As they walk into the coffee shop, they pause and glance around.
Nivek feels good. He has no idea why they're here, but for some reason he can't explain, he knows this is exactly where they need to be. Everything about this place just seems...right somehow.
Jaina begins to speak, but before she can finish, Nivek cups the back of her neck and pulls her face to his, bringing their foreheads to rest upon one another.
"7" He says without any thought.
She smiles at him again, continuing to be very impressed in spite of the day she's having and declares, "Goddamn! Let me go get my man his coffee!"
She turns and makes her way to the counter to take a place in the que.
Nivek finds an empty table and saves Jaina a seat facing the door.
He feels pride. He knows that whatever Jaina is going through, it's going to get difficult for her again, but he also knows that he's being exactly what she needs him to be today, and he wants to continue to be that.
Now feels like the perfect time to be alive and he can take on whatever life throws at him.
------
A minute later, Jaina arrives at the table with their coffee and she pulls her chair closer to his.
She sits down, and with no daylight between them, she rests her head on his shoulder, and they sit together in silence. There's no need for any words.
Presently, Nivek corrects himself and feels that NOW is the perfect time to be alive and they can take on whatever life throws at them.
A minute later, without lifting her head from Nivek's shoulder, Jaina speaks with a sad tone:
"It's time."
The door opens and a woman enters.
She walks towards the counter to place an order, passes by the couple, pauses, then turns to face them.
"Jaina?" the woman asks with high-pitched surprise. "Jaina Coahuila!?"
"Sarah?! Ohmygod!"
She gets up and the two women hug.
Nivek sits there and watches them exchange pleasantries.
Jaina's demeanor has turned on a dime. Suddenly, she's back to being her normal, bright and cheery self. He knows it's only a performance, but it's an extremely impressive one to observe.
After a few moments of reconnecting, Jaina invites the very pregnant woman to join them, and helps her sit down.
"I'm sorry Hon. This is Sarah. We're- old acquaintances."
"Oh! She's just being modest!" Sarah says as she and Nivek shake hands across the table.
"This woman is a total rockstar! I was in an accident last year and she saved my life."
A shock of realization electrifies every part of his mind, but he does his best to hide it and puts on a performance of his own. "Ah! Right!" he says with a warm smile. "It's nice to finally meet you; She's told me about you before."
He didn't bother to say it was only about a couple of hours ago.
As the time passes, Nivek continues to play his part as he watches the women talk to each other as women do.
Quietly though, he's very confused and trying to understand everything that's happened today, and he's being extremely unsuccessful at it.
Eventually, Jaina says she and Nivek are only on world for the day, and graciously declines an invitation to have dinner with Sarah and her new husband, and wishes her luck with the baby, but before they say their final goodbyes, Jaina asks if she can feel her belly.
The woman was more than happy to oblige, and Jaina had the opportunity to feel the baby kick.
A minute later, Nivek holds the door open for his lady, and she purposely knocks into a sweaty drunk trying to slip by her in the opposite direction.
"Watch where you're going A**hole!!" she growled.
Nivek let it slide and followed her out, thinking proudly to himself: 'hell yeah! my woman's got some teeth!'
They walk a couple doors down, and she stops.
"Where to now?" he asks her.
"Here."
She throws her arms around him and begins to sob uncontrollably into his chest.
After a while, when the crying subsides, Nivek says gently, "C'mon. Let's go home."
"No. I have to stay for this." she said cryptically and added, "Could you please call the authorities now?"
"Why?" he asked, more confused now than he's been all day.
"Domestic Disturbance" she said with a defeated tone, and went back to stand in front of the large window looking into the shop.
When Nivek ended the call, that's when the panic started and people stampeded out of the shop, running for their lives.
He ran to her, looked into the window and saw what she saw.
Sarah, the pregnant woman, being bound to a chair.
He saw the sweaty drunk, making the knots, and drenching her with grain alcohol.
Muffled through the glass, he could hear the drunk bawling in pain and rage as he ignited a lighter:
"WHO IS HE!?"
"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME FOR HIM!?"
"I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!"
Shocked and speechless, Nivek acted on instinct and grabbed Jaina's arm to lead her away from danger.
