Touch Piece

By Guy Tucker

A full moon lit the empty city streets of Rosewood. I was walking home from another long day at work when the sounds of a scuffle coming from an alley up on my left, had startled me out of my zombie like trance. “Give me your money, bitch,” barked a deep masculine voice. “You deserve nothing,” a woman’s voice spat. It sounded like trouble and although I’m really not usually the heroic type, I inched up to the corner of the alley and peered down the shadowy side street. A large bulky man stood with his back to me, he held a thin dainty woman by the arm demanding money as if he just couldn’t accept the fact that maybe she had none to give. “You’ve gotta have something valuable I can have,” he murmured softer now. “Get your filthy hands off me, you pig,” the woman demanded as she pulled against his grip on her arm. I should really help her, I thought but the coward in me just wanted to run away and pretend I hadn’t seen anything. Shamefully I hung my head, and noticed half a brick at my feet. Without a second thought I bent down and picked it up and by the time I stood up again I was filled with a confidence and determination that I had never before experienced. With the stealth of a shadow stalking ninja, I crept up behind the man, but when I was close enough to smell the stink of stale beer on his breath, he turned toward me. He frowned and released the woman, raising his fist and gritted his teeth as I gritted mine. He hadn’t noticed the brick in my hand and at the last moment I lifted it up in front of me as a shield. His knuckles collided with the brick fracturing it in half. The man let out a terrible groan and cradled his fist against his chest and winced with a sharp inward breath. “You’ll pay for that you little bastard,” he growled through clenched teeth. The man grunted like an animal, lowered his head and charged at me.

It was then that I did something very unlike me, I swung at him, completely forgetting that I still held the remnants of the brick in my fist. The chunk of brick smashed into pieces against his cheek and the man went down with thud, his rolls of blubber wobbled for a moment then went still. For the first time I took a good look at the woman. She was a beautiful woman in her late twenties, with long dark hair that hung over her buxom chest that was close to erupting from her tiny top. A mini skirt barely covered her ivory legs and red stiletto boots covered her shins. Her bare flesh teased my eyes, I tried not to stare but I couldn’t help it. “Thank you so much, I thought I would never get rid of that creep,” she said with the sweetest smile. I looked at the still figure at my feet; I was both shocked and amazed at what I had done. “It was nothing,” I stammered. She held out her hand. “My name is Mia, what’s yours?” I dropped the broken brick and dusted off my palm that was a little bloody. “I’m Caleb,” I said more confidently as I shook her cool firm hand. For a second her dark eyes stared into mine as if she were expecting to see something more in there. She released my hand began searching through a black shoulder bag that I failed to notice before. “Where is it?” she murmured. “Ah, there you are.” She held her hand out to me. “Here take this, for your trouble.” “No, I couldn’t,” I replied shaking my head. But she was stubborn and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Without releasing me from her intense gaze, Mia glided up close and took my hand again and placed something small and cold in my palm. She leaned in and poked an item in my shirt pocket and patted her hand over it. Her ruby lips glistened in the gloom as she moved closer and planted a tender kiss on my cheek. I think I actually blushed. I yearned for her touch, for her lips once more. Who is this woman? Where did she come from? I wanted to know everything about her, having her near me filled my being with a feeling of completeness that I had always longed for. Mia moved passed me and walked back down the way I had come. For a second I stood there kind of stunned that a strange beautiful woman had just kissed me, even if it was just on the cheek. I could hear the sound of her receding footsteps as I spun around. I spun around and she was gone, the clacking of her receding footsteps echoed all around me. “Wait,” I called. I ran to the corner of the alley and looked both

