by T M Linville
The driveways that lead to the houses were a good two hundred yards from the paved road. She made a few turns and saw a few rabbits in the headlights as she rolled slowly through the overgrown weeds and grass. When she reached the house she once lived in, she angled the car so the headlights were shining through the windows then dug through her bag for the keys.
She climbed out of the car, stretched for a moment and then walked up onto porch. It was cool outside, but not cold. Crickets and katydids chirped and sang. Frogs croaked from the banks of the creek on the other side of the driveway. The air was dry for this time of year. Lily unlocked the door and it creaked and squeaked all the way open. The house smelled empty. Like no one and nothing had been there in years. All the windows seemed to be intact, the door was still locked and the driveways were definitely not used regularly.
She made her way in the dark to the basement door, walked down the rickety wooden steps and searched for the fuse box. The squeak was way louder than she expected when she opened the metal door. It was so loud her ears rang for a second. She threw the main breaker lever up and an illuminated buzz came to life over her head. She walked back upstairs and out to the car to turn off the headlights and engine. She swung her bag over her shoulder and walked back to the porch. She stopped and listened to the sounds around her. Oh, how she had missed this place.
She thought about Shay. She wondered if Shay would like this place, the country air, the open spaces, the breathtaking view of the night sky and all its constellations. She shook her head and held back the tears. Then she dropped the bag on the porch and broke into a full run toward the trees. She cleared the creek in a single stride and the frogs were silent for a moment, then one by one the harmonies began again. She ran on a small path through the thick brush and took in all the sounds and smells that she had missed so much. She ran past the pond that she would swim in during the summers. She passed the tree that had a deer stand in it about twenty feet up where she would hunt for deer. She and Onyx had managed to kill their fair share back then.
She ran over the hill to the clearing where the horses used to be and followed the tree line to the adjacent side of the clearing She stopped in front of the old horse barn. One of the support posts that held up the feeding trough overhang had collapsed and fallen, along with half of the overhang. She walked around to the other side and walked through the wide opening. It was dark inside but her eyes quickly adjusted. She walked across the dusty dirt floor to the ladder on the opposite wall. She climbed up into the hay loft and to her surprise, there was still hay up there. Far from edible for any grazer, but more than adequate for a bed. She walked to the opposite wall, the wall above the entrance door downstairs, unhooked the rope from a bent nail and swung open the loft doors. She sat down in the opened doorway, her legs hanging over the edge and looked out over the empty rolling meadow. The moon was full enough to illuminate the darkness and she thought how much Shay would like this place.
Would she like it here? Would she ever want to leave the city to live in a place like this?
She remembered the many times that she and Erica had spent in this loft. She missed laughing and playing and spending hours on end talking.
Her memories were suddenly interrupted by movement across the meadow. A light bay mare with one white sock walked slowly out of the trees. She stopped a few yards into the clearing, tore off a few long pieces of grass then continued walking slowly as she chewed.
Lily jumped down from the loft without a sound and made her way toward her. She approached slowly and cautiously in the dark. Her eyes followed Lily across the meadow as she was well aware of her approach. Lily tore off a couple of handfuls of grass and held them out in front of her as she walked toward the large animal. The horse bobbed her head and her nostrils flared as she sniffed the air. Lily laughed to herself because she could see the confusion in the mare’s eyes. She could smell the faint hint of predator. Her head bobbed and jerked as she tried to decide to stay or to run.
Lily stopped a few yards from her and held out the grass. She assumed the offering was just too much to pass up and after a snort and another head bob, she took a few tentative steps toward the offered grass. She was definitely tame. Lily could tell by her eyes and the way she watched her and the way she moved, not to mention her condition. She was well taken care of and was apparently accustomed to having humans around.
She stopped about two feet from Lily’s hand, her neck stretched as far as it would go toward the grass. Lily often wondered if grass in someone’s hand tasted better than all of the acres of grass around her, because the horses would literally follow you around the meadow if you had grass or hay in your hand. She smiled and leaned closer to the mare so she could take the grass from her hand then turned to walk back to the barn.
Lily heard her footsteps behind her then felt the mare’s nose nudge her back. Lily stopped and the horse head-butted her in the butt. Lily had nearly forgotten how strong they were. She neighed playfully and pushed against her back again. She took a few steps forward this time and the mare followed. She held out her hand as she walked and slowed so her neck was over Lily’s shoulder then she stroked her neck as they walked back toward the barn. At the barn Lily rubbed the mare’s neck and stroked her over the shoulders. She looked down and saw the one white sock, Lily laughed out loud.
“Sugarfoot,” she said aloud and it startled the mare.
The horse lifted her head and pranced a few steps. Then settled and walked back to Lily.
Lily once loved sleeping in the barn. On cool summer nights her and Erica would talk and laugh for hours on end in the barn, then fall asleep there instead of making the short trek home. So Lily threw some of the bales of hay down from the loft and spread them out over the dry dirt floor of one of the inner stalls. The mare started eating some of the old hay and Lily figured that she probably wasn’t going to stop her. She pushed the horse’s head out of the way so she could lie down. It was late and Lily was tired. She had nowhere to be and since she was here, she might as well get some sleep. The sun would be coming up soon. Lily figured the mare would get tired soon enough and probably go to sleep too. So she pushed a bunch of hay into a bed, curled up in the corner and drifted off to sleep.
