oct. 9, 2016 |
| rafe had gone back to her hotel room that night after agreeing on a price for the ring. he didn't know the significance of it but was more than happy to give it to someone who may have understood it. for a while that afternoon, he googled what it was after a brief explanation. there wasn't much he found interesting about it other than the origin of it and the comic history, and this girl named meg had even dumped a bunch of comics off at his booth for when he had free time, but it wasn't for him. rafe looked at the ring, enamored by it out of curiosity, but not feeling some grand emotional pull that made him want to keep it. so that night, ring in his pocket, the two of them went back to her room to make the exchange. staying late into the night, the two drank and talked about all the wild injustices that television and movies did to some books and comics and how they hoped their favorites were never done such a disservice. she was a huge dark horse fan while he aligned pretty steadily with image, and they argued and talked early into the following morning before rafe realized how late it had gotten. they had agreed on $50 for the ring and despite his lack of knowledge on it, rafe was fine with the offered prices. it was $50 more than he had before, and the thing had been sitting in his pocket for going on six hours at that point. it wasn't until the following night back at his hotel room that rafe had a second thought about that ring. he had been sitting at the desk by the window doing seven different things at once, it seemed, between counting the bank from his booth to trying to sketch out a commission someone had paid for, to texting his dad in hopes that the asshole would give him more than one word answers once in a while. it wasn't late, maybe around 11 and the tv was on quietly in the background playing nothing but the guide because rafe had forgotten to pick a channel after turning it on. he had his phone propped up in front of him with inspiration pictures of the commission he was doing and his mind was split in ten different directions. this was normal for him, he was good at multitasking and always found some sort of calm in his version of organized chaos. things were going well until he heard a tapping on the window. this was a curious sound because he was 10 floors up and there wasn't much of a ledge. part of him hoped it was just something blowing by the window and making some kind of noise, but it hadn't ceased. the shade had been pulled shut and there was a little part of rafe that was nervous about opening it, not really keen on finding out what was beyond the panes of glass. he had seen plenty of horror movies and read plenty of books, he knew where this was going. slowly, he pulled the chain that the blind was attached to and watched as it lifted slowly. the tapping continued, sometimes slower and sometimes more fervently than it had been previously. his heart was beating in his chest, faster with each inch the shade lifted and he knew he was going to fall down in relief when he saw that it was something stupid, like a pigeon, on the ledge of his window. when he lifted the blind high enough to see what it was, an indescribable wave of shock had washed over him at the sight just beyond the glass. the ring. rafe pushed his chair back quickly, letting it topple over behind him before yanking hard on the chain to close the blinds. "nope," he mumbled, brushing past the toppled chair and into his bathroom. "this is not happening. you're drunk," he mumbled, flipping the switch and turning on the faucet to run cold water. he splashed it on his face, giving him a few minutes to calm down and wake up as if that were a part of some dream he may have been having. the water dripped back into the basin and he listened intently for the tapping at the glass. it seemed to have stopped and he sighed, thankful for the sudden peace. rafe laughed, realizing that he was probably in a state of exhaustion and seeing things. it certainly wouldn't have been the first time, so he chalked it up to that and decided to call it a night. that night whenever he tried to sleep, he could hear that same tapping. at first, he thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him, so he pulled his blankets up over his head and tried to go back to sleep. a couple of hours before dawn came around, he realized that he had barely caught a few hours of uninterrupted sleep and couldn't handle it anymore. the tapping kept happening, now in different increments, as if it understood what it was doing and was trying to get his attention. "you've got it, you tricky bastard" rafe mumbled at one point to no one in particular. he rolled his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. finally nearing 5:45, he got out of bed and slipped shoes on, deciding to go outside and find a way to get rid of this tapping. he was bundled up in a black hoodie and had plaid flannel lounge pants on and made his way from the tenth floor down to the lobby and outside. the hotel was waking up and there were a few people preparing to go on runs, a couple chatting in the lobby and waiting for the cafe to open, and the employees were preparing the end of their shift and getting ready to leave when the next one came in. new york was alive and well where rafe was just barely alive after a night of interrupted slumber. |