I Promised I’d Wait
Enid had begun closing up the bar. It had been a long weekend here at the spaceport, with the galactic convention in full swing. There had been a lot of custom, which had been welcome after such a slow year, but it was exhausting. All her staff had gone for the night now and it was left to her to finish locking up. She preferred to do it anyway, she owned the building and felt better knowing it was properly secure. Although she would be on her own now in her quarters above the bar it would be good to sit in peace for the first time in a few days
She was still waiting for her, but she was patient. She had promised she would wait, and it didn’t matter how long it took.
As she turned away from the front door a sharp rattle made her spin back round. A dark figure was standing behind the tinted glass.
Enid drew her phaser - this wasn’t the best part of town by a long shot and all sorts of life forms flew in to the port during a convention. Not all of them friendly.
With a hurried voice command she activated the security deflector shields which crackled and hummed into life. It was an old system but still worked well, being able to prevent most intruders from entering.
She pressed her palm against the entry pad, making sure her long colourful nails didn’t scratch the sensors. The door buzzed open rapidly, the rain fizzing against the force field which hummed around the buildings exterior.
The figure was still dark and she struggled to make out its life form in the hooded cloak it was wearing. Enid wasn’t scared though. Nothing scared her, not when she knew she would return one day. Maybe not in this life, but that didn’t matter. Death did not scare her in the same way, it was just the start of another adventure. Another chance to see a different side of her.
“We are closed, can’t you see the holograph?” she said wearily. No one could miss the 3D “Closed” text hovering in the air next to the entrance. She had even paid for the multilingual version that detected brain patterns and only showed the word in the observers native tongue. So there could be no doubt the figure knew.
The figure took some time to respond on hearing the sharply worded question. It adjusted its hood slightly and a long braid of black hair fell out from the thickly folded material.
“Can’t you spare a few minutes to help refresh a weary traveller? I’ve been searching the whole galaxy for you, mia lupa.”
Enid stopped dead. A casual observer might assume she had somehow been put into time stasis, like the long distance intergalactic travellers had to endure on their stellar voyages.
The figure pulled back the hood to show themselves, not that Enid needed any more information. She knew exactly who was under the cloak.
She didn’t need to wait any longer.
Enid fumbled to deactivate the security field as the figure smiled a broad captivating smile, looking up through their oh-so-familiar dark bangs. Enid reflected the smile back, tears forming in her eyes as she lunged towards Wednesday, arms open wide.
Neither of them cared that their tears of joy were indistinguishable from the heavy rain that soaked them through as they embraced. Nothing else mattered in that moment as they were finally reunited.
The sign above the bar fizzled and spat, eventually turning off at the time it was set to. If anyone had been looking at it as it turned black they would have still had the words “Nevermore Bar” burning on their retinas.