She was a statue that defied the physics of her smaller frame and Nivek's arm damn near came out of its socket.
"GODDAMN!" he swore, holding his shoulder and turning in circles, trying to walk off the intense pain.
She turned her neck to look him in the eye and reached out her hand.
"Please don't leave me now." she begged to him almost inaudibly.
He hesitated. Her tears again flowing freely.
He finally took her hand and stood by her with no daylight between them, and continued to be the man she needed him to be, as sirens could be heard approaching from the distance.
------
Sarah was trapped inside, screaming. She was set on fire, and burned alive as she should have a year ago today.
The sweaty drunk pulled out a firearm, put the barrel under his chin, and painted the ceiling with his mind.
They left the area before the police arrived and were making their way down the street to the train station for a ride back to the spaceport.
They walk hand in hand, but in the past few minutes, Nivek has grown distant.
She realizes now that they aren't holding hands at all anymore. She's the only one doing the holding.
When she told him she loves him and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, he flinched, and broke her heart.
------
A year ago today was a good day.
She was eating breakfast on the couch in her apartment, and someone from the shop downstairs pounded on the ceiling to get her attention. She smiled, stomped on the floor in response and went into the corridor.
She knocked on her neighbors door across the hall but no one was home.
She went to the door of her other friend by the stairway and knocked, but no one was there either.
'Oh well' she thought, and slid down the stair rail in the best of moods and went outside.
She skipped down the sidewalk like a schoolgirl and stopped next door at a place named 'Psychopomps.'
The shop was closed, but the manager was there waiting for her and let her in.
Her friends from upstairs were there waiting for her as well, and she hopped up on the counter, grinning ear to ear, waiting to hear the words she knew were coming.
The manager took his place beside the other two women and breathed a heavy sigh.
"I know you busted your ass for the past six months, and I'm very proud of you," he began, "but I'm really sorry to have to tell you..."
Jaina completely deflated.
He pulled out a key to the store and smiled at her.
"...that you're hired."
Jaina squealed, completely elated.
------
After a few minutes of celebrating, The manager, Joaquin, said: "I have another surprise for you."
"What?" she asked.
We're all taking a road trip to Manhattan.
Her jaw dropped. She's never traveled off-world before, but has always dreamed of it.
After setting down at one of Manhattan's Spaceports, Joaquin, Keighley, Alia and Jaina pile out of the ship and take a train ride to an area of town called 'Deep Ellum.'
Once the quad reach street level, Joaquin Turns to Jaina and pulls out a pineal crystal and holds it in front of her.
He speaks warmly to her as a close friend, but beneath it, is the tone of a teacher instructing his student.
"This is yours now." he says. "Couple it on the ring with your store key, and always keep it with you until the day you die...Do you understand?
"Yes."
"We need you to say the words."
"This stone and the key are mine now," she repeats in her own words, "and I will keep them warm until the moment I die and turn cold."
Joaquin smiles and says, "Now. Close your eyes, forget all of your thoughts, and open your mind."
Jaina takes a deep breath, slowly exhales and does as instructed.
He presses the pineal crystal to her forehead, just above her eyes, and continues:
"Allow this world to speak to your heart and trust it to guide you...and always remember: Everything is connected."
He takes her hand, places the crystal into her palm and closes her fingers around it.
"Aaaand...that's it." he says with a shrug.
Jaina opens her eyes and the other two women erupt with cheers, hugs, hoots and hollers of congratulations.
"I wish I could stay," Joaquin said, when his turn to hug her came around, "but the store gets mad at me if I keep her closed for too long."
"Oh, bulls**t!" she said without letting him go.
"He's serious, actually." said Keighley, waving her blonde hair off of her face.
"No!...REALLY??"
"As a heart attack in the middle of nowhere." Alia confirmed.
Jaina released him and said, "Alright then...weird, but alright."
"You girls go have a great time. Stay for as long as you like, and I'll see you all back home."
With that, he turned, descended back down the steps into the subway and was gone.
------
"OK Girl! This day is all you." Keighley said brightly. "What happens now?"
Jaina closed her eyes and lifted her head upwards, taking in her surroundings and forgetting all of her thoughts.