LaShay stared at her cell phone. She had been calling and leaving messages for two days, but Lily hadn’t answered. Finally Shay decided to go to her. She threw on a sweatshirt and headed out. She walked the twelve blocks to the Crown Building. She remembered that Lily had told her that she had an apartment on the fifty sixth floor.
Shay walked into the immaculate building just after seven PM. The doorman gave her a once over and the giant wolf standing guard beside him took a whiff of air. He smelled a hint of Lily and let Shay pass without incident.
The building lobby was an incredible sight. Marble columns that stretched up four stories. Red carpet accented by grey, black and red marble lined the floors. Statues from the Renaissance era dotted the walls in recessed apertures. Antique couches and high backed chairs dotted the open room. In one portion of the lobby, there were Egyptian artifacts in the recesses of the walls. Twelve foot tall statues of queens and kings like Nefertiti and the gods like Horus and a number of others that Shay didn’t recognize stood in the recesses. The outer part of the walls in the Egyptian area were covered in hieroglyphs and paintings of Egyptian rituals. Shay made a mental note to study them in detail someday.
Little did Shay know that she had just walked into a vampire coven. One of the largest covens on the east coast. But no one batted an eye. No one even looked at her twice.
Vampires, humans and guardian wolves made their way around the lobby. She remembered that Lily had told her about the wolves and that Lily had one of her own. A black one, if Shay recalled correctly.
The doors to one of the eight elevators opened as soon as Shay stepped up to them. It was always the door that opened when a stranger came in the building. She stepped in and was asked by a young dark haired man, “What floor?”
“Fifty Six,” Shay answered politely.
When Shay got off the elevator, Onyx jumped to his feet at the end of the hallway. He was hoping it was Lily. Shay walked slowly down the hallway, admiring the carving and detail work around and over the elevators. She noticed the lattice work in the trim around Lily’s door. She knocked on the door.
Onyx was running up the steps to the seventy second floor and then scratched on Erica’s door. He motioned with his head for her to follow him and he led her to Lily’s floor by way of the elevators.
“Can I help you?” Erica asked when she was about ten feet from LaShay.
“I’m looking for Lily?” Shay answered almost as a question.
“Lily has gone to the… Lily went out of town, to Nashville,” Erica said, almost saying Lily went to the Nashville Coven. She wasn’t accustomed to outside humans in the building.
“Do you know when she’ll be back?” Shay asked almost in tears.
Erica knew that this had to be Shay. She wasn’t sure what to tell her. Lily had left her phone in New York and the phone wouldn’t be in service at Lily’s home in Nashville. So there was no way to get in contact with Lily. Erica honestly didn’t know if Lily was even coming back.
“I don’t know, hon,” Erica said sadly.
Onyx knew Shay’s scent as he had smelled her on Lily for the past month and a half. He walked over and nudged Shay’s hand. It startled her at first, to be so close to such a large wolf. But Onyx nudged her again and she lifted her hand to pet him.
“You must be Onyx,” Shay said, not knowing whether she wanted to smile or cry.
Maybe it was a good sign that she left her wolf. Maybe that meant it was only a short trip. Shay could only hope.
“Well, thank you,” Shay finally said after petting Onyx for a minute.
About halfway home the tears finally made an appearance. Shay couldn’t help but think that Lily was gone forever.
When she arrived home she noticed a black stretched limo in front of her apartment. Just Great she thought. She knew that her father was in her apartment, waiting for her, probably sipping on a glass of scotch. Shay trudged to the elevator and contemplated just leaving. But her father would only wait until she got home. So she pushed the button for the twelfth floor. She found her remotes in her purse and went inside. Keys were a thing of the past. If your front door wasn’t on a scanner, you carried a remote for it, not unlike the one for your car.
“What do you want, Dad?” Shay asked as she put her purse and remote on the coffee table. She was still crying.
“So who is she?” Her dad asked angrily.
“She’s gone! Ok Dad!” Shay sobbed.
“What?”
“She’s gone! Left. Out of my life!” Shay nearly yelled.
“Well, that’s good,” said Martin. “Because you’re not gay.”
“Yes Dad, I am gay! And Lily was everything I had ever wanted in another person.”
“I doubt that,” he father said snidely.
“I’m not in the mood to argue,” Shay sniffed. “You can stay if you want but I’m going to bed.”
“It’s barely ten o’clock.”
“Bye Dad.”
Shay was almost asleep when she heard a knock on the front door. She shot out of bed and raced to the door. Could it be Lily?
She flung the door open and Josh was standing there. What was her ex-boyfriend doing at her apartment at eleven o’clock on a week night? Josh took one look at Shay and could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and her cheeks were still red.
