"The Dark Days, and The Bright Nights" A short story by Katlynn Chrans

The Dark Days, and The Bright Nights;

By Katlynn Chrans

The night ends how every other night ends, with darkness, as black as rich soil deep within the earth; the morning begins how every other morning begins, with pale colours as beautiful as a snow tipped mountain. Every day was the same for me, except today.

Walking down the New York City sidewalks I hail a taxi, quickly stepping into the backseat. Giving the driver directions to my favourite downtown café I lean back in the worn down leather seat and watch as the early sunlight filters through between the skyscrapers.

“Mister, hey mister, please wake up. Mister we are here, Happy Bones café” the driver softly mumbles, luring me from sleep.

“Yes sorry” I quickly pull out my wallet and leave the woman a one-hundred dollar bill telling her to keep the change.

I duck my head under the frame and send my thank you’s before shutting the taxi door and walking into the warmth of the confined, coffee-smelling home away from home. This place was one of those hidden gems you hear about in the big city, I stumbled across it during a harrowing blizzard, shut in; I had no choice but to order a coffee and read a book. Since then I have never found a place like it, I visit as often as I possibly can,

“Hi, a black coffee please” I smile and pay. Walking to the table in the far corner, nudged between the wall and a small fireplace, sitting down I pull out Pride and Prejudice, the third book, after To Kill a Mockingbird and Wuthering Heights, on my bucket list of classic novels to read. Drawn into the world of Jane Austin I end up knocking my glass, in a haste of standing the chair screeches across the old wooden floor, eying the napkins I begin to briskly walk towards them, I’m met with a hot splash down my chest,

“Oh my goodness I am so sorry” a girl stutters picking up her to go thermos from the floor.

“No hey it was my fault I wasn’t paying attention” I laugh dabbing my white collared shirt measly with a napkin, “I’m Jason” I smile and we both break out in laughter.

“I don’t think that stain is going to wash out, I’m Hazel” she replies tapping her fingers on the side of her now empty coffee cup.

“We’ll the least I can do is buy you another...beverage, whatever you ordered.” I offer and begin to lead her towards the awaiting cashier,

“Erm actually, I need to go, now” She stutters.

I watch the decision in her eyes, to leave; she looks up before smiling sadly and turning away. In a whirlwind of brunette hair and the sound of the ringing bells above the door I make my decision too, grabbing my things I decide to run after her. Completely out of nature, I push through the same door, bells ringing I call out, “Hazel!” She stops and spins on her heels to meet my eyes, she smiles, as if she’d known I would come after her.

“Yes?” she questions, burrowing her brows and folding her arms.

“I, uh, will I hadn’t planned this far ahead” I joke reaching my hand to my neck I laugh to myself thinking about how in the last five minutes I’d stepped more out of my comfort zone than I had in the past five years.

“Want to come on an adventure with me” she says as if it were a completely normal day thing to ask someone you’ve just met, and knowing this I gave my answer.

“Yes”.

When I had made that decision I never knew it would change my life in the way it did, that after that day my whole thinking process would be altered, in a way I didn’t think or know was possible, and I wouldn’t change it. For anything.

“So, Pride and Prejudice, that’s a good one” Hazel acknowledges towards the book in my hand.

“Yeah, third into my classic novel bucket list” I continue, “But so far Wuthering heights was superior” declaring this I match her quick pace.

“Hm, fair enough, what’s your favourite quote?” she asks dipping into an alley and slipping her hands into the pocket on her deep navy trench coat, hidden away from the crisp cold October air.

“Be curious, not judgemental” I reply, “It’s said by Walt Whitman” I look over, she smiles, her hair flowing behind her like waves of silk. “What’s yours?” I ask.

“It’s a line from a poem, so maybe it’s not a quote necessarily, but I have never read anything I loved more, it goes ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do/With your one wild and precious life?’” she continues “The line is from Mary Oliver, in her poem The Summer Day”

We step out onto a dark street; I hadn’t even noticed we’d gone to the outskirts of the city. Hazel steps up to a scuffed metal door, the number ‘24’ engraved at the top in perfect shining gold.

“Why is the apartment number so perfect compared t-“

Putting her finger to her pursed lips she tells me, kindly, to ‘shh’. We stand for a few seconds before she turns to me and whispers,

“You’re at a strange apartment with a complete stranger and the first thought you have is why the number is so pretty and the door isn’t”

“Well, I’m already here, there’s really nothing I can do if you plan to kill me at this point” I shrug and turn back to the door as a sliding lock is opened and the door swings inward. Standing there is a middle aged woman; ignoring me she regards Hazel,

“You’re late, where were you?” she asks walking into the small apartment.

“Sorry I was getting coffee, had a delay, I’m here now” she says.

I look around the cluttered room; books lined the walls, old books. Bottles of unknown dried herbs and strange objects lined kitchen shelves. The room was light, full of sun coming in through windows, along with fresh pine-smelling air.

“Follow me” Hazel says reaching me out of my trance.