Off in the distance, she could hear the mantra of a street vendor:
"HOT DOGS! GET GET YOUR HOT DOGS HERE! MY KIDS CAN'T CLOTHE THEMSELVES! GET ON OVER HERE AND HAVE A HOT DOG!"
"There. We go that way."
When the trio got there, she bought a hot dog like a proper tourist and took a bite.
It was nothing like she hoped it would be.
She chewed, made a face that silently said, 'eww' and spit out the nasty glob into a dustbin by the wall. Looking up as she was wiping her mouth, she saw a flier posted of her favorite band playing a gig in the club right next to them.
The three women had some time to kill since it was still late in the afternoon. The club was all but but empty, save for the employees and a couple of other customers besides themselves.
Jaina and Keighley were talking shop near the stage when Alia came back from the bar, served up the drinks, and took her seat at the table with them.
"So, what was it like for you? The first time, I mean?" Jaina asked.
Keighley gave it some thought before answering. "It's kind of hard to explain." She began. "I didn't even realize he was my first until I watched him die."
She illustrated that it took a few months time working with Joaquin before it finally happened, and then continued:
"I was helping a customer search our artifact database one morning, and after some time, he worked up the nerve and started flirting with me." She went on. "I had no interest in him, but he was trying so hard. I thought it was charming."
She smiled at the memory and took a sip of her drink before forging ahead:
"I could tell that he didn't have much experience with women, so I thought I'd help boost his confidence and reciprocate...Anyway, it turned out that we didn't have the item he was looking for in stock, so I talked him into buying a couple of trinkets so he wouldn't feel like he wasted a trip."
"On his way out the door, he hesitated, and clumsily asked me out."
"Poor fella. How did he take it?" Jaina asked.
"Well, he was an awkward guy and very, very shy, but actually, like I said, I thought he was charming, so I gave him my contact info as I escorted him to the door."
"Awww. That was sweet of you." Alia chimed in.
"Before he walked out, I said to him, 'now that you have my number, don't be afraid of me.' and gave him a kiss on the cheek."
Keighley paused a moment before she went on.
"Blushing beet red, He walked backwards out the door. He was thanking me, and saying that we were going to have a great time when the weekend comes, and not paying attention, he accidentally stumbled off of the curb and fell onto the street...The vehicle struck him almost immediately, and was killed instantly."
"To this day, I still wish that he would've thought to ask me my name."
After Alia went next and finished recounting the tale of her first death, Jaina just sat there, speechless...until she wasn't.
"Holy Sh*t!! That's Fu**ing brutal!"
Alia shrugged innocently. "It's a living, I guess."
Jaina rolls her eyes. "I see what you did there."
It's her turn to buy the next round, so she gets up and wanders to the bar. When she returns, she places the red wine in front of Alia, the white wine by Keighley, and for herself, a rich bock lager.
After taking a sip in silence, she busts out laughing.
The other girls look at her and wonder why.
When Jaina catches her breath, she asks them: "You know that ancient saying that over time, owners tend to resemble their dogs?"
They both give silent expressions that basically equate to 'Yeah, AND?'
Jaina points out that the blonde drinks white wine, the ginger drinks the red, and she, the wheat beer.
Keighley and Alia's silent expressions remained the same.
"Jesus. you ladies are a tough crowd. You're killing me here" she said.
That was the line the other two women laughed at, and Jaina once again rolled her eyes.
Shortly after the sun went down, the band came through the door and started dropping their equipment off at the stage. Jaina, a little starstruck, excused herself from her friends and went to go say hi.
"Hi!" she said to the band, and the band all said 'hi' back to her.
She stood there for a few moments with her hands clasped behind her back, nervously rocking from heel to toe, as the musicians silently continued their work uninterrupted.
"Good talk, guys." she said self-consciously, and returned to her friends at the table.
"Can you believe it? I just met my favorite band!" she exclaimed, beaming like a sun from ear to ear as she sat back down.
"Yes." Said Alia. "It was only like, twelve feet away."
Keighley laughed and patted Jaina reassuringly on the back. "Cool your jets, fangirl." she advised. "If you want to actually meet the band, introductions have to be exchanged first."
