Aperture:

I came up with this name on my own. It's a hole, a gap, in the Veil. A moment so evil and so devastating that it creates a rift in time itself. A fraction of time so monumentally heartbreaking that a piece of it forever echoes in time.

The Veil:

The line, the only thing between the world of the living and the world of the dead. So thin and so delicate it often can't hold the strongest and worst on the other side.

Seer:

A person, who can see, hear, and speak to the dead.

We reach a coffee shop only about a block away from the alley, he holds the door open with a grinning from ear to ear. I walk inside and he is closely behind me, taking a few larges steps he passes me. His sights are set on a table in a far corner of the lovely café, there isn’t many people inside which is surprising. It's a lovely little spot I was fairly surprised I had never noticed it before. The smell of coffee wafted into my nostrils and my mouth began to water. A loud grumble in my stomach reminded me that my body was dying for food, I couldn’t remember the last time I had a real meal. I think the stranger had heard because he turned to look at me briefly, raising an eyebrow and letting out a small chuckle. Taking off his peacoat, yes a peacoat, he takes a seat at one end of the table and extends a hand towards the one on the other side. "Have a seat. You can order whatever you like it’s on me," he offered with a smile.

Who was this strange and magnificent creature in front of me? Offering me food and drink! And a way out of class? Maybe he wants something... I have been thinking that a sugar daddy might not be the worst lifestyle choice.

“Sit,” he says as if he is my father and I am a disobedient child.

Plopping down in the seat across from him I remove my bag from my shoulder and snatch up on of those menus. Scanning all of my options causes my stomach to let out another unearthly growl and my mouth begins to water. All thought of this morning's Aperture is far from my mind for the moment, and I indulge myself in the fantasy the menu is creating. It may seem strange to you, but after sixteen years you get pretty used to watching people die. Especially if it happens every day..

"So," he begins as the waitress walks over and fills the coffee mug in front of him. "How long have you known you were... different?" He asks bluntly before looking towards the waitress, "I'll have the usual Iris." He smiles at her warmly before nodding his head towards me, "And feed this poor girl."

Iris, is a full-figured women with brown curly hair cascading over her shoulders, and a Marilyn Monroe beauty mark above her ruby red lips. She looks like she is from a different time or like she should be in movies and it's absolutely magnificent. I’m guessing she is in her early thirties, and even being a straight woman, I can hardly keep my eyes off of her hourglass figure. She begins to poor me a cup of coffee but once she sees my face her radiant smile to turn worrisome, "Oh no Honey! Are you alright?" Grabbing my chin she moves my face from side to side probably admiring the ungodly bags under my hazel eyes. Normally this would bother me, coming from a stranger, but I don't even flinch as she touched my face. Smiling warmly at me she says, "I know just what to get you sugar plum.” Winking at me she heads towards the kitchen barking orders at the staff, I watch as she pushes open to metal doors and disappears behind them.

Adding some cream and sugar to the cup of coffee that was already at the table, I stick my face inches from it and inhale deeply to take in its intoxicating aroma. Putting it to my lips I anxiously await the feeling of this miracle liquid flowing past my lips, and when it does I can her the chorus sing. This is a beautiful day. And this coffee is the most amazing thing I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. A throat clears across from me and rips me from my momentary reverie.

I open one eye and look at the man across from me, "Right." I readjust my position, crossing my legs and leaning back in the chair to get more comfortable. "Since I was about six years old," I finally answered him.

I watch as his eyes nearly pop out of his skull as he chokes on his coffee. "Six?" He says hoarsely. "That's impossible-"

"I knew my father was going to die," I cut him off and watched his face go white. "I tried to warn him, but he didn't believe me," my tone was emotionless. I missed my father more than anything in this world, there wasn't a single day I didn't blame myself for...

"That's tragic," he said softly. "Even when we know something is going to happen we can’t always stop it," he attempted to comfort me and he was right. It wasn't my fault but knowing that would never prevent me from blaming myself. He pondered the question he was about to ask before asking it, "And your mother?"