“What’s wrong?” Josh asked, reaching out to touch her face.
Shay broke into tears once again and Josh just put his arms around her. He held her for a few minutes, standing in the hallway while she cried on his shoulder. He nudged her gently and they walked into the apartment. They sat down on the couch together and Josh wiped tears from Shay’s cheek.
“What’s wrong?” He asked again.
“Everything,” Shay sobbed.
“Anything in particular,” he asked.
Shay looked into Josh eyes and tried to determine if she should tell him about Lily. He had been a good boyfriend as well as a friend so she decided it probably couldn’t hurt. Besides, she really needed an unbiased party to talk to. Shane didn’t like Lily and her father refused to believe that she was gay. Shay wiped her cheeks with both hands and then began.
“I met someone a couple of months ago.”
“Ok, that’s why we broke up right? It’s ok if it is, I told you I still wanted to be friends, and I meant it,” he said then paused a moment. “So what happened? Obviously it ended badly so do I need a shovel? Did he hurt you?”
She laughed. “No! No shovels.”
“Ok good,” he smiled. “So talk to me. What’s wrong?”
Josh put his hand on her knee and looked her in the eye then waited.
Shay took a deep breath.
“Her name is Lily.”
She figured she’d get right to the point. Just get it out there and go from there. She wasn’t sure how Josh would take the news, being that he was just sleeping with her not two months before.
“Ok,” Josh said without batting an eye.
“She’s beautiful,” Shay smiled and relaxed a bit. “I met her the last time we went to Baldwin’s on Lex. She was playing pool and the que ball was knocked off the table. She bumped into me and when I saw her eyes… I don’t know. I just felt something. She was so beautiful. Her eyes were just so blue and I couldn’t help but stare.”
Josh didn’t say a word, just let Shay tell the story.
“I went back to the bar the next Saturday and she was there. We started hanging out playing pool a few nights a week. Then I invited her over one night and we talked for hours and hours. After a few weeks I realized that I was looking forward to seeing her. That I couldn’t wait to get a text from her. That I was actually falling for this woman. It scared me at first. I didn’t want to be falling for her but I was and hard. I have never felt like this before, Josh. I have never had butterflies in my stomach from just being around someone. But I get them when I’m with her.”
“So… what seems to be the problem? Does she not feel the same?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know! I never got a chance to ask her.”
“So what happened?”
“Shane con…”
“Oh, it figures that he had something to do with it,” Josh interrupted.
“Yeah. He convinced me that something was wrong with her. That she was hiding something. All because she had never invited me to her place at the Crown Building.”
“The Crown Building? Wow! The Crown Building?” Josh repeated.
“Yes, 56A,” Shay smiled. “And as of today, I know for a fact that she does live there because I went there myself. But she’s gone. They told me that she went to Nashville and that they didn’t know when or if she’d be back.”
“She just left?”
“Yes. And she left her cell phone and there’s no land lines working where she’s going.”
Josh took a deep breath. “Well. Umm did you try her reader? She has to at least have that…”
“Not responding,” she said.
I’m not sure what I should tell you to do. If she’s gone with no way to contact her…”
“I know,” Shay replied, trying not to cry again. “Then my Dad finds out and he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t want me to be gay. So, Mister I own the world, shows up here thinking that… that… that he could talk me out of it or something.”
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
Shay shook her head and rested her head in her hands.
“Me, too,” she said.
Lily was awakened by the soft muzzle of the mare against the side of her head. She opened her eyes wearily and she was curled up against the horse’s side. Lily guessed the mare was ready to get up and didn’t want to hurt her when she stood. Or maybe she was irritated that she ha
d disturbed her by talking in her sleep or something, who knows. Once she was on her feet, the mare stood up and shook off the loose hay. She neighed softly and nudged Lily with her head.
“What is it girl?” She asked and stroked her neck.
Lily leaned against her and rested her head against her shoulder. She was a rather big horse, at least fifteen hands, she had a light bay coloration, which was a reddish brown coat, a black mane and tail and black on her legs. All of her legs except one, her hind right leg was about six inches of white at the bottom above the hoof. She was probably a Tennessee Walker. Lily wondered what she was doing here and how she got onto the property. There must be a fence down somewhere and figured at some point she’d check the property fence line.
She led the mare outside and stood beside her for a minute. The sun was hidden behind a large stray cloud but it wouldn’t be there long.
“I’ll be back, Sugarfoot.”
Lily took off at a full run toward the house. She had to on sunscreen if she was going to be out today.
The mare just was grazing in the meadow when Lily returned. She walked up to the mare slowly and just stood close to her for a few minutes. She stroked the mares back to get her used to her. Then she walked Sugarfoot around the meadow for a while and sat down while the mare ate. She watched the clouds drift by overhead and tried to think about anything except LaShay. It didn’t work.
Lily thought about all the times they had been together. The laughing and the horrible pool playing. She was better than Shay even though she usually let her win. Lily wondered what Shane had said to make Shay not want to see her anymore. Erica had been right, Lily did need to watch out for Shay’s best friend.