"Oh, sh*t." muttered an embarrassed Jaina. "I fell into the hero worship trap, huh?"
"YES." the other two women replied in unison.
------
An hour later, something bad happened.
The band, finished with setting up their equipment, each took their places on stage to do soundcheck.
"We good?" The singer asked from behind the mic at center stage.
"Yeah. We are now." said the bassist off to the left, plugging the guitar into his amp stack..."Everything is connected."
"Cool." the singer said, gripping the microphone on its stand. "Flip the breakers, please?!" he shouted across the club.
The bartender hit the switches and the stage lights came on, and the amplifiers began to hum with power.
...There was a very loud POP at the breaker box, and the entire club browned out.
Apparently the mic had a short, and the singer, frozen in place, was in the process of being electrocuted.
It took few seconds for the band to register what was going on.
The lead guitar player, the first to realize what was happening, darted to center stage and slammed the singer to the ground, and in that moment, the power completely blacked out.
The band rushed to his aid, and the dozen or so customers that filed into the club early for the show, held their mobile devices aloft for light in order to look on with concern as best they could.
Alia walked onto the stage, announced she could help, and knelt over the singer and took him by the hand as he lay unconscious on his back.
With her free hand, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.
The singer slowly came around. groggy, drained, and very confused.
Alia smiled down at him and said, "It's not your time yet."
------
When the ambulance arrived, loaded the singer onto a gurney, and allowed the drummer to ride along with his friend, the two remaining bandmates decided to announce that the show is officially canceled.
Jaina overheard this, but in spite of being just as concerned for the singer as everyone else, she had an epiphany and quickly explained her idea to Keighley and Alia. With Jaina taking the lead, the trio approached the pair, and offered them an alternative.
Jaina illustrated the concept to the musicians. Alia reassured them that their bandmate will be fine, and Keighley volunteered to talk to club management and convince them to remain open.
After some debate, and explaining the logistics, the two members of the Spiderbabies agreed to the plan.
The Spiderbabies walked onto the stage with Jaina in tow and addressed the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the bassist began, "Due to tonight's accident, and complete lack of power, we obviously had every intention of cancelling the show...but we don't want that now."
The lead guitarist took over. "Guys and Girls, we would like to ask for your help," he began, "and to better explain what we need from all of you, please allow me to introduce Miss Jaina Coahuila!"
He then encouraged her with a nudge to take center stage.
Suddenly, Jaina's living a personal nightmare. She HATES being the center of attention, but here she is, and now, she has no choice but to work through it.
"Hi!" she said to the crowd, which has actually doubled since the accident happened, and the audience all said 'hi' back to her.
She stood there for a few moments with her hands clasped behind her back, nervously rocking from heel to toe, until she finally swallowed her fear and allowed her demeanor to turn on a dime.
She radiated positivity as she explained her plan to the thirty or so people in front of her.
When she finished, she was pleasantly shocked when the audience erupted in cheers and applause directed at her, with each and every one of them, customer and club employee alike, ready to volunteer and help do whatever it takes.
The show must go on.
------
Jaina and a handful of fans helped the Spiderbabies clear the stage and load their equipment back into the van.
Fans helped Alia visit the other bars and clubs on the block to explain the incident and collect donated supplies.
Keighley, with the club employees and remaining fans, helped set up the place and put the word out on the neural-net.
The entire club was glowing orange with candlelight.
The word had spread quickly, and the place filled to capacity.
There was no cover charge. Only voluntary contributions were accepted.
The bootleggers, encouraged by the band at every show, made special effort this time to set up a live feed for the singer and drummer at the hospital, in order to allow them to be there in more than just spirit.
Everyone inside had a plastic bucket and a couple pieces of dinnerware to hit them with.
The bassist and lead guitarist, armed with their acoustic instruments, started the show with a crowd favorite.
When the time came during the intro, three hundred and fifty people hit their marks on the upbeat.
The 'F**k Electricity No-Frills Homemade Drum Jam' turned out to be the most successful performance the Spiderbabies ever had up to that point.
------
After the show, the three women, exhausted and starving, were walking down the street about a mile from the club, approaching the diner the band members recommended.
Jaina had the night of her life and couldn't be happier.