I took another sip of my coffee, "Terrified for and of me." I looked to the metal doors and watched as Iris reappeared a smile on her lovely face and a steaming mug in her hand. Her hips swayed as she took quick steps towards our table, she was so graceful it was almost like she was dancing whenever she moved.

Approaching the table, she put the mug down in front of me. "Now sweetheart. You are just going to have to trust me on this one. I promise you will feel like a new woman if you drink this... all of it."

I eye the mug and move my face toward it, sniffing it a few times. "And what exactly is this?" I raise an eyebrow at it.

She rolls her eyes and puts her hands on her hips, "You don't wanna know, now drink it!"

I look at her for a moment, then back at the cup, then back at her, then back at the cup... then back at her, and then narrow my eyes at the cup.

Iris takes a step towards me and lowers her voice, "You can drink it or I can make you drink it."

At this point I am nearly I am leaning away from Iris and glaring up at her in fear. I look across the table and watch as the stranger across from me grins in amusement, his hands are crossed and his is nonchalantly drinking his coffee. I am also not so sure I like Peggy as much as I once did. When I get to uncomfortable enough with her hovering over me, I grab the cup in front of me and examine its contents thoroughly. The liquid is clear but it's... thick? It doesn't really have a smell or anything to it which makes it even more strange. I mean it's clear so I'd be able to see if it was drugged right? Giving the cup a "fuck it" look, I bring it to my lips and down the hatch it goes.

I can't explain to you the taste the followed because it was like nothing I have ever experienced, and I surely can't explain the strange tingling sensation I began to feel over my body. It was like the adrenaline rush after you get some really good news, or that feeling after you leave the gym. It was like all those sleepless nights over the years have been erased and I felt amazing. I sat there looking at him, then looking at her, then looking at him, then looking at her, and then... I smiled. I felt like I could do cartwheels out of this café. Like I could do parkour through the alleyways of Hollow Grove, climbing the rooftops like Batman. She drugged me. Iris fucking drugged me!

"How are you feeling now," she smiles at me taking a stop back.

I lower my voice and look around as I lean towards Iris, "you... gave me drugs? Right?"

Iris let's out a loud laugh and throws her head back, "I like her." I watch as she makes her way back towards the kitchen, shaking her head and laughing to herself.

I look to the man in front of me pointing a finger in Iris’s direction, "She gave me drugs? I mean I'm not mad, you just mad want to warn somebody because this is some POTENT shit."

He lets out a loud booming laugh, "Iris is the best Medica in Hollow Grove... in this part of the country really."

"Mediwho?"

"Medica, she is a witch, a healer. She is particularly efficient in potions," he grins at me like a smartass and nods towards the empty mug in front of me.

"Well I'll be damned..." I slouched back in my chair and stare off into space. A witch? Well I DO see dead people so it didn’t really seem impossible. He laughs at me before taking another sip of his coffee, and I realize that I don't know his name. "So, like... who are you?"

He puts his cup down on the table, "Ah excuse my manners." He wipes his hands on his dress shirt and offers me one across the table, "Jasper Glaz."

I shack his hand awkwardly (because really who shakes hands these days?), "Delilah Watson."

"Well that's a pretty name," he offers a smile and leans back in his chair. "Not a common on either I imagine."

"My parents weren’t... aren’t common people," I respond to his small talk but I'm interrupted by my angry stomach. Like and angle from above, Iris appears again but this time with three plates in her hands. After making her way over to us she places one plate with three over easy eggs, bacon, and toast in front of Jasper. I hear the chorus sing again as she places a plate with perfectly golden pancakes and crispy bacon in front of me. Then another plate with scrambled cheesey eggs, sausage, homefries, and fresh strawberries. I feel myself begin to drool and I fight back tears as this feast of feasts is placed before me. "Iris have I told you that you're beautiful," I say to her with my eyes still glued to the food.

She lets out another laugh, "She's the cutest!"

Turning to walk away Jasper stops her and grabs her wrist gently, "Thank you Iris." He looks up at her warmly, and takes her hand kissing it sweetly. I watch the delightful little interaction as I begin to shovel mounds of eggs into my mouth.

