Paul Hughes: Enemy

“Yes. Here we are. And please call me Simon.”

She smiled again, that smile that washed away the present and made Simon dream of a future past in which they had lived and loved and died, the world that had haunted him all the days of his life. And here she was before him, the woman whose face he had dreamt of. The woman whose face had replayed in his mind nightly.

“Well, thank you very much, Simon. It was a pleasure to meet you.”

She put the world-weary book into her equally-traveled backpack and walked to the door. She pulled up her hood, and readied herself for the rain.

Don’t let her slip away again.

But there was nothing he could do. He would never see her again. She would slip into the storm and disappear from his life.

Don’t let her slip away this time.

But I can’t—

She opened the door, and the rain came in, stippling the floor with water.

He stood.

“Maggie.” He called after her, and she turned in the doorway.

“Mr. Hayes?”

“Please don’t go. Please… Will you join me for some coffee? It’s—Well, it’s not very good, it’s pretty terrible coffee in fact, but I’d love to discuss Demian with you. I’d love to discuss anything with you. I mean… It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone to talk to. Besides, there’s a storm outside, and it doesn’t look like it’ll let up for quite some time.”

She looked out into the rain and turned back, smiling, face already wet from the ferocity of the storm. She entered the coffeeshop again and let the door swing shut behind her.

“I’d be honored to, Mr. Hayes.”

“Please. Call me Simon.”

“All right. Simon.” She smiled when she said it, and it made him smile for what seemed the first time in his life.

He was reborn in the light of her eyes, and for once he was happy.

They spoke into the night, and when the storm had passed and the supply of bad coffee was gone, they explored the city by the ghostly moonlight. Neither had ever felt closer to another person. They had only just met, but they had known each other forever. Under the stars they laughed and cried and found what each had searched a lifetime for in the other. As the sun rose from the black of the east, they began the new day together, each knowing love at last.

Paul Evan Hughes is the seven-time Independent Publisher Book Award-winning writer and editor of Silverthought Press. His work includes the novels Enemy , An End , and Broken: A Plague Journal and the short fiction collection Certain Devastations . He lives in Evans Mills, NY with his wife and sons.