She navigates herself through the maze of book piles and stops outside a small door, she knocks softly before pushing it inwards and stepping inside, she indicates for me to follow, the room is the complete opposite of the last, dark and clean, it felt as if the room itself held a hint of mystery.

Hazel moved quietly to the bed and sat down, as my eyes adjusted to the dark I could see a body outline under a thin sheet, she placed her hand gently on the body’s shoulder,

“Sophia” she says.

A small figure emerges from the thin covering,

“Hazel you’re back, I thought you were going to miss it, me and Rose didn’t know what we were going to do” Sophia replies, clearly relieved Hazel had returned.

“You know I wouldn’t miss it, who would bring the sunny days” she asked before laughing with the young girl, “Alright go back to sleep, you’ll need your rest”. Hazel stands and pulls the cover back over her before turning towards me and smiling. I lead us out into the small corridor.

“One last thing” she says leading me toward a set of steep stairs.

At the top she opens a small hatch door; pale sunlight shines through as she climbs onto what I presume to be the roof.

“This is…breathtaking” I say looking over the skyline.

“Jason” she says.

“Yeah” I turn to her and smile.

“What if I told you the setting and rising of the sun wasn’t due to the earths spinning?” she asks while sitting down and crossing her legs, she sighs.

I sit down facing the side of her and ponder, “I wouldn’t be all that surprised, anything could be, anything can be, and everything will be” I reply.

She smiles asking “Who said that?”

“Me” I laugh spinning to look at the sun, slowly disappearing, except…it wasn’t, it looked like it did when we left the coffee shop, checking my watch I see three hours had passed since I sat down in the corner of the café, since I met Hazel.

“I’m not going to be around for much longer” she burst out. “And I have an important job, a job someone else needs to carry on after I’m gone.” She says

“I’m sure there are plenty of unemployed people in New York who would happily replace you” I replied, “But where are you going?”

“Where I’m going is unimportant. It isn’t just a normal job Jason” She argues.

Slowly she stands and inhales. I watch her curiously, she seemed…peaceful, and calm. She seemed like she was in a trance of sorts. Almost five minutes had passed when finally I looked from the corner of my eye and saw the sun had almost set, in the time Hazel had stood. Slowly rising I step away from her as she seemed to almost glow, glow isn’t a perfect description, it was natural, but not all at the same time.

Suddenly she exhaled and lurched over staggering to the side and dropping to her knees.

I stumbled to Hazel, “Are you okay?” I ask as she leans back, resting her head on the terracotta roof.

“Look around Jason” she says smiling.

I looked up, we were shrouded in darkness, the first stars appearing and twinkling over the soil dark sky.

“I just don’t underst-“

Hazel interrupts “You don’t have to understand, I still don’t understand, I just know,”

I lie beside her and watch more and more stars appear and disappear.

“I’m sick” she says.

We sit in silence for a while; I digest her words and search for what to say,

“I am not going to say sorry, because I’ve heard that that is the worst thing to say” I declare turning my head to the side and facing her.

“That was the most perfect response you could have said” she laughs, a single silver tear running down her cheek. “Jason, I need you to know it’s you” she says furiously wiping the tear away.

And in that moment I knew it was me too. I just knew, like she just knew. We fell asleep to the sweet whispers of goodnight from the wind.

I awoke alone, Hazel was no where to be seen. Sitting up I take in my surroundings, I was still plunged in darkness. The latch on the hatch door rattled, Sophia appeared and climbing to the roof.

“You won’t find her” she says, “She’s gone now”. I could tell she wanted to cry, but she refused to let herself. Walking to where Hazel had laid, she sat beside me,

“She was my best friend, she taught me everything I know, to sleep away the dark days and be alive for the bright nights” she says rolling a leaf between her thumb and pointer fingers. “I guess I’ll teach you everything I know” she smiled at me and stood,

Just as Hazel had stood, in the same trance and state of calm, and slowly the sun rose. She got the same glow Hazel did, except hers was dark, like the night.

Once the sun was a quarter way through the sky she exhaled, she was stronger than Hazel, but that was to be expected.

“Come with me, Rose will want to speak with you” I stood and followed her down the same steep steps, she stopped outside a room, it was decorated with those glow in the dark stars.

“This was her room, I guess it’s yours now, if you want it” she says, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

“I only knew her for a short time” I reply, “But she was like no one I have known before, I can’t help but feel like her bumping into me wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t a coincidence, it couldn’t have been” I say feverishly uncovering the truth, I seemed to have been drawn to her, to run after her.

Three months passed

“War and Peace is so much better” Sophia argues

“No you’re so wrong, Sense and Sensibility is the greatest work of literature there is, no argument needed” I counter, “And besides, this argument is invalid since you haven’t even read any of Jane Austin’s novels”

“Whatever you say” Sophia pushes me and laughs.

I stand and focus on the ball of light in the sky, I think about Hazel, how she was like my wake up call. Closing my eyes I enter my state of mentality, I focus on the light that shines through, and just like Hazel, I don’t understand, I just know.

And on came the bright night…