Looking down at him she slides her hand up his arm all the way to his shoulder, giving it a playful squeeze. "Anything for you love," she says in an alluring tone.

He watches her walk away and when he turns to look at me he is absolutely beaming. I'm giving him a smartass look while I chomp on a piece of bacon. “She’s pretty, “I taunt.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

His eyes are slightly glazed over as he is still lost in their momentary display of affection, “the prettiest.” He smiles to himself and nods towards the dent I’ve made in the two plated in front of me ", somebody was hungry."

“You have no idea,” I say as I slouch back in my chair. I begin to rub my now bloated stomach as I wait for some of the food I just inhaled to digest.

I hear Jasper clear his throat, “Delilah I uh... invited you here today because I am worried about your safety.”

“Heh?“ I ask raising an eyebrow at him.

“Someone with your... gifts. Is quiet a hot commodity,” he speaks carefully. It’s almost as if he knows the point he’s trying to get to but he wants to avoid it for some reason.

I clasp my hands together on the table a lean forward, “Get to the point here Jazz.”

He raises one of his thick eyebrows his expression is slightly amused, “Jazz?”

“Jazz short for Jasper...?”

He doesn’t say anything but laughs a little.

“We’ll work on it, “ I joke.

"I like your sense of humor Delilah, someone like you really needs that," he says sincerely. "I will put it bluntly since I sense that's what your looking for. Delilah you are a very special girl, someone like you hasn't existed in nearly two hundred years. You do not just simply see, hear, and speak to the dead. You can move freely between their world and ours. Something the rest of us just simply can not do. I want to help you... I want to keep you safe." His town is so coated with worry it begins to make me uneasy. As strange as this entire interaction has been it did feel so nice to finally speak about who or what I am so freely. Almost like the weight of the world had been lifted from my chest and it was easy to breath again.

"I'm sorry you're going to have to give me a minute to process all this," I say as I begin to rub my temple. A chill enters my bones and I begin to cold sweat. Maybe it was something I ate...

"I take in young people like yourself all the time. I help them control their abilities and I-"

I put my hand up in front of me, "Just stop talking for a minute."

"Delilah are you...?-" I can see the concern on his face in my peripheral vision.

Getting up from my seat abruptly I feel like I'm going to be sick, "Where's the bathroom?"

Slowly rising from his seat he points in a direction and I run before he can speak.

FUCK!

The familiar feeling begins to bubble in the back of my throat, and I'm sure I won't make it the toilet. I fling open the door and shove my way into a stall not taking a moment to check my surronding. I stand over the toilet and hyperventilate, my heart is beating loudly in my ears. But then I see it, my breath in front of me, the chill in my bones becoming more prominent; spreading throughout my entired body. I begin to shudder and I know what's coming next I just don't know who.

"Delilah what a lovely name for a lovely girl," I hear a lighter flick by the entrance to the bathroom. The voice is low and menacing and all too familiar.

I don't say a word.

"Now sweetheart there is no need to pretend. I know you can hear me. In fact, I know you can see me too. What a strong young vessel you are...," he says in a way that makes my stomach turn. I listen as he takes slow steps towards me, his shoes hitting the linoleum. The hair on the back of my neck stand straight up but I keep my eyes on the porcelain bowl in front of me. "So you want to play games do you?" he chuckles darkly. "Well you're in luck dollface... I love games."

There are a few things I've learned from my interactions with particularly violent spirts: don't acknowlegde them and if the first this is no long an option you run like hell. I can still see the door in my peripherals and I count down in my head from five before attempting to sprint towards it. But as soon as my feet leave the ground I feel myself being propelled backward into the wall of mirrors behind me. I hit the wall a the wind is knocked out of me, I can't breath as the pain ripples across my back. The mirros shatters behind me and I fall to my side on the counter where the sinks are. I don't move, but after a few moments I gasp as I catch my breath again.

I watch as the figure begins to pace in front of me, "Now ya see... they never used to let me play games as a child. Told me I was just a little too rough." He laughed again, bringing his cigar to his lips and inhaling deeply.

