I asked.

  “That’s not important, Dani, are you paying attention?”