ways up the street but no one was there, although I could still hear the sound of her boots clacking on the concrete but the direction of the sound was indefinable, it seemed to be coming from every direction at once. I opened my hand, a dark bent coin sat in my palm. What the hell am I going to do with that, I thought. A moan from the alley caused me to turn, the chunky mugger was climbing to his feet. I was not interested in a rematchso I pumped my legs as fast as I could up the dark streets and made my way home. Home was a two-room apartment on the second floor in a group of apartment blocks. It overlooked the city and was close to everything, even the train station. Sometimes it seemed a bit too close though. After dumping my workbag on a kitchen chair, I headed for the fridge; my stomach grumbled. I downed some left-overs then had a long hot shower. There really was nothing as good as a refreshing hot shower, it woke me up a little but it felt good. With a towel around my waist, I shuffled off to the bedroom and slipped on my bedclothes. Tiredness was growing on me again, my limbs were heavy and I could feel my eyelids drooping down over my eyes, I knew it was time for bed, no late night TV for me tonight. I brushed my teeth and slid into bed and decided to read a little before going to sleep. Stretching out I grabbed my copy of the latest Stephen King but as I opened it to where it was bookmarked something hard and dark thudded into my lap followed by a white card that fluttered onto the quilt cover. The hard thing was a coin, no it was ‘the coin’ the coin that Mia had gave me in the alley. It was bent brown coin, I held it under the lamp on the side table, there appeared to be the god Mercury on one side but the other was far too worn to make out. Written on the small white card were the words ‘hold it fast and dream of that which you desire’. How did that get in there, I thought. I put the coin and the card on the night stand and went to the bathroom and pulled my work clothes out of the clothes basket. Shoved my hand into the pants pocket and found the brown bent coin and in my shirt pocket, the card. What the hell is going on here, I thought as I went back to the bedroom to compare the coins and cards. But the nightstand was bare. I dumped the coin and card on the side table again and rummaged through the bed sheets, the coin had to be here somewhere but there was nothing. With a sigh, I turned back to the night stand, the bare night stand with nothing but a night lamp on it. I must have knocked it to the floor, I thought. I dropped to my knees and started to look all around the nightstand, even went as far as to lift it up to see if it had somehow gone underneath it. It wasn’t under the bed either, I thought maybe the dust bunnies may have taken it hostage but I was wrong, and spent the next minute sneezing. I clawed at my scalp in frustration and scanned the room one more time, there was no coin here, I was sure of it. With the sniffles I shuffled off to the bathroom

and kicked my work clothes that I had dropped on the floor, something skidded out of the clothes and across the floor. I shuffled over and picked a coin, a brown, bent coin with the god mercury on one side and nothing on the other. I picked up my work shirt and in my shirt pocket there was the card with the words ‘hold it fast and dream of that which you desire’ written on it. With the coin held between my forefinger and my thumb and the card in my other hand, I said, “I wish I had never seen this damn thing.” I blinked and suddenly I was standing on street corner in the dark, in my work clothes. It was the street with the side alley where Mia had been mugged. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath then opened them again, everything was still there. I looked at my watch and it was just after knock off time. I crept up the street moving closer to the corner of the alley but there was no sound of struggle, no voices. A thought popped into my head, maybe the coin is still in my pocket, I punched my hands into both pockets but there was no coin or card, just my wallet, keys and mobile phone. Timidly I poked my head around the corner, it was empty. Sitting at my feet was the broken brick as if it had never been touched. Then suddenly the sound of clacking heels echoed all around me from every direction, taunting me. “Why are you doing this to me?” I called. “I helped you.” The sounds faded into the distance and then weregone. I walked home, ate left overs, had a shower, the whole time filled with an eerie sense of déjà vu. I had no interest in reading, just in case the coin was inside the book or just in case it wasn’t. The sheets were icy cold as I slid beneath them and flicked off the lamp. I could have asked for anything in the world and I asked for that, I mumbled. My mind began to fill with Mia’s face and those sultry lips. “If I could make a wish now, I’d wish that Mia was here and in love with me,” I whispered. Suddenly a warm hand ran across my chest, I jumped in a jolt of shock. “Wish granted,” Mia’s voice whispered in my ear.