I feel my body being pulled upright and I wince in pain, I am now forced to make eye contact with entity in front of me and he grins back at me. A smile of pure evil stares back at me as he looks me up and down, taking the few steps to closes the distance between us.

The shaking of the door handle to the bathroom grabs my attention and I can hear Jaspers voice on the other side. "Delilah! Are you alright? Shit!" I hear him curses as he touches the probably ice cold door knob."Someone get this damn door open now!" his voice boomed on the other side of the door.

Looking at the door the man in front of me laughed before turning back to look in my direction, "Now just a minute young man we were just getting to know eachother." He grabs me by the throat hard enough to stop my breathing. "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he's interupted by loud thuds on the bathroom door. He puts his face close to mine and inhales, "My my you are one powerful little girl. I have never seen something quite like it."

I try pull his hand from around my neck but it's no use, he's too powerful, the pain in my back grows more intense and I lose the strength to fight back. Just as I'm about to lose hope the door swing open, A tall and muscular boy that looked to be roughly my age bursted through, his eyes were glowing a bright gold and he looked around the room wildly. I watched the horror in his eyes as he saw against the mirror, my face begining to turn purple.

"Out of my fucking way!" I slender girl pushed passed him. She was about a foot shorter than him, her hair was a lovely lilac color that went beautifully with her pale complexion. Sprinting toward me she grabbed my face in her hand, and I immediately felt warmth again. "Delilah listen to me. Whoever has a hold on you he can no keep you. He does not exist in this realm! Come back to us Delilah," I could hear the pleading in her voice. She looked absolutely terrified, pulling me away from the mirror she embraced me and felt her aura wrap around me.

It was hard to explain. I could see the people in the room, the eyes watching in horror, the girl in front of me, but I could still see the man in front of me as well. I watched as he released his grip from neck and took a few steps away, "No worry doll, you're no use to me dead." He smiled and winked at me before vanishing in the familliar black smoke. "See you next time," this time his voice was only in my head and then he was gone.

Letting out a loud gasp I collapsed into the arms of the girl in front of me. There was only a moment before I was bombarded by images of a campfire. The smell of it was intoxicating, I could feel it warmth as relaxation washed over me like a wave. But then I heard the scream, and then I saw the slender man with glowing white eyes standing in front of me. Blood dripping from his chin, and I mangled corpse at his feet. I jerked away from the girl in front of me quckly, hitting my back against the wall behind me again causing myself to wince. Jasper ran over to me relief beginning to unforrow his brow, the talk boy behind him was still staring at me in awe. He looked around the mess in the room and then back at me again, questions buring in his golden eyes.

"Thank you Angelo," Jasper says to him as he grabs my arm.

Snapping out of his thoughts he walks over to me, "Let me help you." The purple haired girl moved out the way, her eyes still glued to me. Angelo grabs my other arm and throws it over his should before lifting me off of the counter. "I got it Boss," he winks at Jasper.

Jasper shakes his head, "Get her upstairs and grab Iris on the way." He pats him lightly on the back and we begin to move. I look over the monstourous mans shoulder and watch as Jasper looks around the bathroom and throws his hands up in the air. As we leave the bathroom I begin to take in the features of the man who's carrying me, normaly this would make me uncomfortable but my body felt so battered I welcomed not having to walk.

He was a good looking man, confidence eminating from his every orifice and for good reason. His hair was black a sort of messy, but it a way that made it seem like it was almost styled like that. His skin was tan and he has some scruff on his young face which probably made him look a bit older. His features were chiseled and he looked like he might be italian or middle eatern even. I'm guessing he felt my eyes on his face because he looked at me. His golden eyes gleaming with miscief as a smirk crept across his handsome face. "You're handling this quite well. I'm impressed," he winked at me. Turning around he backed through the kitchen doors walking right past Iris, who if I believe he was supposed to retrieve.

Her hands were on her hips and she was scolding a tiny hispanic girl who had a defeated look on her face while she stared at the floor. She stopped mid sentence her head quickly turning in my direction,"Wait here Toni." She walked quickly to try and keep up with Angelos long strides, "What happened?"