Keighley and Alia were never fans of the band, but had to admit they had a great time as well.
As they were waiting to cross the street, they all saw it before it happened, and looked up to watch the collision in the skyway a few seconds later.
Their eyes followed the taxi cab as it fell, and the sound it made when it crashed into the diner was horrific.
...and the anguished screams that followed from the people inside were absolutely sickening.
The course of events that began with the hot dog, leading to the electrocution causing the blackout, and to eventually, the desire to eat, brought the three women to exactly where they needed to be:
This specific place, at this specific time.
"Come on Jaina," Alia said to her. "Your first is waiting for you."
Two of the women crossed the street at a run towards the ruined storefront of the diner, while Jaina froze and felt the fear.
This was nothing like she expected it would be.
The sound of confusion and pain as those that could, poured out into the street. The sight of so much blood covering the newly injured...and the black, acrid stench of smoke rising into the sky.
It was all so very real.
"JAINA!" Keighley yelled to her impatiently from across the street. "Snap out of it! We have to do this RIGHT NOW!"
They couldn't wait. Keighley and Alia turned away and disappeared together into the diner in order to serve their function.
All at once, Jaina felt terrified, alone, uncertain, sick, and unqualified...but yet, she followed.
She climbed onto the taxi and began to crawl into the restaurant, but then stopped in her tracks. She heard the quiet, anguished cries of a woman in the back, pleading repeatedly:
"Oh god please. Somebody help me."
'Here' Jaina felt. This is exactly where she felt she needed to be.
Crouching on the crumpled hood of the vehicle, she turned and saw the driver come back into consciousness and fight with unbuckling his seat-belt as flames ignited and started to rise around the smoldering trunk.
When he looked up at her, she knew- No. She felt that she wasn't there for him.
A moment passed, and she watched the driver unbind himself and flee.
Jaina turned her attention to the woman in the backseat as she continued to repeat her grief-stricken appeal..."Oh god please. Somebody please help me. I don't want to die."
Jaina approached the door and assessed the situation: Severe head wound, shattered legs, an intensifying fire and no escape.
Watching smoke fill the vehicle, she now understood exactly what she needed to do.
It was so obvious. So simple.
There are probably a hundred words for what Jaina believed she saw then...It was like invisible light. It surrounded the woman like a cocoon, and it vibrated and hummed with a sound that was changing the octave of its tone, growing weaker and fading away.
It was indescribably beautiful to her.
All she had to do was make contact. All she had to do was join her unseen life-force with the invisible light of this dying woman to complete the circuit, and then, do nothing more than simply will the connection to be broken, and then allow the woman to live out the rest of her life.
The woman trapped on the other side of the door started to panic as the fire spread. Her lungs choked with smoke, but it couldn't stop her from screaming. She pounded on the window, fighting and begging for her life as the flames began to lick at her flesh.
As the sound of emergency sirens approached, Jaina picked up a piece of rubble by her feet and smashed the glass. She reached in, and then, she hesitated. Her heart went out to this suffering woman and she made exactly the wrong choice.
She pulled the woman out and dragged her to safety.
Jaina asked the woman her name, and before the woman lost consciousness, she managed to say, "Sarah."
Jaina stood up off the ground as the paramedics arrived to stabilize the victim, and she approached her friends, standing together away from the buzz of activity in the area. She saw the look of extreme disappointment and deep concern in their eyes, but she didn't care.
She just couldn't let that woman burn. In her mind, nothing could be worse. In her mind, she did a very good thing.
She failed at her intended function, and was warned many times before that there are consequences for breaking the natural order, but in this moment, she felt good. She felt happy. She felt proud of herself and smiled.
For her, the consequence of her decision arrived akin to an ambush as the nausea took hold.
With nothing in her stomach, she buckled to her knees in a violently painful and abnormally prolonged bout of dry-heaving. Her friends, powerless to help her, could do nothing but stand by, watch, and wait.
Unable to breathe, Jaina wondered what being swept away by an undertow felt like.
------
No one can escape the inevitability of death. Those who sidestep away from it, even an inch, will inevitably have a mile taken from them in return.
Unfortunately, Jaina will have no choice but to learn this very difficult lesson one day.
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