"Don't know," he said nonchalantly.

"Well what-"

"Jasper said to go upstairs," he said not stopping to look at her. We reached a door at the back of the kitched with a skinny boy standing in front of it. He hadn't noticed us approaching due to the headphones in his ears and his eyes being glued to laptop on the counter in front of him. He even began to hum a little before jumping when her noticed Angelo staring in front of him. Angelo laughed softly, "would you mind getting the door for me Finn? My hands are full."

"Yeah uh sorry I uh.. what-"

He tried to piece together a sentence before Angelo cut him off, "don't know." I watched as his expression turned from confused, to curious, to concentrated. "Not gonna find anything in there Finn not hiding anything from you,"

Finn has an expression on his face that told me he didn't believe Angelo, but he opened the door allowing him to walk through. He manuevered carefully and his hold was very gentle making sure not to harm me in anyways. I won't lie, I could get used to this. I looked at Angelo, "what did you mean by you won't find anything in there?"

"Oh right," he laughed. "Finns a telepath," he responded cooly.

"Right," I say quietly. Aside from the pain in every part of my body, I felt mentally exhuasted after all the information I had taken in in probably about a half hour. Aparently there are witches, and apparently there are telepaths, next thing you know I'll find out the kid carrying me is a werewolf. HA!

Finally we reach the stairs, and he climbs them slowly still carefully making sure I'm not hurt in anyway. On the outside Angelo might even seem a little scary, but there was definitely a gentle side I was getting to see I'm sure not everyone got to. Making our way past a lavishly decorated family room towards a room filled with bookcases and jars, on the other end there was a terrace decorated with vibrant flowers. Iris followed in closely behind us, buzzing around the room the same way she had in cafe earlier. Tossing books off of the bed in the room she looked toward me, "You can put her there."

Angelo gently placed me down on the bed, slowly pulling his arms from under me. His scent wafted up my nose and it was unexpected but no unpleasent. He smelled like the earth, like the deep woods on a spring day. I could help but smile at the feeling it gave me, "Thank you.''

He bowed before grinning at me, "Was my pleasure." Our eyes met for a moment and I felt my cheeks burn red, my nerves causing me to look away.

Iris smacked his but a few times, "Out!"

I watched as he jump and placed his hand over his backside in defense, "Alright! Alright!" He turned and head of the room, laughing to himself and smiling as he sauntered out. "Thank you Angelo," he said in a girly voice attempting to mock Iris.

Shaking her head a laughing she pulls a stool with wheels at the bottom over from across the room a sits on it. "Boys," she rolls her eyes.

I have no response but to laugh awkwardly, as the pain in my body begins to intensify and I find it hard to get comfortable.

Iris's smile turns to a frown, "What happened to you sweetheart?"

I try to relax my body as I put my head down on the pillow behind me, "There was a-"

"How did that thing get in here!" Jasper barged into the room the vein in his forehead bulging. "All the spells all the little herbs around this place and that thing gets in here and does this!" he points in my directs.

Iris goes to lift my shirt to examine the damage," Do you mind honey?" I wince and nod my head, moving my arm out of the way so she can see. I watch her grimace before as she rolls across the room towards what I'm guessing is her work station.

Japser goes to yell again but he is cut short when he gets look at my side, his angry expression switches to concern. He takes a few steps towards me and examins the bruises on my neck, "Jesus Christ." He puts his forehead in his hand and sighs deeply, "Iris what kind of thing could get past all the protection we have on this place?" His tone sounds exhuasted and genuienly worried.

Iris stops what she's doing for a minute and turns to look at him, "I don't know Jasper."

There is a silence and the two of them exchange a look before the both turn to me. "Delilah," Jasper begins. "I'm sorry but I must insist you stay here with us."

It takes a moment for his words to process, "But I-"

"Please Delilah we insist," there worried eyes stare back at me. Their penetrating gazes are unmoving as they wait for my response.

"I..."

I don't know what to say.

I don't know what to do.

I don't know these people.

I don't know anything about witches and telepaths.

I just want to go home.

I just want to pretend this day never happened.